Mary speaks on tough times - invitations, warnings, remedies

As a pandemic, fear, and political chaos have descended on the world during the past year, some Catholics have looked to Marian apparitions to make sense of such troubled times.

Whether through messages given in the late 16th century to a nun in Quito, Ecuador by Our Lady of Good Success, or to three Portuguese children in 1917 by Our Lady of Fatima, Mary’s prophetic words and appeals have seemed especially timely and relevant to the events of the day.

The Quito messages, for example, refer to a global Church and societal crisis which would start in the mid-20th century, when sacraments would be abused and faith quenched in many souls. The Fatima children were warned of war, famine, and persecution of the Church if people did not cease offending God.

Heavenly reality to earth

Father Johann Roten, a Marian scholar and instructor in the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton, said when the mother of Christ appears on earth, she announces the realities of the Gospel and brings the presence of the other world into this world. This, he said, indicates that the Church has not stopped with the revelation of the Incarnation of Christ, but continues and is manifested through miraculous apparitions.

“When people ask if they should take apparitions seriously, I would say, yes, let’s take all the apparitions which are officially confirmed very seriously, because they highlight that connection of the Incarnation on one hand, and on the other hand . . . the presence of the supernatural in this world.”

Although there have been hundreds of reported apparitions, Father Roten said only a handful have been officially confirmed and approved by the Church, either by a bishop or by the Vatican after investigation by the local bishop. Besides Quito and Fatima, these include Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico; Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady of La Salette, and Our Lady of Lourdes, all in France; Our Lady of Knock in Ireland; Our Lady of Beauraing and Our Lady of Banneux, both in Belgium, and in the U.S., Our Lady of Good Help (Champion, WI).

Father Roten said apparition messages usually cover three categories: an invitation to prayer and fasting with a clear reference to scripture; a request to build a church on the apparition site; and a directive with a warning that something will happen if it is not followed.

Indeed, the call to pray and do penance has been repeated in any number of apparitions. At Lourdes, Mary’s plea was “Penance, penance, penance. Pray for sinners.” At Fatima, she asked for prayer – especially the rosary – reparation, repentance, sacrifice, and the rejection of sin. And in the only approved apparition in the U.S. as Our Lady of Good Help, she said, “I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same.”

Timely counsel

Often, Father Roten said, there are clear connections between a Marian apparition and the historical situation. Our Lady of Fatima, for instance, warned of the dangers of communism in Russia, which she said would spread its errors if her words were not heeded. The messages of Our Lady of Beauraing in 1932 and Our Lady of Banneux in 1933 coincided with the rise of national socialism and the beginning of the Third Reich in Germany.

Mark Mallett, who writes about Marian apparitions in his book, The Final Confrontation, and on his blog, “The Now Word,” said he sees the Fatima messages as “hastening to fulfillment in our times as the ‘errors of Russia’ continue to engulf the world and draw the Church into her own Passion in what St. John Paul II called ‘the final confrontation’ of our times.”

He also has found the messages reportedly given by Mary to the late Fr. Stefano Gobbi to be increasingly relevant to the times. Although these have not been officially recognized by the Church, Mallett said they have been promoted by thousands of priests, bishops, and cardinals through the years. In studying such revelations, Mallett said he does not dismiss those that are unapproved unless they have been officially condemned by the Church.

“‘Unapproved’ is not the same as ‘condemned.’ There could be a number of reasons why certain private revelations have not been officially recommended as worthy of belief: the Church may still be discerning them; the seer or seers may still be alive and hence, a decision is deferred while revelations are ongoing; or the bishop may simply have not initiated a canonical review and/or may have no plans to do so, which is his prerogative.” This does not mean, he said, that an alleged apparition or revelation is not supernatural in origin or lacking signs manifesting it to be so.