There is an interesting book from 1993 entitled, Get Us Out of Here!! Maria Simma Speaks With Nicky Eltz, by Nicky Eltz. In
this book, Maria Simma describes her experiences with candid simplicity
and responds wisely to the interviewer’s countless questions.
In the
first place, it shows the souls in Purgatory as our real brothers and
sisters who are in need of our help and compassion. It also spurs
readers on to a greater love for God, helps one to understand how much
is still left to give to God if we do not want to atone for our sins and
omissions in Purgatory, and how to live the Eucharist with greater
devotion. Moreover, in several moments and manners, this book
touches on Our Blessed Mother’s messages and the warnings she gave in
the apparitions in San Sebastian de Garabandal. I thought we could benefit greatly studying and reflecting upon them.
We find the
first reference to Garabandal in Maria Simma’s words a few pages into
the book. Nicky Eltz had not asked about Garabandal. His question was,
“Do the holy souls in Purgatory know what is going to happen?” However,
Maria responded by making reference to something that is very similar to what we know as the “Warning” in Garabandal, one of the prophetic events announced to the visionaries by the Virgin Mary. These are Maria Simma’s words: “Yes, they know something, but not everything. They told me that something very important is going to happen, and that it is approaching. For many years they said that it was “in front of the door,” but since May 1993 they used the expression “at the door.” It will be something for the conversion of humanity.”
Simma is
conscious of the fact that it is difficult to believe such an answer.
Therefore, to the souls and her own credibility, she points out two
situations in which the souls warned her of things that shortly
afterward were fulfilled: “On a smaller scale, they have told me about
things that happened shortly afterwards. During the summer of 1954, they
warned me about the floods that did so much damage to this region. On
another occasion they also told me that there were still people under
the snow after an avalanche. The rescue teams prolonged their search and
sure enough managed to find and save those people two days after they
were asked to please continue the search.” Some pages further along, the interviewer asks about upcoming events again. “Have
the souls told you anything specific about their future?” Maria Simma
responds, alluding once again to something that seems to have to do with
the prophecies in Garabandal “Not in detail, but, on several occasions,
they have said that something very important is at the door; it is
right in front of us. But I do not know if I will still be here to see
it. Like I said before, it will come from God and will be for the conversion of all. God
will make his existence very clear, but even so, not everyone will
convert his or her heart to Him.” Later on, Maria insists, “I think that God will reveal Himself very, very soon because we have gone too far away from Him.”
Nicky Eltz
asks Maria Simma a very serious question, “What could you tell me about
Satan and the activity he carries out currently?” to which she responds
with an affirmation that should not surprise us too much, for we have
the evidence right before us. “He has never been so strong or active as
he is nowadays.” Eltz continues, “Why do you think that this is so?”
Maria’s answer: “The 20th century is incomparable to any other insofar
as apostasy, murder, greed for money and power, hatred, lack of mercy
and prayer. It is his century! The fact that he has been so
active is also due to Satan’s knowledge of a great event that is going
to take place and that will be for the conversion of humanity. He
knows that soon his strategy will be noticeably weakened, and he always
shouts the loudest before being defeated.” Once again, Maria’s answer
indicates something that is very similar to Garabandal’s Warning.
Finally,
a point arrives in the conversation in which Maria explains what and
where Garabandal is, and how she herself has gone on pilgrimage to it on
several occasions:“Garabandal is a mountainous village in
Spain where Our Blessed Mother appeared to a group of girls in the 60s.
The following warning proceeds from there and is essentially: “A moment
will come in which every person on earth will see the condition of his
or her own soul, and many will die of fear upon seeing it.” It is the
same thing that happens to everyone at the moment of his or her death,
but this will happen to all simultaneously.”
To
understand the connection between what the souls told Maria Simma and
what the Virgin Mary told the girls in Garabandal, all you have to do is
read the visionaries’ testimonies. Yet, the fact that each time
the souls refer to things that are going to happen, according to Maria
Simma’s testimony, it doesn’t fail to leave the impression that they
could by referring to the Warning. It is as if they were
insisting on the fact that there is nothing more important within our
reach than that of the salvation of souls. This is certainly the case if
we believe in Everlasting Life, taking our salvation into consideration
with deep longings to go to Heaven.
The girls in Garabandal point out that before the Warning comes, the Church will have to go through a “great tribulation,” a difficult trial in which external and internal factors would be included: Persecution:
“[The Church] would give the impression of being at the point of
perishing,” and a faith crisis: “Many will have left the practice of
religion.” The souls in Purgatory corroborate it. This is
how Maria Simma describes it: “The souls in Purgatory commented to me
that the Church is in the worst state of her history. They have
also informed me, though, that the situation would improve and that we
ought to have hope. Peaceful times will come. Nonetheless, before this
happens, there will be a great storm, but which Our Blessed Mother
does not want us to worry about, think of, or assume about. God always
takes care of his children. This great storm will include the prophecies
of La Salette, which announce that something that we have never seen
before is drawing nearer to us. It will also include the prophecies of
Fatima, the warning of Garabandal, and the secrets kept by the
“children” in Medjugorje.” What we have to pray the most for is the
United States. There, they have not suffered a war in their own nation
during this century. Pride, greed, occultism, sects, abortion, and
materialism abound there. According to what the souls say, what is at
the door will affect the United States dramatically.”
Besides
the prophecies regarding the Warning, Miracle, and Chastisement, in
Garabandal the Virgin Mary gave two public messages. Among the topics
that they concern, there as an important warning about the priestly
crisis, which escapes the majority of the faithful’s notice, incubated
in the heart of the Church: “Many cardinals, many bishops, and many
priests are on the road to perdition and are taking many souls with
them.” Maria knows that there are many priests, bishops, and cardinals
in Purgatory. She also knows that some priests, bishops and cardinals
have been lost forever in hell, and she certainly knows that those who
are most responsible for the present situation in which the Church finds
Herself, are priests. Maria Simma expresses it herself: “The souls in Purgatory told me that the Church today is in a worse state than it ever has been before. The sin of apostasy reigns all over, and priests are considered the most responsible for it. Instead
of praying and teaching the Word, it seems as if they run from one
place to another to study psychology, rhetoric, accounting, or whatever
to learn how to get closer to their public. They are the ones who have
to show people how to get closer to Jesus and Mary through prayer and
should not try to be conformed or be “up to date” with this very
secularized society.”
Before these declarations, Nicky Eltz dares to ask, “Should we be afraid of such warnings?” to which Maria responds, “Only if we are very far from God and full of sin will
we have reasons to be afraid, but if we strive to be with Him
constantly, we have nothing to fear... We should never, ever become
anxious, because fear comes from Satan alone. If we sincerely try to live with God every day, He will protect us from all that is to come. The
people who pray will be safe, but those who do not pray will be
surprised with their guard lowered and thus unprotected. It is that
simple: we have to trust in God and in his Mother with a childlike
trust.”