GUARDIAN ANGELS
E: Guardian Angels?
B: They are all together. Naturally, one's own Guardian Angel should be invoked in particular; or if one has several, they should all be invoked. You priests especially, have more than one of them. There are some of you who have two or three Guardian Angels... if you are involved in Work of the Angels, according to the responsibility that they have to fulfill. But also... we do not want to speak any more.
E: In the name...!
B: ...but most of the time, the rest of the priests also receive a second Guardian Angel at their priestly ordination, unless they have only a very limited responsibility when one great and competent Angel is enough. But most of the time, priests receive a second one.
E: Do bishops have even more Guardian Angels?
B: Yes, their Angels are assigned to them according to the importance of their function and their burden... I must explain that the Guardian Angels are all great, but they do not all possess the same might and power of protection. There are all kinds of them: it is in the hands and the disposition of God.
It can happen that the Guardian Angel of a child who has grown up not having the dignity or the protective power of a great one (1), or even an Archangel, may be assigned to another child; and that this man who is grown up and who is subject to greater trials, may have a more powerful one allotted to him.
That is how God, He up there (he points upward), treats you. He does everything for your greatest good - He orders and directs and does everything; you really have no idea of what He does. Thus it is that His Paternal Eyes watch over you. And as for us, down below (he points downward), what do we have? (With a tremendous sigh:) Ah! We do not like speaking about the Angels!
E: You have been able to teach us wonderful things about the Angels. We are going to thank the Blessed Virgin especially for that.
B: But then, She is always wanting something, something which is in opposition to our schemes.
(1) This means an Angel superior in rank, and therefore in power
PRAYER MUST PRECEDE AND ACCOMPANY THE ACTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
E: In the name...!
B: I must get back to Confirmation. If such a candidate has not prayed to the Holy Spirit beforehand, and prays to him even less afterwards, he will never be a true Soldier of Christ. He will drift along, he will follow the crowd. He now receives far fewer graces than if the Sacrament were still administered in the proper way, with all the oil and with all the words which were said formerly.[63]
The candidate should also, to as great a degree as possible, make his own commitment to become a true Soldier of Christ; then he would not change direction to the left[64] at the first trifle which is found to be blocking his way. Being a Soldier of Christ means putting oneself alongside Christ and the Church, even when that becomes difficult - even when it becomes difficult on all sides.
There are some situations where one is pilloried by the world and where one would prefer not to hold fast in front of men to what should be done and said. But it must be done, because Christ has said: “He who will acknowledge me before men, I too will acknowledge him before My Father.”[65] That happens only when one really does the right thing and is a true Soldier of Christ.
E: Say what the Most Blessed Virgin wishes! Tell us the whole truth!
B: During all of your life, it must be remembered that you carry an ineffaceable mark. When a man has been confirmed and bears this ineffaceable mark, we can torment him much more in Hell than one who has never been confirmed. But, nevertheless, he who has been confirmed has much more strength to resist evil and to do good, than he who has not been.
E: In the name of the Most Blessed Virgin...!
THE SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE
B: And then marriage. One cannot say: “Now that we are engaged, and will, in any case, be getting married, we can, to all intents and purposes, consider ourselves as married; and therefore, we can do and allow ourselves whatever we like. Are we not made for each other?” One cannot do that! Those up there (he points upward) do not want that.
Self-denial and sacrifices are necessary, until the day when one will approach the altar with his or her fiancé(e), to seal the union before a priest and before Those up there (again he points upward)... before the Church, and before everyone, before all the Angels and Saints... for one's whole life.
When people who live in a free union - we have had to say this before - have not learnt how to practice self-denial and to make sacrifices, they will be no more able to do that within marriage.
It often happens... that a protestant man and a catholic woman, or the other way around, come and say: “Father, what should we do? Is there no solution? We would very much like to be married in the Catholic church.” They still say that. If only they had reflected beforehand, that marriage with a Protestant constitutes danger. So they come, and the priest holds out his hands to them and says: “Yes, we have our way of doing that. You can both come to the Catholic Church. We will make it an ecumenical service.”
That pleases the people; they lap it up. The Protestants in particular, say: “It was great for us to see something like that. It has done a lot for us.” Naturally, they do not see what a loss of graces and blessings the mixed marriage represents for the Catholic party. A good Catholic may not contract a protestant marriage. What will happen later on? The mother-in-law, the father-in-law, will assert themselves... and it will be very difficult for the Catholic partner to persevere.
Not to mention the fact that married life can often become very difficult, when the crosses will come unexpectedly and the husband and wife will have misunderstandings. If at those times, they do not share the same religion, or the same religious persuasion, that is an extra very heavy cross. Also, these things often give rise to arguments and irritations. Married life is often enough very rough.
We must say this in addition... She (he points upward) makes me say that everyone, before keeping company (going steady) (young men and young women alike), or when on the point of doing so, must without any delay, ask the prospective partner which religious persuasion he or she belongs to. If necessary, it must not go on; the logical conclusion must be drawn: break it off as becomes a good Soldier of Christ.
E: Heaven does not want mixed marriages?
B: Heaven does not want mixed marriages. It tolerates them, but it doesn't like them.
E: I believe that these are the things you had to tell us about the Sacraments; now would the Most blessed Virgin like you to tell us anything more about them? In the name...!
B: The Sacrament of Marriage must be contracted with all possible seriousness. Many years ago, at Cana, Christ first of all prayed for that couple, he exhorted them and counseled them about the life they should lead. He had them enclosed within His Heart. He loved them very much.
People who are invited to a wedding should also have the intention of praying in a special way for the young couple. Every time there is a marriage, all the people involved in the wedding, parents and friends, should pray, nothing but pray, for the couple so that they may attain the highest place in their state of life, that they may fulfill their spousal duties until death separates them. The whole matter should be taken much more seriously than it is.
E: “Until death separates them?”, in the name of the Father...![66]