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Each week I’ve been presenting one of Mary’s modern apparitions as pieces in a mosaic because Mary’s apparitions are interconnected. They are building into supra-apparition with a super message. The apparitions of Akita, Japan hinge upon the Amsterdam apparitions. And the groundwork for Amsterdam was prepared by the apparitions at Marienfried, Germany. Just as the books of the Bible were written in different eras, by different authors and sometimes in different languages, but all converging into the revelation of the Holy Trinity, so the apparitions of Mary when she began public messages to the world, are converging into a revelation of mankind as the image of the God the Holy Trinity.

I’m eager to get to that supra-picture, but the mosaic needs a few more pieces before we can appreciate the overview. I remember seeing many years ago, an aerial photograph taken in western Kansas. The massive image of Wild Bill Hickok (or was it Buffalo Bill) was formed by a group of farmers who had planted many square miles of different crops to create the shading of the eyes and beard, etc. It was absolutely stunning from the sky, but walking or driving on the ground a person would have no idea that he might be passing through an eyebrow or near the chin. Did the people rebuilding the Temple of Ezra’s day know what part of the Bible they were developing? Did they know that their Temple would grow old again and be renovated by the half-Jew murderer Herod the not-really Great, and that the long-awaited Savior-Messiah would enter the Temple as a six-week infant carried in the arms of Joseph, a distant descendant of King David? Of course not.

But there would have been no temple if that faithful group of Jews hadn’t left their comfort zone to return to the burned out city and rebuild Jerusalem. Every book of the Bible is precious and indispensable, so of course, each book can be a life-time study, especially if it’s a long book like Genesis or Isaiah. In this seminar on Mary’s apparitions we are examining the more important pieces because the better we grasp their individual meaning, the easier it will be to see their collective meaning.

The next very big tessera in the mosaic is Amsterdam and I should probably be covering that one today since I’ve tried to proceed in chronological order. But something in my heart is urging me to focus on Akita, Japan which is intimately connected to the Apparitions at Amsterdam. Akita is an approved apparition, and American, English-speaking Catholics have had an advantage in learning about this far away oriental story through the selfless apostolate of the 101 Foundation. This isn’t by good luck or coincidence. Mary indicated the United States in her main message when she used an English term instead of a Japanese term. We’ll get to that this morning.

Missionaries in Japan have always said that it was tough to spread the gospel in this country. The Shinto religion and Japan are so intertwined that the national culture can hardly be separated from this vague, ancient animist religion. Buddhism is also prevalent but technically Buddhism can be regarded as a philosophy, so there are many Shinto Buddhists. And although many Japanese also identify as atheists, they can do so because their understanding of the “gods” of Shinto and the “chi” of Buddha is not a transcendent being as we understand a personal God, but reincarnated entities who abide in plants and animals, lakes and rivers and can do good or harm.

The Shinto purification rites are usually for the purpose of keeping the gods at bay. Since these entities are part of the scenery of Japan, it feels very Japanese. They don’t try to evangelize other nations. They don’t welcome other religions. Shinto priests bless new buildings, automobiles, and other things and places in special rites. When a machine is retired, there is a ceremony to thank the “spirit” of the machine for its service. There are some 85,000 Shinto shrines in Japan with 16 million members. Catholics represent less than half of a percent of the population.

Sister Agnes

Katsuko Sasagawa was born May 28, 1931 into a Japanese family who were Buddhists for generations. Katsuko was born prematurely. Never physically strong she was sheltered and cared for. As she said, she never even learned to boil rice. Her older sister was very sensitive to Katsuko’s needs and limitations. If the parents unwittingly expected Katsuko to do more than she could, her older sister stepped in gently. Five years after World War II ended with two atom bombs dropped in Japan, Katsuko was nineteen and suffered from an appendicitis attack. She underwent surgery, but something went wrong. Her central nervous system was damaged. She emerged paralyzed, and for the next sixteen years she was transferred from hospital to hospital undergoing one operation after the other. A Catholic nurse felt special compassion for this young woman. She spent time with Katsuko and told her how she herself could bear trials with joy because of her faith in Jesus. Katsuko was very interested. The nurse lent her some books like the “Bells of Nagasaki” by Dr. Nagai. When Katsuko read these, she was enthralled with Catholicism and asked how she could become a Catholic. Even as she went through months of instruction her health simultaneously improved and her ideals turned to the thought of becoming a nun.

She entered the community of the Sisters of Junshin in Nagasaki but after only four months Katsuko, now known as Sister Agnes, had a relapse and had to be taken back to the same clinic of Myoko where the nurse worked who had become her godmother. Ten days passed and Sr. Agnes’ condition became critical. Her cloistered convent sent her some Lourdes water. Hardly had it entered her mouth than she regained consciousness and full mobility.

She wanted to return immediately but the pastor in Myoko begged her to help care for his newly constructed church. This would allow her family to keep watch on her health. Sister Agnes was enthusiastic about her new faith and loved to share her joy. She taught catechism in the parish and made many converts.

In 1969 she collapsed with a high fever from a virus infection and was in a coma for four days. A priest anointed her and she answered all the prayers in Latin, a language she had never learned. On the second day of the coma an angel prayed the Rosary with her and taught her the Fatima “decade prayer,” [O my Jesus, forgive us our sins]. It was engraved on her memory and thenceforward she would always pray it. A Salesian priest asked to learn it. Later, he wrote to tell her that this prayer had been taught by the Virgin to the children at Fatima, but there had not yet been a definitive translation into Japanese so it hadn’t become known among the faithful in Japan.

Then she heard about the Institute of the Handmaids of the Eucharist, a community that wasn’t cloistered, founded recently by Bishop John Shojiro Ito, of the Diocese of Niigata. The Bishop invited her to join these Sisters in Myoko where she could continue her apostolate. Several years passed. In January 1973 Sister Agnes experienced some hearing loss in her left ear. She was 42 years old. One day in March the convent the phone rang and she picked it up. Silence. She was completely deaf. Examinations confirmed that it was an irreversible condition. After so much of her life had been spent in hospitals she had many friends among the staff. They gave her extra attention and helped her become quickly adept at lip-reading. The Japanese language is conducive to this because of its strong syllable. Yet it was too much for her to return to her catechism ministry. Her Sisters, the Handmaids of the Eucharist, proposed that she move to their convent on the hill of Yuzawadai, on the outskirts of Akita. Today it’s about the size of Wichita. It’s in northern Japan. Across the sea is Korea. This convent was in a remote, quiet location and in winter the snow can be deep. Sr. Agnes had lost her hearing on the anniversary of the discovery of the hidden Christians. In 1865, a Catholic missionary arrived in Nagasaki and some Japanese came forward to ask him to prove that he held the true faith. What was their test? Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Now Sr. Agnes would embark on her own life as a hidden Christian. She would help the small community with housekeeping duties and devote herself to prayer,

She had only been in Akita a short time when one morning everyone left the house as usual, and Sr. Agnes went to the chapel to pray. A brilliant light came forth from the tabernacle. Was she crazy? Was it her imagination? Was she guilty of some sin for which she was being called to account? The next day it happened again. Nothing happened for about ten days until Thursday, the vigil of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, Sister Agnes again saw the light flash forth, but this time it was surrounded by a red flame. The tabernacle seemed to be on fire. She prostrated herself. “I could not think of anything but to adore and to render thanks before the Blessed Sacrament.”

The next day, on the Feast itself, she was praying the rosary with her superior. The same angel who had taught her the Fatima prayer years ago appeared by her side to pray with them. Sr. Agnes was struck at how much this angel resembled her gentle older sister. She had died of cancer eight years previously, after Sr. Agnes instructed her and saw her baptized. Later on the superioress expressed surprise that Sr. Agnes recited the Rosary so slowly. She had been following the tempo of the angel. At Garabandal, the apparitions there are not yet approved, but the current bishop is very favorable. Our Lady allegedly complained that the people were rushing through the Hail Marys. It’s a good reminder. When we converse with a friend we don’t talk at them. The rosary is a conversation and a meditation.

After the Rosary Sr. Agnes and the superior prayed in silence. Suddenly a cohort of angels appeared and turned towards the Blessed Sacrament proclaiming “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Sr. Agnes’ angel recited the official prayer of her community, the Handmaids of the Eucharist:

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, present in the Holy Eucharist,

I consecrate my body and soul to be entirely one with your Heart,

being sacrificed at every instant on all the altars of the world

and giving praise to the Father, pleading for the coming of his Kingdom.

Please receive this humble offering of myself.

Use me as You will for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls.

Most Holy Mother of God, never let me be separated from your divine Son.

Please defend and protect me as your special child. Amen.

Soon the Blessed Mother would instruct Sr. Agnes to add one word: truly present in the Holy Eucharist. The Feast of the Sacred Heart was originally instituted because Jesus asked for it (through St. Margaret Mary) as an act of reparation for the frivolous celebrations of the Feast of Corpus Christi. The pieces in the mosaic share the same colors as they build the great picture. In Fatima the children experienced visits by an angel for a year before they saw the Blessed Mother. The angel taught them to adore the Blessed Sacrament and to do penance for sinners and to pray certain prayers like the “decade prayer.” St. Catherine Labouré was led to the chapel by an angel. At Marienfried angels were a prominent part of the Marian revelation.

And now at Akita we have another overt connection to a precious apparition. This was only 1973. The apparitions of Our Lady of All Nations in Amsterdam during the years of 1945-1959 would not be approved until 1997, but they are already having a positive impact in Japan. The Lady of All Nations reaches out to all the world giving hope to nations who are culturally on the fringes of Christianity. At Amsterdam Mary is standing before a great cross. The Handmaids had a 36-inch statue of Our Lady of All Nations in their convent at Akita. Carved by a Japanese artist, the features of Mary are Japanese. She is the Mother Co-Redemptress, suffering with her Son as He dies to redeem the world. Her arms are extended and the stigmata are visible in her hands as the visionary at Amsterdam beheld them.

Beginning on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, Sr. Agnes began to experience pain in her left hand. There was a cross-shaped wound like rows of blisters. As days passed the wound became increasingly intense. The Bishop left after the feast so she showed it to her superioress. A week later on the eve of First Friday on July 5th the pain became absolutely piercing, as if an object had passed through her hand. That night she couldn’t sleep. About 3am she heard a voice: “Do not fear. Pray with fervor not only because of your sins. but in reparation for those of all men. The world today wounds the most Sacred Heart of Our Lord by its ingratitudes and injuries. The wounds of Mary are much deeper and more sorrowful than yours. Let us go to pray together in the chapel.”

First Message

Immediately Sr. Agnes felt somehow that the statue of Our Lady of All Nations was coming to life. An impossibly beautiful voice was heard by her deaf ears. Like Melanie at LaSalette, Sr. Agnes said: “I thought only of uniting myself to that voice of such inexpressible beauty.”

My daughter, my novice, you have obeyed me well in abandoning all to follow me. Is the infirmity of your ears painful? Your deafness will be healed, be sure. Does the wound of your hand cause you to suffer? Pray in reparation for the sins of men. Each person in this community is my irreplaceable daughter. Do you say well the prayer of the Handmaids of the Eucharist? Then, let us pray it together.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, truly present in the Holy Eucharist . . .

Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests. Since your baptism you have always prayed faithfully for them. Continue to pray very much . . . very much. Tell your superior all that passed today and obey him in everything that he will tell you. He has asked that you pray with fervor.”

Later that day her novice mistress saw that the right hand of the statue was pierced and bleeding. At Fatima we are taught to consecrate ourselves to Mary and offer sacrifices. At Marienfried, Barbara received the stigmata but asked that it be taken away. At Amsterdam, Ida Peerdeman saw Mary standing against a Cross, with the stigmata in both hands. At Akita, Sr. Agnes and Mary bear the stigmata on complimentary hands, as one person. You see how this mosaic is developing. At each step we are being led to more intimate union with the Blessed Mother.

Mary’s requests at Akita are specific and serious. In her very first message she asks for prayer for the priests and the hierarchy. It is Our Lady of All Nations speaking to the nations. As of this day of Mary’s first message, prodigies become visible to the whole community, and beyond, even to a prodigy caught on the cameras of the Japanese evening news.

July is the traditional month of the Precious Blood. On this First Friday all the Sisters will be profoundly moved at the sight of the bleeding wound in the palm of the statue. The wood takes on the appearance of real flesh. The wound of the statue and that of Sr. Agnes bleed from time to time until the last Friday of the month when Sr. Agnes saw her angel again:

Your sufferings will end today. Carefully engrave in the depth of your heart the thought of the blood of Mary.

The blood shed by Mary has a profound meaning.

This precious blood was shed to ask your conversion, to ask for peace,

in reparation for the ingratitude and the outrages towards the Lord.

As with devotion to the Sacred Heart, apply yourself to devotion to the most Precious Blood.

Pray in reparation for all men.

There would be many more prodigies with the statue, but the wound in the hand bled no more. As for Sr. Agnes, I saw a video where she seemed to be wearing wrist gloves. It’s possible that her stigmata reopens at different times. She is a very humble person and would want all publicity to be directed to Mary rather than herself.

July 27th is the Feast of Saint Pantaleon, a martyr whose blood is said to liquefy each year on his Feast Day, as does the blood the more famous Saint Januarius. On Dec. 16th, a few months ago, there was great consternation in Naples because the blood of St. Januarius failed to liquefy in more than three decades: in 1980, it indicated an impending earthquake for Southern Italy; in 1973 an outbreak of cholera in Naples; 1939 World War II; in 1940 Italy joined that War and in 1943, Italy was occupied by the Nazis. We are now four months into the year. December 16 celebrates the patronage of St. Januarius over Naples but the day of his feast and martyrdom is Sept. 19th, the same day as LaSalette.

Second Message

The following Friday was again a First Friday. On August 3rd, 1973 Sister Agnes was again praying in the chapel, and again surprised when the statue came to life.

My daughter, my novice, do you love the Lord? If you love the Lord, listen to what I have to say to you. It is very important. You will convey it to your superior.

Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair by their suffering and their poverty for the sinners and ingrates.

In order that the world might know his anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, his Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this also from your community, that it love poverty, that it sanctify itself and pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men.

Recite the prayer of the Handmaids of the Eucharist with awareness of its meaning; put it into practice; offer in reparation (whatever God may send) for sins. Let each one endeavor, according to capacity and position, to offer herself entirely to the Lord.

Even in a secular institute prayer is necessary. Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together. Without attaching to much attention to the form, be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master.

Is what you think in your heart true? Are you truly decided to become the rejected stone? My novice, you who wish to belong without reserve to the Lord, to become the spouse worthy of the Spouse, make your vows knowing that you must be fastened to the Cross with three nails. These three nails are poverty, chastity, and obedience. Of the three, obedience is the foundation. In total abandon, let yourself be led by your superior. He will know how to understand you and to direct you.

This is a fledgling new congregation in a mission territory with few Christians. Canonically, it’s only a secular institute, without the full status of religious life. Only seven women were in this convent, yet Mary is honoring this group and telling all religious that the form of consecrated life is a technicality. The far greater matter is that every religious community be a house of prayer, that ever member live the vows. This vocation is important and it consoles the Lord very much.

In other apparitions Mary asks all the baptized (priests, religious and laity) to consecrate themselves to her heart, but here at Akita she is specifically commending consecrated religious who take vows beyond the vows of baptism. This is a very important piece in the mosaic. Another series of apparitions by the name of Rosa Mystica are also concerned with religious but these have not yet been approved.

The message of a chastisement is very reminiscent of Fatima. That night of August 3rd Sister Agnes was awakened by her angel. A burning odor filled the air. Sister Agnes ran down to the kitchen. Someone had forgotten to turn off the tea kettle. The water had long evaporated. The metal was incandescent. The kitchen and convent was in danger of catching fire. An interesting sign–Mary had asked for prayer and acts of reparation to prevent a catastrophe–Sr. Agnes had just prevented one.

Next our attention is drawn to angels, especially that of the champion, Michael. On his feast, Sept. 29th, the Sisters behold the statue of Mary in agony. It is drenched in perspiration. The angel tells Sr. Agnes:

“Mary is even sadder than when She shed blood. Dry the perspiration . . .” The great sorrow they felt in beholding Mary’s distress was mitigated by the perfume emanating from the perspiration. It pervaded the chapel for two weeks, especially strong on the two Carmelite feasts. Teresa and Therese who were devoted to prayer and reparation.

During this same fortnight of perfume, Sr. Agnes saw a beautiful scene on Oct. 2nd, the feast of the Guardian Angels.

At the moment of Communion, my guardian angel approached me to invite me to advance to the altar. At that moment, I clearly distinguished the guardian angels of each member of the community close to their left shoulders, and of the height a little smaller than each. Like my guardian angel they gave truly the impression of guiding and watching over them with sweetness and affection. There were eight angels there at the moment, while we Sisters were seven. With the Bishop it made eight.

Third Message

Saturday, October 13th, 1973 marked the 56th anniversary of Fatima. The delicious perfume became very strong. Once again the Sisters left the convent for their apostolates and Sr. Agnes was alone in the chapel.

My dear daughter, listen well to what I have to say to you. You will inform your superior.

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 have never been 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 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 priests.

The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against 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 be no longer pardon for them

With courage, speak to your superior (Bishop Ito). He will know how to encourage each one of you to pray and to accomplish works of reparation.

Today is the last time that I will speak to you in living voice. From now on you will obey the one sent to you and your superior. Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach.

Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.

This was the message. The statue will shed tears 101 times and there will be great healing miracles. But all this is to emphasize the message, so let’s go over it line by line.

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 seen before.

The deluge destroyed the earth’s population except for eight people. A greater punishment might indicates first of all much greater sin than what went on in Noah’s day, or any time since. I’ve heard the comment countless times that “there have always been bad people” and “every generation has its problems.” These people have never cracked a history book. Never have we seen such a radical departure from natural law, never such a level of selfishness, never such a level of open Satan worship, and never, never, never such a deluge of infant blood through abortion and false contraception which kills the child after he or she is conceived. And then there are the sins of child abuse, and organ trafficking. If you think all of this was normal and prevalent in past cultures, think again. Less than three generations ago most homes didn’t even have a lock. Cars didn’t start with keys. Bikes could be left on the lawn and children could run at will through the neighborhood. But no matter how bad things were in Noah’s day, they didn’t have the benefit of having heard the Gospel. Christians have no excuse. The Letter to the Hebrews warned Christians:

Encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries.

Heb 10:25-27

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.

Will it be a comet, or supernatural fire, or a hydrogen bomb? This message came on the same day of the terrifying miracle of the sun. The sun’s energy engine is essentially a perpetual thermonuclear explosion. In both a warhead and the core of the sun, hydrogen atoms are fused together under enormous pressure. If Mary had been speaking in some other country than Japan, one might not think so strongly of an atomic war, but everybody knows that at Nagasaki and Hiroshima the survivors were burned so badly that they envied the dead. In 1986 Fr. Gobbi was in Nagasaki and Mary said this in a locution:

In this city, there also exploded the atomic bomb, causing tens of thousands of deaths in a few brief instants, a chastisement and terrible sign of what man can do when, distancing himself from God, he becomes incapable of love, of compassion and of mercy. This is what the whole world could become if it does not welcome my invitation to conversion and return to the Lord. From this place, I renew my anguished appeal to all the nations of the earth.

To The Priests, Our Lady’s Beloved Sons #582e

To all the nations of the earth. At Japan it is the statue of Our Lady of All Nations crying out in anguish.

The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son.

Some propose that the “Sign” is the Scapular, but Mary says it’s the sign of her Son. The Scapular is a sign of Mary’s protection. Some propose that the “Sign” is the Cross, but Jesus didn’t leave us his Cross. At Marienfried She declared that She herself was the Sign

I am the sign of the living God. I impress my sign onto the forehead of my children. The star will persecute my sign, but my sign will overcome the star.

Indeed, Rev. 12 calls the Woman the Great Sign. But did Jesus expressly leave her? He entrusted her to the Beloved Apostle and then she returned to heaven. I’m inclined to prefer another sign. Let’s turn to the Gospel of John:

So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? . . .

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.

Jn 6:30, 35

The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit [CCC 1325].

— Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests.

St. Therese had trouble with the Rosary. It’s not an easy prayer. It can be a real sacrifice to pray it well and faithfully. But we can’t substitute it with something else. Mary needs prayers addressed to her, as we heard her say in Beauraing and Banneux and so many places. She cannot act unless we freely give her permission. Holy Mary pray for us now.

— The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against 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.

It’s very disturbing that the phrase “the churches and altars will be sacked” is in between a description of what seems to be schism. It’s not surprising that militant Moslems or communists would want to tear down churches, but for Catholics to sack a church and altar, what can that mean except something precious is taken away from the Catholic church. If heresy pervades the Church and the Eucharist is substituted with some unreal symbol, then this is sheer desolation! Is this the Abomination of Desolation? But Mary said we would have the Sign left by her Son. The Mass may dwindle, but the priesthood will not be destroyed during a time of compromise.

Sister Agnes heard every message in her native tongue, except for one word. She asked Bishop Ito what “cardinal” meant. Why didn’t Mary use the Japanese word sukikyo? Why did she use the English word? Small countries with few Catholics often don’t have a single cardinal. Japan has a Cardinal in Tokyo. How can sukikyos oppose sukikyos in Japan? What English speaking country has multiple cardinals. One must go to the USA. We have18 Cardinals. Mary is hinting that the Catholic Church will be very divided here. Look around. Read and listen. Many strong insults are being hurled by Catholics who are angry with Catholics who are refusing to compromise on certain doctrinal issues like Communion for the divorced and remarried, Communion for those living a homosexual lifestyle, and many other areas that would have been hard for anyone to imagine in 1973, let alone a new convert like Sr. Agnes.

— The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God.

Every baptized soul is consecrated to God, but ordinarily the term is applied to religious. It’s very interesting how Mary is pointing this out. In the Bible the demon is implacable against Mary. The serpent and the woman in Gen 3 and the dragon and the woman in Rev. 12. St. Maximillian Kolbe was the great evangelizer of Japan. He sent his friars there and they printed religious tracts in Japanese. It was St. Maximilian who called Mary the quasi-incarnation of the Holy Spirit because of her close union in the conception of Jesus as the Most High overshadowed her. In the Trinitarian Family of the Church, the clergy represent the Father. They feed the flock with the sacraments and protect them from doctrinal error. The laity are the Sons of God, bearing witness in the world. The religious represent the maternal, brooding Spirit, at the side of the pastors and at the side of the laity, helpers who bind the members of the Church together. Satan has been working hard to destroy religious vocations because this is the mortar that holds the bricks together. God does not cease to call religious. But we must strive to help young people to have sufficient quiet in their lives to reflect and hear that call.

— The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them

Her sadness will manifest in weeping statues, not just at Akita, but all over the world. This went on for a couple decades but the phase seems to have passed. One rarely hears of it now, whereas not long ago it seemed to be happening everywhere and one began to take it for granted. The cessation of this phenomena calls to mind the silence before a storm. We Kansans are calm so long as the wind is blowing hard. It’s when the wind stops that we fear it’s all sucked into a tornado and imminent danger is at hand.

— Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach.

“Only I can save you.”

She used similar words in Fatima. Long before I heard of Akita I was amazed at the audacity of Mary to declare that only she can save us. What did this mean? John Haffert was asking that question too. In chapter five of his book “Too Late?” he writes:

Our Lady said that the reason our Heavenly Mother and Queen was sent to mankind at Fatima is because “only She can save them.” Most writers substitute: “only She can help,” because in an absolute sense only God can save. But the Portuguese words Our Lady spoke, exactly as Lucia recorded them, are: “Porque so Ela! hes podera valer.” This means only She can save–or protect [Documentos de Fatima, edited by Father Antonio Martins, S.J., pg. 339].

I recall the same expression at Naju or Rwanda, but I don’t have a handy quotation to verify that. The only thing I can do with it is to reflect on the passage quoted above from the Letter to the Hebrews warned Christians

For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries.

Heb 10:25-27

If Christians have rejected Christ, what savior is left for them? Is there another Advocate?

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper(Advocate), that He may be with you forever

Jn 14:16

We also just stated that St. Maximilian and other theologians see such a close union with Mary and the Holy Spirit that both can be joined into the role of Advocate, pleading on our behalf.

— Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.

These words in Japan are very similar to what we heard in Germany:

There where confidence is strongest and where people are taught that I can obtain everything from God I will spread peace. Then, when all people believe in my power there will be peace.

A few more months pass. It’s now the end of January 1974 and Sr. Agnes has a recurring dream three times in the same night: The roof of the house was on the point of collapsing under the weight of the snow and she felt herself trying to hold it up with both her arms. exhausting all her strength. In her dream when her arms began to fail. Sister Agnes’ guardian angel appeared and came to her relief. In the morning Akita was under a record-breaking six feet of snow, and Sr. Agnes felt a stiffness in her shoulders, was gasping for breath, and her body was bathed in perspiration. She kept asking the superior to go and examine a certain part of the house to check the roof. Finally the religious did so and turned pale. Already a large part of the roof had sagged to within less than a foot of the window frames. But by a miracle it remained at a normal height above the room of Sister Agnes and thus formed a sort of square hat falling side to side of the window. The person responsible was most impressed, saying: “It is indeed the protection of Heaven which has avoided a catastrophe!”

This is similar to the tea-kettle. The angel helps her to prevent a disaster. It’s a lesson for us to pray with confidence and perseverance, and to pray with our angels.

Two months later a Japanese priest becomes the permanent chaplain for the convent. He and Bishop Ito are precious souls, learned and devout. When Father Teiji Yasuda is told by the Sisters about the events surrounding Sr. Agnes he is amazed and surprised, not skeptical, not credulous. He wants some time to see what develops. Mary had said that Sr. Agnes would be healed of her deafness. He would wait for this confirmation. Fr. Yasuda will become an anchor at Akita, the careful chronicler of events, the overseer of pilgrims, dying in 2013 at the age of 97 surrounded by many who testified to a strong fragrance of roses and lilies. But for now he has arrived with a project in mind. His dream was to build “The Garden of Mary,” a place of prayer and meditation. He is a very Marian priest which was not common in that era. The Japanese love gardens. Mary is the New Eve opposing the Apocalyptic Dragon for a new earth, a new Garden. Who is writing this script?

On May 1st, Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker he says at the beginning of Mass: “Today we honor Saint Joseph, patron of workers. We ask his very special intercession for the realization of the Garden. Since Saint Joseph passed his life in the service of the Lord and of Mary in self-abnegation. We are sure that in Heaven he will aid us with the same joy to bring this project dedicated to Mary to fulfillment. We celebrate the Mass for this intention.” After breakfast which followed the Mass there was the usual time of adoration. Then Sister Agnes approached Fr. Yasuda and said: “The guardian angel who often gives me precious counsels appeared during the adoration and said:

The intention which you offer in conformity with the will of him who directs you is good and pleasing to the Lord and His Holy Mother. The more you offer this good intention, the more difficult and numerous will be the obstacles. But today you have asked the protection of Saint Joseph in a same union of prayer. This prayer is very pleasing to Jesus and Mary; it will be heard Saint Joseph will protect your work. To overcome the exterior obstacles, pray with confidence in interior unity. But it is rather a shame that there is no exterior sign here in honor of Saint Joseph. Ask him who directs you to do this when you can, even if it is not right away.”

They lost no time in putting a statue of Saint Joseph in the chapel. Years later a statue was commissioned by Mr. Wakasa who sculptured it from the same kind of wood as the statue of Our Lady, so that it is complementary. Angels, Saint Joseph, Sacred Heart, Precious Blood . . . so many motifs run through Akita which require years to unfold.

On October 13th that year, during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, Sr. Agnes heard the bells ring. The doctors and nurses could not understand it. But the angel had said it wouldn’t be a permanent cure. So Sr. Agnes tried not to become too secure but readied herself to make the sacrifice of losing her hearing again. The healing lasted until Lent. During the winter Father Yasuda had put together about 100 pages of documentation of all these events which the bishop utilized it for a formal inquiry.

In June 1975 Sr. Agnes had another mystical dream that caused her great emotional distress. A foreign Catholic theologian in a gray colored habit. He advanced towards her said in a peremptory tone: “Why would the God of the Trinity be one God? We cannot believe that Christ is God.” He went on to affirm that there were many gods and struck her with a cane that became a cobra which wrapped around her. Father Yasuda thought the dream was very important since Mary’s messages spoke of schism but the others said it was only a dream. They were very surprised to find an enormous snake in the convent that evening, giving the dream a new reality. (Just an aside, I redently gave another seminar and went into how priests in India say that yoga is the religion of the antichrist and the cobra is the symbol of the energy that goes up the spine during yoga.)

On the First Friday of January 1975 a whole new series of events began. The wooden statue of Our Lady of All Nations began to weep. The angel told Sr. Agnes:

“Do not be so surprised to see the Blessed Virgin weeping. She weeps because She wishes the conversion of the greatest number; She desires that souls be consecrated to Jesus and to the Father by her intercession. . . . The Holy Virgin rejoices in the consecration of Japan to her Immaculate Heart because She loves Japan. But She is sad to see that this devotion is not taken seriously . . . You must not forget these words (of Mary).

Meanwhile a priest from the theological commission appeared at the convent complaining that all the testimony was biased in favor of the events. So Fr. Yasuda and Bishop Ito asked Sr. Agnes to hand over her intimate journal. The commission kept it a year, gleaning from it whatever they could to make the case that she was a psychopath! At a time when Sr. Agnes had to leave to care for her mother and Fr. Yasuda was away, the theologian preached a retreat and defamed Sr. Agnes so badly that the sisters changed their attitude toward all the supernatural events. Sr. Agnes was sent away for months to a thermal cure. Bishop Ito was very troubled by the negative conclusion of the commission and he was not able to decide to make a public declaration on the subject. Instead. some months later he went personally to Rome to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. He was told to start a fresh commission. Despite the opposition of other Japanese prelates he finally declared the events of Akita, Japan, to be of supernatural origin, and authorized throughout the entire diocese the veneration of the Holy Mother of Akita, in a long message which he ordered to be read in every parish of his diocese on Easter Sunday, April 22, 1984. He said: “The Message of Akita is the Message of Fatima.”

But Bishop Ito went to Rome a third time in June of 1988 to seek the opinion of the Holy See. “I was worried because of the seriousness of the Message,” he said. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reassured Bishop Ito that he had acted properly, and gave definitive judgment on the Akita events and Messages as reliable and worthy of belief.

Our Lady had, as it were, guarded silence for two years and two months during the worst of the trial. The statue had been

relegated to a side room. But now it suddenly began to weep again. It was the feast of St. Anne July 26th, 1978. Henceforth it would shed tears to a total of 101 times until the finale on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Afterwards the angel told Sr. Agnes: “There is a meaning to the figure one hundred and one. This signifies that sin came into the world by a woman and it is also by a woman that salvation came to the world. The zero between the two signifies the Eternal God who is from all eternity until eternity. The first one represents Eve and the last the Virgin Mary.” He directed her to Gen 3:16.

The Reason for My Tears

Ravenna, July 13, 1973

MMP 4c-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.

Nagasaki (Japan), June 3, 1978

Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

154n-Comfort my Immaculate Heart.

154o-Never as in these present times has my heart been so utterly pierced by a crown of thorns: these are the sins, the ingratitude, the sacrileges, the desertions and the betrayals, especially on the part of my beloved sons and of consecrated souls.

154p-Often I cannot enter some of their houses because they close the door on me and do not want me.

154q-From being gardens of God some of them have become swamps in which Satan covers and corrupts everything with filth.

154r-Beloved sons, console me in my great sorrow! Thus you will draw out the thorns, pour balm on my wounds, and form about my Sorrowful Heart a most beautiful crown of love.

362 — Why Am I Still Weeping.

Akita (Japan); September 15, 1987– Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

362a-“I have wanted you here, O son so loved by me and so plotted against by my Adversary, at the liturgy which commemorates my sorrows and my motherly sharing in all the immense suffering of my Son Jesus.

362b-In this journey of yours, so strewn with extraordinary graces which come from my Immaculate Heart and descend into the souls of my beloved ones and of all my children, I have led you today to this place blessed by me, before the statue which recalls the mystery of my co-redemption.

362c-I stood beneath the Cross of Jesus. I am beneath the cross which each of my sons is carrying. I am beneath the cross which the Church and all this poor sinful humanity is carrying today. I am true Mother and true Co-redemptrix.

362d-From the eyes of this image of myself, I have caused miraculous tears to fall more than a hundred times and over the course of several years.

362e-Why am I still weeping?

362f-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.

362g-Your neighbor is not loved: every day attacks are made upon his life and his goods. Man is becoming ever more corrupt, godless, wicked and cruel. 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.

362h-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.

362i-I am weeping because, in great numbers, the souls of my children are being lost and going to hell.

362j-I am weeping because too few are those who accede to my request to pray, to make reparation, to suffer and to offer.

362k-I am weeping because I have spoken to you and have not been listened to; I have given you miraculous signs, and I have not been believed; I have manifested myself to you in a strong and continuous way, but you have not opened the doors of your hearts to me.

362l-At least you, my beloved ones and children consecrated to my Immaculate Heart, little remnant which Jesus is guarding jealously in the secure enclosure of his divine love, hearken to and accept this sorrowful request of mine which, from this place, I address again today to all the nations of the earth. Prepare yourselves to receive Christ in the splendor of his glory, because the great day of the Lord has even now arrived.”

To the Priests, Mary’s Beloved Sons

The crisis in Japan has been described as “a nuclear war without a war”. In the words of the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami: “This time no one dropped a bomb on us … We set the stage, we committed the crime with our own hands, we are destroying our own lands, and we are destroying our own lives.”

While the long-term repercussions of the Fukushima nuclear disaster are yet to be fully assessed, they are far more serious than those pertaining to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine, which resulted in almost one million deaths. Fukushima reactor 3 is leaking unconfirmed amounts of plutonium. According to Dr. Helen Caldicott, “one millionth of a gram of plutonium, if inhaled can cause cancer”. 80 per cent of the Japanese population do not believe the government’s information regarding the nuclear crisis.

Japan as a nation state has been destroyed. Its landmass and territorial waters are contaminated. Part of the country is uninhabitable. High levels of radiation have been recorded in the Tokyo metropolitan area, which has a population of 39 million. There are indications that the food chain is contaminated throughout Japan. Japan’s industrial and manufacturing base is prostrate. Japan is no longer a leading industrial power. The country’s exports have plummeted. The Tokyo government has announced its first trade deficit since 1980. And now the dictator of North Korea has been shooting warheads in the direction of Japan and threatening to tip the rockets with seron, a biological weapon.

A Cause of my Great Sorrow

Tokyo (Japan), September 15, 1993 Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

501c-I am the Mother of all these pagans as well, a Mother who is concerned and anxious for their salvation.

501d-A cause of my great sorrow is my Church which, in every part of the world, is passing through the painful and bloody Gethsemane of its great tribulation. You have seen, my little son, how even here in Japan, the Church is being threatened with the loss of faith, and with the increasingly vast and subtle spread of errors. It is wounded in its unity by the contestation and opposition directed against the Pope and his universal Magisterium. Its holiness is being obscured by the spread of sins and sacrileges.

501f-A cause of my great sorrow is the hardness of your hearts and your incapacity to accept what your heavenly Mother is asking of you. How many times have I spoken to you and you have not listened! I have given extraordinary signs of my motherly intervention and you have not believed. How many have closed the door of their own hearts and have not wanted to receive me as a Mother in their lives!

501g-In this very country I have given you an extraordinary sign, causing copious tears to fall more than a hundred times from the eyes of one of my statues, in which I am represented as the Sorrowful Mother beneath the Cross of my Son Jesus. And I have also given you three messages to warn you of the great dangers into which you are running.

501h-I now announce to you that the time of the great trial has come, because during these years all that I have foretold to you will come to pass. The apostasy and the great schism in the Church is on the point of taking place and the great chastisement, about which I foretold you in this place, is now at the very doors. Fire will come down from heaven, and a great part of humanity will be destroyed. Those who survive will envy the dead. Everywhere will be desolation, death and ruin.

501i-The hour of the chastisement has come. In order to be protected and saved, they must all enter right away into the safe refuge of my Immaculate Heart.

That was 1973. We’re in 1917 now, the centenary of Fatima.

Thank you very much!