Too accurate to be true?
The prophecies of Our Lady to the 16th century Conceptionist nun Mother Mariana at Quito - only to be fully disclosed in the 20th century, when they will be understood - reminds me very much of the Third Secret of Fatima. In so far as how the final part of the Fatima vision was kept secret until the time it would be 'better understood', as Sr. Lucia noted. Thus, the Quito apparitions bear an element of authenticity for me.
Today Fr. Z discusses the Quito apparitions after reading William Oddie's post on the same. I was caught by the message of the revelation several years ago during the priest-abuser-covered-up-by-bishops scandal. At the time, I was nearly bowled-over as they say. The revelations described everything that was and is going on, with uncanny detail! I searched all the English print material on the subject, and everything appeared well documented and 'approved' by successive bishops and churchmen - although some sources claimed that was not the case. It has been my understanding that approval applied to certain writings of Mother Marianna, but not necessarily the messages from Our Lady. My initial enthusiasm was quelled somewhat, I began to have reservations - especially after I discovered promoters of the apparitions published hostile and contemptuous criticisms of recent popes and Vatican II, thus contributing to suspicion and division amongst Catholics.
Doubts and reservations can be a good thing - permitting a more detached, critical appraisal - that is, a guarded, cautious discernment; prudence requires us to submit our personal judgement to that of the Church. That said, I find the messages intriguing, the devotion attractive, but nothing can take precedence over Tradition, Scripture, and the Magisterium. Perhaps the growing interest might spark an official inquiry by the CDF? Having said that, I'll post a few excerpts of the messages as well as link to the source.
Our Lady of Good Success, Quito, Ecuador.
Be cautious and test everything. Pray the rosary every day.
"I am Mary of Good Success, the Queen of Heaven and Earth... As His Mother, I carry (the Child Jesus) here, in My left arm, so that together we might restrain the hand of Divine Justice, which is always so ready to chastise this unfortunate and criminal world."In My right hand, I carry the crosier that you see, for I desire to govern this Convent as Abbess and Mother... Satan will begin to try to destroy this work of God... But he will not succeed, because I am the Queen of Victories and the Mother of Good Success, and it is under this invocation I desire to be known throughout all time..."
"Thus I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and shortly after the middle of the 20th century, in what is today the Colony and will then be the Republic of Ecuador, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of customs (morals), for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects.
"They will focus principally on the children in order to sustain this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! It will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and also that of Confirmation... Often during this epoch the enemies of Jesus Christ, instigated by the Devil, will steal consecrated hosts from the churches, so that they might profane the Eucharistic Species...
"As for the Sacrament of Matrimony... it will be attacked and deeply profaned... The Catholic spirit will rapidly decay; the precious light of the Faith will gradually be extinguished... Added to this will be the effects of secular education, which will be one reason for the dearth of priestly and religious vocations.
"The Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed, and despised... The Devil will try to persecute the ministers of the Lord in every possible way; he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation and will corrupt many of them. These depraved priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will make the hatred of bad Catholics and the enemies of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church fall upon all priests...
"Further, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury, which will ensnare the rest into sin and conquer innumerable frivolous souls, who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, the one who should speak will fall silent." - Finish reading here.
Terry said "Be cautious and test everything. Pray the rosary every day."
ReplyDeleteThat is very good advice. Something that cannot be stressed enough.
Bishop Rudolf Graber (1903-1992) bishop of Regensburg, Germany (predecessor of Bishop Gerhard Mueller recently named to CDF was a great Marian bishop and a very holy man.
In his book Athanasius and the Church of Our Time, Bishop Rudolph Graber quoted a Freemason who declared that “the goal (of Freemasonry) is no longer the destruction of the Church, but to make use of it by infiltrating it.”
I'll risk sounding like a conspiracy theorist by stating that I believe there have been and are Churchmen who were/are Freemasons. I don't think such a notion is so far fetched. This might explain the silence of many in authority on the whole subject of any alleged messages relating to Ecclesiastical Freemasonry ie La Salette and Our Lady of Good Success.
It is wise to be prudent and to test the spirits and not jump to conclusions. However, it is equally unwise to dismiss such things outright as the products of paranoia. "The smoke of Satan" has long since entered the sanctuary and as the future Pope John Paul II stated in 1976, "We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel."