Background
LoveandMercy.org features the writings of Catalina Rivas, a housewife from Cochabamba,
Bolivia, who has been receiving messages from Jesus and Mary since 1993.
Catalina Rivas, from Cochabamba in Central Bolivia, began receiving messages from
Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1993. Below are some of the details of how
the messages began...
From the time of creation, we are told, that God has sought to reveal to man His
divine presence and His divine Will. In the Bible and in the lives of the Saints,
we read that this revelation has sometimes been through visions or prophetic dreams. The 19th Century Saint known for his many dreams,
was the Italian Saint, St. Don Bosco. In one dream he spoke of the future missionary
role the Salesian religious order he founded would have in South America, and then he went on to foretell of something
that would happen in our times. He spoke of riches of minerals and oil that would
be found in the mountains of South America, but that at a place between the l5th
and 20th parallels there would come riches far greater than gold, not from within
the mountains but through the mountains and spread beyond the continent of South
America causing the eyes of the world to turn to that place. That place, it seems,
is Cochabamba in Central Bolivia, in a landlocked country considered to be economically
one of the poorest countries in South America-yet rich in many other ways. What
Don Bosco meant by riches more valuable than gold that would come through the mountains
of this place has never been understood up to now. But two events continue to unfold
in Cochabamba that would certainly make the eyes of the world turn to this place
and think about Don Bosco's prophetic dream.
In Cochabamba there is a statue of Christ that continue to weep and bleed and the
story of Catalina Rivas who bears the suffering wounds of Christ's crucifixion and
records His words.
In March 1993, Catalina Rivas, who lives in Cochabamba, was dealing with a family
tragedy and, as she opened herself to God's Mercy, was profoundly moved onto a conversion
journey back to God. Later in 1993, Catalina began to receive messages from Jesus
and the Blessed Mother. In 1994, Catalina traveled to Conyers, Georgia for the October
13th apparition of Our Loving Mother, the Mother of God. Catalina describes
some of the events that happened to her; “While kneeling on the Holy Hill,
in front of the large Crucifix, I saw a light all around the Crucifix, a very strong
light. Then I felt the necessity to offer my life to the Lord so that He can use
it in whatever way He needed to use it and to give Him thanks for all that He did
for me. I then closed my eyes and started praying and when I open them, two very
strong lights came out of the hands of our Lord and felt like a lighting bolt had
gone through my own hands. I felt a strong pain and then a light came out of our
Lord’s feet and went into my own feet. The light split in two as it went to
my feet. A third light came out of His side. It went straight to my heart and there
I fell to the ground because the pain was so strong.”
“Two days later, I went to Costa Rica and there the Lord told me, ‘Enjoy
the gift that I have given you in Conyers because there are many people that ask
Me for this, to share the suffering of My Cross, but this I reserved only for those
that are capable to love Me as I need to be loved.’ I asked that the stigmata
remain hidden but Jesus told me, ‘for now the Stigmata would not be visible
but when I think it is necessary, this can be seen by all.’”
Dr. Ricardo Castanon, who had tested Catalina Rivas a number of times, tells us
that, “Catalina did not finish High School yet in less then three years she
has written eight books. In two weeks, she had written by hand 900 pages. The content
talks about the theologies, 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 books of 200, 300, 400 pages and there is no theological
mistake, you know something special is happening. Catalina says Jesus will dictate
to her and her heart will begin to beat very fast during this time. She says always
when Jesus will tell her something, she will have this feeling. When she begins
to write, she does not stop. She writes continuously, all the time. She does not
have a moment to stop. Normally when you write a letter to a friend, you take time
to think about what you want to say or even stop and she doesn’t, She writes
continuously, all the time. I will say that all together, she could write 4000 or
5000 pages, intelligent pages about theologies, sociology, the human life and Divine
Spirituality and they are poetic pages. So many words she does not understand and
the written Spanish is very elegant.”
Taking a glance at just some lines from her writings, we read the words of Jesus,
“Look at your pen, for Me, you are my pen that I move enabling you to trace
the symbols which express My words. What your hand writes, guided by Mine, will
remain, repeated and amplified by other voices, it will fill the earth.” (Message
from Door to Heaven)
After Catalina received the stigmata on the Holy Hill in Conyers Georgia that were
invisible at first but became visible in January 1996, Dr. Ricardo Castanon began
to study Catalina’s messages and stigmata in earnest. Catalina’s local
Archbishop was kept informed of these matters. In early 1997 the Archbishop of Cochabamba
selected Catalina as his Executive Secretary for the Sixth Eucharistic Marian Conference
of the Boliviarian Countries, and, as a fruit of this conference, came the Apostolate
of the New Evangelization, the ANE. In April 1998, the Archbishop gave his Imprimatur
to all eight books of the messages received by Catalina as of that time. In the
spring of 1999, the FOX TV Network investigated the events in Cochabamba, the bleeding
statue of Christ and Catalina's stigmata and found astonishing results from their
independent medical testing of Catalina in a Mexico City medical facility concerning
her claims of mystical experiences. On Good Friday, April 4, 1999, Jesus invited
the FOX filming team to be present with Catalina in two months, on June 3rd and
4th. As Jesus foretold, Catalina did experienced the stigmata in a very profound
way. This was on and the day after the Feast of Corpus Christi in Bolivia. In the
summer of 1999, FOX broadcast their remarkable findings in North America, Australia
and New Zealand in a 2-hour, prime time TV documentary titled: Signs from God -
Science Tests Faith. The video “A Plea to Humanity”, contains footage
from the FOX broadcast on Catalina’s stigmata as well as on the bleeding statue
of Christ in Cochabamba. This video can be purchased from Love and Mercy Publications.
Catalina presently volunteers her time in support of the Apostolate of the New Evangelization
that was commissioned by her Archbishop in 1999. Her support includes giving talks
worldwide, encouraging people to conversion, to renewal and to commit themselves
totally to God and to support the Holy Father's call to a New Evangelization. Catalina
does not financially benefit from her talks, messages nor stigmata. A spiritual
revival, now spreading from Bolivia, comes from an Archbishop and a nation deeply
moved by a sequence of extraordinary happenings. It is a spiritual revival powered
by the feeling of a meaningful presence of Christ as seen in the tears and blood
that mysteriously shed from the bleeding statue of Christ's Passion and in all that
is happening to Catalina. Could these be the riches more valuable than gold that
Don Bosco predicted over a century ago that would come through the mountains of
Cochabamba and touch the world?
The books with the words of Jesus and Mary to Catalina are available on this site
for free to read and to print copies to be shared with others. The books may also
be purchased. Quantity prices are available on some of the books.