Garabandal and the beatitudes of the Gospel

Veni + PAX 

Hail Mary, Queen of Peace 

Every true Marian experience is, at its core, an initiation into the mystery of Christ. Mary does not place herself at the center; she takes us by the hand and leads us, in silence, to the place where the Son speaks. Garabandal is not a stage for curiosities, but a threshold: there, the Mother calls her children to climb again the Mount of Beatitudes. It is not about new revelations, but about an insistent echo of the Gospel, addressed to a weary, distracted, and wounded time. Garabandal introduces us to a spiritual pedagogy that involves the awareness of sin, the seriousness of Christian life, and the hope that springs from conversion. It is a spirituality that educates the gaze, purifies the heart, and prepares the soul for the encounter with God. The Beatitudes are the beating heart of this path. In Garabandal, Mary seems to tell us: "Return to the Gospel. Return to the essential. Return to what truly makes man happy." 

1. Poor in Spirit: Entering the Mystery Through Smallness 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 

Garabandal is born from hiddenness. A small village. Simple children. No human strategy. No power. Only available hearts. Spiritual poverty is not lack, but open space. It is the heart that does not close in on itself, that does not consider itself self-sufficient. Mary, who chose Nazareth, also chooses Garabandal. She moves naturally where there is humility. Mystagogy begins here: to enter the mystery, one must empty oneself. Only the poor in spirit can welcome God's visit, because they do not try to dominate it, explain it, or possess it. Garabandal invites us to a silent examination: what are we full of? Ideas? Pride? Human security? Or a simple trust that abandons itself into God's hands? 

2. Those Who Weep: Tears That Purify the Gaze 

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." 

There is a grave, almost sorrowful tone in Garabandal. Mary speaks of sin, of the loss of the sense of the sacred, of indifference towards the Eucharist. She does not do this to frighten, but to awaken. Her words are like a mirror: they reveal what the heart prefers not to see. The tears here are not of fear, but of truth. They are tears that restore to man the awareness of his condition before God. The weeping of conversion is profoundly Paschal: it is pain that already contains promise. In the mystagogy of Garabandal, we learn that whoever does not weep for their sins has not yet begun to see clearly. Mary leads us to this fruitful weeping, which prepares for true consolation: reconciliation with God. 

3. The Meek: Letting Oneself Be Led by the Hand of the Mother 

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." 

Meekness is the virtue of those who do not resist God's action. The children of Garabandal do not lead the experience; they are led. They walk, often with their eyes closed, trusting completely in the invisible presence of Mary. This image is profoundly mystagogical: faith begins when we accept not seeing everything. The meek person does not control, does not impose, does not force. They allow themselves to be formed. Garabandal educates the soul for serene obedience, far from rebellion and also from fear. Mary teaches that the true possession of the earth—of one's own life, of one's own history—only happens when one learns to trust. 

4. Hunger and thirst for justice: desiring God above all else 

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." 

The justice that Mary evokes in Garabandal is not sociological, but interior and moral. It is the righteousness of the heart before God. It is the coherence between faith and life. It is the courage not to compromise the truth. Spiritual hunger is a sign of the soul's health. Those who no longer hunger for God risk living anesthetized. Garabandal awakens this hunger: it calls for frequent confession, for a well-lived communion, for the seriousness of the Christian life. Mystagogically, Mary teaches us to desire correctly. Only those who hunger for what is just will be satisfied by God himself. 

5. Merciful: the favorable time of return 

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." 

Even when speaking of punishments, the tone of Garabandal is maternal. Mary warns because there is still time. The warning is, paradoxically, an act of mercy. God does not want to surprise man in sin, but to awaken him before his heart hardens. The mystagogy of mercy involves intercession: praying for sinners, offering sacrifices, spiritually carrying others before God. Mary forms souls capable of loving responsibly, without naiveté, but also without despair. To be merciful, here, is to share in the heart of the Mother, who suffers for her children who stray.

6. Pure in Heart: Seeing God with Simplicity

 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 

Purity in Garabandal is not merely moral; it is inner transparency. It is a unified heart, without duplicity. The children watch because they hide nothing. They do not calculate. They do not manipulate. 4. The vision of God is the fruit of a simplified heart. Mary leads her children on a path of purification of the senses, desires, and intentions. In a fragmented world, Garabandal proposes the wholeness of the heart. Mystagogically, we learn that seeing God is not an extraordinary privilege, but the fruit of a life purified by love. 

7. Peacemakers: The Peace Born of Reconciliation 

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." 

The peace that Mary desires is not superficial. It is born of confession, of the Eucharist, of life in a state of grace. Garabandal reminds us that there is no peace without truth, nor reconciliation without conversion. The peacemaker is the one who, reconciled inwardly, becomes a presence of serenity in the world. Mary forms children capable of bringing this silent peace, which makes no noise, but transforms environments. 

8. Persecuted for righteousness' sake: to remain 

"Blessed are you when they persecute you…" 

All true fidelity passes through the test. Garabandal teaches us to persevere without resentment, to remain in the Church, even amidst misunderstandings. Mary prepares her children for an adult faith, capable of traversing the night. The last beatitude is that of hope. Whoever remains, even without seeing everything clearly, already participates in the Kingdom. 

Mary teaches us to live the Gospel on our knees. 

Garabandal is, in essence, a true school of interiority, where God educates the soul not through an excess of words, but through the pedagogy of silence, waiting, and daily conversion. There, Mary does not present herself as someone who solves problems immediately, nor as someone who offers easy answers to human anxieties. She presents herself as Mother and Teacher, leading her children inward, to the place where conscience is illuminated and the heart is called to truth. In Garabandal, catechesis is not theoretical, but existential. One learns by walking, praying, suffering, kneeling. One learns to listen more than to speak, to watch more than to demand, to wait more than to control. It is a school where the essential is not learned with curious eyes, but with an open heart. Therefore, there silence is not absence, but presence: the presence of God who calls, of Mary who accompanies, of grace that works in depth. 

Mary does not offer spiritual shortcuts or promises of ease. She points, with maternal firmness, to the narrow path of the Beatitudes, the one that passes through humility, purity of heart, hunger for justice, mercy, and the capacity to suffer for love. It is a path that demands seriousness, concrete conversion, and daily fidelity. In Garabandal, it is understood that faith is not a passing emotion, but a persevering decision; it is not a spectacle, but surrender. There, Mary calls us to live the Gospel on our knees: in an attitude of adoration, supplication, and recognition of our smallness. On our knees, the heart opens, pride dissolves, and hope is purified. It is in this inner posture that the soul learns to trust, even without human guarantees, even when everything seems obscure. Mary does not promise a road without a cross, but assures us, with the authority of one who knows the Heart of the Son, that it is worthwhile to trust. 

Garabandal is, therefore, an invitation to a more mature, more silent, and more rooted faith. A faith that is not sustained by extraordinary signs, but by the conversion of the heart. A faith that accepts climbing the mountain, even when tired, because it knows that there, at the top, the Word continues to resound. And in the silence—which does not pass, which does not age, which does not fall silent—Mary continues to lead us to the Mount. There, where the Son still looks at us with mercy and truth, and continues to say, today as yesterday, with the eternal force of the Gospel: "Blessed are you." 

From the little City of Mary, with prayers and my priestly blessing + 

Garabandal Apostolate, February 2026