August 3 - The Second Message of Our Lady of Akita (A Warning)

In 1984, just before retiring at a venerable age, the diocesan Bishop of Niigata, Bishop John Shojiro Ito, in consultation with the Holy See, wrote a pastoral letter in which he recognized as being authentically of the Mother of God, the extraordinary series of events that had take place from 1973 to 1981 in a little lay convent within his diocese, at Akita, Japan. Hence in Akita we are dealing with a Church approved intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary as sure in this respect as Lourdes, La Salette, or Fatima.

The message of Akita, authenticated by Bishop Ito, is a continuation of Fatima. The chastisement threatened is truly terrible - far worse than the possibility of annihilation of several nations prophesied at Fatima. Akita is absolutely consistent with prophecies of Scripture.

The first message received by Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa on June 6, 1973, was a call for prayer and sacrifice for the glory of the Father and salvation of souls. The second message, August 3, 1973, was for prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices to soften the Father's anger.

The third message on October 13, 1973, the actual anniversary of the final visions and miracle of Fatima is as follows: "As I told you, 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, and bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their Confreres. The Church and altars will be vandalized. 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 rage especially against 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."

In his pastoral letter approving the events of Akita as supernatural, the Bishop of Niigata said: "After the inquiries conducted up to the present day, one cannot deny the supernatural character of a series of unexplainable events relative to the statue of the Virgin honored at Akita (Diocese of Niigata). Consequently I authorize that all of the diocese entrusted to me venerate the Holy Mother of Akita."

Concerning the messages, His Excellency said: "As for the content of the messages received, it is no way contrary to Catholic doctrine or to good morals. When one thinks of the actual state of the world, the warning seems to correspond to it in many points." His Excellency explained that he had taken eight years to give this judgment because of the importance and the responsibility in question. "The Congregation of the Doctrine for the Faith has given me directives in this sense," the Bishop said, "that only the bishop of the diocese in question has the power to recognize an event of this kind."

The events of Akita have been confirmed by definite miracles, two of which are cited by the Bishop in his pastoral letter. While the warning given by Our Lady at Akita is terrible, the message, as the Bishop points out, is basically a repetition of the Message of Fatima. Our Lady stressed the importance of praying the Rosary, and above all of accepting from God whatever He may send in the course of each day . . . whatever suffering . . . and to offer it up in reparation for so many sins committed throughout the world at this time. Our Lady begged especially for prayers for bishops, priests, and religious, and for reparation before the Blessed Sacrament. Our Lady said: "I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering to the Father, together with all the victim souls who console Him, the sufferings endured by the Son on the Cross, by His blood and by His very loving Soul. Prayer, penance, and courageous sacrifices can appease the anger of the Father."

To the little religious community where Our Lady gave the messages, she asked that it "live in poverty, sanctify itself and pray in reparation for the ingratitude and the outrages of so many men."

The apparitions and events in Akita, Japan, center around a three foot high statue of Our Lady with a Japanese face in the chapel of the Eucharistic Handmaids of the Sacred Heart. These supernatural happenings also involve Sr. Agnes Sasagawa, one of the Sisters in the convent, to whom Our Lady gave Her messages. Sister had been very ill, requiring about 20 operations. When the apparitions began, she was nearly deaf. On June 12, 1973, when she opened the tabernacle for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a very strong light came from it and filled the entire chapel. This happened for three days. When Sister asked the other Sisters if they had seen anything out of the ordinary, they said no.

This strong light also came from the tabernacle on the feast of Corpus Christi. When Sr. Sasagawa told the Bishop of Akita (who was visiting the convent on the feast) of this, he advised her to keep it in her heart. On the Vigil of the Feast of the Sacred Heart that same year, Sr. Sasagawa's guardian angel appeared to her and asked her to pray the Fatima decade prayer after each decade of the Rosary. In 1973 this prayer was not well known in Japan and Sister had trouble understanding it, but the Sisters began to recite the prayer and it has now spread throughout Japan.

On the same occasion as the apparition of her guardian angel, a wound in the form of a cross appeared in the hollow of Sr. Sasagawa's left hand and began to bleed. The bleeding ended on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The following Friday, the wound bled and stopped the next day. This continued for a month. Sister's guardian angel later spoke to her in chapel. Although nearly deaf, she heard the angel saying: "Pray not only for yourself, but for the people of all nations. The world today is wounding the Sacred Heart of Jesus through so much sin and ingratitude." After hearing this, Sister heard a voice come from the statue in the chapel: "My daughter, you obeyed me very well; you have renounced everything. This deafness is a great suffering for you. Have patience; you will be healed. It is a trial. Pray in reparation for all people. Pray much for the Holy Father, for the bishops and the priests."

On July 6, 1973, a bleeding wound appeared on the right hand of the statue of Our Lady in the chapel. On other days, the face of the statue bled. Sister's guardian angel told her: "This flowing of blood is significant. It will be shed for the conversion of men and in reparation for sins. To the devotion to the Sacred Heart add the devotion to the Precious Blood." Other messages followed. About a month after seeing the wound in the right hand of Our Lady's statue, Sr. Sasagawa heard: "My daughter, if you love Our Lord, listen to me. Many people in the world grieve Our Lord. I ask for souls who will console Him, and who will make reparation. The Heavenly Father is preparing a great punishment for the world. Many times I have tried with my Son to soften the anger of the Father. I presented to Him many atoning souls who make reparation by prayers and sacrifices. That is what I ask of you. Honor poverty. Live poorly. You must keep your vows, which are like three nails to nail you to the Cross - the nails of poverty, chastity, and obedience."

Beginning on September 20, 1973, the statue began to sweat from the face to the feet. Tears began to flow down the face. Also, a very pleasant odor was felt in the chapel. This happened many times in the presence of others, including the Bishop. In all, the statue wept a total of 101 times. On October 13, 1973, there was a serious message. "As I said before," Our Lady said, "if mankind does not repent, the Heavenly Father will inflict a very serious punishment on the whole world; a punishment the likes of which has never happened before. Many people will perish. Pray the Rosary often. Only I can prevent the disaster. Whoever entrusts themselves to me will be saved." The statue continued to weep and other messages followed. Pilgrims came and many received answers to their prayers. Then, in 1981, Theresa Chon, who was suffering from terminal brain cancer, was miraculously healed through the intercession of Our Lady of Akita. This healing was well documented by Fr. Joseph Oh of Seoul, S. Korea.

In his pastoral letter, Bishop Ito said that it would have been difficult to believe in a message from Our Lady that is so terrible, unless there was overwhelming proof that it was indeed from Her. But he points out that the terrible chastisement of which Our Lady speaks is on the condition: "If men do not repent and do not better themselves . . ." The Bishop added it is a serious warning, while at the same time one perceives in it the maternal love of Our Lady. In Her message warning the world of the annihilation of a great part of humanity, She said: "The thought of the loss of numerous souls makes me sad."

How can we repent and better ourselves? Repentance is "a sorrow of heart and detestation for sin committed with the resolution not to sin again" (Trent.sess. xiv, cap. 4). Once mortal sin has been committed, an act of contrition is necessary for salvation (this is of faith from Scripture and Tradition). To be effective contrition must be genuine, must comprise all mortal sins committed, must spring from a motive that has reference to God and include a hatred of sin as the greatest of evils (this the common teaching of theologians). Contrition is termed perfect when it arises from the pure love of God; by perfect contrition, sin is forgiven even before it is manifested in the sacrament of Penace, though the obligation of confession remains. What are the sins most prevalent today which are calling down God's wrath upon us? We see wholesale violations of the first three Commandments. The first Commandment: I am the Lord Thy God, thou shall not have strange gods before me." In summary, we find in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, the Catechism of Pope St. Pius X, and the Baltimore Catechism, that the First Commandment forbids idolatry, superstition, spiritism, tempting God, sacrilege, and sins against Faith. The Catechism then asks, "How does a Catholic sin against Faith?" Answer: "A Catholic sins against Faith by apostasy, heresy, indifferentism, and by taking part in non-Catholic worship." By taking part in non-Catholic Worship! This, indeed, is a powerful indictment against the present ecumenical pracitce that has swept through and disfigured the Church since the Second Vatican Council.

The Second Commandment forbids using the Lord's Name in vain (blasphemy). If we consult the Catechism of the Council of Trnt's treatment of the Second Commandment, it teaches that those who support heresy, and "distort Sacred Scriptures from their genuine and true meaning," are guilty of sins against the Second Commandment. Thus, those who distort the meaning of Scripture, namely Protestants, are, in the objective order, guilty of this sin, because their perversion of Sacred Scripture is an irreverence to the Holy Word of God.

The Third Commandment deals with keeping holy the Sabbath Day. It is evident for all to see that Sunday has become a day of business as usual. People doing unnecessary, places of business opened with people shopping without any regard to the Third Commandment which stricty forbids all unnecessary work and doing business on Sunday.

The Fifth Commandment: Thou shall not kill. We see a blatant disregard for this Commandment in the slaughter of some 3,500 babies every day by abortion with very, very few doing anythng to bring about an end to this human carnage.

Now we come to the Sixth Commandment, which violation causes more souls to go to Hell than any of the other Ten Commandments. The Sixth Commandment is transgressed by Divorce which leads to adutery when either of the two spouses remarry (Mark 10: 11, 12) (Matt 19:6) (1 Cor. 7:10,11), fornication, homosexuality, or sodomy (Rom. 1:27) (2 Peter 2:6) (Jude 1:7). We see the Sixth Commandment horribly violated by immodest dress. Modesty and purity have practically vanished from our society (1 Tim. 2:9-10).

This impending chastisement can be averted if enough people pray the Rosary daily and do penance which Our Lady requested at Fatima in 1917.

I first heard of Our Lady of Akita earlier this summer during a visit to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, DC. Before then, I hadn't heard of this particular Marian apparition. Yesterday, a woman passed out pamphlets that had the text of this article in them at a First Saturday devotion I went to at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The text of this intrigued me, because of use of the older catechisms and the criticism of the ecumenical moves after Vatican II. The website that I copied this text from is obviously from a traditionalist group.

Let's have your thoughts on this article.

If sins increase in number and gravity, there will no longer be pardon for them."

This is contrary to Catholic doctrine, contrary to the Bishop's contention that there is nothing contrary to Catholic doctrine in these apparitions.

These appartions sound like a rip-off of Fatima, and add nothing new to those.

"The Congregation of the Doctrine for the Faith has given me directives in this sense," the Bishop said, "that only the bishop of the diocese in question has the power to recognize an event of this kind."

IOW, Ratzinger doesn't want to touch this with a ten-foot pole.

"If sins increase in number and gravity, there will no longer be pardon for them."

I think there is a misunderstanding over who the "them" is here. The "them" mentioned are probably those who sin and don't repent, not those killed in the fire. There won't be pardon for them, because their chance for pardon has been lost.

By taking part in non-Catholic worship! This, indeed, is a powerful indictment against the present ecumenical pracitce that has swept through and disfigured the Church since the Second Vatican Council.
"distort Sacred Scriptures from their genuine and true meaning," are guilty of sins against the Second Commandment.

People doing unnecessary, places of business opened with people shopping without any regard to the Third Commandment which stricty forbids all unnecessary work and doing business on Sunday.

Something's fishy about all this. There's clearly an agenda from the outfit that is promoting these apparitions. Is praying with non-Catholics in a generic setting "non-Catholic worship"?

Is there an "official" "genuine and true meaning of Sacred Scripture", according to the Church? Exegesis is still ongoing, and some finer points are a matter of dispute.

And does the 3rd commandment REALLY forbid shopping on Sunday?

I notice the only reference to Vatican II is derogatory, while there are many positive references to Trent.

This is why private apparitions are problematic; there's always the possibility that they're being clouded by the perceptions and biases of those involved.

Is Mary the one that is supposed to be saying this?

Yep. I guess anyone who's not Catholic is out of luck.

BTW, Catholics are not required to believe ANY of these apparitions, as they are all considered private. Those which are approved by the Church (a mere bishop can, in this case, be considered "the Church") are supposed to be free of error, but I've got questions about this one.

Fatima, and LaSalette, and apparitions to Simon Stock have stood the test of time.

This one has not.

I'm familiar with this particular visionary. She was healed of deafness. The Bishop there approved the vision. The warning was predicated on ~if, then~ which I think is one of the hallmarks of truth.

In any event, whatever comes, comes. I really think we are beyond warnings at this time. As far as being a Fatima ~ripoff~, I don't think so. I think this is another warning that the previous ones were not taken seriously by either the Church or the laity.

From the article: Only I can prevent the disaster. Whoever entrusts themselves to me will be saved."

Mine: Is Mary the one that is supposed to be saying this?

Yours: Yep. I guess anyone who's not Catholic is out of luck.

The reason I asked is it seems from the article that only Mary can prevent the disaster???? You have to entrust yourself to Mary to be saved????

What happened to God? Did Mary take over God's role? My trust and faith is in God, Our Heavenly Father, and that is to whom I pray.

IOW, Ratzinger doesn't want to touch this with a ten-foot pole.

I wouldn't speak for Cardinal Ratzinger before knowing what he actually said about it. In June 1988, Cardinal Ratzinger gave definitive judgement on the Akita events and messages as reliable and worthy of belief.

God the Father is the one whose wrath is fuming, and is planning to send fire and brimstone done upon us. What she is saying that her intercessory prayer, along with Jesus', is the only thing delaying the fury of God.

What happened to the parable of the wheat and the chaff? I've been reading about the "wrath of God" that is supposed to be visited on us all my life, and the apparitions of Fatima predicted the same, 87 years ago. Meanwhile, one of the linchpins of Fatima, the downfall of communist Russia, has taken place, and "Russia's conversion" seems underway.

For me, the recognition of God's love in my life is sufficient to prompt me to keep His commandments.

Love, not fear.

Terrorizing people into heaven with threats of "God's wrath" seems awfully childish.

Did you scout out that website.

Lookie here, at what I found:

The Evils of the New Liturgy

The “Tridentine” or Roman Rite Mass is not the result of a development or evolution over the 2,000 year history of the Church. It is essentially the Mass that was given to the Apostles and the Church by Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

This is patent nonsense; the Tridentine Mass did evolve.

Pyro, this website appears to advocate some kind of near-sedevacantism (see the section on "sedevacantism" where Raymond Taouk comes as close to denying the legitimacy of post-conciliar Popes as he can, without coming right out and saying so).

No wonder these folks are so negative.

*****Did you read the rest of the article? God the Father is the one whose wrath is fuming, and is
planning to send fire and brimstone done upon us. What she is saying that her intercessory
prayer, along with Jesus', is the only thing delaying the fury of God.*****

11 Corinthians 5:19
For God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their sins; and he hath placed in us the word of reconciliation. Douai-Rheims

To wit, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. KJV

"I really think we are beyond warnings at this time."

Interesting. For the past year I found myself scatterbrained in prayer often saying "Lord have Mercy, Christ have Mercy, Lord have Mercy" as my Rosaries too often became fragmented and resembled bouguets of wildflowers instead of the spiritual roses I wanted to offer.

If we were truly beyond warnings then there would be no spiritual battle in saying the Rosary.

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