The Second Secret: When it will happen
Year: 2009
Month: April
Day: 12th
Day of the Week: Sunday
The second secret of Medjugorje is also called the Day of Consolation; it is not mentioned in the secrets of Garabandal.
Liturgical Calendar: Easter Sunday. The faithful Apostles were consoled on the first Easter Sunday by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The faithful who repented on the earlier Day of Repentance will be consoled on this Day of Consolation, which coincides with Easter Sunday.
Reason for this timing: To console the faithful who repented on the Day of Repentance (the Warning), and to heal and strengthen the heart and mind in preparation for the first part of the tribulation.
Relationship to the Warning
On the Day of Repentance (the Warning), many persons will repent from their sins, but many other persons will not repent. On the subsequent Day of Consolation, only those who repented on the earlier day of Repentance will be given this gift of consolation. Those who did not repent will not receive this gift: “so that you may know how miraculously the Lord divides the Egyptians from Israel.” (Ex 11:7)
The Warning (the Day of Repentance) reveals to each of us the bad that we have done in our lives, the vices and sins that are upon our soul. But the Day of Consolation reminds us that we are created by God, are made in the image of God, and are therefore good; it reminds us of the good that we have done in our lives (but it is not an illumination, like the Warning).
Notice that the Warning is given to everyone without any exception. God loves every person and He seeks the salvation of every person. However, based on the response to God's free gifts, some persons receive additional greater gifts, and others lesser gifts, and still others nothing at all. The Day of Consolation will be a cause for division, because the repentant receive it, but the unrepentant will not receive it and will resent not receiving it.
“So may our hope for you be made firm, knowing that, just as you are participants in the suffering, so also shall you be participants in the consolation.” (2 Corinth 1:7). Those who participate in the sufferings of the Warning by sorrowing over their own sins, will next receive consolation, to alleviate their sorrows. But as for those persons who reject the gift of true sorrow and true repentance from sin on the day of the Warning, they will not receive consolation. For in so far as you suffer with Christ on the Day of Repentance, so also shall you be consoled by Christ on the Day of Consolation. But if you reject Christ, you cannot be consoled by Him.
In the Biblical view, the human person is comprised of three parts: soul, spirit, body. But in the modern (religious) view, the human person is soul and body. So then, what is the spirit? The spirit is the breath of life that exists while body and soul are united in life, and which ceases to exist when body and soul are separated at death. The spirit of the human person is the quality of being alive; it is the interaction of body and soul. The spirit of a human person is not a thing, but a quality. When a human being dies, the spirit (the quality of being alive) ceases to exist. This interaction of body and soul is most evident in the mind and heart. For in the mind, a part of the body (the brain) and works together with the soul to understand and to know and to remember. And in the heart, body and soul work together to express will and emotion.
There are numerous passages in the Bible which refer to the human person as body, spirit, and soul:
[Genesis]
{2:7} And then the Lord God formed man from the clay of the earth, and he breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
[Wisdom]
{15:11} because he ignores the One who molded him, and who instilled in him a working soul, and who breathed into him a living spirit.
God molds the human body, and He gives the human person a soul and spirit. The spirit is the breath of life; it is the qualities associated with a body and soul working together; it includes ideas such as the mind and the heart. Although it is correct to say that the human person is body and soul, it is also correct to say that the human person is body, spirit, and soul, because the unification of body and soul produces the spirit, that is, the qualities associated with life and with the cooperation of body and soul.
[1 Thessalonians]
{5:23} And may the God of peace himself sanctify you in all things, so that your entire spirit and soul and body may be preserved without blame at the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[Hebrews 4]
{4:12} For the Word of God is living and effective: more piercing than any two-edged sword, reaching to the division even between the soul and the spirit, even between the joints and the marrow, and so it discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
[2 Corinthians]
{1:7} So may our hope for you be made firm, knowing that, just as you are participants in the suffering, so also shall you be participants in the consolation.
Those who participate in the sufferings of the Warning by sorrowing over their own sins, will next receive consolation, to alleviate their sorrow. This gift is granted by the mercy of God to all those who truly repented on the Day of Repentance (i.e. the Warning, which is the first secret).
The purpose of the first three secrets is to bless all the faithful, throughout the whole world, in soul, and spirit, and body, in order to prepare for the severe afflictions which will overwhelm the whole world during the first part of the tribulation. How could it be otherwise? Do you really think that God would afflict the whole world without first strengthening and preparing His people? Does not even an unjust master prepare his servants before sending them out into the fields, so that they will at least accomplish the tasks that he intends for them? Does not even an earthly father prepare his sons before sending them out on a difficult task? How much more will God our loving Father prepare all persons of good will throughout the world for the necessary tasks and afflictions that are about to overtake the human race.
The Warning is a blessing on the soul, the Day of Consolation is a blessing on the spirit, the Miracle is a blessing on the body. In this way, God gives three gifts to the world, and especially to the faithful of the world, to prepare and strengthen us, in soul, spirit, and body, for the tribulation which will, soon afterward, overwhelm the world.
The Day of Consolation
The Day of Consolation is a day of blessings from God on the minds and hearts of all those who repented on the Day of Repentance.
This blessing will have different effects depending on the uniqueness of each person. Some persons will have the blessing of the removal from their heart of some obstacle to holiness, such as a refusal to accept a truth, or a refusal to forgive someone, or a refusal to love more fully. Some persons will have the blessing of the clearing of their mind from some point of confusion or misunderstanding. Some persons will have certain emotional obstacles removed from their spirits, such as a constant sadness, or an inconsolable grief, or a lack of hope, or a lack of joy and cheerfulness, or a distaste for religion or for prayer. Some persons will be cured of mental illnesses of various kinds. Some persons will finally understand certain truths that they had been seeking and had been unable to reach; this will not be a direct infusion of knowledge, but rather a clarification of the mind and heart which will allow new heights of love and understanding to be achieved naturally.
But very many persons will find that the burden of true sorrow, which they accepted as a gift on the Day of Repentance, is now alleviated by the grace of God and by this gift of consolation.
And holy persons who do not need to have some obstacle removed from their mind or heart will find that this day gives them a type of strength of spirit, that is, a strengthening of resolve in the heart, and an increase in the clarity of the mind, so as to more effectively know and do the will of God.
A Sign of the Future Resurrection
The general Resurrection, that is, the Resurrection of the just and the unjust on the last day, will take place in the very distant future. The first Resurrection, described in Revelation 20:4-6, will take place in the 25th century (long before the general Resurrection). But on this day (the day of Consolation), an event occurs as a sign to the whole world, a sign for both the repentant who also receive the gift of consolation and for the unrepentant, even though they will not receive the gift of consolation. The event is not a resurrection, but merely a sign of the future resurrection. This is similar to that sign which occurred on the first Easter Sunday:
[Matthew]
{27:52} And the tombs were opened. And many bodies of the saints, which had been sleeping, arose.
{27:53} And going out from the tombs, after his resurrection, they went into the holy city, and they appeared to many.
Exactly how this sign will be given, or exactly what form it will take, I am not certain. I am NOT saying that anyone will be resurrected from the dead on this day of consolation. I believe that this sign is more in the way of past relatives appearing to some persons as witnesses that this day of Consolation is from God and as a preparation for the eventual (in the very distant future) resurrection of each and every person.
Ten Day Before…
Mirjana said: “The first two secrets will be warnings to the world, events that will occur before a visible sign is given to humanity. These will happen in my lifetime. Ten days before the first secret and the second secret, I will notify Father Petar Ljubicic. He will pray and fast for seven days, and then he will announce these to the world”
Notice that she groups the first two secrets together. Also notice the specific wording: “Ten days before the first secret and the second secret….” She words it this way because the second secret happens so soon after the first secret that there are not two separate sets of ten days preparation before each of the first two secrets, nor are there two separate announcements. The first and second secrets will be announced by Fr. Petar on the same day.
The first secret occurs on Good Friday, April 10th, and the second secret occurs on the very next Sunday, April 12th, which is Easter Sunday, only 2 or 3 days after the first secret (depending on how you count the days). So, ten days before the first secret, Mirjana will reveal both the first and second secrets to Fr. Petar (on March 31). And beginning on Wednesday, April 1st, he will fast and pray for 7 days. Then on the 7th day, Tuesday, April 7th (the historical date of the Crucifixion of Christ), Fr. Petar will announce both the first and second secrets.
by Ronald L. Conte Jr.
published April 9th, 2007
May God give you grace and peace during the difficult years ahead.
