CATHOLIC CAUCUS: Japanese quake's epicenter located near [Akita] Marian apparition site

CNA ^ | Niigata, Japan, Mar 12, 2011

[GonzoII]

www.catholicnewsagency.com

Japanese quake's epicenter located near Marian apparition site

The shrine of Our Lady of Akita

Niigata, Japan, Mar 12, 2011 / 07:17 am (CNA).- The epicenter of the earthquake that caused a deadly March 11 tsunami is located near the site of an apparition in which Mary warned about a worldwide disaster that could afflict humanity.

Japanese church officials have confirmed that the Diocese of Sendai, in the north of the country, was hit hardest by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake – the worst in Japanese history – and the resulting 23-foot waves.

Hundreds of people have already been confirmed dead in the city of Sendai, located less than 90 miles away from the apparition site of Our Lady of Akita in the town of Yuzawa.

The city of Akita, which experienced fire damage and flooding along with many parts of northern Japan, is a place of veneration for Catholics.

In 1973, the Virgin Mary was said to have predicted a number of future events – including natural disasters even more serious than Friday's earthquake and tsunami – during three appearances to a Japanese religious sister, Sr. Agnes Sasagawa.

The purported appearances of the Virgin Mary in Japan were reviewed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1988. During his time as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prior to his election as Pope Benedict XVI, he let stand the local bishop’s judgment that the apparitions and the messages were acceptable for the faithful.

The messages warned of chaos within the Church, and disasters which could afflict the world.

“If men do not repent and better themselves, God the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity,” Mary reportedly told Sr. Agnes. “If will be a punishment greater than the (biblical) flood, such as never seen before.”

“Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful,” she said. “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church, in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops.”

“Churches and altars will be sacked. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises, and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.”

“Each day, recite the prayers of the Rosary,” she told Sr. Agnes. “With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests.”

Two years after the last message, the statue of the Virgin Mary in the chapel where the apparitions had occurred began to emit tears and drops of blood. The occurrence continued for more than six years.

Reports from Akita following Friday's earthquake indicate that the city received significantly less damage than other parts of northern Japan, despite its proximity to the epicenter. However, residents did report power outages, burst pipes, and fires.

Bishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Niigata, whose territory includes the Akita apparition site, is also the president of Caritas Japan, which will be working to assist victims of the earthquake and tsunami. The relief organization is accepting contributions to its emergency fund at www.caritas.org.

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(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com)

[GonzoII]

Messages of Our Lady in Akita, Japan

Serious Messages for the world, like at Fatima

In 1973, the Blessed Virgin Mary gave Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in Akita, Japan, three Messages through a statue of Mary. Bathed in a brilliant light, the statue became alive and spoke with a voice of indescribable beauty. Her Guardian Angel also appeared and taught her to pray.

The wooden statue, about 3 feet high, had been carved by an artist on the request of the Sisters of the Institute of the Handmaids of the Eucharist, founded by the local Bishop, Most Rev. John Shojiro Ito, of the Diocese of Niigata. This statue, from which the voice came, wept 101 times over a course of several years, from January 4, 1975, to September 15, 1981, the Feast of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows. It also perspired abundantly, and the perspiration sent out a sweet perfume. Its right palm bled from a wound that had the form of a cross.

Hundreds of people witnessed many of these events. Scientific analysis of blood and tears from the statue, provided by Professor Sagisaka of the faculty of Legal Medicine of the University of Akita, confirmed that the blood, tears, and perspiration were real human tears, sweat, and blood. They came from three blood groups: O, B, and AB.

Sister Agnes also has the stigmata on the right palm. A Korean woman with terminal brain cancer received immediate healing while praying before the statute in 1981. The miracle was confirmed by Dr. Tong-Woo-Kim of the St. Paul Hospital in Seoul and Fr. Theisen, President of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Seoul. The second miracle was the complete cure of the total deafness of Sister Agnes.

Miraculous events

The events began on June 12-14, 1973. During these days, Sister Agnes saw a brilliant light coming from the tabernacle. On Thursday, June 28, eve of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, Sister Agnes again saw a blinding light from the Blessed Sacrament, rays of light, and a multitude of angels surrounding the altar in adoration before the Host.

In the evening, another mysterious event occurred. While praying in the chapel, Sister Agnes felt as though something pierced the palm of her left hand. There, in the center of her palm, were two red scratches in the form of a cross. As days went by, the pain became increasingly intense.

This phenomenon recurs every week, and Bishop Ito himself witnesses it: on Thursday evening, the wound is still dried out, but it begins to swell up, and scratches form on the skin. On Friday morning, blood flows and impregnates the bandages of gauze. On Saturday morning, the wound stops bleeding and becomes dry again. This phenomenon lasted the whole month of July.

On July 6, the Guardian Angel appeared to Sister Agnes, and said: “Do not fear. I am the one who is with you and watches over you. Do not fear. Pray with fervor not only because of your sins, but in reparation for those of all men. The world today wounds the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord by its ingratitudes and injuries. The wounds of Mary are much deeper and sorrowful than yours. Let us go and pray together in the chapel.”

Messages of Mary

In the chapel, the statue of the Virgin Mary came to life, and a voice of indescribable beauty struck her totally-deaf ears. This was to be the first Message of Mary:

“My daughter, My novice, you have obeyed Me well in abandoning all to follow Me. Is the infirmity of your ears painful? Your deafness will be healed, be sure. Be patient. It is the last trial. Does the wound of your hand cause you to suffer? Pray in reparation for the sins of men. Each person in this community is My irreplaceable daughter. Do you say well the prayer of the Handmaids of the Eucharist? Then, let us pray it together:

“Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, truly present in the Holy Eucharist, I consecrate my body and soul to be entirely one with Your Heart, being sacrificed at every instant on all the altars of the world and giving praise to the Father, pleading for the coming of His Kingdom. Please receive this humble offering of myself. Use me as You will for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls.

“Most Holy Mother of God. Never let me be separated from Your Divine Son. Please defend and protect me as Your special child. Amen.”

As her Guardian Angel had told her, a cross-shaped wound, similar to that of Sister Agnes, appeared in the right hand of the statue of the Blessed Virgin, and blood started to flow.

On August 3, 1973, the First Friday of the month, Sister Agnes received the second Message from Mary:

“My daughter, My novice, do you love the Lord? If you love the Lord, listen to what I have to say to you. It is very important. You will convey it to your superior.

“Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with My Son, for souls who will repair, by their suffering and their poverty, for the sinners and ingrates.

“In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With My Son, I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him and form a cohort of victim souls.

“Prayer, penance, and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father's anger. I desire this also from your community, that it love poverty, that it sanctify itself and pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men. Recite the prayer of the Handmaids of the Eucharist with awareness of its meaning; put it into practice: offer (whatever God may send) in reparation for sins. Let each one endeavour, according to her capacity and position, to offer herself entirely to the Lord.

“Even in a secular institute, prayer is necessary. Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered. Without attaching too much attention to the form, be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master.”

It was on Saturday, October 13, the anniversary day of the last Apparition of the Virgin Mary to the three children of Fatima, that Mary gave to Sister Agnes Her third Message, the most important and serious one:

“If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the Bishops and the priests.

“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see Cardinals opposing Cardinals, Bishops against other Bishops. The priests who venerate Me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres (other priests). Churches and altars will be sacked. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises, and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.

“The demon will be especially implacable against the souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of My sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will no longer be pardon for them.

“...Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able to still save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in Me will be saved.”

The last Sunday of May, 1982, during the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, Sister Agnes was completely cured from her deafness.

Approval of the local Bishop

After having himself been an eyewitness of the events, and having carefully investigated them for years, Most Rev. John Shojiro Ito, Bishop of Niigata (the diocese Akita belongs to) declared the events of Akita, Japan, to be of supernatural origin, and authorized throughout the entire diocese the veneration of the Holy Mother of Akita, in a long message which he ordered to be read in every parish of his diocese on Easter Sunday, April 22, 1984.. He said: “The Message of Akita is the Message of Fatima.”

Approval of Rome

Bishop Ito went to Rome a third time in June of 1988 to seek the opinion of the Holy See. “I was worried because of the seriousness of the Message,” he said. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reassured Bishop Ito that he had acted properly, and gave definitive judgement on the Akita events and Messages as reliable and worthy of belief.

This article was published in the October-November-December, 2005 issue of “Michael”.

© 2004 The Pilgrims of St. Michael. Reproduction of the contents of this site is permitted, provided you mention credits: our website address (www.michaeljournal.org), as well as our phone number and postal address to subscribe: “Michael” Journal, 1101 Principale St., Rougemont, QC, Canada J0L 1M0), or the address in the U.S. or another country, if it applies.

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[GonzoII]

Ping.

[GonzoII]

You can discuss that on a Baptist Caucus, this is a Catholic one.

[ottbmare]

That’s very offensive.

[johngrace]

__________________________________________________

EVENTS IN JAPAN HAVE MANY SCURRYING TO LOOK BACK AT ALLEGED RECENT PROPHECIES

It is fast and furious. Right after the Japan quake, many pointed to what they saw as accurate prophecies of the disaster.

There is, first, Pedro Regis, the alleged seer from Anguera, Brazil, who last year seemed to have correctly foreseen a flood in Madeira, Portugal, the Haitian disaster, and a potent Chilean quake.

Now, some saw another “hit” in that Pedro (whom his diocese has not yet discerned) had just a few weeks ago quoted the “Virgin Mary” as saying: “Death will pass through Assis [a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil] and my poor children will have to weep and lament. Akita (Japan) will drink the bitter cup of pain. Bend your knees in prayer. Your victory is in The Lord. Open your hearts and accept My appeals. Now is the time of Grace for all of you.”

That was February 15, and in fact Akita — which is in the northern region of Japan — indeed felt the effects of the quake — albeit not like some areas; it was left in the dark by a great power outage. Still, it was interesting because Akita was the site of another alleged set of revelations to a nun named Sister Agnes Sasagawa, who heard Mary’s voice from a statue that wept 101 times and foresaw fire falling from the sky in the future.

Nearly right at a year ago, on March 20, 2010, Pedro quoted the apparition he claims to see as saying, “A megaquake will shake Japan and my poor children will weep and lament. Greater pain never existed.”

Moreover, last October 30, Pedro reported the words, “You are heading towards a future of great difficulties. The earth will shake and Egypt will drink the bitter chalice of pain. Pray. Pray. Pray. The Middle East will experience a heavy cross and My poor children will shout for help. The beautiful country will be in tears for the death of her children. Bend your knees in prayer. Your victory is in The Lord. Don’t cross your arms. This is the message I give you in the name of the Holy Trinity. “

The question, of course, it whether a seer who mentions so many places is not likely by the simple turns of chance to hit a few predictions. Pedro, no doubt a good believer, receives several messages a week, and a single message often mentions two or more locales. He has cited disasters for 22 locales just since February 1. At that rate, well over a hundred places are mentioned in a year.

Still, Pedro draws much interest, and so does a Protestant, David Wilkerson, who has had a notable recent “miss” (foreseeing utter financial destruction right after the recent Wall Street crisis) but who wrote a book in 1975 about a vision he had in 1973 called The Vision in which (on page 32) he said: “The U.S. is going to experience, in the not-so-distant future, the most tragic earthquake in its history... Another earthquake, possibly in Japan, may precede the one I see coming here.”

Of course, Japan is always a likely candidate (see Sent To Earth). We even traveled there specifically to research quakes. But there is certainly much going on and not just there. In Aayanagar, India, an image of Mary is weeping blood and oil since last month and images of Jesus continue to be reported in many places (more on this next week). Perhaps we can speculate this:

When the first of several “warnings” prophesied at Medjugorje are announced, it might be on the scale of what just transpired in Japan — since seer Mirjana Soldo once replied, when asked if people would rush to see the event in her first secret, that it would be a local event that everyone would hear about from afar but that “it is one thing to go and see a sign, quite another to go and see suffering or a disaster. Who would want, for example, to go to Italy to see a dam collapse?”

Just before the recent quake, we were receiving concerns about the New Madrid fault in the Midwest (which created a massive series of tremors in the early 1800s south of St. Louis), and it is peculiar how the Japanese quake was preceded by the destructive quake in Christchurch, New Zealand (note the name), a tremor in Japan itself, a quake that destroyed buildings earlier this week in China, a volcano that suddenly heightened its activity on the Big Island of Hawaii, and a strange, massive fish kill in southern California (not to mention all the weather across the continental U.S.). Meanwhile, a similarly historic quake once occurred (in Alaska) on Good Friday (1964) — the last Friday of Lent, where this is the first Friday of the same holy period.

It takes no seer to see that “signs” are following one another with increased and perhaps portentous rapidity. Noted one viewer, John Olenik — from snow-buried Upstate New York: “The first time I looked at the clock today, the time read 1:11. I then read my e-mail from someone who is trapped in the Tokyo airport, giving an account of what is happening. His e-mail was dated March 11, 11. Significance? The signs are becoming stronger, are they not?”

[johngrace]

http://www.spiritdaily.com/prophecymore.htm

[steve86]

Thank you for this reminder. Akita had not yet crossed my mind in the previous days and I am embarrassed about this. Hail Mary Full of Grace

[GonzoII]

You’re welcome.

[GonzoII]

Thanks for the addition.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

I'm off FR for Lent, however, this Japan earthquake and tsunami has me concerned enough to break this particular Lenten fast.

Remember what Cardinal Ratzinger said about Akita?

Howard Dee, former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, stated that "Cardinal Ratzinger personally confirmed to me that these two messages, of Fatima and Akita, are essentially the same.” (Inside the Vatican magazine, 1998)

And don't forget what Pope JPII said:

Published Testimony:

Pope John Paul II
in Fulda, Germany (1980)

        The October 1981 issue of the German magazine Stimme des Glaubens reported on a discussion that Pope John Paul II had with a select group of German Catholics, in November of 1980. The following is a verbatim report of the discussion:¹

Text of the Published Report

        The Holy Father was asked, "What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?"

        Pope John Paul II replied: "Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves.

        "On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired."

        The Pope continued: "Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil."

        At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: "Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God."

        The Holy Father was then asked: "What is going to happen to the Church?"

        He answered: "We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary."

What it Means

        When Pope John Paul II spoke at Fulda, he had not yet been the victim of the 1981 assassination attempt. Speaking of the Third Secret of Fatima, he did not allude to anything resembling a future assassination attempt (which in 2000 the Vatican announced to be the subject of the final part of the Secret that Our Lady revealed at Fatima in 1917), but rather to imminent chastisement and worldwide tribulation.

        The Holy Father implied that evil is the force behind the elements contained in the Third Secret. The themes alluded to here by the Holy Father are consistent with those considered by leading Fatima experts to be the substance of the real Third Secret of Fatima, and are discussed in detail in the article "The Real Third Secret".

Notes:

1. This report was originally published in German in the October 1981 issue of Stimme des Glaubens. It is given as a verbatim report of the meeting between His Holiness John Paul II and a select group of German Catholics at Fulda during his visit to Germany the previous November. The preface to the article states, "We know the name of the reporter and also that the document is authentic." This translation was made by Rev. M. Crowdy for Approaches Magazine, edited by Mr. Hamish Fraser of Scotland. It was translated from the Italian magazine published in Rome by Father Francis Putti. Both magazines are worthy of our trust.

And given JPII's highlighted quote above, it might be worth reviewing (perish the thought!) Quix's recent thread.

Why? Only because of this curiosity. I personally know two people who were told by Mother Angelica, years apart, that she sincerely believed that some day her Shrine in Hanceville would literally become oceanfront property someday. She knew about the map in Quix's thread and actually believed it, and apparently took it into consideration when she located her Shrine.

One of the two people who related this to me was a dear friend, an old Carmelite brother. He told me about this in 1991, while chatting outside the Perpetual Adoration Chapel in Haddonfield NJ at St. Rose of Lima Church. (Yes, I remember it that well! Its not something you hear every day.)The other individual is my best friend, who was doing some contract work for her in the late 1990s. He told me about this in 1999.

Take it for what its worth.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Akita and Pope JPII’s statement in Fulda were ALL I could think about since learning of this catastrophe!

[steve86]

Thank you, I will read your #12 this afternoon, leaving now.

Odd, it seems to me the quake happened about a week ago but it was Thursday evening my time. That much death and suffering compressed nto a couple days (or a couple minutes in some cases) is unbelievable.

[kitkat]

BTTT

[Salvation]

There is definitely a message here. The big question is “How many people are going to change their lives now?”

[verdugo]

Usually these "seers" make a gazillion "prophecies", something's bound to come close. reminds me of all the Wallstreet experts who say they predicted this or that. If you analize them you'll find that they predicted nothing of the sort.

Pray for the consecrate Russia, and forget about all these false apparitions and seers.

[Salvation]

Thanks for your additions to the thread. Here are some FR links.

CATHOLIC CAUCUS: Japanese quake's epicenter located near [Akita] Marian apparition site
Fatima and Akita
Catholic Caucus: Messages of Our Lady of Akita (Sr. Agnes Sasagawa)

[GonzoII]

"forget about all these false apparitions and seers."

Okay Bishop!

[Brian Kopp DPM]

forget about all these false apparitions and seers.

Fatima and Akita are not false apparitions.