[Photo: Pope St. John Paul kissing the hand of the Christ Child on a statue of Mary during a celebration in Peru]
Message from Our Lady to Fr. Gobbi
Dongo (Como, Italy); December 31, 1987
Last Night of the Year
“In my Immaculate Heart, in an act of unceasing prayer, spend with me the last hours of this year, which is now about to end. It is an important year and one particularly blessed by my Immaculate Heart, because it has been solemnly and officially consecrated to me by my Pope*.
You are now at the midpoint of this Marian Year. You have entered into my time. You are beneath the sign of the great events that have been foretold to you.
Know how to read and to meditate upon that which, in Sacred Scripture, has been clearly described for you to help you understand the time in which you are living. With my motherly voice I am leading you all to understand the signs of the great tribulation. From the Gospels, from the Letters of the Apostles, and from the book of the Apocalypse, sure signs have been clearly described for you to make you understand what the period of the great tribulation is. All these signs are in the act of being realized in this time of yours.
– First of all, a great apostasy is spreading in every part of the Church, through the lack of faith that is flooding even among its very pastors. Satan has succeeded in spreading everywhere the great apostasy, by means of his subtle work of seduction, which has brought many to be alienated from the truth of the Gospel to follow the fables of the new theological theories and to take delight in evil and in sin, sought after as an actual good.
– Then, in your time, overturnings of the order of nature are multiplying, such as earthquakes, droughts, floods, and disasters that cause the unforeseen death of thousands of persons, followed by epidemics and incurable diseases that are spreading everywhere.
– Moreover, your days are marked by continual rumors of wars that are multiplying and are reaping, each day, innumerable victims. Conflicts and dissensions within countries are increasing; revolts and struggles between various peoples are propagating; bloody wars are continuing to extend themselves, notwithstanding all the efforts that are being made to attain peace.
– Finally, in your time, there are occurring great signs in the sun, on the moon and in the stars. The miracle of the sun that took place at Fatima was a sign that I gave you to warn you that the times of these extraordinary phenomena that are taking place in the heavens have now arrived. And how many times during my present apparitions have you yourselves been able to contemplate the great prodigies that are taking place in the sun.
Just as the buds that sprout forth on the trees tell you that spring has now arrived, so also these great signs that are taking place in your time are telling you that even now there has come to you the great tribulation, which is preparing you for the new era that I have promised you with the triumph of my Immaculate Heart in the world.
This is the reason why your time has been consecrated to me with a special Marian Year in my honor. Because the Most Holy Trinity has entrusted to the Immaculate Heart of your heavenly Mother the task of preparing the Church and all humanity to live with confidence the hour of the great tribulation, which prepares you for the glorious return of Christ.”
* In these messages to Fr. Gobbi from 1973-1997, Our Lady regularly refers to Pope St. John Paul II as “my Pope.” She says this of him alone.