The Sacred Heart at Garabandal

Dear Friends,

This Friday, June 23 2006, marks the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was through an apparition to Saint Margaret Mary in 1690 that devotion to the Sacred Heart was made known. Our Lord indicated to St. Margaret Mary two special ways of honoring Him. He requested a Communion of Reparation every First Friday and a weekly Holy Hour of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.

The Sacred Heart appeared forty five years ago to the visionary Jacinta at Garabandal in June of 1961. A brief retelling of this event follows:

The Sacred Heart at Garabandal

It happened shortly after the events began while the four seers were still enjoying the visits of St. Michael the Archangel but before the Blessed Virgin had appeared for the first time.

One evening, in anticipation of their vision, the four girls went to the calleja, the rock filled lane where the angel had been appearing to them. Soon Conchita, Mari Loli and Mari Cruz fell into ecstasy and saw the angel before them while Jacinta, a short distance behind them, couldn’t see anything. Suddenly she too was in ecstasy, only this time her vision was different from theirs.

Before her, about eight to ten feet away, was Jesus standing on a small cloud a few feet above the ground. His heart, slightly off center on the left side of His body, was a brilliant red with rays of white and gold streaming from it. With his left hand He pointed to His Heart and with the right, beckoned for the girl to come to Him. But she couldn’t move even if she wanted to. His glance, while a look of incomparable love, transfixed her and riveted her to the spot.

He wore a white robe with a red garment that hung diagonally down across the body from the right shoulder. His hair, beard and eyes were dark and His skin coloring “normal”. Jacinta later described Him as “the handsomest of men.” Against a cloud-like background, brilliant rays of light emanated from His body that even exceeded in brightness the subsequent visions of Our Lady.

A few moments later He was gone; the vision was over and the child now out of ecstasy, was back to normal.

Sacred Heart of Jesus…Have mercy on us!