Marion Apparitions and Miracles
Marian apparitions are events in which the Virgin Mary is purported to have supernaturally appeared to one or more persons, typically but not always Christians, often Catholics in various settings. They are often given names based on the town in which they were reported, or on the sobriquet which was given to Mary on the occasion of the apparition, or on her reported clothing and hairstyle. They have been interpreted as psychological (pareidolia), and as religious phenomena, occasionally as theophanies. Apparitions sometimes recur at the same site over an extended period of time.
It has been claimed that apparitions were experienced by a number of popes, including Pope Leo XIII in 1884, Pope Pius XII at various stages during his papacy, and Pope John Paul II in 1981, while he recovered from an assassination attempt which occurred on the anniversary of the Fatima apparition. John Paul II's particular devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary was indicated in his coat of Arms, which contains a large letter "M," representing Mary at the foot of the Cross, as well as his motto "Totus Tuus," ("Totally yours"), dedicated to Mary.
He also visited many of the most famous alleged apparition sites, notably Fatima, Lourdes, and Knock, and according to some reports may have experienced another visitation on his last visit to Lourdes in 2003.Possibly the best-known apparition sites are Lourdes and Fatima. Over sixty out of thousands of reported spontaneous healings at the Lourdes Spring have been classified as "inexplicable" by the physicians of the Lourdes Bureau, a medical centre set up by the Church to assess possible miracles.
Not all claims of visitations are dealt with favorably by the Catholic Church. For example, the so-called apparitions of Our Lady, Jesus Christ and various saints at Bayside, New York were never condoned or sanctioned in any way, nor were those at the Necedah Shrine in Necedah, Wisconsin. The behavior of the women who claimed these heavenly favors was deemed not to compare favorably with the "quiet pragmatism" of Bernadette Soubirous. Church authorities are said to use Bernadette as a model by which to judge all who purport to have visitations.
Apparitions are projections, as if in a programmed hologram, created to awaken the consciousness of humanity at this time. We spiral through consciousness as questers on a journey into awareness. Believe in creational forces beyond third dimension have always been part of our akashic record as well as the physical record of our souls' experiences in the physical.
Encoded within our DNA and the record/ story / kabala of our experience, is the end times, in which consciousness spirals back into its true nature of light consciousness. Please look at Sacred Geometry to help you understand the blueprint of reality, how it works, and its endless metaphors that repeat in a cycle called time. Reality is myth, math and metaphor.
End-time signatures are everywhere, from Earth changes, to healing and self awareness, questioning reality and creational gods, dreams, increased psychic abilities, the collapsing systems (religion, political, social, economic) each giving way to the evolution of consciousness in the alchemy of time.
Mary, feminine, the woman's menstrual cycle, bloodline and bloodlines, creation. We hold her in our hearts, the center of our universe, the midway station of zero point of creation in time. Blood is 'gold', linked with alchemy.
Mother Mary personifies the feminine aspect in each of us, the goddess, priestess, Isis ('Is-is,' to exist) who takes us to Egypt which is Scorpio rising, return to consciousness - creational myths.
Zeitoun, also El-Zeitoun or Zeitun, is a town near Cairo, Egypt. It is noted for its Marian apparitions. According to purported witnesses, the Virgin Mary appeared in different forms over the Coptic Virgin Mary Church at Zeitoun for a period of 23 years beginning on April 2, 1968. The apparitions lasted from a few minutes up to several hours and were sometimes accompanied by dove-shaped luminous bodies.
These apparitions took many forms including. The first was in full luminous stature. The Virgin appeared wearing a long robe extending to below her feet. Sometimes she was surrounded by bright stars, and at other times she had a shawl about her head, and her hands were extended forward. At times, She was seen blessing the people who gathered to observe the miracle by waving her hands and nodding her head. At other times, she had an olive branch in Her hand. (Zeitoun is a transliterated Arabic word meaning olives. See Genesis 8:11)
She was seen over the middle dome of the church and bowing in prayer in front of the cross that shone in bright light. She sometimes appeared with baby Jesus in her arms. The apparitions of the Virgin were sometimes accompanied with, or preceded by, the appearance of white pigeons that circled the church. Sometimes a lightning-like light appeared. It shone for a while and then disappeared. At other times, a luminous mist spread everywhere and gave off the strong pleasant scent of roses.
These apparitions were purportedly seen by millions of Egyptians and foreigners, including Copts, Orthodox and Roman Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews and people of no particular faith. The sick and blind are said to have been cured, and many people converted to Christianity as a result.
The Coptic Pope Kirellos VI appointed a committee of high ranking priests and bishops to investigate, headed by Anba Gregorios, bishop of postgraduate studies, Coptic culture and scientific research. On May 4 the Coptic Orthodox Papal Residence in Cairo issued an official statement confirming the apparitions. They were also confirmed by Father Dr. Henry Ayrout, S.J., and Rev. Dr. Ibrahim Said of the Protestant Evangelical Ministries.
Nuns of the Society of the Sacred Heart witnessed the apparitions and sent a detailed report to the Vatican, resulting in the arrival of an envoy on April 28 who also saw the apparitions and sent a report to Pope Paul VI. It was allegedly witnessed by Christians, Muslims and President Abdul Nasser, as well as captured by newspaper photographers and Egyptian television. Investigations by among others the Coptic Church and the police could find no explanation for the phenomenon. No device was found within a radius of fifteen miles capable of projecting the image, while the sheer number of photographs from independent sources suggests that no photographic manipulation was involved.
Marian apparitions are events in which the Virgin Mary is purported to have supernaturally appeared to one or more persons, typically but not always Christians, often Catholics. They are often given names based on the town in which they were reported, or on the soubriquet which was given to Mary on the occasion of the apparition, or on her reported clothing and hairstyle. They have been interpreted as psychological (pareidolia), and as religious phenomena, occasionally as theophanies.
Apparitions sometimes recur at the same site over an extended period of time. Marian apparitions sometimes involve statues or images of Mary; of particular note are weeping statues, witnessed as producing tears.
M ed u g o r j e is a small Catholic Parish in Bosnia-Herzegovina, consisting of five villages where the Blessed Virgin Mary has been reportedly appearing to six Croats since 24 June 1981. On 24 June 1981, at about 6 pm, six young parishioners from Medjugorje, Ivanka Ivankovic, Mirjana Dragiceic, Vicka Ivankovic, Ivan Dragiceic, Ivan Ivankovic and Marija Pavlovic, saw on the hill Crnica (Podbrdo) an apparition, a white form with a child in her arms. Surprised and scared, they did not approach it. The next day at the same time, 25 June 1981, four of them, Ivanka Ivankovic, Mirjana Dragiceic, Vicka Ivankovic and Ivan Dragiceic, felt strongly drawn towards the place where, the day before, they saw the One who they had recognised as Our Lady or in Croatian, the Gospa. Marija Pavlovic and Jakov Colo joined them. The group of Medjugorje visionaries was formed. They prayed with Our Lady and talked to Her. From that day onward, they had daily apparitions, together or separately. Milka Pavlovic and Ivan Ivankovic have not seen Our Lady again to date.
The messages are based mainly on five cornerstone topics:
The messages have been published in many languages. The following are examples: "Children, darkness reigns over the whole world. People are attracted by many things and they forget about the more important." "Light won't reign in the world until people accept Jesus, until they live His words, which is the Word of the Gospel." "Dear children, this is the reason for my presence among you for such a long time: to lead you on the path of Jesus. I want to save you and, through you, to save the whole world. Many people now live without faith; some don't even want to hear about Jesus, but they still want peace and satisfaction! Children, here is the reason why I need your prayer: prayer is the only way to save the human race" (July 30. 1987).
The Ten Secrets The website Overview of Medjugorje claims that, in addition to the messages, the Virgin Mary promised to confide to each of the six visionaries ten "secrets" on future events, some of which concern the whole world. To date, three visionaries, Mirjana, Ivanka, and Jakov report they have received all ten messages, while Ivan, Marija and Vicka say they have received nine. The six visionaries would eventually each know all ten secrets, but none has fully disclosed them except to announce that they include chastisements for the world and that they will begin during the lifetimes of the visionaries.
The visionaries have so far revealed only one of the "secrets": Our Lady has promised to leave a supernatural, indestructible, and visible sign on the mountain where she first appeared. She said: "This sign will be given for the atheists. You faithful already have signs and you have become the sign for the atheists. You faithful must not wait for the sign before you convert; convert soon. This time is a time of grace for you. You can never thank God enough for His grace. The time is for deepening your faith and for your conversion. When the sign comes, it will be too late for many."
According to the same website, when all ten secrets have been revealed to each one of the six visionaries, Our Lady will stop appearing, and three warnings will be given to the world. After the three warnings, the permanent visible sign will be left on the mountain where Our Lady first appeared in Medjugorje. Those who are still alive will have little time for conversion. For that reason, the Blessed Virgin calls for urgent conversion and reconciliation. The permanent sign will lead to many healings and conversions before the messages become reality.
Catholics are divided on the credibility of the alleged visions. Negative judgements, expressed early by the local Bishop, Pavao Zanic have been voiced by writers such as Michael Davies and E.Michael Jones, who suggested, among many other objections, that the alleged apparitions may have been used by the local Franciscan Order to challenge the authority of the diocese. Others suggest that the bishop's negative judgement was influenced by a contrary animosity. In fact, the region in which Medjugorje lies is reported to have seen centuries of rivalry between members of the Franciscan Order, which runs the parish, and the diocesan hierarchy, in particular the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno, the diocese to which Medjugorje belong.
In a letter of March 25, 1985 and a homily of July 24, 1987, Bishop Pavao Zanic adopted a negative position with regard to the alleged apparitions, provisionally forbidding, until a Commission of the Bishops' Conference completed an inquiry, "the priests who organize pilgrimages or come here ascribing a supernatural character to these events, to celebrate Mass in the territory of my diocese." Because Bishop Zanic referred the matter to the Episcopal Conference, responsibility passed to the conference that still included all the bishops of the already dismantling Yugoslavia. In 1991, it issued a statement that: "The bishops, from the very beginning, have been following the events of Medjugorje through the Bishop of the diocese, the Bishop's Commission and the Commission of the Bishops Conference of Yugoslavia on Medjugorje. On the basis of the investigations so far it cannot be affirmed that one is dealing with supernatural apparitions and revelations."
Scientific Research on the Visionaries
A number of scientific and medical investigations have been conducted on the visionaries in Medjugorje. The international French-Italian scientific theological commission "On the extraordinary events that are taking place in Medjugorje" reportedly examined the apparitions of Medjugorje. The assembly of seventeen renowned natural scientists, medical doctors, psychiatrists and theologians published a 12-point "conclusion" on 14 January 1986 in Paina near Milan. The summary was that "one can conclude that after a deeper examination of the protagonists, facts, and their effects, not only in the local framework, but also in regard to the responsive chords of the Church in general, it is well for the Church to recognize the supernatural origin and, thereby, the purpose of the events in Medjugorje."
A French team headed by Mr. Henri Joyeux undertook a series of neurological tests, using EEG and EKG device to examine the internal reactions of the visionaries and the synchronization of their ocular, auditory, cardiac, and cerebral reactions before, during, and after the reported apparitions. They concluded from their readings that the object of observation is apparently external to the visionaries, and they excluded any external manipulation or mutual agreement between the visionaries. The results with individual electro-encephalograms and other reactions were collected and described in Joyeux's book, written with R. Laurentin, Etudes medicales et scientifique sur les Apparitions de Medjugorje (Paris, 1986)
The results of psychiatric investigations by the Institute for the Field Limits Of Science (IGW), the Innsbruck Centre For Study and Research on Psychophysiology of States of Consciousness, the European School of Hypnotic Psychotherapy Amisi of Milan, and the Parapsychology Center of Bologna, likewise concluded that the alleged visionaries showed no signs of pathological symptoms, and no stress other than appropriate for their unusual situation. They pointed out that there is a difference between a state of ecstasy induced by hypnosis and one which comes about spontaneously, and concluded that the alleged visionaries were not under any form of hypnosis.
Psychologist and skeptic Armando De Vincentiis analyzed some of the works of dr. Margnelli and dr. Gagliardi in his book " Estasi: Stimmate e altri fenomeni mistici, Ecstasy: Stigmata and other mystical phenomena available in Italian, Avverbi 1999, Rome, page 118). According to De Vincentiis, about the similarity between ecstatic state and hypnotic state," the conclusions of the two authors [ Margnelli and Gagliardi ] present several weak points" (" Estasi: Stimmate e altri fenomeni mistici ", Avverbi 1999, Rome, page 63 ). Moreover, author De Vincentiis suggests that we should reconsider the role of hysteria (a well-known psychopathology) in all mystical experiences .
Medjugorje Wikipedia
Reference 2 - Medjugorje Sighting
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