The Betania visionary Maria Esperanza de Bianchini travels globally
bringing Our Lady's messages to all she
can. She has carried the messages of Reconciliation to nearly every
continent reaffirming to all that "If someone loves you deeply then it is
important that they also love your children, therefore, if we love Jesus
Christ then we must love His Mother Mary. By the power of the Holy Spirit,
Mary brought Jesus to us in Bethlehem and today by the power of the Holy
Spirit, she continues to bring Jesus into our lives.
Geo, her loving husband of 42 years, concurs 100% with this and all that
Maria is asked to do. He is a man of strong faith who, by his own
admission, insists on being very realistic, "and at times this makes it
difficult for me to get in touch with the Divine." He's seen many signs,
but by and large goes on pure faith, totally trusting in God.
Through the early years of their marriage, the Blessed Mother guided the
family, slowly preparing both for the mission ahead. Through interior
vision, Maria was shown the property where Our Lady would appear,
describing every detail from the cascading water to the Grotto to the
foliage and river flowing through the land. With the assistance of
friends, they discovered this special acreage and purchased it during March
1974. Two years later on the feat of the Annunciation, Our Heavenly Mother
appeared for the first time in Betania to Maria. No one else who was with
her at the time saw Our Lady but felt the Virgin's presence and witnessed
such supernatural phenomena as the pulsating of the sun, a mist covering
the mountain behind the grotto, a bright light, a profusion of flowers
where none had grown before and singing from an invisible choir of angels.
These signs still transpire today.
For Maria it was like déjà vu since she had experienced on August 22, 1954
as a postulant some of the phenomena that occurs in Betania: the Heavenly
choir of angels and smell of roses. She experienced that which she
described as "something like a star (that) fell from the roof and landed on
my chest; it was like a dart that passed through my heart and I fell
senseless to the floor, as if I was dead. At that moment I was in ecstasy
and I had no idea what was happening…(Our Blessed Mother) was saying that
in the future we would obtain a piece of property. Time had to elapse and
during this time I would marry and be the mother of many children. When
these children were finally grown up, she would appear in the "Promised
Land." It was at this time that she said, "When you are on your way to the
grotto with my image I shall appear as a blue butterfly."
True to Our Lady's words, in this place of prophecy - Betania - twenty-two
years later (when most of Maria's children were grown) the blue butterfly
was seen as she and a small entourage of believers processed to the grotto
with a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. To this day, the blue butterfly is
visible to the pilgrims as it flutters over the crowd when Our Lady is
present. Our Lady has said the smaller azure butterflies are the angels
who accompany her.
In early 1977 Maria was told by the Mother of God to speak to then bishop
of the diocese of Los Teques - Bishop Juan Jose Bernal about taking care of
the spiritual needs of the people in the area, seeing that the Sacraments
of Baptism, Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Communion, as well as
Matrimony be administered to them. Maria was assured by Our Lady that she
herself would touch the Bishop as well.
On February 7 of the same year, after struggling with the message which
Bishop Bernal had received (while in Rome) he contacted Maria and indicated
to her that Our Lady of Lourdes had gotten through to him and he was
willing to help.
Maria's mission had barely begun for Our Lady had much more in store for her.
Again, on the feast of the Annunciation in 1978, which in that year fell
on Holy Saturday, Maria was given a special message from the Mother of God:
"Little daughter, this is not a dream; my presence among you is real.
Obey and follow faithfully this Mother (Our Lady) so that you may be happy
for all eternity. Accept the arduous task of bringing my message of love
and reconciliation to the peoples of all nations. You will suffer, but
what joy and happiness it will be to see that you have been faithful to
your Mother. I take you by the hand."
It was an affirmation of Maria's role as ambassador of reconciliation and
victim soul in reparation for the sins of others. But Maria was not the only one chosen
to be an "Ambassador of Reconciliation" or that would see Our Lady as we shall
see in the next installment entitled, Our Lady Manifests Herself to Many.