Our Lady of Las Lajas
(The Sanctuary of Las Lajas is a Catholic minor basilica located within the canyon of the Guáitara River in Ipiales, Nariño Department, Colombia.) 

Dear Friends,

To this day, the image above is one of my absolute favorite images of Our Lady and the Christ Child! The sweetness in her face is beyond compare expressed in her delicate features.  She is somewhat side glancing so that it seems as though she had been studying her rosary and looked up at us as she lifts the rosary as if to show us and  direct us: "Dear Children, look, this is how you must pray!"

 There is yet another interesting feature that I recently noticed and that is of the Adorable Infant Jesus who looks to be acting just like any other little child of His age - playing with His Mother's clothing. On closer examination I found that it is the Francsiscan cord with the 3 knots. Yet, it seems that He is offering the cord to us. The cord represents a  "dying to oneself" and recommends a penitenial life. This is another aid to help us get to Heaven. The 3 knots represent the virtues of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience.  Does it not seem as though she is telling us that we must recite the prayer of the Most Holy Rosary and offer penances to her Son as  she recommended at Fatima? 

In 1916, the Fatima children received 3 visions of the Angel of Peace in preparation for the coming of Our Lady of Fatima to them. He told them: “Offer up everything within your power as a sacrifice to the Lord in an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended; and of supplications for the conversion of sinners.” 

Our Lady emphasized the importance of penance during her six apparitions at Fatima. She urged the children to "pray much and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to make sacrifices for them."

Finally on the topic of the 3rd secret of Fatima, Lucia do Santos wrote many years later about it: "After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’

Is this not the same message as Las Lajas but more emphatically? 

At Guadalupe, Our Lady recognized our suffering and made it clear that she was our Mother and we just needed to ask her for help.  She recognized our failings, sufferings and sorrows that could be offered to Her Son as penance and reparation.  She told Juan Diego on Dec 12, 1534:

My son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-Virgin Mary; mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth and I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask for my help in their work and in their sorrows will know their mother’s near in this place. Here I will see their fears and I will console men and they will be at peace. Know for certain that I am the perfect and ever Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God. … Here I will show and offer all my love, my compassion, my help and protection. I am your merciful Mother, the Mother of all who love me, of those who cry to me, of those who have confidence in me. I will hear their weeping and their sorrows … their necessities and misfortunes. … Listen, and let it penetrate your heart. … Do not fear any illness or vexation, anguish or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?"

And then as we go to focus on the next apparitions, i.e. the message of Our Lady of Good Success, we would be remiss if we did not mention the words on the walls of the monastery of the Immaculate Conception that contains the miraculous image of Our Lady of Good Success  and we can read one of the most important quotes on their walls:

"The Rosary is the Chain of Gold that links our hearts
to the heart of Our Mother"

In the apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success, due to Mother Mariana's sufferings, Our Lady acknowledges all of the penances and prayers Mother Mariana and her fellow sisters were making and told Mother Mariana, on the morning of February 2, 1594, :

 "I am Mary of Good Success, the Queen of Heaven and Earth. It is because you are a religious soul filled with love of God and His Mother that I am speaking to you now.
I have come from the Heaven to console your afflicted heart. Your prayers, tears and penances are most pleasing to our celestial Father. The Holy Ghost Who consoles your spirit and sustains you in your tribulations formed, from three drops of the Blood of my Heart the most beautiful Child of mankind...

As His Mother, I carry Him here, in my left arm, so that together we might restrain the hand of Divine Justice, which is always so ready to chastise this unfortunate and criminal world. In my right arm, I carry the crosier that you see, for I desire to govern this Convent as Abbess and Mother....

Satan will begin to try to destroy this work of God, making use of my ungrateful daughters. But he will not succeed, because I am the Queen of Victories and the Mother of Good Success, and it is under this invocation I desire to be known throughout time for the preservation of my Convent and its inhabitants… Now, I desire to give you strength and encouragement. Do not allow suffering to discourage you. For you will live a long time on this earth for the glory of God and His Mother, who speaks to you now...  

Much later in 1634, Our Lady says: "Like Moses with his arms raised to Heaven, religious souls supplicate and make penances for sinners to be converted and their nations saved from the torrent of vices and passions that call down the terrible chastisements of Divine Justice."

Lastly but certainly not least this documentary focuses on Our Lady of Akita which warned of upcoming chastisements that will befall Mankind if it does not repent. She said: "Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach."  She called for acts of penance, saying, "Prayer, penance, and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger."

This short introduction  of this new documentary titled:  "The Victory of Las Lajas" was written to help you understand the connections in these 5 apparitions: Las Lajas, Guadalupe, Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of Fatima and Akita. What exactly is Our Lady saying to us over and over again?  And have we been really listening?...

Click on the Image below to watch  The Victory of Las Lajas: