Our Lady of Good Success - Questions
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A Burning Question on Our Lady of Good Success

What to Do in Face of Doubters?

Marian T, Horvat, Ph.D.
Dear Tradition in Action,

I had never heard of Our Lady of Good Success. It was like a miracle how I found out about her through an email. I have asked family, friends and my priest if they know about her. No one knew about her.

When I googled Our Lady of Good Success this past September and read the awesome story of the apparitions of Mother Mariana, it touched me profoundly as well as my husband Joseph. We fell in love with her and have been praying to her nonstop. She has increased our love for her Son and has inflamed my heart with hope during these times of scandal in the Church.

I found your website which contains a well of information about Our Lady of Good Success. I have ordered books, The Admirable Life of Mother Mariana (Volume I & Volume II) and the one containing prayers and novena. I can’t wait for them to arrive.

We have been praying for her devotion to spread far and wide, and have taken action to do so.

This is my burning question to you:

Once I tried to get the novena started at my Parish, and I met with resistance in starting the novena to Our Lady of Good Success. I was met with questions asking whether this apparition has been approved by the Pope.

My husband told me that Satan will go after anyone who wants to make Our Heavenly Queen known and that it will not be easy, because Satan hates the Blessed Virgin more than any human being that was ever made.

I believe in her message and I have spoken to my pastor. He was very happy about it but says that it does not seem it is up to him to get it started.

Is this something that has been happening with other people who try to make Our Lady known?

Should I remove myself from this endeavor so that the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Immaculate Heart will take control, if it is meant to be, and she will open a way for that to happen in my parish?

I don’t want to say that I did this or I did that, taking credit for spreading the devotion … But I believe Our Lord wants his Holy Mother's message known, it is extremely important. Please get back to me.

Thank you.

J.B.

“…Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect”


Dr. Marian Horvat responds:

Dear J.B.,

It is not surprising to find that some people are ignoring or discrediting the apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success. In the apparition of January 1634, Our Lady herself addressed the question of those who would not believe in the importance of this devotion.

books

A book by the postulator for Mother Mariana's cause on the papal coronation of the Sacred Statue

In the response Our Lady gave to Mother Mariana's request that her name be hidden, she said:

“As for your request that your name be hidden, this pleases me, and I will do as you have asked. Tell the Bishop that it is my will and the will of my Most Holy Son that your name be hidden at all costs, both within as well as outside the cloister, for it is not fitting for anyone at the present time to know the details or origin of how this Statue came to be made. For this knowledge will only become known to the general public in the 20th century.

“During that epoch, the Church will find herself attacked by terrible hordes of the Masonic sect, and this poor Ecuadorian land will be agonizing because of the corruption of customs, unbridled luxury, the impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and that one who should speak out will be silent.

Know, beloved daughter, that when your name will become known in the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe, claiming that this devotion is not pleasing to God. …

"A simple, humble faith in the truth of my apparitions to you, my favored child, will be reserved for humble and fervent souls who are 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 infatuated with empty science.”

Quite clearly, many people do not want to believe in the truth of the apparitions because these apparitions speak of the great crisis in the Church, and pinpoint the decisive moment of the catastrophe as the time of Vatican II.

The best response for the faithful who have doubts about Our Lady of Good Success is simply to invite them to pray to her. She wants to be known in these times, and she is making that clear by responding to the prayers of those who address her.

Proofs of authenticity & approval by the Church

For those who doubt the veracity of this apparition or its approval by the Church, there is ample proof of its authenticity and long-standing approbation by church authorities.

procession quito

Each year, with the permission of the Archbishop, thousands process through the streets of Quito honoring Our Lady of Good Success

In this article "The Prophecies Approved by the Church," it is the postulator for the cause of Mother Mariana, Msgr. Luis Cadena y Almeida from the Archdiocese of Quito, who asserts the authenticity of the apparition and the prophecies. He assures us that this devotion has been approved by all the Bishops of Quito since Feb. 2, 1611.

Papal approval was confirmed with the canonical coronation granted by Rome that took place on February 2, 1991. That same year, the Church of the Conceptionist Convent was declared a Vatican-approved Marian Sanctuary.

Then, in 1986, the Archbishop of Quito Antonio Gonzales opened the cause for the beatification of Mother Mariana. The decree acknowledges her supernatural gifts and the authenticity of the apparitions.

Do not stop promoting Our Lady

I believe it is very important that you do not take a passive attitude with regard to spreading the devotion to Our Lady of Good Success. Even in face of resistance, you should insist that this is an approved devotion and do all you can to make her known.

Why is it so important that more people know about Our Lady of Good Success?

mother mariana victim

Mother Mariana offered herself as a victim soul for our times

By means of this devotion, she promised that Our Lord would work great miracles, spiritual as well as material, for the devout faithful, “above all those at the end of the 20th century, who would be the favored of His Heart, for in that period Hell would be unleashed and many souls would be lost.”

This devotion is a safeguard for peoples and nations today, offering consolation and hope. You have already personally experienced the hope that this devotion inspires in souls in the difficult and chaotic days in which we live.

Further, Our Lady of Good Success told Mother Mariana that she would give her special help to all those who, by their support and resources, will help to spread this devotion in the times ahead when she desired to be known. These are, in fact, our days.

Two examples of Our Lady’s generosity

I do not need to tell you that Our Lady is never outdone in generosity. When Mother Mariana asked the Convent’s special patron, the Marquesa, for help in making her statue, that noble lady did not hesitate to offer everything at her disposal.

Mother Mariana thanked her and told her, “God Our Lord and His Blessed Mother will abundantly recompense your generosity and devotion, increasing your spiritual as well as temporal welfare.”

And you will see in Stories and Miracles that her generosity was immediately rewarded – Our Lady completely healed her broken arm on that very day!

incorrupt body

Conceptionist sisters and novices with the incorrupt body of Mother Mariana

Let me give you another example from Volume II of The Admirable Life of Mother Mariana about how Our Lady regards the patrons of this devotion.

The Prelate of Quito at that time, Bishop Salvador de Ribera, was not a very good pastor of his flock, but he recognized the apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success as true and gave his full support to the making of the Statue. He even ordered the gold-plated silver keys to the Convent – which Our Lady carries in her left hand with the crosier – to be made from his own funds.

One night during the time when the Statue was being made, Bishop Ribera had a dream. He saw himself stricken with a violent illness, which took his life after several days. In his last agony, he saw at his bedside Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, who begged mercy and pity for her Prelate.

He was being accused of the many serious faults committed in his government. He understood then how terrible was the judgment of God, and he searched for something to assert in his favor but could find nothing.

our lady

Through Our Lady's intercession, a judgment of mercy began for the Bishop

In this anguished situation, the Blessed Virgin approached, carrying in her hands a set of silver keys. Kneeling before the dread judgment seat of God, she said: “This son of mine delivered to me the keys of the cloisters of the Convent of my Immaculate Conception. With these keys, therefore, I will now close the terrible tribunal of justice and open the one of infinite mercy.”

And the judgment of mercy began.

I am sure she will likewise recompense all those who are helping to spread the devotion of Our Lady of Good Success throughout the United States and the world.

By encouraging you to continue to pray to Our Lady of Good Success and spread her devotion, I am simply following her counsel:

In the 20th century, this devotion will work prodigies in the spiritual and temporal spheres, because it is the will of God to reserve this invocation and knowledge of your life for that century, when the corruption of customs will be almost general and the precious light of Faith almost extinguished.” (pp. 290-291)

Heaven chose to save this devotion for our times. It is up to us to make it known.

I hope these examples and quotes have been of help to you. May Our Lady of Good Success guide and help you in your work to make her known.

     Cordially,
     In Maria,

     Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.


Posted November 13, 2018

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