Keep an eye on Joey Lomangino who marked his 83rd birthday on Oct. 5 last year.
Joey who? Why? He is a successful businessman from Brooklyn, New York. When he was 16 years old, he lost his senses of vision and smell after a part of a tire he overinfl ated lashed against his face.
Thirty years later, following years of poverty wrought by the accident upon his family and then after later becoming a successful businessman, he was persuaded by an uncle to visit the already famous stigmatist Padre Pio in Foggio, Italy.
Joey went to confession to Padre Pio who, to his surprise, already knew who he was. The good padre said he could not restore Joey’s vision, but rather, the eyes of his soul. All of a sudden, Joey’s sense of smell was restored and his conversion germinated fast.
One day, Joey’s uncle was talking about reported apparitions of the Blessed Mother in Garabandal, Spain starting in 1961 and he was persuading Joey to visit the place. Having developed full trust and confi dence in Padre Pio. Joey decided to consult the stigmatist first.
Joey asked Padre Pio whether the Blessed Mother was indeed appearing in Garabandal, and the padre replied: Yes. Then he followed up with the question of whether he should go there, to which the padre replied: Why not?
And so Joey went there and became a close friend of Garabandal visionaries Conchita, Jacinta, Mari Loli and Mari Cruz. The Garabandal apparitions have not yet been approved by the Vatican, but with not only Padre Pio but also Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Pope Paul VI as believers, can there be any room for doubt?
In Garabandal, the Blessed Mother prophesied three things: a Warning that would be experienced by all people in the world and that this would enable all to see the condition of their souls as God sees them, to be followed within a year by a Miracle that would be visible at the pines in Garabandal, would remain there until the end of the world, could be televised but not touched, be understood as being supernatural.
And then, the last prophecy was premised on whether mankind would convert towards God or not: a Chastisement worse than Noah’s flood. The prophecy was repeated with more terrifying details in the Blessed Mother’s apparition to Sister Agnes Sasagawa in Akita, Japan in the 1970’s.
So why keep watch on Joey? Because the Blessed Mother mentioned him in regard to the Garabandal prophecies. The Mother said that when the Miracle occurs, Joey would see it because his physical eyes would then be restored. Meaning Joey would be physically alive when the Miracle happens, unlike Padre Pio.
You see, the Blessed Mother also said Padre Pio would also see the Miracle, but he died before any such miracle was witnessed by the world in Garabandal. A confi dant of Padre Pio attested after his death, however, that the saintly padre indeed witnessed the Miracle all by himself before he died.
As I said, Joey marked his 83rd birthday on Oct. 5 last year. He is no longer young. I and some other followers of Garabandal think that the Blessed Mother’s citing Joey in regard to the miracle is her way of giving us some hint on approximately when the Miracle would occur.
And the Warning too, because the Miracle is supposed to follow within a year after the Warning. Among the messages conveyed by the Blessed Mother to us all is the old-fashioned Boy Scouts slogan: BE PREPARED.
At least for the Warning and the Miracle, in the hope that the Chastisement would not be necessary after all.
