What it is:
The Catholic Church has authenticated that apparitions of the Blessed VIRGIN Mary have taken place in various locations, including Guadalupe, Lourdes, LaSallette and Fatima. The apparition sites have become places of PILGRIMAGES, drawing millions of visitors each year. Following are brief summaries of two of the apparitions.
Fatima
In 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three children in the village of Fatima, Portugal. The children (Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco) were playing, when suddenly they saw a flash of light. The light turned out to be a lady. She told them she would appear to them on the 13th day of the next six months. During the apparitions, she made secret prophecies to the children. The first part of the "secret of Fatima" (revealed to the Pope in 1941) was the vision of souls in hell. The apparition instructed that "God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my (Mary’s) Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace." The second and third parts of the "secret" related to the history of Russia and communism, and the attempted murder of the HOLY FATHER. [Pope John Paul II, who survived an assassination attempt on the anniversary of the apparitions, revealed the third secret in 2000.]
As promised by Mary, on October 13, 1917, with tens of thousands in attendance, a great miracle occurred. It had rained all day, but when the apparition appeared, the sun came out. Lucia shouted "Look: the sun." The sun began to move around, shooting off brilliant colors. Then the sun plunged toward the earth, causing many to fear, but soon returned to its place in the sky. Everything that was wet became dry.
Lourdes
On a cold February day in 1858, a young girl named Bernadette was gathering wood with friends. They came to a stream across from a grotto. Her friends crossed the stream, but Bernadette was afraid and stayed behind. Suddenly a beautiful young lady appeared before the grotto. Bernadette took her beads and began praying the ROSARY. The apparition also had a rosary, but remained silent, counting the prayers on her beads. The apparition then retreated into the grotto.
Bernadette returned with friends to the grotto three days later, armed with a vial of HOLY WATER. To test the apparition she threw the water at the apparition, which met with the lady’s approval. Bernadette then fell into an ecstatic trance, her face radiating happiness. She was told by the lady to visit the grotto for the next fifteen days. Bernadette returned daily to the grotto, where she would pray the rosary and become entranced by the apparition. On the ninth appearance of the apparition, Bernadette was directed into the grotto, where she dug and uncovered a previously unknown spring. Subsequently, many miraculous cures have been attributed to the water flowing from this spring. On another day, the apparition instructed Bernadette to kiss the ground in PENANCE for sinners, and to inform the priests to build a chapel at the grotto. On the fifteenth day, a crowd of about twenty thousand came to witness her last appointed day. Then two weeks later, on March 25th (the feast of the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary), the apparition again appeared to Bernadette. In a previous visit, Bernadette had asked the lady’s name, but did not receive an answer. This time she felt called to inquire again, and asked three times. The lady finally said "I am the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION." [Four years earlier the doctrine of the immaculate conception had been confirmed as Catholic dogma]. There were no further apparitions for the next three months, during which time Bernadette made her first HOLY COMMUNION. The priest gave her the Brown SCAPULAR of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which she wore daily until her death. Finally, the eighteenth and last of the apparitions occurred on July 16 (the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel).
How it came about:
Catholic teaching proclaims Mary to be "mother of the members of Christ." The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that Mary is "QUEEN over all things," and that "by her manifold intercession [she] continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation." Therefore, it is not surprising that she would bring comfort to her people by way of heavenly apparitions.
The first appearance of Mary reportedly occurred in 40 AD prior to her death. In a BILOCATION, she appeared to the apostle James in the village of Saragossa, Spain. James had become discouraged on his missionary endeavors, and began praying. Mary appeared to him, and gave him a small wooden STATUE of herself. She also told him to build a church in her honor there. This statue is presently located at the church that was built at the site of the apparition. In 352 AD Mary appeared to John of Rome, instructing him to build a church on one of the seven hills of Rome. Pope Liberius had a similar dream, and when they together traveled to the hill, they discovered the outline of a church in the snow. The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore was built on the spot. In her first appearance in England, Mary instructed that a replica be made of the house in Nazareth where she was informed of the incarnation by the angel Gabriel. The actual house is reportedly in LORETO, Italy. In 1208, she appeared in France to encourage the praying of the rosary. In 1251, she appeared to Simon Stock, and guaranteed to him that those who die devotedly clothed with the brown scapular would not go to hell. In 1531, she appeared to a newly converted Aztec, Juan Diego, requesting that he tell the bishop that a church be built to honor her near Mexico City. As proof to the bishop, the cape in which he carried roses to the bishop miraculously became a painting of Mary. The cathedral that contains this cape is the most popular pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere.
In 1981, Mary appeared to several children in Medjugorge, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia). Many have reported that, after visiting this site, their rosaries have changed color to gold. Despite the war in the Balkans, millions have visited the site of these apparitions, which continue to this day. Literally thousands of Marian apparitions are reportedly occurring today around the world.
Why it is wrong:
1) ...because these apparitions promote false teachings;
2) ...because these apparitions promote a false gospel;
3) ...because the bible warns of those who boast of visions they have seen, and that many deceiving spirits have entered the world;
4) ...because these apparitions promote Mary to a place of honor reserved only for God;
5) ...because these apparitions make Mary do works that rightly belong to the Holy Spirit.
Warnings from Scripture:
"And he performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform" Rev. 13:13-14
"But I [Paul] am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." 2 Cor. 11:3
"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." Matt. 24:24
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world... And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that is coming, and now it is already in the world." 1 Jn. 4:1,3
"Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head [Christ]." Col. 2:18-19
