The Chastisement is conditional and depends on whether or not mankind heeds the messages of the Blessed Virgin and the Miracle. If it should take place, I know what it will consist of because the Blessed Virgin told me about it, but I am not permitted to say what it is. Moreover, I have seen the Chastisement. I can assure you that if it comes, it will be worse than being enveloped in fire, worse than having fire above and beneath you. I do not know how much time will elapse between the Miracle and the Chastisement.

… Whether or not it [the Chastisement] will be depends entirely on how the world responds to the Message after the Warning and Miracle.

…

While the Chastisement has never been the favorite topic for discussion when it comes to Garabandal, it was primarily to warn us of this potential event that the Blessed Virgin appeared. This is supported by the fact that in the first Message of October 18, 1961, the message of Garabandal, the whole second part, more than fifty percent of the text of the entire Message, is devoted to the Chastisement. The first part tells us what we must do to prevent it from happening.

In spite of continuing to see the Virgin, (during the Nights of the Screams) we saw a great multitude of people who were suffering intensely and screaming in terror. The Blessed Virgin explained to us that this great tribulation, which was not even the Chastisement, would come because a time would arrive when the Church would appear to be on the point of perishing. It would pass through a terrible trial. We asked the Virgin what this great trial was called and she told us it was «Communism». Then she showed us how the great Chastisement for all mankind would come, and that it would come directly from God.

At a certain moment, not a single motor or machine would function; a terrible heat wave will strike the earth and men will begin to feel a great thirst. In desperation they will seek water, but this will evaporate from the heat. Then almost everyone will despair and they will seek to kill one another. But they will lose their strength and fall to the ground. Then it will be understood that it is God alone Who has permitted this.

Then we saw a crowd in the midst of flames. The people ran to hurl themselves into the lakes and seas. But the water seemed to boil, and instead of putting out the flames, it seemed to enkindle them even more. It was so horrible that I asked the Blessed Virgin to take all the young children with her before all this happened. But the Virgin told us that by the time it came, they would all be adults.