Monday, April 26, 1993
Good evening to everyone. Let us greet Our Mother with the Angelus:
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Angelus.
Glory Be.
Once again, good evening, particularly a special greeting to our parish priest, the blessed priest I had the grace to meet in Betania of the Holy Waters of my Mother Reconciler of People. I also want to greet all the people that are gathered here, the people that I have come to meet through the grace of Our Lady who have come from far away to greet this poor woman. I would say, that you have not come to greet me, but you have come because of my Mother. She is the one holding my hand; it is she, Mary, Virgin and Mother of the Church who is leading me, who conducts me. And here I am through the grace of the Holy Spirit because it was the Father’s will, because Jesus called me to fully enter his Heart and my Mother sweetly keeps me company.
Therefore, the Lord is among us, better yet, He lives among us with Mary Virgin and Mother of the Church, Mother Reconciler of People, Mother of Peace, and Mary Our Lady of Coromoto, the Patroness of Venezuela who has received me. She was the one who brought me here and also received me. Thank you Our Lady of Coromoto, thank you Mary for all the benefits to my soul. Mary, you have been my travel companion since I was very young when I first went to New York and then to Rome, to Jerusalem. You have always opened the path for me.
Thus, today I feel so happy and content especially when meeting with the Latin people, all those who speak Spanish and with everyone else too, the Americans. We are one nation, People of God; people who stand to serve the Lord and his Blessed Mother, people who are preparing themselves, who long to spread the message of a Mother. It is a Mother who loves, who feels her children fully in her Heart, and wishes for the human race to unite, for everyone to hold hands, to keep in their hearts that flame, fire, and the living breath of Jesus.
Jesus has come in these times. He is coming; He is almost among us. He has always been with us in all the tabernacles of the world waiting for his children to receive Him to nourish them. Many have left him abandoned, but He forges ahead as Shepherd of Souls to feed us, to quiet our souls, to assay our faith and to help us walk straightly knowing that we all have to reach the sheepfold of the waters that renew the soul of his children, the blessed waters of Mary, even those who lag behind.
We see this in Lourdes with its holy waters, we have seen this in other lands too, and now in these times, in Venezuela, in Betania. It is a small village where many poor people live, but they have a heart that is full of love and tenderness to their Mother, and they are looking for comfort and hope in their days of sadness and tribulation.
But now, let us talk about this Parish, a beautiful Parish, a wonderful Church where we feel peace, and the love that vibrates in all your hearts. It is a Church that is opened that grants us serenity, and peace because its priests are serving their children who come looking for them, for their word, and their comfort at the confessional leaving all their sins there, to go back home lifted with their blessing.
It is so beautiful to go in the confessional and hear the advice of the father priest who helps us free ourselves of our weaknesses, our attachment to the things of this world. Its passions and the unbridled craziness of these times in which man is losing his faith, and trust in God, a God who loves, who continues to love and will continue to, looking for all his children until He finds that they have all converted.
It is conversion what we all need, and we mainly need a special food, the Eucharist, every day if it is possible. Remember this. The Eucharist is food to our souls, it assays our faith, and gives us the gift of understanding through the grace of the Holy Spirit to comprehend what the Lord wants from us, where he wants to place us, where we have to go, and where we have to walk.
We can say: Yes, Lord, we are willing to follow You, tell us what You want? And the Lord will answer: “To love one another as I have loved you, I continue to and I always will following you to feed you with my Body, my Blood and my Life. It is my Life what I am offering so you may live a new life to gain the heaven of my Heavenly Father, of my Mother, and of this Son of God. You all shall enter heaven; you need to live with Us. But how are you going to enter?” And the Lord answers: “You shall enter with sacrifice, with penance, with the Eucharist, with constant meditation, with deeds of charity. Therefore, you must prepare yourselves.”
How can we prepare ourselves, Lord? “With love, your preparation has to begin with love, overflowing love. Without love you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, into our company. It is heaven what I hope for all of you.”
Well, my Lord with his Mother are living among us. This is a sublime hour for our souls for He has wanted to nourish us tonight by means of his priests because they are our pastors and that is their task. If we do not go to them, they must go out and look for all the lost sheep in one way or another because the time of reconciliation is here. To reconcile, to love, to bear, to aid, to assay the faith of the sad brother, to pick up the innocent child in the street, he who is begging: “Come, I can give you something. I am going to sit you at my table as if you were a king. I am going to help you.” To go to the hospitals, to the sick, to the sad, and especially in these times to the youth that is going astray due to drug abuse.
How many mothers are suffering today, how many are crying for their children? But I am going to tell you my children, parents must bring up their children under the wing, the grace, and the love of the Sacred Family of Nazareth: Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. All families have to consecrate themselves to the Sacred Family of Nazareth to protect them, to not waste a moment of knowing how to take them by the hand and to teach them how to live a Christian life.
We cannot leave our children on their own, we must follow them, scold them, and we have to be strong. Not that we are going to be violent, but they have to come to understand their parents and parents must understand their children. Children must open their hearts and never deny anything to their parents, so that both may fight against the tide of men who have lost their faith, because they didn’t have anyone to take care of them either, and could not overcome the sad moments of their own childhood or youth.
Behold, I invite all America, not only our people, let us say South America, but North America, the America of the whole world, all Europe, Asia, Africa and the rest of the world to unite spiritually with an exact conscience of our duties in living a natural, spontaneous and simple life. It is a life in which family members talk, meet, and live as generously as the Sacred Family’s life. They brought up their Son Jesus with the sublime love of a Blessed Mother and of a foster father, Joseph.
Mary was the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit worked in her the great miracle, the greatest one of all times: A pure and saint virgin, a simple flower of the holy path of Nazareth conceived a Son awaited by all generations, a work done by the Father through the grace of the Holy Spirit. This Son was born, grew and was the Master of masters, was followed by his apostles and then He gave his life to the Pharisee who knew nothing of love or of fear of God.
I must tell you something important: It is not the fear of God that He is going to punish us. It is the fear of God that we do not want to offend Him. Do not offend your brother so you will not offend God.
Be understanding, human, simple and humble. It is the humility of Mary, of Jesus. Jesus was wise, powerful, great, the greatest Master of all times and eras, however his humility and obedience took Him to a Cross to save us all. He redeemed us with his Blood; he saved us and gave us supernatural life to live the Gospel.
Do we really live the Gospel? Yes, part of it, but many proud men try to make a great truth obscure. They rebel, blaspheme and make hatred, and misunderstandings grow in their souls. Therefore, let us all pray, let us redouble our prayers. Prayer, meditation, penance and the Eucharist, these are the complements of a human being, of a person who truly is unfolding his wings to spread the Word of the Lord. It is our duty. God has given us a mind, and a heart to receive the graces of the Holy Spirit, as for example, Understanding, to come to understand what God wants from us. The gift of counsel, to give us advice about what we have to do, how we have to live, where we have to meet with our brothers. The best place of all is the Church where the assembly is beautiful, splendid and it fills the hearts with graces, love and benevolence.
Well, when Father spoke he said that maybe I would say something about my life. But I must say that I do not like to talk about myself, I think it is a bit of a flaw because I have always considered that Jesus did not talk about Himself. He did not write about Himself, it was his Evangelists who wrote about Him. But maybe today we do have to talk to break the ice of the cold souls. For some it is hard to believe that there are souls that feel their Lord and Mother and wish to share the sublime love, that only the Lord grants to whom truly needs it to hand it on to others.
Yesterday when we were in the retreat, the three-day retreat that was so nice, beautiful, spectacular and wonderful with great conferences, I felt to happy. I was able to prove the greatness of the love of God for his children, and the same has happened here. We had the Holy Mass, Holy Communion, those who spoke so nicely, Father Slavko and all the priests that concelebrated. It was all so beautiful. Jesus told me to talk there, and I spoke about when I was a child, when I was five years old and Saint Therese of the Child Jesus threw me a rose from the Orinoco River in Venezuela. I was there and she threw it from the waters. Although I was a small child I was able to catch it with my hands. I grew with it until I became a mother and wife, until today.
But I want to tell you about something different so you can see that it is not so easy to live a life fully consecrated to the Lord loving Him so much that we wish to give up everything, but He tells us: “Go out to the world, face it.” What are you going to do, linger? “No daughter, go. If you do not know how to speak, if you have not studied a career, it does not matter. There is something important in your life: Love, and you have to give this love. Therefore, I invite my children to love one another, love. It is sweet to love and it is as sweet to receive love this is why it is your mission.”
For this I had to undergo many difficult trials, as I told you yesterday, maybe you were not there, but I want to make it clear that I lost my father when I was two years old. We were five children. Can you imagine how sad my mother was, having to bring us up? It was as hard for her as it is for any woman that becomes a widow, who is lonely with a household, and with a small family.
So many things happened, but there is something I have engraved in my soul. When my older brother died it was so hard, because he was our support. It was the first time I had to walk into a place where they sold coffins. A lady asked me when she saw me leaving, “Are you going by yourself’” and I answered: They are all crying and I have to go. So she went with me.
Then, Our Lady told me, “Thank you, daughter, it is the initiative of a child that is becoming a woman. Hardship will come, but you have to forge ahead. This moment is turning you into a woman who will know what pain is and what to do when it comes. You cannot lose your mind crying or weeping, immediately look for what is necessary to comfort your people.” This was very painful.
Then, when I was twelve and a half I became very sick, my condition was so complicated that the doctors deprived me of all hope of living. I had a heart condition and acute pneumonia. On Friday the doctors told me I would not make it to Monday. Then the first apparition of my Mother took place in my house under the title of Our Lady of the Valley of Margarita. My father was very devoted to her. She told me, “Daughter, tell your mother to send someone to the pharmacy to look for the medicine I will tell you.” I was choking, I could hardly breathe, but I managed to call my mother’s attention. She brought me a pencil and paper and I wrote the formula. Someone went to the drug store and I took the medicine every four or five hours. Early, next morning I was already better, and on Monday I was perfect. When the doctor came and listened to my breathing he said, “This cannot be. Something happened. I believed this little girl could not make it to Monday. I did not give her mother any hope.” Once again my Mother made herself felt in my heart.
Then, after some months, when I was fourteen I became seriously ill again. This time it was my heart. I had one hundred pulsations a minute. It was horrible. I thought I was going to die. No one on Earth could do anything. I saw twenty-two doctors and none gave us hope. Then, I prayed to my Mother and said: Mother, what are you going to do with me, I am only a young girl who is barely opening her eyes? And she answered, “Daughter, my Son will look after you.” Then the miracle occurred, it was wonderful, I felt Jesus saying, “Take Kolastier, Kolastier, Kolastier.” And I asked my mother what this was.
I had been feeling asphyxiated for three months, since November 6 and it was February 2. I had lost the sense of sight, and my left side was numb. In the morning Father had come to give me Communion and said, “I do not think that she will make it to tomorrow, to tomorrow at noon.” I could not eat or drink, but at 4:00 in the afternoon they gave me the medicine the way they could, with a little milk. I had serum in my legs, they looked like two balloons, they were horrible. Then, all of a sudden, we felt an earthquake in the room, and everything fell down. My mother yelled to a cousin, “Run, daughter an earthquake.” I was barely conscience, but I sat up and said: Bring me a pencil and paper, I want to write, and I wrote, “Maria Esperanza, daughter, we have healed you, despair no more. Our Father has heard you, and you shall stand up and be healed.” I wrote this very energetically, then I fell to my knees, and collapsed. It was with time that I got better. A week later the doctors came back and they sent me to a doctor who completely helped me get better with some medicine.
Afterwards, so many beautiful things happened in my life that I would never end. But the important thing is that they told me, “The promised land is awaiting you, a land where many pilgrims will go and where so many souls will be saved. And, daughter, you will spread the message from nation to nation.” It was something so incredible, that I thought I was not going to be able to cope with it.
Then, I had to work as an office clerk, as a typist and stenographer. Do you know how old I was? Sixteen, but I had to say I was eighteen.
There has been pain in my soul, but there has been joy too. The immense joy that the Lord has led me softly, with grief but also with joy and satisfaction. I have no means of compensating all the warmth and the love that He has given my beloved ones and me.
I have had moments of joy, satisfaction, hope, dreams because every day I received my Lord and I felt that He gave me comfort and consolation. Like when the day came that I had to make a decision. We were at Holy Mass celebrated by Bishop Quintero who afterwards became Cardinal in Venezuela. He would celebrate Mass every day at 6:30 in the morning for the Congregation and then we would stay for a while longer thanking the Lord after receiving Him. And Saint Therese of the Child Jesus appeared to me again. I saw that she had a rose in her hand and that she threw it at me.
Another major event was when the Virgin told me she would come on the 25 of March of that same year, 1976. We were living in Rome, we had already spent two years there because the nonna, the mother of my husband had a health condition and we had to be with her. But on February 11, the Virgin appeared to me and said, “Daughter, go back to Venezuela for the land you have bought is the Promised Land. I will be there on March 25.”
So, I went but I was very worried because I had to leave the family behind. Geo could not fly with me the day I did, he had to travel the next day, so he came in late, a day after the apparition. This made me sad, but I suppose Our Lady wanted it to happen as it did.
We were eighty, Bishop Bernal sent two priests: Father Laboren and… oh, I just forgot his name, he was so good. Well, they celebrated Holy Mass in the house of the farm and we received Holy Communion. Then we went to the grotto. We began to pray the Holy rosary, and all of a sudden, the sun began to spin and we could see it had beautiful colors, then it seemed it was going to fall on top of us. I closed my eyes and knelt, and when I opened them I saw someone beautiful and white appear in front of my eyes. It was the Virgin with her shinning rays that bathed us all. It was so wonderful. She then told me, “These rays, daughter, are light for my children so they may convert, be saved and unite together. I am Mary, Virgin and Mother Reconciler of all People and Nations who has come to bring you all together so that you may hold hands and not allow any division due to your language, religion or caste. All races are my children and I love you all. My little one, and I want to save you, thus, I am here. Pray the rosary this will be your weapon.”
Well, this was so beautiful and from this day on my pilgrimage began. A pilgrimage in different places of Caracas. We also went to Guanare where my Mother appeared, because she also led me since I was a child. I named my house in Saint Joseph after Our Lady of Coromoto of Guanare, and one of my daughters is called Coromoto. She is our Mother because she came to convert the Indians, to give them faith and invite them to be baptized. It is an unparalleled beauty to give light to whomever needs it so they may live an orderly life wherever the Lord sends them! This is the wonderful work Our Lady of Coromoto did, the Blessed Mother, the Patroness of Venezuela with her Son in her arms.
With regard to Betania, on March 25 in 1984 she appeared again. She had warned me in 1978, “Daughter, I shall come in 1984, March 25, and I shall let myself be seen by all of my children. At the beginning you will have to be patient with my Church, with my children, with my priests, my shepherds whom I love. They will understand my apparition in Betania step by step. Thus, calmly you must behave obediently, humbly and in a submissive fashion.”
Bishop Bernal was the current Bishop of Los Teques. We could say that he almost had known me from the moment I was born. He saw me grow and he helped me very much. He was like a father to me. He was the one who received the news of the first apparition in 1976, but he died in 1980. Then came Bishop Pio Bello Ricardo and Our Lady appeared in 1984 before one hundred-and-eight people. We really were one hundred- and-fifty, but when the people began to see Our Lady some got afraid and left the place in a hurry, however the rest of us stayed. She appeared seven times. It was sublime, incredible, it was something that left in the souls of all the people who saw her, an eternal: Thank you, Mother!
She appeared as Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady of Loneliness, Our Lady the Prayerful Mother, Mary Virgin and Mother Reconciler of all People with her Son in her arms. This last apparition lasted half an hour. Then, we felt that the mountain was in flames. “Oh, the farm is burning, it’s burning!” It was the flame of the love of Jesus that was making itself felt. We all embraced and kissed. It was wonderful, unique.
Then I saw her come close to me to say, “Daughter, my little daughter, I am leaving you my Son. Save one another, reconcile with one another, love one another.” Lord, this was so great.
Behold the miracle. The Bishop examined each person and the last to go was I, because I was very scared. Our Lady would tell me, “Do not fear, daughter. But this still is not the time for you to go. The time will come. Everything will be said.” So the day came. I went with my husband and with General Tarre-Mursi who had been in the apparition. They had already given their affidavits, everyone had, the whole community. I introduced myself to him, and what happened next really shocked me. Now we laugh because he just said, “Spit out, spit out whatever you have to say.” It was awful. He smiled and then said, “I wanted to test you.”
And the tests began, day after day, week after week. Sometimes I believed I could not resist anymore. But I must make something clear. When I was young, when it was said that I had something strange, that I had experiences with my Mother. Seven priests came from the Holy See, one was from Spain, Madrid, of the Opus Dei and they gave a very thorough report. They said that what was happening was real, that I had nothing to hide, or deny, and this helped me very much. It was after this, that I went to live with the Sisters. I am telling you this so you may know that I have always been followed.
With time, the Bishop started to go to my house to see the environment, to study all of us including the youngsters.
When Bishop Bernal was alive we created the Betania Foundation, and the Choir Betania came afterwards. The Betania Spiritual Movement was founded more recently. Bishop Bernal celebrated Holy Mass at home, in Church. In short, Bishop Bernal was like a father to me. And I respect Bishop Pio Bello so much. He is a learned man, he has vast knowledge regarding many cultural aspects and he truly is very valuable. At the present time he is sick, he has a delicate condition in which he is losing his sight. He has completely lost one eye. I hope he gets better. This has saddened me very much.
Well, and as I was telling you, the day came in which Venezuela had a celebration because Betania of the holy waters had been accepted by her Holy Church, the Church I love with such infinite love. Since I was a child, Jesus lit my heart with the fire of His love and He has helped me in life.
And now, I beg you to excuse me because this turned out to be too long, but I do not know, my Mother wanted me to say these things. I only do what she asks me to do. Sometimes this embarrasses me, but I do not know, she is so generous, humble and compassionate with her children that we often feel so small for such a great, beautiful, perfect, sweet, and balanced reality. Mary is the perfect balance. Mary is fortitude for all her children. She gives us strength and courage. She conditions the soul. She gives her advice to each one and we must listen.
Let us love the gift of counsel very much; let us also love the gift of understanding, of piety and now the gift of wisdom. The Lord grants His wisdom to whom truly is in need of it. The seven gifts are beautiful. I love them all with great humility because it is the Holy Spirit who is blowing upon all of us, offering us peace, serenity and our daily joy.
I thank you for your patience, serenity, humility and for your wish to share a better tomorrow, all of us very united, as we are in this beautiful parish. This splendid parish gives us the love of the Patriarch Saint Joseph, of its parish priest, and of the priests who have come to celebrate just like when the great day of the Wedding in Cana took place. “They do not have wine”, His Mother, told Jesus. The vessels were filled again and all the guests were able to drink. Let us drink from that wine that the Lord is offering us. He is offering us his Body and his Blood. He is with us.
Let us live for that Blood and for that Mystical Body as true children of God following the evangelization, the preparation for evangelization. Let us help one another, follow one another guided by the shepherds who listen to us and wish to comfort our souls. They are the teachers, the professors; they are the ones who have been called by Jesus, by Mary, by the Father who is in heaven. The Holy Spirit is working in them and working in us. Amen.
Thank you. Blessed be God. Thank you, Father. Thank you all. You have touched my heart, and my soul. Thank you for the opportunity to share with you, to be here with all these mothers. Mothers are the hope of those future generations that will save the world, of those who are growing, the youngsters, because a great generation is coming. Do not think that sometimes life turns so hard that it is right to believe our time has come, or that we should do away with our life, no. Our life is to live it gloriously with the Risen Christ, every day with Jesus in the Eucharist.
I thank you all.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
