Thanks for the direct answer, it's refreshing.
How can you be sure you are not being deceived? We have all been warned that in the last days many believers will be tricked into following false prophets.
Huh?
The Church's devotion to the Blessed Mother has existed uninterrupted since the Lord told the Church to "behold its Mother" and the Apostle John took her into his home.
"The gates of hell will not prevent against [the Church]". I do not rush to believe any reported apparition (we had one next door last year with a statue of Mary weeping). My faith does not depend on them. But on the other hand, I do not have a reason to disbelief an apparition that was studied for conformity with the General Revelation by my Church; in fact such disbelief would be a defect of faith.