But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought an affliction, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace.
The horrific attack on the United States on September 11th was an unconscionable violation of God's law. The killing of thousands of innocent and unaware civilians was a direct violation of the Word of God as understood by all followers of the Book, whether they are Jewish, Moslem or Christian. This act was an abomination before God, permitted only because He gave all men - the good and the evil - free will. It was an explicit act of evil sent from the prince of darkness.
But how should these horrific events be considered? In Jesus' time, the Jews believed that those who experienced good fortune were in God's good graces and those who suffered misfortune were thought to have been punished by God. Jesus directly addressed this:
And He answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Jesus uses the collapse of the tower of Siloam as a call to repentance for ALL, whatever their station in life. The people of the United States must return to the practice of the faith so many claim to profess.
The radical Islamic terrorists who committed these atrocities justify their actions and receive some measure of popular support because they can point to actions and practices in the U.S. that are inimical to Islam. But these same practices are a violation of Christian morality as well. The rampant use of abortion, the soft and hard core pornography, the aggressive popularization of homosexuality, the blatant immorality and the tinkering with the very mechanisms of human life - each popularized and globally disseminated by the U.S. media - appear as acts of deliberate defiance of God to most followers of Islam. Western Civilization must now come to terms with its moral mistakes if it is to effectively remove whatever popular support these terrorists receive from the Islamic populations that conceal them. We must repent of our sins and begin to walk down a new path with our God - the path He originally intended us to walk. Let us remember this:
We must respond to this horror by turning unequivocally to God. By our every action let us appoint those 7,000 who died martyrs in the cause of a rediscovery of the Faith that Jesus gave us two thousand years ago.
It's time as never before for prayer and fasting. President Bush must also turn to prayer and take up fasting before making any major decisions in responding to these acts against humanity. He seems a faith-filled man and he needs to practice that faith as never before. The extremists who murdered 7,000 innocents have taken up lodging with the powers and the principalities - with the prince of darkness. It is these powers with whom we are ALL engaged in battle
More signs in the heavens...
The last ten days of June represent the most interesting combination of astronomical conditions in some time. Coming as it does during the peak statistical "season" for seiemic activity along the West Coast of N. America, it could prove quite eventful. On June 21st, the sun reaches its highest point in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere at about the same time a total solar eclipse occurs. Two days later, on June 23rd, the moon makes its closest approach to the earth. All this occurs at a time the sun is undergoing a period af maximum solar activity where solar flares, auroral displays and coronal mass ejections are all likely to occur. The last part of June clearly bears close watching.
...as the Pope travels to the Ukraine
In the midst of these astronomical signs, Pope John Paul II will make his first trip to the Ukraine between June 23rd and June 27th. He will spend time in Kiev and Lviv. More than 2 million are expected to take part in his visit there and security precautions are extremely tight in response to potential terrorist acts. Unfortunately, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow publicly expressed its opposition to the upcoming papal trip which has created additional tension. Let us all keep the Pope in prayer as he attempts to lay the groundwork for the eventual reunification of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
The trip and the astronomically "interesting" period come as the Catholic Church celebrates two special feast days - the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary - both of which came about as the result of apparitions. The feast of the Sacred Heart is the result of a series of apparitions and mystical insights that arose beginning in the twelfth century. St. Mechtilde of Magdenburg and St. Catherine of Siena wrote about their mystical experiences which made the abundance of God's love concrete. In the seventeenth century, the visions of the Sacret Heart that were experienced by St. Mary Margaret Alacoque and the twelve promises that accompanied these visions dramatically increased devotion to the Sacred Heart. In 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart in response to the visions of Sr. Droste-Vishering.
Following the feast of the Sacred Heart is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It's celebrated this year on the day the Pope is scheduled to arrive in the Ukraine. This feast derives from the Church's declaration in 1854 of the reality of the Immaculate Conception of Jesus' mother Mary. Four years later at Lourdes France, the Blessed Virgin appeared to poor, eleven year-old Bernadette Soubirous. At the close of the apparitions there, the woman of the vision identified herself as "the Immaculate Conception". In the early Twebtieth Century, 1917, during the second of the apparitions at Fatima on June 13th, the Blessed Virgin told Lucia, the oldest of the three children who could see her, the following:
The Church has honored this request with its celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Let us each increase our devotion to these two Hearts and keep the Pope in prayer as he attempts to mend the wounds of a millenium.
In a little noticed interview, which has recently been more precisely translated, Sr. Lucia - the oldest of the shephards who saw the Blessed Virgin in 1917 - described the events at the end of the 20th Century as confirming the visions of the future she witnessed in July of 1917. In a 1993 discussion with Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, Sr. Lucia made some very direct observations about the thrid part of the Fátima secret:
These statements, made by the one person on earth who actually saw and recorded the prophetic secrets of 1917, appear to confirm a part of the analysis of the visions of St. John Bosco as well as the import of the "third secret" we provided a year ago. What Sr. Lucia has told us is that the second rosary victory forseen by St.John Bosco actually occurred in the 1980's!
While it is still relatively early to reach definitive conclusions as to the authenticity of the more than 300 reports of Marian apparitions that have been recorded in the 20th Century, a preliminary list of those that appear to pass muster can be drawn-up.
While the remainder of St. John Bosco's vision has yet to play out...we still await the era of peace he foresaw, nonetheless Sr. Lucia's explanations put several other Marian Apparitions into perspective. Sr. Agnes Sasagawa's experience at Akita can now be understood to be a prophetic foreshadowing of a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union which would have occurred in 1985 but for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin in response to the consecration performed by Pope John Paul II. Further, in Cuapa, Nicaragua the Blessed Virgin told Bernardo Martinex that if people did not change, they would hasten the coming of the Third World War.
Our view as to the authentic Marian Apparitions of the Twentieth Century...
Fatima, Portugal 1917 Sr. Lucia, Bl. Jacinta & Bl. Francisco
San Giovanni, Italy 1918 Padre Pio
Beauraing, Belgium 1932 5 children
Banneux, Belgium 1933
Cracow, Poland 1935 St. Faustina Kowalska
Zeitoun, Egypt 1968 tens of thousands
Akita, Japan 1973 Sr. Agnes Sasagawa
Betania, Venezuela 1976 Maria Biancini Esperanza
Cuapa, Nicaragua 1980 Bernardo Martinez
Litmanova, Slovakia 1990 Ivetka Korcakova & Katka Ceselkova
Cleveland, Ohio 1985 Maureen Sweeney
Naju, Korea 1985 Julia Kim
Massillou, Ohio 1985 Robert Hartman (sinner/saint)
Conyers, Georgia 1987 Nancy Fowler
Denver, Colorado 1990 Theresa Lopez & Veronica Garcia
Lincoln, Nebraska 1991 Dr. Mary Jane Even
Emmitsburg, Maryland 1994 Gianna Talone Sullivan
Arlington, Virginia 1994 Joseph B. Reyes
Necedah, Wisconsin 1950's MaryAnn VanHoof
Bayside, New York 1970's Veronica LeukinThis listing is not meant to be all-inclusive but rather touches upon the more well-known reports of purported apparitions. Medjugorje is not included on this listing although statements by two bishops and a Commission were leaning toward a finding of a non-supernatural origin for the reports there. However, there are a number of supporters of Medjugorje who hold that the two Bishops have been impacted by the ethnic strife that has decimated the Balkans over the past decade and cannot be objective in their assesments.
The miracle of the sun at Fatima and our active Sun today...
The current solar cycle reached maximum a year or so ago. That period of maximum solar activity will likely continue into the Fall of 2001. This period of maximum activity is usually accompanied by increased seismicity on Earth, many multi-colored auroral displays in the Northern and Southern skys, occasional disruptions in intercontinental short wave communications, and ever now and then massive power surges which create regional blackouts. All of these effects bring to mind the "Miracle of the Sun that occurred at Fatima on October 13, 1917. The seventy thousand who were in Fatima became terrified when they witnessed the sun appear to spiral out of the sky in a multi-colored display. Many thought the world was coming to an end! Might our Sun mimic some of these displays during this solar cycle? Clearly, we are in the time period when dramatic solar displays are possible and a massive solar eruption would certainly cause havoc to satellite communications and the other accoutrements of modern technology. It could even bring parts of modern civilization to a halt if the eruption was strong enough and was directed across the Earth's orbital plane. If such an event occurred, some would probably call it a warning to humanity to change its ways....and they might just be right!
If you wish to keep track of developments in the space environment around the Earth, just click here and you will be taken to NOAA's Space Weather site. Keep in mind that there's still time to ask God for a conversion of heart, still time to pray and still time to turn our lives over to Jesus...let's us all begin anew before time runs out.
Veritas, and a general site for apparition information.
Information on several religious devotions...
The Divine Mercy prayers and information about Blessed Faustina.Information about St. Philomena, Patroness of the Children of Mary.
Information about the Holy Rosary and other Marian devotions.
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