In 1984, the Bishop of Niigata, bishop John Shojiro Ito, wrote a letter on behalf of the unique revelations which occurred between 1973-1981 with the sponsorship of the Holy See to the then Cardinal Ratzinger - now Pope Benedict XVI and received the word that these apparitions were reliable and worthy of belief.
The Message - Worldwide Chastisement
Like Fatima, the message of Akita warned of a coming chastisement. But this chastisement, unlike Fatima, was much more biblical in nature. The warnings included apocalypses of biblical proportions. "As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead."
But similar to the apparitions at Garabandal, the manifestation of the Blessed Virgin at Akita, Japan indicated that a sign would be left for all time to prove the presence of God. "The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day, recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests."
As with many manifestations of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Akita told Sr. Sasagawa that if enough people prayed for peace, and prayed the Rosary in particular, many of these disasters could be averted.
The Manifestation at Akita, Japan
Sr. Agnes Sasagawa began receiving interior locutions when she prayed before a certain statue of the Blessed Virgin in the chapel in the convent at Akita, Japan. This statue began to bleed from a wound in her side and then to cry tears of blood sometime after these interior locutions began taking place.
Another fascinating apparition occurred to a woman in Illinois which became known as Our Lady of America. And in the 1930’s, a very humble nun experienced apparitions of Jesus Christ and received what is today known as The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.
Sources:
- Those who Saw Her: Apparitions of Mary - Catherine M. Odell
- Catherine Laboure and the Modern Apparitions of Our Lady - By Abbe Omer Englebert
- Miraculous Images: Photographs Containing God's Fingerprints - By Marilynn Hughes
- Medjugorje: Light for the World - By Pietro Jacopini
- Our Lady Comes to Garabandal - By Joseph A. Pelletier, A.A.
- The Wonder of Guadalupe - By Francis Johnston
- The Glories of Czestochowa and Jasna, To the Priests Our Lady's Beloved Sons - Marian Movement of Priests
- Our Lady of America - By Sister Mildred Mary Neuzil
- The Thunder of Justice - By Ted and Maureen Flynn
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