Catalina Rivas: A Testimony on the Holy Mass

From http://www.all-about-the-virgin-mary.com/

In 1993, Catalina Rivas, a housewife and grandmother from Cochabamba, Bolivia began receiving messages from Jesus and Mary. Catalina bears the stigmata, the suffering wounds of Christ’s crucifixion. Amazingly, Catalina, who did not finish high school, has written eight books containing the messages of Jesus and Mary – all without a single theological mistake, and all given an imprimatur by the Archbishop of Cochabamba.

Dr. Ricardo Castanon, a doctor who had tested Catalina Rivas a number of times, has this to say about her:

Catalina Rivas did not finish high school yet in less than three years she has written eight books. In two weeks, she had written by hand 900 pages. The content talks about theology, sociology, the human life and Divine Spirituality. When you see that she doesn’t have the background, she has never written anything and then she comes with notebooks of 200, 300, 400 pages and there is no theological mistake, you know something special is happening. Catalina Rivas says when Jesus dictates to her, her heart begins to beat very fast during this time…

In the spring of 1999, Fox TV Network investigated the events in Cochabamba, including a bleeding statue of Christ, and found astonishing results from independent medical testing of Catalina Rivas concerning her claims of mystical experiences. Fox Network aired its findings in a 2-hour, prime time TV documentary entitled “Signs from God – Science Tests Faith” that was viewed by an estimated 27 million people.
Excerpts of beautiful messages of Jesus and Mary to Catalina Rivas are published below. Do open your heart to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and you will be blessed with a renewed love and appreciation for the greatest treasure on earth: the Holy Mass.

Living Out the Word of God

When I arrived in Church the next day, a little bit late, His Excellency, the Archbishop and the priests were already coming out of the sacristy. With that gentle and feminine voice that sweetens one’s soul, the Virgin Mary said:

Why must you all arrive at the last moment? You should arrive earlier so that you can say a prayer and ask the Lord to send His Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit may grant you a spirit of peace and cleanse you of the spirit of the world, your worries, your problems and your distractions in order that you may be able to live this so sacred a moment…I want you to be attentive to the readings and to the entire homily of the priest. Remember that the Bible says that the Word of God does not return without having borne fruit. If you are attentive, something of all that you have heard will remain in you. You must try to recall all day long those words that have left an impression on you… Savor them for the rest of the day and this will then become part of you, because that is the way to change one’s life, by allowing the Word of God to transform you.

…I asked God to forgive me for having had so hard a heart for so many years, and for having taught my children that they should go to Mass on Sunday (only) because it was so commanded by the Church and not for love, for the need to be filled by God… For I, who had attended so many Eucharistic Celebrations, mostly to fulfill an obligation, and thus believed that I was saved, the thought of living the celebration had never entered my mind, much less that of paying attention to the readings or to the priest’s homily!

On the Offertory

Our Mother said, “Observe. They are the guardian angels of each one of the persons who are here. This is the moment in which your guardian angel carries your offerings and petitions before the altar of the Lord.”
At that point I was completely astonished because these beings had such beautiful faces, so radiant as one is unable to imagine… Their naked feet did not touch the floor, but rather they went as if gliding. The procession was very beautiful.
Some of them were carrying something like a golden bowl with something (inside) that shone a great deal with a golden white light. The Virgin Mary said:

Observe. They are the guardian angels of the people who are offering this Holy Mass for many intentions; those who are conscious of the significance of this celebration, those who have something to offer to the Lord…Make your offerings at this moment… Offer up your sorrows, your pains, your dreams, your sadness, your joys… your petitions. Remember that the Mass has infinite value. Therefore be generous in your offering and in your asking.

…At the end of the procession came other angels who were rather sad, with their hands together in prayer, but with their eyes downcast.

These are the guardian angels of the people who are here, yet they are not here. That is to say, they are the people… who have come here out of obligation but without any desire to participate in the Holy Mass. Their angels go forth in sadness because they have nothing to carry to the altar…

Consecration

The final moment of the Preface had arrived, and suddenly when the assembly was saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy” everything that was behind the celebrants disappeared. Behind the left side of the Archbishop appeared thousands of angels in a diagonal line: small angels, large angels, angels with immense wings, angels with small wings, angels with no wings…
Everyone knelt down with hands placed together in prayer and bowed their heads in reverence. You could hear the most beautiful music, as if there were very many choirs harmonizing in different voices, all of them saying in unison with the people: “Holy, Holy, Holy…”
The moment of the Consecration had arrived, the moment of the most marvelous of miracles… Behind the right side of the Archbishop appeared a multitude of people also in a diagonal line… Their faces were also brilliant, full of joy. They all seemed to be of the same age. You could tell… that there were people of different ages but their faces looked the same, without wrinkles, happy. They all knelt down as well, at the singing of the “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord…”
Our Lady said: “These are all the Saints and the Blessed in Heaven, and among them are also the souls of your relatives and family members who already enjoy the presence of God.”
Then I saw her. She was there, exactly to the right of His Excellency, the Archbishop… a step behind the celebrant. She was suspended a little off the floor, kneeling on some very fine fabrics… The Holy Virgin, her hands joined together, was looking attentively and respectfully at the celebrant. And she was speaking to me from there, but silently directly to my heart, without looking at me…

It seems strange to you seeing me a little behind Monsignor, does it not? This is how it should be… Notwithstanding how much My Son loves me, He has not given me the dignity that He gives a priest, of being able to bring Him in my hands daily, as the priestly hands do. Because of this I feel such profound respect for a priest and for the whole miracle that God carries out through a priest, that I am compelled to kneel here.

…There began to appear in front of the altar some shadows in human form, gray in color, and they were raising their hands upwards. The Holy Virgin said:

These are the blessed souls of Purgatory who wait for your prayers to be refreshed. Do not stop praying for them. They pray for you but they cannot pray for themselves……And to think that there are people, that there are some of us who can be distracted, talking at that moment … I say with sorrow that many men, more than women, stand with their arms crossed, as if paying homage to the Lord from one equal to another.

The celebrant said the words of the Consecration. He was a person of normal height but suddenly he began to grow and become filled with light… When he raised the Sacred Form (the Host), I saw his hands. There were some marks on the back of his hands, from which emanated a great deal of light. It was Jesus! …It was He Who was wrapping His Body around the celebrant, as if He were lovingly surrounding the hands of His Excellency. At that moment the Host began to grow and became enormous, and upon it was the marvelous Face of Jesus, looking toward His people.
By instinct I was about to bow my head and Our Lady said:

Do not look down. Look up to view and contemplate Him. Cross your gaze with His and repeat the Fatima prayer: Lord, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love you. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not trust and do not love you…. Now tell Him how much you love Him and render your homage to the King of Kings.

…Immediately afterwards, Monsignor said the consecratory words for the wine and, as the words were being said, lightning began to flash in the sky and in the background. There was no church ceiling and no walls. It was all in darkness, but for that brilliant light on the altar.
Suddenly, I saw Jesus crucified suspended in the air. I saw Him from the head to the lower part of His chest. The cross beam of the cross was sustained by some strong, large hands. From within the resplendent light, a much smaller, brilliant light came forth like that of a very small, very brilliant dove. It swiftly flew once around the entire Church and went to rest on the left shoulder of His Excellency who continued being Jesus, because I could make out His long hair, His luminous wounds and His large body, but I could not see His Face.
Above, was Jesus crucified, His head fallen upon His right shoulder. I was able to contemplate His Face, His bruised arms and torn flesh. He had a wound on the right side of His chest and blood was gushing out toward the left; and what looked like water, but very brilliant, (gushed out) toward the right. They were more like jets of light coming forth towards the faithful, and moving to the right and to the left. I was amazed at the amount of blood that was flowing into the chalice. I thought it would overflow and stain the whole altar, but not a single drop was spilled.
At that moment the Virgin Mary said, “This is the miracle of miracles. I have repeated this to you. Time and space do not exist for the Lord, and at the moment of the Consecration all the assembly is taken to the foot of Calvary at the instant of the crucifixion of Jesus.”

Our Father

When we were about to pray the Our Father, the Lord spoke for the first time during the celebration and said:

Wait, I want you to pray with the deepest profundity that you can summon. At this moment I want you to bring to mind that person or persons who have done you the most harm during your life, so that you may embrace them close to your bosom and say to them from your heart: “In the name of Jesus, I forgive you and wish you peace. In the Name of Jesus, I ask for your forgiveness and wish you my peace.

Communion

…The great moment of the encounter in Holy Communion had arrived. The Lord said to me: “Wait a moment. I want you to observe something…” An interior impulse made me raise my eyes towards the person who was about to receive Communion…
I must explain that this person was one of the ladies from our group who had been unable to go to Confession the previous night and had done so just that morning before Holy Mass. When the priest placed the Sacred Host on her tongue, something like a flash of light, that very golden-white light (that I had seen before) went right through this person’s back first, and then continued to envelop her back, her shoulders and her head. The Lord said: “This is how I am pleased to embrace a soul who comes with a clean heart to receive Me!”
The tone of Jesus’ voice was that of a happy person.
While on my way to receive Communion, Jesus said:

The Last Supper was the moment of the greatest intimacy with My own. During that hour of love I instituted what in the eyes of mankind might be the greatest madness: to make Myself a prisoner of Love. I instituted the Eucharist. I wanted to remain with you until the end of time because My Love could not bear that you, whom I loved more than My life, be left orphans …

When I returned to my seat and started to kneel down, the Lord said: “Listen…” And a moment later, I began to hear the prayers of the lady who was seated in front of me and who had just received Communion… “Lord, remember that we are at the end of the month and I do not have the money to pay the rent, the car and the children’s school…etc, etc …”
…Jesus said in a sad tone: “Did you notice? Not once did she tell Me that she loved Me…. Not a single time did she say: ‘Thank You Lord.’ It has been a litany of requests… and almost all of those who come to receive Me are like that.”

After the Mass

Jesus asked me to remain with Him a few minutes longer after Mass was over. He said, “Do not run out as soon as Mass is over; stay a moment in My company. Enjoy it and let Me enjoy yours…”