This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Written, compiled, and edited by Ted and Maureen Flynn

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 92-073598

Published by MaxKol Communications, Inc. © Copyright 1993

ISBN:0-9634307-0-X

Published in the United States of America

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The MaxKol Institute is a nonprofit organization and is supported solely by donations and the purchase of it's materials. All funds go to spreading Mary's Message which is made possible by people like you.

Since the abolition of Canon 1399 and 2318 of the former Canonical Code, publications about new appearances, revelations, prophecies, miracles, etc., have been allowed to be distributed and read by the faithful without the express permission of the Church, providing they contain nothing which contravenes faith and morals. This means no imprimatur is necessary when distributing information on new apparitions not yet judged by the Church. The authors wish to manifest unconditional submission to the final and official judgment of the Magisterium of the Church regarding any events presently under investigation.

In Lumen Gentium, Vatican II, Chapter 12, the Council Fathers urged the faithful to be open and attentive to the ways in which the Holy Spirit continues to guide the Church, including private revelations. We hear:"Such gifts of grace, whether they are of special enlightenment or whether they are spread more simply and generally, must be accepted with gratefulness and consolation, as they are specially suited to and useful for, the needs of the Church.... Judgments as to their genuineness and their correct use lies with those who lead the Church and those whose special task is not to extinguish the Spirit but to examine everything and keep that which is good."

Note:Underlining shows which part of the book is currently opened.

Book I

A Call To Change

1. The Wake-Up Call:

The Urgency Of Our Times

2. The Grand Finale:

The Explosion Of The Supernatural Today

3. Prophetess For Our Times

4. Prophets In Our Midst

5. Our Lady's Role In Salvation

Book II

A Mother's Warning

6. The Secrets Of The Apocalypse

7. "Why Am I Weeping?"

8. LaSalette:Satan In The World

9. Fatima And The End Times

10. Garabandal:Its Time Has Arrived

11. The Tears Of Akita, Japan

12. Medjugorje:

Its Messages, Secrets, And Warnings

Book III

Signs And Tribulations

13. Smoke Enters The Church

14. The Great Apostasy:The Loss Of Faith

15. Satan's 100 Years:

Antichurch, Antipope, Antichrist

16. Wars, Disasters, And Tribulations

Book IV

The Purification Of The World

17. Where Mercy And Justice Meet

18. The World-Wide Warning:

God's Ultimate Act Of Mercy

19. The Miracle, The Permanent Signs,

And Other Signs

20. The Great Chastisement And The Three Days Of Darkness

Book V

The New Era--The Triumph

Of The Two Hearts

21. The Second Pentecost

And The Era Of Peace

22. Apostles Of The Last Times

23. The Remedy

Appendix I:Selected Scriptures

End Notes

Bibliography

Index

We thank Our Lord and His mother for the extraordinary gift of grace that we have received for reasons only Heaven can fathom. When we started compiling information, we never believed we would find such a rich vein of spiritual treasure. We have caught a glimpse of the profound mystery that is now unfolding for all the world to witness. Soon all will call Mary "Queen."

We thank our parents for all their support over the years in our adventurous endeavors, no matter the subject. We would never have done it without you.

A very warm and special thanks to Jim 0 'Rourke. In the late evenings while sifting through the massive amounts of material and trying to make sense of it all, a verse kept running through my mind regarding you, Jim:"Well done, good and faithful servant." Many thanks to the Gonzales family, Dr. and Mrs. Francis B. Hennessey, Stan Karminski, Bud MacFarlane, Bernie Marcotte, Malachi Martin, Rick Rotondi, Ron Stone, and friends who have had a hand in this effort--to you we are grateful.

To all of our friends at Signs of the Times--"the army of the faithful" spoken of in the messages--our magazine, Signs of the Times, and this book would never have seen the light of day if it were not for you. Tens of thousands of people world-wide for the last five years have been reading the result of your work. The Lord knows who you are.
 
 

Only a very distracted and unaware Christian of today could have avoided receiving at least a fleeting impression, by the "long hot summer" of 1993, that for a number of years now there has been a steady build-up of events--in the broadest sense of that word--all of which indicate that humanity as a whole and the Holy Roman Catholic Church in particular have reached a fateful threshold beyond which lies a new condition of human affairs.

Literally, every decade of this one century alone has piled one on the other, what Christ called "the signs of the times" (Matt:16 1-4).

In a general way of speaking, it is quasi-impossible to have totally escaped any awareness of these events, and the clamor of the claimant participants. Visions. Appearances. Messages. Predictions. Warnings. Interpretations. Weeping statues and bleeding icons. Miraculous spring waters. Spontaneous cures. Spinning dances of the sun, and eclipses of the moon. Little children telling the future. Uneducated men and women instructing popes and presidents. Nationwide publicity tours by bearers of special revelations. Throughout all of this, an obvious emphasis on the singular role of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Nazareth as the Queen of Heaven, Mother of All the Living, and--not surprisingly--as the Mediatrix of All Graces is pervasive.

It is as if the words of the prophet Joel were being fulfilled:"In those times, God said, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions" (Joel 3:1).

But such exultancy is soberly contrasted with the other side of this century's carnage. For this is a century that has witnessed and is still witnessing scenes of unmitigated horrors. The industrial slaughter of planned wars, of literally millions of men, women and children killed. The wiping out--sometimes as it were, overnight, of mighty empires. An ever-widening ripple of infanticide running to well over a billion in the last fifty years. An ever-climbing number of fratricidal wars--245, at the date of this writing, are in progress. Waves of tortures and persecutions on all five continents. A continual stream of natural disasters without known parallel in human history as we know it. This world scene is overhung by a generalized economic depression, and the clear emergence of an as yet skeletal one-world government that is professionally secular, frighteningly dangerous for human liberty, and in dim outline resembles George Orwell's portrait of "Big Brother" in his 1984 scenario.

We are confronted today by an ocean of events, a deluge of details, a quickening kaleidoscope of happenings. It is a situation made to order to leave us confused and in disequilibrium. It is in such circumstances that men and women are prone to inaccurate judgments and therefore foolish counterproductive actions. Unhappy are those of us who, being largely self-convinced, rashly predict the actual dates and times and places and events of that new expected condition of our world. For, in ourselves and of ourselves, we can find no authentic consolation. And we need consoling. Tender consoling. For we are not a happy race.

Unfortunate and hopeless are those who, though at least vaguely aware, have for one reason or another, no source of enlightenment, no providential norm of right reason for calculating the likelihoods of our situation. For, without that precious light from on high, we can surely entertain no solid confidence beyond that of merely human hope--which can be a good companion, but is never more than a blind guide. The most pathetic among us are those who are especially skillful in analyzing material trends like the weather, the stock market, the latest political omens, and the most up-to-date vogue in fashions and sexual mores, but who cannot read what Christ emphasized as those telltale "signs of the times." The usually mild and loving Lord Jesus described such people as an "evil and adulterous generation" and dismissed them from His serious consideration.

Needed above all else, in this situation, are the bare facts, the truths as far as we can ascertain them of those happenings which emphasize the special role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and which seem to have taken place for our instruction. For even the most prejudiced as well as the most lukewarm minds in regard to her must have willy-nilly remarked on the primacy of place accorded to her shining figure throughout the multifarious history of events many ascribe in all good faith to God's direct intervention into our world of the senses, as well to the preference of her Divine Son that this be recognized as the Age of Mary.

We need more than anything else a manual that, in an orderly fashion, gives us the most accurate history of those matters. It must be as complete as possible with the relevant details, but be an easy reference book. It must be non-partisan, yet clearly on the side of the angels. It must provide a solid basis for human credence, but not tempt to idle speculation or anticipate exaggeratedly the final judgment of the Church's teaching authority which alone can transform our human credence into divine faith. For that, and nothing short of that, is the only purpose worthy of a Christian's attention in these strange times at the end of the second millennium.

This volume by Ted and Maureen Flynn seems, in this writer's eyes, to embody all the characteristics listed above. It is much more than a mere computer read-out of bare facts, and much more helpful than a would-be "objective" account-the utopian ideal vaunted by most un-neutral observers.

For it has been put together in great reliance on the wisdom of her whom Catholics address as the mother of the Incarnate Wisdom, the holy bearer of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is being published for all God's children whoever they are; and it is being launched with that very ancient prayer of firm expectancy which Saint John expressed familiarly in words from his native Aramaic:"Maranatha!" Come Lord! Come Lord Jesus!
 
 

"The time has come when I will make myself more manifest in the Church, through increasingly greater signs. My tears are shed in many places to call everyone back to the sorrowful Heart of their mother. The tears of a mother succeed in moving the most hardened hearts. But now my tears, even tears of blood, leave many of my children completely indifferent. My messages... will become all the more frequent the more the voice of the ministers refuses to proclaim the truth."
 
 

"You have defied the Lord of Heaven, you have had the vessels from His Temple brought to you, and you, your noblemen, your wives and your singing women have drunk your wine out of them. You have praised gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone, which cannot either see, hear or understand; but you have given no glory to the God Who holds your breath and all your fortunes in His hands. That is why He has sent the hand which, by itself, has written these words. The writing reads:MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. The meaning of the words is this:MENE, God has measured your sovereignty and put an end to it; TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting; PARSIN, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians."

A chastisement worse than the flood is about to come upon this poor and perverted humanity. Fire will descend from Heaven and this will be the sign that the justice of God has as of now fixed the hour of His great manifestation. I am weeping because the Church is continuing along the road of division, of loss of the true faith, of apostasy and of errors which are being spread more and more without anyone offering opposition to them. Even now, that which I predicted at Fatima and that which I have revealed here in the third message confided to a little daughter of mine is in the process of being accomplished. And so, even for the Church the moment of its great trial has come, because the man of iniquity will establish himself within it and the abomination of desolation will enter into the holy temple of God.

The Twentieth Century is witnessing a phenomenon that has simply grown too big for any reasonable person to ignore. The supernatural explodes in our midst on a near-daily basis. Because the manifestation of evil in this century is undeniably extreme, Heaven is pouring out great and unprecedented graces to provide us with the means necessary to rise above the moral decay that threatens to destroy us. Sin abounds, but grace abounds even more. Our Lady states the reasons for her warnings are to prepare us for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is being stated in very clear and concise terms. The Holy Trinity has sent Mary, the Mother of God, Mother of the Church, our mother, to warn us.

The messages plead for our attention, but many refuse to listen. The hardness of men's hearts makes it difficult to hear the trumpets of Heaven. Statues weep human tears and blood, the young prophesy, religious communities sprout up, messengers receive warnings, Mary raises up an army of the devout, and reported apparitions of Mary appear at a frequency never seen before in all of recorded history.

People are being asked to turn back to God without delay. God is using apparitions (heavenly appearances) and locutions (interior messages) because other means have failed. He has warned us repeatedly that the times of His Mercy are about to come to an end, and the times of His Justice are commencing.

These apparitions have yielded a wealth of messages as well as remarkable fruits:millions of conversions world-wide; the reorientation of life towards the spiritual; and physical, mental, moral, and spiritual healings. An entire culture is arising spontaneously from the powerful shared experiences of those who have been touched by the unexpected and the supernatural. This culture is articulating itself through and by means of Marian centers, publishing houses, prayer groups, and alternative media networks. Many persons come away convinced that in the eyes of God, they are forgiven and loved, and infinitely important for the fulfillment of Heaven's plan.

Through this current deluge of apparitions and locutions, the Blessed Virgin Mary is issuing a wake-up call. She describes a huge battle now taking place. Satan has unleashed the full power of all his demons, for Heaven has granted him a Century--this Twentieth Century--in which to do his very worst to try to destroy the Church. Satan's final goal is to extinguish the light of faith from the face of the earth, which Satan had boasted he could do. Pope Leo XIII had a vision of a confrontation between God and Satan. Pope Leo was made to understand that Satan would be allowed one hundred years to tempt and try to destroy the Church. In the vision, Satan chose for his one hundred years the Twentieth Century. He is full of furious activity, for he knows that his time is short.

The battle now being waged in the heavens will soon be played out in awesome fury before our eyes--in the very skies, in the seas, and on the ground. This battle cannot be understood or believed outside of the realm of faith. We are witnessing the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven and true beacon for all Christians. It is now part of God's plan to have the "Woman Clothed with the Sun" (Revelation 12:1) appear throughout the world, to offer His people a safe haven in her Immaculate Heart.

The final battle is coming very soon. The remnant who will survive will be small in number. Yet there is one place of safety where all can be protected from the approaching storm:the ark of Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, full of maternal love for Jesus and for us. She is calling all of her children to enter, by acts of consecration to that Heart. The Chastisement is near. Our Lady invites us all to enter her refuge.

As the "purification" or the "chastisement" unfolds, we can expect the Church to be horribly persecuted--apparently almost destroyed. Mary warns that the earth will endure "three days of darkness" without the light of Christ, as Christ Himself spent three days in the earth. Yet at the end of this purification will come a resurrection in glory and the Era of Peace. Here is our source of hope as the Lord is the victor, and the scourge of sin is wiped away.

According to the prophecies of many Marian apparitions, the earth, the seas, and the skies will manifest destruction on a massive scale. Scripture states that when Jesus died the earth quaked, the skies produced lightning and thunder, darkness came over the whole land, and the veil in the Temple was torn asunder (Matthew 27:45-54). In today's world, with its materialistic philosophies and increasing sinfulness, it will not be long before the earth once more manifests its violent grief.

Before that happens, Mary declares there will be a warning and a great miracle. The warning will be a mysterious world-wide event, in which each individual will perceive the state of his or her own soul as God sees it. The warning is a call to change our ways. Within a year of the warning, a miracle--a great supernatural sign--will follow, which will be permanent, visible, and totally inexplicable by science. A short time after the miracle, terrible chastisement will follow, and only after a thorough "purification" will come an "Era of Peace." This will not be the end of the world as many may think, but the dawn of a new epoch, a new age in which God is adored.

The messages form a road map for our future. They speak of the sinful state of the world today and mention "secrets" that concern events to come. A series of cataclysmic events (both natural and supernatural) upon the earth will make mankind realize that God exists and that salvation should be our focus. We have forgotten that ultimately all of human life comes down to a simple choice of Heaven or hell; and Heaven apparently intends very soon to use powerful means of persuasion on a scale never before witnessed in the history of the world. Genesis shows us the extreme displeasure of Yahweh with His people; so great was His displeasure that God regretted making man, as Genesis 6:6 tells us. God cleansed the entire world by Flood; events of similar severity are prophesied by many reliable sources having Church approval.

Mary has the heart of a mother, one who lives for all her children. She is reaching out to those far away, the sinners, the atheists, those who reject God, those who fight against Him, and those who hate Him. She wants to help all men as their mother--for the hour is late.

The theologian Karl Rahner has pointed out that we are moved much more readily and effectively by those divine interventions that we call apparitions than by abstract teachings of knowledgeable theologians or the hierarchy of the Church. 1

One of the greatest theologians in the history of Catholicism, Saint Thomas Aquinas, wrote in his Summa, "...In all ages, men have been divinely instructed in matters expedient for the salvation of the elect...and in all ages there have been persons possessed of the spirit of prophecy, not for the purpose of announcing new doctrines, but to direct human actions." It is apparent that what Saint Thomas is telling us is that private prophecy has a function, an important one. It is certainly a result of divine Providence, although no one is required to accept private revelations. According to Saint Thomas, most people seem to need the encouragement provided by private revelations as an aid to their salvation.2

The messages given for the world originate with "visionaries" from every part of the globe, from enormously varied educational backgrounds and social classes. For example, Italian priest Father Stefano Gobbi currently receives detailed locutions that have resulted in the formation of an international 55,000-member Marian Movement of Priests. Father Gobbi once asked Our Lady, "Why do you not choose someone more suitable and capable than me?" Our Blessed Mother answered him, "My son I have chosen you because you are the least apt instrument; thus no one will say that this is your work." The movement began in 1972 and messages continue to this very day, each year becoming more specific.

Apparitions of the Blessed Mother are occurring in rural as well as urban and suburban areas, and on all continents of the globe. No place on earth is untouched by her presence. She seeks out the little-known places of the world, where the poor and the unfortunate live.

The current Marian times had their beginning in 1830, when Our Blessed Mother appeared to Catherine Laboure in the convent at Rue de Bac, in Paris, France, as the Mediatrix of all Graces, and gave the Miraculous Medal to the world. One side of the medal had an image of the two hearts:the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The other had an image of Our Lady with arms extended and rays of grace streaming from her hands.

Sixteen years after Rue de Bac on September 19, 1846, Our Blessed Mother appeared to children at LaSalette in the French Alps. Mary spoke to the young children, Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, about many things that upset her Son. She told them in 1864 that many demons would be unleashed from hell. LaSalette was approved by the Church in 1851. Pope Pius IX then proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854.

Four years later, in 1858, Our Blessed Mother appeared to a peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, France, announcing herself as the Immaculate Conception--confirming the dogma proclaimed by Pius IX. Bernadette had never heard the term until told by Our Blessed Mother.

Mary's next major apparition was at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, to three children. She asked for all of the bishops of the world to unite and consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. If this did not take place, she warned, Russia would spread her errors throughout the world. She warned that serious consequences would follow if Russia was not consecrated. This occurred prior to the Russian revolution in 1917.

In 1961, Mary appeared in Garabandal, Spain, where requests for the consecration of Russia again were not heeded. At Garabandal, she told the visionaries that the cup of God's justice was filling and that many sacrifices must be made, much penance done to avert divine punishment. In 1973, at Akita, Japan, Mary repeated that message, speaking of a chastisement worse than the flood that could converge on humanity if mankind does not convert.

In Medjugorje, in former Yugoslavia, six children (now young adults) in a rural village have been seeing Mary daily and receiving messages from the Blessed Mother since 1981. That remote village has been visited by an estimated 15 million pilgrims and 15,000 clergy. It has been the hub of Marian devotion in these times. Whereas Fatima was the most significant apparition for the early part of the Twentieth Century, Medjugorje is meeting the spiritual needs of this generation in the latter part of this century. His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger has stated in The Ratzinger Report, "One of the signs of our times is that the announcements of 'Marian Apparitions' are multiplying all over the world."

With this frequency of events, we must not only focus so much on the phenomena as much as we should ask why. Why is Mary appearing? Here is a critical question we must honestly ponder in our hearts. Tears of water have been commonly observed and recently tears of blood on statues in many parts of the world. We have been told the significance of the statues with blood means the chastisement is near.

Scripture states that natural disasters such as famines, earthquakes, and signs in the sun, moon, and stars will provide warnings preceding the Second Coming of Jesus. Although "no man knows the day or the hour" (Matthew 24:36), Jesus has given us signs we should be watching for when this time approaches. Sixteen years ago, Pope Paul VI said he saw a definite pattern of events unfolding which gave him concern, that these may be the end times. Paul VI was a cautious man who spoke reservedly, yet still he made this observation. In 1977, one year before his death, he wrote:"There is a great uneasiness, at this time, in the world and in the Church, and that which is in question is the faith. It so happens now that I repeat to myself the obscure phrase of Jesus in the Gospel of Saint Luke:'When the Son of Man returns, will He still find faith on the earth?' (Luke 18:8). It so happens that there are books coming out in which the faith is in retreat on some important points. The episcopates are remaining silent and these books are not looked upon as strange. This to me is strange.

"I sometimes read the Gospel passage of the end times and I attest that, at this time, some signs of this end are emerging. Are we close to the end? This we will never know. We must always hold ourselves in readiness, but everything could last a very long time yet. What strikes me when I think of the Catholic world is that within Catholicism there seems sometimes to predominate a non-Catholic way of thinking, and it can happen that this non-Catholic thought within Catholicism will tomorrow become the stronger. But it will never represent the thought of the Church. It is necessary that a small flock subsist, no matter how small it might be." 3

For all the dire warnings, we must not lose hope. Jesus is the victor, and He will not allow Satan to overcome His Church. Scripture has promised that evil will at last be purged from the earth. We must not lose hope during some dark nights ahead. The Bible says the very gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. Saint Augustine once said, "that which man builds man destroys, but the city of God is built by God and cannot be destroyed by man."

Mary indicates, in various apparitions, that her messages are meant for all peoples, and not for Catholics alone. Mary says the Catholic Church has the fullest expression of the many gifts which have been given to mankind for salvation and perseverance in battle against the devil's constant wiles; but she is the mother of everyone on earth.

The Blessed Mother asks each person of faith for a personal decision to strive for holiness. She stresses the necessity of making the commitment to "pray, pray, pray," not merely with the lips but from the heart. She tells us to fast, to be reconciled with God and neighbor, in order to attain peace for ourselves and peace for the world. The messages require change in our lives.

Mary has said of our age, "it is a time that is worse than the flood." Like ancient Nineveh we are inches from destruction; but just as Nineveh averted catastrophe by accepting the warnings of Jonah and turning from its sins, we too can mitigate divine justice with prayer, penance, and fasting. God will never abandon His people if they respond. In Scripture, God warns the people of Israel on 177 different occasions for rejecting His infinite love and mercy. Seventy times, Israel responded favorably and was blessed. On 107 times, Israel did not heed the warnings and was greatly chastised for long periods of time. And here lies the deep mystery of our planet that hangs in the balance. 4

History and Scripture give us many examples of God communicating with His people and prophets. When King Nebuchadnezzar needed a dream interpreted he sought the advice of a young man named Daniel to whom "God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds" (Daniel 1:17).

The same was true for the Magi who looked for the birthplace of the Messiah. The story of salvation was in the stars and they knew the signs to follow (Matthew 2:2). They were warned in a dream that they should travel home by another route. The Magi were a learned group of men to whom God had given understanding. They were given a task and fulfilled it. Heaven was speaking and guiding them in a way they could understand. Scripture is filled with such events. Those with knowledge and understanding of the ways of God are given glimpses of the future for the good of the general population. As the Nicene Creed says, "God has spoken through the prophets." The prophets are a mouthpiece for the good of the people. It is an act of love when God warns us of impending danger or calls us back to follow His will.

Although God is extremely generous bestowing His graces, the number who respond is often small. Just like the army raised by Gideon in the Old Testament (Judges 7:4)--which God cut from 10,000 to 300 soldiers--people responding to Mary's messages are but a tiny fraction of the Church. But Mary promises victory to her cohorts. And, as was the case with Gideon, the very smallness of the movement will be a powerful witness that the victory is truly the Lord's.

Currently, hundreds of Marian apparitions are being reported. A storm is approaching, and grace is telling us where our safety lies. In Medjugorje, Mary has said she will appear if necessary in every single household. Her love and concern for her children is that great in these troubled times.

The content of messages from even highly-regarded visionaries may not prove to be one hundred percent accurate. All messages must undergo the discernment process of ecclesiastical authorities. However, it remains true that a thorough and broad sampling of Our Lady's messages throughout the world yields a remarkable sense of consistency and logical development. The major issue we should be aware of is that the warnings are from Mary herself, the Queen of all Prophets, the Prophetess of our times. In addition, so many similar messages coming from such a pool of culturally disparate visionaries cannot be dismissed. Logically speaking, both the frequency and consistency of an event increasingly eliminate the probability of chance. Apparitions are happening at such a frequency we can no longer ignore the facts. The messages should be read with an open heart.

Just as apparitions are increasing, so too are locutions to specific souls increasing in frequency. An interior locution is not something strange or sensational. Rather, it is a mystical phenomenon present in the life of the Church and described in spiritual writings. In a locution, one does not see with the eyes, hear with the ears, touch with the body. Nor is a locution simply a good inspiration, that light which the Holy Spirit normally causes to pour down into the minds and hearts of those who pray and live by faith.

The interior locution is that gift by which God wishes to make something known and to help someone carry something out. The person becomes an instrument of communication while receiving the Word from Our Lord, or in the case of many of the locutions in this book, from Our Blessed Mother. The person receiving simply becomes a vessel of God to provide messages. In the history of the Catholic Church, this mystical phenomenon is not unusual. 5

Our Blessed Mother told us through Father Gobbi in a message given September 18, 1988, that we have a period of ten years--ten decisive years:"In this period of ten years there will come to completion the time of the great tribulation, which has been foretold to you in Holy Scripture, before the Second Coming of Jesus. In this period of ten years the mystery of iniquity, prepared for by the ever increasing spread of apostasy will become manifest. In this period of ten years all the secrets which I have revealed to some of my children will come to pass and all the events which have been foretold to you by me will take place."

The foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ revealed to us both through Scripture and Tradition. Anything that detracts from this is heresy. The role of Mary does not detract but is meant to shine a light on Jesus. Her role is to glorify the Father, and at the same time be a messenger to His people.

As John the Baptist prepared the way for the first coming of Jesus, Mary prepares the way for His Second Coming. Mary proclaims that a new world and era is upon us, and the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart and the Second Pentecost (the outpouring of the Holy Spirit) will usher in the Reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Blessed Mother spoke through Father Gobbi on October 13, 1990, about the glorious reign of Jesus and His Second Coming:"The glorious reign of Christ, which will be established in your midst with the Second Coming of Jesus in the world is close at hand. This is His return in glory. This is His glorious return, to establish His reign in your midst and to bring all humanity, redeemed by His Most Precious Blood, back to the state of His new terrestrial paradise. That which is being prepared is so great that its equal has never existed since the creation of the world."

And afterward, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. Even upon the servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls.

In a message dated November 9, 1984, Mary told Father Gobbi her plan for our times. Our Blessed Mother stated, "In these messages, I also reveal to you my plan in its silent preparation, in its painful realization, and in its victorious fulfillment.

"You are already about to reach the most painful and bloody conclusion of the purification which will take place in these years, before the great triumph of my Immaculate Heart in the coming to you of the glorious reign of Jesus. This is the plan which embraces this century:In 1917 at Fatima, I anticipated it, as in a prophetic announcement, at the moment when the great struggle between the Woman clothed with the sun and the Red Dragon became evident, a struggle which was to last throughout the whole century, as a proud challenge to God on the part of my Adversary, who was certain that he would succeed in destroying the Church and in bringing all humanity to a universal rejection of God.

"The Lord has granted him this space of time, because in the end the pride of the Red Dragon will be broken and conquered by the humility, the littleness, and the power of your heavenly Mother, the Woman clothed with the sun, who is now gathering all her little children into her army, drawn up for battle.

"Now that you are coming to the most painful and bloody years of this great struggle, I have intervened personally in order to form for myself my cohort through the Marian Movement of Priests, which is my work."

This chapter explores several signs of these times, both natural and supernatural. The pre-eminent sign of the present age is Mary. People from all parts of the planet are reporting strong messages of love and warnings from the Blessed Mother of Jesus Christ. She fits the description of the "great sign:" the "Woman clothed with the sun" of Revelation, Chapter 12, where Saint John prophesied her appearance as signifying "the end times."

These widespread reports of appearances of Mary, the "Woman clothed with the sun," are accompanied by many well-documented and scientifically inexplicable phenomena, which are also "signs." The appearance of the "great sign" is a fulfillment of Saint John's prophecy, indicating that we may indeed be in the "end times;" the special era immediately preceding the Second Coming of Jesus, for which Scripture solemnly warns us to be prepared.

Marian apparitions are not new. Throughout Church history, God has sent Mary, the Mother of the Church, to her children as a special sign of hope in troubled times. God sends "signs" not only to console His people with the assurance that He has not abandoned them, but also to warn them of how far they have gone astray and to help them get back on track. The multiplication of reports of Marian apparitions in our day and the "signs and wonders" being experienced by millions of ordinary people are indications both of deep spiritual crises and of very great hope. God's people may be losing sight of Him, but He has not lost sight of us. He is very much present and concerned over our deepening alienation from Him. His personal intervention is necessary and imminent. He is sending His very best messenger, His most treasured soul--His own mother--to warn us, to shelter us, to form us, to prepare us in every possible way so that we may be ready for the day of His coming in the very near future. We cannot fully grasp it all so we must open our hearts as little children. As the Scripture says, "Unless you become like one of these little children...."

In Scripture, Jesus speaks about "the signs of the times." For example:"The Pharisees and Sadducees to test him asked if he would show them a sign from Heaven. He replied, 'In the evening you say, it will be fine; there is a red sky'--and in the morning, 'Stormy weather today; the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to read the face of the sky, but how is it you cannot read the signs of the times?" (Matthew 16:1-3).

Signs of the times also can refer to Heaven's direct response to an epoch's spiritual status, with special supernatural graces sent from Heaven to correct the conscience of an age. Heaven has been flooding us with signs of the times, especially throughout our century, with a growing sense of urgency. As the events which characterize our age become more violent and openly demonic (abortion being the clearest sign of the times imaginable of this negative progression), Heaven's warnings are becoming more extravagant, more impassioned, and more ominous. In this sense, we feel we are beginning to see the signs of the times spoken of by the prophet Daniel and in the New Testament as including "wars, and rumors of wars." These signs increasingly point to a chastisement. Mary's messages tell us in simple terms that the era of God's mercy is ending, and the era of God's justice is about to begin. However, in our age of self-gratification and self-love, people do not want to hear about the justice of God.

These times can easily be recognized as the "Marian Times" prophesied long ago in the writings of various saints, who saw that as God chose to send Jesus to us the first time through a virgin, Mary, so He will choose the same for His Second Coming. This truth is not declared outright in Scripture, nor can it be deduced by logical necessity. It is rather a matter of private revelation and a developing understanding under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of Mary's role in salvation history. Vatican II affirms that the "reason" for Mary's role is simply God's good pleasure.

Although Marian theology has developed over the centuries, the underlying concepts were present in the very earliest practices of the Church and are seen in many writings of the Church Fathers that date from the Second Century, according to the famous Nineteenth Century theologian, John Cardinal Newman. Tenets of Marian theology have often excited controversy throughout Church history, yet they have passed the tests of discernment of the Church as a whole many times. A deep Marian perspective enriches rather than obscures our understanding of God's wisdom, and it is definitely presaged in Scripture. Mary as "a sign" is denoted in Scripture, always as the Mother of the great King--never in her own capacity. Similarly, Mary never appears on earth to glorify herself; her mission is to lead us by the shortest possible route to her Son. She is sent to us as a gift and should be perceived as such. The following Scriptures depict Mary, with her Son, as a sign.

"Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).

"And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12). "And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger" (Luke 2:16).

"And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary, his mother, behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Luke:2:34-35).

Mary repeatedly chooses the innocent young to bring her messages to the world--messages of hope and the need for reparation to her divine Son. The innocent young have no agenda, and in their infectious idealism they have less concern for what others will think.

Mary has been chosen to intervene by the Holy Trinity to respond to this threat of Satan, also identified as the serpent, the dragon. On December 7, 1974, Mary revealed to Father Gobbi why she chooses the "little ones:" "I, the Mother of the Church, am personally intervening and initiating my work of salvation. I am initiating it thus:with simplicity, with hiddenness, and in such a humble manner that most people will not even be aware of it. But this, my sons, has always been the way your Mother has acted."

The frequency of the apparitions of Mary suggests some kind of closure, an explosion of the supernatural. We are presently experiencing the grand finale of this era.

Since Fatima more than three hundred apparitions have occurred significant enough to merit attention and investigation by Church officials. Allegedly, hundreds more are taking place, but the number will not be known until the great event in which Mary promises to validate all her authentic appearances by means of a permanent sign. Scholars and observers of Marian phenomena are sure that the number and frequency of reports have never before been on this scale. Even to the skeptics, these heavenly apparitions are events of undeniable sociological significance. It is impossible to give justice to more than a few of these apparitions. The messages are of peace, conversion, virtuous living, repentance, amendment of life, guidelines for following the Gospel, sacramental living, prayer, and purification. The apparitions are happening all over the world. There are simply too many to mention.

In our souls is an insatiable hunger for truth, for a real encounter with God. We are spiritual beings who long for the truth of God. Sometimes Heaven does not speak as clearly as we would like. The gospels tell us to judge a tree by its fruit, for a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. At Sabana Grande in Puerto Rico, Our Lady has stated that true apparitions will by marked by prayer, fasting, and mortification. This formula is a guide for us to follow because we must discern truth from falsehood. Spiritually speaking, we are in uncharted waters. We must be open to what the Spirit is doing in our midst today, for the events that Mary predicts are all mentioned in Scripture.

The messages are taking place on every continent throughout the world, all saying essentially the same thing. The sheer numbers and frequency of the messages is such that it is not possible to read, study, or know them all; nor is it necessary. Obedience to one is better than a knowledge of all. Mary appears to a particular region of the world for specific reasons, presenting a focus with regional benefits and admonitions. Why did she choose to appear in remote villages such as Lourdes, Fatima, Garabandal, and Medjugorje? As we see today, the area of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina is a battleground near a region where World Wars have started. A wholesale slaughter is taking place in the name of ethnic cleansing; millions of refugees must flee their homes; and unknown thousands die of massacres and starvation. Only time will tell the exact reasons why Medjugorje in what used to be Yugoslavia is the focus of such extraordinary graces. The places in which Our Lady appears are as significant as the messages themselves. Heaven's plans need to be seen for their value in the present but usually are seen most accurately in hindsight.

In one place Mary plays the role of a gentle mother exhorting the family to a state of holiness. In another she is an advocate or counselor. At Garabandal, Spain, she gives a message of prophecy to the world that speaks of warnings. At Escorial, Spain, she speaks to those who are destitute and have been devastated by circumstances. While the messages are all different in their specifics, they are alike in their essentials:prayer, faith, conversion, peace, fasting, and love.

Pope John Paul II wrote in his 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater that Marian apparitions signify the Blessed Virgin's journey through time and space in a pilgrimage toward the Second Coming of Jesus and her final victory over Satan. This is her role now as it has been predestined from the beginning.

The Marian Movement of Priests message of October 30, 1975, spoke of Mary 's tears being shed in many places to the point of blood. We have been told the significance of tears of blood:they point to the fact that the chastisement is near.

The more we study Mary's warnings, the more we are convinced of the accuracy of the valid apparitions. Inaccuracies do not exist when the apparition is approved by the Church--though problems with the interpretations of messages given through mystics over the ages have arisen on occasion and surely will continue.

The participants in the Marian Movement must not hold too tightly to the apparition with which they are most familiar and disregard the rest as inferior or unworthy. People who closely follow Fatima, Garabandal, Medjugorje, and others must realize Heaven is weaving a beautiful mosaic to show the world Mary's presence. At San Nicolas, Argentina, on November 19, 1987, Jesus said:"My mother must be accepted. My mother must be heard in the totality of her messages. Souls will come to Me through the means of her Immaculate Heart." Trying to oppose one particular apparition with another indicates a narrow perspective on the larger role which the Trinity has appointed for Mary as the Mother of all mankind. All should try to grasp the truth and warnings, as Mary proclaims Heaven's messages for the benefit of all. We must be wise enough to discern that what Mary says in Rwanda may not apply to us in the United States but may be a special message for the people of Africa. We must not criticize other apparitions or messages, for we lack the larger perspective of God's magnificent plan. Much in the same way King David would not harm Saul because at one time he was the Lord's anointed, we should be careful before we pass judgment and leave this task to competent Church officials. If there is theological error, of course, the Church in due time through the guidance of the Holy Spirit will filter out those apparitions that are not authentic. In the Book of Acts, Gamaliel instructs the Church that if something is of God, it will last; if not, it will perish (Acts 5:38-39). Satan is no fool. Laced among true apparitions are surely false ones, inspired by the Father of Lies. It would be uncharacteristic of Satan if this were not the case. The design of the evil one is to create confusion and thus discredit them all. We would be surprised if this does not happen shortly. We should expect it.

Pope Pius XII warned about the "harsh and bitter sufferings" facing the human race. He said, "Mankind must prepare itself for suffering such as it has never before experienced." Pope Pius XII described our times as "the darkest since the deluge" and declared, "the hour has struck--the battle, the most widespread, bitter and ferocious the world has ever known, has been joined. It must be fought to the finish." 1

In 1950, renowned Catholic churchman Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote:"We are living in the Days of the Apocalypse--the last days of our era.... The two great forces of the Mystical Body of Christ and the Mystical Body of the Antichrist are beginning to draw up their battle lines for the catastrophic contest." 2 Mary's plan, plain and simple, is to prepare us for the times ahead.

As the number of Marian apparitions throughout the world have increased at an alarming rate, especially in the past ten years, we are reminded of the writings of Saint Louis de Montfort (1673-1716), in which he shared his conviction "that a Reign of the Blessed Virgin would precede a Reign of the Lord Jesus. Just as Mary preceded the first coming of Jesus on earth, so too the Trinity has ordained that she would precede Christ's Second Coming." Never before in history have we experienced the number of apparitions and supernatural phenomena as we have in this century, particularly the latter half. On December 8, 1990, Mary stated to Father Gobbi:"I was driven by the Most Holy Trinity to become the Mother of the Second Advent, and thus my motherly task of preparing the Church and all humanity to receive Jesus, who is returning to you in glory."

Michael Freze, SFO, in his book, They Bore The Wounds Of Christ, says there have been 321 authentic stigmatists in Church history. Sixty-two have been canonized. Some of those who have had the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, include:Saint Francis of Assisi; Saint Catherine of Siena (a Doctor of the Church); Teresa Neumann, the German stigmatist who lived only on the Eucharist for a period of several years; and Padre Pio, an Italian priest who died in 1968. These people had unique gifts and had a profound impact in their times. Today is no different. Christina Gallagher of Ireland; Amparo Cuevos of Spain; Mirna Nazzour of Damascus, Syria; Maria Esperanza of Venezuela; Patricia of England; Gladys Quiroga de Mota of Argentina; Father James Bruse of Virginia; Eileen George, Massachusetts; Sister Agnes Sasagawa of Akita, Japan--all currently have some form of the actual stigmata or a variation of visible or invisible suffering. Stigmatists are today becoming more numerous. These people are several among many saying severe events are coming our way in the very near future.

As one studies these apparitions in our century, one sees a slow but steadily developing divine plan, especially in the last two decades. This plan seems to be accelerating in the past five years as we can see the number of apparitions exploding. What does this all mean? Are we approaching something of monumental spiritual significance? Are we living in those times foretold in the Book of Revelation? Are we coming to a close of one era and entering into a new time? These are all fair and important questions to ask. Before we can really look into these questions, a review of important Marian apparitions is necessary. Many of the older ones are better known, so we have devoted more space to the recent. We have divided these apparitions into four periods.

We have adopted the historical framework suggested by Father Lambert Terstroet, SMM, a Montfortian Father living in Iceland, who divides the major apparitions into four distinct periods. The first period is that of Guadalupe, Mexico (1531), with its profound impact on the Americas. The second is the French period, commencing with the apparitions of Saint Catherine Laboure at the Rue de Bac, in 1830, and ending with Pontmain in 1871. The third is the "European" period, beginning with Our Lady's appearances at Fatima, Portugal (1917), and including Banneux /Beauraing, Belgium (1932/1933). It concludes with reported apparitions in Amsterdam (with messages spanning nearly forty years, from 1945 to 1984), where Mary appeared under the title of "The Lady of All Nations."

The fourth period begins in our times with the "Intercontinental" explosion, or world-wide grand finale of Marian apparitions, beginning with Garabandal, Spain, in the early 1960s. To give readers a sampling of the variety of Marian apparitions (this chapter is by no means inclusive of even a majority of seriously investigated reports), we will give a brief synopsis of several of these important "signs of our times." 3

Our Lady of Guadalupe means "She Who Crushes the Serpent." The Indian word for She Who Crushes the Serpent sounds like the place name of Guadalupe, which the Spanish in error interpreted as referring to their famous shrine. Guadalupe as an apparition is linked closely in our day to the ending of abortion. Our Lady crushed the serpent in the Americas, ending the brutal Aztec practice of human sacrifice. The role of Our Lady of Guadalupe in this century is to crush the serpent and end our own era's resumption of human sacrifice--through approved abortion.

On November 27, 1830, Mary appeared in silence to Saint Catherine Laboure and showed her the image of a medal she wished to have struck. Our Lady appeared on the medal with streams of light pouring from rings on her fingers, signifying her function as "Mediatrix of All Graces." The graces are won by Christ but distributed by His Mother. Not all the rings gave off light, indicating that many graces God wished to bestow through Mary went unclaimed. Around the figure of Our Lady, these words were inscribed:"O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." This medal came to be called "the Miraculous Medal," because of the many miracles associated with its wearing. The back of this medal shows the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus together. This was the first occurrence in which the two hearts appeared together. Twenty-four years after the apparition, Pope Saint Pius X, on December 8, 1854, defined the doctrine of "the Immaculate Conception." This dogma states, "the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved from all stain of original sin."

In 1846, twelve years before Lourdes, France, two children, Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, saw a shimmering apparition of a woman weeping. She spoke to them about many things that upset her Son. She warned of a coming famine, but that before the food shortage, many of the young children of the area would die of a serious disease. She said, "If you do not convert, I am unable to hold back the hand of God." Our Blessed Mother, in one famous version of the so-called "secret of LaSalette," revealed that "Lucifer was unleashed in 1864. The Church would be severely attacked and the monster [communism] would be unleashed at the end of the Nineteenth or beginning of the Twentieth Century. Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of Antichrist, and the Church will be in eclipse. Many chastisements are predicted, the Antichrist will be defeated, fire will purge the earth and consume all the work of men's pride, and all will be renewed." She called upon "the children of light, the few who can see, the true disciples of the living God, the true followers of Christ, the faithful of the last days to come out and fill the world with light, and to fight. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends."

In 1858, four years after the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed, Mary appeared to a very poor young girl, Bernadette Soubirous, eighteen times between February 11 and July 16, 1858. On March 25, 1858, on the feast of the Annunciation, Our Lady revealed to the uneducated Bernadette, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Because the dogma had been officially proclaimed less than four years earlier, and Bernadette could not even have known of its existence, great credibility was given to Bernadette by her repetition of the Blessed Mother's words. It was an affirmation from Heaven of the truth of the dogma. In addition, Bernadette was told by Mary to begin digging in the ground; she obediently did so, to the townspeople's scorn. Water immediately began flowing from the spot where Bernadette dug, a tiny stream that since has grown to the size of a small river. Thousands of healings have been reported as the result of bathing in or drinking this miraculous water. The walls of the grotto where the Blessed Mother appeared are lined with the crutches of the lame who have walked away from the waters, totally healed.

This apparition occurred during the Franco-Prussian War. The German troops were close to Pontmain. The people in the village prayed for protection. On the evening of January 17, for several minutes Mary appeared in Heaven wearing a dark blue dress with a crucifix in her hands. Below the apparition appeared the words, "Pray please. God will hear you soon. My Son lets Himself be touched." That same night an order from the German headquarters called the army back, and on January 28 the French-German armistice was signed. Pontmain remains a powerful example of the power of prayer to preserve us from disaster and war.

Fatima is perhaps the key apparition of the Twentieth Century. Many current messages from around the world are bringing our attention back to the Fatima events, most notably events in Russia. Mary, calling herself Queen of the Rosary, appeared to three shepherd children in the rural countryside of Portugal in 1917. This was the year of the Bolshevik revolution, and Mary entrusted vital messages for the people of the Twentieth Century to the three children, Lucia, Francesco and Jacinta. Before the Bolshevik revolution, she prophesied that Russia would "spread her errors throughout the world." She gave secrets to the children concerning the future of the Church and of mankind. She told two of the children, Francesco and Jacinta that they would soon be with her in Heaven (they died shortly thereafter) but that Lucia would live to see the fulfillment of all of the messages. It should be noted that at the time of this writing, Lucia is in her mid-eighties. At Fatima, Mary said Jesus wished to establish devotion to her Immaculate Heart. She desired the consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart by all the world's bishops, and she especially desired the consecration of Russia. She also asked for First Saturday devotions to console her heart. In the end, she promised, if this were done, Russia would be converted, and an era of peace would be granted to the world. (For a more complete explanation, please refer to Chapter 9 on Fatima and the End Times.)

Fifteen years after the apparitions at Fatima, Mary appeared to children in Belgium, both at Banneux and Beauraing. These are the last Marian apparitions to receive the full approval of Rome, although many more recent apparition sites have the approval of the local bishops. The two apparitions in Belgium developed the Fatima message and prepared the way for the messages of Amsterdam. Our Lady appeared to five children at Beauraing:Fernande, Gilberte, Albert, Andrew, and Gilbert in thirty-two apparitions from November 19, 1932, until January 3, 1933. On December 21, 1932, Our Lady identified herself to the children, "I am the Immaculate Virgin." The children saw a golden heart in the center of Mary's chest. On January 3, 1933, she said to Andrew, "I am the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven. Pray always!"

The eight apparitions in Banneux from January 15, 1933, to March 2, 1933, continued to develop the meaning of Mary's presence among us. Our Lady appeared to only one visionary, Mariette Bero, twelve years old, in a poor section of the country. Calling herself the "Virgin of the Poor," she said she had come to console the sick and the suffering. "I am the Mother of the Redeemer, the Mother of God," she stated.

A small detail, but a very important one in relation to the later apparitions at Amsterdam, is that on January 18 Our Lady told Mariette, "Put your hands into the water. This spring is reserved for me." (They were standing near a spring). The next day, Our Lady said, "This source is reserved for All the Nations."

Our Lady reportedly appeared and spoke by inner locution over several decades under the title of "The Lady of All Nations" to a woman in Amsterdam named Ida Perleman She had many messages of great importance for the future of the Church. She seemed to predict Vatican II and many of the specific issues addressed therein, more than ten years before the "surprise" council was called. She affirmed that many areas of modernization in the Church were necessary so Rome could take advantage of the special opportunities given it in our day to evangelize using modern means. She warned of a grave danger to the Church in the late Twentieth Century:a resurgence of the modernist heresy.

The Lady of All Nations predicted a "final Marian dogma" proclaiming Our Lady "Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate," which would sum up and explain Marian theology, and would "crown" Our Lady. These apparitions are under investigation by the Church as of this writing. Cardinal Ratzinger reportedly has written the visionary that there are no theological barriers to the possible proclamation of the dogma. Some speculate it could be the proclamation of this dogma that will create the official schism in the Catholic Church, which is foretold by many visionaries to happen in the latter days. 4

On December 20, 1953, in a vision during Mass, a woman named Hanya saw the hill of Seredne and a spot where there had been clear wells of water. She saw it clearly, even though she had never visited the hill. As the vision continued, she saw the Virgin Mary and heard her say, "My daughter, my daughter, you see what a fullness of grace I possess. But I have no one to give my graces to, for there are so many daughters and sons that have turned away from me, and no one asks of me in this jubilee year. I wanted to obtain a great forgiveness for poor sinners. Disaster is upon you as in the times of Noah. Not by flood, but by fire will the destruction come. An immense flood of fire shall destroy nations for sinning before God. Since the beginning of the world, there's never been such a fall as there is today. This is the kingdom of Satan. I shall dwell on this hill from which I see the entire universe and the many sinners, and I shall distribute many graces through this well. Who comes to repent of his sins and receives this water with faith, him shall I heal in soul and body."

As the Cuban missile crisis threatened the world with nuclear annihilation, Our Lady was drawing thousands to a remote village in northern Spain, where she appeared to four young girls and displayed spectacular signs and wonders. Her messages were very detailed. Our Lady announced to the girls that the "cup [of divine Justice] is full, is overflowing, in fact." These apparitions seem to be tremendously significant:much of what they say dovetails with messages from other major reported apparitions, such as Medjugorje. This book devotes an entire chapter to the events at Garabandal Spain. Mary speaks, in these apparitions, of the warning, the miracle, and the chastisement. After the warning takes place, many will travel to Garabandal to witness the miracle.

Sister Agnes Sasagawa still receives daily messages in these apparitions, which began when the then-deaf sister witnessed light flooding from inside the opened tabernacle. Sister Agnes was promised healing by Our Lady. That promise was fulfilled, though Sister suffers from the stigmata.

Her convent's statue, an exact replica of the image of The Lady of All Nations, has shed tears on 101 occasions. It was during the Lady of All Nations apparitions that Mary first spoke of herself as Co-Redemptrix. Sister's messages also refer to Our Lady as Co-Redemptrix. On October 13, 1973, Sister Agnes received a message of a chastisement with fire falling from Heaven wiping out the greater part of humanity and of the infiltration of the devil into the Church. (See Chapter 11 on Akita, which discusses these messages.)

Since June 24, 1981, Mary has appeared as the "Queen Of Peace" to six peasant children in the village of Medjugorje. Since then, nearly all of the now young adults have received daily messages. The essence of Our Lady's messages is expressed in five key points:she calls us to prayer from the heart, fasting, reconciliation with God and neighbor, conversion, and peace. At the present time, these apparitions are the most influential of all the Marian apparitions. Life magazine estimates that over fifteen million pilgrims have traveled to Medjugorje over a ten-year period. Ten years to the day after the Blessed Mother began appearing to the children and begging the world to pray for peace, Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia, and the most brutal war in Europe since World War II began. Several current apparitions are "spin-offs" of Medjugorje, in the sense that the visionaries first experienced their reported visions after a pilgrimage there. (See chapter 12 on Medjugorje for greater details.)

In November 1981, apparitions began in Kibeho, Rwanda, Africa, to seven visionaries:Aiphonsine, Emmanuel, Anathalie, MarieClaire, Stephanie, Agnes, and Vestine. Three of them were boarders in a college administered by nuns in a poor area, and three others live in the bush. Our Lord appeared independently to a young pagan, Sagstasha, who has since taken the Christian name Emmanuel. Our Lord taught him the Our Father and gave him instructions on the faith. Emmanuel was given the following message from the Blessed Mother:

"There isn't much time left in preparing for the Last Judgment. We must change our lives, renounce sin. Pray and prepare for our own death and for the end of the world. We must prepare while there is still time. Those who do well will go to Heaven. If they do evil, they will condemn themselves with no hope of appeal. Do not lose time in doing good and praying. There is not much time and Jesus will come."

Although the apparitions ended for six of the visionaries by 1983, Aiphonsine continues to receive apparitions almost every year on November 28. Her last apparition was on November 28, 1989. In these apparitions, Our Lady calls herself the "Mother of the Word." She emphasizes the importance of the rosary and prayer and to love ourselves and others. Jesus told Emmanuel, "Too many people treat their neighbors dishonestly. The world is full of hatred. You will know my Second Coming is at hand when you see the outbreak of religious wars. Then, know that I am on the way." The Blessed Mother told them, "I have come to prepare the way to my Son for your good and you do not want to understand. The time remaining is short and you are absent-minded. You are distracted by the goods of this world which are passing. I have seen many of my children getting lost and I have come to show them the true way."

The apparitions in Kibeho, Africa, were approved in the first stage by the local bishop on August 15, 1988, thus allowing public devotion. The Church is continuing to review these events.

In 1983, Our Lady began appearing to a woman named Gladys Quiroga de Motta in San Nicolas, Argentina. Gladys was given many messages by Our Lord and Our Lady. Since 1990, Our Lady has continued to appear to Gladys but without any messages for the world. Gladys received more than 1,800 messages from October 13, 1983, to February 11, 1990. Father Rene Laurentin, a leading Marian scholar, in his book An Appeal >From Mary in Argentina writes that the message is a simple one:"God wants to renew the covenant with His people through Mary, His Ark of the Covenant."

The response of the people in Argentina to the apparition has been overwhelming. Thousands and thousands of pilgrims have visited San Nicolas and many cures have taken place. Gladys has received the stigmata. The bishop, Monsignor Catagna, is very supportive. A special commission has been studying these apparitions, and official recognition seems to be near. 5

Patricia [surname withheld], an English housewife and mother of three children, started receiving interior visions and locutions from Our Lord and Our Lady regarding devotion to the Divine Innocence in February 1985. As a Protestant who married a Catholic, she had promised to raise her children Catholic and later converted to Catholicism. The messages, which are continuing, fall into two main categories:devotion to Crucified Innocence and devotion to the Mystical Wounds of Our Lady. Patricia's messages help to explain Mary's role as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate.

Christ is a victim soul, and Mary is a victim soul; both sorrowful Hearts suffer in reparation for sin. In these messages promoting devotion to the Crucified Innocence, Christ asks us to be victim souls also, united to His sufferings. In His cry of abandonment from the cross--"My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken Me?"--He foresaw many victim souls throughout the ages who also were partakers in His victory. Christ has chosen the late Twentieth Century for the Devotion to Crucified Innocence to be revealed and propagated. It is intended primarily in reparation for the millions upon millions of infants now being aborted 2,000 years after Our Lord's death.

While Calvary was first and foremost the scene of Our Lord's Passion and death, it also caused Our Lady to suffer hidden and mystical wounds. No longer does God want the precious wounds of Our Lady to be hidden. Rather, His people are to understand the tremendous purification mankind received and will receive through devotion to Mary's Hidden and Mystical Wounds. Patricia has said, "When Divine Innocence triumphs in us, then Our Lady's Immaculate Heart will also triumph. This grace has been won by Our Lady's Mystical Wounds." 6

In the Knockmealdown Mountains, Our Blessed Lady reportedly appeared at Melleray Grotto, where there is a shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes. She appeared first to a seventeen-year-old local girl, Ursula O'Rourke, in August 1985. During the following week she appeared and spoke to two young local boys, Tom Cliffe, twelve years old, and to Barry Buckley, eleven years old. Mary gave them messages of prayer and impending world catastrophes. Each evening Our Lady appeared to the boys shortly after their entry to the grotto and after some of the rosary had been recited. She always appeared on the statue's right hand side when delivering her messages and then receded back into the statue. The boys then would see her as the statue, but with flowing golden hair and a silver crown, her gown moving in the wind, and the fingers and lips of the statue moving to prayer or hymn.

Other local people, adults and children, saw visions of other saints and holy persons, such as Joan of Arc and Padre Pio. One evening, Our Lady appeared to a local farmer, Michael O'Donnell. She told him, "preserve Sunday for prayer."

On August 19, 1985, at Melleray Grotto, Tom Cliffe saw a vision:Our Lord and the apostles were sitting around a table in a big room. Outside in the streets were beggars and some people sweeping with brooms, and dogs were barking. There was a long table with Our Lord at the head. Our Lord had his finger up and seemed to be lecturing one of the apostles. This frightened Tom, as he thought Our Lord was directing his admonitions to him. That same evening, Our Blessed Lady said, "I have a message," and to the boys she said the following:"My message is peace and prayer--tell the people that the water is blessed." Our Blessed Lady was very close to the boys with her arms outstretched. Tom put out his hand to touch her, but she said, "No." She walked back up the steps again and turning at the top she said, "God is angry with the world. The people will have to improve and pray. My message is for all the people of God's Church. The people have ten years to improve and pray, and if not, then this is what will happen." Mary then showed them a vision of future calamitous events.

Since August 5, 1985, apparitions of Our Lady have been reported at two distant grottos near Inchigeela, Ireland. Three children, Rosemary O'Sullivan, Marie Vaughn, and Kelly Noonan have claimed to see the Blessed Mother. There have been no further reported apparitions to the children since March 1987. Some of the messages were as follows:

To Rose on June 16, 1986:"I am the Queen of Peace."

To Marie on November 2, 1986:"I wish that the Brown Scapular should be spread more."

To Kelly on February 22, 1987:"Sons and daughters of the world:I beg of you to recite and keep the Ten Commandments."

On July 25, 1986, Our Lady also appeared to Mary Casey, the mother of nine children. She has received several messages. To Mrs. Casey on August 20, 1986, Our Lady said:"Peace. Prayer is the best weapon you have. It is a key that opens God's heart. You must pray to Jesus from your heart. Let your prayer be of genuine gratitude to the Father. The devil is strong with those who fear him and weak with those who despise him. Satan can do nothing to people who have surrendered themselves to God. Go in Peace."

Our Lady appeared in Bessbrook Grotto in the spring of 1987 to Beulah Lynch and Mark Treanor. On Saturday, May 30, 1987, Mark Treanor reported an instant inclination to go to the grotto. There he saw a lady dressed in white looking at him. She was wearing a golden crown. On June 2, Beulah Lynch saw Our Lady. She was unspeakably beautiful, young, motherly, and surrounded by light.

On June 11, Our Lady said to Beulah Lynch:"I am your Mother. I love you. The world must behave. The world must change. A great catastrophe will happen to the world. Tell them to hurry. This is a command from God. The messages here are the messages in Medjugorje. The children in Medjugorje are the children here."

On July 10, Our Lady said to Beulah Lynch:"My child, the messages are not to be taken foolishly. They are serious. They are from God. The world is in great danger. God is not pleased. You have been given a gift from God. Tell the people to come and to pray. Pray and fast and do penance.

On August 20, Our Lady said to Beulah Lynch:"A great disaster will happen to the world. The world must improve. Satan is destroying the world."

On November 11, Our Lady told Beulah Lynch:"My child, I am your mother, Mother of God. You cannot know the wrath of God. God is very, very angry because of the sins of the world. I cannot hold back any longer. I cannot save the world. The people must save the world. The people must come to the grotto, to pray, fast, and do penance before the chastisements start."

Much of what is known about the Ukraine has been provided by Josyp Terelya, former political prisoner of the former Soviet Union for twenty years. The Ukrainian apparition site, called Hrushiv had long been a place of pilgrimage, with reported apparitions as long as two hundred years ago and up to the present day. Josyp Terelya states:

"In 1914 at the Hrushiv shrine, twenty-two peasants saw Our Lady and she predicted eighty or ninety years of hardship for the believers. As at Fatima, she also warned that Russia would become godless and bring mankind precariously close to destruction. It was a significant link to what Sister Lucia of Fatima was told years later--if Russia did not return to Christianity, there might well be another World War and whole nations would vanish." 7

On April 26, 1987 (one year to the hour and the day after the Chernobyl nuclear accident), Our Lady appeared to twelve-year-old Maria Kyzyn in the small rural village of Hrushiv, Ukraine, close to a small Catholic church that has been for centuries a center of Marian devotion. This little church since has attracted large crowds of both Catholic and non-Catholic pilgrims. At one point 20,000 people gathered in a sweet potato field to get a glimpse of Mary. Some estimate that no less than 400,000 have had the great joy of seeing the image of Mary as she visited her children in that most Catholic part of the Ukrainian nation. These apparitions have yielded very powerful messages, as well as remarkable signs and wonders. We will quote a lengthy message from Our Lady, to indicate the powerful intensity of her words in the Ukraine.

Our Lady said:"Teach the children to pray. Teach children to live in truth and live yourselves in truth. Chernobyl is a reminder and a sign for the whole world. Constantly say the rosary. The rosary is the weapon against Satan. He fears the rosary. Say the rosary everyday, constantly at any gathering of people. I have come on purpose to thank the Ukrainian people because you have suffered most for the Church of Christ in the last seventy years. I have come to comfort you and to tell you that your suffering will soon come to an end. Ukraine will become an independent state. Repent and love one another. The times are coming, which have been foretold, as being those in the end times. See the desolation which surrounds the world; the sins, the sloth, the genocide. I come to you with tears in my eyes and I implore you, pray and work for good, and for the glory of God. Ukraine was the first country to acknowledge me as queen and I have received her under my care.

"Work for God, for without this, there is no happiness and no one will gain the Kingdom of God. You shall gain my heart and live in unity. Follow the leaders of the Church boldly and you will gain your own country and power and love amongst the nations of the world. I love the Ukraine and the Ukrainian people for their suffering and faithfulness.. for Christ the King, and I shall protect the Ukraine for the glory and the future of the Kingdom of God on earth. Ukrainians must become Apostles of Christ among the Russian peoples for if there is not a return to Christianity in Russia, there will be a Third World War."

Ukraine is crucial for the conversion of Russia. Russia is the key to peace in the world. Finally, we are told Russia will be instrumental for the conversion of the West. The spark for this chain reaction is Ukraine.

It appears that the United States also has a critical role to play in the conversion of Russia that will bring about true peace. Josyp Terelya heard Our Blessed Mother say, "Pray for Russia. Russia will be converted only when all Christians pray for her restoration. Pray for the unification of the churches in Russia. All Christians should repent and through purification from sin stop the godlessness in Russia from continuing to spread through the world. Pray in brotherly love for the conversion of the Russian people. The believing Ukrainian Christians will save their own nation. Until the West acknowledges its own guilt before the East, Russia will not be able to receive Christ the King." [Note:In the year 1054, Christendom underwent a schism separating the Eastern and Western churches. The term 'conversion' implies the reunification of the disparate parts of the Church under the Pope.]

Mary also showed Josyp several more visions including one of the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, former Premier of the USSR. Josyp Terelya had this vision in 1987; the incident of the attempted overthrow of Gorbachev occurred in August 1990, three years after it was predicted. We quote Josyp Terelya directly from Witness:"I saw a map of the Ukraine and the bloody river began to dry up. The earth in many places was scorched and took on a black-grey color. This was the color of death. But amid the black-gray ashes, I saw grass sprouting. It was very tall. I saw the people kneeling and crying but I knew these were the tears of joy and salvation. I saw the new Babylon, the red city, that was falling into the earth. In that city, under a Christian temple, was a secret hiding place. There were eight men there--eight rulers, all eight waxen yellow. They laughed horribly and bared their teeth. Gorbachev told me it wasn't he who was in charge of the state. I saw the real leader of the USSR behind a yellow screen:It was Lucifer himself, in the figure of Yeltsin, his eyes red and his face blushed. I looked and from the earth of that city, immense dull red rats, large as dogs, began running. These animals were awful. I know they were poisonous.

"I heard the voice of a woman full of love and goodness. She said, 'You have seen the godless East and West. The difference is that in the West godlessness is not officially recognized. But the goal of godlessness in the East and West is the same. In order to save Russia and the whole world from godless hell, you must convert Russia to Christ the King. The conversion of Russia will save Christian culture in the West and will be a push for Christianity throughout the world. But the Kingdom of Christ the King shall establish itself through the reign of the Mother of God."

[Note:Mary has said Russia must return to Christianity. Mary states in several other messages that the key for stability in the West is the conversion of Russia. Russia appears to have a more strategic role than the other republics in fostering Heaven's peace plan.]

Patricia "Pachi" Talbott was a typical teenager, not very interested in religion. When her religion class showed a video of the apparitions at Medjugorje her first response was, "that's ridiculous." Pachi was more interested in modeling, and she was very successful. However, over an eighteen-month period beginning in August 1988, the Blessed Mother has been appearing as "The Guardian of the Faith" to Pachi. Her messages advise remaining faithful to basic Catholic practice:Eucharist, penance, prayer, fasting, consecration to the Two Hearts, devotion to the scapular, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and inner peace.

Pachi has also been given grave messages. For example, while visiting Tepeyac Hill in Guadalupe, Mexico, Patricia was told by the Blessed Virgin, "There are going to be bad things happening in the world, and what is asked for is conversion." Patricia was told not to reveal the actual secret, as "it would create panic." One month ahead of time Patricia will warn the world of the message through her spiritual advisors. The Virgin has told Patricia the secret has three parts and all three have to do with future chastisements for the world.

The Virgin reportedly told Patricia:"The war is near. It will be started with false peace treaties, treaties in which we should not place our trust. Many countries will be involved, among them, the United States, China, Russia, Rumania... this is why conversion now is so important."

Regarding the three days of darkness that many modern visionaries have predicted, Pachi stated:"The Holy Virgin spoke about them, saying that the earth would go out of its orbit for three days. At that time, the Second Coming of Christ will be near. The devil will take over the world. During those days, families should be in continuous prayer. Because of false prophets, who will falsify the words of Christ, we have to be in the state of grace so we can discern the good from the evil....

"We should not open the doors to our homes to anybody. We are simply to keep on praying. The Virgin said it would be better not even to look through the window because we will see the justice of God over the people. It will be so terrible, that we will not want to see it."

Pachi is not unlike many other youth of her age group. Before the apparitions, her parents had divorced, and in an act of rebellion she attempted suicide. Since 1990 her parents have reconciled. When she first received the apparitions, she was unfamiliar with the writings of Father Gobbi and other mystics around the world, many of whom claim they have received similar messages. Pachi emphasizes that time is short and there will be some point when conversion will no longer be possible. 8

Since August 1990, in a small town in Slovakia near the border of Poland, Mary has reportedly appeared to two twelve-year-old shepherd girls, Katarina and Svetka. Our Lady asked them to make sacrifices, attend church, and offer prayers for their sins and the sins of the world. The Blessed Virgin called herself the "All Pure Sinless One." She appears on the first Sunday of each month; in August 1991, over 500,000 people were present for the first anniversary of the apparitions. The people of Litmanova are Greek Catholic. Like Garabandal and Medjugorje Litmanova is a poor village. A miraculous spring flows from the top of a mountain, and (as in so many other places) Mary has said that a sign will be left on the top of the mountain when the apparitions end.

The Vatican as well as the Greek Catholic Bishop of Presov and the Roman Catholic Bishop Jan Hirka are conducting investigations. Our Lady promised a new era of peace and joy. We feel it is important principally because Slovakia (part of the old Czechoslovakia) is a satellite of the former Soviet Union, and freedom of worship is so necessary to the struggling new democracies. The 500,000 participants at the first anniversary Mass shows that, as in Ukraine, the people of former communist lands have a great hunger for God and things spiritual. 9

The following is a list of the better-known Marian apparition sites throughout the world. It is by no means exhaustive or conclusive.

1531--Guadalupe, Mexico:Juan Diego

1634--Quito, Ecuador:Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres

1830--Rue de Bac, Paris:Catherine Laboure

1846--LaSalette, France:Melanie Calvat and Maximin Guiraud

1858--Lourdes, France:Bernadette Soubirous

1871--Pontmain, France:Eugene and Joseph Barbadette

1879--Knock, Ireland:Fifteen People

1904--Poland:Father Maximilian Kolbe

1914--Hrushiv:Several People

1917--Fatima, Portugal:Lucia, Francesco and Jacinta (children)

1932--Beuraing, Belgium:Voisin and Degeimbre (children) Banneux Belgium:Mariette Beco

1937--Poland:Sister Faustina

1938--Belgium:Bertha Petit

1940s--Hungary:Sister Marie Natalia

1945--Zagreb, Yugoslavia:Julka

1945--Holland, Amsterdam:Ida Perleman

1947--Marienfried, Germany:Barbara Reuss

1947--Montichiari, Italy:Pierina Gilli

1947--Tre Fontane, Italy:Bruno Cornacchiola

1951--Poland:Barbara Klosowna

1953--Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico:Three Children

1954--Seredne, Ukraine:Anna/Hanya

1954--Fostoria, Ohio:Sister Mildred Mary

1954--Calabria, Italy:Mother Elena Aiello

1954--Windy Gap, N. Ireland:Seamus Quail

1958--Turzovka, Czechoslovakia:Matous Losuta

1961--Garabandal, Spain:Four Children

1962--Skiemonys, Lithuania:

1963--Vietnam:Rosa Maria

1964--San Damiano, Italy:Mama Rosa Quattrini

1965--Belgium:Maguerite

1966--Porto San Stefano, Italy:Enzo Alocci

1968--Italy:Mama Carmela Carabelli

1968--Zeitoun, Egypt:Hundreds of thousands

Since 1970

1972--Milan, Italy:Father Stefano Gobbi

1972--Dozule, France:Madaleine

1973--Akita, Japan:Sister Agnes Sasagawa

1974--Binh Loi, Vietnam:Stephen Ho-Ngoc-Anh

1974--Canada:Brother Joseph Francis

1974--Rome, Italy:Mother Elena Patriarca Leonardi

1976--Betania, Venezuela:Maria Esperanza And Others

Since 1980

1980--Cuapa, Nicaragua:Bernardo Martinez

1980--El Escorial, Spain:Amparo Cuevas

1980--Taiwan:Five People

1981--Kibeho Rwanda, Africa:Seven Children

1981--Medjugorje, Yugoslavia:Six Children

1982--Eisenberg, Austria:Aloisa Lex

1982--Damascus, Syria:Mirna Nazzour

1983--Penablanca, Chile:Miguel Angel Poblete

1983--San Nicolas, Argentina:Gladys Quiroga de Motta

1985--Melleray Grotto, Ireland:Several People

1985--Ballinspitfie, Ireland:

1985--Switzerland:Vassula Ryden

1985--Surrey, England:Patricia

1985--Oliveto Citra, Italy:Several Children

1985--Inchigeela, Ireland:Three Children

1985--Naju, Korea:Julia Kim

1986--Shoubra, Egypt:Thousands

1986--Manila, Phillipines:Soldiers

1987--Bessbrook, Northern Ireland:Beulah Lynch and Mark Treanor

1987--Hrushiv, Ukraine:Marina Kizyn

1987--Mayfield, Ireland:Sally Ann and Judy Considine

1987--Conyers, Georgia:Nancy Fowler

1987--Cuenca, Ecuador:Patricia Talbot

1987--Grushevo, Ukraine:Thousands

1988--Cortnadreha, Ireland:Christina Gallagher

1988--Scottsdale, Arizona:Several People

1988--Phoenix, Arizona:Estela Ruiz

1988--Lubbock, Texas:Three Adults

1989--Canada:Jim Singer

1989--Marlboro, New Jersey:Joseph Januszkiewicz

1989--Kettle River, Minnesota:Steve Marino

1990--Canada:Josyp Terelya

1990--Denver, Colorado:Theresa Lopez

1990--Litrnanova, Czechoslovakia:Two Children

1990--Melbourne, Australia:Josefina-Maria

1991--Mozul, Iraq:Dina

And dozens and dozens more unmentioned...

A great and wondrous sign appeared in Heaven:a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in Heaven:an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he may devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to His throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. And there was war in Heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he [the dragon] was not strong enough, and they lost their place in Heaven. The great dragon was hurled down-that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

In our day, as issues of the faith are in crisis, Mary will make herself more known. In the message of July 3, 1987, through Father Gobbi, Mary specifically said, "These Are My Times."

"As of this year, in a strong and official way, the times of your heavenly mother will begin.... These are the times of the great chastisement. The cup of divine justice is full, is more than full, is flowing over. Iniquity covers the whole earth; the Church is darkened by the spread of apostasy and of sin. The Lord, for the triumph of His mercy, must as of now purify with His strong action of justice and of love. The most painful, most bloody hours are in preparation for you. These times are closer than you think. Already during this Marian Year, certain great events will take place, concerning what I predicted at Fatima and have told, under secrecy, to the children to whom I am appearing at Medjugorje. Jesus will restore His glorious reign. He will dwell with you and you will know the new times, the new era. You will at last see a new earth and new heavens....

"These are the times of the great mercy. The Father thrills with ardor and wills to pour out upon this poor humanity the torrents of His infinite love. The Father wants to mold with His hands a new creation where His divine imprint will be more visible, welcomed and received and His Fatherhood exalted and glorified by all.

"These are my times. 'These,' that is to say the days in which you are living, are 'mine,' because they are times marked by my great and strong presence. These times will become even more mine, the more my victory will broaden out and become stronger, surpassing the victory which at present is that of my Adversary. This presence of mine will become very strong and extraordinary, above all in the families consecrated to my Immaculate Heart. It will become apparent to all and will become for you a source of a special consolation."

Her intervening role has never ceased. God the Father has willed to use her. She is the messenger and the prophetess. Several of her titles are discussed in the following section.

Throughout history, the Blessed Mother has actively interceded in the affairs of man.

Prophetess Of These Last Times

On November 22, 1992, Our Blessed Mother stated to Father Gobbi her role very clearly and succinctly. She said, "With the joy of a mother, who sees herself more and more heeded and followed by her little children, along the road which has been pointed out by me, as Prophetess of these last times in which you are living, with my Son, Jesus Christ..."

The Immaculate Conception

God prepared the one predestined to receive His Only Begotten Son into her womb, and into her life. Just as the instructions Yahweh gave for preparing the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament were detailed and precise, because God Himself would reside there, so too, the Church teaches, Mary was uniquely prepared in order to give flesh to her Creator, and to house His growing frame within her body. Because she contained Christ, she has been called the Ark of the New Covenant, and the Church teaches that God prepared her for this in a singular way. Christ did not receive His body from a sin-stained vessel; by the power of the foreseen merit of His death and Resurrection, He had already sanctified Mary by freeing her from original sin from the first moment of her conception within her mother's womb. Jesus created a vessel without sin and without any stain. Pope Pius IX proclaimed this dogma in 1854, and four years later Mary confirmed it when she identified herself at Lourdes as the Immaculate Conception.

Mother of the Church

Mary has always been seen as a model for the Church, and intimately connected to it as its mother. The Church sees the account in John's Gospel of Mary at the foot of the cross as denoting Christ giving Mary to the Church (as its new mother), and the Church to Mary (as her new children). This implies both maternal and filial commitment and responsibility. Mary mothered the Head of the Church--Jesus--so throughout time, she will also mother the Body of Christ. Pope Paul VI, in closing the Second Vatican Council in 1965, formally declared Mary to be "Mother of the Church."

Mary's unique role has been spoken about by others in the Church for centuries. Two such voices in the Seventeenth Century were Blessed Mary of Agreda, a Spanish nun, and Saint Louis de Montfort. Blessed Mary of Agreda said of the Blessed Mother, "It was revealed to me that through the intercession of the Mother of God all heresies will disappear. The victory over heresies has been reserved by Christ for His Blessed Mother. In the latter days, the Lord will in a special manner spread the renown of His Mother. Mary began salvation, and by her intercession it will be completed. Before the Second Coming of Christ, Mary, more than ever, must shine in mercy, might, and grace in order to bring unbelievers into the Catholic faith. The power of Mary in the latter days will be very conspicuous. Mary will extend the reign of Christ over the heathens and the Mohammedans, and it will be a time of great joy when Mary is enthroned as Mistress and Queen of Hearts. An unusual chastisement of the human race will take place towards the end of the world." 1

Saint Louis de Montfort wrote, "But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel:that is to say, her humble slaves and poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world's esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God's assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph."

Saint Louis de Montfort also wrote, "It is Mary alone who has found grace before God (Luke 1:30) without the aid of any other mere creature...she was full of grace when she was greeted by the Archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:28), and was super abundantly filled with grace by the Holy Ghost when He covered her with unspeakable shadow (Luke 1:35); and she has so augmented this double plenitude from day to day and from moment to moment that she has reached a point of grace immense and inconceivable." 2

Mary as the New Eve

The idea of Mary as "the New Eve" was expressed beautifully in the writings of the famous Nineteenth Century convert from Anglicanism, John Cardinal Henry Newman. He wrote:"Though I hold, as you know, a process of development in Apostolic truth as time goes on, such development does not supersede the Fathers, but explains and completes them. And, in particular, as regards our teaching concerning the Blessed Virgin, with the Fathers I am content... the Fathers are enough for me."

Cardinal Newman insisted:"I fully grant that devotion towards the Blessed Virgin has increased among Catholics with the progress of centuries; I do not allow that the doctrine concerning her has undergone a growth, for I believe that it has been in substance one and the same from the beginning." 3

On the ancient teaching of Mary as the Second Eve, Newman quoted from three sources:Saint Justin Martyr (A.D. 120-165), Saint Irenaeus (120-200), and Tertullian (160-240). Of these, Newman said:"Tertullian represents Africa and Rome; Saint Justin represents Palestine; and Saint Irenaeus Asia Minor and Gaul; or rather he represents Saint John the Evangelist, for he had been taught by the martyr Saint Polycarp, who was the intimate associate of Saint John, so of the other Apostles."

We quote from the earliest source, Saint Justin Martyr:"We know that He, before all creatures, proceeded from the Father by His power and will...and by means of the Virgin became man, that by what way the disobedience arising from the serpent had its beginning, by that way also it might have an undoing. For Eve, being a virgin and undefiled, conceiving the word that was from the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death; but the Virgin Mary, taking faith and joy, when the Angel told her the good tidings, that the Spirit of the Lord should come upon her and the power of the Most High overshadow her, and therefore the Holy One that was born of her was Son of God, answered, 'Be it done to me according to Thy word."'

Cardinal Newman showed how the widespread territories represented by the three distinct witnesses indicated that this teaching on Mary as "the Second Eve" was firmly established before the year 200. From the earliest written records of the Church, there was general acceptance of Mary's role. 4

Queen of Heaven and Earth/Queen of Peace

Mary's identity with the Church is nowhere more evident than in the scriptural passages of Revelation, Chapter 12. While some maintain that these passages refer not to Mary but to the Church, they refer to both. "The woman" cries out in the pain of childbirth and delivers a male-child, "the King who rules the nations with an iron rod," Christ the King. These passages strongly relate to the Marian apparitions of our times, which portray Mary as a Queen who will "crush the serpent's head" in the final defeat of the enemy.

As with all her other titles, Mary's title as Queen of Heaven and Earth derives solely from her unique relationship to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Assumption is the doctrine which prepares us to accept Mary's heavenly role as Queen of the Angels. For she is the first of the redeemed to attain the fullness of glory, both in body and in spirit. As she is first, she leads the rest of us to victory, by helping us to navigate through the deceptive snares laid down by Satan to distract and dilute the force of the Good News.

Mary leads us only to her Son, the Source of her life and joy. She teaches us basic, spiritual, common sense principles such as prayer, fasting, and reconciliation with God and neighbor.

The Assumption

Writings dating from the second century indicate that Mary was generally believed by Christians to have been assumed into Heaven:both her body and her soul were taken up to Heaven when her time on earth had come to an end. She has already attained the full glorification that all of the elect are destined to receive at the Final Judgment. Because of her sinlessness, her body did not have to undergo corruption in the grave.

There are many reasons for this belief in Mary's Assumption. Among them is the physical fact that the relics and tombs of the other early Christians were identified, venerated, and in a variety of ways, celebrated. There exists nothing pertaining to Mary, except the house at Loretto, where Jesus was supposedly reared. There is no record or celebration of her death, no tomb, no relics, yet she was perhaps the foremost member of the early Church, due to her closeness to its Founder. She was, after all, the Mother of the Redeemer.

The Church has always held the truth about Mary's Assumption, and in 1950 it was formally declared to be part of Catholic dogma by Pope Pius XII. Mary's Assumption helps bring other aspects of her role into sharper focus, such as her being the Queen of Heaven who has been given a royal part to play in the climax of the great spiritual war being waged in these reported "end times" (Revelation 12).

Devotion to Our Lady was a very strong aspect of the early Church and many church buildings were dedicated to her honor. For example, Clovis I, in the year 101, dedicated a church near Paris to "Our Lady of Argenteuil." "Our Lady Beyond the Tiber" was built in Rome by Calixtus I in the year 224. Saint Helen built a chapel called "Our Lady of the Commencement, which was dedicated by Saint Sylvester in the year 320, and so on.

Legend has it that the first recorded chapel of Our Lady was dedicated by Saint Peter, one of the original Apostles, at Tripoli. The Assumption is not so difficult a doctrine to comprehend when we look at the honor Mary has been given throughout all of history. 5

Queen of the Holy Rosary

As Queen of the Holy Rosary, Mary calls us to prayer as an antidote for our frenetic, late Twentieth Century lives. Previously, through the power of the holy rosary, Mary intervened to save Christianity from Islam at the Battle of Lepanto. The Holy Father called for all Europe to say the rosary when it looked as if Islam would overrun Europe. Many did pray the rosary, and Europe was not overthrown.

Our Queen leads us in a way of meditation that calms our racing minds, focusing our thoughts for an extended period of time on the mysteries of our Redemption. We are exhorted to pray, over and over again, for her powerful intercession on our behalf, both "now, and at the hour of our death," when we know the devil will be doing his utmost to snatch our souls. Mary has said repeatedly that the answer to our personal ills lies in "the frail cord of the rosary."

For example, on October 8, 1984, Our Lady appeared to the Medjugorje visionary Jacov Cob at his home. She said:"Dear children, all the prayers which you recite in the evening in your homes, dedicate them to the conversion of sinners, because the world is immersed in a great moral decay. Recite the rosary each evening." On January 9, 1989, Mary said to the visionaries in Medjugorje:"... during these days I invite you to renew the prayer in your families and to pray all the mysteries of the rosary every evening."

On June 1, 1984, she exhorted, "May the love of God be always in you, because without it, you cannot be fully converted. Let the rosary in your hands make you think of Jesus."

Moreover, on August 8, 1985, Mary instructed, "Dear children, today I call you especially now to advance against Satan by means of prayer. Satan wants to work still more now that you know he is at work. Dear children, put on the armor for battle and with the rosary in your hands, defeat him!"

Queen and Mother of Families

In the July 23, 1987, message to Father Gobbi, Our Blessed Mother stated her role in the family:"I am the Mother and the Queen of Families. I watch over their life, I take their problems to heart, I interest myself not only in their spiritual good but also in the material good of all their members. When you consecrate a family to my Immaculate Heart it is as though you open the door of your house to your heavenly mother, invite her to come in and give her the opportunity to exercise her motherly function in an ever stronger way."

On July 3, 1984, Mary said to the visionaries in Medjugorje:"Dear children, your mother asks you tonight, you who are present, when you get back to your house, renew prayer in your family. Take time for prayer, dear children. I, as your mother, especially want to tell you that the family has to pray together. The Holy Spirit wants to be present in the families. Allow the Holy Spirit to come. The Holy Spirit comes through prayer. That is why, pray, and allow the Holy Spirit to renew you, to renew today's families."

Mary as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate

"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come"' (Revelation 22:17). These inspired words from the last sentences of Sacred Scripture should enkindle a hopeful confidence in the people of God concerning the ongoing salvific work of the Holy Spirit and Mary, His Immaculate Spouse, in their contemporary mission of advocacy for the Church today.

It is noteworthy that the scriptural use of the term, Advocate (Greek, "parakletos," literally "called in to help") 6 as used by Jesus at the Last Supper, refers to the coming aid of the Holy Spirit for the future Church (John 15:26). The later use of the same term for Mary's intercessory help for humanity by the Church Fathers further bespeaks the intimate association of the Spirit and the Advocate in the mission of heavenly intercession.7 One scholar remarks that the title of Advocate "is used almost exclusively for Mary, and not for the saints. Because of its broad impact and because it is a name of Sacred Scriptures proper to the Holy Spirit, it contains also a special consecration. In this respect it is particularly appropriate to Mary, the more so since, by reason of her special relationship to Him, the Holy Spirit unites Himself to Mary's petitions with inutterable sighs." 8

The intimate union of the Holy Spirit and Mary can be seen in terms of Mary's role as Advocate, interceding from humanity back to God, just as it was evidenced in Mary's role as Mediatrix, interceding from God to humanity. 9 The contribution of Saint Maximilian Kolbe provides a theological foundation for Mary's role as Advocate in interceding back to God on behalf of humanity in inseparable association with the Holy Spirit.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe explains Mary's role in this way:"Every action has a reaction in view. The reaction is the fruit of the action. God the Father is the primary Principle and the Last End. The Immaculata is full of grace; nothing in the way of grace is lacking to her. The path of grace is always the same; action:from the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit [and through] the Immaculata; and then the inverse reaction:from creatures through the Immaculata [by] the Holy Spirit and [to] Christ back to the Father." 10

Mary, therefore, is at the end of the sanctifying action of God (as Mediatrix of all graces), and at the beginning of the reaction of the human family back to God (as Advocate for the People of God). Mary is neither the end nor the starting point of God's action to humanity, but has an instrumental presence at both points because of her intimate union with the Holy Spirit.11 We see this unified mission of advocacy between the Spirit and the Bride of Pentecost. It is the task of Mary, Advocate for the People of God, to implore the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, at times of particular need for the Church. She performs the task of aiding intercession in imploring the Spirit to descend upon the early disciples of the Lord, and will continue this advocating role with the Spirit for the Church. As John Paul II points out, quoting the words of the Second Vatican Council:"We see Mary (Acts 1:14) prayerfully imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Annunciation. And so, in the redemptive economy of grace, brought about through the action of the Holy Spirit, there is a unique correspondence between the moment of the Incarnation of the Word and the moment of the birth of the Church. The person who links these two moments is Mary:Mary at Nazareth and Mary in the Upper Room at Jerusalem. In both cases her discreet yet essential presence indicates the path of 'birth from the Holy Spirit.' Thus she who is present in the mystery of Christ as Mother becomes--by the will of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit--present in the mystery of the Church. In the Church too she continues to be a maternal presence, as is shown by the words spoken from the Cross:'Woman, behold your son!'; 'Behold your mother'." 12

Mary's role as Advocate, imploring the aid of the Holy Spirit for the Church in times of need, will continue for the Church until the Second Coming of Christ, the time of which "only the Father knows" (Mark 13:32). Saint Louis de Montfort, singled out by John Paul II among the many witnesses and teachers for his exceptional contribution to "authentic Marian spirituality," 13 eloquently describes the ongoing fruit of the Holy Spirit and Mary in the members of the Body of Christ, an intercessory and sanctifying action that will only cease with the end of the world:"God the Holy Spirit...has become fruitful by Mary, whom He has espoused. It was with her, in her, and of her that He has produced His greatest masterpiece, which is God made man, and that He goes on producing daily, to the end of the world, the predestined and members of the Body of that adorable Head. This is the reason why He, the Holy Spirit, the more He finds Mary His dear and inseparable spouse in any soul, the more active and mighty He becomes in producing Jesus Christ in that soul and that soul in Jesus Christ.... Mary has produced, together with the Holy Spirit, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be--a God-man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her." 14

John Paul II confirms Mary's vital role in the preparation of the people of God for Christ's Second Coming through her special intercession, and as the "mediatrix of mercy:" "If as Virgin and Mother she was singularly united with Him in His first coming, so through her continued collaboration with Him she will also be united with Him in expectation of the second...she also has that specifically maternal role of mediatrix of mercy at His final coming, when all those who belong to Christ 'shall be made alive"' (1 Corinthians 15:26). 15 Since Mary's role as Advocate is inseparable from the divine action of the Spirit, it will be the Spirit and the Bride who will jointly prepare the world for the glorious return of Christ the King (Matthew 16:27; Mark 13:26; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17) and again say, "Come" (Revelation 22:17).

But indeed not only at Christ's Second Coming, but whenever the Church faces difficult times, the Spirit and the Advocate are called in to help the People of God. Clearly in our own age, the Church and the world are not without their significant dangers and trials. John Paul II has repeatedly referred to the anxious times of the contemporary Church and world, and the new threats which face contemporary humanity. 16

The present Holy Father specifies such grave concerns for the contemporary world in his encyclical On the Mercy of God:"Let us appeal to the love which has maternal characteristics and which, like a mother, follows each of her children, each lost sheep, even if they should number millions, even if in the world evil should prevail over goodness, even if contemporary humanity should deserve a new 'flood' on account of its sins....and if any of our contemporaries do not share the faith and hope which leads me, as servant of Christ and steward of the mysteries of God, to implore God's mercy for humanity in this hour of history, let them at least try to understand the reason for my concern. It is dictated by love for man, for all that is human and which, according to the intuitions of many of our contemporaries, is threatened by an immense danger." 17

Our own age, therefore, is certainly not exempt from the need to recognize and call upon Mary as our Advocate today, so that she can once again implore the renewed descent of the Holy Spirit for the spiritual revitalization of the People of God in the modern world.

Church teaching warns us about exaggerating Mary's privileges. Mary must always be seen as subordinate to Christ.

Nowhere is this more evident than an incident in Medjugorje with Father Shamon of Rochester, New York, author of a recent book on the Apocalypse. While Father Shamon was visiting the apparition room in Saint James Church on three separate occasions, he brought the consecrated Host into the room. His intent was to "test the spirits." When Mary appeared to the visionaries, Father Shamon was unable to kneel as all do in her presence. His knees had locked! This happened all three times. Being greatly distressed, he then heard a woman's voice audibly say, "I will not have my Son kneel to me."

The texts of Vatican II explain, "We have but one Mediator, as we know from the words of the apostle, 'For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, Himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all' (1 Timothy 2:5-6). The maternal duty of Mary toward men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. For all the saving influences of the Blessed Virgin on men originate, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure. They flow forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rest on His mediation, depend entirely on it, and draw all their power from it. In no way do they impede the immediate union of the faithful with Christ. Rather, they foster this union. " 18

"By her maternal charity, Mary cares for the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led to their happy fatherland. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix. These, however, are to be so understood that they neither take away from nor add anything to the dignity and efficacy of Christ the one Mediator." 19

Writing in 1918, Pope Benedict XV spoke of Mary's role as Co-Redemptrix:"Mary suffered and nearly died with her suffering Son; for the salvation of mankind she renounced her mother's rights, and as far as it depended on her, offered her Son to placate divine justice; so we may well say that she, with Christ, redeemed mankind." 20

Mary's message to Father Gobbi, on July 13, 1980, further elucidates her role as Co-Redemptrix. "Jesus is the only Redeemer because He alone is the mediator between God and men. He has however willed to take into partnership in his redemptive work all those who have been redeemed by Him, so that the merciful work of His love may shine forth in a greater and more wonderful way....

"I am for you the perfect model of your cooperation in the redemptive work accomplished by my Son. In fact, as Mother of Jesus, I have become intimately associated with Him in his work of redemption.

"My presence beneath the Cross tells you how my Son has willed to unite his Mother completely to all His great sufferings, at the time of his passion and His death for you.

"If the cross was his scaffold, the pain of my Immaculate Heart was like the altar on which my Son offered to the Father the Sacrifice of the new and eternal covenant.

"My task as a Mother is that of helping my children in every way to attain salvation; and today still, it is that of cooperating in a very special way in the redemption accomplished by my Son Jesus. My role as true mother and Co-Redemptrix will become manifest to all."

On September 15, 1990, Our Blessed Mother reaffirmed her role as Co-Redemptrix through Father Gobbi. "You will see the greatest marvels everywhere, because the times of my maternal co-redemption have arrived." Saint Louis de Montfort called this role of Mary in the latter times a "great mystery, and let all tongues be mute."

Our Lady Of All Nations

Our Lady said at Fatima:"In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph." Has the time come for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart to begin? Why was the statue of Our Lady of Akita designed from a picture of Our Lady of All Nations? Many Mariologists believe that the revelations of Our Lady of All Nations, also known as Our Lady of All Peoples, hold the key to these questions and foretell future events that the world will undergo before the year 2000. 21

This doctrine brings forth the full truth about Mary and her participation in the work of man's salvation through faith and obedience. It was through her co-operation with the Redeemer, both at the Incarnation and at Calvary, that we give her the title of Co-Redemptrix. The prefix "Co" does not mean equal, but comes from the Latin word "cum" meaning "with." Mary does not participate as an equal, but as one who shared with her Son in the redemptive process. Co-Redemptrix literally means, "with the Redeemer."

In her role as Mediatrix of Graces, Mary cooperates with the perfect mediation of Jesus Christ between God and man. She shares in distributing graces to the People of God, the "gifts of eternal salvation" obtained from the cross (John 19:26). As Advocate, Mary brings to God the petitions of the People of God.

The doctrine concerning Mary as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate does not present anything that is fundamentally new in Church teaching. These roles are firmly present in Sacred Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, as taught by the Church's Magisterium.

The apparitions of Amsterdam began on March 25, 1945, (the Feast of the Annunciation) and continued until May 31, 1959, during which time there were fifty-five visions. Our Lady appeared to a middle-aged woman named Ida Perleman and gave messages to Ida that foretold future events concerning many nations, especially changes that would take place in the Church. The most significant prophesy given by Our Lady concerns the last dogma in Marian history to be declared by the Pope. This dogma will declare that Mary is to be known as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate.

It is widely believed that the triumph of the Immaculate Heart can only begin after the Church declares this dogma. Let us look briefly at some of Our Lady's messages.

In her first vision of March 25, 1945, Ida was shown that World War II in Holland would end on May 5, 1945. In her message of May 13, 1955, she warned the clergy to be "on guard against false doctrines:especially in what concerns the Eucharist." She also warned of a great apostasy that would come from within the Church. Our Lady revealed to Ida the coming of the Second Vatican Council which was later opened on October 11, 1962, by Pope John XXIII.

During her fifty-fourth vision which occurred on February 19, 1958, Our Lady said to Ida, "I am going to tell you something you are not to mention to anyone, not even to the Sacristan or to your director. Once the event has occurred you will be allowed to mention to them that the Lady has told you this now. This is the communication:Listen, the present Holy Father, Pope Pius XII, will be taken up among our number at the beginning of October of this year. The Lady of All Nations, the Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate, will lead him to eternal joy."

Since this frightened Ida, Our Lady told her to seal the message and give it to her spiritual director, Father Frehe, with instructions that it not be opened until October 1. Pope Pius XII died unexpectedly on October 9, 1958.

In her message of December 8, 1952, she said, "I come to unite nations, all nations in the Spirit, the true Holy Spirit." Our Lady said that the times foretold in the past have arrived and that a new era is opening. She frequently repeated, "these are our times."

On September 15, 1990, through Father Gobbi, Our Lady emphasized her role again:"You are the children of my motherly predilection. You have been chosen by me to form part of my victorious cohort. You are an important part of my plan as Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix. My Son Jesus wanted me beneath the Cross, to associate my Immaculate suffering with his divine suffering. He wanted to unite my human suffering to His and He associated me intimately in the mystery of His redemption. Thus He called me to be true Co-Redemptrix."

One of the most significant revelations of Our Lady of All Nations was given on November 15, 1951, when Our Lady appeared on the Earth-globe, with a cross at her back, rays streaming from her outstretched hands, and a multitude of sheep gathered around the globe. She said:"The Lady of All Nations is here, standing before the cross of her Son; her feet are placed in the very midst of the world, and the flock of Jesus Christ surrounds her. It is as Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix that I come at these times. I was Co-Redemptrix from the moment of the Annunciation. This is the meaning:the mother has been constituted Co-Redemptrix by the will of the Father. Tell this to your theologians. Tell them likewise that this dogma will be the last in Marian history."

Our Lady revealed to Ida Perleman during her fiftieth vision on May 31, 1954, that on a future date of May 31, the Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate would receive her official title of Our Lady of All Nations. In the course of the same message, the Lady also said:

"When the dogma--the last dogma in Marian history--has been proclaimed, the Lady of All Nations would procure peace, genuine peace for the world. But the nations must say my prayer in union with the Church. Then they will experience that the Lady has come as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate. So be it."

On February 11, 1951, during her twenty-seventh vision, Our Lady taught Ida Perleman the following prayer:

LORD JESUS CHRIST, SON OF THE FATHER,

SEND FORTH NOW THY SPIRIT OVER ALL THE EARTH.

LET THE HOLY GHOST LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF ALL NATIONS,

THAT THEY MAY BE PRESERVED

FROM MORAL DECLINE, DISASTERS, AND WAR.

MAY THE LADY OF ALL NATIONS,

WHO ONCE WAS MARY,

BE OUR ADVOCATE.

AMEN.

When Our Lady gave this prayer, she said:"This prayer is short so that it could be said by everyone in this busy modern world. It is given to invoke the true Spirit on the world." The propagation of this prayer began after the ecclesiastical approbation in the Netherlands in 1951 and has been backed by the ecclesiastical approbation of more than thirty bishops abroad. The events are presently being investigated. We await the final judgment by the Catholic Church, which we expect in the next several years. For the fulfillment of all the events that were foretold, this dogma must be proclaimed. Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the Propagation of the Faith of the Catholic Church has prompted the re-investigation and has authorized Dr. Mark Miravalle of the Franciscan University to write and release information about this dogma. The information was released on May 27, 1993, in a book entitled, Mary:Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate.

Ark of the New Covenant

On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every first-born--both men and animals--and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt; I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt (Exodus 12:12-13).

Just as the ancient Hebrews were warned to paint their doorposts with the blood of a lamb so the angel of death would pass over their houses, we too, are being warned about catastrophic events that lie ahead. The members of this invisible army, small in number and consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Most Sacred Heart of her Son, are being protected from the events that are to come.

After Israel was freed from slavery in Egypt, it was later protected by God's presence in the Ark of the Covenant. All were given the opportunity for refuge but only a few responded to the call of God's voice in Noah's time. Noah was a laughingstock--until the rains came. We are being told in graphic and specific detail where our safety and refuge should lie--in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Wrong has become right and right has become wrong (Isaiah 5:20). Pornography is not even questioned. The rock star Madonna has become a cultural heroine; she simultaneously wears a Lucifer ring on her finger and a rosary around her neck. The virtuous are scorned and ridiculed. "They are not enlightened, their approach has become simplistic, they are all so unsophisticated" is the common cry from those more worldly. In a world increasingly buffeted by forces seemingly beyond our ability to stem or stop--crime, war, abortion, famine, divorce--looking for strength in the simple Virgin of Bethlehem might seem a little naive. But God's plans often are directed to the meek and humble.

Consider what Our Lady said to Father Gobbi and the Marian Movement of Priests on October 29, 1977:"Do not be surprised, beloved sons, that my Adversary does everything he can to obstruct this Work of mine. His favorite weapon is to sow doubts and perplexity about what I am doing in the Church. He tries to base these doubts on reasons which are seemingly solid and justifiable. Thus he instills a critical attitude toward whatever I tell you, even before you have received and understood my words.

"You happen to hear of certain brothers of yours who are cultured men and often even experts and masters in theology, who reject those things I tell you, because they sift all my words with their minds, which have already been filled with the richness of their culture. And so they find insurmountable difficulties precisely in those phrases which are so clear to the simple and small. My words can be understood and accepted only by one whose mind is humble and well-disposed, who has a simple heart, and whose eyes are clear and pure. When the Mother speaks to her children, they listen to her because they love her. They do whatever she tells them, and thus they grow in knowledge and life.

"Those who criticize her even before they have listened to her, and those who reject what she says before putting it into practice cannot be her children. These people, even though they increase in learning, cannot grow in wisdom and life.

"I tell you this so you will not be troubled if you hear that even the learned and the teachers find difficulty in my words, while everything appears so clear and simple to whomever I call to be little. Look to your heavenly Mother who knows very well where and how to lead you so the plan of her Immaculate Heart may be fulfilled. Do not allow yourselves to be either discouraged or surprised by the doubts and the perplexities which can even increase, without however being prejudicial in any way to my grea}t Work of Love."

On July 30, 1986, Our Blessed Mother explained another of her roles through Father Gobbi:"This is the moment for all to take refuge in me, because I am the Ark of the New Covenant. At the time of Noah, immediately before the flood, those whom the Lord had destined to survive His terrible chastisement entered into the ark. In these your times, I am inviting all my beloved children to enter into the ark of the new covenant which I have built in my Immaculate Heart for you, that they may be assisted by me to carry the bloody burden of the great trial, which precedes the coming of the day of the Lord. Do not look anywhere else. There is happening today what happened in the days of the flood."

Our Blessed Mother spoke through Gladys of Argentina on February 6, 1987, about her role as the Ark of the New Covenant. "My daughter, in this time, I am the Ark, for all your brethren! I am the Ark of peace, the Ark of salvation, the Ark where my children must enter, if they wish to live in the Kingdom of God."

Mother of the Second Advent

On January 1, 1990, through Father Gobbi, Mary further stated she is the Mother of the Second Advent. "...I want to take you by the hand and accompany you on the threshold of this decade, which you are beginning precisely on this day. It is a very important decade. It is a period of time particularly marked by a strong presence of the Lord among you. During the last decade of your century, the events which I have foretold to you will have reached their completion. Therefore it is necessary that you allow yourselves to be formed, one and all, by my motherly action.

"...During these years I am preparing you, by my Motherly action, to receive the Lord Who is coming. This is why I have asked you for the consecration to my Immaculate Heart:to form all of you in that interior docility which is necessary for me in order that I may be able to work in each one of you, bringing you to a profound transformation which should prepare you to receive the Lord worthily.

"I am the Mother of the Second Advent. I am preparing you for His new coming. I am opening the way to Jesus who is returning to you in glory. Make level the high hills of pride, of hatred, of violence. Fill in the valleys dug by vices, by passions, by impurity."

Mary as the Precursor of Christ's Coming

Pope John Paul II, in his recent papal encyclical Redemptoris Mater, speaks of Mary as the historical precursor of Christ:"The Church has constantly been aware that Mary appeared on the horizon of salvation history before Christ.... When the fullness of time was drawing near--the saving advent of Emmanuel--she who was from eternity destined to be His mother already existed on earth. The fact that she preceded the coming of Christ is reflected every year in the liturgy of Advent." 22

Today's Marian messages are rooted in solid Church teaching about the Mother's role. They carry the basic historical themes into the peculiar atmosphere of our troubled times, when people of conscience know that things cannot continue to deteriorate as they are now doing. The following, rather startling message to Father Gobbi on July 30, 1986, seems to relate in an explicit way to the above quote from Redemptoris Mater.

"This is the moment for all to take refuge in me, because I am the Ark of the New Covenant. At the time of Noah, immediately before the flood, those whom the Lord had destined to survive His terrible chastisement entered into the Ark. In these your times, I am inviting all my beloved children to enter into the Ark of the New Covenant, which I have built in my Immaculate Heart for you, that they may be assisted by me to carry the bloody burden of the great trial, which precedes the coming of the Day of the Lord."

On January 1, 1987, Our Blessed Mother spoke to Father Gobbi about her mission:"I am the Mother of God.... The mission which has been entrusted to me by the Most Holy Trinity should now be acknowledged by the whole Church. I am the dawn which is arising to announce the great day of the Lord.

"During these years, the Church and all of humanity will be left stupefied before the great events of grace and salvation which the Immaculate Heart of your heavenly Mother will bring to you."

Mary's presence is manifested in many places. She often appears with the smell of perfume or roses. The people of the Marian movement are quite familiar with the scent of roses and it is her way of letting people know she is among them. On dozens of occasions we have been among people who will smell a beautiful fragrance and then someone will whisper, "Does anyone smell roses?" Usually several people will be in agreement. The Blessed Mother discussed this sign with Father Gobbi on January 24, 1984:

"A fragrant sign of my maternal presence is to be found in the apparitions I am still making in many regions of the world. Yes, in these times I am appearing in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in America, and in distant Oceania. The whole world is wrapped in my mantle.... By the sign I give you with the fragrance I exude, sometimes of lesser, sometimes of greater strength, I wish to show you that I am always among you, but especially when you are more in need of me. If you do not recognize the perfume, or you notice it in a very faint way, it is not because I do not love you, or because you are wicked."

Concerning the mystical phenomena around us, we are in uncharted waters. The apostasy, the tribulation, the purification, the imminent great chastisement, the second advent, and the new era of peace, have all been predicted in Scripture by Our Lord for the end times. Mary has been appointed to pilot us through these waters until the Second Coming of the Lord. As Saint Thomas Aquinas said after writing his Summa, and defending the faith for a lifetime, "All I have written is mere straw" as he encountered the living God at his death. The systematic theology for Aquinas was acceptable then, as it is today. Aquinas spoke and wrote about God with great inspiration from the Holy Spirit. However, when he met God in the supernatural realm of death, he realized his words had less value as they were no longer adequate to describe his emotions and what he was witnessing. As the mystery is manifested where Mary is appointed Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate, the Mother of the Second Advent, and the Ark of the New Covenant, and other names that baffle our thinking, we must remain open to the mysteries of Heaven.

The Blessed Mother is doing all that is necessary to assure the salvation of her children. Will a mother not do all that she can for the safety of her children if she is able? Because of the apostasy we are living through, the Blessed Virgin Mary told the world through the visionaries of Medjugorje she will do all she can in this span of time:"I wish to continue giving you messages like never before in history since the beginning of time." During the spring of 1982, the visionaries asked the Blessed Mother about other alleged apparitions. They asked, "People are surprised that you are appearing in so many places!" The Blessed Mother responded, "If it is necessary, I will appear in each home." 23

The October 25, 1992, message of Medjugorje states, "Therefore, dear little children, listen and live what I tell you, because it is important for you, when I shall not be with you any longer, that you remember my words and all which I told you."

This message is significant for us. Mary weaves a theme with her messages and often gives hints and directives on present or future events. It would appear her mission to provide warnings for the world may be nearing completion. Mary has told the visionaries of Medjugorje when her apparitions cease there, three warnings will come to the world. After the third warning, a visible sign will appear for all humanity to see at the place of the apparitions in Medjugorje. The sign will be a testimony of the authenticity of the apparitions. After the visible sign, those who are still alive will have little time for conversion. Recently, Mary is asking for weekly confession, frequent communion, and to remain in a constant state of grace.

The eyes of Yahweh rove to and fro across the whole world to display His might on behalf of those whose hearts are wholly His.

Today, as never before, we have many special men, women, and children graced with gifts to help others prepare for the coming calamitous times. Just as in the Old Testament God raised up prophets to sound the alarm, today God has given to this era prophets and holy people.

Many of these messages are being heard in all the major faiths. Because the times are extremely urgent, Heaven has provided us with many signs and prophets to warn us. As the world becomes more chaotic and the apostasy, the loss of faith, in the Catholic Church increases, God has raised up these prophets in our times to point out the moral dangers, the heresies, the causes of our difficulties.

The majority of messages have been given since 1981, the year of the first apparition in Medjugorje. Many of the people presently receiving apparitions or messages have been to Medjugorje or have been profoundly affected by Our Lady's appearances there. Many prayer groups throughout countries today such as the United States are a fruit of experiences from trips to this remote village. These specially graced individuals are used as beacons of light to point out the hazardous obstacles on the way to a true faith in God. Today, we have no excuses for not reforming our lives, because Our Lady is appearing all over the world. If someone does not know of any apparitions or their messages, there simply is no interest on his part. The messages and warnings speak foremost of the need for personal conversion. Our Lady in all authentic apparitions stresses the need for conversion, prayer, fasting, penance and personal consecration.

The messages from the mystics living today echo Our Lady's main messages and warnings. The Blessed Mother has spread her messages throughout the world, not only through her apparitions but also through her prophets' messages as well.

One is not a sinner if he does not believe in locutions, heavenly messages, or visions. Belief in apparitions is not the cornerstone of our faith, nor should it be. Frequently, there have been instances of cross-cultural problems in interpretations. This is normal and sometimes is the cause of confusion. Heavenly appearances are more seasoning to what is already a sumptuous feast, and apparitions continue to feed our spirits. Mary's role is pointing to Jesus much in the same way John the Baptist said, "I must decrease, and He must increase" (John 3:30).

The last apparition to receive full recognition by Rome was Beauraing and Banneux, Belgium, in 1932/1933. Many more recent apparitions have the approval of the local bishop. To date, even Medjugorje has not received formal approval from Rome, although nearly 15 million persons have visited the site as well as an estimated 15,000 clergy. Because Marian apparitions are a stumbling block for so many of the faithful, formal Church approval for legitimate apparitions is desirable. On the other hand, the Church must move slowly to fully investigate and observe the long-term fruits and carefully discern exactly what is happening.

To allow more freedom of the Spirit for a particular age, Pope Paul VI allowed in 1966, "publications about new appearances, revelations, prophecies, and miracles to be distributed and read by the faithful without the express permission of the Church, providing that they contain nothing which contravenes faith and morals. This means no imprimatur is necessary." 1 This allows flexibility so the Spirit is not quenched.

However, this new freedom also opens the door for potential abuse. The realm of the spirit means different things to different people, and Satan often appears as an angel of light. The barometer must be the fruit it produces. Darkness cannot give light. We often know God by what He is not. He is not envy, confusion, anger, or strife. God is virtue and integrity. He is peace, gentleness, love, kindness, meekness, and humility. The atmosphere surrounding an apparition can be a significant measuring rod for authenticity. Do the statements of the prophets stand the test of time? Are the visionaries obedient to the Magisterium of the Church and the local bishop? Are the messages creating peace or widespread confusion?

To understand more about these modern-day prophets, a short introduction will be given for several mystics. Keep in mind that these individuals are only a few, chosen by the authors of this book for their powerful messages. These people are under spiritual direction and many have gone through the scrutiny of an investigation by the Church. Like Medjugorje the apparitions, visions, and locutions associated with each messenger are still continuing--for how much longer we are unsure.

The messages in their totality deliver more to us for our salvation than the messages that refer to the warnings of terror and tribulation for mankind. We have cited only excerpts from thousands of Marian messages to emphasize the seriousness of our age and the fervor with which Heaven is trying to get our attention. A complete anthology of Marian apparitions and prophets would be overwhelming. Some big events must be close at hand because Mary is speaking with a frequency and an urgency like never before in all history. 2

Father Don Stefano Gobbi. On May 8, 1972, a simple Italian priest named Father Don Stefano Gobbi was taking part in a pilgrimage to Fatima. An interior force began to assure him that "The Immaculate Heart of Mary" would provide a remedy for the problems the Church was facing among its own clergy. Our Lady, using him as a humble instrument, planned to raise up a cohort of priests throughout the world willing to consecrate themselves to her Immaculate Heart, make a strong commitment of fidelity to the Pope and the Church united with him, and lead the faithful into the secure refuge of her motherly heart. In July 1973, Father Gobbi began to write down some of the locutions Mary had been giving him. He gathered them into a book called, Our Lady Speaks To Her Beloved Priests. A later version, including more messages, was entitled To The Priests:Our Lady's Beloved Sons.

This truly remarkable book has been translated into many languages, and has been the main instrument used to form the Marian Movement of Priests (MMP). MMP is a true spiritual movement, not a man-made organization. To date, over 300 bishops and cardinals and over 55,000 priests world-wide have embraced its aims and made the suggested commitments. The messages themselves, which have come to Father Gobbi in the form of "interior locutions," deal with the end times, holiness, the coming of Christ in His glory, and a host of other topics pertinent to our day.

Christina Gallagher. Since 1981, a young Irish plumber's wife and mother of two teenagers has been receiving very urgent messages from Jesus, Mary, and various saints, with information about the sins of our day giving rise to calamities which are soon to come. No reputable visionary gives dates--the Blessed Mother warns us, as does Scripture, to be wary of those who speak of specific dates. Yet Christina's messages indicate that we can expect to see events unfold almost imminently. Christina is under the spiritual direction of Father Gerard McGinnity of Ireland, a noted Marian expert with a doctorate in patristics, who is convinced of the authenticity of Christina's experiences. Christina is one among an increasing number of visionaries who spontaneously receive, in their own flesh, wounds which are like those Christ had when He was crucified. Christina suffers from these wounds, called the stigmata, in the form of bloody welts around her forehead, like the crown of thorns.

Maria Esperanza. Maria Esperanza De Bianchini, a devoted wife and the mother of seven children, resides in Betania, Venezuela. Since the age of five, when a vision of Saint Therese (the Little Flower) threw her an actual rose which she caught and ran to give her mother, Maria has experienced a life filled with mystical phenomena. In fact, she was shown as a teenager a vision of a specific piece of land where Mary would later appear. Maria and her husband found the land that corresponded exactly to her earlier vision, and in March 1974, they purchased it. Since March 25, 1976, Mary has been appearing at Betania as "Mother of Reconciliation of All People." Before Our Blessed Mother appears to Maria, a large blue butterfly will often immediately precede her arrival.

Besides the apparitions with their beautiful messages, Mrs. Esperanza continues to be blessed with mystical phenomena:on Good Friday, she bleeds with the stigmata of Christ; at times the Eucharist miraculously appears on her tongue; the aroma of roses attends her presence. Many of the thousands of visitors to Betania also see the Blessed Mother. A Eucharistic host which spontaneously started to bleed in a priest's hands has been studied, found to be authentic, and is now enshrined in the bishop's residence. One particular apparition, when 108 people saw Our Lady in Betania, occurred on March 25, 1984, and has been approved by Bishop Pio Bello, head of the local diocese.

Maria has received many apocalyptic messages, including the following, which seems to refer to the warning:"There is coming the great moment of a great day of light. The consciences of this beloved people must be violently shaken so that they may 'put their house in order' and offer to Jesus the just reparation for the daily infidelities that are committed on the part of sinners...." 3

Mirna of Damascus, Syria. Several yards from where Saint Paul reportedly was knocked off his horse, blinded, and commissioned as "Apostle to the Gentiles," a young housewife and mother of two toddlers has been receiving some of the most startling mystical phenomena being reported thus far. Mirna, a shy, beautiful young woman, a Melkite Greek Catholic, happily married to a Greek Orthodox man, receives words from Our Lord about His desire for unity, particularly between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches, which separated in 1054. The main unifying factor for the Orthodox and Roman Catholics will be the Blessed Virgin, as her proper role is understood in both faiths.

Mirna not only has the stigmata, which appear on Good Friday and have been captured on video footage, but icons around her pour forth oil--pure 100 percent olive oil. Mirna's body also exudes this pure olive oil, and sensational healings have been documented when people are exposed to the oil and Mirna's prayers. The local Orthodox bishop has posted his approval of Mirna's experiences above her door. 4

Julia Kim. Mrs. Kim lives in Naju, Korea, and is a married convert to Catholicism and the mother of four children. She experienced a dramatic physical healing after doctors had sent her home from the hospital to die. Since June 30, 1985, a small statue owned by Julia has wept tears of water and of bright red blood--for over seven hundred days. Recently, the statue has been oozing fragrant oil. Jesus and Mary both appear to Julia, and their messages are profound. They have asked Julia to suffer as a "victim soul" to make reparation to Jesus for the sins of others, particularly the sin of abortion. She experiences intense agonies, signs of Heaven's distress at our wanton disregard for human life and God's will to create and bless it. Julia undergoes the agonies of a child as it is being aborted. Sometimes her sufferings last hours. When she receives the Eucharist, it has been photographed on her tongue as real flesh and blood. Julia has the visible stigmata, and the odor of roses is distinct (and remains so, often for months) on objects which she has handled. Julia is under the spiritual direction of Father Raymond Spies. 5

Jim Singer. Jim Singer was born in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, in 1952. He is married with two daughters and lives in Ontario, Canada. Until 1991, Jim was the plant manager of a well-known chemical company. In 1991, the firm restructured and made staff reductions affecting Jim. His wife Natalie works at the rectory of the Catholic church they attend. Jim and his wife are Croatian. In Jim's messages, Croatia is referred to as his "ancestral homeland." Long before the hideous war broke out in that part of the world, the Lord had predicted this to Jim and his family.

Jim received one hundred messages from May 1989 to September 1989; since then, they have been less frequent. Jim's messages contain originality, economy of language, and power. Much is said in a few words. Jim introduces us to a new title of Satan:the "Shining Darkness." On May 23, 1993, the Lord spoke to Jim about this "Shining Darkness."

"...so much of that which I admonished you is about to be fulfilled already. I speak to you again because so many of My beloved children of this world continue to wander through this perilous age apathetic to My admonishments, oblivious to the signs of this age, ignoring My calls. I entrusted much to you, I again say to each of you:use all My gifts; let My gifts be your only nourishment. The Shining Darkness lives among you; he is powerful and believe that he does exist. But I tell you again:do not live in fear of his evils. Instead, look at them, look at them well! Tear off the malefactor's numerous masks and firmly confront him. Let the gifts of My Spirit be your shield. Make your sincere, loving prayer your weapon. My children must know that they can only be saved through Me. Know that I alone am your true sanctuary. I want all My children with Me. I desire fidelity, I desire perseverance from each one of My children. I am the Truth, I am the Way, I am the Life. Never forget, it is I who fill with strength every step of each one of My children who walks through life in service to Me." 6

Six Children of Medjugorje, (former) Yugoslavia. Because we have devoted a chapter to this apparition, we will only briefly mention here that since June 25, 1981, six children in a remote village in Bosnia-Herzegovina have been receiving daily visits with messages from the Blessed Virgin, calling herself the "Queen of Peace." She has been begging the people to amend their lives through prayer from the heart, fasting, reconciliation with God and neighbor, conversion, and peace. Ten years to the day after these visions began, neighboring Croatia seceded from the Yugoslav Federation, sparking the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II. Medjugorje is directly in the middle of this horror, yet all reports have described the people there as peaceful, calm, and loving. Medjugorje has had more impact on the world in the shortest period of time of any apparition--ever. Many other current visionaries report that their experiences with the Mother of God began only after returning from a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. Life magazine reported that over 15 million pilgrims have visited this tiny village. The reports of healings, conversions, signs, and wonders are truly astounding. Our Lady, Queen of Peace, has recently said that Medjugorje "is a sign" for the world. She warns about a coming chastisement which will make the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina look like mere child's play.

Luz Amparo Cuevas. Since June 14, 1981, Our Blessed Mother has been appearing to a poor, simple housewife and mother of seven children in Escorial, Spain. Our Lady has revealed herself as Our Lady of Sorrows and has pleaded with Luz Amparo to relay to more and more people the importance of prayer and fasting, of offering daily sacrifices to the Lord, of separating themselves more from the comforts and corrupting influences of the world, of cultivating devotion to the Sacred Heart of her Son, to His passion and death, and to His presence in the Holy Eucharist. By doing so, they can help to alleviate Our Lady's own sorrows and prepare themselves to confront the dangers of this age.

Luz Amparo has known continual pain and suffering since the beginning of her life. Her mother died when she was six months old. Her father remarried, and her stepmother treated her cruelly. From the age of seven, she was expected to bring in money to the family by working at sidewalk sales. When the little child brought home little or no money, she was beaten, deprived of meals, and cast outdoors to sleep like a homeless waif.

When she was nine years old, she had to be hospitalized for prolonged exposure and for malnutrition. After that, her stepmother kept her at home, frequently locked up in a closet with only dry oatmeal and water for her nourishment. Her education was neglected, and she was rarely sent to church. The little martyr survived mainly on account of her great devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, whose protection she constantly implored.

At the age of sixteen, she married a man much older than herself who also treated her poorly. He suffered from alcoholism and frequent unemployment. Luz Amparo became employed in the homes of the wealthy to do housework and thus was able to raise and educate her children. One of her sons is now a doctor practicing medicine in Madrid.

In the late 1970s, she suffered from cancer and was diagnosed as terminally ill. Her wealthy employers took her to Lourdes in a wheelchair. At Lourdes she was miraculously healed, and two years later in 1981 the Blessed Mother began to appear to Amparo in Escorial. It was on October 16, 1980, that Luz Amparo began to receive her first favors from Heaven. That day she was doing housework for a family when she experienced an interior locution inviting her to "pray for the peace of the world; pray for the conversion of sinners." Almost immediately, she began to bleed from her forehead and from her hands. She asked in an audible tone, "What is this?" In answer to that question, she received a vision of Our Lord on the Cross and the following explanation:"My daughter, it is the passion of Christ. You are called to live it completely," to which Amparo replied, "But I cannot endure it!" Then she heard the voice of the Lord saying:"If you cannot endure these sufferings for a few seconds, how was I able to endure them for long hours on the Cross, dying for those who crucified Me? You will be able to help save many souls by bearing these sufferings." Amparo agreed to accept these sufferings for the salvation of souls.

From that day, the spiritual life of Amparo was deeply changed. She began to receive invisible stigmata. These invisible signs of the Lord's sacrifice of His Body and Blood for our salvation, occasionally became externalized; her forehead, eyes, mouth, hands, knees, and feet were covered with blood. On all occasions, when the stigmata became externalized, a very pleasant and fragrant perfume surrounded her. Amparo has received many messages about the chastisement and the three days of darkness.

Estela Ruiz. A wife and mother of seven, who resides in Phoenix, Arizona, Estela has received apparitions and messages since December 3, 1988. Mary appears as "Our Lady of the Americas" with messages for all of us. These messages are read to the crowds of people that come to her home. Our Lady appeared to Estela almost daily in 1989, and all of her seven grown children were converted to lives of holiness.

Unlike her husband, Estela had been a skeptic of apparitions and messages until Our Lady began appearing to her. When her husband went to Medjugorje in September of 1988, she was more interested in beginning a career after raising seven children. While walking by a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe that her husband had painted in their home, she heard the beautiful voice of a woman say, "Good morning, daughter." Her first response was to think that she was hearing things. Two days later, after forgetting about the incident, the same thing happened again. She began to think it might be real. After his return from Medjugorje, she looked into the eyes of her husband of thirty years, and he looked different. Something had changed him. Estela realized that Our Lady was changing her as well.

Several months later, in December of 1988, the Blessed Mother began to appear to Estela. During the first apparition, Our Lady told her, "I have come to ask you to be my messenger, and I want to know if you will do it? I'm going to help you and your children make many changes. There will be a period of time where I will prepare the family and I will send many messages to the family." Since then, the family has all experienced conversions resulting in great changes. A son who was addicted to drugs has been completely healed and is now a powerful witness for Our Lord.

A message received by Estela on January 19, 1991, is not unlike those in many other parts of the world. It referred to the basics of prayer, conversion, and fasting. Mary said, "For those who have listened to my call I now ask that you commit yourselves to my work. Begin your life of prayer in earnest and let nothing keep you away from that commitment. I am now asking the Americas for fasting as a sacrifice of love. Begin your fasting immediately. I need your commitment of prayer and sacrifice. There is no more time to dwell on your small self concerns. Leave self-pity and anger with others. There is no more time for that behavior. If you have not yet learned to love those around you, how can you expect the world to learn the love of which I have been speaking about.... I ask that you offer two fasting days a week for peace in the world. We must not and cannot give up hope..."

On one occasion, Our Lady appeared to Estela Ruiz at the Immaculate Heart Church in Phoenix. Estela reported, "I asked Our Lady who she was, what she was doing, and who had sent her. Our Lady said, "I am the Immaculate Heart of Mary." She then said, 'This is my reign--this is the time of my reign. I am here to bring my children back to my Son. The one who sent me is God, Our Father.' I then asked her who she was and she said, 'I am the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but I am the same one that has appeared all over the world.' She told me, 'Look around this church and see all the different forms in which I have appeared."'

Estela said that in this church they have statues of Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Our Lady of Fatima. Our Lady said:"Yes, I am the Mother of God, and I have appeared in different places. There is only one and that is I and I am all of these. But I come today, at this time, as the Immaculate Heart of Mary as this is the reign of my Immaculate Heart. And I've come to call my children back to God."

In another message given on March 2, 1991, Our Lady said, "I ask that you continue to pray for peace in the world. You need to understand that peace is not brought about by victory in a battle, but by change in men's hearts and lives.... Men need to understand that if hearts do not change, the devastation and destruction of each other will continue throughout the world

The diocese of Phoenix established a commission of inquiry under Bishop Thomas O'Brien to investigate the claimed apparitions. The bishop stated, after reviewing the findings of the commission:"It is our assessment that no harm is presently done to either the Church as an institution or to the faithful by the devotions...." As Our Lady of the Americas, Mary is inviting us to recognize the true meaning of our lives and to strengthen and intensify devotion to Our Lord Jesus Christ. 7

Theresa Lopez. Theresa Lopez of Denver, Colorado, has been told she will be one of many sparks igniting the faith of the lukewarm in the West. Theresa grew up Catholic and like many others of her generation had lost interest in the faith so she could "go out into the world." Both she and her husband Jeff had not been married in the Church in previous marriages, with the problems of annulments, single parenthood, and divorce.

On April 3, 1990, Theresa awoke in the middle of the night hearing a voice telling her to "read the word." After realizing it was not a prank of her children, she opened the Bible to Ephesians 1:15-19. The words she read were:"For my part, from the time I first heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the members of the church, I have never stopped thanking God for you and recommending you in my prayers. May the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, grant you a spirit of wisdom and insight to know Him clearly. May He enlighten your innermost vision that you may know the great hope to which He has called you, the wealth of His glorious heritage to be distributed among the members of the church, and the immeasurable scope of His power in us who believe." After reading until dawn she conveyed her experience to Jeff, her husband. In amazement, Jeff produced a tattered piece of paper from his wallet written down ten years earlier during a low point in his life with the identical verse written on it. In March of 1991, Theresa felt called to go to Medjugorje, where she experienced several spiritual phenomena with the visionaries and with some of the pastoral team, including Father Slavko Barbaric, one of the Franciscan Fathers assigned to Saint James Church.

Upon returning to the United States, the spiritual phenomena continued. She heard a voice say, "Bring my children to the spring," and the only spring she could think of was at the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, Colorado. Word began to spread and the crowds came much as at other apparition sites throughout the world. Another locution instructed, "I desire all of you to gather on the second Sabbath of the month." Phenomena such as the Blessed Mother's image on the tabernacle with two doves on each side, an image of Jesus as shepherd, bright lights shining from the tabernacle, and instances of people witnessing the visions of the Blessed Mother have occurred. On one occasion after a message, Theresa said, "Mother, I love you" to the Blessed Mother. She then came forward and kissed Theresa on the forehead.

The scene is similar to the one in Medjugorje and apparitions elsewhere in the world. There is no explanation in the natural realm. Only in the supernatural realm can such occurrences be explained. Self-described as a marginal Catholic, Jeff had never prayed a rosary until their infant daughter died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Theresa would consider praying the rosary only at funerals. Josyp Terelya, who was imprisoned for over twenty years in the former Soviet Union because of his faith, has said that this site will be a place where many miracles will take place, and it will become a very great pilgrimage center just like Fatima and Medjugorje. 8

Josefina-Maria. Josefina-Maria was born in Melbourne, Australia, of Italian parents. She is married, works as a schoolteacher, and lives a simple life centered on her work, her domestic duties, and prayer. Josefina began receiving messages from Our Lord and Our Lady on September 20, 1990; since then she has received over 1000.

Josefina's messages are meant for the world. They speak of peace, conversion, prayer, fasting, faith, simplicity, humility, and the limitless love and mercy of God. The messages have already borne much fruit in the Melbourne area, inspiring the formation of special prayer groups and renewed devotion to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts.

As with others of today's visionaries, the Lord is using Josefina to warn the world that the times of God's Justice are at hand. More and greater chastisements loom on the horizon, says Jesus through Josefina. But He also tells us not to fear, for the punishments will serve for the salvation of souls and to renew a world that has been despoiled by greed and sin.

"Be not afraid, My people," Jesus said through Josefina on July 22, 1993. "I love you with My Most Sacred Heart. Everyone must pass through Me before they go to the Father."

"My people, many plagues and disasters are befalling the earth, and yet many do not recognize these as being those which are foretold in Scripture. But My people, do not be afraid, for My divine hand protects you like a blanket. Those of you who belong to Me have nothing to fear. You will not be harmed.

"The sufferings of the times we are in are for the salvation of souls, My people, My little ones. Be not afraid, My humble ones; those of you who have given Me your lives, and given Me your all... My Father's plan [to renew the face of the earth] is unfolding. Remain in peace and be constant in love, leading My people in peace; but always reminding them of My love. Make sacrifices, My children, and be My co-redeemers in helping in My Father's plan." 9

Joseph Januszkiewicz. The media also have extensively reported alleged Marian apparitions to Joseph Januszkiewicz of Marlboro, New Jersey, who was instantly cured of a serious, work-related back injury and a partial hearing loss after a visit to Medjugorje in 1988. He went there as a skeptic, but in 1989 he began receiving messages from Mary. The apparitions which began on a daily basis on March 17, 1989, now occur publicly on the first Sunday of each month and on a sporadic basis privately. There is a specific orientation of his messages for the clergy. This apparition is under examination by Church authorities in the Trenton, New Jersey, diocese. 10

There are many more men and women of God that we want to mention briefly, such as Josyp Terelya, a Ukrainian Catholic dissident now living in Canada; Julka of Zagreb (former Yugoslavia); Sister Lucia of Fatima; Sister Agnes Sasagawa of Akita; the visionaries of Garabandal; Eileen George of Worcester, Massachusetts; Sister Anna Ali, Kenya; Father James Bruse of Lake Ridge, Virginia; Mariamante of the Apostolate of Holy Motherhood, Michigan; Sister Natalia of Hungary; Dozule, France; and others.

By no means is this list a definitive one. It is impossible to list all of the prophets in our age receiving messages from Jesus or the Blessed Mother. The Book of Kings tells the story of how Elisha would not leave the side of Elijah, as Elisha and "the company of prophets" knew in advance that Elijah was to be taken to Heaven. God had communicated this to the "company of prophets." The lineage of prophets from the earliest of time to the present day remains unbroken.

...but the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men originates not in any inner necessity but in the disposition of God. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on His Mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all power from it....

Saint Louis de Montfort in the Seventeenth Century, wrote about what it would be like for the Church in the latter days, and the role of Mary in that plan. He stated, "In the Second Coming of the Lord, Mary will be made known in a special way by the Holy Spirit so that through her, Jesus may be better known and served.... Mary will shine forth higher than ever in these latter days to bring back poor sinners who have strayed from the Family of God.... However, souls hardened by impiety will provoke a terrible rebellion against God attempting to lead all souls astray (even those who oppose their revolt) and they will cause many to fall by their threats, snares and alluring promises.... Satan, knowing that he has little time left, will redouble his efforts and his combats. He will conjure up cruel persecutions and put terrible snares in the path of the faithful.... Mary will raise up apostles of the latter times to make war against the evil one.... They shall be little and poor in the world's esteem and will even be persecuted by other members of the Body of Christ. But they shall be rich in grace and Mary will bless them abundantly.... They will have recourse to Mary in all things and they will know the shortest and most perfect way of going to Jesus and they will belong entirely to Him.... They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord shall give the word and might to work marvels and to carry off the spoils of His enemies.... They shall carry the gold of love in their hearts, the incense of prayer in their spirit, the myrrh of mortification and self-sacrifice in their bodies.... They shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, faithfully following in His footsteps, teaching the narrow way to salvation according to the Holy Gospels.... These are the great men who will come at the end of time and Mary is the one who by order of the Most High will fashion them to extend God's Kingdom and to manifest the Lord's victorious triumph over the impious and over all His enemies." 1

The apparitions started as early as AD 41, with the arrival of Saint James as a missionary on the Iberian Peninsula. One may hear and see the story today in Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, one of the largest basilicas in all of Europe. It is dedicated to Saint James, Apostle of Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note that Saint James was the first apostle to be martyred in the Church, and the Blessed Mother has said that her last apparitions for the public in this epoch will be at Saint James Church in Medjugorje.

Mary has a unique relationship to the Holy Trinity:she is the daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, and spouse of the Holy Spirit. It was solely from Mary that Jesus received His humanity, as He had no earthly father. The Council of Ephesus in 431 declared that Mary is "God-bearer" or Theotokos. No other creature had, or can ever have, this unique relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Through Mary's humility, obedience, and faith, the human and the divine became blood relatives, in the Incarnation of the God-Man. The Father chose one woman out of all the beings He created to cooperate in giving a human nature to His only-begotten Son.

This is a profound mystery. No angel nor any man was chosen to receive this honor of presenting the long awaited Messiah, the Light, and the Redeemer of Mankind, into the darkness of the world. Instead, a humble young Virgin was given the joy of assisting in preparing a body for God (Hebrews 10:5), in order that He might manifest Himself as one of us. Mary was predestined from all eternity by God to carry out this role. She most perfectly represents the "highly favored daughter" of Zion, prefigured in Sacred Scripture, who cooperates in the deliverance of her people, Israel. She was the one whom the angel greeted with the words, "Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with you," fulfilling to the letter Isaiah's prophecy made hundreds of years earlier that "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (Isaiah 7:14), a name which means "God is with us."

Mary's role derives entirely from her relationship to Jesus Christ. She was enabled to receive God into her very being, because He had prepared her specifically for this role. By a singular privilege, she was totally pure, oriented only towards God, empty of all self-importance and self-will. Her humility and lowliness enabled the Light to be mirrored perfectly in her soul. Similarly, she was specially prepared by God so that she, like her Son, was never under the dominion of original sin. Like John the Baptist, Mary was a precursor to Eternal Light but was not that Light herself. However, she has an utterly unique relationship with that Light, and it symbolizes the new relationship we are all intended to have, when we finally attain the fullness of our heavenly reward.

As we explore the Church's understanding of Mary, we remember that she is a human being, and like each of us, has no glory whatsoever, apart from God. But because Our Lord became man through the Virgin Mary, we would be foolish not to seek out the fullness of the message the Lord wished to convey. For God's choices are not whimsical; rather, they are profound in wisdom. The Church's constant reflection and prayerful study over time have discerned great meaning in Mary's role, both in Heaven and on earth. Her preparation for her earthly role is "the Immaculate Conception," a doctrine stating that she was preserved at conception from the stain of original sin. This was proclaimed by Pius IX in 1854 and confirmed four years later to Saint Bernadette at Lourdes, when the Blessed Mother said, "I am the Immaculate Conception."

Nearly 2,000 years ago, God united a human nature to Himself, in the womb of a Virgin. The ancient Hebrew Scriptures had foretold this event, and the Jewish people patiently awaited the prophecies' fulfillment. An angel, Gabriel, appeared to Mary, as the angel Lucifer had once appeared to Eve. Unlike Eve, who succumbed to the devil's temptation to glory ("and ye shall be as gods"), Mary humbly consented to the Father's eternal plan, agreeing to conceive God's only-begotten Son within her womb. She said simply, "I am the handmaiden of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word," and the promised redemption of all mankind began to unfold before the darkened eyes of the world.

Saints and Popes throughout much of Church history have spoken of Our Lady's intimate association with Christ in our redemption. They have also spoken of her mediation of grace to us and of her unceasing prayer to her Divine Son on our behalf. The Popes of the past have clearly taught the doctrines of Our Lady as Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces. These truths have not yet been solemnly defined as dogma, but they are a part of our Catholic heritage. Note that the dogma of the Assumption was not defined until 1950, even though the liturgical feast was established by the Church in the Sixth Century, and Christian writings testify to it as early as the Second Century.

Mary has revealed to many mystics that the Lord wishes us to accept and invoke her as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate to complete the Church's official recognition of what the Almighty has done for and through her (Luke 1:49). The visions of Ida Perleman of Amsterdam and "The Lady Of All Nations" confirm this role.

Jesus Christ, as Scripture and Tradition teach, is the Mediator between God and man, our Redeemer and Intercessor before the Father. From Christ, by the will of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit, proceeds all grace and our salvation. But in His unceasing activity on our behalf, Jesus does not hesitate to share His own prerogatives with those whom He is not ashamed to call His brothers (Hebrews 2:11). For example, He is the only High Priest, yet He shares His priesthood with the ordained ministers of His Church. Jesus shares with His beloved Mother His divine privileges to the extent that she, as a created human being, is capable of possessing them. Vatican II teaches that Our Lady's mediation is a sharing in the unique source that is the mediation of Christ Himself.

The Greek Fathers understood the Incarnation to be a true redemptive act, not just the necessary prelude to the Cross. All of creation has been sanctified since the Son of God united a created nature to Himself. Thus Mary played an essential cooperative role in our redemption by giving flesh to the Word. Saint Augustine speaks of the womb of the Virgin Mary as the bridal chamber wherein divine nature united itself to human nature. Yet this is not the completion of her cooperation.

Our Lady said to the visionary Ida of Amsterdam:"The Lord and Master had predestined the Lady for sacrifice. For the sword had already been directed at the heart of the Mother' 2 (Luke 2:35). Mary was chosen by God to share interiorly in the sufferings of Jesus in a unique fashion--and this is not simply because she alone had a mother's love for Him. Jesus, the New Adam, chose to associate Mary, the New Eve, as a bridal partner in His work of redemption. Mary as the New Eve has been explicitly taught as early as the middle of the Second Century by Saint Justin.

The whole Church is the Bride of Christ. Mary, because she represented fully in herself the Church, not only suffered with Christ but also received from Him the fullness of the grace of redemption, for all people of all times. Because of this cooperation with our redemption, Our Lady has become the Mediatrix of Grace to all those whom Christ has made her children at Calvary.

Christ, as the God-man, accomplished the work of our redemption, yet He willed to associate Mary with this work. He grants His saving grace to the whole Church through the mediation of Mary, who stood by the Cross and took us all into her maternal suffering. Our Lady stands not only as Mediatrix of Grace from Christ to us; as Advocate, she brings our prayers and needs to Him. As Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate, Mary lives in the glory of the Lord as His Mother and Handmaid.

Catholic veneration of Mary is directly related to and derived from Catholic faith in Christ. If He is not the Eternal Son of God made flesh for our salvation, then Mary does not deserve any more honor than the mother of some famous person. Saint Louis de Montfort wrote that Mary is not worth an atom of importance compared to Jesus. Yet many of our beautiful writings about Mary come from Saint Louis. But if Jesus is all that the Bible and the Church say He is, then Our Lady is worthy of the honor due to the Mother of God. Catholic teaching does not instruct anyone to worship Mary. Rather, Catholics venerate Mary because of the role that was given her.

The Marian dogmas that were defined in the early Councils of the Church were done so to safeguard the truth of the Christological dogmas which were disputed. The Mother cannot be separated from the Son. Certain inescapable conclusions concerning Our Lady follow from what has been revealed about Christ. The Church has carefully defined and faithfully preached these truths throughout her history. Excluding Our Lady from the mystery of God and our salvation can only leave one with an impoverished form of Christianity bereft of the totality of Christ's redemptive mission.

The Catholic Faith and the other major denominations have been at odds since the Reformation on many issues. The definition of the Eucharist as a symbolic act or the Real Presence, the issue of faith and tradition, and the Blessed Mother are only a few of the issues that divide Catholics from Protestants. Due to the complex nature of this subject, it is impossible adequately to mention all of the issues which divide us, but, we hope some insight will be gained to shed more light than heat on the subject of Catholic devotion to Mary.

Devotion to Our Lady is a precious jewel in the crown of Catholicism, but it seems to be a thorn in the flesh for most Protestants. Practically all Catholic Marian doctrines are rejected by the vast majority of Protestants. This is an unfortunate heritage of the "Reformation," although the reformers themselves were much more Catholic in their thought and devotion than most of their spiritual descendants. The seemingly endless series of schisms which began with Luther have separated numerous Christians from their Mother the Church, and from their mother Mary, and yet Martin Luther himself had a deep devotion to the Mother of God.

Here we will briefly examine a few basic ideas characteristic of much of Protestantism, which constitute an obstacle to the acceptance of Marian doctrines as well as other truths taught by the Catholic Church. Admittedly, we cannot speak authoritatively for every Protestant church or sect, nor can we go into great detail. But we can gather some insights into a few common beliefs and ways of thinking among Protestants that unnecessarily limit access to the fullness of the truth of divine revelation and the means God has used to communicate it to us.

Holy Tradition is one of the chief areas of contention. The principle of "Scripture alone" (Sola Scriptura) as the sole source of divine revelation is a hallmark of Protestantism. Yet Scripture supports the concept of tradition (2 Thessalonians 2:15; 2 Timothy 2:2), and nowhere does Scripture state that Scripture alone is the whole of revelation. If the "Sola Scriptura" principle cannot be found in the Bible, how can it be upheld by those who believe only what the Bible says?

The Bible often refers to the preached Gospel, the oral tradition which preceded (and still accompanies) the written one. If the Bible is the only source of revelation, then the first generations of Christians had no revelation, for they had no Bible or rather, no New Testament. But in truth they did have the Word of God:it was preached to them by the Apostles and their successors.

There are doctrines concerning Our Lady which are not explicitly taught in Scripture, but which have been handed down through Holy Tradition, as faithful expressions of the beliefs and practices of the Church founded by Jesus Christ. Often Catholics speak of Scripture and Tradition as the sources of revelation. But perhaps it would be more accurate to speak of Scripture in Tradition, since every authentic teaching--whether oral or written--which has been handed down from the Apostles through their successors is part of Holy Tradition, the heritage of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Who determines that a particular teaching rightly expresses the apostolic faith? Here is another difficulty for non-Catholics:the authority of the Catholic Church. Jesus promised to set His Church on the rock of Peter, giving him the "power of the keys" to bind and loose, with the further promise that the gates of hell would never prevail against it (Matthew 16:18-19). He also promised that the Holy Spirit would be with His Church, leading His disciples into the whole truth (John 16:12-13). Therefore the Church, with the guaranteed guidance of the Holy Spirit, is empowered to judge the authenticity of any teaching which is proposed as expressing the apostolic faith.

The multiplication of Protestant sects is due in significant measure to the failure of their reliance on personal interpretation of Scripture (ostensibly led by the Holy Spirit) as a means of discerning the truth. The Holy Spirit has not created the division and confusion resulting from contradictory personal interpretations.

A clear example of God's gift of the assistance of the Holy Spirit to His Church is that the Church was able to decide, among many writings attributed to the apostles, and other writings being read in the liturgical assemblies, which ones were divinely inspired and which ones were not. The canon of the New Testament was not completely set until the end of the Fourth Century (although most canonical books were accepted before then). If the Church can discern which writings constitute the word of God, then she can certainly discern which traditions and teachings constitute divine revelation.

The Ecumenical Councils are examples of the way the Church clarified the teachings of the Gospel and defended them against heretical misinterpretation. The history of the development of Marian doctrines is more evidence of the way the Holy Spirit has led the Church into the whole truth about the Christian faith. He did say that He would be with us always, that the Spirit would lead us, and that His Church would not be overcome by the power of hell. Jesus with us through His Spirit in the Church is the living Tradition which communicates with ever brighter clarity the Gospel of salvation to every age and culture. The very last paragraph in the gospel of Saint John (John 21:25) points implicitly to the existence of a tradition:"There are, however, many other things that Jesus did; but if every one of these should be written, not even the world itself, I think, could hold the books that would have to be written."

The Incarnation of the Son of God is believed by all Christians. But Catholic theology rightly sees the Incarnation as much more than a necessary prerequisite for the atoning death of Jesus. Much Protestant theology focuses exclusively on the Cross, and this tends to restrict theological reflection on the Incarnation. Such reflection would naturally lead to the awareness of the indispensable role of Our Lady in the work of our salvation, and of her exalted dignity in the eyes of God.

Many Fathers of the Church, especially the great Patristic Fathers, understood the Incarnation to be itself a redemptive act, although not the completion of redemption. The astounding reality of God becoming man, uniting a created nature inseparably to His uncreated nature, is enough to sanctify all creation and to bring it into a new relationship to Himself. According to the wisdom of God, Mary's role in the divine Incarnation is essential:by her personal consent she gave flesh and blood to God. The Father saw Mary from all eternity as the Woman full of grace who alone would give His Son to the world as the God-man, our Savior.

But if Mary were just a devout Jewish girl who happened to be as good a choice as any to give birth to the Messiah (as well as to other children, many falsely claim), and who then could fade into obscurity, the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation is robbed of its richness. It is inconceivable that the only woman destined to give birth to God in the flesh would not have received extraordinary graces for this exalted vocation, or that God would not desire to glorify in a special way one so graced. Yet the great fear of giving the least bit of attention or honor to the Mother of Jesus keeps many from appreciating the fullness and depth of the wisdom and love of God, who "sent forth his Son, born of a woman..." (Galatians 4:4). The Incarnation also provides the rationale for the whole sacramental system as well as for the use of sacred images, all of which is generally rejected in Protestantism. 3

Mary's role is always one of "magnifying the Lord." In the first chapter of Luke, we see one of the most beautiful passages in Scripture. Zechariah the High Priest, was married to Elizabeth, and both are on in years. Elizabeth is barren and childless and suffers from the humiliation of this state. Zechariah makes every attempt to please God and be a righteous man in his daily life. While in the sanctuary, the angel Gabriel visits Zechariah at the altar, and Gabriel says, "Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you must name him John. Even from his mother's womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit... and be filled with the power of Elijah" (Luke 1:11-17). Zechariah the High Priest, the man of God, doubts the angel and says, "How can I be sure of this? For I am old and my wife is getting on in years." For doubting, the angel Gabriel immediately strikes him dumb until the birth of John. Gabriel did this "because you [Zechariah] did not believe my words (Luke 1:20). Elizabeth conceives, bears a son and names him John, as the angel had given her this prompting for his name. She no longer suffers humiliation as she is now with child.

Gabriel then visits Mary (Luke 1:26) and says, "Rejoice so highly favored! The Lord is with you." Like Zechariah, she is fearful at the beginning, and Gabriel says, "Do not be afraid, you are to bear a son and call him Jesus. He will be great and called Son of the Most High." Mary, being a virgin, does not understand how she can conceive. Gabriel responds, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow" (Luke 1:36). "And the child will be called the Son of God." Mary's response is in stark contrast to Zechariah the High Priest:"I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me. And the angel left her" (Luke 1:38).

Mary believed with all her heart the angel's words; she just did not understand. Gabriel explained that God would miraculously allow her to be with child. She accepted everything, even without the benefit of complete understanding. She takes his words, on faith, to be true.

Mary visits Elizabeth her cousin and both are aware she is carrying the Son of God. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, says, "Blessed is she who believes that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled."

Mary's response is the model for all Christians. She believed what Heaven ordained. She did not doubt, but in her littleness trusted. Nothing is more illogical than the Holy Spirit coming upon a virgin, the virgin conceiving, and then bearing the Son of God.

Since Mary was chosen from the very beginning for a very special and exalted role, is it not fitting that the role of Mary is to increase if Heaven ordains it? In contrast to Eve, she freely and willingly accepted the role, and thus allowed God's redemptive act to be accomplished through her. She, like Eve, could have rejected this, but she as the New Eve assumed the role destined for her.

Mary separated herself from all of humanity and accepted the Will of the Father in her life. She became the chosen vessel for Heaven to present the Redeemer of all mankind. The lowly woman of Nazareth had been created by God the Father for the purpose of bearing Jesus. God had chosen a way to come into the world defying all human reason, manifesting an unconventional birth to an unconventional death:the Redeemer, born of a poor and humble woman, in a stable.

Mary's journey from Nazareth to the Upper Room took thirty-three years in time, but it took far more in terms of her understanding of what it means to be a Christian. It was a most demanding journey:at times incredible, at times joyous, at times difficult, at times puzzling. It was a journey of many twists and turns, but at every bend she was open to God's Word, took it into her heart, and pondered its meanings and its implications.

And she trusted.

To listen to the Word of God, to ponder it, to accept it, not only with the intellect but with the heart and the will, and to be the source of its incarnation--this is what Mary tells us being a Christian means.

And Mary said, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

and my spirit exults in God my savior;

because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.

Yes, from this day forward, all generations will call me blessed,

for the Almighty has done great things for me.

Holy is His name,

and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear Him.

He has shown the power of His arm,

He has routed the proud of heart.

He has pulled down princes from their thrones

and exalted the lowly.

The hungry He has filled with good things,

the rich He sent away empty.

He has come to the help of Israel His servant,

mindful of His mercy--according to the promise he made to our ancestors--

of His mercy to Abraham and to his descendants forever" (Luke 1:46-55).

Here is the Blessed Mother's gift and example to the world for all of us to imitate. The Blessed Mother magnified God's glory. Mary's will was God's will, and she was open to His gifts. Mary's role is that of model and intercessor before the throne of God on behalf of all mankind, as the words to this beautiful hymn proclaim:

Tota pulchra es Maria,

Et Macula Originalis

Non, non, est in te.

Tu gloria Jerusalem,

Tu laetitia Israel,

Tu honorificentia

Populi Nostri.

Intercede pro nobis

Ad Dominum Jesum Christum.

You are all beautiful, O Mary,

and the stain of original sin

is not in you.

You are the glory of Jerusalem,

You are the joy of Israel

You are most honored

by our people;

Intercede for us

to the Lord, Jesus Christ.
 

I am opening for you the sealed book, that the secrets contained in it may be revealed.

For nearly 2,000 years, the Book of Revelation has been at best an enigma, a riddle, and a puzzle. Ask five people to interpret a verse and you will get five versions for a response. Maybe six.

Most of those who have tried to interpret this mysterious book of the Bible have failed. Some have speculated about the numerology of 666 and its applicability to several world leaders. Gorbachev and the port wine stain on his forehead were thought by some to be ingredients to the riddle; the beast with ten horns was the emergence of the ten nations of the Common Market with its one currency; the seat of Rome was the whore of Babylon. The list progresses from the entertaining to the absurd. Until now.

Revelation brings with it some unique promises:to all who read it, a special grace is given (Revelation 1:3); to all who add anything to the messages, "God will give to him the plagues contained in the book. For all who subtract, God will cut off his share of the tree of life" (Revelation 22:18).

In his book Apocalypse:The Book for Our Times, Father Albert Shamon suggests why this book is so hard to understand. He proposes it was written in such a symbolic manner as to keep hidden the secrets of God from the enemies of God. Enlightenment is needed. Until recently, Revelation has been a sealed book in which readers were given only rare glimpses of eternal truth.

The Book of Revelation cannot be understood rightly without going back to a passage in Genesis. Here, "the woman" (Eve) is forever cast out of the garden of paradise because of her cooperation with "the serpent," who is punished by being cast to the earth. "And the Lord God said to the serpent:Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all the cattle, and beasts of the earth:upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed:she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel" (Genesis 3:14-15).

Revelation promises that one day the head of the serpent will be crushed by "the woman" (the "New" Eve, as the Church Fathers would refer to Mary). "The woman" Eve had a decisive role in the fall of mankind, through her disobedience to God and desire to exalt herself. "The woman" Mary has a decisive role in the salvation of mankind, through her obedience to God, Who has "regarded the humility of His handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." (Luke 1:48) The fulfillment of GodÕs promise of salvation in Revelation 12 (the Woman clothed with the sun battles the serpent and crushes his head) complements the original promise made in Genesis 3.

The prophecy of Genesis 3 has been fulfilled with Revelation 12, where Mary is the great sign in Heaven:"And a great sign appeared in Heaven:a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars." Pope Paul VI, in his 1967 encyclical, Signum Magnum, identified the Lady of Fatima as the biblical representation of the Woman clothed with the sun.

"I saw in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne there was a scroll that had writing on the back and on the front and was sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a powerful angel who called out with a loud voice, ÔIs there anyone worthy to open the seals of it?Õ But there was no one, in Heaven or on the earth or under the earth, who was able to open the scroll and read it. I wept bitterly because there was nobody fit to open the scroll and read it, but one of the elders said to me, ÔThere is no need to cry:the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and he will open the scroll and the seven seals of itÕ (Revelation 5:1-5).... Then I saw the Lamb break one of the seven seals" (Revelation 6:1-1).

In Chapters six, seven, and eight of Revelation, the seals are broken. The seventh seal in Chapter eight, "was broken and there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour. Next I saw the seven trumpets" (Revelation 8:6), which are various forms of disasters upon the earth. In Chapter eleven, the seventh angel blew his trumpet.

"The nations were seething with rage and now the time has come for your own anger, and for the dead to be judged, and for your servants the prophets, for the saints and for all who worship you, small or great, to be rewarded. The time has come to destroy those who are destroying the earth. The sanctuary of God in Heaven opened, and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Then came flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and an earthquake, and violent hail" (Revelation 11:18-19). "Now a great sign appeared in Heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown" (Revelation 12:1).

Mary, the Woman clothed with the sun, appears as a sign and explains the secrets of the Book of Revelation. On April 12, 1947, at Tre Fontane (Three Fountains), in Rome, Italy, Our Blessed Mother announced, "I am the Virgin of Revelation."

Announcing herself as the Virgin of Revelation at Tre Fontane, Italy, Mary appeared to Bruno Cornacchiola, a hardened, extremist enemy of the Church, who was plotting to kill the Pope. She was carrying the Sacred Scriptures in her arms. Through this event Bruno experienced a profound conversion and was convinced of his false beliefs concerning Sacred Scripture and the error of his thinking on Our LadyÕs life. He was taught by Our Lady herself the history of her life, from its origin to her glorious assumption into Heaven. Bruno experienced a radical conversion and eventually presented to the Pope the knife that he was to use to kill him.

In recent years, Our Blessed Mother has been interpreting and explaining the Book of Revelation in messages given to the Marian Movement of Priests and to other reported visionaries. In these messages, she speaks of her reasons and mission in making these mysteries understood.

The Woman clothed with the sun explicitly stated her role through Father Gobbi on April 24, 1980:"I am the Virgin of Revelation. In me, the masterpiece of the Father is realized in such a perfect manner, that He can shed on me the light of His predilection. The Word assumes His human nature in my virginal womb, and thus can come to you by means of my true function as Mother. The Holy Spirit draws me, like a magnet, into the depths of the life of love between the Father and the Son, and I become interiorly transformed and so assimilated to Him as to be His spouse....

"I will bring you to the full understanding of Sacred Scripture. Above all, I will read to you the pages of its last book, which you are living. In it, everything is already predicted, even that which must still come to pass. The battle to which I am calling you is clearly described, and my great victory is foretold."

In 1846, Our Blessed Mother at LaSalette described the events foretold in the book of Revelation. In 1917 at Fatima she reiterated what she had said at LaSalette adding certain details. The Blessed Mother foretold many major events that would take place in this century--events that did occur. These events included World War II, the spread of communism throughout the world and the persecution it would inflict upon the Church, ecclesiastical impurity, modernism, the apostasy, and the moral decline of our civilization.

On May 13, 1979, Mary spoke to Father Gobbi about the Woman clothed with the sun in Revelation 12. "I have come from Heaven to reveal to you my plan in this struggle which involves everyone, marshalled together at the orders of two opposing leaders:the Woman clothed with the sun and the Red Dragon.

"I have shown you the road you must take:that of prayer and penance.

"I am now announcing to you that this is the time of the decisive battle. During these years, I myself am intervening, as the Woman clothed with the sun, in order to bring to fulfillment the Triumph of my Immaculate Heart which I have already begun through you, my beloved sons."

In words given to the Marian Movement of Priests and to other reported visionaries, Our Lady identifies entities, concepts, or institutions in the Apocalypse (the Book of Revelation) as beasts or animals. For instance, the Red Dragon is Marxist atheism, the Black Beast as swift as a leopard is Freemasonry, the beast like a lamb is ecclesiastical Masonry, and the number of the beast is 666. A full and satisfactory explanation is given in detail after centuries of speculation. In these messages, she also states in great detail the true nature of the Book of Revelation. For years the Blessed Mother had been preparing us; starting in the late 1980s, she began to reveal the specific meaning of the verses in the Apocalypse. Several of the more prominent interpretations are briefly given below.

In the October 13, 1988, message of Mary to Father Gobbi Our Blessed Mother spoke of her role as a witness and a precursor to the secrets of Revelation. She stated, "I announce to you that the time of the purification has now reached its culmination and that you are therefore called to live through the most painful moments which have been foretold to you. The Lord is sending me to you that I might bring to fulfillment the task which the Most Holy Trinity has entrusted to me in these times of yours.

"I am opening for you the sealed book, that the secrets contained in it may be revealed. I have gathered you from all sides and you have been formed by me in order to be ready for the great events which are awaiting you. Only in this way are you able to carry out your important mission." 1

On June 29, 1983, Our Blessed Mother through Father Gobbi exposed by name the two institutions that have made significant efforts to destroy the Church:"... The Red Dragon is Marxist atheism, which has now conquered the whole world, and which has induced humanity to build a new civilization of its own, without God. In consequence, the world has become a cold and barren desert, immersed in the ice of hatred and in the darkness of sin and impurity. The Black Beast is also Masonry which has infiltrated the Church and attacks it, wounds it, and seeks by its subtle tactics to demolish it."

On May 14, 1989, the Woman clothed with the sun again spoke to Father Gobbi about the vast territory and conquests of the Red Dragon:"The huge Red Dragon is atheistic communism which has spread everywhere the error of the denial and of the obstinate rejection of God. The huge Red Dragon is Marxist atheism, which appears with ten horns, namely with the power of its means of communication, in order to lead humanity to disobey the ten commandments of God, and with seven heads, upon each of which there is a crown, signs of authority and royalty. The crowned heads indicate the nations in which atheistic communism is established and rules with the force of its ideological, political and military power.

"The hugeness of the dragon clearly manifests the vastness of the territory occupied by the uncontested reign of atheistic communism. Its color is red because it uses wars and blood as instruments of its numerous conquests.

"The huge Red Dragon has succeeded during these years in conquering humanity with the error of theoretical and practical atheism, which has now seduced all the nations of the earth. It has thus succeeded in building up for itself a new civilization without God, materialistic, egoistic, hedonistic, arid and cold, which carries within itself the seeds of corruption and of death."

Maximin Giraud the visionary of LaSalette, spoke of the monster (communism) that would arise at the end of the Nineteenth or the beginning of the Twentieth Century. As mentioned in the Marian Movement of Priests message No. 267, the Black Beast is Freemasonry. The topic of Freemasonry is a large and complex subject; few people are aware how deep the roots of this sect actually reach. Freemasonry is perhaps the single greatest secular power on earth today and battles head to head with the things of God on a daily basis. It is a controlling power in the world, operating behind the scenes in banking and politics, and it has effectively infiltrated all religions. Masonry is an elite world-wide secret sect undermining the authority of the Catholic Church with a hidden agenda at the upper levels to destroy the papacy. The papacy remains a target because of the control and influence Rome exerts--something Freemasonry wants.

The messages Mary communicates are not idle talk. The Blessed Mother has stated clearly through Father Gobbi that the transition of power from communism to democratic freedom was a peaceful one in Eastern Europe and Russia because of her intervention. She also has stated that her next target to dismantle is Freemasonry.

Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network has given an account of the secular and religious aspects of this movement toward a one-world government that is nearly unparalleled in scope because of his understanding of both. What is the power that seems to thwart the things of God? Where is it? Who is in control of it now? Will a system of power and authority be put into place without any groundwork being established? Does the enemy have a structure? Will it happen overnight or have foundations been laid? Remember the words of the Blessed Mother and the Scriptures on so many occasions. A frequently repeated message is that Satan is strong and wishes to destroy the work of God and uses many means to achieve that goal. According to Mr. Robertson in his book The New World Order, Freemasonry on both the secular and religious levels has had the greatest negative impact in society today in dismantling that which is of God. Its agenda is control. Mr. Robertson cited as a source the former prime minister of England, Benjamin Disraeli, who once wrote:The world is governed by very different personages than what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes."

Woodrow Wilson, whose principal adviser was a behind-the-scenes operator, said:"There is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it." 2

In a message dated June 3, 1989, to the Marian Movement of Priests, Mary said how subtle and pervasive this force is in the world today:"If the Red Dragon is Marxist atheism, the black beast is Freemasonry. The Dragon manifests himself in the force of his power; the black beast on the other hand acts in the shadow, keeps out of sight and hides himself in such a way as to enter everywhere. He has the claws of a bear and the mouth of a lion, because he works everywhere with cunning and with the means of social communication, that is to say, through propaganda. The seven heads indicate the various Masonic lodges, which act everywhere in a subtle and dangerous way.

"This Black Beast has ten horns and, on the horns, ten crowns, which are signs of dominion and royalty. Masonry rules and governs throughout the whole world by means of the ten horns. The horn, in the biblical world, has always been an instrument of amplification, a way of making oneÕs voice better heard, a strong means of communication. For this reason, God communicated His will to His people by means of ten horns which made His law known:the Ten Commandments. The one who accepts them and observes them walks in life along the road of the divine will, of joy and of peace.

"The task of the Black Beast, namely of Masonry, is that of fighting, in a subtle way, but tenaciously, to obstruct souls from traveling along this way, pointed out by the Father and the Son and lit up by the gifts of the Spirit. In fact if the Red Dragon works to bring all humanity to do without God, to the denial of God, and therefore spreads the error of atheism, the aim of Masonry is not to deny God, but to blaspheme Him.... This is why in these times, behind the perverse action of Freemasonry, there are being spread everywhere black masses and the satanic cult. Moreover Masonry acts, by every means, to prevent souls from being saved and thus it endeavors to bring to nothing the redemption accomplished by Christ....

"The task of the Masonic lodges is that of working today, with great astuteness, to bring humanity everywhere to disdain the holy law of God, to work in open opposition to the Ten Commandments, and to take away the worship due to God alone in order to offer it to certain false idols which become extolled and adored by an ever-increasing number of people:reason, flesh, money, discord, domination, violence, pleasure....

"Now you understand how, in these times, against the terrible and insidious attack of the Black Beast, namely of Masonry, my Immaculate Heart becomes your refuge and the sure road which brings you to God. In my Immaculate Heart there is delineated the tactic made use of by your heavenly Mother, to fight back against and to defeat the subtle plot made use of by the Black Beast."

On June 13, 1989, immediately after giving a tutorial on political Masonry, the Blessed Mother offered insight to the Marian Movement of Priests into ecclesiastical Masonry and its power on earth:"There comes out of the earth by way of aid to the black beast which arises out of the sea, a beast which has two horns like those of a lamb.... To the symbol of the sacrifice there is intimately connected that of the priesthood:the two horns. The high priest of the Old Testament wore a headpiece with two horns. The bishops of the Church wear the miter--with two horns--to indicate the fullness of their priesthood.

"The Black Beast like a leopard indicates Freemasonry; the beast with the two horns like a lamb indicates Freemasonry infiltrated into the interior of the Church, that is to say, Ecclesiastical Masonry, which has spread especially among the members of the hierarchy. This Masonic infiltration, in the interior of the Church, was already foretold to you by me at Fatima, when I announced to you that Satan would enter in even to the summit of the Church. If the task of Masonry is to lead souls to perdition, bringing them to the worship of false divinities, the task of Ecclesiastical Masonry on the other hand is that of destroying Christ and his Church, building a new idol, namely a false christ and a false church."

The writings and visions of Blessed Sister Anna-Katarina Emmerick, an Augustinian nun in the 1800s who bore the stigmata of Our Lord and spent a life of suffering, offer prophetic insight. Sister Emmerick wrote on May 13, 1820:"Once more I saw that the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect [Masonry], while storms were damaging it. But I saw also that help was coming when distress had reached its peak. I saw again the Blessed Virgin ascend on the Church and spread her mantle [over it]. I saw a Pope who was at once gentle, and very firm.... I saw a great renewal, and the Church rose high in the sky."

Sister Emmerick saw other visions between August and October 1820. She continued, "I see more martyrs, not now but in the future.... I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church. Near them I saw a horrible beast coming up from the sea. All over the world, good and devout people, especially the clergy, were harassed, oppressed, and put into prison. I had the feeling that they would become martyrs one day."

"When the Church had been for the most part destroyed [by the secret sect], and when only the sanctuary and altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast. There, they met a Woman of noble carriage who seemed to be with child because she walked slowly. At this sight, the enemies were terrorized, and the Beast could not take but another step forward. It projected its neck towards the Woman as if to devour her, but the Woman turned about and bowed down [towards the Altar], her head touching the ground. Thereupon I saw the Beast taking to flight towards the sea again and the enemies were fleeing in the greatest confusion. Then, I saw in the distance great legions approaching. In the foreground I saw a man on a white horse. Prisoners were set free and joined them. All the enemies were pursued. Then, I saw that the Church was being promptly rebuilt, and she was more magnificent than ever before"

In the following words from Our Blessed Mother through Father Gobbi on June 17, 1989, she told how Satan has led mankind away from the true Church through numerous religious revolutions; revolutions that will continue until Satan finally appears in human form. Our Lady also explained why the Book of Revelation associates the Antichrist with the number 666. Below are insights into what may be the greatest historic riddle of them all:

"In the thirteenth chapter of the Apocalypse it is written, ÔThis calls for wisdom. Let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast:it represents a human name. And the number in question is 666 (six hundred and sixty-six).Õ With intelligence, illumined by the light of divine Wisdom, one can succeed in deciphering from the number, 666, the name of a man and this name, indicated by such a number, is that of the Antichrist.

"Lucifer, the ancient serpent, the devil or Satan, the Red Dragon, becomes, in these last times, the Antichrist. The Apostle John already affirmed that whoever denies that Jesus Christ is God, that person is the Antichrist. The statue or idol, built in honor of the beast to be adored by all men, is the Antichrist.

"Calculate now its number, 666, to understand how it indicates the name of a man. The number, 333, indicates the divinity. Lucifer rebels against God through pride, because he wants to put himself above God. 333 is the number which indicates the mystery of God. He who wants to put himself above God bears the sign 666, and consequently this number indicates the name of Lucifer, Satan, that is to say, of him who sets himself against Christ, of the Antichrist.

"333 indicated once, that is to say, for the first time, expresses the mystery of the unity of God. 333 indicated twice, that is to say, for the second time, indicates the two natures, that of the divine and the human, united in the divine person of Jesus Christ. 333 indicated thrice, that is to say, for the third time, indicates the mystery of the Three Divine persons, it expresses the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Thus the number, 333, expressed one, two and three times, expresses the principal mysteries of the Catholic faith, which are:(1) the Unity and the Trinity of God, (2) the incarnation, the Passion and death, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"If 333 is the number which indicates divinity, he who wants to put himself above God himself is referred to by the number 666.

"666 indicated once, that is to say, for the first time, expresses the year 666, six hundred and sixty-six. In this period of history, the Antichrist is manifested through the phenomenon of Islam, which directly denies the mystery of the divine Trinity and the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Islam, with its military force, breaks loose everywhere, destroying all the ancient Christian communities, and invades Europe and it is only through my extraordinary motherly intervention, begged for powerfully by the Holy Father, that it does not succeed in destroying Christianity completely.

"666 indicated twice, that is to say, for the second time, expresses the year 1332, thirteen hundred and thirty-two. In this period of history, the Antichrist is manifested through a radical attack on the faith in the word of God. Through the philosophers who begin to give exclusive value to science and then to reason, there is a gradual tendency to constitute human intelligence alone as the sole criterion of truth. There comes to birth the great philosophical errors which continue through the centuries down to your days. The exaggerated importance given to reason, as an exclusive criterion of truth, necessarily leads to the destruction of the faith in the word of God.

"Indeed, with the protestant Reformation, Tradition is rejected as a source of divine revelation, and only Sacred Scripture is accepted. But even this must be interpreted by means of the reason, and the authentic Magisterium of the hierarchical Church, to which Christ has entrusted the guardianship of the deposit of faith, is obstinately rejected. Each one is free to read and to understand Sacred Scripture according to oneÕs personal interpretation. In this way, faith in the word of God is destroyed. The work of the Antichrist, in this period of history, is the division of the Church and the consequent formation of new and numerous Christian confessions which gradually become driven to a more and more extensive loss of the true faith in the word of God.

"666 indicated thrice, that is to say, for the third time, expresses the year 1998, nineteen hundred and ninety-eight. In this period of history, Freemasonry, assisted by its ecclesiastical form, will succeed in its great design:that of setting up an idol to put in the place of Christ and of his Church. A false christ and a false church. Consequently, the statue built in honor of the first beast, to be adored by all the inhabitants of the earth and which will seal with its mark all those who want to buy or sell, is that of the Antichrist.

"You have thus arrived at the peak of the purification, of the great tribulation and of the apostasy. The apostasy will be, as of then, generalized because almost all will follow the false christ and the false church. Then the door will be open for the appearance of the man or of the very person of the Antichrist!

"...Take courage! Be strong, my little children. To you befalls the duty, in these difficult years, of remaining faithful to Christ and to His Church, putting up with hostility, struggle and persecution. But you are a precious part of the little flock, which has the task of fighting against, and in the end of conquering, the powerful force of the Antichrist."

At LaSalette in 1846 Our Blessed Mother predicted, "Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of Antichrist, the Church will be in eclipse...."

A title is given to the Blessed Mother as Mother and Queen of all the Church. On December 8, 1989, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Our Blessed Mother gave Father Gobbi another message about her role as the Woman clothed with the sun and her role in waging the battle against the serpent.

"...At the end, I am seen as the Woman Clothed with the Sun, who has the task of fighting against the Red Dragon and his powerful army, to conquer him, to bind him and to drive him away into his kingdom of death, that Christ alone may reign over the world. Behold me, then, presented by Sacred Scripture in the splendor of my maternal royalty:ÔAnd another sign appeared in the heavens:a Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

"About my head there is therefore a crown of twelve stars. The crown is the sign of royalty. It is composed of twelve stars because it becomes the symbol of my maternal and royal presence in the very heart of the people of God.

"The twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel, which compose the chosen people, selected and called by the Lord to prepare for the coming into the world of the Son of God, the Redeemer. Because I am called to become the Mother of the Messiah, my purpose is that of being the fulfillment of the promises, the virginal shoot, the honor and the glory of all the people of Israel....

"The twelve stars also signify the twelve apostles, who are the foundation upon which Christ has founded His Church. I was often with them, to encourage them to follow and to believe in Jesus, during the three years of His public mission. In their place, together with John, I stood beneath the Cross at the moment of the crucifixion, of the agony and of the death of my Son Jesus.

"...The twelve stars also signify a new reality. Indeed the Apocalypse sees me as a great sign in Heaven:the Woman clothed with the sun who does battle with the dragon and his powerful army of evil. And so the stars about my head indicate those who consecrate themselves to my Immaculate Heart; who form part of my victorious army; and who allow themselves to be guided by me in order to fight this battle and to attain in the end our greatest victory....

"The twelve stars, which form the luminous crown of my maternal royalty, are made up of the tribes of Israel, of the apostles and of the apostles of these last times of yours."

The Book of the Apocalypse describes a mark on the hand or forehead that will be imprinted on those that follow the beast:

"Then I saw another angel flying high overhead, with everlasting good news to announce to those who dwell on earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. He said in aloud voice, ÔFear God and give Him glory, for His time has come to sit in judgment. Worship Him who made Heaven and earth and sea and springs of water.Õ A second angel followed, saying:ÔFallen, fallen is Babylon the great, that made all the nations drink the wine of her licentious passion.Õ

"A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice, ÔAnyone who worships the beast or its image, or accepts its mark on forehead or hand, you will also drink the wine of GodÕs fury, poured full strength into the cup of His wrath, and will be tormented in burning sulfur before the holy angels and before the Lamb. The smoke of the fire that torments them will rise forever and ever, and there will be no relief day or night for those who worship the nameÕ." (Revelation 14:6-11).

In a related message, Our Lady explained more about a sign on the foreheads of the faithful. In this apparition, Our Lady appeared to Matous Losuta, a forester in the village of Turzovka, Czechoslovakia, in 1958. For his faith, Matous was imprisoned for three years by the communist authorities. Mary has told Matous, "All my children will receive and carry the sign of the cross on their foreheads. This sign only my chosen ones will see. These chosen ones will be instructed by my angels how to conduct themselves. My faithful will be without any kind of fear during the most difficult hours. They will be protected by the good spirits and will be fed by Heaven from where they will receive further instructions. They will fall into a deathlike sleep, but they will be protected by angels. When they awake they will be like those newly born. Their bodies will be beautiful and their souls will be steeped in God. The earth will be beautiful and my chosen ones will see how God takes care of them." 3

In a message dated September 8, 1989, to the Marian Movement of Priests, Mary further explained the Mark of the Beast:"Allow yourselves to be nourished and formed by me; allow yourselves to be led by me with docility; allow yourselves to be signed by me with my motherly seal. These are the times when the followers of him who opposes himself to Christ are being signed with his mark on the forehead and on the hand.

"The mark on the forehead and on the hand is an expression of a total dependency on the part of those who are designated by this sign. The sign indicates him who is an enemy of Christ, that is to say, the sign of the Antichrist. And his mark, which is stamped, signifies the complete belonging of the person thus marked to the army of him who is opposed to Christ and who fights against His divine and royal dominion.

"The mark is imprinted on the forehead and on the hand. The forehead indicates the intellect, because the mind is the seat of the human reason. The hand expresses human activity, because it is with his hands that man acts and works.

"Nevertheless it is the person who is marked with the mark of the Antichrist in his intellect and in his will. He who allows himself to be signed with the mark on his forehead is led to accept the doctrine of the denial of God, of the rejection of His law, and of atheism which, in these times, is more and more diffused and advertised. And thus he is driven to follow the ideologies in mode today and to make of himself a propagator of all the errors.

"He who allows himself to be signed with the mark on his hand is obliged to act in an autonomous manner and independently of God, ordering his own activities to the quest of a purely material and terrestrial good. Thus he withdraws his action from the design of the Father, who wants to illumine it and sustain it by His divine providence; from the love of the Son who makes human toil a precious means for one's own redemption and sanctification; from the power of the Spirit who acts everywhere to interiorly renew every creature.

"He who is signed with the mark on his hand works for himself alone, to accumulate material goods, to make money his god and he becomes a victim of materialism.

"He who is signed with the mark on his hand works solely for the gratification of his own senses, for the quest of well-being and pleasure, for the granting of full satisfaction to all his passions, especially that of impurity, and he becomes a victim of hedonism.

"He who is signed with the mark on his hand makes of his own self the center of all his actions, looks upon others as objects to be used and to be exploited for his own advantage and he becomes a victim of unbridled egoism and of lovelessness.

"If my Adversary is signing, with his mark, all his followers, the time has come when I also, your heavenly Leader, am signing, with my motherly seal, all those who have consecrated themselves to my Immaculate Heart and have formed part of my army."

And so a different perspective is seen which has not been understood previously. The devil and the Blessed Mother both sign all they call their own.

The people of God are being given adequate time to build an ark in preparation for the next "deluge" that will once again be sent to chastise the earth. This time the deluge will not be by a flood but by fire. Heaven's pattern is often to give information on a "need-to-know basis" and will usually give only little bits at a time. One source of information, Father Gobbi, has been speaking to us through the Marian Movement of Priests since 1973, offering guidance for our day.

We must listen to such visionaries if we expect to understand the times in which we are living.

Mary went to Jesus, and as soon as she saw Him she threw herself at His feet, saying, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." At the sight of her tears, and those of the Jews who followed her, Jesus said in great distress, with a sigh that came from the heart, "Where have you put him?" They said, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept; and the Jews said, "See how much He loved him!"

The question must be asked, "Why are there tears?" Why does Mary weep? Throughout the world statues weep, icons emit a fragrance of perfume and roses, and the critical question continues to go unasked. Why is this phenomena taking place?

Besides the growing number of Marian apparitions, other miraculous phenomena are multiplying as well. From all across the world come reports of statues of Mary weeping, weeping for the sins of the world and for the disasters that appear to be ahead of us. Most recently, reports are that Mary has begun weeping tears of blood as a sign of the impending chastisement. As Jesus wept tears of blood in the Garden of Olives before His crucifixion, so too statues around the world are now turning from tears of water to tears of blood. A message is being sent.

Our Lady's message to Father Gobbi on July 13, 1973, "The Reason for My Tears," was her fourth message to him. The theme of tears has continued through the years, reaching a higher degree of urgency. Her tears are frequent, to help her children understand the days in which we are living.

Mary stated, "The reason for my tears, for a mother's tears, is my children who, in great numbers, live unmindful of God, immersed in the pleasures of the flesh, and are hastening irreparably to their perdition. For many of these my tears have fallen in the midst of indifference and have fallen in vain. Above all the cause of my weeping is the priests:those beloved sons, the apple of my eye, these consecrated sons of mine. Do you see how they no longer love me? How they no longer want me? Do you see how they no longer listen to the words of my Son?"

Mary further explained through Father Gobbi why her tears continue:

"Why am I still weeping? I am weeping because humanity is not accepting my motherly invitation to conversion and to its return to the Lord. It is continuing to run with obstinacy along the road of rebellion against God and against His law of love. The Lord is openly denied, outraged and blasphemed. Your heavenly Mother is publicly despised and held up for ridicule. My extraordinary requests are not being accepted; the signs of my immense sorrow which I am giving are not believed in. Your neighbor is not loved; every day attacks are made upon his life and his goods..."

Mary spoke again through Father Gobbi on September 6, 1986, bringing the message to another level of urgency:"I am your most sorrowful Mother. Again today, I am causing copious tears to fall from my merciful eyes. They want to make you understand how great the sorrow of the Immaculate Heart of your heavenly Mother is. My heart is bleeding. My heart is transfixed with deep wounds. My heart is immersed in a sea of sorrow.

"You live unconscious of the fate which is awaiting you. You are spending your days in a state of unawareness, of indifference and of complete incredulity. How is this possible when I, in so many ways and with extraordinary signs, have warned you of the danger into which you are running and have foretold you of the bloody ordeal which is just about to take place? Because this humanity has not accepted my repeated call to conversion, to repentance, and to a return to God, there is about to fall upon it the greatest chastisement which the history of mankind has ever known. It is a chastisement much greater than that of the flood. Fire will fall from Heaven and a great part of humanity will be destroyed. The Church of Jesus is wounded with the pernicious plague of infidelity and apostasy. In appearance, everything remains calm and it seems that all is going well. In reality, she is being pervaded with an ever widening lack of faith which is spreading the great apostasy everywhere. Many bishops, priests, religious and faithful no longer believe and have already lost the true faith in Jesus and in His Gospel. For this reason, the Church must be purified, with persecution and with blood....

"Sin is being committed more and more, it is no longer acknowledged as an evil, it is sought out, it is consciously willed and it is no longer confessed. Impurity and lewdness cover the homes built by your rebellion. This is the reason why my heart is bleeding:because of the obstinate disbelief and the hardness of your hearts."

The words of Christina Gallagher echo those Our Lady spoke to other visionaries. "The chastisement has to come, to cleanse not only the world, but the Church, because the darkness is even in the Church," said Mrs. Gallagher. She believes that everything she has been shown or told about will be accomplished before the year 2000.

Our Blessed Mother has said:"My child, pray, pray, pray! You do not know the dreadful times which lie ahead for my children! Oh my little ones, there are dreadful times ahead of you, in battle! So many of my children will be destroyed and lost! The justice of God is unthinkable! Oh, my heart weeps blood for my children, who do not listen, and continue in their sinful ways! The angels and saints cry out to God to purify the world! My child, be not afraid, my peace be with you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit." 1

The Blessed Mother told a young mother living in the midwestern United States the reasons for her tears. The woman receiving the locutions has sought anonymity to protect the privacy of family life. She uses the pseudonym "Mariamante."

The Blessed Mother told her:"I am speaking directly to your soul. This is by no ordinary means. Although God has given me this power, I have seldom used it in the past as it was not necessary in a more pious age when the Church was revered. Sadly, this is now not the case. This is why I must employ other means to speak to my children."

The Blessed Mother said to her on February 22, 1987:"God has given me the power to touch the hardest of hearts. Indeed, it has always been this way down through the ages. However, it is ever so urgent now that I must employ extraordinary means by which to reach my children so hardened by sin.... O, how I wish that I could persuade all my priest sons to return to their rosaries, but so many have become hardened in sin, it grieves me. They have forgotten how to pray. I plead with them from a mother's heart to return to prayer. This alone will save them. See my tears. I cry for their souls once so spotless and pure and now defiled by sin. Purity and humility, obedience and poverty, prayer and penance--this will lead them back to my Son Who also loves them so."

Rosa Mystica (Mystical Rose) statues have been reported weeping tears as well as blood. Over eighty of these events have been witnessed and reported to the Vatican.

In 1947, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Pierina Gilli of Italy. Our Lady was sad, and her tears fell to the floor. Her breast was pierced by three swords. Our Lady said, "Prayer, Penance, and Expiation" and then was silent. On the second apparition, instead of swords piercing her breast, she had three roses:one white, one red, and one gold. Our Blessed Mother told Pierina that the first sword signified the loss of vocations. The second sword was for the priests, monks, and nuns who live in mortal sin. The third sword was for the priests and monks who commit the treason of Judas, meaning those who give up their vocation and often their faith and become enemies of the Church. The white rose is the spirit of prayer, the red rose is the spirit of expiation and sacrifice, and the gold or yellow rose is the spirit of penance. Additional apparitions displayed the displeasure of Heaven with those who sin against holy purity. 2

The books and statues of the Rosa Mystica apparitions have been extremely popular with the laity and clergy. The messages to Pierina Gilli from Our Lady about the priesthood seem quite prophetic in light of recent scandals with some clergy and the sexual molestation of children. Our Lady had emphasized the necessity for prayers and holy purity for religious.

Father James Bruse of Lake Ridge, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., is only the third priest in the history of the Roman Catholic Church to have the stigmata, the five wounds of Christ. (The other two priests were Padre Pio, who died in 1968 and Father Gino, who is currently living in Italy.) Legend has it that Saint Paul also had the stigmata. Father Bruse has received international media attention, including a U.S. News and World Report cover story on March 25, 1993, for the stigmata and various phenomena such as statues weeping, bleeding, and changing colors in his presence.

Since Christmas 1991, statues around Father Bruse have been weeping, bleeding, and changing colors. One of these statues at his rectory at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton parish, wept blood; another statue of Our Lady of Fatima wept tears. The first statue that began weeping was Our Lady of Grace, a statue that belonged to Father Bruse's family. Two, thirty-six inch hand carved Medjugorje statues obtained by Signs of the Times, Sterling, Virginia, as Pilgrim statues were brought to Father Bruse to be blessed for their mission. One of these Medjugorje statues was blessed in April 1992 and wept for three hours in front of hundreds of people at Saint Elizabeth Anne Seton Church. This statue is now being sent over the east coast of the United States visiting various parishes. It has wept four times during the course of its journey. The second Medjugorje statue was blessed by Father Bruse in May 1992, and this too has wept. This pilgrim statue is also traveling on the west coast, and there have been stories of conversions and healings wherever the statue goes.

Father Bruse feels that these phenomena of the stigmata, conversions, healings and the weeping statues are real but are pointing to Christ. He said:"Christ is the real power behind all these phenomena. Christ is preparing us for the Kingdom of God." Of course, this has always been the mission of His Church, "but perhaps Christ is preparing us more quickly; saying 'be prepared,' but shouting it out now. It's as if Christ is saying 'wake up! Let's get moving on our spirituality.' I believe it's building up to something big...."

Father Bruse noted the extreme rapidity and depth of the conversions taking place:"Something that would normally have taken place over a lifetime is taking place, for many thousands of people, over a short period of time. Along with the conversions, many healings also have been taking place. There have been reports of healings of cancer and other diseases. The most important changes, however, have been the changed lives, the inner conversions." 3

Father Bruse is presently under investigation by the Church authorities in his diocese.

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "All this authority l will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if you will worship before me, all will be Yours." And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind me Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.'"

In trying to understand the role of Satan in the world today, we must ask ourselves that if the devil will tempt Jesus Christ Himself, and offer power, authority, and the wealth that accompany the worship of Satan, what is he capable of doing to us who are not as familiar with the strategies that have been used for thousands of years? We must humbly yet firmly rely on the wisdom of the ages and messages from Heaven that are applicable to the times in which we live if we expect to combat the evil in our midst.

One must remember at the very outset that the full attainment of the prize of eternal life is not achieved here on this earth. God's system of government is the Church, and man's system is power, Masonic lodges, wealth, avarice, and unjust governments. Who runs these places at the highest levels? Often times it is not the people of God. Ultimately the battle is of good versus evil, with the wars being waged for the hearts, minds, and souls of men.

The role of Satan in the world today is what it has always been. His sole mission is to destroy the work of God and that which is good. Prophets and apparitions warn us of his tactics. Words and phrases describing him include:seducer, evil one, snake, and an endless litany of foul things not of God. There is no good in him. However, the modern world has trivialized him as a harmless caricature with horns and a pitchfork rather than as the great destructive force he really is. His greatest source of power and comfort is that many believe that he does not exist.

Saint Paul speaks of arming ourselves for the spiritual world in which we live. "Put God's armor on so as to be able to resist the devil's tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the sovereignties and the powers who originate the darkness in this world, the spiritual army of evil in the heavens" (Ephesians 6:10-11).

Our Lady gave this message to Maria Pavlovic, a visionary in Medjugorje, on September 25, 1992:"Today I also wish to tell you:I am with you also in these restless days in which Satan wishes to destroy everything which I and my son Jesus are building up. In a special way he wishes to destroy your souls. He wishes to guide you as far away as possible from Christian life as well as from the Commandments, to which the Church is calling you so you may live them. Satan wishes to destroy everything which is holy in you and around you. Therefore, little children, pray, pray, pray, in order to be able to comprehend all which God is giving you through my comings." 1

On January 25, 1991, the Blessed Mother spoke at Medjugorje of Satan's evil plan:"Satan is strong and wishes to destroy not only human life but also nature and the planet on which you live...."

On October 7, 1983, Mary said to Father Gobbi:"Today, Satan is successfully conquering everything with the spirit of pride and rebellion against God, and he is terrified by those who follow your heavenly mother along the road of littleness and humility."

On June 7, 1986 to Father Gobbi, Mary spoke of Satan's effectiveness:"There are evils of a social order, such as divisions and hatred, famine and poverty, exploitation and slavery, violence, terrorism and war. To be protected from all these evils, I invite you to place yourselves under shelter in the safe refuge of my Immaculate Heart. But, in these times, you have need above all of being defended from the terrible snares of my Adversary, who has succeeded in establishing his reign in the world. It is the reign which is opposed to Christ; it is the reign of the Antichrist. In this last part of your century, this reign of his will reach the peak of its strength, of its power, of its great seduction. The hour is in preparation when the man of iniquity, who wants to put himself in the place of God to have himself adored as God, is about to manifest himself in all his power."

Saint Louis de Montfort addressed the conflicting roles of Heaven and hell:"What Lucifer has lost by pride, Mary has gained by humility. What Eve has damned and lost by disobedience, Mary has saved by obedience. Eve, in obeying the serpent, has destroyed all her children together with herself, and has delivered them to him [Satan]; Mary, in being perfectly faithful to God, has saved all her children and servants together with herself, and has consecrated them to His Majesty." 2

Our Blessed Mother's message of September 19, 1846, given at LaSalette, France, is seldom mentioned. It was given to two children, Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, during an apparition that was approved by the Church in 1851. Its message has been overlooked to the present day, partly because after the apparition several different versions of the secret were circulated and determining the authentic message was difficult. The version from which we quote here is generally believed to be the most authentic and is awe-inspiring in its prophetic and predictive power. 3

The message was not only for France but for the Church and the whole world. The message tells of future world events in great detail; it has great relevance for our times. The message is stated in its entirety because of its importance in our day. The apostasy we are now living was all foretold at LaSalette. The message at LaSalette helps explain why the devil has so much dominion and power in our world today, although Mary says he is now losing power.

"Melanie, what I am about to tell you now will not always be a secret. You may make it public in 1858.

"The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a stainless sacrifice to the Eternal God for the sake of the world.

"God will strike in an unprecedented way. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years.

"The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God. May the curate of my Son, Pope Pius IX, never leave Rome again after 1859; may he, however, be steadfast and noble, may he fight with the weapons of faith and love. I will be at his side. May he be on his guard against Napoleon:he is two-faced, and when he wishes to make himself Pope as well as Emperor, God will soon draw back from him. He is the master-mind who, always wanting to ascend further, will fall on the sword he wished to use to force his people to be raised up.

"Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops.

"May the Pope guard against the performers of miracles. For the time has come when the most astonishing wonders will take place on the earth and in the air.

"In the year 1864, Lucifer together with a large number of demons will be unloosed from hell; they will put an end to faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of hell; several religious institutions will lose all faith and will lose many souls.

"Evil books will be abundant on earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening in all that concerns the service of God. They will have great power over nature:there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests, for they will not have been guided by the good spirit of the Gospel, which is a spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God. On occasions, the dead and the righteous will be brought back to life. (That is to say that these dead will take on the form of righteous souls which had lived on earth, in order to lead men further astray; these so-called resurrected dead, who will be nothing but the devil in this form, will preach another gospel contrary to that of the true Christ Jesus, denying the existence of Heaven; that is also to say, the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if fixed to their bodies).

"...The Vicar of my Son will suffer a great deal, because for a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness, and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. The true faith of the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be on his own and be superior to people of the same identity. They will abolish civil rights as well as ecclesiastical, all order and all justice would be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension would be seen without love for country or family.

"The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice. [Note:Father Gobbi uses this exact term to indicate the present Pope, John Paul II.] The mischievous would attempt his life several times to do harm and shorten his days but neither he nor his successor will see the triumph of the Church of God.

"All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. In the year 1865, there will be desecration of holy places. In convents, the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners in to religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the earth.

"...France, Italy, Spain and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes. At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the heavens. Paris will burn and Marseille will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy.

"The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God's people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession. And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy will command His angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all those given over to sin will perish and the earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshipped, and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious, poor but fervent in its imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God.

"This peace among men will be short-lived. Twenty-five years of plentiful harvests will make them forget that the sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this earth. A forerunner of the Antichrist, with his troops gathered from several nations, will fight against the true Christ, the only Saviour of the world. He will shed much blood and will want to annihilate the worship of God to make himself be looked upon as a God.

"The earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds (in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread). There will be a series of wars until the last war, which will then be fought by the ten kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world. Before this comes to pass, there will be a kind of false peace in the world. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. But the children of the holy Church, the children of my faith, my true followers, they will grow in their love for God and in all the virtues most precious to me. Blessed are the souls humbly guided by the Holy Spirit! I shall fight at their side until they reach a fullness of years.

"Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles with dread at what must happen to the earth stained with crime. Tremble, earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves, tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy because the holy places are in a state of corruption.... It will be during this time that the Antichrist will be born of a Hebrew nun, a false virgin who will communicate with the old serpent, the master of impurity, his father will be B. At birth, he will spew out blasphemy; he will have teeth, in a word, he will be the devil incarnate. He will scream horribly, he will perform wonders, he will feed on nothing but impurity. He will have brothers who, although not devils incarnate like him, will be children of evil. At the age of twelve, they will draw attention upon themselves by the gallant victories they will have won; soon they will each lead armies, aided by the legions of hell.

"The seasons will be altered, the earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the earth's globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities.... Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.

"The demons of the air together with the Antichrist will perform great wonders on earth and in the atmosphere, and men will become more and more perverted. God will take care of his faithful servants and men of good will. The Gospel will be preached everywhere, and all peoples of all nations will get to know the truth.

"I make an urgent appeal to the earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me so that I may lead them to my divine Son.... Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends.

"The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. But now Enoch and Eli will come, filled with the Spirit of God. They will preach with the might of God, and men of good will believe in God, and many souls will be comforted. They will make great steps forward through the virtue of the Holy Spirit and will condemn the devilish lapses of the Antichrist. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases. It will rain with a fearful hail of animals. There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries. Voices will be heard in the air. Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test? All the blood, the tears and the prayers of the righteous, God will relent. Enoch and Eli will be put to death. Pagan Rome will disappear. The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities. All the universe will be struck with terror and many will let themselves be led astray because they have not worshipped the true Christ who lives among them. It is time; the sun is darkening; only faith will survive.

"...Now is the time; the abyss is opening. Here is the king of kings of darkness, here is the Beast with his subjects, calling himself the Savior of the world. He will rise proudly into the air to go to Heaven. He will be smothered by the breath of the Archangel Saint Michael. He Will fall, and the earth, which will have been in a continuous series of evolutions for three days, will open up its fiery bowels; and he will have plunged for eternity with all his followers into the everlasting chasms of hell. And then water and fire will purge the earth and consume all the works of men's pride and all will be renewed. God will be served and glorified."

Nearly all of the mystics and visionaries in our midst today speak about Satan in a very personal way. Never do they describe him as an ethereal, esoteric, impersonal, or imaginary being.

Patricia of Ecuador is aware of Satan's role in our world today. Our Lady told her:"...for there is a hell as there is a Heaven, but there is only one King, God the Father; for Satan exists who contains hatred, perversion and all that does not give peace to your hearts. My children, give your hearts over; do not allow Satan to penetrate your heart. Fight against evil and give your heart to the Sacred Heart of my Son and to my Immaculate Heart. And all that I tell you is in Sacred Scripture. Fulfill what I ask of you. Diabolic trends, and there are many in the world, try to affect and entangle my little souls. Satan will reach the summit, being adored by my children. His images will be idolized. A false prophet exists who will entangle them saying that he is God, but he is from the blood of the demon. He will betray the Father. And the one who has the heart and wisdom will realize that he [the false prophet] carries the number of the beast, "666" on his right hand. Satan is set loose to touch my little ones, but I am that Woman whom the Father announced, who will crush the head of the serpent that is Satan.

"...and so Satan has penetrated in the very depths of the Holy Church. But do not judge those who judge you.

"Another of Satan's victories is that young women, my little ones, give themselves to men before marriage. They have no right, for the body and the soul belong to God and they may do it only if He allows it through the blessed Sacrament [of Marriage], because what God unites man cannot separate.

"Another great victory of Satan is divorce. Those who fail in one of the greatest blessings, matrimony, having many lovers and try to separate and divide that which the Father has united. Another great victory is abortion, which is an attempt against the great blessing of the Father, life.

"Another great victory of Satan are fashions, styles, and the way young women dress for Mass, obscenely. They arouse temptation to sin. They should be respectful and dress in a way in which they will not be looked at sinfully, rather with honesty and respect. For you know that fashions and music are a great victory for Satan. For, with fashions he moves people to become slaves of money and of sin. For those who exhibit their body, and who do not repent, will be judged, because the Father did not give the body to be exhibited, but to take care of it as a temple of God.... Music [insulting God], in how many messages I have asked you to abandon it, for you know they are praises to Satan and they will remain engraved in your mind, for he infuses them and they will remain engraved in your life. He, through this music, makes mockery of the Father, of my beloved Son, and of the Spirit of God, and of me, His Mother. His great victory is to be idolized to the point of offering rituals with human blood and other human elements and [they] have even offered the sacrifice of their life in order to give their soul to Satan. He has managed that images be made to adore him, and they have their book which they say is sacred, for they have great temples for his adoration." 4

One feature common to most apparitions is that whenever Mary comes with a message of peace and conversion, a visit by Satan soon follows. There seems to be a sort of heavenly rule involved:Those privileged to experience special graces must often suffer from diabolical attacks.

One person to suffer from such an attack is Father Ken Roberts, the popular lecturer and evangelist. Father Roberts would often bring groups of teenagers over to Medjugorje for a pilgrimage. Being in Medjugorje often inspired most of the youths to commit themselves to living their faith. It was a place of great grace, and Father Roberts decided to capitalize on the opportunity for the conversion of rebellious teens. But a small number of the teens showed more interest in partying than praying.

One night one of these teens rushed into Father Robert's room and woke him with some startling news:Satan had come as a surprise guest to the nightly party and was now terrorizing the would-be revelers. Father at first thought this was another prank. But the fear in the boy's eyes made him think otherwise.

After entering the room, the priest noticed a severe drop in temperature. It had suddenly become bone-chillingly cold. Then he was overcome by the stench of sulfur. All doubt of a demonic presence left him when he heard an unearthly voice resound through the room:"Ha, ha, ha! I know who you are, priest of God!"

The voice was coming through the lungs and lips of a young seminarian. Father had brought him along to help oversee the teens on the trip. But this was not the seminarian Father Roberts knew. The man's face was contorted with rage with his eyes rolling wildly. His hand held a menacing switchblade. And his body--his skinny, unathletic body--was just barely restrained by the hold of four husky males.

Father had never been in such a situation before. As a post-Vatican II priest, he did not have much of an idea what to do. He tried laying hands on the seminarian and praying, but was assaulted with a string of curses and filth such as he had never heard before or since. He tried saying prayers in English, Latin, and French, only to hear the possessed seminarian mimic his every word-backwards. In desperation, the priest finally threw some holy water onto the young man. The seminarian returned to his senses. The smell of sulfur was cleansed from the air, and the coldness was gone. The demon had vanished.

The encounter did, however, have two long-lasting effects. The first was that the partying teens immediately became surprisingly sober. They exchanged their beer bottles and rock and roll music for Bibles and rosaries. The next day the teens sat through every Mass no matter the language! The second was that Father Ken Roberts realized it was time to brush up on some traditional exorcism prayers.

Christina Gallagher, the Irish mystic, also speaks of Satan in a very personal way. Christina had an experience in which she saw Satan face to face. She was terrorized, and it took several days for her to recover from the experience.

The messages given since 1988 to Christina, and still continuing, have constantly referred to the vital importance of turning to God "while there is still time." They contain a note of great urgency.

Our Lady has indicated that the purification can be lessened if people change their ways and return to God. But she also has said that her pleas are being ignored. On May 30, 1989, Christina Gallagher received the following message. "My children, so many of you cry out to me for help. I cannot help you unless you want help yourselves. You pray when in need. Sin in the world is causing so much destruction, disaster and illness of all sorts, but you remain blind. Satan is so strong now, he is destroying so many of my poor innocent children, because of the sinful ones. When are my children going to understand how much prayer, fasting, and sacrifice is needed to overcome all the darkness that overshadows the world? My children cry out to me only when everything else has failed. I want to help but you must decide. My children, the Purification is on the way. How my heart bleeds for my children who are blind and deaf....." 5

In the early part of the Eighteenth Century, French philosopher Alexis De Tocqueville was traveling throughout the United States. As a result of his travels, he wrote Democracy in America, a book filled with his insights and experiences. The book has become a classic on the early formative years of the Republic. He recognized that the United States was at that time already a great nation that would become a stronger presence throughout the world. He continued to ask himself, what was it about America that made it great? He said he looked for America's greatness in its cities and did not find it; he looked in the countryside and did not find it:he looked in its factories and did not find it, he looked everywhere and was not able to find it. Finally, as he went into its churches, he found what made America great. In a most prophetic way he stated in so many words America was great because America was good. In Medjugorje, Mary said that Satan is especially focused on destroying the United States because of the role God has given it in maintaining peace in the world.

As the post-communist world eases restrictions for religious worship, we in America and the West are heading in the opposite direction. In a public school, a teacher was forbidden to have a Bible on his desk. In Oregon, the Department of Education is endorsing a program to distribute an informational brochure to educate young school children on how to protect themselves for homosexual sex. The examples are numerous and become more perverse each passing year.

As we have stripped school prayer from our classrooms, silent or otherwise, we have seen a tremendous decline in our schools and in our society. All totalitarian regimes have known that if the symbols of a nation are taken away, it will lose its sense of identity. Inadequately prepared, the children of today are for the most part insensitive to spiritual truths.

Another area in which America has precipitously declined is popular culture. Nudity and themes of indecent behavior are the norm rather than the exception. What was considered unacceptable only a few years ago passes unchallenged today. Hollywood has replaced happy endings with themes of violence, sex, and four-letter words. When a movie delivers a "serious message," it is usually an attack on religion, patriotism, or the family. Hollywood has launched a wholesale assault on traditional values, and few seem to object. Those who do object are often ridiculed.

In a few short years we have drifted from goodness and truth. As we stray from the standards set by God, history has taught us through historians Arnold Toynbee, Will Durant, and others, that our high moral standards will only change through revolutions and turbulence. A likely outcome for the excesses in our culture is a totalitarian regime to control it. Anything in excess soon becomes its opposite.

The Lord said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you (Jeremiah 1:5). Abortion never could have happened in the world unless there was an apostasy of faith first. Much in the same way, apostasy could never have happened unless modernism and the various heresies preceded it. The erosion of faith is directly responsible for ushering in the abortion movement.

Nowhere do we see how far we have drifted until we look at how we view abortion. In the United States today, there is an abortion every twenty seconds, over 4,300 per day, according to Human Life International. That daily tally yields a ghastly annual total of an estimated 30 million abortions since Roe v. Wade in 1973.

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), if passed by the U.S. Congress, will eliminate waiting periods, parental consent requirements, and "informed consent" for women. It will create a legislative structure that makes it legal to kill unborn children throughout the nine months of pregnancy. We are a nation that imposes a $5,000 fine on anyone who destroys an eagle's egg, yet we allow medical personnel to keep babies alive long enough to "harvest" their brains and other body parts for fetal tissue experimentation. 6

Some studies show that the average number of abortions per woman in the former Soviet Union is seven per lifetime. Seventy out of every one hundred conceptions ends in abortion in the former Soviet Union. World-wide, the number of abortions is even more astounding. Communist China has approximately 1.4 billion citizens and imposes severe social and financial penalties for having more than one child; third trimester abortions are common. For the world, the number of abortions has reached into the hundreds of millions. Here lies a major reason for the purification that lies ahead.

Several years ago Mother Teresa said, "the fruit of abortion is nuclear war." She also said, "If we spent one hour before the Blessed Sacrament, abortion would stop." 7 Time will be our judge. Never could abortion have been so widely accepted if the churches in the world had taught the Gospel. The sin of abortion is one of the principal reasons for the threats of a chastisement upon the earth.

The Scriptures show us we may violate spiritual laws for a season, but at some point God the Father seems to say, "Enough is enough." Abortion is one of these instances.

Following are excerpts from the messages from Jesus and Mary, as well as quotations from visionaries regarding the sin of abortion. 8

The Blessed Virgin Mary to Bacco Umberto, Oliveto Citra, Italy, August 6, 1986:"My children, I have come to earth for you, to open your hearts for God. My son, look around you:the world is full of sin, many of your brothers and sisters have been killed through abortion and God does not want this because they are His creatures. For these people He has reserved many punishments."

Visionary, on Our Lady's sorrow over abortion:Oliveto Citra, Italy, May 24, 1985:"Like Jesus, our heavenly mother defends the life and innocence of the children. When she asks for prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners who provoke the wrath of God, certainly she has in mind the provocation of God's justice by scandalizing the innocent. In one of the messages she spoke emphatically against the abominable crime of abortion, declaring...among those killed were priests and saints."

Visionary/locutionist Mike Slate, of Lubbock, Texas:"Once she came to us during the rosary all dressed in snow white. Then her beautiful white dress began turning blood red. As we knelt there amazed, she explained to us that her dress was turning red because of the blood being shed by aborted children.

The Blessed Virgin Mary to Steve Marino, Green Bay, Wisconsin, April 9, 1991:"...I ask you to keep on trusting me and believing. I want you to tell everyone just how much Jesus loves them. He loves everyone so much that he has withheld His hand of Justice to give me, your mother, time to bring more souls to my Son. The murdering of so many innocent and beautiful children in the wombs of their mothers, the great apostasy that is spreading through our Church, the sin of immorality-do you realize children that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit? There is still time to convert, but you must not delay because the time is very short and everything will change. I, your mother, have come to show you the way. Prayer is the way, my children.... I pray before the cross of Jesus for your conversion."

The Blessed Virgin Mary to "Mariamante" March 7, 1987:"As you know, Satan has targeted the family and the priesthood because these are the holiest of vocations from which most of my children come to me in Heaven. Sadly, many children are not even born into families today, but are orphaned even before their birth by the choice of their parents who do not want them. This grieves my heart so. Cherish your children and give them the stable environment they deserve."

The Lord to Mariamante, March 8,1987:"The Lord deals out vengeance with a two-edged sword and vengeance is Mine says the Lord. Those who have mutilated their bodies in the never ending attempt to prevent life are in need of repentance. They have sinned in a grievous manner and should remain chaste in atonement for their sin. Behold the sorrow which this aberration of today's society has caused, particularly to the children who are victims of it, victims in the sense of having all in the material realm but deficient in love due to having no brothers and sisters. The parents who have opted to destroy life even before it has begun have the modern world's thinking. They suffer from loneliness, lack of filial affection, and in all manner that is manifested directly from this aberration. To deny human life because of the whimsical and precarious excuses of today's person is an outrage against the divine order, and is directly responsible for much of the sin and tragedy that you witness today."

The Blessed Virgin Mary to J.D., District of Columbia, May 27,1992:"My child, I have come to speak to the world. Multitudes know me under this image as Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of the Americas, and Patroness of the Unborn. I come here this evening as My Son requests that I be recognized in this image circulated around the world as a means of conversion and of bringing an end to the sins of abortion. Even as I speak, Satan mounts opposition to this plan. But the grace of my heart is greater than any power of darkness. Child, I give you this message through the grace of my heart. Now you must make it known."

Our Lord to Christina Gallagher, Melleray Grotto, County Waterford, Ireland, September 21, 1990:"The three sins which grieve my heart most deeply at this time are abortion, the killing of the innocents, the sacrificing of the innocents to Satan, and the abuse of the innocents."

The Blessed Virgin Mary to Father Don Stefano Gobbi, Italy, September 8, 1983:"To me, little ones are all those infants who, already conceived, are to be put to death purposely while still in the wombs of their mothers. The love and the anxiety of your heavenly mother, and of the Church, for their salvation, with the innocent blood being spilled by those who despise and disobey the Law of God, are a baptism of blood and desire saving all of them.

The Blessed Virgin Mary to Father Don Stefano Gobbi, Italy, November 15,1990:"Abortions--these killings of innocent children, that cry for vengeance before the face of God--have spread and are performed in every part of your homeland. The moment of Divine Justice and of Great Mercy has now arrived. You will know the hour of weakness and of poverty; the hour of suffering and defeat; the purifying hour of the Great Chastisement."

Visionary Mirjana Dragicevic Soldo, Medjugorje, former Yugoslavia, June 1991, in answer to the question, "Did The Blessed Virgin Mary mention abortion in the United States?" -- "Not only in the United States, but all over the world. In the second year of the apparitions, I asked the Blessed Mother about abortions, because I grew up in the city and in an environment where there are a lot of them. The Blessed Mother said that there is no sin for God which can't be forgiven. But for the abortion, you have to do penance all your life, not only the mother but both parents, mother and father. Mirjana asked the Blessed Mother what happened to the babies, and the Blessed Mother said that 'they are with me.'"

The Blessed Virgin Mary to an American man, August 4, 1990:"I want you to, immediately, place your entire pro-life force and efforts under my banner as your Lady of Guadalupe. I will give you my powerful protection and help. I will lead you to victory over the forces of death which are preying upon babies in the wombs of their mothers.... Together, my dear children, we will end the horrible evil of abortion. I will help you stop all abortions. There will be no exceptions. Together we will bring about a new era of protecting all human life, that is, each person, from conception to natural death.... I will put a stop to the present bloody human sacrifice like I did among the pagans after the miracle of my image began in 1531."

Our Lord to Zdenko "Jim" Singer, Canada, 1991:"Dear children, for your good I gave you the Law. Do not kill. Among these children [who are aborted] is a large number of them who were a gift to you for your own good. The Shining Darkness knows this and he still rules your hard hearts. These very ones, these innocent ones, were intended to deliver you from the despairs from which you now suffer. These innocent souls were intended to rule and advance this world which I gifted you, in the manner that I teach you, in My love."

Nowhere has the role of the Blessed Mother been more magnificent than in what is now Mexico. In 1531, she introduced herself to the Americas in a little village in Guadalupe, Mexico. The story is so significant we have included details which should help you to understand her intervening role in history. It was the first apparition that had world-wide acclaim.

The armadas of Spain and Portugal primarily went to find new lands for the bounty of gold that would be brought back to their homeland. They pillaged, plundered, and ravaged the island nations in their relentless pursuit of wealth in what amounted to legalized genocide. Columbus had landed thirty-nine years earlier, and the clash of cultures began. In Mexican [Aztec] civilization, human sacrifice claimed tens of thousands of lives per year. This was the historical setting for the Blessed Virgin's intervention where she identified herself as the "Patroness of the Americas" although her banner title was, "The Mother of all My Children." She appeared on the highest point on the mountain (the Indians worshipped as high as possible to seek God) and the color of her tilma or cloak was the color of their own Aztec god signifying royalty.

In 1531, tensions were reaching the breaking point between the native Indians and the Spaniards in the New World. Cortez had conquered, but his forces were barbarously mistreating the Indians, who vastly outnumbered the Spaniards. Franciscan missionaries had recently come into what is now Mexico, to spread the Gospel. They were viewed with more trust than were the Spanish soldiers, but the territory was on the brink of a bloodbath. The Aztec religion required human sacrifice:an estimated 20,000 human beings were annually slaughtered and mutilated, their beating hearts cut out of their living breasts, as Aztec priests offered their sacrifices to appease the sun and serpent gods whom they worshipped.

Early on the morning of December 9, 1531, a childless widower named Juan Diego, a fifty-seven-year-old Indian convert of five years, was walking to the Church of Saint James to attend Mass. He heard a heavenly choir, and then he heard a soft and gentle woman's voice calling him "Juan Diego! ...Juanito!" Juan climbed the hill, towards the sound. The sun had not yet risen, yet Juan gasped as he saw a young Indian girl, barely sixteen years of age, apparently pregnant, and incredibly beautiful. She was dressed in the aqua mantle reserved for royalty, with a black cross on the brooch at her neck and was bathed in golden beams of light. Rainbow colors of such intensity surrounded the apparition such that the very stones on the ground appeared like jewels. She spoke gently to Juan Diego, identifying herself as the Virgin Mary. She told him to convey to the bishop, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, that she desired a church to be built in this place, so that she might console and help all the people.

The bishop suggested to Juan that the Lady provide a sign. Mary promised she would, if Juan would return at daybreak, on Monday, December 11. Mary instructed Juan Diego to climb to the top of Tepeyac Hill and pick the flowers he found there. Juan obediently made his way up the rocky and frost-covered hill where not much of anything could grow at any time, especially in December. There he found Castillian roses of all colors in full summer bloom, dripping with dew. He gathered them in his tilma and brought them back to the Lady. She rearranged them carefully on the tilma, tied them up tightly, and instructed Juan to present them to the bishop as his requested sign.

Juan Diego rushed to the bishop's residence. He told the bishop all the Lady had said. When he opened his tilma, the roses cascaded onto the floor. There was shock on the bishop's face. He fell to his knees before Juan Diego, yet he was not looking at the flowers, Juan saw, but at him--at his tilma. Juan looked down. The image of the beautiful Lady, as Juan had seen her, was taking form on the tilma, like a modern-day developing photograph. When the Bishop and the other Indians in the room saw the tilma, they all fell to their knees.

What did they each see? The bishop, of course, saw the Blessed Virgin Mary, as his faith had taught him she might appear. She was the "woman clothed with the sun and standing on the moon," the Mother of Jesus Christ. The Indians, not sharing a Christian heritage, saw something quite different. They saw someone from the heavens (with stars on her cape and standing on the moon), a queen dressed in the color aqua, reserved for royalty. She stood before the sun, indicating she was greater than the Aztec sun god, and atop the moon, symbolic of the serpent god, Quetzalcoatl. She wore the belt of her dress high, indicating she was pregnant. Her eyes were downcast, showing humility. Thus, although greater than the Aztec gods, she was not herself a goddess. Finally, she wore a black cross in her brooch. The Aztec princess had recently had a dream in which she had seen a black cross as the sign of the conqueror. Miracles of healing followed in the next few days. Mary's request for a church to honor her was granted. Over the next three years, a mass conversion never before or since seen within Catholicism occurred. The bloody pagan custom of Aztec human sacrifice ceased completely. 9

Guadalupe is an Indian word which means "she who crushes the serpent." In 1990, Mary reportedly began appearing to a man in Seattle, Washington, as the "Virgin Of Guadalupe," asking that all the pro-life forces be assembled under her banner as "Protectress of the Unborn." Her purpose was to finally end abortion, just as she stopped the Aztec custom of bloody human sacrifice nearly 500 years ago. She told the Seattle visionary that she will end the Twentieth Century's bloody sacrifice of innocent human lives that we call abortion. Several replicas of her original image were commissioned by the Mexican bishops to travel throughout the Americas with this mission in mind. There have been many reported signs and wonders associated with the travels of these "Missionary Images" of Juan Diego's tilma, including healings, solar phenomena, and verified reports of rose petals materializing and cascading from the images. If Mary was a sign of hope in 1531, Our Blessed Mother is much more of a needed sign of hope in our day.

At this present moment, we can see no end to abortion. However, Our Blessed Mother is always several steps ahead of us, and with the symphony of prayers and the powerful intercession of Our Lady and Christ her Son, the scourge of abortion will be eliminated as was the Aztec horror of human sacrifice. We must, however, emphasize that Our Lady said, "together we will end abortion." She needs our prayers, sacrifices, and help.

Messages have come from Gladys of San Nicolas, Argentina, and stigmatist Julia Kim of Naju, Korea. They warn of Satan's activity in the world, particularly regarding abortion.

Gladys

"My children, in the large cities of the world, atheism and total indifference toward God are to be seen. The wicked one has risen like an effervescence, covering weak minds with his wickedness and dominating" (September 2, 1985).

"My daughter, the evil one is triumphant now, it is true, but it is a victory that will last briefly. The Lord is only giving him time, the same time that He gives man for him to return to God. That is why vices and worldly madness increase more every day. The weaknesses will have to become strengths, and in this I will be able to get rid of evil. As yet, man's heart is not totally invaded" (October 11, 1986).

"There are so many insane passions everywhere, my children, that blindness has taken hold of many people. Sin surpasses all measure. The devil wants to have full domination over the earth. He wants to destroy" (June 2, 1985).

"You know my daughter, a tempest has broken out, a terrible tempest, the work of the devil. It is that the Lord's Word is a stumbling stone for many sinners. But repeat what I so often said to you:the work of God is great, there is no evil able to stop it" (April 6, 1986).

"Daughter, the earth is inhabited, but it seems uninhabited, a very great darkness is over it. God's warning is over the world! Those who stay in the Lord have nothing to fear, but those who deny what comes from Him have" (October 14, 1986).

"Gladys, pray also for the children that are not born, that do not see the light of day. The abortions are so many, so many the attempts on lives that only belong to God!" (March 7, 1987).

Julia Kim:"I suffer most painfully when I behold children dying so soon after conception, put to death by the chemicals many women use to stifle life at its beginning. I plead with you to alleviate my anguish by your sacrifices and your prayer of reparation. I am pleading with priests everywhere:Please do not allow my tears to flow in vain. I desire that my dear priests would become victim souls for the conversion of sinners and for the salvation of mankind. Satan is disguising himself in various ways--outwardly good, charitable, intellectual and holy in appearance--but ultimately intending to create division, heresy and confusion. The best way to counteract these efforts of the evil one to weaken the church is to put my messages into practice" (June, 1989).

This message was received on October 13, 1987, at Fatima, Portugal, on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the Fatima apparitions. The message relayed information to the Marian Movement of Priests regarding Satan's final hour.

"These are seventy years during which I have descended from Heaven into your midst as the Woman Clothed with the Sun. These are seventy years during which my Adversary, Satan, has come up from the abyss into your midst, to manifest himself as the Red Dragon in all his terrible power. In fact, he has succeeded in extending his reign in many nations and in spreading his action of denial and of rebellion against God to every part of the earth.

"Thus, during the period of these seventy years, the Red Dragon has bound men with the chain of his slavery. He has made you slaves of pride and of haughtiness, with the deceptive illusion of bringing you to getting along without God, of putting your own selves in the place of God, so that in you he may be able to renew his act of rebellion and of defiance against the Lord. Thus he has spread everywhere the error of atheism and has driven humanity to build a new civilization without God."

Satan's authority and limited time is seen in Our Lady's message of January 1, 1992, to Father Gobbi:"Lift up your eyes from this dark epoch in which you are living and do not fear if, at present, Satan is the uncontested ruler of the world and the master of all humanity. Soon his reign will be reduced to a heap of ruins and his power will be destroyed, because I myself will bind him with a chain and will shut him up in his pool of eternal fire and death, from which he will be no longer able to get out. And it will be Jesus Christ, King of eternal glory, who will reign over the whole renewed world and thus bring about the beginning of the new times, which are on the point of arriving.... I announce to you that your liberation is near."

Mary's remedy for Satan's conquest was given to Father Gobbi on October 7, 1983:"Satan's pride will again be conquered by the humility of little ones, and the Red Dragon will find himself decisively humiliated and defeated when I bind him not by a great chain but by a very frail cord:the holy rosary."

We are now at the tail end of Satan's reign, near the time when the mystery of iniquity will surface and show his face for the world to see. The evils of abortion, homosexuality, and all impurities are today accepted as normal. Wrong has become right, and there are no objections from our clergy, elected leaders, or the majority of our citizens. Our cities are centers of violent crime, where it is unsafe even to walk in the evening. Drugs are pervasive and are destroying our youth on a world-wide scale. Many families are so ravaged by numerous ills that few are untouched in the immoral climate of our times.

Satan has had his reign, and the Woman clothed with the sun will soon crush the head of the serpent. The destruction has taken its toll to where there has nearly been a complete loss of faith. The predictions of LaSalette have all come true in "Satan's Century."

The edifice of modern civilization must be built upon spiritual principles which alone can support it, and even illuminate it and animate it. Such indispensable principles of superior wisdom can be found only.. upon Faith in God.

After the failed assassination attempt on his life in 1981, and while he was recuperating from his wounds, Pope John Paul II reflected on Fatima. He told his friend Bishop Paul M. Hnilica, S.J.:"Paul, in these three months I have come to understand that the only solution to all the problems of the world, the deliverance from war, the deliverance from atheism, and from the defection from God is the conversion of Russia. The conversion of Russia is the content and meaning of the message of Fatima. Not until then will the triumph of Mary come." 1

Fatima is the key Marian apparition of the Twentieth Century. Pope Pius XII noted that the message of Fatima is one of the greatest interventions of God through Mary in world history since the death of the Apostles. Only in the name of God does the Blessed Mother intervene. She does not say a word, does not take a step without the explicit will of God. The message of Fatima cannot be understood if you do not know atheistic communism, if you do not know what happened in Russia. 2

Pope Pius XI said:"Today we see something that world history has never seen before:The waving of the flag of Satan in the battle against God and religion, against all peoples, and in all parts of the world; a phenomenon that outdoes all that happened before. 3

In the history of all mankind nothing in our past rivals the brutality of man against man like communism. It passes in scope all former persecutions of the Church. Hitler is estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of approximately twelve million people, including Holocaust and war victims. Lenin, Mao, Stalin, and others after them collectively are thought to have been directly responsible for over 100 million deaths.

Nearly 300 million people in the Republics (former Soviet Union) and nearly 1.4 billion living in China have been subjected to this system of injustice. This does not include all of the other satellites that were in the grip of communist ideology. This is not the work of man; a higher and more cunning power is behind this.

Since the Revolution in 1917, Satan had been working tirelessly to control the heart and soul of Russia. Because the world did not heed the messages of Fatima, he succeeded to a significant degree. Not until the expanded role of the Blessed Mother in these times are we seeing change. She invites us to the highest calling possible:to become co-redeemers for our brothers in Christ. This is the message of Fatima, the message of peace.

The conversion of Russia is only a part of the overall message. It does not stand alone but is part of a larger message in the waning years of this century.

In Rue de Bac in Paris on November 27, 1830, Our Blessed Mother appeared to Catherine Laboure and gave her the "Miraculous Medal." Mary asked that the medal be struck showing two hearts:The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, together on one side of the medal.

At LaSalette, France, in 1846, Our Lady told Maximin Giraud, "Afterwards, this peace shall be disturbed by the monster (communism). The monster shall arrive at the nineteenth, or at the latest, at the commencement of the Twentieth Century." 4

In Hrushiv, Ukraine, in 1914, twenty-two peasants saw Our Lady. She predicted eighty or ninety years of hardship (remember, freedom of worship became possible only in the last several years). As at Fatima, she also warned that Russia would become godless and bring mankind precariously close to destruction. It was a significant link to what Sister Lucia of Fatima was told years later:if Russia did not return to Christianity, there might well be another world war, and whole nations would vanish.

1916--The Angel of Peace Appears

In 1916, a time of persecution for the Church in Portugal, the Angel of Peace, the Guardian Angel of Portugal, appeared to three children:Lucia, Francesco, and Jacinta He appeared on three separate occasions.

In the spring of 1916, the Angel of Peace asked the children to pray with him. He knelt down and bowed low and three times repeated the prayer, "O my God, I believe, I adore, I trust and love Thee. I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not trust, do not love Thee." He told them to pray this way.

In mid-summer of 1916, he appeared to the three children and said:"What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy for you! Offer unceasingly to the Most High prayers and sacrifices! Offer up everything within your power as a sacrifice to the Lord in an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended; and of supplication for the conversion of sinners. Thus invoke peace upon your country. I am her Guardian Angel, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings the Lord may send you." 5

In the autumn of 1916, the Angel again appeared to the children holding a golden chalice in one hand; above it, in the other hand was a Host, which dripped blood into the chalice. The Angel left the chalice and Host suspended in the air and prostrated himself on the ground and three times repeated this prayer:"Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly, and I offer Thee the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners." The Angel then gave Holy Communion to Lucia and to the other two children, as well as the chalice to drink from and said:"Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God."

On May 13, 1917, at the Cova da Iria, just after noon, the three children had finished lunch and were going to play when they saw a flash of lightening, then another. A lovely Lady "more brilliant than the sun" appeared over a small holm oak tree. She said, "Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm. I am from Heaven." Lucia asked, "What do you want of us?" The Lady replied, "I want you to come here on the thirteenth day for six months at this same time, and then I will tell you who I am and what I want." The Lady asked them, "Would you like to offer yourselves to God, to accept all the sufferings which He may send you in reparation for the countless sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners?" Lucia, speaking for the three, said yes. The Lady replied, "Then you will have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort." She departed with the words, "Say the rosary every day to earn peace for the world and the end of the war."

On June 13,1917, the Lady appeared a second time at the oak tree to the three children. Lucia asked the Lady what she wanted of her. The Lady replied, "I want you to come here on the thirteenth of the next month. Say the rosary, inserting between the mysteries the following ejaculation, 'O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of Thy mercy.' I want you to learn to read and write and later I will tell you what else I want."

The Lady advised them that she would take Francesco and Jacinta to Heaven soon (An epidemic of flu claimed Francesco and Jacinta in 1919 and 1920, respectively). But the Lady said to Lucia, "You, however, are to stay here a longer time. Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wants to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. I promise salvation to those who embrace it and their soul will be loved by God as flowers placed by myself to adorn His throne." She promised Lucia she would never leave her. She said, "My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God."

On July 13, 1917, Our Lady again appeared over the oak tree. Lucia asked, "What do you want of me?" The Lady replied, "I want you to come here on the thirteenth of next month and to continue to pray the rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, for she alone can help. Continue to come here every month. In October, I will tell you who I am and what I want. And I will perform a miracle so that everyone may see and believe."

The Lady then told the children, "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say often, especially when you make some sacrifice, 'O my Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary." After saying this, she held out her hands from which light streamed, seeming to penetrate the earth, and the children were shown a vision of hell.

The Lady said to Lucia, "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wants to establish throughout the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If people will do what I tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will break out in the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that is the great sign that God gives you, that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. To forestall this, I shall come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If they heed my request, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she shall spread her errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecution of the Church; the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated; in the end, my Immaculate Heart shall triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me which will be converted, and some time of peace will be given to the world.... Do not tell this to anyone. To Francesco, yes, you may tell it."

On August 19, 1917, at Valinhos, near the Cova da Iria, the Lady appeared again to the children. The local officials had kidnapped the children and held them for several days to prevent them from going to the Cova da Iria on the thirteenth.

Lucia again asked "What do you want?" The Lady said, "I want you to continue to come to the Cova da Iria on the thirteenth and to continue to say the rosary every day." She promised Lucia that, "Yes, in the last month, in October, I shall perform a miracle so that all may believe in my apparitions. If they had not taken you to the village, the miracle would have been greater. Saint Joseph will come to bless the people. Besides, Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Sorrows will come." The Lady said "Pray! Pray a great deal and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell from not having someone to pray and make sacrifices for them!"

On September 13, 1917, the Lady appeared. Lucia, as was her custom, asked, "What do you want of me?" The Lady replied, "Let the people continue to say the rosary every day to obtain the end of the war." Lucia begged her to perform a miracle. The Lady replied "Yes, in October, I will perform a miracle so that all may believe"

On October 13, 1917, a severe storm had raged through Europe. The ground was soaked and muddy. A crowd of people estimated between 50,000, and 70,000 made its way drenched--to the apparition site.

The Lady appeared, and in reply to Lucia's usual question, "What do you want?" The reply was, "I want to tell you that they must build a chapel here in my honor, that I am the Lady of the Rosary; that they continue to say the rosary every day. The war will end and the soldiers will return to their homes soon."

As the Blessed Mother was leaving she opened her hands, and from them rays of light extended in the direction of the sun. Gradually the sun grew pale, appeared as a silver disk at which all could gaze directly, without shielding their eyes. Rays of multicolored light shot out from the sun in every direction; red, blue, yellow, green, and every color of the spectrum. Then the sun began to spin madly on its axis and appeared like a giant wheel of fire. The sun began to dance wildly. Suddenly the sun seemed to be torn loose from its orbit. It hurtled closer and closer to earth, and looked like it was going to plummet to the earth. The people were terrified and there arose cries of repentance and appeals for mercy. Many thought it was the end of the world. Then, just as suddenly, the sun stopped plummeting downwards, and in the same swirling motion it began to climb upward until it resumed its place in the sky. The rain-soaked clothes of the 50,000 to 70,000 people were immediately dry. This was an event reported by several newspapers of the day.

Sister Lucia, as of this writing, is still alive. She has continued to receive messages from Our Blessed Mother. Lucia has been told that she will see the fulfillment of all of the messages of Fatima. Lucy today is eighty-six years old.

Pope Paul VI, in his May 1967 encyclical entitled Signum Magnum identifies Our Blessed Mother at Fatima with "The Woman Clothed With the Sun," equating her directly with Revelation, Chapter 12.

A series of important events associated with Fatima over the past seventy-five years are listed below. 6

- December 10, 1925:The Blessed Virgin Mary, with the Child Jesus by her side, appeared to Lucia. Our Lady requested the five first Saturdays devotion in reparation to her Immaculate Heart.

- February 15, 1926:The Child Jesus appeared to Lucia and asked if she has spread this devotion (First Saturdays) of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of His Mother.

- June 13, 1929:In the convent at Tuy, Spain, Sister Lucia had a vision of the Blessed Trinity and Mary as the Virgin of Fatima. Mary was holding the Immaculate Heart in her hand and told Sister Lucia:

"The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father in union with all the bishops of the world to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means." Lucia conveyed this message to her spiritual director, Father Jose Bernardo Goncalves, and the priest turned it over to the bishop of Leira. There is no evidence that Pope Pius XI ever got the message. Eventually the message reached Rome, but in the meantime Russia was not consecrated and events continued on a disastrous course in the Soviet Union. 7

- October 13, 1930:The bishop of Fatima declared the Fatima apparitions worthy of acceptance as of supernatural origin.

- September 12, 1935:The corpse of Jacinta was removed to Fatima. The casket was opened and the face of Jacinta appeared preserved. The bishop ordered Lucia to write everything she could remember about Jacinta's life. The First Memoir of Sister Lucia was written before December 25, 1935.

- November, 1937:The bishop of Leira, in whose diocese exists the parish of Fatima, ordered Sister Lucia to write the history of her life and the apparitions just as they happened. Her Second Memoir was written at that time.

- January 25-26, 1938:The lights predicted at Fatima on July 13, 1917, were seen in the United States and Europe. The people were startled by the display of lights which scientist termed an Aurora Borealis of "exceptional magnitude." Lucia, at the convent in Tuy, Spain, marveled at the spectacle. She sent a letter to the bishop, stating that "God made use of this to make me understand His justice was about to strike the guilty nations." Pope Pius XI had predicted that a great sign would be followed by horrible persecutions. Within several months Hitler had marched into Austria, annexing it to Germany. Hitler's aggression had commenced, and soon World War II began with the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939.

- August 31, 1941, Sister Lucia wrote her Third Memoir, elucidating some details of Jacinta's life. In this Third Memoir Sister Lucia for the first time mentioned that the secret was in three distinct parts, and she revealed the first two. She stated that at that time she was not permitted to reveal the third part of the secret.

- December 8, 1941:Sister Lucia, in response to an order by her bishop on October 7, 1941, to write everything else she could remember about the events of Fatima, presented her Fourth Memoir.

- October 31, 1942:Pope Pius XII, in a Portuguese broadcast communication, consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

- May 13, 1946:Pope Pius XII crowned the image of Our Lady of Fatima and proclaimed her "Queen of the World."

- June 13, 1946:Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Deiparea Virginis Mariae referred favorably to Our Lady's message at Fatima.

- July 7, 1952:Pope Pius XII consecrated the Russian people to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

- November 12, 1954:Pope Pius XII raised the sanctuary shrine in Fatima to the rank of a basilica.

- December 13, 1962:Pope John XXIII instituted the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary in honor of Our Lady of Fatima.

- November 21, 1964:Pope Paul VI renewed Pope Pius XII's consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart, speaking to the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council. He did it alone, though in the presence of the Council Fathers.

- May 13, 1967:Pope Paul VI went to Fatima, where he called for renewed consecration to the Immaculate Heart.

- May 13, 1981:Pope John Paul II was seriously wounded by an assassin's bullets. The Pope was saved from death when he turned to look at a young girl in the crowd wearing a picture of the Virgin of Fatima. As the Pope turned, a shot aimed at his head missed. The assassin then shot twice more, striking the Pope in the abdomen. The Pope spoke with Lucia from his hospital room. While he was recuperating from his wounds he read everything he could about Fatima, corresponded with Lucia, and re-read the famous unreleased Third Secret.

- May 13, 1982:Pope John Paul II, in a visit to Fatima to thank Mary for saving his life, stated that the "message of Fatima is still more relevant than it was sixty-five years ago. It is still more urgent." Having sent letters to all the Catholic bishops of the world, the Pope attempted to "collegially" consecrate with them the world and therefore Russia to the Immaculate Heart. Many bishops did not respond, and Sister Lucia said afterwards the attempt did not fulfill all the conditions required by God.

- December 8, 1983, Pope John Paul II stated, "Precisely at the end of the second millennium there accumulates on the horizon of all mankind enormously threatening clouds, and darkness falls upon human souls." 8

On August 31, 1941, Sister Lucia wrote her third memoir elucidating some details of Jacinta's life. In this third memoir, Sister Lucia for the first time mentioned that the Secret was in three distinct parts. She wrote, "The Secret is composed of three distinct matters and I shall disclose two of them."

The first is the vision of hell and the designation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as the supreme remedy offered by God to humanity, for the salvation of souls. Our Lady said, "In order to save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart."

The second is the great prophecy concerning a miraculous peace which God wishes to grant to the world through the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the practice of communions of reparation on the first Saturdays of the month. "If people attend to my requests, Russia will be converted and the world will have peace." And there is also the announcement of terrible punishments if people persist in not obeying her requests. Sister Lucia stated that at that time she was not permitted to reveal the third part of the secret.

Bishop da Silva was given permission to read it, but he did not want the responsibility. He tried to get it to the Holy Office, but Rome refused to receive it. It was then agreed that if Bishop da Silva happened to die, the envelope would be entrusted to Cardinal Cerejeira, the Patriarch of Lisbon. 9

In 1957, the Holy Office demanded the text of the third secret, which until then had been kept at the palace of the bishop of Leira. The auxiliary Bishop Venancio was entrusted with the delivery of the sealed document to Bishop Cento, then Apostolic Nuncio to Lisbon.

On April 16, 1957, the sealed envelope arrived in Rome. It was placed in the office of Pope Pius XII, in a little chest bearing the note, "Secret of the Holy Office."

It appears that Pope Pius XII did not read the secret. According to Cardinal Ottaviani and Monsignor Capovilla, secretary of Pope John XXIII, the envelope was still sealed when Pope John XXIII opened it in 1959, one year after the death of Pope Pius XII. Pope Pius XII had apparently decided to wait until 1960. He died on October 9, 1958, without having read the secret. 10

In 1957, Sister Lucia confided to Father Fuentes:"The Most Holy Virgin has told me that the devil is about to engage in a decisive battle against the Virgin...and the devil knows what most offends God, and what will make him gain the most souls in the shortest possible time, he does everything to win consecrated souls from God, for in this manner he will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful defenseless, and so he will lay hold of them more easily."

On December 26, 1957, Sister Lucia told Father Fuentes, the Postulator of the beatification causes of Jacinta and Francisco:"The Blessed Virgin is very sad, for no one attaches any importance to her message. Neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on their way, but without paying attention to the message. I cannot give any other details, since it is still a secret. Only the Holy Father and His Excellency, the Bishop of Fatima would be able to know it in accordance with the will of the Blessed Virgin. But they haven't willed to know it as they did not want to be influenced." 11

In 1959, there was a great wave of devotion in all Italy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On September 13, 1959, all the bishops of Italy solemnly consecrated Italy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 12

On August 17, 1959, Pope John XXIII had the envelope brought to him at Castogandolfo, by Monsignor Philippe, then an official of the Holy Office. Pope John XXIII did not immediately open the envelope but stated, "I am waiting to read it with my confessor." 13

The secret was read a few days later, according to Monsignor Capovilla. Assistance in reading the Portuguese was given by Monsignor Paulo Jose Tavarez of the Secretariat of State. Later John XXIII had it read by Cardinal Ottaviani Prefect of the Holy Office. On February 8, 1960, it was suddenly learned through a simple Portuguese press agency communique that the third secret of Fatima would not be published, and that it probably would never be disclosed. The Vatican communique ended:"Although the Church recognizes the Fatima apparitions, She does not desire to take the responsibility of guaranteeing the veracity of the words the three shepherd children said that the Virgin Mary had addressed to them."

Bishop Venancio, on his own initiative, decided to launch an appeal to all the bishops of the world and attempted to organize a world day of prayer and penance for the following October 13, but the Vatican turned a deaf ear to this proposal, and nothing was done. This did immense harm to the Fatima cause. It was from this date, after this public disregard for the "Secret of Mary," that devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin began to decrease in a perceptible and then alarming manner in the very bosom of the Church. 14

This fault was to have incalculable consequences, according to Brother Michel author of the four-volume set, The Third Secret of Fatima. He maintained that by disregarding the prophecies and requests of Fatima, it was the Virgin Mary--it was God Himself--who had been disregarded, who had been ridiculed in front of the world. The conditional punishment announced through the maternal warning of Our Lady was in consequence destined to be accomplished tragically, inevitably by disobeying the message of the Virgin.

Cardinal Ottaviani related that Pope John XXIII placed the Secret "in one of the those archives which are like a very deep, dark well, to the bottom of which papers fall and no one is able to see them anymore." Pope Paul VI straightway adopted the same attitude toward the third secret.

The Virgin had asked that the secret be made public in 1960 because, as Sister Lucia told Cardinal Ottaviani, in 1960, the Message will appear more clear." Other statements from Sister Lucia have said that "the punishment predicted by Our Lady in the third secret has already begun."

We are now in the period of which the message speaks. We are now living through the third secret. We are witnessing the events that it announces. 15

Catholics throughout the world by 1960 were waiting for the Pope to open the letter and reveal the third secret. But Pope John XXIII and the subsequent Popes have greatly disappointed the faithful by refusing to reveal its contents. 16

Why this is so we are not sure. In Pope John XXIII's Journal of a Soul, the diary of his life, he says the Second Vatican Council was a success because of the Blessed Mother's intervention. Pope John XXIII had read the secret of Fatima and said the secret did not pertain to the reign of his pontificate. Why several Popes did not reveal the secret is a mystery.

There is continuing controversy concerning why Popes since Fatima have not revealed the Third Secret. Scholars disagree on whether or not the Third Secret was meant only for the eyes of the Popes or if it was to be released to the general public. The comment by Pope John XXIII and others upon reading the secret--indicating that it did not pertain to their pontificates--lends credibility to this argument. Also, Pope John Paul II is under Mary's protective mantle, and he has not released the contents, either. It seems that the Third Secret was to be made available to the world from many sources.

On October 11, 1992, an interview took place between Sister Lucia and Anthony Cardinal Padiyara of India, Bishop Francis Michaelappa of India, and Father Francisco Pacheco of Fort Ceara, Brazil. Sister Lucia was asked by Cardinal Padiyara, "Do God and Our Lady still want the Church to reveal the Third Secret?" Sister Lucia reportedly answered, "The Third Secret is not intended to be revealed. It was only intended for the Pope and immediate Church hierarchy. Our Lady never said that it was to be revealed to the public by 1960 at the latest. The Secret was for the Pope." Some respected priests doubt that this interview ever took place. The controversy continues. 17

The secrets of Fatima still have not been released by the Church, but through the intervention of the Blessed Mother at apparition sites we have a good idea of the contents.

We do know from the Akita message of October 13, 1973, and the May 13, 1990, message of Father Gobbi that the secret seems to deal with the apostasy and chastisement.

"The Blessed Virgin has told us," confided Sister Lucia to Father Fuentes, that "many nations will disappear from the face of the earth, and Russia will be the instrument of heavenly punishment for the world, if we do not obtain beforehand the conversion of that poor nation."

Bishop Venancio named the late Father Alonso in 1966 as the official expert on Fatima. Father Alonso concluded that the Third Secret mainly refers to a spiritual chastisement which will be far worse, and even more fearsome, than famine, wars and persecutions, for it concerns souls and their salvation or their eternal perdition. His work consisted of fourteen volumes, which unfortunately he was forbidden to publish! However, before his death on December 12, 1981, he was able to make known his conclusions in various pamphlets and numerous articles in theological journals.

In a series of letters in 1969-1970, Sister Lucia reveals more:"It is indeed sad that so many people let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave that is sweeping the world, and that they are blinded to the point of being incapable of seeing error! Their principle fault is they have abandoned prayer; in this way they have become estranged from God, and without God everything fails. The devil is very cunning and looks for our weak points in order to attack us. If we are not diligent and careful to obtain strength from God, we shall fall, for our age is very wicked and we are weak. Only the strength of God can keep us on our feet." 18

Sister Lucia wrote:"Let people say the rosary every day. Our Lady stated that repeatedly in all her apparitions, as if to fortify us against these times of diabolical disorientation, so that we would not allow ourselves to be deceived by false doctrines.... Unfortunately, the great majority of people are ignorant in religious matters and allow themselves to be led in any direction. Hence, the great responsibility of one who has the task of leading them.... A diabolical disorientation is invading the world, deceiving souls! It must be resisted." 19

On September 16, 1970, Sister Lucia wrote:"Our poor Lord, He has saved us with so much love and He is so little understood! So little loved! So badly served! It is painful to see such great confusion, and in so many persons who occupy positions of responsibility! The fact is the devil has succeeded in bringing in evil under the appearance of good; the blind are beginning to lead others, as the Lord tells us in His Gospel, and souls are allowing themselves to be deceived. Gladly I sacrifice myself and offer my life to God for peace in His Church, for priests and for all consecrated souls, especially for those who are so deceived and misguided!" 20

Sister Lucia insists that, "the Virgin knew that these times of diabolical disorientation were to come." 21 To someone who was questioning her on the content of the Third Secret Sister Lucia one day replied:"It's in the Gospel and in the Apocalypse, read them." She also confided to Father Fuentes that the Virgin Mary made her see clearly that "we are in the last times of the world." 22

Cardinal Ratzinger in August 1984 said that the Third Secret concerned "the dangers which threaten the faith and the life of Christians." Responding to the question, "Why is the faith in crisis?" he stated, "The dangers threatening the faith, the importance of the last times and the fact that the prophecies contained in this Third Secret correspond to what Scripture announces." 23

On September 10, 1984, Bishop Amaral of Leira, Portugal, declared in the great hall of the Technical University in Vienna, "The Secret of Fatima speaks neither of atomic bombs nor of nuclear warheads, nor of SS2O missiles. Its content concerns only our faith. To identify the secret with catastrophic announcements or a nuclear holocaust is to distort the meaning of the message. The loss of faith of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a nation; and it is true that the faith is continually diminishing in Europe." Father Alonso's thesis is now publicly confirmed by the bishop of Fatima. The message foretells a terrible crisis within the Church. It is the loss of the faith, which the Immaculate Virgin predicted would occur in our era, if her requests were not sufficiently carried out. This loss of faith and all it entails is the drama that we have been witnessing since 1960. 24

So we must ask why have such good and saintly men in the Chair of Peter such as John Paul II not disclosed the Third Secret of Fatima? In 1980, while speaking in Fulda, Germany, John Paul II stated in response to a question about the Third Secret that Lucia's text does speak of chastisements. In response to another question, he stated that, "the chastisements cannot be averted, it is too late." He stated that, "the die was cast. [The chastisements] can be mitigated by praying the rosary." He reiterated that he, as his predecessors in the Petrine Office, preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of communism to make certain moves.

These questions also shed light on why he has not undertaken any papal-directed and comprehensive effort to reverse the continual and rapid deterioration of the Church. Pope John Paul II said at the Fulda meeting, "No, the Church cannot be reformed at the present moment." 25 He, too, chose not to disclose the Third Secret.

Understood in its depth and extent, John Paul's statement can be shocking:"so as not to encourage the world power of communism to make certain moves." For the Pope to come to such a conclusion illustrates how accurate the message of Lucia must be.

Father Malachi Martin in The Keys of This Blood writes about this issue:"In that 'Third Secret', Lucia's words are so explicit and so verifiable--and therefore so authentic--that, were the leaders of the Leninist Party-State to know those words, they would in all probability decide to undertake certain territorial and militaristic moves against which the West could have few if any means of resisting, and the Church would be plunged into further and deeper subjugation to the Party-State." This is the seriousness of Lucia's words. The capitalist West could be entrapped by the USSR. In Vatican parlance, Lucia's words have dire geopolitical meaning. They must not be treated as pious and devotional outpourings. Fatima relates to the fierce politics of nations. Ever since John XXIII opened and read those words, the Vatican has treated them gingerly. The "Secret" has to be buried, as Cardinal Ottaviani said in 1957, "in the most hidden, the deepest, the most obscure and inaccessible place on earth. If there was one dominant element to the 'Third Secret', it is Russia. 26

"It must also be added, however, that the anti-Church partisans in the Vatican bureaucracy and throughout the Church abhor anything savoring devotion to Mary, to Fatima, and to divine revelation. They have forsaken the divine faith of Catholicism, of which Mary, the Mother of God, is an integral part. They also know the present Pope is under the special protection of Mary. 27 This Mary has said so many times to the visionaries of the world and most notably to Father Gobbi when she said, "he is the Pope of my secret." When Mary says, "and I will receive his sacrifice," she seems to point to a violent death of Pope John Paul II--soon.

"What is John Paul to do? He is precisely aware what the future holds with its chastisements, disasters, earthquakes, tidal waves, the betrayal of his churchmen, and the geopolitics of the world and its sensitive implications. While recuperating from his wounds inflicted by Mehmet Ali Agea, his attempted assassin, he came to realize the only hope for the world was the collegial consecration of Russia as requested at Fatima. Hoping for a mitigation of the coming tribulations--but only a mitigation--he attempted to consecrate the world to Mary, "with a special mention of Russia." John Paul's immediate step was to write all of his bishops, telling them he would do just that on May 13, 1982, in Fatima, and inviting them to join him--either by a physical presence or by parallel actions in their home dioceses. The apostasy of the last fifty years produced an anemic response. Many of the bishops were no longer in union with Rome." 28

Has the Blessed Mother revealed the Third Secret of Fatima in other messages? Many persons who have studied these messages clearly believe that Our Blessed Mother revealed it on October 13, 1973, to Sister Agnes Sasagawa at Akita, Japan. The apparitions at Akita have been approved by the local bishop.

The message was as follows:"As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all of 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 weapons 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 away that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars 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 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 still to save you from calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved." 29

Others point out that Our Lady seems to have revealed again the Third Secret in a locution to the Marian Movement of Priests on September 15, 1987, at Akita Japan, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows:"A chastisement worse than the flood is about to come upon this poor and perverted humanity. Fire will descend from Heaven and this will be the sign that the justice of God has as of now fixed the hour of His great manifestation. I am weeping because the Church is continuing along the road of division, of loss of the true faith, of apostasy and of errors which are being spread more and more without anyone offering opposition to them. Even now, that which I predicted at Fatima and that which I have revealed here in the third message confided to a little daughter of mine is in the process of being accomplished. And so, even for the Church the moment of its great trial has come, because the man of iniquity will establish himself within it and the abomination of desolation will enter into the holy temple of God."

Father Gobbi in a locution on February 11, 1979, received this message (similar to the warnings of LaSalette):"This interior division sometimes even leads priests to set themselves against priests, bishops against bishops, and cardinals against cardinals, for never before as in these times has Satan so succeeded in finding his way into their midst, rending asunder the precious bond of their mutual love." On June 13, 1989, Father Gobbi received the following:"Thus errors are spread in every part of the Catholic Church itself. Because of the spread of these errors, many are moving away from the true faith, bringing to fulfillment the prophecy which was given to you by me at Fatima:The times will come when many will lose the true faith. The loss of the faith is apostasy."

Cardinal Ratzinger has written in the Ratzinger Report that the Third Secret of Fatima has to do with what he called "de novissimis." The Cardinal had good reason to know, having previously read the still unrevealed "secret." The Latin expression "de novissimis" means "dealing with the end times," pertaining to the latter days or about the final events. These "end times" to which Cardinal Ratzinger and the Third Secret of Fatima refer, and about which Pope Paul VI and his predecessors spoke, are well known to Biblical scholars. 30

Bishop Paul M. Hnilica S.J., a personal friend of Pope John Paul II, who had been secretly ordained in a prison camp's hospital quarantine room and three months later ordained a bishop in a basement, built up the catacomb church in Czechoslovakia. His diocese titular is Moscow. He was a participant in 1963 in the Second Vatican Council. On March 25, 1984, while secretly in Russia, Bishop Hnilica made the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the altar at Saint Michael's Church in the Kremlin and then later the same day said a secret Mass at the altar of the Mother of God at the church called the "Assumption of Our Lady." He reported this to the Pope, who was convinced that this was a sign for him. He had great difficulty getting even some of the bishops and cardinals of Rome to perform that consecration in conjunction with him. Cardinal Ratzinger said it was not easy to accomplish this consecration. Shortly after the 1984 act, Sister Lucia told the Papal Nuncio of Lisbon that the conditions God required for the collegial consecration of Russia were accomplished.

On March 25, 1984, Pope John Paul II was joined by a moral totality of all Catholic bishops throughout the world in consecrating the world and therefore Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The consecration renewed the previous acts of consecration by Pius XII of the world in 1942 and Russia in 1952. For the 1984 Consecration, the Pope invited the Orthodox bishops of the world and some major Protestant leaders to join in the act. Many responded.

In July 1989, before the breakup of the communist empire, Lucia stated that the Collegial Consecration of Russia requested by Our Lady "has been accomplished" and "God will keep His word." A few months later the world began to witness the empire's collapse.

On May 13, 1990, at the Cova da Iria, Bishop Amaral of Leira, Portugal, announced that all indications are that the Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope, in union with the bishops of the world, had been accomplished as requested by Our Lady.

Bishop Hnilica stated that the message of Fatima signifies the activation of the powers of Heaven. All of Heaven takes part in achieving that victory; all saints, all angels, and the Blessed Mother. 31

The Series of Events:

• December 1, 1989:At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II met with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The Pope said the meeting was prepared by Providence.

• December 1, 1990:Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev met Pope John Paul II for the second time.

• May 1, 1991:Pope John Paul II in the encyclical Centessimus Annus (On the Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum) wrote of the peaceful fall of the Marxist empire.

• May 12-13, 1991:Pope John Paul II went to Fatima where he thanked Our Lady of Fatima for sparing his life in the 1981 assassination attempt. He thanked Our Lady of Fatima also for the fruits of the Collegial Consecration of "that memorable day, March 25, 1984."

• August 19, 1991:On the seventy-fourth anniversary of Our Lady's appearance at Fatima, the hardliners in Soviet Russia attempted a coup to return to the time before the liberation of peoples began in the Soviet republics.

• August 22, 1991:On the Feast of the Queenship of Mary, the coup attempt of the communist hardliners failed.

• September 12, 1991:Father Gobbi communicated the following message: "...In the Name of Mary, Marxist communism, which for decades had been exercising its rule and holding so many of my poor children in oppressive and bloody slavery, has been defeated in these countries. Not because of political movements or persons, but through my personal intervention, has your liberation finally come about. It will again be in the name of Mary that I will bring to completion my work with the defeat of Masonry...."

• December 8, 1991:The formation of the commonwealth of former Soviet republics began, each one to be independent, indicating the imminent collapse of the Soviet Union.

• December 25, 1991:The Soviet red flag with the hammer and sickle was lowered for the last time, and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation and the end of the Soviet Union. The former fifteen republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were free to become independent states or countries.

After the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI remarked that the smoke of Satan was seeping into the Church of God through cracks in the wall. On October 13, 1977, Pope Paul VI told the world:"The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church." The tactic of Satan has been to gain control by destroying the Roman Catholic Church. As Mary has so frequently stated, he has been very effective.

Our Blessed Mother revealed the coming of this darkness and apostasy at the apparitions of LaSalette, France, in 1846, and Akita, Japan, in 1973. Our Blessed Mother also revealed this to Father Don Stefano Gobbi of the Marian Movement of Priests in interior locutions. As we have seen, it appears that information about this apostasy was contained in the unrevealed third secret of Fatima.

At LaSalette, France, the Blessed Mother on September 19, 1846, appeared to Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud. Mary told Melanie, "In the year 1864, Lucifer together with a large number of demons will be unloosed from hell; they will put an end to faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God. Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches to protect their authority and dominate with pride. The Vicar of my Son will suffer a great deal, because for a while the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness, and the Church will witness a frightful crisis.... Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay.... Now is the time; the abyss is opening. Here is the king of kings of darkness, here is the Beast with his subjects, calling himself the savior of the world."

Maximin Giraud spoke of a monster--most likely communism--which was about to come into the world. "The monster shall arrive at the end of this Nineteenth Century, or at latest, at the commencement of the Twentieth." Our Blessed Mother told Maximin "For behold, the age of ages, the end, the extremity is at hand! The Church passes into darkness. The world will be in a state of consternation, perplexity and confusion." 1

At the time of and after these apparitions, the Church was under siege from the adherents of false philosophical systems, the Freemasons, associated secret societies, and the state. The Illuminated Freemasons in 1829 met in New York and formed a committee which later financed Karl Marx, the chief architect of atheistic communism. Communism under Lenin and Trotsky replaced the ruling monarchy in Russia by murder and revolution. In 1917, the Russian veterans of World War I overthrew the czar. A short-lived revolutionary government was formed by Alexander Kerensky and in several months was overthrown by Lenin and Trotsky. Thus Soviet Russia, the first large country operating under the tenets of atheistic communism, the Red Dragon, was formed--at the beginning of the Twentieth Century!

Pope Pius IX in 1846 in his Syllabus of Errors pronounced a solemn condemnation of the erroneous propositions of the modern philosophies, secret societies, and communism. The Communist Manifesto was published two years later in 1848. The Church was aware of the seductive power of communism and published other encyclicals condemning it. Pope Leo XIII in 1884 in his encyclical Humanum Genus exposed and condemned the propositions of the Freemasons, the affiliated secret societies, and the philosophy of the Masons which he identified as naturalism. He noted that communism was the sequel to naturalism.

Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris defined communism as "the fatal plague which insinuates itself into the very marrow of human society only to bring about its ruin." 2

In an apparition at Akita on October 13, 1973--an apparition approved by the local bishop--Our Blessed Mother said to Sister Agnes Sasagawa "As I told you...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 own confreres...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 souls consecrated to God."

Our Blessed Mother through Father Gobbi of the Marian Movement of Priests revealed on November 20, 1976:"Satan has now pitched his tents even among the ministers of the sanctuary and has brought the abomination of desolation into the holy temple of God..."

On August 26, 1983, Mary told Father Gobbi:"Error is being taught and propagated beneath the ambiguous formulas of a new cultural interpretation of the truth; the spirit of the world finds welcome; it spreads its malignant influence and leads so many souls to accept sin, to justify it and to live in it; loss of faith is becoming a deluge, and in many places of worship the images of the saints have been removed, even those of your heavenly mother. The apostasy has now been spread into every part of a Church betrayed even by some of its bishops, abandoned by many of its priests, deserted by so many of its children, and violated by my Adversary."

On September 15, 1983, she stated to Father Gobbi:"I am beneath the cross being carried today by the bishops who remain faithful, while the number of those who prefer to go their own way grows ever greater, heedless of and refusing to follow the Holy Father, whom Jesus has placed at the very foundation of His Church. They are preparing another Church, one separated from the Pope, and this will cause a further scandal, that of a sorrowful division."

On September 6, 1985, she told Father Gobbi:"There has also entered into the Church disunity, division, strife and antagonism.... These are the times foretold by me, when cardinals will be set against cardinals, bishops against bishops and priests against priests, and the flock of Christ will be torn to pieces by rapacious wolves, who have found their way in under the clothing of defenseless and meek lambs. Among them there are even some who occupy posts of great responsibility and, by means of them, Satan has succeeded in entering and in operating at the very summit of the Church."

In the message of June 13, 1989, the Blessed Mother warned Father Gobbi of the danger of Ecclesiastical Masonry. Mary said that this form of Masonry:

"1) Works to obscure God's Divine Word, by means of natural and rational interpretations and, in the attempt to make it more understandable and acceptable, empties it of all its supernatural content. Thus errors are spread in every part of the Catholic Church itself. Because of the spread of these errors, many are moving away today from the true faith, bringing to fulfillment the prophecy which was given to you by me at Fatima:The times will come when many will lose the true faith. The loss of the faith is apostasy;

"2) Works, in a subtle and diabolical way, to lead all into apostasy;

"3) Has the aim of justifying sin, of presenting it no longer as an evil but as something good and of value.... The pernicious fruit of this accursed cancer, which has spread throughout the whole Church, is the disappearance everywhere of individual confession;

"4) Favors those forms of exegesis which give the Gospel a rationalistic and natural interpretation, by means of the application of the various literary genres, in such a way that it becomes torn to pieces in all its parts. In the end, one arrives at denying the historical reality of miracles and of the resurrection and places in doubt the very divinity of Jesus and His salvific mission;

"5) Seeks to destroy the Mystical Body of Christ which is the Church;

"6) Seeks to destroy the reality of the hierarchical Church, that is to say, the Pope and the bishops united with him by false ecumenism, which leads to the acceptance of all Christian churches, asserting that each one of them has some part of the truth. It develops the plan of founding a universal ecumenical Church, formed by the fusion of all the Christian confessions, among which is the Catholic Church;

"7) In many subtle ways, seeks to attack the ecclesial devotion towards the sacrament of the Eucharist. It gives value to the meal aspect, tends to minimize its sacrificial value, seeks to deny the real and personal presence of Jesus in the consecrated Host. In this way there are gradually suppressed all the external signs which are indicative of faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, such as genuflection, hours of public adoration and the holy custom of surrounding the tabernacle with lights and flowers; and

"8) Seeks to destroy the foundation of unity of the Church, through a subtle and insidious attack on the Pope."

On May 13, 1990, Mary said:"The Church will know the hour of its greatest apostasy. The man of iniquity will penetrate into its interior and will sit in the very Temple of God, while the little remnant which will remain faithful will be subjected to the greatest trials and persecutions."

The Blessed Mother warned Father Gobbi on November 15, 1990:"How great is your responsibility, O Pastors of the holy Church of God! You continue along the path of division from the Pope and the rejection of his Magisterium; indeed, in a hidden way, there is in preparation a true schism which could soon become open and proclaimed. And then, there will remain only a small faithful remnant, over which I will keep watch in the garden of my Immaculate Heart. The great trial has arrived for all humanity. The chastisement, predicted by me at Fatima and contained in that part of the secret which has not yet been revealed, is about to take place. The great moment of divine justice and mercy has come upon the world."

Reasonable persons who are emotionally and intellectually honest with themselves will ask how we have drifted so far from God in so short a time. To understand fully where we are today, we must trace our current confusion to its roots. In the Garden of Eden, Yahweh warned Eve not to eat of the forbidden fruit:"The serpent was the most subtle of all the wild beasts that Yahweh God had made. It asked the woman, `Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?' The woman answered the serpent, `We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, `You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death.' Then the serpent said to the woman, `No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.' The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was desirable for the knowledge that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She gave some also to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loin-cloths" (Genesis 3:1-7).

There are three players in this exchange:God, the subtle serpent or the devil, and man. From the beginning, the devil tempted man to be like God. The serpent offered man intellectual knowledge to become like God. Man did not heed the warning of God; he ate the forbidden fruit and suffered the consequences. The participants in the human drama are the same today as they were then, and the battle for the soul of man in a never-changing war continues in the heavens. Satan initially trapped Adam and Eve through appealing to their minds so he could ensnare their souls. The battle for our souls usually starts in the mind with the pride of intellect.

The attack is aimed at separating man from union with God by encouraging him to think he can replace or equal God. The devil encourages us to let reason dominate faith. The early Church Fathers, on the other hand, combined faith with reason to understand the world. The early saints and Doctors of the Church developed a method to comprehend our universe, inclusive of God, called Scholasticism.

Scholasticism is a method of theological and philosophical speculation which aims at a better understanding and deeper penetration of revealed truths and Christian doctrine through the intellectual processes of analogy, definition, speculation, coordination, and systematization of these materials. 3 The foundations of Scholasticism were laid by Saint Augustine. In his De Doctrina Christiana, he urged the use of dialectics to study Christian doctrine, and in his De Praedestinatione Sanctorum he claimed that belief was to ponder with assent. Saint Anselm another foundation-layer of Scholasticism, asserted the duty of reason is to gain fuller understanding of what was given in faith.

When Scholastic philosophers and theologians obtained translations from the Greek of Aristotle, the period of high Scholasticism began. Saint Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus, the teacher of Aquinas) and Saint Thomas Aquinas tried to harmonize Augustine and Aristotle. Lines were drawn between the declarations of faith and reason by the use of argument, counter argument, and resolution of the dispute. 4

The pervasive and continuing conflict between religion, science, and philosophy has helped produce the secularism of our times. How did it come about that a major part of the educated classes in Europe and America has lost faith in the theology that for nearly sixteen centuries gave supernatural sanctions and supports to the precarious and uncongenial moral code upon which Western civilization has been based? What are the effects--in morals, literature, and politics--of this silent but fundamental transformation?

The living drama began in the Eighteenth Century with the Age of the Enlightenment. The wandering and agitated life of the French thinker Voltaire merely represented the times of this turbulent era as the seeds of dissent were sown. Because of this dissension, what had once been sacred became profane. The thinking of Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and others ignited a world-wide revolution. Man succumbed again to the enticement of the subtle serpent, tempting the pride of the intellect in the absence of faith with old lies for the new epoch.

The principal desire of Satan is to take us away from God. Initially, he works to entice man through subtly distracting his mind, leading him to seek answers within himself. If men think solutions are within themselves, they have no reason to commune with God. Self-reliance through strength of will becomes their focus, rather than dependence on God. Prayer, Church, Scripture, and the sacraments become disposable. This is a direct contradiction of the words of the Blessed Mother at the apparition sites, who continually stresses the importance of these things. Mary's way is prayer from the heart.

Satan's ultimate target is the destruction of the papacy and the Holy Roman Catholic Church. The primary assault is aimed at banishing religion from the realm of the state, causing factions and divisions and bringing about ungodly laws. Once this is accomplished, the secondary assault weakens the Church from within. Satan's strategy is a powerful one:divide and conquer. Silence the generals, and the soldiers become confused and scatter.

There is widespread confusion and dissent in the Church over even the most basic doctrines. A deadly disease has spread so far, so quickly we do not realize how we evolved to our present state. It may be helpful to give a short synopsis of some of the leading philosophical thought which has poisoned our thinking and led to this state of confusion and division. This division has led to apostasy, the loss of faith, principally over the last 100 years, as the views of the Enlightenment found their way into European and North American classrooms.

In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason produced thinkers such as Rousseau, Voltaire, and Diderot, who were rationalists; that is, they placed reason over faith. This philosophic rationalism derived its methods from science and natural philosophy, which was to replace religion as the means of knowing nature and the destiny of humanity. The Enlightenment's understanding of human nature was one that emphasized the right to self-expression and human fulfillment, the right to think freely, and express one's views publicly without censorship or fear of oppression. Rousseau sought human nature in the wholly private realm of intuition and conscience. He looked inward for the fundamental source of moral obligation. Voltaire, the most influential figure of the Enlightenment, was a self-styled reformer who raised the slogan "Crush the Infamous" against the Church and Christianity. He was a Deist--one who believes God has no dealings with His creation after it was created. Numerous philosophies evolved from these movements such as liberalism, religious rationalism, positivism, secularism, naturalism, secular humanism, indifferentism, individualism, socialism, Communism, Marxism, theological liberalism, radical feminism, deism, agnosticism, atheism, and pantheism. The New Age movement is another tactic of Satan to replace faith with reason. It simply lacks an "ism" at the end of the name.

It was this mixture of modern philosophical systems which forsook Scholasticism and produced a large number of errors concerning God, Jesus Christ, the Church, the papacy, Church dogma, and the sacraments. These errors were condemned by Pope Pius IX, Vatican Council I, Pope Leo XIII, Pope Saint Pius X, Pope Pius XI, and Popes to the present day. These false modern philosophies were all strongly condemned by Pope Pius IX, who in The Syllabus of Errors listed eighty principal errors of his time under ten headings. The Syllabus was published on December 8, 1864. 5 Many Catholics today are unaware that previous Popes have condemned these errors. In fact, most do not understand how these subtle and deceptive philosophies have deeply penetrated our churches and culture.

In 1907, Pope Saint Pius X issued his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis on modernism, a synthesis of all heresies founded upon the false modern philosophical systems which attack the Church, the divinity of Christ, Church dogmas, discipline, authority, and the papacy. He stated that modernism leads to pantheism and atheism. He then suppressed modernism in the Church. 6

By this time, modernism was no longer an intellectual idea but a formidable force wreaking large-scale moral destruction. Pope Pius XI wrote Divini Redemptoris as the major encyclical against socialism and communism in 1937. In his most ominous warnings against the dangers of communism, he wrote to his bishops to "See to it, venerable brothers, that the faithful do not allow themselves to be deceived. Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever." 7

Pope Pius XI gave three basic reasons for the rapid spread of communism:1) Too few people had been able to grasp the nature of communism; 2) A propaganda campaign for communism so diabolical that the world has perhaps never witnessed its like before, and 3) The conspiracy of silence on the part of a large section of the non-Catholic press of the world.

We could never have reached this state of apostasy in our Church unless philosophical errors had reached into the depths of Catholic thought. Pope Pius X issued an encyclical in 1907 on modernism. He knew that modernism would be perhaps the ultimate attack on the Church in our time. He stated, "We must now break silence, in order to expose before the whole Church, in their true colors, those men who have assumed this bad disguise." As the Vicar of Christ on earth, Pope Saint Pius X was warning us that modernism is the sum of all the errors of these modern philosophical systems as they relate to God, Jesus Christ, Sacred Scripture, Tradition, the Holy Fathers, the Church, sacraments, dogma, the papacy, ecclesiastical authority, hierarchy, state, and man.

Pope Pius X stated that he had exposed the doctrines of the modernists at some length, "to refute their charge that we do not understand their ideas. We desired to show their system does not consist in scattered and unconnected theories, but is a perfectly organized body, all parts which are solidly joined so that it is not possible to admit one without admitting all. We define modernism as the synthesis of all heresies, attempting the task of collecting together all the errors that have been broached against the faith and to concentrate the sap and substance of them all into one. It means the destruction not of the Catholic religion alone, but of all religion. " 8

Furthermore, modernism changes with the age to conform to the age. Pope Paul VI said:"It is the most dangerous revolution the Church has ever had to face and it is still scourging her severely. This revolution is a process of self-demolition and it aims at driving the Church to the end of the road to perdition. The trinity of parents responsible for the perversion known as modernism are:1) Its religious ancestor is the Protestant Reformation; 2) Its philosophical parent is the Enlightenment; 3) Its political pedigree comes from the French Revolution."

Pope Pius X pointed out that "the whole system, with all its errors, had been born of the alliance between faith and false philosophy. Modernists place the foundation of religious philosophy in that doctrine which is usually called agnosticism."

As one of their principal points, modernists discuss dogma (religious formulas), which they hold arise as secondary propositions based on primitive and simple formulas. They consider them to be symbols and instruments; that is, images and vehicles of truth which are subject to change and ought to evolve and be changed. Pope Pius X stated:"They audaciously charge the Church both with taking the wrong road from inability to distinguish the religious and moral sense of formulas from their surface meaning, and with clinging tenaciously and vainly to meaningless formulas whilst religion is allowed to go to ruin." He further says, "modernists do not deny, but actually admit, some confusedly, others in the most open manner, that all religions are true." 9

In addition, he stated:"The modernists recognize that the three chief difficulties for them are scholastic philosophy, the authority of the Fathers and Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church. On these they wage unrelenting war. For scholastic philosophy and theology they have only ridicule and contempt. Whether it is ignorance or fear, or both, that inspires this conduct in them, it is certain that the passion for novelty is always united in them with a hatred of Scholasticism, and there is no surer sign that a man is on the way to modernism than when he begins to show his dislike for the system." 10

Pope Pius X then pointed out that, "Modernists seize upon chairs in the seminaries and universities, and gradually make of them chairs of pestilence. From these sacred chairs they scatter, though not always openly, the seeds of their doctrines; they proclaim their teachings without disguise in congresses; they introduce them and make them the vogue in social institutions. Under their own names and under pseudonyms they publish numbers of books, newspapers, reviews.... If they write history, it is to search out with curiosity and to publish openly, on the pretext of telling the whole truth and with a species of ill-conceived satisfaction, everything that looks to them like a stain in the history of the Church." Pope Pius X finally stated:"Modernists try in every way to diminish and weaken authority. They propose to remove the ecclesiastical Magisterium itself by sacrilegiously falsifying its origin, character, rights, and by freely repeating the calumnies of its adversaries." 11

Some modernist tenets condemned by the Popes are as follows:

¥ Faith is subject to science;

¥ The Church and State must be separate, but the Church is subject to the State;

¥ The Catholic must be separate from the citizen;

¥ The Church and the Sacraments were founded mediately but not directly by Christ;

¥ The Sacraments are mere symbols or signs;

¥ The Bible is inspired by God, but not in the Catholic manner of belief. Modernists' belief allows them to state that there are many errors in the Bible referring to science or history;

¥ Christ Himself manifestly erred in determining the time when the coming of the kingdom of God was to take place;

¥ The dogmas of the Church brim over with flagrant contradictions;

¥ There are two Christs, the real Christ and the Christ of faith. Christ, according to what modernists call real history, was not God and never did anything divine;

¥ It is permissible to grant that the Christ of history is far inferior to the Christ who is the object of faith;

¥ The Resurrection of Christ was not a fact of the historical order;

¥ The divinity of Christ is not proved from the Gospels. It is a dogma which the Christian conscience derived from the notion of the Messiah;

¥ Christ did not always possess the consciousness of His Messianic dignity;

¥ It is impossible to reconcile the natural sense of the Gospel texts with the sense taught by our theologians concerning the conscience and the infallible knowledge of Jesus Christ;

¥ Not everything Saint Paul says about the institution of the Eucharist is to be taken historically. 12

Today we are witnessing the final fruits of that pernicious doctrine and the complete attempt to liberate man from God. These godless philosophies are now commingling into a system of thought, manipulating and governing the masses who remain unaware of its intellectual underpinnings. Neo-modernism is unified in its basic inspiration--hatred of God and religion. There is such an apostasy of faith in many of our Catholic schools that the Antichrist would find himself right at home in the atmosphere that pervades campuses and classrooms.

When the Blessed Mother speaks of the institutional abandonment of the faith by the leaders in the Church, she is referring to those who have turned their back on faith in favor of the fashionable liberalism of the day. One example would be the wholesale retreat of the educators. Father Miceli, S.J., in his book Antichrist, writes:"In 1967-1972 the leaders of the Catholic institutions and the Vatican held meetings in which the leaders rejected any institutional, statutory, academic allegiance to the teachings of Jesus Christ as transmitted to His Church through the Magisterium. This is institutional apostasy from Christ and His Church." 13

"The leaders, lusting after secular academic excellence, huge student bodies, expensive scientific complexes, publicity, political clout, and financial power somehow lost sight of the purpose and spirit of the Catholic university. In today's Catholic university, intellectualism is preferred to Catholicism, scientism to faith, and relativism to truth. 14

"In the name of total liberation, the public demands widespread use of contraception, the right to free and state-financed abortion, the right to trial marriages, the right to choose homosexuality, and the right to enter lesbian and homosexual marriages. These are not marginal demands but are essentially linked to the movement of the total liberation of man from God, from morality, from restrictive positive laws, and from the canons of reason. Progressively these demands deny the very nature of man; they are now moving to the denial or the cancellation of the marriage institution as such. 15 These apostates have legislated these movements into existence and thus the law is now on their side. The Christian view is now outside the law.

"The first aim of Catholic modernists is to convert the Church of Rome to modernism and then to convert the Universal Church. They seek to create a Church in their own image and likeness--a small, Gnostic, elite Church of worldly-wise intellectuals who will dominate the religious thinking and practice of the whole human race.

"Today, in the post-Christian era, neo-modernism has regrouped its forces under such titles as `Catholic Opposition' or `Catholic Dissent' or `Christian Critics.' This dissent and criticism is leveled against `the institutional Church,' not against the enemies of the Church." 16

This century has seen the errors--which arose from rationalism, naturalism, secularism, humanism--that lead to modernism, the synthesis of all heresies. Condemned by Saint Pope Pius X, modernism went underground in the seminaries and universities, only to rise again after the Second Vatican Council as neo-modernism. Neo-modernism masquerades under various names and guises:the spirit of Vatican II, feminism in the Church, liberation theology, and the conciliar Church, among others. This misinterpretation and the incorrect implementation of Vatican II led numerous cardinals, priests, nuns, and laity to lose the faith, following instead what many call the "New Christianity."

The five main characteristics of this "New Christianity" are:

1) Anthropocentrism:Man, not God is the center of religion. God is found solely in the face, functions, fortunes, and future of man. The primacy of man is identified with the primacy of God.

2) Immanence in the world:The kingdom of God is not hereafter. Salvation means liberation from social sin, i.e., from ignorance, hunger, underdevelopment, political oppression, economic exploitation. Personal sin is no longer relevant in today's historical context. The new Catholics, enlisting under socialism's banner, must achieve the kingdom of God by destroying capitalism.

3) The New Evangelism:The true meaning of the Gospel is economic rather than spiritual, arising from service to the poor; only the poor and their socialistic champions can understand the Gospels. The Magisterium has misinterpreted the meaning of the Gospel these past two thousand years, using it to exploit the poor and remain in power with the mighty of this world.

4) {The New Ecclesiology:The Church is part of the world; she does not exist for herself, but to serve the world. Hence, she must dissolve all her own institutions. In her liturgical life, any members may function as priests. In her jurisdictional life, local churches must be autonomous, for all authority comes from the faithful who share co-responsibility.

5) The New Passion for Christ:This love is not for Christ the God-Man. Rather it is for Christ who is only a great man--the Man-for-others, the friend, the defender, the liberator of the poor, indeed, the revolutionary and grand subverter, aiding the poor to overthrow all corrupt institutions, the institutional Church included.

Weakness was found in the Church leaders and especially among its prestigious intellectuals. It took the Second Vatican Council to reveal that too many of its own members had been nurturing for a long time a secret desire to join the world; now, abusing the Council itself as an authoritative pretext, such lovers of this world are opening the gates of the Church so as to bring the faithful into contact with the stultifying and deadly energies of neo-modernism. These New Church Catholics have become scandalized over the Catholic Church's allegedly intransigent and dogmatic policies.

Serious divisions exist among Catholics on essential matters of faith and morals:errors concerning God, the historicity of the Gospels, the Real Presence, the divinity of Christ, the infallibility of the Pope, the Resurrection, the nature of the Church and its salvation ministry, and many, many other points too numerous to mention. All have divided and mutilated the flock of Christ.

It is hardly surprising that Satan, in his attack on the Catholic Church, concentrates his big guns on two major doctrines that constitute the heart of the Catholic faith:1) the Eucharist as the Real Presence of Jesus Christ; and 2) the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God. Both of these mysteries are reduced to being Christian development of old pagan myths, fables that attempt to explain the origin of the universe through monistic and cosmological forces. 17

The New Order of the Mass as it was presented by those who drew it up for Pope Paul VI stressed the communal meal aspect of the liturgy and forgot the Sacrifice. Cardinal Ottaviani of the Holy Office intervened with the Pope, who had the sacrificial aspect reinserted. Liturgical change in the Mass has led to the majority of Catholics today--as shown by a recent poll--holding that the Kiss of Peace is the main part of the Mass. A large number of Catholic laity, priests and nuns, appear not to believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist as taught by the Catholic Church. In some churches the kneelers have been removed. The altar rails in the churches in the United States have been removed so that the faithful may not kneel out of reverence and respect for the Lord to receive communion. The tabernacle has been moved to the side of the church and in some churches it has been removed from the church into a chapel, away from the main altar.

In one private revelation a visionary likens this to a guest of honor at a banquet being asked to go off and sit to the side. The Lord has allegedly said to a visionary, "Put me back in the center." Our Lady has echoed the theme:"Let the Holy Mass be the center of your life."

Nowhere is an enemy more destructive than when he is in your own camp. Satan's primary ploys were to divide Church from state and the Church from within itself. To date, Satan's plan has been successful. This leads us to the topic of Freemasonry. It is a complex subject with its leaders having access and control in most economic, political, judicial, and social spheres. It is a huge world-wide network that the Blessed Mother calls the "secret sect," which has common goals and an agenda all its own. Briefly, there is a vast network in place which is more for earthly goals of wealth and creature comforts than heavenly ones. Sadly, this network extends into the very Church itself. What could be worse than people in high places within your camp working against you? This strategy of deceit in the Church is called Ecclesiastical Masonry.

The reasons for corruption in the Church are numerous. However, one area of widespread destruction has been what Pope Paul VI called the "auto-demolition" of the Church; that is, destruction "from within." He was directly pointing to subversive movements in the Church looking to do harm from within.

One such effective movement is revealed in the book AA-1025--The Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle. It is the book of a French Catholic nurse in the 1960s attending to an auto crash victim who died within hours of being brought into her hospital. The man had no identification on him, but he had a briefcase of biographical notes which contained information about how the Communist Party commissioned him to enter the priesthood to subvert and destroy the Church from within.

Seeing the value in these papers she published them. It is an account of this man's time in the seminary in the early 1940s and his deceptive plots year after year to destroy all that was Roman Catholic. Using all of the intelligence methods of the KGB, the notes provide information on the systematic plan to break down the Church from within. For this `anti-apostle' it all began with an uncle in the Communist Party saying, "I am now going to send you to practice a militant and international atheism. You will have to fight all religions, but principally the Catholic, which is better organized. To do so, you will enter a seminary and become a Roman Catholic priest." The notes then told of the murder of a Polish bishop who spotted his role, a hierarchy of authority and command established for him, thousands of churches closed in Russia, infiltration and placement of priests into high positions, the attempts to abolish Catholic traditions, the ultimate goal of establishing all religions into a universal religion, the gathering of writers to promote these views, the supply of rubles from Russia to support his programs, and a complete agenda of diabolical extremes. When the man was recruited, he was the 1,025-man in a program that was sending "seminarians" all over the world. 18

Our Lady has spoken to Patricia Talbot (known as Pachi") of Cuenca, Ecuador, about the destruction in the Church. "Pray much for [priests] because Satan is penetrating into the depths of the Holy Church. Do not let Satan penetrate you. I am the Guardian of the Faith. My children, Satan wants to destroy the missions which Heaven has granted you, children of the light. In the same way he will try to destroy the Church, but his attempts will be in vain if you convert. Pray the rosary, which is a shield against evil. Use the scapular which will protect you. Place the Heart of Jesus in your homes for it will keep you united and in peace. Do penance and fast, and with prayer you will reach the heart of my Son. Go to Mass and visit the Blessed Sacrament. Pray to me and I will keep you under my mantle and in the Heart of my Son."

From the state of the world today, it looks as if the "subtle serpent" has won. The divisions have been most intense in the last thirty years over the Real Presence in the Eucharist, the Divinity of Christ, papal infallibility, the Resurrection, the nature of the Church, and numerous other issues which have divided the Body on a scale which has not been seen since the Reformation. The Blessed Mother's messages deal specifically with this crisis. The voice of Mary and Scripture speak of these difficult days. The corruption around us has been predicted by many. And so the slide continues. The program of the enemy has been effective and he has proven himself a formidable adversary. It is the extremely rare Christian university that teaches faith and morals in truth. Liberation theologians and dissident academics have had a significant impact on students over many years. The feminization or neutrality of language has gained a foothold and each year firmly plants itself and gains acceptance. New Age creeps in with large numbers of disciples and is merely an old heresy by another name. It is a recycled lie enticing the mind once again:"Ye shall be like gods."

In his book Trojan Horse in the City of God, scholar Dietrich Von Hildebrand summed up the problem. He wrote:"Like a besieged city, the Church is surrounded by the errors and dangers of our time. Unfortunately, some Catholics are not only not aware of these dangers, but are in varying degrees infected by them."

All that is happening today has been predicted at sites of many of the Marian apparitions. All events are positioned for the Woman clothed with the sun to crush the head of the serpent. There will be many more events as a prelude to this, but there will be three of great significance.

The first major falling away from the faith will be occasioned by the new catechism that was signed and approved by Pope John Paul II on December 8, 1992. It is an orthodox version of the faith that some of the Catholic hierarchy will find themselves unable to accept. It will further divide the opposing camps and provide a prelude to the messages of LaSalette:"cardinal against cardinal, bishop against bishop." The split in the Church is a de facto schism that to date has been for the most part hidden and contained. Soon it will be open.

A document related to the new catechism is John Paul's new encyclical on morality, scheduled to be released in the late fall of 1993. It is an encyclical promoting views on morality as taught by the Magisterium of the Church--not liberal theologians. Liberal Catholic Americans will be troubled by Rome's views. This will pose a stumbling block for those who call themselves "progressive thinkers." The "American Catholic Church" and the Roman Catholic Church gather distance between them with each passing year.

The battle lines are drawn. The Pope and those bishops in union with him, in an attempt to correct modernist errors of interpretation of the Catholic faith after Vatican II, have given us an authoritative, in-depth presentation of the true Catholic faith. Modernist cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns, and laity will become more firmly entrenched in their own views as they read the new documents. We are on the way to a new schism of huge proportions. It will be so large it will drive underground the Church that is in union with the Pope and Rome. Shortly, to the undiscerning eye, it will be difficult to tell the true Church from the apostate church. The message of Our Lady on June 17, 1989, stated through the Marian Movement of Priests:"The Apostasy will be as of then generalized, because almost all will follow the false christ and the false church."

The last major event will be the proclamation of the Blessed Mother as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate--the last and final Marian dogma of the Catholic Church. To many it will seem to be a doctrine of demons, and for those who adhere to such a doctrine, it will actually bring on persecution. These events will pave the way for the movement of the anti-church and the anti-pope.

Today, many Catholics are lukewarm and indifferent. With the proclamation of the above encyclical, they will openly oppose the Pope. Most will fall away from the practice of the one true Faith because of the great apostasy.

The break from Rome each year in faith and doctrine is gradual. Many bishops are not obedient to the instructions of the Pope. The Pope as of this writing has not given permission for the inclusive language of the American lectionary. Yet it appears one U.S. bishop has ordered its use in his diocese on the basis that it will be approved soon even though there are grave misgivings concerning mistranslations of the Latin text into English. This has been done to placate radical feminists as the politically correct thing to do in the Church, without the consultation of other members of the Church. Many radical feminist nuns support abortion, contraception, lesbianism, and other doctrines contrary to Catholic moral teaching. Many Catholic priests do not believe in the Real Presence of the Eucharist. Also, many Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence; personal mortal sin; the need for sacramental reconciliation; the evils of abortion, homosexuality, divorce, drug abuse, and pre-marital sex; and the authority of the Magisterium of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

When Mary is proclaimed Co-Redemptrix, as she herself has stated, conditions will further deteriorate inside the Church. It will be a combination of events such as an economic and social collapse which will lead mankind to the acceptance of the Antichrist and his ecclesiastical puppet--the antichurch. As Mary predicted at LaSalette, "Rome will loose the faith and become the seat of Antichrist."

The elements of the apostasy have been given to us in great detail:Freemasonry, ecclesiastical apostasy, the worship of man over God, and extreme division on earth, the setting up of an idol to put in the place of Christ and the Church, and a false christ and a false church. All that has been predicted is being fulfilled. The messages of those warning the world have been more specific with each passing year. Satan is firmly planted in the corridors of ecclesiastical power, and the prophecy of LaSalette, France, is coming to fruition.

Our Lady, in her apparitions, speaks of this widespread and nearly total loss of faith before the return of Jesus Christ. The passion of the Mystical Body is being played out as the Passion of Jesus. As Good Friday comes before Easter Sunday, we will see the death of the Catholic Church before its resurrection in a new form in the glorious era of peace.

Let no one deceive you in any way. For unless the apostasy comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one doomed to perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god and object of worship, so as to seat himself in the temple of God, claiming that he is a god, do you not recall that while I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. But the one who restrains is to do so only for the present, until he is removed from the scene. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of His mouth and render powerless by the manifestation of His coming, the one whose coming springs from the power of Satan in every mighty deed and in signs and wonders that lie, and in every wicked deceit for those who are perishing because they have not accepted the love of truth so that they may be saved. Therefore, God is sending them a deceiving power so they may believe the lie, that all who have not believed the truth but have approved wrong doing may be condemned.

We are at the state of such a loss of faith that Paul's letter to the Thessalonians is in the final stages of being fulfilled. The great apostasy must come before the lawless one, the Antichrist, is revealed. The Second Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians is clear, as are the words of Mary:there will be a loss of faith. The century of Satan is in its final act, and the reign of Mary has begun. She soon will crush the head of the serpent.

The Marian Era has begun. With the great battle of the angelic powers, the Archangels (Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael) and the angels of Heaven are fighting under the mantle of the Woman clothed with the sun against Satan and his wicked spirits. To Father Gobbi, on November 15, 1990, Our Blessed Mother told of the war being waged with her adversary. She stated:"Satan is battling against the apostles of these last times, who have been chosen to combat courageously against the power of him who places himself in opposition to Christ, in order to obtain, in the end, my greatest victory."

In the apparition of Akita Japan, October, 13, 1973, Our Blessed Mother told Sister Agnes Sasagawa:"As I told you... 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 own confreres....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."

From November 25-27, 1992, the Episcopal Conference of Japan called a meeting which was attended by many Bishops and Marian leaders to discuss the significance of the Akita apparitions. During one of the conferences, a question was asked of Father Michael O'Carroll (a leading Marian scholar and one of the attendees) how the third secret of Fatima related to Akita. He responded:"If you are interested in the third secret of Fatima, read the messages of Akita." Although we know the third secret is the Apostasy of the faith, there is more to the message of Fatima. The Fatima expert for Pope John Paul II was a priest named Father Joseph de St. Marie, now deceased. He drafted the speech for the Pope's address given at Fatima during his visit in 1982. There, Pope John Paul II publicly thanked Our Lady of Fatima for saving his life during the assassination attempt. Father St. Marie knew of the contents of the Fatima secret. When asked of the secret several years later, he responded, "Do you know what the people did during the miracle of the sun?" The reply was, "they fell to their knees and repented." Father Saint Marie answered, "It will be the same, however many will not repent even though the events will be catastrophic; the miracle of the sun will be a prefigurement or foreshadowing of what will happen in the future." The messages of Fatima were completed with those of Akita, Japan. The messages from both apparitions give us a more complete view of the chastisement and the apostasy. 1

The Blessed Mother told Father Gobbi on a number of occasions about the coming difficulties.

On September 6, 1986 Mary stated:"There has also entered into the Church disunity, division, strife and antagonism. The forces of atheism and Masonry, having infiltrated within it, are on the point of breaking up its interior unity and of darkening the splendor of its sanctity. These are the times, foretold by me, when cardinals will be set against cardinals, bishops against bishops, and priests against priests, and the flock of Christ will be torn to pieces by rapacious wolves, who have found their way in under the clothing of defenseless and meek lambs. Among them there are even some who occupy posts of great responsibility and, by means of them, Satan has succeeded in entering and in operating at the very summit of the Church. Bishops and priests of the holy Church of God, how great today is your responsibility! The Lord is about to demand of you an account of how you have administered His vineyard. Repent, seek pardon, make amends and, above all, be once again faithful to the task which has been entrusted to you."

On May 13, 1990, she stated:"Now you are beginning the last decade of this century of yours....I am coming down from Heaven, so that the final secrets may be revealed to you and that I may be able thus to prepare you for what, as of now, you must live through, for the purification of the earth.... My third secret, which I revealed here to three little children to whom I appeared and which up to the present has not yet been revealed to you, will be made manifest to all by the very occurrence of events.... The Church will know the hour of its greatest apostasy.... The man of iniquity will penetrate into its interior and will sit in the very temple of God, while the little remnant which will remain faithful will be subjected to the greatest trials and persecutions."

On November 15, 1990, Mary said:"The great trial has arrived for your Church. Those errors which have brought people to the loss of the true faith have continued to spread.... There is in preparation a true schism which could soon become open and proclaimed.... The great trial has arrived for all humanity. The chastisement, predicted by me at Fatima and contained in that part of the secret which has not yet been revealed, is about to take place. The great moment of divine justice and mercy has come upon the world."

On May 13, 1991, she revealed to Father Gobbi:"My Pope, John Paul .... I confirm for you is the Pope of my secret; the Pope about whom I spoke to the children during the apparitions; the Pope of my love and my sorrow.... When this Pope will have completed the task which Jesus has entrusted to him and I will come down from Heaven and receive his sacrifice, all of you will be cloaked in dense darkness of apostasy, which will then become general."

On May 13, 1992, Mary said, "Beloved children, today you are observing the seventy-fifth anniversary of my first apparition, which took place at Fatima, in the Cova da Iria, on the 13th of May, 1917.... At the time, I predicted the times of the loss of the true faith and of the apostasy, which would be spread throughout every part of the Church. You are living the times of which I foretold you.... At that time, I predicted the times of the war, and of the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father, because of the spread of theoretical and practical atheism, and of the rebellion of humanity against God and His law.... At that time, I predicted the chastisement and that, in the end, my Immaculate Heart would have its triumph."

The apostasy is the loss of faith in the Church. It appears that the testing of the faithful is near its completion. In Chapter 12 on Medjugorje in the letter that Father Tomislav Vlasic wrote to Pope John Paul II on December 2, 1983, this testing time is mentioned. Father Vlasic quoting what Mary said to one of the seers, wrote:"...you must realize that Satan exists. One day he appeared before the throne of God and asked permission to submit the Church to a period of trial. God gave him permission to try the Church for one century. This century is under the power of the devil; but when the secrets confided to you come to pass, his power will be destroyed. Even now he is beginning to lose his power and has become aggressive. He is destroying marriages...."

Another person who believed this century was under the power of the devil was Pope Leo XIII. Soul Magazine provides this anecdote in its May/June 1984 issue:"On October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had just finished Holy Mass when he heard a deep and guttural voice say:`I can destroy your Church...to do so I need more time and more power.' Then the Pope heard a gentle voice asking:`How much time? How much power?'.... The guttural voice responded:`Seventy-five to one hundred years and a greater power over those who will give themselves to my service.' The gentle voice replied:`You have the time...'. Deeply troubled, Pope Leo XIII commanded a special prayer to be said to Saint Michael the Archangel at the end of every Mass:

"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into Hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls, Amen."

This prayer continued to be recited after Mass through the remainder of the Nineteenth Century and until September 26, 1964, when the Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy decreed:"Leonine prayers after Mass are no longer to be said."

Confirming the validity of the dialogue that Pope Leo XIII heard, in the November 9, 1984, message of the Marian Movement of Priests, Mary stated:"The apostasy arising from Satan's trial of the Church is now in its final stages. The Lord has granted him this space of time, because the end of the pride of the Red Dragon will be broken and conquered by the humility, the littleness, and the power of your heavenly Mother, the Woman clothed with the sun, who is now gathering all her little children into her army, drawn up for battle." At the turn of the Twentieth Century, Pope Saint Pius X stated in his encyclical that modernism in the Church is the genesis of heresy. He predicted--prophetically--that the modernist and secular heresy would bring about the apostasy.

Throughout Scripture and the messages of Mary, considerable blame is directly tied to priests and those in leadership positions in the Church. Accusing words were often spoken by Jesus to the Pharisees and Sadducees. Calling the lawgivers and those in spiritual control a "brood of vipers and whitened sepulchers" did not make Jesus popular with those in authority. They subsequently plotted to kill Him because His mission was not in line with their own. The following Scriptural text taken from Hosea is clear regarding the holding of worldly position and authority, and the responsibility of those who hold ecclesial positions of leadership:

Priests, nobles and kings are the ruin of the nation

Listen to this, priests,

attend, House of Israel,

listen, royal household,

you who are responsible for justice,

for you have been a snare at Mizpah,

and a net outspread on Tabor.

They are entrenched in their deceitfulness

and so I am going to punish them all.

I know all about Ephraim,

Israel has no secrets for me;

yes Ephraim, you'd have played the whore,

Israel has defiled himself.

Their deeds do not allow them to return to their God;

since a prostituting spirit possesses them;

they do not know Yahweh.

The arrogance of Israel is his own accuser,

the iniquity of Ephraim knocks him down

and down comes Judah with him.

Though they go in search of Yahweh with their sheep and oxen,

they do not find him;

for he has withdrawn from them.

They have proved unfaithful to Yahweh.

Revelations of the apostasy were given to Christina Gallagher of Ireland.

"My child, there are many of my children, sons and daughters in religious life, who serve in the name of God. But the true Spirit of God is not in them. They only serve God in mockery. It wounds my heart to see this. The power of darkness overshadows my Church and the world" (July 23, 1988).

"Catherine of Siena came in remarkable beauty. She said, `Pray for the Pope every day, for priests and cardinals, and for my sisters, the nuns.' Then her eyes filled with tears. When I asked her why she was unhappy she did not reply but went on:we are in the time of battle but only at the beginning stage..." (September 19, 1990).

Gladys, a visionary from Argentina, has been given similar messages:"My daughter, how much hatred there is enclosed in men, how much mistrust and despair! They feel this for lack of faith and love, because God is absent in their hearts. Those children will perish if they continue in ignorance. It would be enough only to ask for love of the Lord; it would be enough to ask the Lord for help and He would transform them, remember that God protects. Glory be to the Everlasting Father" (January 28, 1985).

Understanding the apostasy and the messages of LaSalette and Akita sheds enormous light on how we have arrived at our present state of depravity throughout the world. Scripture is clear:in 2 Thessalonians, Paul says the apostasy precedes the lawless one--the Antichrist who then seats himself in the very temple of God.

Adolph Hitler said, "tell a lie, tell it often enough, and people will believe it." Perhaps no religious threat to Catholicism today is as seductive as the New Age movement. Its greatest deception lies in the fact that it is so close to the truth, thus many are ensnared. Randall Baer, a former leader in the New Age movement, has written a book called Inside the New Age Nightmare that exposes the inner workings and intent of the Movement. 2 New Age is the religion of the New World Order because of its inclusiveness. Its hallmark is man at the center of the universe--man as deity, the same old lie. Mr. Baer's unique insights offer a deep understanding of New Age. Therefore, we quote directly from him:

"What exactly is New Age? Essentially, it is a Satan-controlled, modern-day mass revival of occult-based philosophies and practices in both obvious and cleverly disguised forms. In effect, it is an end-times `plague of the spirit' propagating the `powerful delusion that they should believe the lie.' It is nothing more than a glitteringly seductive, broad road leading only to eventual destruction. Over the last three decades, however, an enormous and unprecedented massive revival of occult-based practices has been taking place, some of it disguised as being non-occult in nature. The magnitude and momentum of this movement is to such an extent that is poses one of the nastiest-growing threats to Christianity today, especially in the years ahead as the end times unfold.

"What do most people think of when they hear the term New Age? Shirley MacLaine? Harmonic convergence? Reincarnation? Crystal power? Channeling? Psychic readers? In fact these are only a part of a very broad spectrum of different New Age forms, strategies, and practices. To make matters all the more difficult, the term New Age is sometimes not even used when something is actually New Age at the core. 3

"This movement can actually best be understood as a broad spectrum of non-Christian philosophies and practices that can be categorized as New Age Spiritual Humanism. The cornerstone of this humanism is the belief that man is divine in nature, and therefore essentially `God' or an enlightened `God-man'. New-age man, believing himself to be divinely perfect and ultimately all-powerful, sets himself up on a cosmic throne. Man becomes his own deity.

"Just as secular humanism offers its own type of anti-religious deceits to certain types of people, so does spiritual humanism offer spiritually based counterfeits to an entirely different strata of people in our society, people who hunger for and search for spiritual meaning, truth and fulfillment in their lives. 4

"The New Age is an extremely difficult movement to define with anything other than generalized statements. There are no centralized organizations controlling all doctrines, activities, or agendas. No single committee, council or organization dictates the doctrines or agenda, or controls all activities. The landmark manifesto, The Aquarian Conspiracy, terms it `a leaderless but powerful network.' This characteristic has allowed room for an immense variety of philosophies and phenomena to flourish via all manner of diverse individuals and organizations.

"Furthermore the New Age has so many faces and directions to its overall agenda that it has infiltrated into every facet of American society in both obvious and very subtle, deeply underlying ways. From religion, business, and politics to music, education, and science the New Age has wormed its way in the very cornerstones of Western civilization--more so than many people realize. New Age thought encompasses all aspects of human experience. It is an attempt to revolutionize every aspect of life on the personal, interpersonal, societal, and global scale. 5

"There's a basic credo that says `create you own reality according to what feels right for you.' For example, whether a person chooses to be homosexual, bisexual, monogamous, polygamous or whatever is OK as long as `It's right for me' or `It's done with love and no one's hurt.' It is all relativistic. 6

"There are two overlapping but different major schools of New Age thought:the first viewpoint of New Age thought as `Consciousness Renaissance.'

"Consciousness Renaissance sees humankind currently experiencing the beginning of a new spiritual and socio-political awakening, a modem-day super-Renaissance destined to lead man into a new era of enlightened spiritual humanism. Spurning the thought of man needing divine intervention to assist in the creation of a global utopia, this perspective sees the awakening of `unlimited human god-potential' as the means by which `Heaven on earth' will become manifest. In essence, as man achieves higher states of `god-consciousness through New Age practices, Heaven will dawn on Earth only through the dawning of man's enlightened `higher consciousness.' 7

"The second major branch of New Age thought can be termed `Quantum Leap of Consciousness.' This says we are on the brink of a new age, a whole new world. In the twinkling of an eye, mankind's awareness, our collective consciousness, is going to make an instantaneous quantum leap into the heavens. Everything will change in a flash of divine Light. Get ready. Your heavenly heritage awaits. Come on in; the water's fine. He who hesitates is lost. He who chooses life is found.

"When sufficient momentum is generated by enough people having developed `higher consciousness,' then the entire world will be ready to make a collective quantum leap into a higher dimension of the heavenly realm. Earth and humanity will literally leap in a flash of light into the heavens above. This Quantum Leap of Consciousness model is directly tied to some form of divine intervention. Furthermore, this school of thought maintains that some other `World Teacher' or `Council of Ascended Masters' will have divine authority in the New Age, not Christ.

"Another variation of this skewed theme is that it is not the personal and visible Jesus who returns, but rather `Christ consciousness that descends into the minds of all earthly inhabitants. Some new age fundamentalists do predict that a literal apocalypse is imminent and that it will be brought about by mystical, extraterrestrial, or cosmic forces.

"Many of the Consciousness Renaissance camp tend to focus on integrating increasingly socially acceptable New Age values into personal and societal life. This is the side of the New Age that has made especially strong inroads into areas such as the corporate business world, psychology, entertainment media, education, health care, and science. In terms of value-system and practical-level infiltration into mainstream American culture, this aspect of the New Age has proven the more successful of the two schools of thought due to its subtler humanistic approach.

"The Quantum Leap of Consciousness viewpoint is much more predisposed to the metaphysical-occult end of the spectrum. In particular, the predominant themes lie much towards mediumship, spiritism, witchcraft, psychic powers, and sorceries in myriad shapes and forms. One of the primary dangers from this branch of the New Age is its major contribution to the historically unprecedented unleashing of demonic forces into the world today.... 8

"Channeling, crystal power, contacting your `Higher Self,' going to geographical `vortexes' (occult `power spots'), goddess worship, world peace meditations, psychic readings, self-empowerment seminars, occult-based success and prosperity seminars, interpersonal development and sex workshops, and telepathically contacting UFOs.... 9

"Most New Age prophecy foresees a millennial transition time during which those who accept the message and mark of the `New World Order' become a part of the greatly proclaimed New Age. In effect, as the Antichrist forces come to greater world power, a revamped and upgraded New Age-based philosophy is to be applied toward `purifying' the planetary populace of those who are not `ready' to make the next step into becoming a superior race of godmen. This should ignite memories of Hitler's blood `sacrifice' of the Jewish people....

"A thorough reading of New Age literature will show that some New Agers sanction the persecution of Christians. They do so on the basis of the need to remove those who may refuse to accept or attempt to `prevent' a spiritual uniting of humanity. If true globalism--or world unity--is eventually to be a reality, then by definition all dissenting voices must either be converted, silenced, or removed. That, of course, is the `rub'--the New Age of love and harmony may have to be repressive for a time to usher in their version of peace on Earth.... 10

In these days there was no king in Israel, every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

The Twentieth Century has been ruled by Satan, the Lord of the earth, the Prince of Darkness. It is the century granted by God to Satan, who requested this time to test the Church.

On October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII experienced a vision in which he heard Satan ask God for 100 years. Satan boasted that, if he were given sufficient time and power, he could destroy the Church and drag the world to hell.

In 1982, Our Blessed Mother told Mirjana one of the visionaries at Medjugorje:"Excuse me for this, but you must realize that Satan exists. One day he appeared before the throne of God and asked permission to submit the Church to a period of trial. God gave him permission to try the Church for one century. This century is under the power of the devil, but when the secrets confided to you come to pass, his power will be destroyed. Even now he is beginning to lose his power and become aggressive. He is destroying marriages, creating division among priests, and is responsible for obsessions and murder. You must protect yourselves against these things through fasting and prayer, especially community prayer. Carry blessed objects with you. Put them in your house, and restore the use of holy water."

In 1634 in Quito, Ecuador, Our Blessed Mother warned about our present times. In an apparition approved by the Church, Mary appeared as Our Lady of Good Fortune to Mother Anne of Jesus Torres, while she was praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. The sanctuary light went out. While she was trying to relight it, a supernatural light filled the church; in this light, the Mother of God appeared. She told Mother Anne, "The sanctuary lamp burning in front of the Prisoner of Love, which you saw go out, has many meanings."

"First meaning:At the end of the Nineteenth Century and for a large part of the Twentieth Century, various heresies will flourish on this earth, which will have become a free republic. The precious light of the faith will go out in souls because of the almost total moral corruption. In those times there will be great physical and moral calamities, in private and in public. The little number of souls keeping the faith and practicing the virtues will undergo cruel and unspeakable sufferings....

"Second Meaning:My communities will be abandoned; they will be swamped in a fathomless sea of bitterness, and will seemed drowned in tribulations. How many true vocations will be lost for lack of skillful and prudent direction to form them! Each mistress of novices will need to be a soul of prayer, knowing how to discern spirits.

"Third Meaning:In those times, the air will be filled with the spirit of impurity which like a deluge of filth will flood the streets, squares and public places. The licentiousness will be such that there will be no more virgin souls in the world.

"Fourth Meaning:By gaining control of all the social classes, the sects will tend to penetrate with great skill into the hearts of families and destroy even the children. The devil will take glory in feeding perfidiously on the hearts of children. The innocence of childhood will almost disappear. Thus priestly vocations will be lost. It will be a real disaster. Priests will abandon their sacred duties and will depart from the path marked for them by God.

"Then the Church will go through a dark night for lack of a Prelate and Father to watch over it with love, gentleness, strength and prudence, and numbers of priests will lose the spirit of God, thus placing their souls in great danger.... Satan will take control of this earth through the fault of faithless men who, like a black cloud, will darken the clear sky of the republic consecrated to the Most Sacred Heart of my divine Son. This republic, having allowed entry to all the vices, will have to undergo all sorts of chastisements:plagues, famine, war, apostasy, and the loss of souls without number. And to scatter these black clouds blocking the brilliant dawning of the freedom of the Church, there will be a terrible war in which the blood of priests and of religious will flow.... That night will be so horrible that wickedness will seem triumphant. Then will come my time:in astounding fashion I shall destroy Satan's pride, casting him beneath my feet, chaining him up in the depths of hell, leaving Church and country freed at last from his cruel tyranny.

"Fifth Meaning:Men possessing great wealth will look on with indifference while the Church is oppressed, virtue is persecuted, and evil triumphs. They will not use their wealth to fight evil and to reconstruct the faith. The people will come to care nothing for the things of God, will absorb the spirit of evil and will let themselves be swept away by all vices and passions." 1

Remember that in 1846 Our Lady of LaSalette told the visionary Melanie that Lucifer together with a large number of demons would be released from hell in 1864. She said they will put an end to faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God. Evil books will be abundant on earth. The spirit of darkness will spread everywhere. For a while the Church will yield to a large persecution, a time of darkness and a frightful crisis.

Father Malachi Martin, in his book The Keys of This Blood, wrote that throughout the Church, at the level of parish and diocese, among laypersons, nuns, priests, and bishops, is the belief that the One, Holy, Apostolic Roman Catholic Church ceased to exist after the Second Vatican Council. Its place was taken by the "Conciliar Church," animated by the "spirit of Vatican II." It was no longer called the "Roman Catholic Church" but instead the "people of God" or the "Church."

Father Martin pointed out that the Church that now exists differs radically from the pre-Conciliar Church on four major points:

1. The Conciliar Church lays no claim to exclusive possession of the means of eternal salvation. All of us--Catholics, non-Catholics, and non-Christians--are pilgrims approaching the same goal by different roads.

2. In the Conciliar Church, the local "community of faith" is the source of religious enlightenment, guidance, and authority. Correct beliefs and correct moral practice no longer come from a hierarchy of bishops submissive to the central teaching authority of the Bishop of Rome.

3. The world-wide clusters of "communities of faith" have as their prime function cooperating with "mankind in building and assuring the success of world peace and world reform in the use of the earth's resources so as to eliminate economic oppression and political imperialism."

4. The rules of the "former" Roman Catholic Church on issues such as contraception, marriage, death, and sexuality must be brought into fraternal alignment with the outlook, desires, and practices of the world at large. 2

In 1963, Pope Paul VI established the Concilium, which consisted of some 200 individuals, many of whom had functioned as Conciliar periti ("experts") during Vatican Council II. It was to this committee that Pope Paul VI entrusted the duty of carrying out the liturgical reform mandated by Vatican II. At its head was Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, who allegedly enjoyed well-established connections with Freemasonry. The Concilium was helped by six Protestant "observers", whom Paul VI publicly thanked for their assistance in re-editing new liturgical texts. 3

According to the statements of Paul VI, the changes were made:1) to bring the Church's liturgy into line with modem mentality; 2) in obedience to the mandate of Vatican II; 3) to take cognizance of progress in liturgical studies; 4) to return to primitive practice; and 5) for "pastoral" reasons. 4

Archbishop Bugnini, the Secretary of Consilium, and the Reverend Peter Coughlan stated that the Instruction would treat of theological principles, constitute a full theological exposition of the new rite, describe the New Mass from a doctrinal point of view, and serve as an "introduction of a doctrinal character." 5

Archbishop Bugnini, Pope Paul VI's executive officer in the creation of the Novus Ordo Missae (New Order of the Mass), described the result as "a new song" and as "the conquest of the Church." Cardinal Benelli, one of the principal architects of the new liturgy, stated that it reflects a "new Ecclesiology." 6

The "New Mass," or the Novus Ordo Missae, was first offered publicly in the Sistine Chapel before a Synod of Bishops in October 1967. At that time it was called the Missa Normativa, or Normative Mass. The bishops present were polled as to whether it should be implemented:seventy-one voted yes, sixty-two voted yes with reservations, and forty-three rejected it outright. To accommodate the wishes of this last group, a number of minor changes were made, including restoration of two of the traditional Offertory prayers. 7

Some worried bishops intervened in what is now called the Ottaviani Intervention. The central contention of the Ottaviani Intervention is that the New Order of Mass teems with dangerous errors in doctrine and represents an attack against the Catholic teaching on the Mass. The authors of the Intervention stated that their intention was not to present an exhaustive treatment of all the problems the New Mass poses, but rather to point out those deviations from Catholic doctrine and practice which are most typical of the New Mass. Among these the Intervention lists are the following:

¥ A new definition of the Mass, as an "assembly," rather than a sacrifice offered to God;

¥ Omissions of elements emphasizing the Catholic teaching (utterly repudiated by Protestants) that the Mass makes satisfaction for sins;

¥ The reduction of the priest's role to a position approximating that of a Protestant minister;

¥ Implicit denials of Christ's Real Presence and the doctrine of Transubstantiation;

¥ The change of the Consecration from a sacramental action into a mere narrative retelling of the story of the Last Supper;

¥ The fragmenting of the Church's unity of belief through the introduction of countless options; and

¥ Ambiguous language and equivocation throughout the rite which compromise the Church's doctrines. 8

Pope Paul VI promulgated the New Order of the Mass after responding to the Ottaviani intervention. The use of the Roman Missal of 1962 was authorized by Pope John Paul II in October 1984, only as long as those using it agreed that the New Order of the Mass is valid. The Holy Spirit continues to guide the Church and vouchsafe its authority under the guidance of the Magisterium, Scripture, and Tradition.

Sister Anna Ali, born December 29, 1966, in Kenya, and baptized in April 1979, was brought up in the Moslem faith. Her father was a devout Moslem but her parents split over the issue of the Catholic faith of the mother. Sister Anna has apparitions of Jesus, and writes down His words. Her revelations focus on Eucharistic devotion. Sister Anna's messages have been approved by her bishop. 9

The Holy Sacrifice Abolished?

Our Lord has told Sister Anna that the devil is making every effort to abolish His Presence and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The devil is using many lost souls and even many consecrated ones, who are working hard in this endeavor. More than ever before, says the Lord, the Freemasons attack His Divine Sacrament of Love in the tabernacle. They have all agreed to abolish the Mass.

In the Divine Appeal Number 4:Our Lord said:"Pray a great deal for humanity; the world is growing from bad to worse. The devil is making every effort to abolish the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Divine Justice is prepared to act with My eyes fixed on Heaven. It will be terribly frightful as if it were the end of the world. But the end has not arrived" (September 23, 1987).

In Divine Appeal Number 35, Our Lord said, "Pray for the many lost souls and many of My Own consecrated ones. The devil is using them in order to abolish the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass" (November 1, 1987).

In Divine Appeal Number 46, He said, "These times are My difficult hours when the devil is making every effort to abolish the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.... Pray, pray for those who ridicule, abuse, condemn and more than in the past, step on Me in order to abolish My Presence in the Sacrament of Love" (December 5, 1987).

In Divine Appeal Number 47, He said, "My own.. are labouring hard to abolish My Presence and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass" (December 6, 1987).

In Divine Appeal Number 53, He said, "The devil is giving battle against My Divine Sacrament of Love. I am so abused and blasphemed. My own.. are labouring hard to abolish My Presence in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass" (December 14, 1987).

In Divine Appeal Number 54, Our Lord said, "These are the dark hours when the devil is using My Own...who are labouring hard to destroy the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to destroy souls in order to lead them to perdition. My sacraments are abandoned and despised; My mysteries are blasphemed. Continuously, and more than ever before, the Freemasons attack My Divine Sacrament of Love in the tabernacle" (December 15, 1987).

In Divine Appeal 70, He said, "Time is approaching when My church will be devastated and sacked. My Own...have become like enraged lions. There are many sacrileges committed against My Presence in the tabernacles. Many have lost their dignity and light of reason. The devil has chained their hearts. Led by him they labour hard to abolish the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The chalice is filled" (January 18, 1988).

In Divine Appeal 71, Jesus said, "The Freemasons are abusing Me in the tabernacles and in My very Gospel. The iniquity is repugnant. Unite your heart to My tears of blood. These are the moments they are laboring hard to abolish My Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.... Evil concerns are in the hands of the Freemasons. They have all agreed to abolish the Mass.... Satan is in the midst of their ranks. I assure you that souls are allied with Satan. My great love for mankind keeps me day and night in the Blessed Sacrament. How much pain do I receive from their treason and indignity! With many sins, revenge cries out on My Eternal Father's behalf. I desire mankind to be saved. No one goes to hell without his consent. I am calling all back to My sheepfold. The world has lost its senses" (January 19, 1988).

Scripture also speaks of the abolition of the daily sacrifice. Daniel 12:4-13 speaks of the daily sacrifice actually being abolished for a period of 1,290 days: "As for you, Daniel, keep secret the message and seal the book until the end time; many shall fall away and evil shall increase."

"I, Daniel, looked and saw two others, one standing on either bank of the river. One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was upstream, `How long shall it be to the end of these appalling things?' The man clothed in linen, who was upstream, lifted his right and left hands to Heaven; and I heard him swear by Him Who lives forever that it should be a year, two years, a half-year; and that, when the power of the destroyer of the holy people was brought to an end, all these things should end. I heard, but I did not understand; so I asked, `My lord, what follows this?' `Go, Daniel,' he said, `because the words are to be kept secret and sealed until the end time. Many shall be refined, purified, and tested, but the wicked shall prove wicked; none of them shall have understanding, but the wise shall have it. From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the horrible abomination is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is the man who has patience and perseveres until the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. Go, take your rest, you shall rise for your reward at the end of days."'

The December 31, 1992, message of Our Lady to Father Gobbi stated:"The Holy Mass is the daily sacrifice, the pure oblation which is offered to the Lord everywhere, from the rising of the sun to its going down. The sacrifice of the Mass renews that which was accomplished by Jesus on Calvary. By accepting the protestant doctrine, people will hold that the Mass is not a sacrifice but only a sacred meal, that is to say, a remembrance of that which Jesus did at His Last Supper. And thus, the celebration of Holy Mass will be suppressed. In this abolition of the daily sacrifice consists the horrible sacrilege accomplished by the Antichrist, which will last about three-and-a-half years, namely, 1, 290 days."

Several people recognized by the Church have spoken about the predicted schism and events related to it:

Blessed Anna-Katarina Emmerick

In the 1820s, Blessed Anna-Katarina Emmerick, an Augustinian nun and stigmatist had visions of the Church in the future. On May 13, 1820, she stated, "I saw also the relationship between the two popes... I saw how baleful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city [of Rome]. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness.... Once more I saw that the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect, while storms were damaging it.

"But I saw also that help was coming when distress had reached its peak. I saw again the Blessed Virgin ascend on the Church and spread her mantle [over it]. I saw a Pope who was at once gentle, and very firm.... I saw a great renewal, and the Church rode high in the sky."

On September 12, 1820, she said:"I saw a strange church being built against every rule.... No angels were supervising the building operations. In that church nothing came from high above.... There was only division and chaos. It's probably a church of human creation, following the latest fashion, as well as the new heterodox church of Rome, which seems of the same kind.... I saw again the strange big church that was being built there [in Rome]. There was nothing holy in it.... Everything was being done according to human reason. I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions. There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed to be very successful. I did not see a single angel nor a single saint helping in the work. But far away in the background, I saw the seat of a cruel people armed with spears, and I saw a laughing figure which said:`Do build it as solid as you can; we will pull it to the ground."'

From August to October 1820:"I see more martyrs, not now but in the future.... I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church. Near them I saw a horrible beast coming up from the sea.... When the Church had been for the most part destroyed [by the secret sect], and when only the sanctuary and altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast. There they met a Woman of noble carriage who seemed to be with child because she walked slowly. At this sight, the enemies were terrorized, and the Beast could not take but another step forward. It projected its neck towards the Woman as if to devour her, but the Woman turned about and bowed down [towards the altar], her head touching the ground. Thereupon, I saw the Beast taking to flight towards the sea again, and the enemies were fleeing in the greatest confusion.... Then, I saw that the Church was being promptly rebuilt, and she was more magnificent than ever before."

On October 1, 1820:"The Church is in great danger. We must pray so that the Pope may not leave Rome; countless evils would result if he did. They are now demanding something from him. The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere. I now see that in this place [Rome] the [Catholic] Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. A great devastation is now near at hand."

On April 20, 1820:"I had another vision of the great tribulation. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps."

On April 22, 1823:"I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights:

Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church.... But God had other designs."

"I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches, a bad priest will do much harm to the Church. When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish." 10

Nothing is new under the sun. The Church in her history has often been plagued by schism, apostasy, and two popes simultaneously claiming the same throne. Prophecies as well as some recent events seem to indicate we may be headed in the same direction:The Petrine Keys of John Paul II may soon be sought by another, as dissenters and false teachers in the Vatican become more open and rebellious.

Richard Langley in Signs of the Times has illustrated the historical precedent for the Antipope. "There have been at least thirty-seven Antipopes in history. The Great Western Schism came about after the election of Pope Urban VI, April 8, 1378. On August 2, 1378 the Cardinals issued a statement that the election was invalid, claiming they were pressured into electing him out of fear. They demanded that Urban VI resign his office. He refused so they elected another pope, who called himself Clement VII, who went to Avignon. Each pope excommunicated the other and claimed him to be schismatic and deposed. Both appeared to be validly elected. Countries, saints of the Church, and religious orders were split by this. The Franciscans elected two Master generals of their order, one supported one pope, the other the other pope. Confusion reigned. Who to follow? A Council was called in Constance in 1414 to resolve this.

"The Council of Constance declared that general councils were superior to the pope, and had set up, in the resolution of the Western Schism, the mandate that the Church be ruled by general councils. After the Council of Constance, this idea originally subscribed to by the opposing sides was subsequently ignored and refuted by Martin V and his successors, who did however call some general councils. The canons of the council mandating this were declared invalid, but the remaining ones for the most part were accepted as valid and the Council of Constance was listed as a valid ecumenical council.

"Although the principle had been that only a pope could call a general council, the idea grew that the real authority was vested in the episcopate as a whole and that general councils were superior to the authority of the pope at any time and not in emergencies, a view known as conciliarism. The pope was considered a figurehead. Subsequent popes had to fight to restore their supremacy over councils and bishops.

"This problem plagued the Church until the declaration of the Infallibility of the Pope by Vatican I, July 18, 1870. This Council was permanently suspended during the Italian Revolution, due to the entrance of Garibaldi's troops into Rome in July of 1870, leaving incomplete the Church's position on the collegial relationship between all the bishops of the world as a body and the pope. This was partly resolved in Vatican II, at which time, out of three competing interpretations, Pope Paul VI's position, after his intervention with a Preliminary Explanatory Note, was accepted by the Council. His position was that the pope personally was the subject of supreme power in the Church, and also the college of bishops when united to its head, the pope. This meant that the episcopal college could not exercise its supreme power independently of the pope."

Mr. Langley further stated:"There is a direct connection between the national episcopal conference's rise to power and the notion of collegiality. The national episcopal conferences, councils of bishops...are purely human institutions, since as Cardinal Ratzinger has publicly stated they are not hierarchically instituted. They have however begun to act at times independently of Rome. This tends to foster the idea of a "national church" which could lead to schism." 11

Catholic prophecy warns us of severe problems threatening the papacy in these end times. One realistic scenario for our time centers on the persecution of Catholics who follow the teachings of the true Church. When Pope John Paul II is among us no longer, the general indication from today's seers--as well as from thoughtful observers of the Church--is that chaos will be in our midst. An Antipope will seize papal authority, and the faithful element in the Church will be subjected to intense persecutions. Prophecy tells us of persecution like never before in history for those who follow the teachings of the Church. It will be those who hold fast to the truths of the faith who will be labeled as the perpetrators of this horrible schism, according to some visionaries.

The Pope Overthrown

Blessed Joachim (d. 1202):"Toward the end of the world, Antichrist will overthrow the pope and usurp his See." 12

Pope Flees Rome

John of Vitiguerro (Thirteenth Century):"The pope will change his residence and the Church will not be defended for twenty-five months or more because, during all that time there will be no Pope in Rome.... After many tribulations, a Pope shall be elected out of those who survived the persecutions." 13

Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi (Nineteenth Century):"Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred. Churches shall be closed, but only for a short time. The Holy Father shall be obliged to leave Rome." 14

No Pope

Maria Steiner (Nineteenth Century):"I see the Lord as He will be scourging the world and chastising it in a fearful manner so that few men and women will remain... The Holy Church will be persecuted, and Rome will be without a shepherd. But the Lord showed me how beautiful the world will be after this awful punishment." 15

The Pope is Killed

Saint Hildegard (d. 1179):"One of the remaining Mohammedans will be converted, become a priest, bishop and cardinal, and when the new Pope is elected (immediately before Antichrist) this cardinal will kill the pope before he is crowned, through jealousy, he wishing to be pope himself; then when the other cardinals elect the next pope this cardinal will proclaim himself Anti-Pope, and two thirds of the Christians will go with him." 16

Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (d. 1658), "Antichrist and his army will conquer Rome, kill the Pope and take the throne." 17

Two More Popes

At Garabandal, Spain, Our Blessed Mother in 1962 told Conchita, one of the visionaries that, "there would be only two more popes after Pope Paul VI and that one of the popes would have a very short reign. But this does not mean that the world will come to an end." 18

Antichrist in the broad sense of the word is anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 2:18-22). Throughout history the spirit of antichrist is spoken of with a small "a." The Scriptures speak of the Antichrist as a person, an individual. It is the physical manifestation of a man. At LaSalette Mary warned, "Rome will loose the faith and become the seat of Antichrist." In the Marian Movement of Priests on June 17, 1989, Our Lady spoke at length about the Antichrist. She said that at the peak of the apostasy and tribulation the door would be open for the appearance of the Antichrist. Echoing Scripture, she said that people would not be able to buy or sell without the mark of the Beast.

"Before the coming of our Divine Savior there were many prophecies and figures given of Him. It shall be the same for Antichrist. The prophet Daniel speaks of him in a literal and mystical sense in four different chapters (namely, 7, 9, 11, and 12), while Saint Matthew (24), Saint Mark (13), Saint John (5), Saint Paul's Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, Saint John in his first and second Epistles, and especially the Apocalypse (13), etc., tell us of his future or coming event. A few decades ago it was quite a difficult problem for theologians to explain how Antichrist would bring the whole world under his political and religious dominion." 19

Antichrist is a person who rules for a period of time according to the end day prediction in the book of Daniel. In the book of Daniel, the Archangel Michael is spoken about as the great prince who protects the people in the end days. Daniel writes, "There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations..." (Daniel 12:1). The passages speak of great distress and the perpetual sacrifice of the Mass being abolished for three-and-a half years. The abomination being erected could be the Antichrist sitting in Rome during his reign causing distress and nearly unbelievable pain on the earth, "such has not happened from the beginning of the nations."

The religious and secular stages have been set for his imminent appearance. Our Blessed Mother in her locutions to Father Gobbi, on September 18, 1988, hinted at the ominous events awaiting us in the next few years:"In this period of ten years there will come to completion that fullness of time which was a pointed out to you by me, beginning with LaSalette all the way to my most recent and present apparitions.... In the period of ten years the mystery of iniquity, prepared for by the ever increasing spread of apostasy, will become manifest."

Our Blessed Mother at LaSalette spoke about the Antichrist:"It will be during that time that the Antichrist will be born of a Hebrew nun, a false virgin who will communicate with the old serpent, the master of impurity, his father will be B. At birth, he will spew out blasphemy; he will have teeth, in a word, he will be the devil incarnate. He will scream horribly, he will perform wonders, he will feed on nothing but impurity. He will have brothers who, although not devils incarnate like him, will be children of evil. At the age of twelve, they will draw attention upon themselves by the gallant victories they will have won; soon they will lead armies, aided by the legions of hell....

"Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. But now Enoch and Eli will come, filled with the spirit of God. They will preach the might of God, and men of good will believe in God, and many souls will be comforted. They will make great steps forward through the virtue of the Holy Spirit and will condemn the devilish lapses of the Antichrist. There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases. It will rain a fearful hail of animals. There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries. Voices will be heard in the air. Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?

"All the blood, the tears, and the prayers of the righteous, God will relent. Enoch and Eli will be put to death. Pagan Rome will disappear. It is time; the sun is darkening; only faith will survive. Now is the time; the abyss is opening. Here is the king of kings of darkness, here is the Beast with his subjects, calling himself the Savior of the world. He will rise proudly into the air to go to Heaven. He will fall, and the earth, which will have been in a continuous series of evolutions for three days, will open its fiery bowels; and he will have plunged for eternity with all his followers into the everlasting chasms, of hell. And then water and fire will purge the earth and consume all the works of men's pride and all will be renewed. God will be served and glorified."

Several past prophets in Church history have written about the physical manifestation of the mystery of iniquity becoming a man who rules. The Fathers and Saints of the Church have pondered deeply over what Scripture tells us about the Antichrist and his reign:

Saint Hippolytus (d. 235):"John says, `I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophecy a thousand and two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. That is the half of the week whereof Daniel spake. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the Lord of the earth.. For this is what the prophets Enoch and Elias will preach.

"Let us observe somewhat in detail what Daniel says in his visions. For in distinguishing the kingdoms that are to rise after these things, he showed also the coming of Antichrist in the last times, and the consummation of the whole world. Daniel says:`And one week will make a covenant with many, and it shall be that in the midst (half) of the week my sacrifice and oblation shall cease.' By one week, therefore, he meant the last week which is to be at the end of the whole world....

"In every respect that deceiver seeks to make himself appear like the Son of God. Christ is a lion, and the Antichrist is a lion. Christ is King of things celestial and things terrestrial, and Antichrist will be king upon earth. The Savior was manifested as a lamb; and he, too, will appear as a lamb, while he is a wolf within.

"When Daniel says, `I shall make a covenant for one week,' he indicated even years; and the one half of the week is for preaching of the prophets, and for the other half of the week--that is to say, for three years and a half--Antichrist will reign upon the earth. And after this his kingdom and his glory will be taken away. And by reason of the scarcity of food, all will go to him and worship him; and he will put his mark on their right hand and on their forehead, that no one may put the sign of the honorable cross upon his forehead with his right hand; but his hand is bound.... And his seal upon the forehead and upon the right hand is the number, six hundred threescore and six." 20

Origen (d. 254):"When the close of the times draws nigh, a great prophet [Elias] shall be sent from God to turn men to the knowledge of God, and he shall receive the power of doing wonderful things. Wherever men shall not hear him, he will shut up the heavens, and cause it to withhold its rains; he will turn their water into blood; and torment them with thirst and hunger; and if any one shall endeavor to injure him fire shall come forth out of his mouth, and shall burn that man.

"By these prodigies and powers he shall turn many to the worship of God; and when his works shall be accomplished, another king shall arise out of Syria, born from an evil spirit, the overthrower and destroyer of the human race [Antichrist], who shall destroy that which is left by the former evil, together with himself....

"But that king will not only disgrace himself, but will also be a prophet of lies; and he will constitute and call himself God; and power will be given him to do signs and wonders, by the sight of which he may entice men to adore him. He will command fire to come down from Heaven, and the sun to stand and leave its course, and an image to speak, and these things shall be done at his words--by which miracles many even of the wise shall be enticed by him.

"Then he will attempt to destroy the temple of God, and persecute the righteous people; and there will be distress and tribulation, such as there never has been from the beginning of the world. Power will be given him to desolate the whole earth for forty-two months. That will be the time in which righteousness will be cast out, and innocence be hated; in which the wicked shall prey upon the good as enemies; neither law, nor order, nor military discipline be preserved." 21

Saint John Chrysostom (d. 407):"The world will be faithless and degenerate after the birth of Antichrist. Antichrist will be possessed by Satan and be the illegitimate son of a Jewish woman from the East." 23

Saint Augustine (d. 430):"Daniel prophesies of the Last Judgment in such a way as to indicate that Antichrist shall first come, and to carry on his description to the eternal reign of the saints.... But he who reads this passage, even half asleep, cannot fail to see that the kingdom of Antichrist shall fiercely, though for a short time, assail the Church before the last judgment of God shall introduce the eternal reign of saints. For it is patent from the context that the time, times, and half a time, means a year, and two years, and a half a year, that is to say, three years and a half." 24

Saint John Damascene (d. 770):"He will be known as Antichrist who shall come about the end of the world. His mother will proclaim she gave birth to him while remaining a virgin. He will reign from ocean to ocean. Antichrist shall be an illegitimate child, under the complete power of Satan, and God, knowing his incredible future perversity, will allow the devil to take a full and perpetual possession of him from his very sinful conception." 25

Saint Hildegard (d. 1179):"The Son of Corruption and Ruin will appear and reign only for a short time, towards the end of the days of the world's duration.... He shall come in the last days of the world. He shall not be Satan himself, but a human being equaling and resembling him in atrocious hideousness. His mother, a depraved woman, possessed by the devil, will live as a prostitute in the desert.... She will maintain that her son was presented to her by God in a supernatural manner, as was the Child of the Blessed Virgin. She will then be venerated as a saint by deceived people.

"Antichrist will come from a land that lies between two seas, and will practice tyranny in the East. After his birth false teachers and doctrines will appear, followed by wars, famines, and pestilence.... He will be raised at different secret places and will be kept in seclusion until full grown. He will lure the people to him by giving them complete exemption from the observance of all divine and ecclesiastical commandments, by forgiving them their sins and requiring of them only their belief in his divinity. He will spurn and reject Baptism and the Gospel. He will say Jesus of Nazareth is not the son of God, only a deceiver....

"He will say I am the Savior of the world...especially will he try to convince the Jews that he is the Messiah sent by God, and the Jews will accept him as such...yet by his moral laws he will try to reverse all order on earth. Therefore he is called in Holy Writ the `Lawless One'.... He will discard all laws, morals, and religious principles, to draw the world to himself. He will grant entire freedom from the commandments of God and the Church and permit everyone to live as his passion dictates.... Religion he will endeavor to make convenient. He will say that you need not fast and embitter your life by renunciation.... It will suffice to love God.... He will preach free love and tear asunder family ties...maintain sin and vice are not sin and vice.... Immediately preceding Antichrist there will be starvation and earthquakes." 26

Saint Bridget of Sweden (d. 1373):"The time of Antichrist will be near when the measure of injustice will overflow and when wickedness has grown to immense proportions, when the Christians love heresies and the unjust trample underfoot the servants of God.

"At the end of this age, the Antichrist will be born. As Christ was born from the highest type of womanhood [Virgin] so Antichrist will be born from the lowest [prostitute]. He will be a child-wonder at birth. His mother will be an accursed woman, who will pretend to be well-informed in spiritual things, and his father will be an accursed man, from the seed of whom the devil shall form his work. The time of this Antichrist, well-known to me, will come when iniquity and impiety shall above measure abound, when injustice shall have filled the measure to overflowing, and wickedness shall have grown to immeasurable proportions.... He will reign during three years, and shall have dominion over the whole earth.... In the year 1980 the wicked shall prevail." 27

Jeanne Le Royer (d. 1798), also known as Sister Mary of the Nativity:"Many precursors, false prophets, and members of infernal secret societies, worshippers of Satan, shall impugn the most sacred dogmas and doctrines of our holy religion, shall persecute the faithful, shall commit abominable actions; but the real and extreme abomination and desolation shall more fully be accomplished during the reign of Antichrist, which shall last about three years and a half. Woe, woe, woe to the last century which is descending! What tribulations precede its commencements. Out of this mighty voice I recognized that these woeful tribulations will make their appearance in the age before the judgment. And as I pondered over and weighed, in God, the century, I saw, that which begins with 1800 will not yet be the last. I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches, a bad priest will do much harm to the Church.

"When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish.

"Antichrist will kill the Pope, probably by crucifixion. As a child of ten he will know more than anyone else in the world and when he is thirty he will begin his real work. Fifteen days after the ascension of Enoch and Eli as into Heaven, terrible catastrophes will come upon the earth:most severe earthquakes, tidal waves inundating much of the earth's surface, culminating in a thick darkness over the entire earth." 28

Events in the world are happening at such an accelerated pace that we can barely comprehend them. Our human faculties have difficulty understanding and following the strategic movements of Heaven and hell as they battle for control of the world and its people. The mystery of iniquity is in our midst. Major precursors of the Antichrist such as Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao have all come and gone in this century.

According to the 1982 revelations to Eileen George of Massachusetts from God the Father, another precursor is due to arrive in the Middle East between 1990 and 1999, followed by the Antichrist who is already alive and who supposedly comes from Syria. The identity of these two, the precursor antichrist and the Antichrist, is at the present time masked under a cloak of secrecy. 29

The battle is being waged in the areas of finance, politics, society, family, and religion. As Scripture tells us, Satan is the Prince of this world. In contrast, Jesus specifically said His kingdom is not of this world. All that is of God, Satan hates and seeks to destroy.

The one-world government introduced by many of the antichrists has been planned over many generations. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, "In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way." The structure has been developed gradually through the years by the secret societies of the Beast. The hidden agenda, known only to the privileged few, is nothing short of one-world government, under one ruler. It is to be in place between 1995 and 1998 and will replace all sovereign nations.

The United Nations is the enforcement body of the structure in its present evolutionary form. President Bush during the Persian Gulf War spoke about the New World Order, a term which surprised almost everyone by its frequent use--all but those few powerful persons in the know. Soviet Prime Minister Edward Shevardnadze told the United Nations in reference to Iraq's assault on Kuwait, "An act of terrorism has been perpetrated against the emerging New World Order." 30

Annoying disruptions in the New World Order, if they are not in the plans of those in control, are promptly crushed. Economic control is one tentacle of this octopus-like movement. The control will always be in the hands of the large multinational banks. They will admit only those nations who will play by the rules they set. Because the need for capital is so great, no nation can survive without the help of large lending institutions. The lending agencies have enjoyed controlling the destinies of nations for a very long time. This control will increase. Conformity to the world lending rules is a must for the survival of a nation. A nation must conform or perish.

Technological advances will also help to allow a world-wide government to rule. With transactions of all sorts speeding around the globe through fiber optics, satellites, very small aperture terminals, compatible computers, centralized data bases, mobile telephones, and other methods of communicating via wireless means, new vistas have opened up for the world. The credit card with a microprocessor chip will allow debit and credit from anywhere at anytime. All transactions will feed into a few main databases--under the control ultimately of Big Brother. The chip will store massive amounts of information and will become each person's identity on plastic. An identity like a social security number will be issued to eliminate credit card abuse. The bar code or universal product code will be a very effective tracking method for all purchases. All transactions will be scanned, and the use of the physical property of money will gradually decrease. The personal computer that began in a very primitive form in a California garage in 1979 now has powerful workstations and distributed architecture.

With geometric growth in technology each year, the speed of change will go beyond our grasp to understand. Tom Peters, the author of In Search of Excellence and Liberation Management recently said, "technology will cause us to go bonkers this year, bonkers squared next year, and bonkers cubed the year after." 31 The free flow of information along data highways being piped into our homes and offices will permit unimaginable control by a small elite.

Ecclesiastical control has been accomplished through the secret societies, modernism, and the World Council of Churches, with the goal of one New Age or watered-down ecumenical church. The breakdown of Catholicism needed to happen first before this could take place. In the past, the Roman Catholic Church was too well organized and too strong. It had to be dismantled, and it had to happen first from within. Recall earlier where the book AA 1025 was discussed; the book detailed how a communist secret agent infiltrated the Church. One thousand and twenty-four men are said to have preceded the anti-apostle AA 1025 into Catholic seminaries--and hundreds more followed him into the Church as priests.

Our Blessed Mother, through Father Gobbi has told us a great deal about Ecclesiastical Masonry and the damage it is doing. At LaSalette Our Blessed Mother told us about this destruction in great detail. Today we are in the final act as the Church fights for its survival. The one hundred-year reign of Satan has taken its toll.

The armies are poised for battle. Satan has his cohort; Mary has hers. The tactics could not be more dissimilar. Mary's plan, which is God's plan, is prayer, fasting, penance, reconciliation. We are to love one another, be humble, little, docile. We are to become as little children, to be guided by Mary our mother and by Our Lord. Satan's plan uses the false idols of money, power, lust, greed, clothed in pride.

The political, financial, and ecclesiastical clout of the people working behind the scenes for the development of a one-world government is overwhelming. Were it not for the apparitions of Mary, the Mother of God, the Prophetess of Our Times, and her detailed messages to Father Gobbi and others, we would know little about the evolving Satanic plan which has nearly come to fruition.

For an in-depth account of how masterfully this Satanic plan is being executed on all powerful secular and ecclesiastical fronts read the account by Gary Kah in his book, En Route to Global Occupation. It outlines in detail the structure of secular control through reputable organizations which are household names. He warns that national sovereignty will soon be a thing of the past. Political forces around the world are now cooperating in an unprecedented fashion to achieve their goal of uniting the people of this planet under a New World Order.

The umbrella organization actually charged with the task of bringing us into the New World Order is called The World Constitution and Parliament Association (WCPA). It has many financial supports. The agenda of the New World Order is being funded by literally hundreds of organizations. One is the Lucis Trust--called at first the Lucifer Trust. To name a secular organization the Lucifer Trust shows the boldness and confidence of the men behind this movement. But the use of such a name is really not surprising; the philosophy driving the creation of the New World Order is heavily indebted to the New Age, old pagan practices, Masonry, and the occult.

The members proposing a New World Order are a Who's Who of the world establishment, secular and ecclesiastic. Their agenda is control; their tactics, deceit. Most of the key players sit on the boards or committees of a few powerful organizations:the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderbergers, and the Club of Rome. Often members of one organization will be involved with several of the others as well.

On September 17, 1973, the Club of Rome published a special, highly confidential report called the "Regionalized and Adaptive Model of the Global World System," which was sent to the power elite to be implemented. This document reveals that the Club has divided the world into ten political/economic regions, which it refers to as "kingdoms"--a designation that tracks eerily with the terminology used in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 13:1-2. In 1974 the authors of the report, Mihaljo Mesarovic and Edward Pestel published their findings in a book Mankind at the Turning Point. However, in this book, which is intended for public consumption, they have dropped the word "kingdom." 32

The people belonging to these powerful organizations are high-ranking United Nations officials, noted world leaders, noted politicians, bankers, World Bank and International Monetary Fund officials, clergy, members of the World Future Society, top-level Masons, and people either inadvertently or purposely promoting a oneworld government. The Systems which they have developed are now in place to allow such a government with a leader to surface and rule between 1995 and 1998.

The foundation for this one world government was planned consciously by a political and financial elite. Much of the groundwork was laid 16 years ago, when the Constitution for the Federation Earth was adopted in June 1977.

This Constitution was first adopted at Innsbruck, Austria, at a meeting of the World Constituent Assembly--an event sponsored by the WCPA. The WCPA does not consider the United Nations part of its planned New World Order, but more than 20 percent of WCPA members belong to the United Nations. The WCPA plans to replace the UN--much like the UN replaced the League of Nations.

The Constitution for the Federation Earth was signed by 135 participants from twenty-five countries, and is intended to replace the UN Charter to become the centerpiece of the New World Order.

Gary Kah has a detailed "Diagram Of World Government under the Constitution For The Federation of Earth." The WCPA cites forty-nine problems of international concern, which it says point to the need for a one-world government. Fifteen deal with the environment, seven with military concerns (disarmament, prevention of war and terrorism), six with world hunger and poverty, four with international monetary matters. The WCPA bases its main argument for a New World Order on the threat of an impending climactic crisis. 33

The environmental movement is probably the most powerful lobby today for a one world government--it is the trigger to send the bullet for conformity. Indeed, no one can deny the need to clean up the planet. Chernobyl is a prime example. Chernobyl fallout traveled over thousands of miles and as far north as Sweden and Lapland in a matter of days. Chernobyl showed that the whole Soviet system was in a meltdown--and in a few seconds it blasted into oblivion the claim that communism had shaped a society technologically superior, more caring, more efficient, and more honest than that of the corrupt West--and was more caring of its people, more efficient, and more honest. Chernobyl had become a symbol of the whole rotting communist system, with its callous, self-seeking bureaucrats, its barbarous robot-like enforcers, and its deceitful ideologists, whose lies were designed to tranquilize the Russian people into mindless docility. In the view of the other nations, what went on inside the country was permissible, but exporting lethal fallout to the West was an entirely different matter.

Here was a huge opening for the globalists. The money masters of the world could now anoint Mother Earth as the official queen before whom all must kneel. How could one logically disagree in light of Chernobyl? Chernobyl would be the vehicle to drag the world body of nations into its orbit. It is an ingenious strategy because no one can object to protecting the planet from the rot and stench of pollution.

The Rio, or Earth, Summit in Brazil in June 1992 provided an opportunity for the nations of the world to conform on much more than an environmental level; its connections to the New Age movement and Masonry are well-established. Rio was not solely about clean air, clean water, and containment of acid rain. It was about the massive redistribution of wealth from the industrial countries to the poor countries, global socialism, people control, and world government. Lester Brown, president of Worldwatch Institute, said, "I think when we look back, we will see the Rio conference as the event that marked the end of an era and the start of a new one."

The operative word again is "conformity"--if a nation stays within the rules set by the governing bodies, loan applications will be approved. Environmental compliance is only the first kind of conformity that can be forced on cash-starved nations needing access to world capital markets.

The environmental movement has clout that transcends all party affiliations. Vice President Albert Gore is a chief proponent of the movement and has in fact written a best-selling book on environmentalism. He is the "man of destiny" in the Clinton administration. Support for his policies exists across the political spectrum. Data from the Federal Election Commission reveal that Republican organizations took in contributions of $71.1 million in calendar year 1988, while Democratic institutions took in $18.6 million the same year. The Environmental Party had an operating budget of $336 million in 1988 with a donor base of 10 million persons more than both political parties. The Environmental Party has nearly four times the funding of the Democrats and the Republicans combined. Twelve organizations constitute the base support of the Environmental Party: Center for Marine Conservation, Clean Water Action Project, Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace USA, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Nature Conservancy, Public Interest Research Group, Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, and World Wildlife Fund. It is only the people on the top who are aware of the true intent of its members' movements. 34

The WCPA projects that the formation of the world government will occur sometime between 1995 and 1998. When will the Antichrist arrive on the world scene? All indications are that the stage is set on the secular and religious levels. Once this world government is in place, the structure for the reign of Antichrist will be ready. Gary Kah states, "The WCPA effort to form a New World Order is not based on need but on the hidden agenda of the occult secret societies to bring the world under their control in order to usher in the reign of their "World Teacher":the Anti christ." 35

In history, seldom do events happen by chance. Jim Singer, of Ontario, Canada, has been receiving messages from Our Lord from May 1989 to September 1989 on a very consistent basis. Since then, the messages have been infrequent. On May 27, 1993, the Lord spoke to Jim Singer about the role of preplanned events and the earthly bodies which carry out these plans.

Jesus' first message to Jim was as follows:"Dear children, the time has come that you can no longer survive without my direct intervention. The one you call Satan is the Shining Darkness who has poisoned all of your souls and has deprived you of the dignity with which I gifted each one of My children. I created each one of you good. To each of you I gifted a whole and pure soul. Among you, children, there are no more souls which are whole. I am the truth and there is only one truth." Jesus is telling Jim Singer that He must intervene or we no longer can survive the onslaught of the devil.

For years, the United Nations has become the enforcement body of the world rulers. Premiers and presidents of nations will not go against the rulers of this institution. Who are these men? Most notably, the clout inside the United Nations is from the Group of Seven (G-7 nations)--the single most powerful body in the world controlling finance. These nations are the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan--the world's major industrialized economies. Prime Minister John Major was the chairman in 1991, coordinating the West's policies toward the economic plight of the Soviet Union. The former Soviet Union is being given billions of dollars with the West knowing it can never be repaid. It is now under the world's financial mantle and in its controlling orbit. No nation today can go against the strength of this body. Saddam Hussein recently tried. Action was swift and effective.

"Revelation 13:1-7 states:"Then I saw a beast come out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads; on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads blasphemous names. To it the dragon gave its own power and throne, along with great authority. I saw that one of its heads seemed to be mortally wounded, but this wound was healed. Fascinated, the whole world followed after the beast. They worshipped the dragon because it gave its authority to the beast; they also worshipped the beast and said, `Who can compare with the beast or fight against it?' The beast was given a mouth uttering proud boasts and blasphemies, and it was given authority to act for forty-two months.... It was also allowed to wage war against the holy ones and conquer them, and it was granted authority over every tribe, people, tongue, and nation. All the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, all whose names were not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life, which belongs to the Lamb who was slain."

In concert with Daniel 12, the beast rules for forty-two months. The Black Beast, Masonry, the one-world government, Antichrist is given dominion over the earth for this period of time. The one-world government is allowed to wage war against the holy ones of God and conquer them, even to the point of abolishing the Holy Mass ("abolishing the perpetual sacrifice," as Daniel states it). The one-world ruler is given authority over every tribe, people, tongue, and nation. All inhabitants will worship it. Antichrist will appear to have the answers for our troubled world.

The role of Russia is unclear in many respects. In the September 18, 1992, message of Josyp Terelya from Marmora Ontario, Our Lady said that Russia is preparing for world-wide revolution. Mr. Terelya had seen the face of Satan in Boris Yeltsin in his 1987 vision--before the coup. Mikhail Gorbachev has risen to head of the International Green Cross, taking over the environmental movement with governmental blessing. Isn't this odd? A former premier ousted in a coup by hardliners now is in the present government. Is Russia a mainstream player with the world body of the United Nations or an independent international villain?

On May 27, 1993, the Lord showed Jim Singer that the United Nations is the vehicle of planned events. Our Lord said:"...Look at what Satan is inflicting upon you; 326,000 of My children and all the agony which you are seeing today in your ancestral homeland [Jim originally is from Croatia] alone is just a prelude of sadistic fury and hate that Satan wants to pour out upon you. Out of His mercy and grace, the Father has gifted you the Queen of Peace, yet nations prostitute themselves in the United Nations and My children continue to pay deep homage to the dead head which now lives again in that city by the ocean. Know that it is...Satan's own servants who toil tirelessly to deliver My children into his clutches. Just as they contaminate and poison so much in your lives, they are the ones also who are overseeing the aims of that organization--the UN. Know that all their aims, each one of their moves and actions, are always preplanned. In their labors of deceit, even truth has become a sweet bait to be exploited by Satan and his earthly stewards. They lure away even your shepherds, My apostles, along with the entire flocks of My children.

"Today, as you stand at the threshold, you are the only ones who choose how much more suffering you must bear. I call My children to hear My mother's calls, to focus on her. Listen and respond to all that she asks of you. Be sure that the triumph of her heart is near. It is My mother, your Queen of Peace, who ardently wishes to show you the way and bring you all back to Me."

(Authors' note:Josyp Terelya in his Marmora, Ontario, vision, uses this term "dead head" in reference to the United Nations. Jim's footnote is as follows:"Our Lord's reference to the United Nations as `this dead head which now lives again' is peculiar and puzzling. A number of possible explanations for this term have been offered, both biblical and non-biblical. Although this term is not used anywhere in the Bible, there are a number of similar terms which do appear throughout the Scriptures. Chapter 13, verse 3 of Revelation makes reference to one of the beast's mortally wounded heads, but the mortal wound was healed. Even more interestingly, in Chapter 17, verse 8 of Revelation, the beast is said to `have existed once and now exists no longer, and yet it will exist again."'

On January 12, 1991, Our Lord appeared to Jim Singer and gave a message in which He stated:"The Shining Darkness, that malefactor, is drawing your attention to the great evil which he threatens you with--the sort of catastrophe that your minds cannot begin to imagine, while he, in the meantime, is multiplying his evils in other parts of the world. From the beginning you have been warned through this, My child, that these two years are the decisive years for all My children. Through your conversion all of you have been called into My secure embrace of love. More than half of that time has passed, but your hearts remain enslaved in thorns of evil. Today you have the choice of what kind of world you will have after these three days. The evils to which you will soon be witnesses because of your disobedience and hard hearts towards Me will multiply among you. You have already been warned about them. In your apprehension of evil you have taken all the steps to protect yourselves from the horrors. But few are My children among you who have recognized the malefactor's hand among you. Three days remain for you, by your free will, to consecrate your hearts to Me, to enjoy My rewards and victory over the malefactor. Three days remain for you to allow the malefactor seven years of his particular aggression and oppression among you. Through the ages you have been warned what the malefactor is preparing for you during these final times. Only by your conversion and sincere love will you be protected...."

During the April 22, 1991, apparition of Our Lord to Jim, He told him that, "Without My intervention you can no longer completely triumph over the evil one, for My earthly children are surrounded...." with traitors. Even among those who enjoy the confidence of My earthly children, there are those who are in the service of Satan. They consciously victimize My flock--their own brothers and sisters."

Our Lord's message of September 23, 1991, to Jim contained no secrets but stated in part, "Tell My children of the world to look at the satanic oppression in your ancestral homeland, for I have already warned you many times about the evils that this malefactor is preparing for you all. [Concerning the war in Bosnia]:tell My children to recognize that Satan is attacking My children of Croatia precisely because I have chosen them to be the model of My love to all My children of the world. Do you not remember that I have warned you about the particular aggression that the Shining Darkness desires to unleash among My children of the Soviet Union? I invite you all--evict the malefactor from your midst. Fill your hearts with My love. I call you again, return to My embrace, use My gifts. I will protect you. Satan aggressively wants to bring his hell into the Soviet Union. Not only will his fury be unleashed upon My children of that land, but the malefactor will utilize all his powers from hell to spill his rage from that land, through his earthly servants, to other lands as well. Son, only because of their firm and complete faith in Me will My children of Croatia be able to enjoy the victory over the Shining Darkness. But, precisely because of their faith in Me, these children will also not be spared from the renewed vicious satanic attempt with which the malefactor will endeavor to flood, from the USSR, all the countries of the east. While they are convinced that they are enjoying liberty and freedom, Satan's rage will not spare My children of the Western world, either. Never have My children delighted in sin as now. In Noah's age, I cleansed the world of sins much lesser than these in which my children now take delight. Today many of My children's enjoyment is murderous sin. Many of My children are fully conscious of this. The faith of many who remain in My flock is lukewarm."

Jim stated:"In one of my conversations with the Lord, I asked the Lord to explain Revelation. The Lord's answer to this question was that the dragon with seven heads and ten horns now dwells in our world. The Lord said, "Look to the West."'

On May 28, 1992, Our Lord told Jim:"Babylon, too, has been rebuilt. It stands again. Soon in your midst and in full view will also stand a grand image (statue) of a false god. The symbol of this image will be worshipped by many, in almost every language.... The beast has laid his vicious seven heads in the lands that you know as the G-7, while its body continues to crush My children in Russia."

On January 13, 1991, Jim also was shown that Satan, the malefactor, is allowed seven years of aggression and opposition. This brings us to the year 1998. This corresponds with the decisive period of ten years separating us from the end of this century, revealed in Our Blessed Mother's message to Father Gobbi on September 18, 1988, in which she said:"there will come to completion that fullness of time beginning with LaSalette all the way to my most recent and present apparitions; the purification will come to its culmination; there will come to completion the time of the great tribulation, foretold in Holy Scripture, before the Second Coming of Christ; the mystery of iniquity, prepared for by the ever-increasing spread of apostasy, will become manifest; all the secrets which I have revealed to some of my children will come to pass and all the events which have been foretold will take place."

This also corresponds with the period of time for the onset of the events (revealed by God the Father to Eileen George) beginning between 1990 and 1999. Then there would be a long era of peace.

Our Blessed Mother told the Marian Movement of Priests on June 17, 1989, that, "Lucifer, the ancient serpent, the devil or Satan, the Red Dragon, becomes, in these last times, the Antichrist. The Apostle John already affirmed that whoever denies that Jesus Christ is God, that person is the Antichrist. The statue or idol, built in honor of the beast to be adored by all men, is the Antichrist...666 indicated thrice, that is to say, for the third time, expresses the year 1998, nineteen hundred and ninety-eight. In this period of history, Freemasonry, assisted by its Ecclesiastical form, will succeed in its great design: that of setting up an idol to be put in the place of Christ and his Church, a false christ and a false church. Consequently, the statue built in honor of the first beast, to be adored by all the inhabitants of the earth and which will seal with its mark all those who want to buy or sell, is that of the Antichrist. You will have thus arrived at the peak of the purification, of the great tribulation and of apostasy....almost all will follow the false christ and the false church. Then the door will be open for the appearance of...the very person of the Antichrist."

Certain events are willed by the Lord of History, and they shall take place.

On December 31, 1984, Our Blessed Mother told Father Gobbi how she will send signs so we may understand the times in which we live. She states: "Then, with the same familiarity that a mother has for her children, I will reveal to you the cares, the anxieties and the deep wounds of my Immaculate Heart and, at the same time, I will help you to understand and to interpret the signs of your times. Thus you can cooperate in the plan of salvation, which the Lord has for you and which He wishes to carry out in the course of the new days which await you.

"You are living under an urgent request made by your heavenly mother, who is inviting you to walk along the road of conversion and of return to God. Beloved children, share in my anxious motherly concern as I see that this call of mine is neither welcomed nor followed. And yet I see that the only possibility of your salvation is bound up uniquely with the return of humanity to the Lord, with a strong commitment to follow His law. Be converted and walk along the road of the grace of God and of love. Be converted and build up days of serenity and peace. Be converted and take part in the plan of divine mercy."

For years, the world has been undergoing a great apostasy, with people and governments making decisions unmindful of God or His precepts. From January to March 1979, the Blessed Mother, through Father Gobbi, Gave us four major signs which would indicate that the purification is near:

The First Sign:Confusion

"Beloved children, take refuge in my Immaculate Heart. The glorious reign of Christ will be preceded by a great suffering which will serve to purify the Church and the world and to lead them to their complete renewal. Jesus has already begun his merciful work of renewal with the Church, His spouse. Various signs indicate to you that the time of purification has come for the Church:the first of these is the confusion which reigns there. This in fact is the time of the greatest confusion. Confusion is spreading within the Church, where everything in the field of dogma, liturgy, and discipline is being subverted. These include truths revealed by my Son and which the Church has defined once and for all, through her divine and infallible authority. These truths are unchangeable. Many of these form part of real mysteries in the strict sense of the word, because they are not and never can be understood by human intelligence....

The Second Sign:Lack of Discipline

"Thus, lack of discipline is spreading in the Church and reaping victims, even from among her very pastors. This is the second sign which indicates to you that, for the Church, the final time of purification has come:a lack of discipline which has spread throughout all levels, especially among the clergy. How many there are among the priests, who allow themselves to become absorbed in excessive activity and who no longer pray!"

The Third Sign:Division

"Today, my Immaculate Heart trembles and is anguished to see the division within the Church. This division...is the third sign which indicates to you with certainty that the final moment of her painful purification has come. If...the Church has many times been torn by division.., I nevertheless obtained from Jesus the singular privilege of her interior unity...."

The Fourth Sign:Persecution

"The fourth sign, which indicates to you that the culminating period of the Church's painful purification has come, is persecution.... She is persecuted in a subtle and painless manner, by being deprived bit by bit of the oxygen she needs to live."

One does not need great spiritual discernment to notice the significant increase in natural and man-made disasters in our midst. Wars and disasters often are sent for the punishment of sins. Tony Fernwalt the stigmatist from Akron, Ohio, received a message from Our Lady on January 22, 1993, about the United States of America. This was the day President Clinton signed the bill allowing the testing of fetal tissue, and revoked the "gag rule," for federally-funded family planning clinics to counsel women to get abortions. January 22, 1993, was the twentieth anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion in the United States. With a defiant ceremony at the White House, President Clinton signed into existence federally-funded genocide of the unborn. By the summer of 1993, when President Clinton's fetal tissue research measure was enacted, he hailed it as the most significant piece of legislation thus far in his presidency.

Jesus said through Tony Fernwalt:"As of today you will find all that I have told you will soon start. Your country has truly become immoral and a godless nation. As your President has signed the papers to legalize the killing of the innocent, there is no one to blame for what will come from this signing.... Even my Pope, John Paul II, will speak out...the turmoil will soon begin.... It will be hard for the faithful....the storms will be of nature and man....as you have been told, these things will begin.... Do not fear criticism from any man. Your country has fallen from grace, and the world has fallen from grace also.... Fear no man; only fear God!" 1 We have brought these problems upon ourselves, and have only ourselves to blame.

The actions of the President of the United States on abortion and homosexuality are leading to an open confrontation with the Catholic Church united with Rome. If the Pope speaks out against the official U.S. administration position, retaliatory means might be taken--ever so subtly. Speaking in Denver on August 15, 1993, Pope John Paul II described American culture as a "culture of death" and encouraged the youth to be vocal against abortion and to shout it from the housetops.

The Catholic Church will be driven further away from the United States government, specifically if the Pope speaks out against government's increasing promotion of abortion. The Roman Catholic Church and the liberal agenda of President Clinton are incompatible. We should not be surprised if, under the guise of needing revenue, President Clinton attempts to tax churches in America.

Many signposts indicate our decline. The demise of our financial structures is one sign of our interior decay. Yesterday the Savings and Loan, today the commercial banks, and tomorrow the insurance companies and pension funds will all rapidly evaporate. Over two thirds of the world goes to bed hungry or dying from starvation. AIDS is another crisis, clearly pointing to the dangers of unbridled lust--and also to the hard hearts of men, who refuse to change destructive habits, even in the face of God's merciful chastising. Incurable diseases will multiply as homosexuality in the world's major cities will continue to grow.

In the United States violence is exploding. Syndicated columnist George Will recently pointed out that here in the U.S. "firearms cause more deaths among those fifteen to twenty-four than all natural causes combined. In the span of just one generation, deviant behavior has soared to levels Americans flinch from recognizing." 2

William Bennett, the former Secretary of Education and drug czar under the Reagan and Bush Administrations, and now at the Hudson Institute, has studied leading cultural indicators. He recently noted that "over the last three decades we have experienced substantial social regression, particularly in matters relating to families and children. Since 1960, he reported, "there has been a 560 percent increase in violent crime; more than a 400 percent increase in illegitimate births; a tripling of the percentage of children living in single-parent homes; a quadrupling of divorce rates; more than a 200 percent increase in the teenage suicide rate; and a drop of almost 80 points in the SAT (pre-college scholastic aptitude test) scores." 3

In 1990, a special commission issued a report on the health of today's adolescents entitled "Code Blue." This team of prominent experts wrote, "Never before has one generation of American teenagers been less healthy, less cared for, or less prepared for life." The 1981 McCready opinion poll surveyed 4,000 U.S. and Canadian Catholics from fourteen to thirty years old and found 75 percent do not believe in papal infallibility, 90 percent reject the Church's stand on birth control, 80 percent believe premarital sex is not wrong, and only 11 percent agree that divorced people should not remarry without the Church's sanction. 4 The difference in moral values between 1981 and now is substantial.

Hurricane Andrew recently ravaged Florida and the Gulf Coast, becoming the costliest natural disaster in United States history--until the Midwest floods. Newscasts mentioned that 1992 was the costliest year ever on record for disasters in the United States--until 1993. Each year the damage increases by the billions. There were floods in France and Italy, and Mount Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines. The list goes on and on and on. Storms will continue to hit our coastal areas. These are the signs of our time. There will be a price for man to pay after one billion abortions. This we will not escape.

There are signs all around us that beg us to take notice. The stakes continue to get higher as the world falls more rapidly into economic and moral decline. Wars and disasters threaten to add to the economic downturn, and could easily turn what is now a lingering, world-wide recession into a full-blown depression and economic chaos. Worldwide famine will soon engulf us.

The world financial system is poised for collapse. Bank failures have cost taxpayers hundreds of billions according to banking experts Edward W. Hill and Roger J. Vaughn, authors of Banking on the Brink. They say another 1,000 U.S. banks are in the process of "dying and on the lip of insolvency." The losses caused by bank failures could run as high as $95 billion--on top of the billions lost through present bank failures. 5

As a nation we are bankrupt. Although this book is not about banking or finance, it is not hard to see that if the world economy collapses, then society will deteriorate quickly. Natural disasters will quicken our decline as we will no longer be able to pay for nature's destructive deeds. If the bankrupt Weimar Republic looked to the rising star of a madman paper hanger from Linz--Adolph Hitler--during the depression of the 1920s and 1930s, what can we expect today, when people have much less patience, perseverance, and moral fortitude?

The Antichrist who will take control to manage the crisis will bring a false peace and a false economic stability. Predictions have indicated that he will arrive shortly. Mary stated to the Marian Movement of Priests on September 18, 1988:"In this period of ten years there will come to completion that fullness of time, which was pointed out to you by me, beginning with LaSalette all the way to my most recent and present apparitions...sufferings will become greater for all.... In this period of ten years there will come to completion the time of the Great Tribulation which has been foretold to you in the Scripture.... The mystery of iniquity, prepared by the ever increasing spread of apostasy, will become manifest.... All secrets will come to pass."

The economy, natural disasters, AIDS, apparitions throughout the world, the formation of a one-world currency, weeping statues, the stigmata upon the laity, abortion, distribution of pornographic material on television and in print, are all signs of where we are and indicators of where we soon will be.

Sister Anna Ali of the Divine Appeal Revelations has received messages from Jesus about illness, disasters of all kinds, and incurable diseases. Three of these Divine Appeal messages from Jesus follow:

Divine Appeal 29:"My daughter, pray and atone. I am pierced by many swords, but I forgive all those who will come to repent.... I warn this world, full of horrors, for which a tremendous punishment is prepared. The thin line that separates it from the precipice will break; there will be no other way to salvation because there are many who do not want to hear My Call.... If they continue to live in corruption, there will be no mercy, but rather tears, mourning, earthquakes, floods and sickness of all kinds. These poor people are blind and deaf to My Call of Love. The air is contaminated and everywhere is full of sin. Men's hands are armed, and a great punishment will befall them. I love them; this is why I warn them before it is too late for them to repent. They should pray more" (October 24, 1987).

Divine Appeal 40:"The world advances towards the precipice from one day to the next. Reflect upon what is happening...in all humanity. There is too much hatred, there are too many enemies of My Eternal Father. The Freemasons and all other devil worshippers want to obliterate fraternal love in the world, substituting it with division and blood wounds.... I am calling everyone to penance and pray. Do not be afraid.... On the contrary, flames will be cast down from Heaven which will destroy all sinners and the work of the Evil one:abysses, mountains and flaming lava will swallow up entire villages. Earthquakes, floods, electrocutions, tempestuous seas, suicides, drugs, and illnesses of all kinds. What a great desolation--children who rebel against their parents, innocent souls who are killed, divorce, communists, and all sinners. A just rigor weighs down on them" (November 22, 1987).

Divine Appeal 184:"In the world and My Church there are distractions of all kinds. This is a grave moment. Time is short for saving souls. There are many diseases, as an admonishment. Pray a great deal to atone and appease the wrath of My Eternal Father. I beg you not to allow My Word to die. If you do not do what I tell you, then you will be captured by Satan, the Red Lucifer, who is very conscious of this serious moment. These are times of overwhelming violence. Time is approaching and there will be many diseases which will be allowed by My Eternal Father. There will be no physician or medicine to cure them. If souls listen to Me and respond to My Call of Mercy, then it will be their salvation and peace. Make people pray more and love one another. My heart is filled with pain. I ask many souls to return to Me. Lucifer has taken possession of many souls and he tells them that My Eternal Father does not exist. What more could I have suffered for mankind?" (July 21, 1988).

In the United States, the AIDS virus is primarily the result of drug abuse and homosexuality. Through sexual promiscuity and adultery, it is now spreading to the heterosexual population.

Major parts of Africa will be nearly wiped out from AIDS. In Uganda, AIDS is known by the name SLIM--as it makes those with the disease slim and emaciated. The World Health Organization estimates millions of people in Africa alone will die of AIDS by the year 2000. The effects of its devastation are just beginning.

Many cities in Asia will also suffer greatly. Gene Antonio, author of the book AlDS:Rage & Reality, writes:"AIDS is the most significant threat to the human race in the modern era. AIDS has the potential for killing more people world-wide than those who died in both World Wars. The potential for an infectious disease to cause the devastation of human life on a mass scale is not without precedent. The bubonic plague wiped out one-third of the population of Europe before it was finally brought under control." 6 He continues:"It has become evident that AIDS has become a politically protected disease. The basic priority of protecting the well-being of society as a whole has been completely subverted. Simply put, the sexual comfort and privacy of those infected with AIDS have been given total supremacy over the rights of the uninfected members of society. 7

Dr. Arthur Mann, Director of the International AIDS Center at Harvard University, has written:"The world's vulnerability to the spread of AIDS is increasing, not decreasing. The pandemic is spreading to new areas and communities. The disease has not peaked and will reach every country by the end of the decade. An estimated 110 million people will have contracted HIV disease by the year 2,000. 8 The estimated federal spending to treat an AIDS patient is

$50,000. Counting private spending on top of federal funds, estimates are nearly $75,000 per person. In contrast, cancer is $3,500 per person. Per capita federal spending for AIDS far outweighs that of any other life-threatening illness in history. In the mid 1990s, the cost of treating all people with HIV diseases in the United States alone is estimated to exceed ten billion dollars annually." 9

When Gene Antonio wrote an article several years ago for Barrons, the financial newspaper, the estimate of one billion dollars sounded extreme. He now estimates that this number of ten billion dollars may be low. It is not very difficult to see the devastation this will wreak on our economy. Many health carriers will be wiped out; and for those with insurance, premiums will escalate sharply.

It should not come as a surprise to see AIDS as an epidemic. The responsible use of freedom is a forgotten principle. The loss of faith has meant that few restrictions or controls remain on personal freedoms. Promiscuity has led to a world-wide epidemic of sexual maladies. There are 685,000 new cases of sexually transmitted diseases per day--in other words, more than 28,000 new cases per hour, or 250 million such cases per year, according to the World Health Organization. WHO officials state that sexually transmitted diseases represent "a grave menace for reproductive health" and that the current high incidence of such maladies is "unacceptable."

In the publication Progress in Human Reproduction Research, which discusses among other things sexually transmitted diseases, the WHO estimated that, at a minimum each year, there are worldwide 25 million cases of gonorrhea, 50 million cases of genital chlamydial infections, 3.5 million cases of infectious syphilis, and 2 million cases of chancroid. Moreover, 20 million persons each year contract genital herpes and 30 million others suffer genital human papillomavirus infection.

Dr. John Platt, Ph.D., biophysicist, wrote in Futurist Magazine:"Aids is likely to cause the U.S. economy--built on consumer growth--to stagnate. Hospitals will be desperately overcrowded, and many AIDS patients will die at home or be abandoned.... Fear of AIDS will affect abroad range of activities--even those non-intimate activities where contracting AIDS would seem unlikely. The disease will ultimately shift the world's balance of power. Some countries will be destroyed by it, some badly hurt, and some almost unharmed. Those that suffer least will tend to dominate afterwards, as in previous epidemics. AIDS could make overpopulation, famine, environmental destruction, or the extinction of species seem like minor complaints." 10

The Book of Revelation depicts the angels pouring out God's wrath: "Then I saw in Heaven another sign, great and awe-inspiring: seven angels with the seven last plagues, for through them God's fury is accomplished" (Revelation 15:1).

"I heard a loud voice speaking from the temple to the seven angels, `Go and pour out the seven bowls of God's fury upon the earth.' The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth. Festering and ugly sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast or worshipped its image" (Revelation 16:l-2).

The angel of the first plague is AIDS. Our Lady has spoken of the first plague as having arrived. It is one we know well. It is cancer and AIDS. We have seen the lives lost from cancer over the last several decades. The malignant tumors Mary has spoken about are cancer. Since the 1930s we have seen a steady rise in cancer rates among the population of the world. Many people attribute this to the environmental hazards and widespread pollution in our midst.

Our Blessed Mother gave Father Gobbi the following message on October 13, 1989:"It has begun to corrupt the consciences of little children and of youth, bringing them to the conviction that impure acts committed by oneself are no longer sins; that relations before marriage between those engaged is licit and good; that families may behave as they please and may also make use of the various means of birth control. And they have come to the justification and the exaltation of impure acts against nature and even to the proposing of laws which put homosexual cohabitation on a par with marriage.

"Never as today have immorality, impurity and obscenity been so continually propagandized, through the press and all the means of social communication. Above all, television has become the perverse instrument of a daily bombardment with obscene images, directed to corrupt the purity of the mind and the heart of all. The places of entertainment--in particular the cinema and the discotheques--have become places of public profanation of one's human and Christian dignity.

"The Angel of the first plague cuts--into the flesh of those who have allowed themselves to be signed with the mark of the monster on the forehead and on the hand and have adored his image--with a painful and malignant wound, which causes those who have been stricken by it to cry out in desperation. This wound represents the physical pain which strikes the body by means of grave and incurable maladies. The painful and malignant wound is a plague for all humanity, today so perverted, which has built up an atheistic and materialistic civilization and has made the quest for pleasure the supreme aim of human life.

"Some of my poor children have been stricken by it because of their sins of impurity and their disordered morals and they carry within their own selves the weight of the evil they have done. Others, on the other hand, have been stricken, even though they are good and innocent; and so their suffering serves for the salvation of many of the wicked, in virtue of the solidarity which unites you all.

"The first plague is that of malignant tumors and every kind of cancer, against which science can do nothing notwithstanding its progress in every field, maladies which spread more and more and strike the human body, devastating it with most painful and malignant wounds. Beloved children, think of the spread of these incurable maladies, throughout every part of the world, and of the millions of deaths which they are bringing about.

"The first plague is the new malady of AIDS, which strikes, above all, my poor children who are victims of drugs, of vices and of impure sins against nature."

The Lord has also told Canadian visionary Jim Singer that some diseases in the future will have no earthly cure:"Dear children, convert back to me, hear my admonishments, for you do not have much time left. The Shining Darkness has sown among you various vicious diseases. AIDS mows down your lives. By your conversion back to Me, you shall prevent two more vicious sexually transmitted diseases which the malefactor is preparing as his future `gift' to you. Despite all of the earthly technologies and sciences you shall not eradicate these diseases. Because of your conversion to Me, out of My Love for you, I shall protect you."

What may be Satan's chief weapon in causing widespread destruction is the onslaught of sex education in our schools. First, prayer was banned in our public school system; now, educators are allowing youth to be morally corrupted through school-based sex education, which is really nothing more than Planned Parenthood propaganda modified. Surely the words of Jesus in Luke 17:2 apply in this case:"To those who harm these little ones it would be better for them to tie a millstone around their neck and be cast into the sea."

Never do we hear the media discuss the causes of AIDS. The Magic Johnsons of the world suddenly become heroes and overnight experts on national policies. Each year, as we give our approval by our silence, the moral standards of Scripture drift further from the nation's conscience. Abstinence is mentioned with embarrassment, if not completely scorned.

As abortion has been accepted into mainstream thinking, so too has homosexuality. The edifice of our faith is slowly chipped away piece by piece. A Cabinet official in the Clinton Administration was heard to say she wanted sex education to begin in kindergarten. The sexually conservative, she stated, are not in the mainstream. The moral corruption reaches each year into the younger grades.

Let us not be lulled into thinking that things are really not that bad. In a message dated December 31, 1987, to the Marian Movement of Priests called "The Great Tribulation," the Blessed Mother states the signs of the tribulation:"First of all, a great apostasy is spreading in every part of the Church, through the lack of faith which is flooding even among its very pastors. Satan has succeeded in spreading everywhere the great apostasy, by means of his subtle work of seduction, which has brought many to be alienated from the truth of the Gospel to follow the fables of the new theological theories and to take delight in evil and in sin, sought after as an actual good.

"Then, in your time, overturning of the order of nature are multiplying, such as earthquakes, droughts, floods, and disasters which cause the unforeseen death of thousands of persons, followed by epidemics and incurable diseases which are spreading everywhere.

"Moreover, your days are marked by continual rumors of wars which are multiplying and are reaping, each day, innumerable victims. Conflicts and dissensions within countries are increasing; revolts and struggles between various peoples are propagating; bloody wars are continuing to extend themselves, notwithstanding all the efforts which are being made to attain peace.

"Finally, in your time, there are occurring great signs in the sun, on the moon, and in the stars. The miracle of the sun which took place at Fatima was a sign which I gave you to warn you that the times of these extraordinary phenomena which are taking place in the heavens have now arrived. And how many times during my present apparitions have you yourselves been able to contemplate the great prodigies that are taking place in the sun.

"Just as the buds which sprout forth on the trees tell you that Spring has now arrived, so also these great signs which are taking place in your time are telling you that even now there has come to you the Great Tribulation, which is preparing you for the new era which I have promised you with the Triumph of my Immaculate Heart in the world."

On December 31, 1983, through Father Gobbi, the Blessed Mother gave several reasons for the destruction that is upon us. She stated:"The signs the Lord sends are neither understood nor accepted; the dangers pointed out by `my Pope' who courageously and anxiously is predicting the storm awaiting you, are not believed. The messages which I give, through simple and little souls chosen by me in every part of the world, are not taken into consideration. The appearances which I am still making, often in faraway and dangerous places, are ignored. And yet you are only inches from your ruin. When all will be shouting for peace, a new World War could suddenly fall upon you, spreading death and destruction everywhere."

"...and a great star fell from Heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter."

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is on the northeastern Ukrainian border only miles from the Republic of Belarus. The plant contaminated parts of Sweden, Poland, Finland (as far as Lapland where tens of thousands of reindeer were slaughtered due to contamination), significant parts of Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. The world is unaware of the destruction that is levied for a thousand years and thousands of miles due to a problem at one plant. There are twenty-six such plants in the former Soviet Union of the same 2,000 megawatt design. Nine should have been shut down years ago. However, there is no money to retrofit the plants to make them safe, for the republics are not able to pay the Western companies for their work. According to Asea, Brown, Boveri (ABB), the largest electrical contractor in the world, these plants are another disaster waiting to happen.

The Soviet government tried to keep the Chernobyl disaster quiet until an American satellite photographed a brown forest two days after the accident. The word was out in the West, but the Soviet government hid the facts from its own citizens for as long as possible. Approximately 40,000 people have died, and another several hundred thousand are in and out of the oncology wards. Official estimates are that over 250,000 people have relocated away from areas with contaminated soils.

A clock tower in Gomel (a town of approximately 700,000 residents just north of Chernobyl) posts the time, date, and radiation level. The people have something called a nuclear smile:a scar from the thyroid gland being cut out, since this is where the radiation collects and stores in the body. Scientists, psychologists, and others have been using Gomel as a test case for what happens when trauma strikes a community. Over seventy percent of the people suffer from depression and hope has largely vanished from their eyes.

Although several years have passed since that fateful day of April 26, 1986, the scope of the disaster and its long-term effects are only now coming to light. Now the contamination is in the soil and experts estimate the repercussions of active plutonium in the soil will affect agriculture for thousands of years. As we read in the verse of Revelation quoted above--"and it fell on a third of the rivers"--could more nuclear accidents pollute rivers and waters world-wide? To the pilgrims at the Hrushiv, Ukraine, apparition site, Our Blessed Mother said, "Chernobyl is a sign for the world." 11

Josyp Terelya a visionary from the Ukraine, recently experienced some apparitions and messages from the Mother of God in Marmora, Ontario, Canada. We give considerable weight to his messages. A full account of Mr. Terelya's life is contained in his book Witness, written with Michael Brown. It is a fascinating account of his twenty years as a prisoner of conscience in the former Soviet Union. 12

Sunday, September 13, 1992:Our Lady said:"Pray constantly for Russia, for these people will suffer again exceedingly and will perish in their sins without grace and repentance. Pray in this chapel for peace and for love in this country of Canada. People are not aware that the prophesied times are upon them. My heart grieves; I weep with maternal tears for all sinners, but what of this.... People have torn themselves loose of all restraints. There is no authority; there is no peace; there is no truth nor justice. There is no true piety.

"My child, I tell you that the final times are near. My children, you are on the threshold of the day of judgment. God is now calling all to Himself as never before, to mutual understanding, to brotherly love among all. Respect your parents.... And again I ask devout Christians to pray; to pray constantly for the Pope that God might give him the wisdom and strength to lead the Church to its triumph and to the glory that He has predestined for her. The destruction in the Church began during the pontificate of Pope Paul VI. They began destroying the Church from within.

"...His authority as Pope is being eroded in disastrous fashion. But God has given the Church strength even here, notwithstanding the internal shortcomings brought about by apostates. The faith of Christians throughout the entire world is being renewed and strengthened through the pilgrimages of the Pope."

Friday, September 18, 1992:The Mother of God said:"I have come because there are terrible events that will befall a godless humanity that does not want to receive my Son. Josyp, my son, the time is at hand. So many events of greater or lesser magnitude have already affected many nations. But there is an event coming that will shake the entire world. A great war, the greatest that has ever been until now is imminent. So many will not survive it; only those who accept Christ the King and obey God's Commandments. I am telling you this so that devout Christians might be able to obtain the knowledge that will enable them to defend themselves. All this has been written in the Holy Book in the Gospel of Christ. Everywhere the servants of the Antichrist, the sons of Satan, will come proclaiming peace and quiet, but Satan is preparing a great war, such as has never been seen until now. His power is invisible, and this power will drive people to arm themselves.

"...It is Satan himself who speaks through the false prophet of the Organization of the United Nations using the corpse of the Organization of United Nations to deceive mankind...

"From antiquity, when God changed the name of Lucifer and gave him the name the Dragon, the Serpent and Satan, because of his rebellion against the Lord, he always opposes God's plans. We are in those times, when the end is near and remember what the Lord said about Satan and his visible and invisible forces on earth. In the end times Satan will be punished and all his forces destroyed. The devil knows well that his time is short, the time to prepare for the great battle and his purpose is to destroy all mankind rather than seeing all men serve God. This is the age-old despair of the devil, for he knows that he can never win against God. Satan knows that he cannot win his duel with God, the Almighty and All-Merciful One. This is why for some time I have been speaking across the globe about the imminent coming of God's kingdom under Christ, that this kingdom is the hope of the world. This is why the devil is in such a frenzy to drag all the nations of the world into a great war, in order that he might destroy God's creation. This is why the Organization of the United Nations was established through the agency of the devil, that through this diabolic exchange he might change God's kingdom into a kingdom of darkness. The devil is now using the Organization of the United Nations to deceive and to blind the nations before God's truth, to keep people from placing their trust in the kingdom of God, which alone is the hope of the world.

"...Today as never before we see the servants of Satan, all the evil spirits and antichrists, openly proclaiming their hatred of God, saying, We are rejecting God and His kingdom, because we shall govern the earth ourselves as we ourselves want.

"How many priests and bishops there are today who give glory to God with their lips but not with their hearts. How many are the priests that deny the Bible today, especially those sections which proclaim Jesus as the Savior and King of the world.

"...Some governments will begin to protect homosexuality and all sorts of abominations of the devil. Congresses and parliaments will make laws against truth, and some have already done so. Those who speak the truth will be considered criminals. It is then that the general persecution of Christians will begin. The law will prohibit the truth and the law of God.

"In Russia preparations are under way for a world-wide revolution; the forces of hell that control the world will continue to say that everything they are doing is for the sake of peace and the welfare of the people, but at the same time they will continue to take away the freedom and free will from the people. They will continue to persecute the Church, but in another way. The overseer leaders of the Red Dragon are so sure that they have defeated the nations. And as their dictatorial power throttles the throats of the people it says `Now you have peace and security,' but there will be no security."

On December 31, 1992, the Blessed Mother, through Father Gobbi pointed out to us the signs of the last times. She said, "I have announced to you many times that the end of the times and the coming of Jesus in glory is very near. Now, I want to help you understand the signs described in Holy Scriptures, which indicate that His glorious return is now close.

"These signs are clearly indicated in the Gospels, in the letters of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and they are becoming a reality during these years.

"The first sign is the spread of errors, which lead to the loss of faith and to the apostasy.

"The second sign is the outbreak of wars and fratricidal struggles, which lead to the prevalence of violence and hatred and a general slackening off of charity, while natural catastrophes, such as epidemics, famines, floods, and earthquakes, become more and more frequent. When you hear of reports of wars, close at hand or far away, see that you are not alarmed; for these things must happen.

"The third sign is the bloody persecution of those who remain faithful to Jesus and to His Gospel and who stand fast in the true faith.

"The fourth sign is the horrible sacrilege, perpetrated by him who sets himself against Christ, that is, the Antichrist. He will enter into the holy temple of God and will sit on his throne, and have himself adored as God. One day, you will see in the holy place he who commits the horrible sacrilege. The prophet Daniel spoke of this. Let the reader seek to understand (Matthew 24:15).

"...In order to understand in what this horrible sacrilege consists, read what has been predicted by the prophet Daniel:`Go, Daniel; these words are to remain secret and sealed until the end of time. Many will be cleansed, made white and upright, but the wicked will persist in doing wrong. Not one of the wicked will understand these things, but the wise will comprehend.

"`Now, from the moment that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the horrible abomination is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits with patience and attains one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.'

"The fifth sign consists in extraordinary phenomena, which occur in the skies. `The sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; and the stars will fall from the sky; and the powers in the heavens will be shaken' (Matthew 24:29).

"I am always with you, to tell you that the coming about of these signs indicates to you with certainty that the end of the times, with the return of Jesus in glory, is close at hand."

Patricia ("Pachi") Talbott, of Cuenca, Ecuador, has received similar messages. On January 1, 1989, the Blessed Mother told Pachi:"The third World War threatens the world...earthquakes will come, hurricanes, the sky will shower fire, all this will come from the Father, the Son, and the Spirit of God." 13

Many national security experts feel that the incubator for the next World War is in Bosnia. The killings and brutality have been on a scale that this generation has not seen. Ten years ago the scenario that is taking shape there was not even imaginable. Former Yugoslavian dictator Marshall Tito had kept a firm grip on the region for nearly forty years and had prevented it from being under the total domination of the Soviet Union. The beautiful Adriatic was a mecca for European vacationers. In the space of a few short years, this region has become a scourge of Western civilization.

The Balkan region is potentially the breeding ground for the next World War. The Russians are siding with the Serbs, and Muslims as well as Christians continue to be massacred. Russian mercenary troops in Serbia further complicate the scenario. Europe sits back and watches anemically while the ethnic tensions continue to escalate to the point where the United Nations Security Council goes through the motions of problem-solving but continues to do nothing. The Balkans have always been a hotbed of ethnic tension. Today's fighting could easily evolve into a Christian versus Muslim conflict, with world powers taking sides. Is this the war so many of the mystics and visionaries have alluded to? Or is it North Korea with its nuclear capability? "There will be wars and rumors of wars...."

Jim Singer, a native of Zagreb, Croatia, now living in Canada, in 1989 started receiving apparitions of the Father, Jesus, and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On December 14, 1989, Our Lord gave the message that we shall soon witness tragic events in the countries of the Eastern world because of the vicious aggression by the Shining Darkness and the weak faith of God's children. "Our Lord warned us that difficult and tragic times threaten our ancestral homeland. [Authors' note:This message predates the war.] Out of the vicious aggression of the Shining Darkness our ancestral homeland shall be on the front news of the media. Our Lord's message is that He will destroy the malefactor's intentions and to His children in our ancestral homeland He will give peace and love, if children in sufficient numbers sincerely surrender their hearts to Him."

"On January 1, 1990, Our Lord's message is that we are to follow His teachings, to use His gifts, and we will be shielded from the Shining Darkness....the decisions which the leaders of the world's countries will make over the next several weeks will be lasting and of enormous consequence....even the individuals who will make these decisions have no concept of the significance of their decisions. Our Blessed Mother encouraged the Lord's children to conversion, sacrifices, and many contrite prayers. She promised that by...prayers we can prevent the evils... which the hellish enemy is preparing...."

"The future two years (1990 and 1991) are decisive for all My children.... This malefactor shall multiply his evil powers.... By the power of My presence you will soon be rewarded with the first victory in this final battle. Communism shall crumble before your eyes, but many of My children will not recognize My hand among you. Many of My children among you will again be deceived and seduced. Remember, wherever I am with you, the evil one has already sown his seed of poison to hinder your return to My embrace...."

"Dear children, be alert, for you are now entering into the age of great viciousness by the Shining Darkness. Constantly keep in mind that he uses all possible deceptions and evil powers.... These next two years (1990 and 1991), are of particular significance to you. The consequences of your earthly decisions shall be permanent. Do not rejoice in the disintegration of the evil powers too soon. Your rejoicing will become deservedly glistening only when you completely eradicate every drop of the malefactor's poison which he has sown deeply among you children. The power of faith in Me, by each one of My children, is the only way to the total triumph over the evil enemy of My children's bodies and souls.

"My dear son, out of my love for My earthly children I shall devastate the evil communist empire of the Shining Darkness. My son, even your ancestral homeland shall not be left short of My power. Remember My teachings. You have been warned that anyone who cleans and tidies his/her home of the evil spirit, must urgently receive Me under his/her roof. Any home into which I am not called shall be filled with seven new evil spirits, much more vicious than the first one.

"To My Church I send the message to awaken the love for Me in My every child more potently, thoroughly, and courageously. I warn you to beware of the delights of the malefactor's poison and his particular attention to My children of the Western world. These children are in need of My love equally as urgently. Under the Shining Darkness they are becoming the ever more powerful instrument of evil, but in My Love they are called to be the guardians of Truth, Justice and Peace."

Our Lord told Jim:"For your conversion I give you the gift of Medjugorje. In the gift of Medjugorje you possess all the messages which the Immaculate Mother brings you. They are the only method for you to eliminate the Shining Darkness from your lives. His poisoned gifts lead you to eternal damnation.

"In China the Shining Darkness will appear as the victor, since far too few of you have enough faith in divine intervention. I tell you that the time when you will be witnesses of My Intervention into your earthly lives is soon coming. But, I admonish you to examine your love and faithfulness to me. The Shining Darkness will multiply his powers.

"The Shining Darkness is preparing for you great bloodshed in the Eastern world, especially the USSR. In the Western world my children shall meet with great injustices, violence, oppression, and an ever deeper and greater loss of dignity with which I gifted you.

"Because of your conversion the Shining Darkness shall lose this battle. But, the victims among you shall be many. In these special times you will soon be witnesses of My graces. Many among you who were tortured, disgraced, banished, exiled and persecuted will soon take their place among those that are first. Convert and through My love you shall be the victors. The tragedies which the Shining Darkness is preparing as his `gift' to you My children, will be thwarted by your faith."

Julia Kim of Naju, astigmatic, is only one of the mystics throughout the world saying the world is in serious trouble. Like other visionaries around the world--most of whom have had no contact with each other--Julia has been warned by Our Lady of dire future events:"To prevent fire from falling on the earth, I am constantly praying for my children who are victims of sin and corruption and I am suffering in their place offering up the sacrifices they should be making to the Almighty. However, if people still continue to compromise with the world, without paying attention to the will of God and without trying to live the spiritual life, it will be too late to avert disaster. You know what was the sad state of the world at the time the Tower of Babel was built and the years before the deluge. Well, what happened then will occur again unless there is a reformation in morality and a change for the better in the lives of men" (January 8, 1989).

"Feet that should be turned in the direction that leads to the worship and service of God are now running in the opposite way. That is, on the broad road to evil and destruction. Lips that should be used to praise and bless the Lord are blaspheming and insulting Him. That is the reason why the world is slowly being surrounded with darkness and obscurity--a condition that will not fail to provoke the displeasure of the Almighty. If my children do not live evangelical lives, heed my messages and do all they can to alleviate my tears and anguish, they will...have no way of escaping the sufferings caused by all kinds of evil disasters" (October 14, 1990).

"Before long the world will come face to face with extraordinary disaster. My children must forsake the way of evil and put into practice the messages I am giving you. Recall how the people of Israel obeyed Moses and left Egypt to go in the direction of the promised land. I am pleading with you now and with tears in my eyes in the same way that God, through Moses, appealed to the Jewish people to follow Him on the way to freedom and away from paganism and bondage. What would have been the lot of mankind if Noah, who had been instructed by God to build the ark for his own salvation, had neglected to obey the Divine command? Take my urgent appeals to heart and inscribe them on your hearts because I am making them with blood and tears in my eyes--why are so many so bland and so drab? My heart is aflame with sad concern for families, for the Church and for society, because all these have been touched and weakened by evil and corruption" (October 14, 1989).

The messages of Oliveto Citra, Italy, given to twelve boys, warn that the world is on the edge of the abyss--and say that time before the catastrophe is very short. Oliveto Citra south of Naples, Italy, is a small town of 3,500 people. Apparitions have been occurring since 1985 in a church by the name of "Our Lady of Mercy." 14

December 15, 1985:Tarcisio, one of the visionaries, said:"Our Lady appeared to me...and she said to me, `Tell the pilgrims that I do not need flowers and candles, that I need prayers because the time left before the catastrophe is very short."'

December 20, 1985:"Our Lady told me [Tarcisio] that the arm of her Son is held back, but we should remember that what the Lord has put in the world he can remove."

\pard

January 10, 1986:Our Lady to Mafalda:"My dear children, God sends me on earth to come to save all because the whole world is in danger. I come among you to bring peace to your hearts. God wants that peace to reign in the hearts of all mankind, and He wants the conversion of all peoples.

"Therefore, my dear children, pray, pray, pray; if you do not pray, you will receive nothing. The time that you have left is short; there will be earthquakes, disasters, and famines for the inhabitants of the earth.... I will pray that God will not punish you. God says, Save yourselves, pray much, and do penance, and be converted, with prayer you can obtain everything. People should not bow only before God, but also toward their own brothers and sisters who suffer fighting hunger in the world. Mankind is full of serious sins that offend the love of God. Peace on earth is about to end, the world cannot be saved without peace, but the world will find peace only if mankind returns to God. My children, I beg you to pray for the conversion of all peoples; do penance and save yourselves from hell. I will engage in the final struggle against Satan which will conclude with the triumph of my Immaculate Heart and with the coming of the kingdom of God in the world.

"Those who refuse God today will go far from Him tomorrow into hell. I have presented myself to you as the Immaculate Virgin Mother of Jesus, and I come to bring to you, dear children, mercy, forgiveness, and peace in the name of God the Father.

"Have this message read to priests, and I want it to be communicated to everyone as soon as possible. Do not be ashamed of my message, but say it to everyone you meet. For the spreading of my message is a great apostolic work, because with information about the apparitions and with knowledge of the messages, many people will pray more."

February 11, 1986:Mafalda's message for the people of Oliveto Citra from Our Lady:"My dear children, I invite you to pray much in these days because Satan has made himself evident in a particular way in this town. So pray, pray, pray so that all I have planned may come about. That way, Satan can't do anything."

April 1986:Mafalda wrote:"I asked Our Lady if there is danger of a third World War. Our Lady answered me with this message:"Dear children, do not ask, but be converted, and pray much. I, Mary, will not leave you, but I want you to understand once and for all that the world is at the edge of the abyss. Mankind is sliding toward a frightening precipice; therefore, my children, pray, pray, pray; be converted and do penance. The three-fold way to save yourselves from sin and punishment is:prayer, conversion, and penance."

Dozens of visitors have seen Our Blessed Mother at Oliveto Citra, where she first appeared to twelve young boys. Since then, others have also witnessed her appearances.
 
 

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