The Marian Apparition
Miracles can happen.
Children can see holy spirits and citizens can see the sun dancing in the sky.
Our Lady of Fátima (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora de Fátima, European Portuguese: [ˈnɔsɐ sɨˈɲoɾɐ dɨ ˈfatimɐ][1]) is the title based on apparitions to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal, on the thirteenth day of six consecutive months in 1917, beginning on May 13. The three children were Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto.In the 19th century similar miracles occurred in France with appearance of Holy Mary.
The apparition is also referred to as Our Lady of the Rosary (a term first used in 1208 for the reputed apparition in the church of Prouille), because the children said the apparition called herself the "Lady of the Rosary". A combination of these titles is also seen, i.e. Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima (Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima).
The events at Fátima gained fame due to elements of secrets, prophecy and eschatology, particularly with regard to World War II and possible world wars in the future. Chief among these is also the alleged urgent need for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The reported apparitions at Fátima were officially declared "worthy of belief" by the Catholic Church.
As early as July 1917 it was claimed that the Virgin Mary had promised a miracle for the last of her apparitions on October 13, so that all would believe. What happened then became known as the "Miracle of the Sun". A huge crowd, variously estimated between 30,000 and 100,000,[9] including newspaper reporters and photographers, gathered at the Cova da Iria. The incessant rain had ceased and there was a thin layer of cloud. Lúcia, seeing light rising from the lady's hands and the sun appearing as a silver disk, called out "look at the sun". She later had no memory of saying this.[6] Witnesses later spoke of the sun appearing to change colors and rotate like a wheel.[10] Witnesses gave widely varying descriptions of the "sun's dance". Poet Afonso Lopes Vieira and schoolteacher Delfina Lopes (with her students and other witnesses in the town of Alburita), reported that the solar phenomenon was visible up to forty kilometers away.[10]
Columnist Avelino de Almeida of O Século (Portugal's most influential newspaper, which was pro-government in policy and avowedly anti-clerical),[6] reported the following: "Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bare-headed, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws - the sun 'danced' according to the typical expression of the people."
Eye specialist Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho, writing for the newspaper Ordem reported "The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceeding fast and whirling movement, at times appearing to be loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly radiating heat".
The special reporter for the October 17, 1917 edition of the Lisbon daily, O Dia, reported the following, "...the silver sun, enveloped in the same gauzy purple light was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds...The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands...people wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they."[13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima#First_two_secrets
The vision of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal is said to have appeared to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830 in the convent of Rue du Bac, Paris. She reported that one night in the chapel, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her and asked that a medallion be made to a design that she dictated. The lady added that, "All who wear this medal will receive great graces."[39] After spending two years examining her claims, her priest eventually took the information to his archbishop. The medal eventually produced came to be referred to as the Miraculous Medal. The front of the medal displays a picture of the virgin as she appeared to Catherine Labouré. The design on the reverse includes the letter M and a cross. Pope John Paul II used a slight variation of the reverse image as his coat of arms, the Marian Cross.In 1804 Napoleon ascended to the imperial throne in Paris. But at the end of the 19th century France became a republic through the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870 – 1871).
The apparitions of Our Lady of La Salette were reported in La Salette in France in 1846 by two shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, followed by numerous accounts of miraculous healings. The Roman Catholic Church investigated the claims and found them basically credible.
In 1858 Saint Bernadette Soubirous was a 14-year-old shepherd girl who lived near the town of Lourdes in France. One day she reported a vision of a miraculous Lady who identified Herself as "the Immaculate Conception" in subsequent visions. In the second vision she was asked to return again and she had 18 visions overall. According to Saint Bernadette, the Lady held a string of Rosary beads and led Saint Bernadette to the discovery of a buried spring, also requesting that the local priests build a chapel at the site of the visions and lead holy processions there
The apparitions at Our Lady of Pontmain, France also called Our Lady of Hope were reported in 1871 by a number of young children.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_apparition
But the most important incident in France and its neighboring countries is the initiation of communism.
In late 1847, Marx and Engels began writing what was to become their most famous work – a programme of action for the Communist League. Written jointly by Marx and Engels from December 1847 to January 1848, The Communist Manifesto was first published on 21 February 1848.
Later that year, Europe experienced a series of protests, rebellions, and often violent upheavals that became known as the Revolution of 1848.[106] In France, a revolution led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the French Second Republic.[106] Marx was supportive of such activity, and having recently received a substantial inheritance from his father of either 6000[107] or 5000 francs,[108][109] allegedly used a third of it to arm Belgian workers who were planning revolutionary action.Europe was being split among the poor or laborers and the rich or capitalists. France could have been another Soviet Union or another Nazi Germany. But with a strong tie with Christian traditions and spiritualism as symbolized by apparition of Holy Maria, France could avoid moving into those extreme directions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx#Cologne:_1848.E2.80.931849
The Marian Apparition in Fatima preceded the emergence of Nazism and ｔhe Russian Revolution. The miracle in Portugal should be regarded as a spiritual warning to these two great evil phenomena. It is estimated that Nazis and Hitler killed six million Judaists and the Soviet Communist Party killed 20 million Russians and other peoples ruled by Stalin. Taking into account of these scales of the tragedies, it is no wonder that God sent some spiritual warning to Europeans prior to the occurrence.
We have to be probably amazed at the historical facts that France did not become another Soviet Union or another Nazi Germany before WWII, and that Portugal, Spain, and countries in Latin America and Africa that were once under colonial rule of Portugal or Spain were not involved in, or did not join, the Second World War directly. It was realized by spiritual influences of the Marian Apparition in France and Fatima, in my view.
Now, have we seen miracles accompanying the Second Coming of Christ Jesus? Are they the 9/11 Terror, the 2008 Financial Crisis, or the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident?
In 2005 the last witness of the Apparition of Holy Maria in Fatima died.
Lúcia died on February 13, 2005, at the age of 97. After her death, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (and later to become Pope Benedict XVI), ordered her cell sealed off. It is believed this was because the evidence needed to be examined in the course of proceedings for her possible canonization.[24]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima#First_two_secrets
Then Pope John Paul II died in April 2005. Then Cardinal Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was elected to Pope; he became Pope Benedict XVI. However Pope Benedict XVI spontaneously stepped down to be succeeded by Pope Francis on 13 March 2013 (and he moved into the newly renovated Mater Ecclesiae monastery for his retirement on 2 May 2013).
It is no wonder that the Vatican is hiding two miracles: apparition of Holy Mary to Pope John Paul II in 2005 and that to Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.
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Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
Mat 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.