Posted on 03/12/2011 9:14:08 AM PST by GonzoII
www.catholicnewsagency.com
Japanese quake's epicenter located near Marian apparition site
The shrine of Our Lady of Akita
.- 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 bishops 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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I went to the home page. They are also very supportive of Medjugorje. Lost me right there.
Medjugorje is still waiting approval. It’s wise to wait for approval as that means that there has been careful and prayerful scrutiny and discernment to “test the spirit”.
Sometimes the much maligned “authority” of the Church serves it’s appropriate role and purpose.
Thanks for your note. I haven’t keep that close an eye on that phenomenon.
re: the “strange, massive fish kill in southern California”
That’s near me. The local paper, The Daily Breeze, yesterday said the fish have a toxin in them that comes from an algae bloom. The toxin affects the nervous system of the fish and that probably contributed to the unfortunate movement of the fish into the marina where there were too many agitated fish confined in a place with not enough oxygen.
The article said that die-offs like this affecting fish or sea birds have happened occasionally, and they are looking for where in the local waters the algae bloom may have occured.
This fish die-off is not a phenomenon of dire spiritual significance, it appears.
[BTW, I gave up FR for Lent, except for Sundays, in case anybody is waiting for a response from me on any other day.]
I saw the pictures and video amazing how many dead. Just some event. Have a good Lent.
Interesting. Thanks.
It is up to the local Bishop. And the Bishop of Akita approved the events.
One of the Supernatural aspects of Akita was that the statue had water streaming from the wooden eyes of the statue. These were found to be human tears -- by Japanese scientific investigation.
Additionally, the Nun [Sister] involved in the apparitions was deaf. She was temporarily cured of her deafness, then permanently cured of her deafness.
There is a website that states what apparitions are approved and not approved.
But even Pope Benedict [nor Pope John Paul when he was alive] could intervene in these matters. They could issue an opinion. But it up to the local Bishop in these matters.
There is another web site with a list of approved and unapproved apparitions:
Thunder of Justice info via www.catholicrevelations.org
Again, sorry...
This information comes from the old APAR-L newsgroup -- which predates Freerepublic.com
Jim Robinson formed Freerepublic.com because he did not like the moderation on the newsgroup he was on in the 1990's...
Not to worry :-)
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