NV-OL Good Success

NOVENA IN PREPARATION FOR OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS
(feast day February 2nd)

What is a Novena?
A novena is a traditional devotion consisting of specific prayers recited on nine successive days. Besides being a form of praise, a novena is frequently offered for a particular intention. The first novena took place in the Cenacle, during the nine days preceding Pentecost, or the coming of the Holy Ghost. As a regular popular custom, this practice began in 12th century Christianity and continues to be beneficial today as a way of praying for healing, protection or other blessings for ourselves or others.

This particular novena is prayed to God in honor of and thanksgiving for the gift of the assistance of His most Holy Mother in our needs and enterprises.. In praying this Novena, as in the case of all prayer, it is good to begin by opening ourselves wholeheartedly to God's will, offering a simple act of trust in God's wisdom and in His providential love for us all, that disposes all things for the ultimate benefit of our souls and their salvation.

How to Pray This Novena
This novena is based on the history of the events leading up to the feast of Our Lady of Good Success. Each day of the novena is divided into the following parts: (1) a short extract from the history of Our Lady of Good Success; (2) the actual words spoken by Our Lady to Mother Mariana; (3) an occasional quote from Holy Scripture (4) a Meditation; (5) a Prayer; (6) after mentioning your intention, pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary; (7) a Closing Prayer.

Traigueras is located on the western side of Spain.

Pope Paul V

Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared.

Mariana was born in the Basque Region of Spain, in the north-western province of Viscay (top left on the above map).

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1850.

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1920.

The current Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, has replaced the previous buildings as is a modern concrete structure. It was built in 1975.

A priest saying Mass before the statue of Our Lady of Good Success.

ABOVE: The bodies of the Founding Mothers are found encased beneath the altar in the convent. BELOW: A close up of the bodies beneath the altar.

FIRST DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme:  Without Mary, there can be no success.

“Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may thy light shine upon me, so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to Heaven.”

The History Behind Our Lady of Good Success:
In 1607, two Spanish friars, Brothers Gabriel de Fontaned and Guillermo de Rigosa traveled to Rome to meet the Pope for the approval to establish a religious order—The Order of Minims for the Service of the Sick or The Order of Saint Francis of Paola. As they were passing through the town of Traigueras, a furious storm descended upon them. The brothers prayed for God’s guidance and help. Immediately they saw a mysterious light coming from a cave in a cliff. Climbing up, they entered and found a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary holding the Baby Jesus in her arms. They reported being surrounded by shimmering lights and fragrant scents. As no one in the nearby town knew anything about the cave and the statue, the two of them claimed the statue and took it with them on their journey to Rome, hoping that the Blessed Mother would help in getting approval for the foundation of their religious order.

On arriving in Rome, the brothers were worried that they might not obtain papal consent. However, Pope Paul V on hearing the story of their journey, knelt before the statue and placed his pectoral cross around the its neck. As he embraced and kissed the statue, he said: “Look Brothers! She is smiling! Why does she smile so? What good success you have had on this journey! There is no doubt that Our Lady has deigned to protect and support you in your work. Therefore it will not be me that will go against Her. May all of your efforts obtain good success!”

The Pope then blessed it and christened her Our Lady of Good Success. The image was placed in the Royal Hospital of Madrid, where it became famous “for the numerous favors granted by Heaven through her.” In 1641, King Philip III of Spain ordered the construction of the Church of Our Lady of Good Success. This enshrines the image renowned among the churches of Madrid. Soon, as its popularity and devotion spread, the image was replicated in several other places in Spain.

The Words of Our Lady:
On February 2, 1610, as Mariana was praying, the Blessed Mother appeared to her and commanded a statue to be made to her likeness. She gave several reasons for this: “First so that men, in the future, might realize how powerful I am in placating Divine Justice and obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner who comes to me with a contrite heart. For I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love. When tribulations of spirit and sufferings of the body oppress them and they seem to be drowning in this bottomless sea let them gaze at my holy image and I will always be there ready to listen to their cries and soothe their pain. Tell them that they should always run to their Mother with confidence and love...”

Meditation:
We may be tempted to think that the patronage of Our Lady of Good Success is all about for material success. This is not the original Spanish meaning of the title given to Our Lady. The title "Virgen del Buen Suceso" has its origin with Pope Paul V who gave this name to a Marian image which he entrusted as patroness to the Brothers of the Venerable Bernardin Obregón as patroness in 1607.

The invocation of “good success,” as orgiinally understood in Spanish, refers to the happy and successful development of the gestation of Christ from the Conception to Birth. The invocation of “good success” was understood by the faithful, in its original meaning, as a simple plea for safe childbirth. This also has a spiritual application, for as St. Louis de Montfort writes: "St. Augustine, surpassing himself, and going beyond all I have yet said, affirms that all the predestinate, in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, are in this world hidden in the womb of the most holy Virgin, where they are guarded, nourished, brought up and made to grow by that good Mother, until she has brought them forth to glory after death, which is properly speaking the day of their birth" (True Devotion to Mary).

This easily extended to the invocation of Mary's meditation and intercession in times of personal need, such as sickness, journeys, marriage, etc.The expression later broadened further and was understood in the sense of good success in various undertakings. For example, its popularity in the seafaring regions, indicates a connection with sea voyages. Sailors would ask Mary for a safe return to port. The extended meaning can also be that of a holy death. In short, "suceso", meaning success or luck, refers to well-being and safety, where strictly human means find no solution.

[Quiet Reflection]

Act of Repentance:
I believe in Thee, O my God. Strengthen, O Lord, my faith. I hope in Thee, O my God. Affirm, O Lord, my hope. I love Thee, O my God; increase, O Lord, my love. I repent of having offended Thee. O my God, help me to have contrition, so that with the help of Thy grace and the powerful patronage of Holy Mary of Good Success, I may never sin again. O Lord, have pity and mercy on me. Amen.

Opening Prayer:
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven, Holy Mary of Good Success, most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father, most beloved Mother of the Divine Son, most cherished Spouse of the Holy Spirit, sublime Throne of the Divine Majesty, August Temple of the Holy Trinity, in whom the Three Divine Persons have placed the treasures of Their Power, Wisdom and Love!

Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success, whom God hath made so great so that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners; remember that thou hast often promised to show thyself a merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee. I come to thee then, Mother most merciful, and I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High, that thou should obtain for me from God the Father a lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths; from the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that glory that He won for me with His Blood; and from the Holy Ghost, a charity so inflamed that I will always live loving the Supreme Goodness and thee, Most Holy Virgin, until through thy intervention I will love and enjoy thee eternally in glory. Amen.

We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost.  Hail Mary...   Glory be to the Father...

Our Prayer:
O Lord of infinite goodness, by the miraculous making of this image of Mary Most Holy, Thou hast given us a powerful intercessor to whom we might have recourse with total confidence in her amiable protection in our necessity. Grant us the assistance that we are asking with fervor and confidence so that we might know, honor, and serve the Blessed Virgin, and so that by her intercession, we may achieve on this earth our sanctification and afterwards, be happy with her in Heaven. Amen.

Act of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin
O Virgin blessed among all women! We lack the words to give thee thanks for the innumerable blessings that we have received from thy hand. The day of thy birth can be called the day of thanksgiving, happiness, and consolation. Thou art the honor of mankind, the joy of Paradise, the beloved gift of God, and the well-being of our country. What merit do we have, Blessed Virgin of Good Success, to deserve to have thee as our Mother? May God be forever blessed Who hath desired it so! Blessed also art thou, Virgin Mary, because despite our ingratitude, thou dost show us thy propitious favor.

Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our consolation on earth, our refuge, our help, and our protection in both our public and private needs. Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms, earthquakes, and all the calamities that we merit by our guilt. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until death. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

O Immaculate Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost and Mother of the Son; look down with mercy and favor upon me, a helpless sinner, tossed around upon the waves of a tempestuous world. On all sides crash the waves of liberalism, modernism, humanism and materialism, threatening to submerge and sink souls still faithful to Christ. Souls of sinners sing like sirens, seducing us and steering the ships of our souls to shipwreck. Do thou, O Star of the Sea, look down with compassion upon me and safely steer my soul to the harbor of Heaven. Turn aside my mind, my heart and my passions from the vanities and sins of this world, and let me find strength, peace and solace in the contemplation of the mysteries surrounding the birth of thy Divine Son; so that fortified in spirit, I may overcome all temptations and ever grow in the love of thee and thy Son for all eternity. Amen.

Praises to the Holy Virgin
Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent above all on earth.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Above all others, thou wert attentive to the Word of the Father, Who doth great things in thy honor.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy Trinity.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

The Christian world proclaims that thou dost reign on the right side of the King of Kings.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

O Mother of Grace, our Hope! Port of the shipwrecked and star of the sea,
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Gate of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns forever.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Guide our steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot express thy singular grandeur.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final Prayer
We ask thee, our Lord and God, that Thou grant us health of soul and body through the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from the present evils and to attain eternal happiness. Amen.

Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared.

Mariana was born in the Basque Region of Spain, in the north-western province of Viscay (top left on the above map).

Ecuador in on the north-east coastline of South America

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1850.

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1920.

The current Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, has replaced the previous buildings as is a modern concrete structure. It was built in 1975.

A priest saying Mass before the statue of Our Lady of Good Success.

SECOND DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme:  Giving Our Life Over to God.

“Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may thy light shine upon me, so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to Heaven.”

The History Behind Our Lady of Good Success:
In the reading for Day One of the Novena, we saw how the original statue of Our Lady of Good Success received its name—being found in Spain, it was named by Pope Paul V. The next stage in our history is to look at key person who would be later linked to this statue in an unprecedented and unforgettable manner.The story and prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success—many of these messages for our own days—are inseparable from the person and name of Mother Mariana Francisca de Jesus Torres.

This humble Conceptionist religious was Mother Mariana Francisca de Jesus Torres, who was born in 1563 in Spain and died in 1635 in the convent of Quito, Ecuador that she had helped to found. Twice she would die during her lifetime, and each time Our Lord would restore her to life to continue her important mission. During this extraordinary life, she was favored with innumerable and singular gifts from heaven and received many prophecies of the future.

1563 saw the birth of Mariana Francisca in the Basque region of northern Spain, in its north-western province of Viscaya. Heaven had endowed her with beauty, a quick intelligence, a sweet nature, and a strong inclination toward virtue. From childhood, she would shun the games of adolescence and could be found instead in the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament. Her confessor recognized the special religious spirit of the child and allowed her to receive Communion at age 9, at a time when children generally made their First Communion at age 13 or 14. On that much-awaited day, Mariana an ecstasy after receiving Holy Communion, in which the Blessed Virgin explained to her the grandeur of the vow of virginity, asked this of her, and told her she was destined to be a religious of her Immaculate Conception religious order in the New World. She accepted and felt her soul inflamed with an ardent desire to carry out this mission.

In 1577, when Mariana was only 13-years-old, she left Spain in the company of her aunt, a religious of the Conceptionist Order, Mother Maria de Jesus Taboada, and four other religious sisters, to found a branch of the Order of the Immaculate Conception in San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador (South America). Our Lord Himself invited the young girl to leave family and homeland and to take up the cross and great sufferings.

No sooner had they embarked than a tempest, of unimaginable fury, came over the sea. The ship began to sink, and even the sailors themselves were in despair. In the midst of the fury, Mother Maria and the young Mariana saw, in the ocean, a monstrous serpent, with seven heads, that was trying to destroy the ship. They heard a terrible voice that said: "I will not permit this foundation. I will not permit it to go forward. I will not permit it to endure until the end of time, and I will persecute it unceasingly." This was the voice of the serpent crying out, shortly before the waters became calm. At the same time the 13-year-old Mariana understood the providential role that God had destined for this Convent.

Only the two holy virgins understood why the storm had ended so mysteriously. As the waves threatened to swallow the ship, they witnessed the appearance of the Holy Virgin, who carried the Child Jesus in her right arm. He carried a sword that He used to slash the seven heads of the serpent into pieces. To keep this event ever present in the memory of future generations of sisters, Mother Maria ordered a round scapular with this formidable vision of the Virgin and Child defeating the serpent to be made. The Conceptionists of the Royal Monastery in Quito continue to this day to wear this insignia on their habits as a lasting reminder of the momentous event.

The young Mariana fell into an ecstasy, in which she saw the many persecutions the future religious community would suffer throughout the centuries, because of the hatred of the serpent for this convent and the good it was destined to do. She saw that God would permit this for the glory of His most holy Mother. She also was allowed to see all of the saintly religious who would blossom in this convent, as well as the unfaithful souls who would fail to correspond to the grace of their vocations. It is believed that amid these grievous trials suffered while still at sea, Our Lord granted to Mariana, still a young girl, the gift of prophecy.

Meditation:
As a mere 13-year-old girl, Mariana leaves hew family and her homeland, in the company of her aunt (a religious sister) to make a dangerous voyage across the oceans in order to part of the foundation of a convent in a foreign land. Such fortitude would put the courage of many a man to shame. She was a beautiful young girl, very intelligent with a most sweet nature. It was not as though she was short, fat, ugly and bad-tempered; with little hope of anyone wanting to marry her, or with no chance of finding a wealthy husband in her native Spain! On the contrary, her future in Spain could only be judged as being one full of all kinds of wonderful possibilities. Yet she is not interested in the things and attractions of this world; it is for the next world that she is living for!

Mariana would twice die, and would be brought back to life both times by the power of God. Her third death was her final death, from which she never returned. Are we willing to die each day to the false promises, vanities, riches, pleasures and seductions of this world? Is our heart detached from the world and attached to God? Or is our heart detached from God and attached to the world? Do we die to the world and live for God? Or are we dead to God as we live for the world? Let us beg from God, through Our Lady of Good Success, the grace to be able to die to this world so that we can love and serve God alone, through His mist Holy Mother.

[Quiet Reflection]

Act of Repentance:
I believe in Thee, O my God. Strengthen, O Lord, my faith. I hope in Thee, O my God. Affirm, O Lord, my hope. I love Thee, O my God; increase, O Lord, my love. I repent of having offended Thee. O my God, help me to have contrition, so that with the help of Thy grace and the powerful patronage of Holy Mary of Good Success, I may never sin again. O Lord, have pity and mercy on me. Amen.

Opening Prayer:
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven, Holy Mary of Good Success, most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father, most beloved Mother of the Divine Son, most cherished Spouse of the Holy Spirit, sublime Throne of the Divine Majesty, August Temple of the Holy Trinity, in whom the Three Divine Persons have placed the treasures of Their Power, Wisdom and Love!

Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success, whom God hath made so great so that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners; remember that thou hast often promised to show thyself a merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee. I come to thee then, Mother most merciful, and I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High, that thou should obtain for me from God the Father a lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths; from the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that glory that He won for me with His Blood; and from the Holy Ghost, a charity so inflamed that I will always live loving the Supreme Goodness and thee, Most Holy Virgin, until through thy intervention I will love and enjoy thee eternally in glory. Amen.

We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost.  Hail Mary...   Glory be to the Father...

Our Prayer:
O Lord of infinite goodness, by the miraculous making of this image of Mary Most Holy, Thou hast given us a powerful intercessor to whom we might have recourse with total confidence in her amiable protection in our necessity. Grant us the assistance that we are asking with fervor and confidence so that we might know, honor, and serve the Blessed Virgin, and so that by her intercession, we may achieve on this earth our sanctification and afterwards, be happy with her in Heaven. Amen.

Act of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin
O Virgin blessed among all women! We lack the words to give thee thanks for the innumerable blessings that we have received from thy hand. The day of thy birth can be called the day of thanksgiving, happiness, and consolation. Thou art the honor of mankind, the joy of Paradise, the beloved gift of God, and the well-being of our country. What merit do we have, Blessed Virgin of Good Success, to deserve to have thee as our Mother? May God be forever blessed Who hath desired it so! Blessed also art thou, Virgin Mary, because despite our ingratitude, thou dost show us thy propitious favor.

Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our consolation on earth, our refuge, our help, and our protection in both our public and private needs. Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms, earthquakes, and all the calamities that we merit by our guilt. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until death. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

O Immaculate Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost and Mother of the Son; look down with mercy and favor upon me, a helpless sinner, tossed around upon the waves of a tempestuous world. On all sides crash the waves of liberalism, modernism, humanism and materialism, threatening to submerge and sink souls still faithful to Christ. Souls of sinners sing like sirens, seducing us and steering the ships of our souls to shipwreck. Do thou, O Star of the Sea, look down with compassion upon me and safely steer my soul to the harbor of Heaven. Turn aside my mind, my heart and my passions from the vanities and sins of this world, and let me find strength, peace and solace in the contemplation of the mysteries surrounding the birth of thy Divine Son; so that fortified in spirit, I may overcome all temptations and ever grow in the love of thee and thy Son for all eternity. Amen.

Praises to the Holy Virgin
Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent above all on earth.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Above all others, thou wert attentive to the Word of the Father, Who doth great things in thy honor.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy Trinity.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

The Christian world proclaims that thou dost reign on the right side of the King of Kings.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

O Mother of Grace, our Hope! Port of the shipwrecked and star of the sea,
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Gate of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns forever.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Guide our steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot express thy singular grandeur.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final Prayer
We ask thee, our Lord and God, that Thou grant us health of soul and body through the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from the present evils and to attain eternal happiness. Amen.

Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared.

Mariana was born in the Basque Region of Spain, in the north-western province of Viscay (top left on the above map).

Ecuador in on the north-east coastline of South America

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1850.

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1920.

The current Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, has replaced the previous buildings as is a modern concrete structure. It was built in 1975.

In so many churches today, the Blessed Sacrament is abandoned or insulted by sacrileges.

A priest saying Mass before the statue of Our Lady of Good Success.

A close-up of the face of the statue of Our Lady of Good Success

ABOVE: The bodies of the Founding Mothers are found encased beneath the altar in the convent. BELOW: A close up of the bodies beneath the altar.

THIRD DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme:  Suffering for Christ and Sin.

“Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may thy light shine upon me, so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to Heaven.”

The History Behind Our Lady of Good Success:
So far we have seen how the original statue of Our Lady of Good Success received its name—being miraculously found in Spain, and then named by Pope Paul V. We also began to look at the life Mother Mariana Francisca de Jesus Torres, who, as a 13-year-old, left her homeland Spain and her parents to take a perilous (almost disastrous) sea voyage across the oceans to north-eastern South America, in order to help her aunt (a religious of the Conceptionist order) found a convent in Quito Ecuador.

It is almost impossible for us to understand the next phase of the life of the novice Mariana de Jesus Torres. Our Lord Himself told her the religious practices and penances that she must do. Her severe disciplines, sacrifices, fasting and prayer, would frighten and repulse modern-man. Yet suffering is the road that brings union with Christ, there is no other way: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23).

The founding mothers admired her perfect observance of the rule and practice of virtue, but some sisters were envious, and showered her with insults and persecutions. She never tried to justify herself or protest; she placed all her sorrow at the foot of the Tabernacle, from which, one day in 1582, Our Lord emerged suffering as He had on Calvary, with Our Lady weeping at His feet. Then as Our Lord began His Agony, she heard the voice of the Eternal Father saying, "This punishment will be for the 20th century." She saw three swords hanging over the head of Christ. On each sword was written, "I shall punish heresy, blasphemy and impurity." With this, she was given to understand all that would take place in our present era.

Encouraged to do so by Our Lady, Mother Mariana accepted to suffer for this present age that we live in, but upon accepting, the three swords struck her and she died on the spot. She found herself standing before the judgment seat of God, Who found no fault in her and invited her to receive a crown in Heaven. Meanwhile, the convent sisters, not sure whether she was dead or not, were praying frantically for her restoration to life and health. Presented with the choice of staying in Heaven or going back to earth to suffer, she was tempted to choose the former, until Our Lady suggested that she return to suffer for her Conceptionist order on earth.

Trembling yet consoled by the promise of her Divine Mother that one faithful religious would always remain in her convent, Mother Mariana chose to return to the world to suffer. After returning to the world, she dedicated herself with greater zeal to the practice of the monastic life, carrying out the offices of bursar, choirmaster and novice mistress. During this time as novice mistress, Mother Mariana was imprinted interiorly with the Most Sacred Wounds of Our Lord. After this mysterious wounding, her body became stiff and immovable as a rock; only her eyes and mouth could move. At the same time, all sensible consolations were removed, and she entered the dark night of tribulation, suffering an intense interior desolation. The devil appeared to her in the form of a serpent, that tried to tempt her to despair by telling her that everything in her life had been illusions, deceits and lies. Forsaken by Heaven and earth, she suffered without relief feeling herself abandoned even by the Holy Virgin.

On the Feast of the Purification, February 2nd, 1588, after more than a year of this severe abandonment, Our Lady appeared to her to dissipate the darkness of the night of her soul. The Queen of Heaven once again dispelled the infernal serpent. However, after a short time, the mysterious sickness returned, although Mother Mariana no longer suffered the interior pain of abandonment. At noon on Good Friday of that same year, Mother Mariana died for the second time. The funeral Mass and burial was set for Monday. However, on Easter Sunday morning when the grieving nuns entered the upper choir to recite the 4 a.m. Little Office, they found Mother Mariana praying as normal. The sisters screamed and ran in horror, certain that they were seeing a ghost. Mother Mariana had resurrected a second time! This time, she would continue her life of hard penance and continual prayer for 47 more years, until her third and final death in 1635.

Interrogated by her confessor and the abbess, Mother Mariana explained that upon this, her second death, Our Lady had placed her soul in another state of purification and she had suffered a mystical Purgatory, that lasted until 3 a.m. Sunday morning, the same hour Christ had resurrected. He then placed her soul back in her body, restoring it to full strength and vigor. Mother Mariana understood that God had restored her to life so that she could experience, in her own person, how sweet and meritorious it is to suffer and endure pain in imitation of Christ, becoming one with Him in the holocaust for the future of the Church.

Thus was the soul of this humble virgin prepared and purified to receive the apparition of the three Archangels and the Sovereign Empress under the invocation of Our Lady of Good Success, as well as for the great trials and mission reserved for her.

Meditation:
If we envisaged her sufferings and trials, as 13-year-old girl, to be great, then that was only a foretaste of what Our Lord and Our Lady had in store for her later! Part of those future sufferings would be deliberately, willingly chosen penances and sacrifices; another part would come from the penances and sacrifices Our Lord would command her to do; and the final part would come from the God's providential events that would bring her suffering from illnesses and persecutions, as well as the feeling of being totally abandoned by God.

The same has to be true for our own lives. By willingly doing penance and performing sacrifices, we show God that we not just 'fair-weather' Catholics, who like things easy all the time; but that, on the contrary, we humbly regard ourselves as sinners obliged to do penance, and manifest our love of neighbor through our spirit of sacrifice.

Yet, human nature is naturally self-interested and self-preserving, so much so that the penances and sacrifices that most people choose, are calculated to be on the easy side of being hard penances and sacrifices, rather than on the more difficult side of being hard. It is law of the minimalist: get the most you can for the least possible effort.

Therefore, God has to step-in and send us some penances and sacrifices that are calculated to yank us out of our comfort zone, because He knows that we are, more often than not, going to be easy on ourselves. Just as St. Peter writes: "One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8), so too could we say that a thousand self-chosen penances and sacrifices are worth one God-sent penance or sacrifice. Man's solutions are nowhere near and effective as God's solutions. Just like man seeks cures for illnesses and sometimes ends up inventing some gruesome cure, whereas God has already placed cures for all illnesses in nature, that are pleasant, not gruesome, and often cheap or even free and inexpensive, but He will not allow us to discover them due to our sinfulness. If the world was less sinful, then God sent penances would be less frequent and less severe.

Suffering is the touchstone or litmus-test of love. It is what God applies to the soul in order to test the quality of its love. It is also the remedy for sin. In this last sense, everyone has to suffer, because everyone is a sinner (some more, some less); yet most suffer without any love of God being present. They showed hatred for God and His Commandments, in the first place, through sinning; and, when obliged to suffer the consequences of their sins, they show further hatred of God by complaining about the medicinal suffering and even rejecting it. This is what St. Augustine means when he says that the same sufferings lead some souls to Heaven and other souls to Hell. Let us learn to suffer; let us suffer with love; let us, perhaps one day, love to suffer!

[Quiet Reflection]

Act of Repentance:
I believe in Thee, O my God. Strengthen, O Lord, my faith. I hope in Thee, O my God. Affirm, O Lord, my hope. I love Thee, O my God; increase, O Lord, my love. I repent of having offended Thee. O my God, help me to have contrition, so that with the help of Thy grace and the powerful patronage of Holy Mary of Good Success, I may never sin again. O Lord, have pity and mercy on me. Amen.

Opening Prayer:
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven, Holy Mary of Good Success, most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father, most beloved Mother of the Divine Son, most cherished Spouse of the Holy Spirit, sublime Throne of the Divine Majesty, August Temple of the Holy Trinity, in whom the Three Divine Persons have placed the treasures of Their Power, Wisdom and Love!

Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success, whom God hath made so great so that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners; remember that thou hast often promised to show thyself a merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee. I come to thee then, Mother most merciful, and I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High, that thou should obtain for me from God the Father a lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths; from the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that glory that He won for me with His Blood; and from the Holy Ghost, a charity so inflamed that I will always live loving the Supreme Goodness and thee, Most Holy Virgin, until through thy intervention I will love and enjoy thee eternally in glory. Amen.

We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost.  Hail Mary...   Glory be to the Father...

Our Prayer:
O Lord of infinite goodness, by the miraculous making of this image of Mary Most Holy, Thou hast given us a powerful intercessor to whom we might have recourse with total confidence in her amiable protection in our necessity. Grant us the assistance that we are asking with fervor and confidence so that we might know, honor, and serve the Blessed Virgin, and so that by her intercession, we may achieve on this earth our sanctification and afterwards, be happy with her in Heaven. Amen.

Act of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin
O Virgin blessed among all women! We lack the words to give thee thanks for the innumerable blessings that we have received from thy hand. The day of thy birth can be called the day of thanksgiving, happiness, and consolation. Thou art the honor of mankind, the joy of Paradise, the beloved gift of God, and the well-being of our country. What merit do we have, Blessed Virgin of Good Success, to deserve to have thee as our Mother? May God be forever blessed Who hath desired it so! Blessed also art thou, Virgin Mary, because despite our ingratitude, thou dost show us thy propitious favor.

Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our consolation on earth, our refuge, our help, and our protection in both our public and private needs. Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms, earthquakes, and all the calamities that we merit by our guilt. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until death. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

O Immaculate Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost and Mother of the Son; look down with mercy and favor upon me, a helpless sinner, tossed around upon the waves of a tempestuous world. On all sides crash the waves of liberalism, modernism, humanism and materialism, threatening to submerge and sink souls still faithful to Christ. Souls of sinners sing like sirens, seducing us and steering the ships of our souls to shipwreck. Do thou, O Star of the Sea, look down with compassion upon me and safely steer my soul to the harbor of Heaven. Turn aside my mind, my heart and my passions from the vanities and sins of this world, and let me find strength, peace and solace in the contemplation of the mysteries surrounding the birth of thy Divine Son; so that fortified in spirit, I may overcome all temptations and ever grow in the love of thee and thy Son for all eternity. Amen.

Praises to the Holy Virgin
Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent above all on earth.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Above all others, thou wert attentive to the Word of the Father, Who doth great things in thy honor.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy Trinity.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

The Christian world proclaims that thou dost reign on the right side of the King of Kings.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

O Mother of Grace, our Hope! Port of the shipwrecked and star of the sea,
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Gate of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns forever.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Guide our steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot express thy singular grandeur.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final Prayer
We ask thee, our Lord and God, that Thou grant us health of soul and body through the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from the present evils and to attain eternal happiness. Amen.

Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared.

Mariana was born in the Basque Region of Spain, in the north-western province of Viscay (top left on the above map).

Ecuador in on the north-east coastline of South America

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1850.

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1920.

The current Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, has replaced the previous buildings as is a modern concrete structure. It was built in 1975.

In so many churches today, the Blessed Sacrament is abandoned or insulted by sacrileges.

A priest saying Mass before the statue of Our Lady of Good Success.

A close-up of the face of the statue of Our Lady of Good Success

ABOVE: The bodies of the Founding Mothers are found encased beneath the altar in the convent. BELOW: A close up of the bodies beneath the altar.

FOURTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme:  Relying upon Heaven in all our Sufferings and Tribulations

“Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may thy light shine upon me, so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to Heaven.”

The History Behind Our Lady of Good Success:
Mariana Francisca de Jesus Torres, as a 13-year-old, had left her homeland Spain and her parents to sail across the oceans to Ecuador in north-eastern South America, in order to help her aunt (a religious of the Conceptionist order) found a convent in Quito Ecuador. After a vision of future times, she embraced a life of severe penances and great suffering as reparation for the sins of our time. These sufferings included having to die twice (in 1582 and 1588) and being twice resurrected to suffer even more until her third and final death in 1635.

After the death of the original prioress of the newly founded convent in 1593, Mother Mariana was elected and installed as prioress at age 30. In Europe, the recent explosion of the Protestant revolution had been raging for over 50 years, creating a spirit of rebellion amongst many Catholics, both clergy and laity. The shock waves had reached across the oceans and Ecuador also had many troubles in both the civil and ecclesiastical governments of the Spanish Colony of Quito. This spirit of rebellion and strife had crept to the religious sphere. Along with the many good missionaries, Spain was sending many of her undisciplined friars to the Colony of Ecuador, where they tried to relax the monastic rules.

The spirit of revolt entered the Royal Convent of the Immaculate Conception through a native Ecuadorian sister, known to posterity only as La Capitana (which in Spanish means the Captain or the Leader). This non-observant sister fueled the fire of revolt among many of the native sisters who had not received full orders and did the domestic work in the convent. Many of these tertiary sisters were jealous of the Spanish religious sisters, especially of their holy abbess Mother Mariana, and were becoming weary of the strict observance to the rule that she sweetly, but unrelentingly
demanded.

La Capitana secretly conspired with a native Ecuadorian priest, one of her relatives in the bishop's office, to remove the convent from the spiritual government of the strict Franciscan Friars and to place it under the less strict direct authority of the local bishop. La Capitana tried to achieve this by making false accusations against her holy superior, Mother Mariana. The plot to relax the rule and be free from the strict governance of the Franciscans began to spread. Faced with this plot and rebellion, Mother Mariana turned to Jesus, her Spouse, in the Blessed Sacrament for help. On the morning of February 2nd, 1594, she was praying prostate on the floor in the upper choir of the convent, when Our Lady appeared before her, carrying the Child Jesus in her left arm, and a golden crosier in her right hand.

The Lady told her: "I am Mary of Good Success ... I have come from heaven to console your afflicted heart." She told Mother Mariana that she carried Christ in her left arm in order to restrain the hand of Divine Justice, "always so ready to chastise this unhappy and criminal world."  In her right hand, she carried the crosier, the abbess' staff, for she desired to govern the convent as prioress and mother. Her patronage and protection would be even more necessary during the future absence of the Franciscan Friars as directors. In fact, this would take place very soon, she told Mother Mariana. She then assured Mother Mariana that until the end of the world, she would have holy, heroic sisters hidden in her convent who would suffer persecutions and calumnies within the very bosom of the community. Our Lady warned Mother Mariana of the many sufferings in store for her. To strengthen her spirit, she placed the Divine Child in the arms of the happy religious, who embraced Him next to her heart and felt within herself the strong desire to suffer.

Shortly after this vision, the community, influenced by the non-observant sisters who wanted a relaxation of the rigor of monastic life, elected a new prioress who would fulfill their wishes. Soon afterward, just as Our Lady had predicted to Mother Mariana, the convent was released from its obedience to the Franciscans and became subject to the local bishop. The observance of the rule was relaxed and strict silence disappeared, to the great sorrow of Mother Mariana, who tried to convince the new prioress to curb these excesses. In retaliation, La Capitana and the non-observant sisters spread lies and complaints about the disobedience of Mother Mariana and managed to get orders from the Vicar General for the imprisonment of Mother Mariana, who was deprived of her veil and sent to the convent prison. The other Spanish mothers, inconsolable and unable to contain their grief at this injustice, soon were ordered to accompany Mother Mariana in her sentence. The Spanish founding mothers were joined by observant native religious who had been educated and formed by Mother Mariana and did not want to be deprived of her virtuous company. Gradually, the number of imprisoned observant sisters increased to 25. One night during the first imprisonment in this blessed place of suffering (for Mother Mariana and the founding mothers would be imprisoned four times during this difficult period of internal strife in the Royal Convent), all the founding mothers received special visions.

Mother Mariana saw Our Lord crucified, agonizing at Golgotha amid blasphemies and insults. Mother Francisca of the Angels saw St. Francis. Angry at the convent, he carried a bow and walked through its halls, shooting arrows left and right. One arrow pierced the heart of a sister, who in fact died at that moment without anyone knowing the natural cause. St. Francis told Mother Francisca: "This sister was one of the main causes for the separation of the Friars Minor and the relaxation in the convent."

Mother Anne of the Conception saw the Virgin Mary extinguishing the vigil lamp of the Tabernacle in the convent. She explained that the observant spirit of some of her daughters would be extinguished, but that it would soon be lit again, and that this light would burn throughout the centuries, because one reason this Convent of the Immaculate Conception had been founded was to appease Divine Justice for the sins committed in that city. When the non-observant sisters went to Mass the next day, they saw that the sanctuary lamp was extinguished and could not be lit, no matter how much they tried, until the next day when it mysteriously re-lit itself.

Mother Lucia of the Cross was given to see and admire the mystery of love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She saw the precious Blood pouring forth from His Heart and heard the voice of Christ say: "In this ocean of Blood, My Heart wants to wash all those who are guilty and who come to Me with a contrite heart."

Mother Magdalena of St. John saw the beloved Apostle, who told her that among the secrets revealed to him when he reclined his head on the Heart of Jesus, were all the sacrileges that would be committed in the world against the Holy Eucharist. He predicted the horrible crime that would take place more than two centuries later when soldiers entered St. Philip's Church and murdered the Jesuit priest Father Moscoso. They opened the Tabernacle, emptied the Hosts on the ground and trampled them underfoot.

On January 16, 1599, during the third imprisonment of Mother Mariana in the convent prison, Our Lady appeared to her a second time under the invocation of Mary of Good Success. She told Mother Mariana that these sufferings were a heavenly gift given to her and her daughters to hold back the divine anger, which she said was "so ready to unleash a terrible chastisement on this ungrateful Colony."

Meditation:
Sadly, we neither see the power nor the beauty of suffering. Our modern world looks upon suffering as a curse and an evil. The whole fiber of modern society consists in trying to root-out, destroy and avoid suffering. It finds it impossible to equate suffering with happiness. Yet when St. Peter tried to tell Our Lord that he would not let his Master suffer: "Lord, be it far from thee, this shall not be unto thee! Jesus, turning, said to Peter: 'Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me: because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!' Then Jesus said to His disciples: 'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it" (Matthew 16:22-25).

St. Paul sees suffering as means to gain Christ: "I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:8) and elsewhere says: "God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).

If Heaven sends us sufferings, then Heaven also sends help in those sufferings. Not one hair will fall from our heads without God being concerned about it, "and God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13). "Blessed are they that suffer persecution ... for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:10).

[Quiet Reflection]

Act of Repentance:
I believe in Thee, O my God. Strengthen, O Lord, my faith. I hope in Thee, O my God. Affirm, O Lord, my hope. I love Thee, O my God; increase, O Lord, my love. I repent of having offended Thee. O my God, help me to have contrition, so that with the help of Thy grace and the powerful patronage of Holy Mary of Good Success, I may never sin again. O Lord, have pity and mercy on me. Amen.

Opening Prayer:
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven, Holy Mary of Good Success, most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father, most beloved Mother of the Divine Son, most cherished Spouse of the Holy Spirit, sublime Throne of the Divine Majesty, August Temple of the Holy Trinity, in whom the Three Divine Persons have placed the treasures of Their Power, Wisdom and Love!

Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success, whom God hath made so great so that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners; remember that thou hast often promised to show thyself a merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee. I come to thee then, Mother most merciful, and I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High, that thou should obtain for me from God the Father a lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths; from the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that glory that He won for me with His Blood; and from the Holy Ghost, a charity so inflamed that I will always live loving the Supreme Goodness and thee, Most Holy Virgin, until through thy intervention I will love and enjoy thee eternally in glory. Amen.

We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost.  Hail Mary...   Glory be to the Father...

Our Prayer:
O Lord of infinite goodness, by the miraculous making of this image of Mary Most Holy, Thou hast given us a powerful intercessor to whom we might have recourse with total confidence in her amiable protection in our necessity. Grant us the assistance that we are asking with fervor and confidence so that we might know, honor, and serve the Blessed Virgin, and so that by her intercession, we may achieve on this earth our sanctification and afterwards, be happy with her in Heaven. Amen.

Act of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin
O Virgin blessed among all women! We lack the words to give thee thanks for the innumerable blessings that we have received from thy hand. The day of thy birth can be called the day of thanksgiving, happiness, and consolation. Thou art the honor of mankind, the joy of Paradise, the beloved gift of God, and the well-being of our country. What merit do we have, Blessed Virgin of Good Success, to deserve to have thee as our Mother? May God be forever blessed Who hath desired it so! Blessed also art thou, Virgin Mary, because despite our ingratitude, thou dost show us thy propitious favor.

Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our consolation on earth, our refuge, our help, and our protection in both our public and private needs. Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms, earthquakes, and all the calamities that we merit by our guilt. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until death. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

O Immaculate Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost and Mother of the Son; look down with mercy and favor upon me, a helpless sinner, tossed around upon the waves of a tempestuous world. On all sides crash the waves of liberalism, modernism, humanism and materialism, threatening to submerge and sink souls still faithful to Christ. Souls of sinners sing like sirens, seducing us and steering the ships of our souls to shipwreck. Do thou, O Star of the Sea, look down with compassion upon me and safely steer my soul to the harbor of Heaven. Turn aside my mind, my heart and my passions from the vanities and sins of this world, and let me find strength, peace and solace in the contemplation of the mysteries surrounding the birth of thy Divine Son; so that fortified in spirit, I may overcome all temptations and ever grow in the love of thee and thy Son for all eternity. Amen.

Praises to the Holy Virgin
Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent above all on earth.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Above all others, thou wert attentive to the Word of the Father, Who doth great things in thy honor.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy Trinity.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

The Christian world proclaims that thou dost reign on the right side of the King of Kings.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

O Mother of Grace, our Hope! Port of the shipwrecked and star of the sea,
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Gate of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns forever.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Guide our steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot express thy singular grandeur.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final Prayer
We ask thee, our Lord and God, that Thou grant us health of soul and body through the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from the present evils and to attain eternal happiness. Amen.

Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared.

Mariana was born in the Basque Region of Spain, in the north-western province of Viscay (top left on the above map).

Ecuador in on the north-east coastline of South America

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1850.

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1920.

The current Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, has replaced the previous buildings as is a modern concrete structure. It was built in 1975.

A priest saying Mass before the statue of Our Lady of Good Success.

A close-up of the face of the statue of Our Lady of Good Success

ABOVE: The bodies of the Founding Mothers are found encased beneath the altar in the convent. BELOW: A close up of the bodies beneath the altar.

FIFTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme: Being Prepared to Suffer Persecution for God's Sake

“Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may thy light shine upon me, so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to Heaven.”

The History Behind Our Lady of Good Success:
On January 16, 1599, during the third imprisonment of Mother Mariana in the convent prison, Our Lady appeared to her a second time under the invocation of Mary of Good Success. She told Mother Mariana that these sufferings of imprisonment, at the hands of the rebellious sisters of their own order, were a heavenly gift given to them to hold back the divine anger "so ready to unleash a terrible chastisement on this ungrateful Colony. How many hidden crimes are committed by its population and in the surrounding area! For precisely this reason, this convent was founded here so that the God of Heaven and Earth would be avenged in the very place in which He is offended and unrecognized."

Our Lady continued with these prophetic words: "In a short time, the country in which you live will cease to be a Colony and will become a free Republic. Then, known by the name of Ecuador, it will need heroic souls to sustain it in face of so many public and private calamities. Here [in this convent] God will always find those souls, like hidden violets. Accursed would be Quito without this convent....

"In the 19th century there will be a truly Catholic president, a man of character whom God Our Lord will give the palm of martyrdom on the square adjoining this convent. He will consecrate the Republic to the Sacred Heart of my Most Holy Son, and this consecration will sustain the Catholic Religion in the years that will follow, which will be ill-fated ones for the Church. These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government — will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities, and it will also strike out violently against this one of mine." This "truly Catholic" president of Ecuador was Gabriel Garcia Moreno (1821-1875), who consecrated the Republic to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1873. Pope Pius IX paid him tribute as a man who had died "the death of a martyr ... a victim for his Faith and Christian charity." Before she left, the Blessed Virgin told Mother Mariana that her holy captivity would end very soon. Heartened by this vision, Mother Mariana wakened her daughters to pray the Little Office.

That day at 3:00 p.m., Mother Mariana and the other founding mothers saw an immense dragon, whose large eyes spit fire at the observant sisters [i.e., the sisters who wanted to observe the strict rule of the Order, as opposed to the non-observant sisters, who wanted a more relaxed rule]. The monster prowled everywhere, but could not enter either the choir, or the prison. Then they saw their seraphic father, St. Francis, with a bow, shooting flaming arrows at the dragon. Wounded and anguishing, the dragon caused the earth to open and then withdrew into this abyss. At this very moment, a long tremor of the earth occurred, which caused fear among the non-observant sisters and the inhabitants of the city.

Shortly afterward, Mother Valenzuela, who was acting as prioress during Mother Mariana's imprisonment, decided that things had gone too far. Pressured by the rebellious sisters, she had ordered Mother Mariana's imprisonment, but afterward she had repented her action when she had realized the depth of their malice toward the angelic founding mothers. Mother Valenzuela, a native religious from a good family in Quito, was not a bad intentioned religious, but very weak in character and thus able to be influenced by the rebellious sisters. Now, however, she took courage, exerted her influence and obtained an order for the release of the holy and innocent prisoners and the reinstatement of Mother Mariana as prioress.

After Mother Mariana and the other founding mothers were released from prison, a full investigation was made to uncover the false accusations. When the bishop learned how he had been fooled, he ordered that the leader of the insurrection, La Capitana [this was the nickname of the leader of the rebel nuns], be imprisoned for the rest of her life, as a lesson to others and to avoid further insurrections.

La Capitana, however, could not submit to this humiliation. Instead of recognizing her errors and asking for pardon, she became hardened in her pride, bitterness and anger, which were directed with particular vehemence against Mother Mariana. The health of the rebellious sister declined as she refused all foods, and, in fits of madness, she screamed, blasphemed, cursed and hit her head against the walls. Through Mother Mariana's intervention, the bishop gave permission for La Capitana to be moved from the prison to the infirmary. However, none of the sisters dared approach the rebellious sister. Mother Mariana assumed the office of nurse, showing to the violent sister every tenderness and kindness, which was returned by insults, slaps and spittle.

Seeing the soul of her sister so near to perdition, Mother Mariana begged Our Lord for the salvation of this soul as she prayed before the Blessed Sacrament. She had been given to understand how the devil possessed this sinful soul and communicated to her the spirit of revolt, blasphemy, hate and despair. She realized that this obdurate sister would soon die and would be cast into the depths of Hell.

As she begged that the impenitent sister be saved, Our Lord appeared to Mother Mariana, as He was in the Garden of Olives, at the moment of His greatest suffering. She saw that the most intense interior torments of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were the ingratitude and indifference of those souls who, chosen among millions to be His spouses and ministers, left Him in grievous solitude. And this despite the fact that, in the Holy Sacrament, He would live under the same roof with His spouses and come into the hand of His priests, at the simple call of their voices, at the most solemn moment of the Consecration.

At Mother Mariana's supplication to make amends for her guilty sister, Our Lord agreed that La Capitana would be saved, although she would be required to remain in Purgatory until the end of the world. In recompense, Mother Mariana would suffer on earth, for five years, the pains of Hell that were reserved for La Capitana. Mother Mariana knew well through Tradition, Scripture and the teachings of the Church of the terrible torments of the damned. For eternity they suffer both the pain of the senses and the far worse pain of the loss of the beatific vision.

At the end of La Capitana's long illness, the unhappy sister was given to understand her miserable condition, became contrite and made a general confession. She became a model of humility and piety and died one year after the death of Mother Mariana.

Shortly after La Capitana's heart had been touched by God's merciful grace, Mother Mariana began to fulfill the sentence that she had undertaken for the conversion of this rebellious sister. For five years, she suffered the stench of Hell that tortured her sense of smell. Her sight was constantly tormented with the presence of the devil; the blasphemies of the damned were always present to her ears; her touch was chastised with acute pains: her sense of taste was embittered by every morsel of food that she swallowed. But the greatest suffering was the pain of loss. Without ceasing to love Our Lord with all the intensity of which she was capable, she nonetheless felt the unbearable absence of Him and felt that she was forever severed from Him. Throughout this long five years that seemed an eternity, she never lost her lovely calm and expression of peace and serenity, and she continued to meticulously follow the rule and her rigorous life of prayer and sacrifice.

At the end of the five years, Mother Mariana called together the remaining founding mothers, who in spirit had accompanied her in her sufferings with their prayers, sacrifices and penances. She told them: "Alas, my sisters! How terrible Hell is! No words can describe it!"

Meditation:
Having read the above, we are, no doubt, or should be, bewildered, confused, awe-struck and ashamed! Mother Mariana and the other founding-mothers, experienced, accepted and lived-out the prophetic words and warnings spoken by Our Lord: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Matthew 10:34-35).“If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you ... The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18-20) ... “The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death” (Matthew 10:21) ... “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28) ... “And you shall be hated by all men for My name’ s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved” (Mark 13:13).

Mother Mariana's experience brings the words of Our Lord and the Faith to life! More often than not, we live a theoretical Faith, whereby we know the words of Our Lord and the teachings of the Faith with our minds; but it remains a virtual reality, with no real application or consequences in our daily lives, much like a dream or a movie. Yet the true Faith is not a virtual reality but a concrete reality and it brings pain just like falling on concrete brings pain. The phrase, "Actions speak louder than words" is a similar concept; as are the words of Jesus when He says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). Our Faith is more than lip service, we could say it is "pain service." A true friend is one who will be with you, not only in pleasant times, but also in painful times; the false friends are only there when things go well, but abandon you when life's like Hell. We see this in the case of Job, where his three friends come to taunt him in his miseries. “And he was angry with his friends because they had ... condemned Job” (Job 32:3). As the Psalmist says: “My friends and my neighbors have drawn near, and stood against me. And they that were near me stood afar off” (Psalm 37:12). “Riches make many friends: but from the poor man, even they whom he had, depart” (Proverbs 19:4).

They say that suffering and humility are the touchstones of true sanctity. Our Lord did not warn us in vain about being hated and being persecuted. Those things will be the lot of any Catholic who truly wishes to live the Faith. Purgatory (or, God forbid, Hell) are there for those who avoid or even reject those things here below. The world tries to make us live a false Catholic life through human respect; it wants us to be sedated voyagers as we sail through the calm and comfortable waters that the world likes to sail on. Sit down, be still, shut-up and don't rock the boat, don't disturb the sleeping lukewarm consciences in the ship of life. But Our Lord said that "no man lighting a candle covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it upon a candlestick, that they who come in may see the light” (Luke 8:16). Once we light the candle of the Faith, we will invariably attract complaint, hatred and persecution.

[Quiet Reflection]

Act of Repentance:
I believe in Thee, O my God. Strengthen, O Lord, my faith. I hope in Thee, O my God. Affirm, O Lord, my hope. I love Thee, O my God; increase, O Lord, my love. I repent of having offended Thee. O my God, help me to have contrition, so that with the help of Thy grace and the powerful patronage of Holy Mary of Good Success, I may never sin again. O Lord, have pity and mercy on me. Amen.

Opening Prayer:
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven, Holy Mary of Good Success, most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father, most beloved Mother of the Divine Son, most cherished Spouse of the Holy Spirit, sublime Throne of the Divine Majesty, August Temple of the Holy Trinity, in whom the Three Divine Persons have placed the treasures of Their Power, Wisdom and Love!

Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success, whom God hath made so great so that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners; remember that thou hast often promised to show thyself a merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee. I come to thee then, Mother most merciful, and I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High, that thou should obtain for me from God the Father a lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths; from the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that glory that He won for me with His Blood; and from the Holy Ghost, a charity so inflamed that I will always live loving the Supreme Goodness and thee, Most Holy Virgin, until through thy intervention I will love and enjoy thee eternally in glory. Amen.

We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father. Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son. Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost. Hail Mary... Glory be to the Father...

Our Prayer:
O Lord of infinite goodness, by the miraculous making of this image of Mary Most Holy, Thou hast given us a powerful intercessor to whom we might have recourse with total confidence in her amiable protection in our necessity. Grant us the assistance that we are asking with fervor and confidence so that we might know, honor, and serve the Blessed Virgin, and so that by her intercession, we may achieve on this earth our sanctification and afterwards, be happy with her in Heaven. Amen.

Act of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin
O Virgin blessed among all women! We lack the words to give thee thanks for the innumerable blessings that we have received from thy hand. The day of thy birth can be called the day of thanksgiving, happiness, and consolation. Thou art the honor of mankind, the joy of Paradise, the beloved gift of God, and the well-being of our country. What merit do we have, Blessed Virgin of Good Success, to deserve to have thee as our Mother? May God be forever blessed Who hath desired it so! Blessed also art thou, Virgin Mary, because despite our ingratitude, thou dost show us thy propitious favor.

Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our consolation on earth, our refuge, our help, and our protection in both our public and private needs. Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms, earthquakes, and all the calamities that we merit by our guilt. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until death. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

O Immaculate Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost and Mother of the Son; look down with mercy and favor upon me, a helpless sinner, tossed around upon the waves of a tempestuous world. On all sides crash the waves of liberalism, modernism, humanism and materialism, threatening to submerge and sink souls still faithful to Christ. Souls of sinners sing like sirens, seducing us and steering the ships of our souls to shipwreck. Do thou, O Star of the Sea, look down with compassion upon me and safely steer my soul to the harbor of Heaven. Turn aside my mind, my heart and my passions from the vanities and sins of this world, and let me find strength, peace and solace in the contemplation of the mysteries surrounding the birth of thy Divine Son; so that fortified in spirit, I may overcome all temptations and ever grow in the love of thee and thy Son for all eternity. Amen.

Praises to the Holy Virgin
Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent above all on earth.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Above all others, thou wert attentive to the Word of the Father, Who doth great things in thy honor.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy Trinity.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

The Christian world proclaims that thou dost reign on the right side of the King of Kings.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

O Mother of Grace, our Hope! Port of the shipwrecked and star of the sea,
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Gate of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns forever.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Guide our steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot express thy singular grandeur.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final Prayer
We ask thee, our Lord and God, that Thou grant us health of soul and body through the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from the present evils and to attain eternal happiness. Amen.

Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared.

Mariana was born in the Basque Region of Spain, in the north-western province of Viscay (top left on the above map).

Ecuador in on the north-east coastline of South America

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1850.

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1920.

The current Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, has replaced the previous buildings as is a modern concrete structure. It was built in 1975.

A priest saying Mass before the statue of Our Lady of Good Success.

A close-up of the face of the statue of Our Lady of Good Success

ABOVE: The bodies of the Founding Mothers are found encased beneath the altar in the convent. BELOW: A close up of the bodies beneath the altar.

SIXTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme:  The Importance of Statues and Images of Our Lady

“Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may thy light shine upon me, so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to Heaven.”

The History Behind Our Lady of Good Success:
On January 16th, 1599, during the third imprisonment of Mother Mariana in the convent prison, Our Lady appeared to her a second time under the invocation of Mary of Good Success. She told Mariana: "It is the wish of my Most Holy Son that you command a statue of me to be made, just as you see me now, and that you place it upon the throne of the abbess so that I may govern my convent. In my right hand place the crosier and keys to the cloister as a sign of my proprietorship and authority.

"In my left arm place my Divine Child: first, so that men understand how powerful I am in placating the Divine Justice and obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner who comes to me with a contrite heart, for I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love; and second, so that throughout time my daughters will see that I am showing and giving to them my Most Holy Son and their God as a model of religious perfection. They should come to me, for I will lead them to Him."

Then the Heavenly Queen told Mother Mariana that she would give her the exact measurements for her height so that the statue could be made just as she appeared there. She asked Mother Mariana to remove the cord that the religious wore around her waist and to give her one end of it. Mother Mariana held one end of the cord, placing it at the feet of the Queen of Angels. Our Lady took the other end and handed it to the Child Jesus, Who touched His end to the top of Our Lady's forehead. The cord, which was too short, miraculously stretched to the exact height of His mother.

When Mother Mariana protested that she could never sufficiently describe the beauty of her heavenly mother, Our Lady promised the help of St. Francis and the Archangels in the making of her statue. Before she left, the Blessed Virgin told Mother Mariana that her holy captivity would end very soon.

However, once she was released, nothing happened with regard to the project of having the statue made. It was over ten years of waiting for Our Lady.Finally, in the year 1610, Our Lady had to come once more and complain to this beloved daughter that she should no longer delay in ordering her statue to be made and placed on the abbess' chair, where she, as absolute mistress, mother and prioress of the convent, would govern her community until the end of time.

In the early morning of January 20th at her customary prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, Mother Mariana received a visit from three messengers from heaven, St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael, who came to strengthen her heart and mind in preparation for a visit from their Heavenly Queen. Shortly after, Our Lady appeared carrying her Son in her left arm, and in her right hand, the beautiful jeweled crosier. Our Lady said to her: "I now ask and command that you have a statue made for the consolation and preservation of my convent and for those faithful souls of that epoch during which there will be a great devotion to me, for I am Queen of Heaven under many invocations."

Mother Mariana protested that she would never be able to describe for an artist such beauty and majesty as the Holy Virgin possessed. Our Lady promised the Conceptionist religious that she herself, with the three Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, would see to the perfection of this work.

Nonetheless, as the days passed, Mother Mariana felt a reluctance to go to the bishop. First, she feared that he would not believe her and that her demands might endanger the existence of the convent. Second, she knew that the inhabitants of the Colony still had a strong propensity to idolatry, and she did not want to encourage this tendency. Thus Mother Mariana de Jesus struggled and prayed from January 21st until the dawn of February 2nd, 1610.

As was her custom, Mother Mariana was praying in the early morning of February 2 in the upper choir when Our Lady of Good Success appeared to her with a serious and grave demeanor. "Perhaps you do not realize that I am an all-powerful Queen, and that I gave you this order having full knowledge of all these things that disturb you?" Our Lady said. "Why do you doubt? Why do you tremble, when there is nothing to fear? This convent is my foundation and I love it more than you possibly could.... With the making of my statue I will favor not only my convent, but also the people of Quito — and all people throughout the centuries."

Seeing Mother Mariana's profound humility and contrition for having hesitated, Our Lady, the Mother of Mercy, pardoned her and assured the Conceptionist religious that she herself would intervene to convince the bishop of the truth of the apparitions.

"As for your request that your name be hidden, this pleases me greatly," the Blessed Virgin said, "and I will do as you have asked." The bishop should not tell the details or origin of how this statue came to be made, she said, "for this knowledge will only become known to the general public in the 20th century."

Mother Mariana immediately went to her spiritual director, the holy Franciscan Friar Francis Anguita, to ask his counsel. After prayer and meditation, he attested to the truth of the apparitions and ordered her to go to the bishop to request that the statue of Our Lady of Good Success be made. The bishop, forewarned of the report Mother Mariana sent him by a dream, and being startled by her message from Our Lady that he would die in two years time, gave the necessary permission and orders for the statue to be made. His only protest was to complain that Mother Mariana had not called him sooner. "For it is God who so disposes this," he said, "and we should not remain deaf to His voice or His requests."

After the bishop gave his approval for the statue to be made, Mother Mariana sent for Francisco del Castillo, a sculptor of talent and, more important, a man of great virtue who loved the Queen of Heaven and fasted every Saturday in her honor. He received permission to work in the upper choir of the convent, and the bishop himself visited from time to time to see how the work was progressing. As the work neared completion, the sculptor decided to travel to Europe to find the best paints for the final coat of paint for the faces. He promised to return by January 16th (1611) to finish the project.

On the night before his return, Mother Mariana and all the sisters redoubled their prayers, asking Our Lady to complete her statue herself, as she had promised. In the early morning hours, while Mother Mariana was making her customary prayer alone in the sanctuary, the church was illuminated with celestial lights. Then the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael saluted the Queen of Heaven. In an instant after the heavenly trio ascended to the upper choir and finished the statue. Then St. Francis, who was present as the Archangels transformed the face of the statue, took his white cord and wrapped it around the waist of the holy statue. As the heavenly choir sang the Salve Sancta Parens, the Queen of Angels, amid this great joy, approached the statue and entered into it. At that moment the holy statue took on life and intoned with the celestial choir the Magnificat. It was 3:00 a.m., and the heavenly music awoke the sleeping sisters, who came to the choir that was filled with a brilliant light which overshadowed the statue and gradually diminished as they gasped in joy at the miraculous transformation.

When Francisco del Castillo arrived at the convent the next morning to give his final touches to the great work, he cried out in astonishment to see the statue completed: "What am I seeing? This magnificent statue is not my work. I cannot express what my heart feels. This is an angelic work, for a work of this nature could not be created on this earth by the hands of a mere mortal. No sculptor, no matter how skilled, could ever render such perfection and such unearthly beauty." The truth of this miracle was sworn to in handwritten documents by this sculptor and by the bishop, who had been closely following the work and was astounded at the transformation.

A novena preparing for the statue's formal installment was made, and on February 2nd, 1611, the bishop blessed the miraculous statue under the name of Mary of Good Success of the Purification (or Candlemas Day). She was carried in procession to the upper choir to the throne prepared for her so that she might rule and govern her house.

Meditation:
If you have been following the Marian Calendar section of the website, you will have noticed the prominent part that statues and images have played in the many feast days that exist in Our Lady's honor. Sadly, if you visit some Catholic homes today, you will find no statues or pictures of Our Lady in those homes, sometimes not even a crucifix. It is as though those souls are ashamed of Our Lady and Our Lord. This brings to mind Our Lord's haunting words: "Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven" (Matthew 10:32-33).

These statues and pictures, if they have been blessed, are in fact Sacramentals of the Church; meaning that they are a source of grace to those who possess them. The purpose of the statues and images is to stir up a devotion in our souls toward Our Lady or Our Lord. Sacramentals are not like the Sacraments, which give us grace ex opere operato, which means that a minimal amount of grace is automatically given to everyone who receives a Sacrament in a state of grace. The Sacramentals give grace ex opere operantis, meaning that they depend upon the level and fervor of devotion in the heart of the person who is using the Sacramental. The more fervent a soul is, the more grace it gets; the less fervent it is, then the less it gets; and in the absence of any fervor or devotion it will get no grace at all.

In her prophecies, Our Lady has warned us that there will come a brief time when the Sacramentals of the Church will play a major role in the so-called "End-Times" of the world. Let us learn to respect and use well these Sacramentals in times of peace, so that in times of trouble we may rely upon them in the way that Our Lady has foretold.

[Quiet Reflection]

Act of Repentance:
I believe in Thee, O my God. Strengthen, O Lord, my faith. I hope in Thee, O my God. Affirm, O Lord, my hope. I love Thee, O my God; increase, O Lord, my love. I repent of having offended Thee. O my God, help me to have contrition, so that with the help of Thy grace and the powerful patronage of Holy Mary of Good Success, I may never sin again. O Lord, have pity and mercy on me. Amen.

Opening Prayer:
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven, Holy Mary of Good Success, most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father, most beloved Mother of the Divine Son, most cherished Spouse of the Holy Spirit, sublime Throne of the Divine Majesty, August Temple of the Holy Trinity, in whom the Three Divine Persons have placed the treasures of Their Power, Wisdom and Love!

Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success, whom God hath made so great so that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners; remember that thou hast often promised to show thyself a merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee. I come to thee then, Mother most merciful, and I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High, that thou should obtain for me from God the Father a lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths; from the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that glory that He won for me with His Blood; and from the Holy Ghost, a charity so inflamed that I will always live loving the Supreme Goodness and thee, Most Holy Virgin, until through thy intervention I will love and enjoy thee eternally in glory. Amen.

We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost.  Hail Mary...   Glory be to the Father...

Our Prayer:
O Lord of infinite goodness, by the miraculous making of this image of Mary Most Holy, Thou hast given us a powerful intercessor to whom we might have recourse with total confidence in her amiable protection in our necessity. Grant us the assistance that we are asking with fervor and confidence so that we might know, honor, and serve the Blessed Virgin, and so that by her intercession, we may achieve on this earth our sanctification and afterwards, be happy with her in Heaven. Amen.

Act of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin
O Virgin blessed among all women! We lack the words to give thee thanks for the innumerable blessings that we have received from thy hand. The day of thy birth can be called the day of thanksgiving, happiness, and consolation. Thou art the honor of mankind, the joy of Paradise, the beloved gift of God, and the well-being of our country. What merit do we have, Blessed Virgin of Good Success, to deserve to have thee as our Mother? May God be forever blessed Who hath desired it so! Blessed also art thou, Virgin Mary, because despite our ingratitude, thou dost show us thy propitious favor.

Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our consolation on earth, our refuge, our help, and our protection in both our public and private needs. Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms, earthquakes, and all the calamities that we merit by our guilt. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until death. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

O Immaculate Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost and Mother of the Son; look down with mercy and favor upon me, a helpless sinner, tossed around upon the waves of a tempestuous world. On all sides crash the waves of liberalism, modernism, humanism and materialism, threatening to submerge and sink souls still faithful to Christ. Souls of sinners sing like sirens, seducing us and steering the ships of our souls to shipwreck. Do thou, O Star of the Sea, look down with compassion upon me and safely steer my soul to the harbor of Heaven. Turn aside my mind, my heart and my passions from the vanities and sins of this world, and let me find strength, peace and solace in the contemplation of the mysteries surrounding the birth of thy Divine Son; so that fortified in spirit, I may overcome all temptations and ever grow in the love of thee and thy Son for all eternity. Amen.

Praises to the Holy Virgin
Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent above all on earth.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Above all others, thou wert attentive to the Word of the Father, Who doth great things in thy honor.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy Trinity.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

The Christian world proclaims that thou dost reign on the right side of the King of Kings.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

O Mother of Grace, our Hope! Port of the shipwrecked and star of the sea,
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Gate of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns forever.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Guide our steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot express thy singular grandeur.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final Prayer
We ask thee, our Lord and God, that Thou grant us health of soul and body through the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from the present evils and to attain eternal happiness. Amen.

Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared.

Mariana was born in the Basque Region of Spain, in the north-western province of Viscay (top left on the above map).

Ecuador in on the north-east coastline of South America

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1850.

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1920.

The current Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, has replaced the previous buildings as is a modern concrete structure. It was built in 1975.

A priest saying Mass before the statue of Our Lady of Good Success.

A close-up of the face of the statue of Our Lady of Good Success

ABOVE: The bodies of the Founding Mothers are found encased beneath the altar in the convent. BELOW: A close up of the bodies beneath the altar.

SEVENTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme:  Our Lady's Prophecies For Our Times (1st of 3)

“Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may thy light shine upon me, so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to Heaven.”

The Prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success for Our Current Times:
1594, February, First Vision: The Role of Our Lady before Divine Justice
On the morning of February 2, 1594, Mother Mariana was praying prostate on the floor in the upper choir of the convent, when Our Lady appeared to her, carrying the Child Jesus on her left arm. Our Lady told her: "I am Mary of Good Success, the Queen of Heaven and Earth. It is because you are a religious soul who loves God and His Mother that I speak to you now. I have come from heaven to console your afflicted heart." She told Mother Mariana that she carried Christ in her left arm in order to restrain the hand of Divine Justice, "always so ready to chastise this unhappy and criminal world." [Notice Our Lady says that she is granting Mariana this tremendous grace because she is soul that loves God. We cannot expect special graces and protection from God is we have little love for Him in our hearts].

1599, January, Second Vision: Lessons and Prophecies
On January 16, 1599, during the third imprisonment of Mother Mariana in the convent prison, Our Lady appeared to her a second time under the invocation of Mary of Good Success. She told Mother Mariana that these sufferings were a heavenly gift given to her and her daughters to hold back the divine anger "so ready to unleash a terrible chastisement on this ungrateful Colony. How many hidden crimes are committed by its population and in the surrounding area! For precisely this reason, this convent was founded here so that the God of Heaven and Earth would be avenged in the very place in which He is offended and unrecognized....[likewise, we are a kind of a 'convent' living in the midst of sinful towns and cities, many of our sufferings, of which we blindly and foolishly complain, might well hold back or delay God's punishments today].

"Alas! The ignorance of the learned and the folly of men, who do not recognize the secret designs of God in His works! Remember the words of the Royal Prophet: 'How marvelous are the works of the Lord!' Be convinced of this truth; teach and impress upon your daughters—both those living and those to come--that they should love their divine vocations. Reveal to them the glorious place that God and I are saving for our heirs, those who belong to us in a special way."  [Let us also love our divine vocation: a vocation to holiness amongst this sinful world. St. Louis de Montfort tells us that holiness is our most certain vocation: "It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation" Secret of Mary, §3].

"In a short time, the country in which you live will cease to be a Colony and will become a free Republic. Then, known by the name of Ecuador, it will need heroic souls to sustain it in face of so many public and private calamities. Here [in this convent] God will always find those souls, like hidden violets. Accursed would be Quito without this convent....

1610, January, Third Vision: Calamities beginning with the 19th & 20th Centuries
In the early morning of January 20th, Our Lady appeared and consoled her by reminding her of the enormous number of faithful souls "who here in my beloved convent will live and die in self-abnegation and isolation, practicing the solid virtues in heroism and hidden sanctity. Through them in the future centuries, as well as through you in these times, Divine Justice will be stayed." [This request for prayer and sacrifice is also the essential theme of Our Lady's 19th and 20th Century apparitions, but there are few generous souls who respond and comply with her requests. Hence, the more we have to fear the resulting punishments of Divine Justice. Pope John-Paul II said, in 1983 in Fulda, Germany, that we can no longer avoid what is coming, we can only soften the blow. How? By more prayer and penance!].

A Great Crisis in the 20th century
Our Lady continued: "Thus do I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century ... the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of customs, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! It will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and also that of Confirmation. Making use of persons in positions of authority, the devil will assiduously try to destroy the Sacrament of Confession."  [Today, the confessionals are almost empty. Go to most large parishes, with a population of thousands, and witness for yourself the handful that make use of the Sacrament. But for Holy Communion, almost everyone goes to receive, but in what state of soul?]

"The same will happen with Holy Communion. Alas! How deeply I grieve upon manifesting to you the many and horrible sacrileges — both public and also secret — that will occur from profanations of the Holy Eucharist! Often during this epoch, the enemies of Jesus Christ, instigated by the demon, will steal consecrated hosts from the churches, so that they might profane the Eucharist. My most holy Son will see Himself cast upon the ground and trampled upon by feet."

She then promised to preserve faithful souls who would make amends for these terrible sins and blasphemies. "But in these times that I now make known to you, the favors I have dispensed toward you will become known," she prophesied. "And when this happens, the knowledge of and devotion to, my sacred statue will also come to light."

Once again, the Queen of Heaven gravely told Mother Mariana that this battle would reach its most acute stage because of various unfaithful religious, who, "under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, would turn upon the Religion that had nourished them at her breast." [A fairly recent study of priests in the USA, turned up the fact that most of them do not fulfill their daily prayer obligation--the Liturgy of the Hours, the Divine Office or Breviary].

The Sacraments—Profaned and Forgotten
"During this time," she continued, "insomuch as this poor Country will lack the Christian spirit, the Sacrament of Extreme Unction will be little esteemed. Many people will die without receiving it — either because of the negligence of their families, or a false sentimentality, that tries to protect the sick from seeing the gravity of their situations. Others, impelled by the malice of the devil, will themselves rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church. Thus many souls will be deprived of innumerable graces, consolations and the strength they need to make that great leap from time to eternity." [Absolutely true today! Extreme-Unction has become a rarity rather than the norm it once was. Many have rebelled against the spirit of the Church and refuse to accept her laws on things like abortion, contraception, remarriage, worshiping in Protestant churches; nuns want to be priests, and priests want to be married. Baptism of babies is falling in popularity, with parents leaving it aside until later years].

“As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament. This will make it easy for everyone to live in sin and will encourage the procreation of illegitimate children, born without being incorporated into the Church. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay and the precious light of Faith will gradually be extinguished until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs. The effects of secular education will increase, which will be one reason for the dearth of priestly and religious vocations."  [Again, absolutely true! In the USA, from 1960 to 1998 the number of unmarried, cohabitating couples increased nearly tenfold from 439,000 to 4.2 million. In 2008 6.8 million unmarried opposite-sex couples were living together. 50% of all new marriages end in divorce].

"The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will try to persecute the ministers of the Lord in every possible way. He will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation and will corrupt many of them. These depraved priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings upon the good pastors of the Church." [At La Salette, Our Lady said the clergy would become cesspools of impurity. This has now happened with the numerous sex-crimes committed against children, not to even count the many more sins committed between consenting adults, especially the gross sin that we all know cries to Heaven for vengeance].

"Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to ensnare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent." [Innocence has been increasingly lost over the last 50 years, culminating with the current laws on sex-education being given to children from the very first years of school. Luxury and worldliness rule everywhere. It is no longer seen as a danger, but as something desirable. Our Lady has been proven to be absolutely right!].

Meditation:
Sure, God is love! Sure, God is merciful! Sure, God is patient! But we can also be sure that God is not mocked! "Be not deceived, God is not mocked!" (Galatians 6:7). There is a very fine line between the USE of mercy and the ABUSE of mercy. God is willing to show mercy, but, today, man, for the most part, is abusing that charity, patience and mercy of God. As the Doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus Liguori, says in his sermon for Quinquagesima Sunday:

"You will say to me: 'But God is merciful!' Behold another common delusion, by which the Devil encourages sinners to persevere in a life of sin! A certain author has said, that more souls have been sent to Hell by the mercy of God, than by His justice. This is indeed the case ; for men are induced by the deceits of the Devil to persevere in sin, through confidence in God's mercy; and thus they are lost. God is merciful. Who denies it? But, great as His mercy, how many does He every day send to Hell? God is merciful, but He is also just, and is therefore obliged to punish those who offend Him. 'And His mercy', says the Divine Mother, 'is to them that fear Him'—Luke 3:50. But with regard to those who abuse His mercy and despise Him, He exercises justice. The Lord pardons sins; but He cannot pardon the determination to commit sin. St. Augustine says, that he who sins with the intention of repenting after his sin, is not a penitent but a scoffer.' (Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Sermon XVI for Quinquagesima Sunday on the Delusion of Sinners). Today, the world is full of scoffers, who will one day realize that "God is not mocked!"

[Quiet Reflection]

Act of Repentance:
I believe in Thee, O my God. Strengthen, O Lord, my faith. I hope in Thee, O my God. Affirm, O Lord, my hope. I love Thee, O my God; increase, O Lord, my love. I repent of having offended Thee. O my God, help me to have contrition, so that with the help of Thy grace and the powerful patronage of Holy Mary of Good Success, I may never sin again. O Lord, have pity and mercy on me. Amen.

Opening Prayer:
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven, Holy Mary of Good Success, most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father, most beloved Mother of the Divine Son, most cherished Spouse of the Holy Spirit, sublime Throne of the Divine Majesty, August Temple of the Holy Trinity, in whom the Three Divine Persons have placed the treasures of Their Power, Wisdom and Love!

Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success, whom God hath made so great so that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners; remember that thou hast often promised to show thyself a merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee. I come to thee then, Mother most merciful, and I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High, that thou should obtain for me from God the Father a lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths; from the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that glory that He won for me with His Blood; and from the Holy Ghost, a charity so inflamed that I will always live loving the Supreme Goodness and thee, Most Holy Virgin, until through thy intervention I will love and enjoy thee eternally in glory. Amen.

We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost.  Hail Mary...   Glory be to the Father...

Our Prayer:
O Lord of infinite goodness, by the miraculous making of this image of Mary Most Holy, Thou hast given us a powerful intercessor to whom we might have recourse with total confidence in her amiable protection in our necessity. Grant us the assistance that we are asking with fervor and confidence so that we might know, honor, and serve the Blessed Virgin, and so that by her intercession, we may achieve on this earth our sanctification and afterwards, be happy with her in Heaven. Amen.

Act of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin
O Virgin blessed among all women! We lack the words to give thee thanks for the innumerable blessings that we have received from thy hand. The day of thy birth can be called the day of thanksgiving, happiness, and consolation. Thou art the honor of mankind, the joy of Paradise, the beloved gift of God, and the well-being of our country. What merit do we have, Blessed Virgin of Good Success, to deserve to have thee as our Mother? May God be forever blessed Who hath desired it so! Blessed also art thou, Virgin Mary, because despite our ingratitude, thou dost show us thy propitious favor.

Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our consolation on earth, our refuge, our help, and our protection in both our public and private needs. Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms, earthquakes, and all the calamities that we merit by our guilt. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until death. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

O Immaculate Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost and Mother of the Son; look down with mercy and favor upon me, a helpless sinner, tossed around upon the waves of a tempestuous world. On all sides crash the waves of liberalism, modernism, humanism and materialism, threatening to submerge and sink souls still faithful to Christ. Souls of sinners sing like sirens, seducing us and steering the ships of our souls to shipwreck. Do thou, O Star of the Sea, look down with compassion upon me and safely steer my soul to the harbor of Heaven. Turn aside my mind, my heart and my passions from the vanities and sins of this world, and let me find strength, peace and solace in the contemplation of the mysteries surrounding the birth of thy Divine Son; so that fortified in spirit, I may overcome all temptations and ever grow in the love of thee and thy Son for all eternity. Amen.

Praises to the Holy Virgin
Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent above all on earth.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Above all others, thou wert attentive to the Word of the Father, Who doth great things in thy honor.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy Trinity.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

The Christian world proclaims that thou dost reign on the right side of the King of Kings.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

O Mother of Grace, our Hope! Port of the shipwrecked and star of the sea,
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Gate of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns forever.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Guide our steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot express thy singular grandeur.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final Prayer
We ask thee, our Lord and God, that Thou grant us health of soul and body through the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from the present evils and to attain eternal happiness. Amen.

Mariana was born in the Basque Region of Spain, in the north-western province of Viscay (top left on the above map).

Ecuador in on the north-east coastline of South America

Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared.

A priest saying Mass before the statue of Our Lady of Good Success.

A close-up of the face of the statue of Our Lady of Good Success

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1850.

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1920.

The current Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, has replaced the previous buildings as is a modern concrete structure. It was built in 1975.

In so many churches today, the Blessed Sacrament is abandoned or insulted by sacrileges.

ABOVE: The bodies of the Founding Mothers are found encased beneath the altar in the convent. BELOW: A close up of the bodies beneath the altar.

EIGHTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme:  Our Lady's Prophecies For Our Times (2nd of 3)

“Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may thy light shine upon me, so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to Heaven.”

The Prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success for Our Current Times:
1610, February, Fourth Vision: A Remedy for the Present Crisis
As was her custom, Mother Mariana was praying in the early morning of February 2nd in the upper choir when Our Lady of Good Success appeared to her with a serious and grave demeanor. Again she repeated the warnings: "During this epoch [beginning with the 19th and 20th centuries] the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and this poor Ecuadorian land will be agonizing because of the corruption of customs, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent. [These three sins are rampaging currently. Our Lady would later reiterate, at Fatima, that it is the sin of impurity that damns most souls today. The blasphemy against God, Our Lord, Our Lady and Saints, has been steadily increasing over the years, to the point that Catholics are no longer shocked and remain passive when they witness it. Sacrilege is certainly on the increase, with Confession lines being almost non-existent, while Communion lines are as long as can be. We have priests telling the faithful that certain mortal sins are not even mortal and that they shouldn't worry about them. All this just adds fuel to the fire of sacrilege].

"But know, beloved daughter, that when your name will become known in the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe and will claim that this devotion [to Our Lady of Good Success] is not pleasing to God.... A simple humble faith in the truth of my apparitions to you, my most favored child, will be reserved for humble and fervent souls docile to the inspirations of grace, for Our Heavenly Father communicates His secrets to the simple of heart, and not to those whose hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge." [We can witness the truth of Our Lady's words in our current age, when many question the reality and truth of her apparitions (and we speak here of the Church accepted ones, not the dubious ones) and cast doubt over the revelations and messages coming from Our Lady. Others, while they do not doubt the Church accepted apparitions, nevertheless pay little or no attention to them; they know what happened and what was said, but it has not real impact upon their spiritual life and they remain entrenched in the complacent lukewarmness wherein most Catholics find themselves].

1619, The Main Apparition: The Tabernacle Light Is Extinguished and Its Significance for the 20th Century
In 1619, Our Lord invited Mother Mariana to share His cross more profoundly, and presented her with the precious cross of interior sufferings. As a divine victim, especially for the 20th century, she was asked to accompany Our Lord in the major steps of His sorrowful passion. "I will be with you always," He promised his predilect daughter. "Unite yourself to My aggrieved Heart and, in the company of My Most Holy Mother, bear these tribulations. Carry with valor and perseverance the cross that I will place on your shoulders for you to bear through your remaining years, which will not be many. For in all times I have need of valiant souls to save My Church and the prevaricating world." [Mercy has a price. Someone has to pay. Our Lord, of course, paid on Calvary, but it was on the condition that we also pay part of the price of mercy. Today's prevalent attitude has cheapened both the price of sin and the price of mercy. Funny, that in times of great inflation, we want to reduce the price of sin! The wage of sin is death, as the Bible says. The catechism tells us that sin is the greatest evil in the world, and that includes venial sin, the sin that is brushed off so disdainfully these days].

Our Lord also made Mother Mariana understand more clearly than ever before, that devotion to His Passion, to the Blessed Sacrament, and to Our Lady constitutes the support and mainstay of religious communities.[Devotion to the Passion of Christ and Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, are both admirably joined together in devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Holy Eucharist is both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice. We receive the Sacrament in Holy Communion and we are present upon Calvary by being present at the Mass. The Mass is not a meal, nor a community get-together, the Mass is a Sacrifice in a mystical and unbloody manner].

1634, The Sanctuary Light is Extinguished — The Five Meanings
The early morning of the Feast of the Purification in 1634 found Mother Mariana praying before the Blessed Sacrament. beseeching Him that she might be united with Him and be engulfed in that love which belongs to the blessed. She also reminded Him to protect and preserve His daughters in this beloved convent.

As she finished this prayer, she saw the sanctuary light extinguish itself, leaving the altar place completely dark. Our Lady appeared to tell her that Our Lord had heard her clamors and would end her earthly exile in less than a year: "Prepare your soul so that, increasingly purified, it might enter into the fullness of the joy of Our Lord. O, If mortals, and in particular religious souls, could know what Heaven is and what it is to possess God! How differently they would live! Nor would they spare themselves any sacrifice in order to possess Him!" [We mortals do NOT know what Heaven is; nor have we placed a high price on God. We live as though God was just a kindly, all forgiving grandpa, who is a little too demanding at times; and Heaven should be our birthright and it should be free! Sin should be understood; easily forgiven and exempt of any serious penance! That is the mindset of most people today, implicitly or explicitly].

She then explained the five meanings of the Tabernacle light that had been extinguished before Mother Mariana's eyes.

1st Meaning: Souls Who Will Begin a Restoration in the Church
"The first significance is that at the end of the 191h century and into the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated in this land, then a free republic. As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private. [In 1789 came the Liberal French Revolution, later carried by Napoleon throughout Europe. Today most of the world is Liberal. Most Catholics are Liberal. Modernism has permeated the Church to such a degree that it no longer feels wrong. Increasing numbers of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence, they don't believe in Hell, they reject many mortal sins and treat them as permissible: including many sexual sins, contraception, abortion, divorce and remarriage, living in sin together, etc.].

"The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings, and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. [Those who wish to preserve the Faith of old, who refuse to be Liberal and Modernist, are truly undergoing a slow 'bloodless' martyrdom today].

"In order to free men from bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed. This, then, will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration."  [When normal painless medicine fails to work, painful surgery has to follow. The world has not listened to the healing words of Our Lady, therefore it bust undergo the surgical chastisement that has been promised as a consequence. But the chastisement will not be an act of hatred by God, it will an act of love, seeking to reform, convert and correct His sinful children. As the Bible says, God chastises those whom He loves].

These chosen souls, who will restore the health of the Church, seem to be very similar to the apostles of the latter times predicted by St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort. [This websites section, Saints of Mary (click) illustrates this point well]

2nd Meaning: Sensuality That Will Sweep through the World
"The second meaning," she said, "is that my community, being greatly reduced in size, will be submerged in a fathomless ocean of indescribable bitterness, and it will seem to be drowning in these diverse waters of tribulations." Many authentic vocations would perish, she continued, because of the lack of discretion, discernment and prudence in their professions and spiritual guidance. Injustice would enter even this convent, "disguised under the name of false charity, wreaking havoc in souls."  The faithful souls, weeping in secret and imploring that such dire times be shortened, would suffer a continuous and slow martyrdom.

3rd Meaning: A Spirit of Impurity
"The third reason the lamp was extinguished is because of the spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty.

"There will be almost no virgin souls in the world," she told her. The delicate flower of virginity would be threatened by complete annihilation. However, she promised that there would always be some good souls in cloisters where it might take root, grow and live as a lightning rod to deflect the divine wrath. "Because without virginity," she said, "it would be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them."  [As already stated above, Our Lady of Fatima stated that even back in the less sinful days of 1917, even then most souls were going to Hell because of the sin of impurity! How much worse is it not today? With the advent of the movies, then TV, the explosion of impure literature openly marketed, aided by the pop music culture and its attending fashions, then the advent of home videos, then the internet! What a deluge of impurity must be ascending before God!].

Meditation:
We have all heard the indignant and angry expression: "Someone will pay for this!!"  Well, someone WILL pay for these modern day crimes against God, against the Faith, against Morals, against the innocent, against those wishing to be true Catholics. And as Our Lady said at La Salette:

"If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much I can no longer keep hold of it. I have suffered all of the time for the rest of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually. And the rest of you think little of this ... Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God." (click here to read the entire piece)

Let us at least be one of few, like Noe and his family, who take Our Lady and God seriously, and jump off the sinking boat of the world, into the Ark of Salvation that Our Lady offers us. Of course it will be hard, but we have to learn the hard way the true cost of sin.

[Quiet Reflection]

Act of Repentance:
I believe in Thee, O my God. Strengthen, O Lord, my faith. I hope in Thee, O my God. Affirm, O Lord, my hope. I love Thee, O my God; increase, O Lord, my love. I repent of having offended Thee. O my God, help me to have contrition, so that with the help of Thy grace and the powerful patronage of Holy Mary of Good Success, I may never sin again. O Lord, have pity and mercy on me. Amen.

Opening Prayer:
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven, Holy Mary of Good Success, most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father, most beloved Mother of the Divine Son, most cherished Spouse of the Holy Spirit, sublime Throne of the Divine Majesty, August Temple of the Holy Trinity, in whom the Three Divine Persons have placed the treasures of Their Power, Wisdom and Love!

Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success, whom God hath made so great so that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners; remember that thou hast often promised to show thyself a merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee. I come to thee then, Mother most merciful, and I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High, that thou should obtain for me from God the Father a lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths; from the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that glory that He won for me with His Blood; and from the Holy Ghost, a charity so inflamed that I will always live loving the Supreme Goodness and thee, Most Holy Virgin, until through thy intervention I will love and enjoy thee eternally in glory. Amen.

We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost.  Hail Mary...   Glory be to the Father...

Our Prayer:
O Lord of infinite goodness, by the miraculous making of this image of Mary Most Holy, Thou hast given us a powerful intercessor to whom we might have recourse with total confidence in her amiable protection in our necessity. Grant us the assistance that we are asking with fervor and confidence so that we might know, honor, and serve the Blessed Virgin, and so that by her intercession, we may achieve on this earth our sanctification and afterwards, be happy with her in Heaven. Amen.

Act of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin
O Virgin blessed among all women! We lack the words to give thee thanks for the innumerable blessings that we have received from thy hand. The day of thy birth can be called the day of thanksgiving, happiness, and consolation. Thou art the honor of mankind, the joy of Paradise, the beloved gift of God, and the well-being of our country. What merit do we have, Blessed Virgin of Good Success, to deserve to have thee as our Mother? May God be forever blessed Who hath desired it so! Blessed also art thou, Virgin Mary, because despite our ingratitude, thou dost show us thy propitious favor.

Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our consolation on earth, our refuge, our help, and our protection in both our public and private needs. Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms, earthquakes, and all the calamities that we merit by our guilt. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until death. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

O Immaculate Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost and Mother of the Son; look down with mercy and favor upon me, a helpless sinner, tossed around upon the waves of a tempestuous world. On all sides crash the waves of liberalism, modernism, humanism and materialism, threatening to submerge and sink souls still faithful to Christ. Souls of sinners sing like sirens, seducing us and steering the ships of our souls to shipwreck. Do thou, O Star of the Sea, look down with compassion upon me and safely steer my soul to the harbor of Heaven. Turn aside my mind, my heart and my passions from the vanities and sins of this world, and let me find strength, peace and solace in the contemplation of the mysteries surrounding the birth of thy Divine Son; so that fortified in spirit, I may overcome all temptations and ever grow in the love of thee and thy Son for all eternity. Amen.

Praises to the Holy Virgin
Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent above all on earth.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Above all others, thou wert attentive to the Word of the Father, Who doth great things in thy honor.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy Trinity.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

The Christian world proclaims that thou dost reign on the right side of the King of Kings.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

O Mother of Grace, our Hope! Port of the shipwrecked and star of the sea,
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Gate of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns forever.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Guide our steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot express thy singular grandeur.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final Prayer
We ask thee, our Lord and God, that Thou grant us health of soul and body through the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from the present evils and to attain eternal happiness. Amen.

Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success appeared.

Ecuador in on the north-east coastline of South America

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1850.

The Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, as it was in the year 1920.

The current Church of Our Lady of Good Success (Buen Suceso) in Quito, Ecuador, has replaced the previous buildings as is a modern concrete structure. It was built in 1975.

In so many churches today, the Blessed Sacrament is abandoned or insulted by sacrileges.

A priest saying Mass before the statue of Our Lady of Good Success.

A close-up of the face of the statue of Our Lady of Good Success

ABOVE: The bodies of the Founding Mothers are found encased beneath the altar in the convent. BELOW: A close up of the bodies beneath the altar.

NINTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme:  Our Lady's Prophecies For Our Times (3rd of 3)

“Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may thy light shine upon me, so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to Heaven.”

The Prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success for Our Current Times:
1634, The Sanctuary Light is Extinguished — The Five Meanings
In the previous day of the novena, we examined the first three meanings behind the extinguishing of the sanctuary light: (1) A restoration of the Church will commence (2) A spirit of sensuality will sweep throughout the world (3) A spirit of impurity will permeate the world. Today we will examine the 4th and 5th meanings, as well as the final prophecies made at a later date.

4th Meaning: The Crisis in the Clergy
The fourth reason for the lamp being quenched is that the Masonic sects, having infiltrated all the social classes, would subtly introduce its teaching into domestic ambiences in order to corrupt the children, and the demon would glory in nourishing himself upon the exquisite delicacy of the hearts of children. [Never have children been so exposed to the deluge of evil as they are now. The media outlets are like many pipers piping the infernal spirit of the world with all its accompanying seeds of evil, into the minds and hearts of the young, starting with the most tenderest ages. The TV, videos, internet, books, magazines, toys and games contain an abundance of evil, to which most parents are blind to and indifferent. Those who see and protest are looked upon as extreme radicals!]
"During these unfortunate times," she foretold, "evil will invade childhood innocence. In this way, vocations to the priesthood will be lost, resulting in a true calamity." Again she promised that during this time there would be religious communities who would sustain the Church and holy ministers of the altar, hidden and beautiful souls, who would labor with valor and disinterested zeal for the salvation of souls. "Against them," she warned, "the impious will rage a cruel war, overwhelming them with vituperations, calumnies and vexations in order to stop them from fulfilling their ministry. But they, like firm columns, will remain unswerving and will confront everything with the spirit of humility and sacrifice with which they will be vested, by virtue of the infinite merits of my Most Holy Son, Who will love them in the innermost fibers of His Most Holy and Tender Heart." [We need to one of those firm columns, not bowing before human respect (which goes along to get along) or fearing ridicule, knowing that we are doing God's work. Pain and suffering are unavoidable, as they were unavoidable for Our Lord and Our Lady. The two pillars of Don Bosco's vision had the Holy Eucharist on one column, and the Blessed Virgin Mary on the other column. These are our pillars in the current crisis. We will find our strength in the Eucharist and devotion to Our Lady.]

During this time, Our Lady foretold, "the secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. [The speed with which the Sacrifice of the Mass is sometimes said, betrays the truth of Our Lady's words. As has already been mentioned before, in a survey of around 4,000 priests in the USA, most priests admitted to praying less than 30 minutes a day, and confessed that they did not pray the entire Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office or Breviary).]. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Lacking a prelate and father to guide them with paternal love, gentleness, strength, wisdom and prudence, many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger. This will mark the arrival of my hour" [Sadly, the Church is becoming an increasingly 'bricks and mortar' Church, that focuses more on the material than the spiritual. The social side of Catholicism now by far outweighs the spiritual side of Catholicism. Yet is not the soul more important than the body? Spiritual exercises more important than physical exercise? Religious knowledge more that secular knowledge? Yet today, the focus in on the material, not the spiritual].

Our Lady continued to explain the fourth reason for the extinguishing of the Tabernacle light: "Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart. Implore our Celestial Father, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood shed with such generosity, ... that He might take pity on His ministers and bring to an end those ominous times, and send to the Church the prelate who will restore the spirit of its priests."

"My Most Holy Son and I will love this most favored son with a love of predilection, and we will gift him with a rare capacity, humility of heart, docility to divine inspiration, the strength to defend the rights of the Church, and a tender and compassionate heart, so that, like another Christ, he will assist the great and small, without despising the less fortunate who ask him for light and counsel in their doubts and hardships. ... Into his hand the scale of the Sanctuary will be placed so that all might be carried out with due measure and for the glory of God."

Our Lady continued, "To forestall the coming of this prelate and father, many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession of this land, where he will achieve his victories by means of foreign and faithless people so numerous that, like a black cloud, it will obscure the pure heavens of the then-Republic consecrated to the Sacred Heart of my Divine Son."  [The majority of the Catholic world is undoubtedly lukewarm, and what makes it worse, is that they are oblivious to being lukewarm. Fr. Faber calls it a spiritual blindness that does not even realize that it is blind. The result is that the blind lead the blind into the pit. Blind clergy and blind parents are raising equally blind souls. You cannot give what you do not have].

"With these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me. [For those who are not caught up in their own life and its amusements, of which Our Lady complained at La Salette, and who are keeping an eye on the general worldwide situation as it escalates over the decades, the thin end of the wedge of chastisement could well be said to be already here. The fuse has been lit, the explosive chastisement will follow, depending upon the length of that fuse].

"In order to dissipate this black cloud which impedes the Church from enjoying the clear day of liberty, there will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph." [Many who are attentive to the political maneuvers going on the world today, are predicting such a war in the not too distant future].

"This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church and this country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny." [Pain is often the only remedy left, when words fail to motivate. It is called "learning the hard way" and learning the hard is what is going to happen. However, we must keep our focus on the glorious victory and not the inglorious means that will bring it about. Our Lady will triumph and there will be an unbelievable change in the world].

5th Meaning: The Indifference of the Wealthy and Apathy of the People

The fifth reason that the lamp was extinguished is due to the laxity and the negligence of those who possess great wealth who will indifferently stand by and witness the Church being oppressed, virtue being persecuted, and the triumph of the demon, without piously employing their riches for the destruction of this evil and the restoration of the Faith. And it is also due to the indifference of the people in allowing the Name of God to be gradually extinguished and in adhering to the spirit of evil, freely delivering themselves to the vices and passions.

"Alas! My beloved daughter! If you were given to live in this tenebrous era, you would die of sorrow if you were to see all that I have revealed to you here. But so great is my love and the love of my Most Holy Son for this land, that We desire that even now you should offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe!" [In 1917, Our Lady came to Fatima to ask for more prayers and sacrifices. The result has been quite simply pathetic. When lukewarmness reigns almost everywhere, simply praying one Rosary a day can seem like a massive achievement. Yet somehow I doubt that one Rosary a day is going to solve the disasters that we are facing, religiously, morally, politically and economically. One Rosary a day is more like a peace-time maintenance amount, not the major rebuilding or major surgery that is actually required at this time. Even in last days, the Bible says, people will sitting down to eat and drink, and rising up, alas, not to pray, but play. There is little or no sense of urgency in most Catholics today, even good relatively good ones, the name of game is daily life and weekly entertainment. Real solid meaningful sacrifice and prayer is nowhere to be seen].

Overwhelmed by the magnitude of the evil she saw and the countless souls that would be condemned during these times. Mother Mariana fell into a swoon. There the sisters found her, as if dead, except for the violent beating of her heart. All of the doctor's efforts to restore her to consciousness proved useless. In fact, humanly speaking, her life should have ended from the shock she had received. The sisters surrounded her, beseeching Heaven to leave them their great treasure, the last of the founding mothers, "the mainstay of observance, the column of the house." Two days later, Mother Mariana opened her eyes, encouraged her sisters to continue to follow the rule, and consoled them that she would remain with them yet a little longer.

A later apparition about the Crisis in the Clergy
Some of the last apparitions of Our Lady to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres contained warnings about the corruption of the customs of priests and religious. She foretold that many priests would come to live only a superficial life of the soul and would be too greatly attached to family and wealth. They would falsely think that they could reach sanctity by the practice of one or two virtues, without constructing their spiritual lives upon the solid foundation of a profound humility, without which no virtue can exist.

In one apparition, Our Lord showed her His Sacred Heart, riddled with small, piercing thorns that stung Him cruelly. "Understand that these are the serious as well as slight faults of My priests, secular and religious, whom I deliver from the world to bring to the cloisters. It is their ingratitude and indifference that so cruelly wounds My Heart."

"The times will come," He told her, “when doctrine will be commonly known among the learned and the ignorant. ... Many religious books will be written. But the practice of the virtues and of these doctrines will be found in only a few souls; for this reason, saints will become rare. And precisely for this reason, My priests and My religious will fall into a fatal indifference. Their coldness will extinguish the fire of divine love, afflicting My Loving Heart with these small thorns that you see.

"For that reason, I desire that there be here souls in whom I can rest from My fatigues and in whom I might take My repose. Their afflicted and sacrificial lives will be the caressing and compassionate hands that will remove these minute thorns from My Heart and apply the required balsam.

"Alas! If you could only know My intense interior suffering ... caused by the lack of correspondence to this deluge of graces with which I inundate My priests and religious and, as a consequence, by the sins that they commit!

"Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but especially for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the earth, the masters of truth and the deflectors of divine wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God, they quicken the rigor of the punishments....

"Alas, if they only knew and were convinced of how much I love them and how much I desire that they should enter into the very depths of their souls! Then, without a doubt, they would find Me and would necessarily live the life of love, light and continuous union with Me to which they were not only called, but chosen!"

Our Lord also assured Mother Mariana that He was greatly pleased by those souls who take upon themselves the sublime work of suffering for the sanctification of the clergy by means of their prayers, sacrifices and penances, and He promised such souls a special glory in Heaven.

1634, December: Last Apparition of Our Lady of Good Success
After the joyful celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Conception in December of 1634, Mother Mariana went to the upper choir to pray for each of her daughters before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and His Holy Mother. As she pleaded that they might be preserved from diabolical snares and the loss of the religious spirit, the three Archangels appeared preceding their Queen, who carried her Son in her left arm.

Our Lady addressed her with these words: "My most beloved daughter and predilect spouse of the Spotless Lamb, you will soon leave this earth, the sad place of exile of the just, and come forthwith to your longed-for Fatherland....

"O, if men only understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!

"My daughter, commiserate with and weep for your imprudent brethren sinners, beseeching your God and Redeemer to send to their souls many special and efficacious graces, powerful enough to draw them out of the dark abyss in which they lie."

The Meaning of the Ciborium
Once again, Our Lady emphasized the importance of the Sacrament of Penance and the weighty role of priests: "See and contemplate the grandeur of this restoring and life-giving Sacrament of Penance, so forgotten and even scorned by ungrateful men. In their foolish madness, they do not realize that it is the only sure means of salvation after one has lost his baptismal innocence. What is most grievous is that even the ministers of my Most Holy Son do not give to this Sacrament the value that they should. Many view with cold indifference this valuable and precious treasure, which has been placed in their hands for the restoration of souls redeemed by the Blood of the Redeemer. There are those who consider hearing confession as a loss of time and a futile thing. Alas! If priests were given to see directly that which you are now contemplating and were enlightened with the light that now illuminates you, they would recognize this divine gift!"

She then explained the symbolism of the ciborium filled with Hosts that St. Gabriel was carrying: "This signifies the Most August Sacrament of the Eucharist, which will be distributed by my Catholic priests to faithful Christians belonging to the Holy, Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church, whose visible head is the Pope, King of Christianity. His pontifical infallibility will be declared a dogma of the Faith by the same Pope chosen to proclaim the dogma of the Mystery of my Immaculate Conception. He will be persecuted and imprisoned in the Vatican by the unjust usurpation of the Pontifical States through the iniquity, envy and avarice of an earthly monarch.”

On December 8th, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin as a dogma of the Church. He also proclaimed the dogma of papal infallibility on July 18th, 1870 during the First Vatican Council. Pius IX was persecuted in the Vatican by Victor Emmanuel, who seized the last of the pontifical states in 1870.

Meditation:
Again we have to reflect upon the words of Our Lady said at La Salette:

"“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principal, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes. At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God's people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession. And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in It's poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God." (click here to read the entire piece)

Let us at least be one of few, like Noe and his family, who take Our Lady and God seriously, and jump off the sinking boat of the world, into the Ark of Salvation that Our Lady offers us. Of course it will be hard, but we have to learn the hard way the true cost of sin.

[Quiet Reflection]

Act of Repentance:
I believe in Thee, O my God. Strengthen, O Lord, my faith. I hope in Thee, O my God. Affirm, O Lord, my hope. I love Thee, O my God; increase, O Lord, my love. I repent of having offended Thee. O my God, help me to have contrition, so that with the help of Thy grace and the powerful patronage of Holy Mary of Good Success, I may never sin again. O Lord, have pity and mercy on me. Amen.

Opening Prayer:
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven, Holy Mary of Good Success, most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father, most beloved Mother of the Divine Son, most cherished Spouse of the Holy Spirit, sublime Throne of the Divine Majesty, August Temple of the Holy Trinity, in whom the Three Divine Persons have placed the treasures of Their Power, Wisdom and Love!

Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success, whom God hath made so great so that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners; remember that thou hast often promised to show thyself a merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee. I come to thee then, Mother most merciful, and I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High, that thou should obtain for me from God the Father a lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths; from the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that glory that He won for me with His Blood; and from the Holy Ghost, a charity so inflamed that I will always live loving the Supreme Goodness and thee, Most Holy Virgin, until through thy intervention I will love and enjoy thee eternally in glory. Amen.

We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son.  Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost.  Hail Mary...   Glory be to the Father...

Our Prayer:
O Lord of infinite goodness, by the miraculous making of this image of Mary Most Holy, Thou hast given us a powerful intercessor to whom we might have recourse with total confidence in her amiable protection in our necessity. Grant us the assistance that we are asking with fervor and confidence so that we might know, honor, and serve the Blessed Virgin, and so that by her intercession, we may achieve on this earth our sanctification and afterwards, be happy with her in Heaven. Amen.

Act of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin
O Virgin blessed among all women! We lack the words to give thee thanks for the innumerable blessings that we have received from thy hand. The day of thy birth can be called the day of thanksgiving, happiness, and consolation. Thou art the honor of mankind, the joy of Paradise, the beloved gift of God, and the well-being of our country. What merit do we have, Blessed Virgin of Good Success, to deserve to have thee as our Mother? May God be forever blessed Who hath desired it so! Blessed also art thou, Virgin Mary, because despite our ingratitude, thou dost show us thy propitious favor.

Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our consolation on earth, our refuge, our help, and our protection in both our public and private needs. Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms, earthquakes, and all the calamities that we merit by our guilt. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until death. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

O Immaculate Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost and Mother of the Son; look down with mercy and favor upon me, a helpless sinner, tossed around upon the waves of a tempestuous world. On all sides crash the waves of liberalism, modernism, humanism and materialism, threatening to submerge and sink souls still faithful to Christ. Souls of sinners sing like sirens, seducing us and steering the ships of our souls to shipwreck. Do thou, O Star of the Sea, look down with compassion upon me and safely steer my soul to the harbor of Heaven. Turn aside my mind, my heart and my passions from the vanities and sins of this world, and let me find strength, peace and solace in the contemplation of the mysteries surrounding the birth of thy Divine Son; so that fortified in spirit, I may overcome all temptations and ever grow in the love of thee and thy Son for all eternity. Amen.

Praises to the Holy Virgin
Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent above all on earth.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Above all others, thou wert attentive to the Word of the Father, Who doth great things in thy honor.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy Trinity.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

The Christian world proclaims that thou dost reign on the right side of the King of Kings.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

O Mother of Grace, our Hope! Port of the shipwrecked and star of the sea,
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Gate of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns forever.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Guide our steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot express thy singular grandeur.
Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.

Antiphon: Holy Mary, save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.

V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final Prayer
We ask thee, our Lord and God, that Thou grant us health of soul and body through the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from the present evils and to attain eternal happiness. Amen.