AND NOW for some other interesting tidbits between the Blessed Mother and Jacinta:
Q. Did the Blessed Virgin ever speak about St. Joseph?
A. I don’t remember if she did.
Q. Do you remember when the Virgin told you that the Churches would unite?
A. I don’t remember when but she did say that the Churches would unite.
Q. Did she say if it would be the Catholics and the Protestants or did it include, for example, the Orthodox Church as well?
A. All would reunite into the Catholic Church.
Q. All would come into the Catholic Church?
A. She didn’t name the other Churches but said that all would come into the Catholic Church. The way she said it was all humanity would be within one Church, the Catholic Church. She also said it was very important to pray for this intention.
Q. Did she indicate when this would take place?
A. No, but the more we pray the faster it will happen.
Q. Sometimes you had apparitions alone with the Blessed Virgin. Do you remember some of the things you would talk about?
A. I remember her talking to me the way a mother would talk to her daughter about everything.
Q. Did she prefer to discuss certain subjects as opposed to others?
A. The subject the Blessed Virgin seemed to prefer the most was the subject of priests.
Q. In the first Message, the Virgin asks for penance and sacrifice. What does that mean to you?
A. For me the word sacrifice means accepting the difficult things, the things one does not like.
Q. Did the Blessed Mother ever indicate to you what would be a sacrifice or a penance?
A. She never specifically indicated. She did say how we should act; to be simple, honest and obedient.
Q. Did Our Lady ever give you any personal guidelines for your life such as certain prayers you should say every day?
A. The first prayer the Virgin recommended was the holy rosary and then the “Confiteor” before receiving holy Communion and the prayer “Soul of Christ” afterwards.
Q. Did the Blessed Virgin ever speak to you about the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
A. Yes, she did. Now there are people who want to do away with it but the Virgin said it was very important.
Q. Did she say how often one should go?
A. As far as I remember, she didn’t indicate how often one should go but said that it was important that one recognize within one’s self that they had sinned in order to make an effort not to do so and to improve one’s self. Today there are many people who give no importance to sin.
Q. Did the Virgin ever speak about purgatory?
A. Yes.
Q. Did she actually use the word purgatory?
A. Yes, because she said many souls go there.
Q. During the apparitions, the Blessed Virgin taught you to recite the rosary very slowly. Do you think she did this only because you were children who should learn to say it properly or do you think it was meant as an example that everyone should follow?
A. It was meant as an example for everyone.
Q. When you recited the Hail Mary in ecstasy, bystanders heard you say, “. . . holy Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. . . “ Did the Blessed Virgin ever say anything to you about adding that phrase or innovation?
A. She said she liked it very much but that we shouldn’t use it until the Church approved of it.
Q. How did you come to use it? Did you decide among yourselves beforehand that you would say it that way or did it just come out spontaneously while you were praying in ecstasy?
A. It just suddenly came out. As we were praying we just felt it inside of us. We wanted to tell her that she was our mother too.
Q. Did all four of you say it at the same time?
A. I don’t exactly remember but it seems as though it just came out.
Q. Do you remember while praying the Creed in ecstasy adding the words “apostolic and Roman”?
A. Of course, this is the way the Creed is supposed to be said.
Q. Of all the teachings you received from Our Lady, which one has made the greatest impression on you?
A. For me, it was obedience. Once when the Virgin was to appear to me at about three in the morning, my father wanted me to go to bed so I complained to him. Then the Virgin didn’t appear to me for a month and when she finally did, she explained to me the reason she hadn’t come was because I had not been obedient to my father.
Q. Did you ever think of becoming a nun?
A. Yes, many times after the Blessed Virgin appeared I thought of becoming a nun. Before the apparitions, no.
Q. Many people have the idea that those to whom the Blessed Mother appears should become religious whereas all the Garabandal visionaries have married. What would you say to those who think you should have become sisters or nuns?
A. I used to think the same way myself. But what I would say to those people is that a person must follow their vocation. Later, I realized that it was not my vocation to become a nun and had I become one I think it would have been like a condemnation because I wouldn’t have been able to live up to what I was supposed to do.
