Always a sober read, Brian! It is coming, ever so closer! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
True faith is perseverance to the very end by Michael H. Brown Word came last week that in Japan, out of 126 million people, less than 500,000 are Catholic. The number of total Christians isn't much more. Indeed, this is a truly irreligious nation -- a good people, a polite and accommodating people, a people with tremendous spiritual potential, but a people without faith. The main religion here has been materialism and as a result there were 30,000 suicides among youth in 1999 and the year before a quarter million divorces. So secularized is Japan that not even native religions like Shintoism and Buddhism are practiced. Yet on a visit to Tokyo a year ago I saw a miracle in the midst of this spiritual vacuum. I don't even know the name of the church. I was staying in the Ginza district, and after a lot of struggle getting my point across to the desk clerk at the hotel, I was finally able to locate a church about 15 minutes away. One of the employees dutifully wrote out directions in Japanese for a taxi, and I found my way to an old little place hidden between the skyscrapers and apartment buildings for 7 a.m. Mass. It was a heart-wrenching scene. I don't know the name of the church because I can't read Japanese but what I know is that it had old worn pews and a tiny altar that was barren but for the tabernacle to the left with a little homemade plastic curtain or canopy above it. I was the only person in the pews; it was as lonely as I have ever been during a liturgy. As Mass began, a short gray-haired priest appeared -- the oldest celebrant I have ever seen, in his eighties for sure, perhaps close to 90 -- a poor hunched-over little fellow whose every step was a terrific labor as he made his way slowly across the altar with the help of a dutiful woman assistant and a metal folding chair he used for a walker. He probably couldn't afford a real one. In the midst of materialism, in the midst of tremendous disbelief, here was this feeble priest persevering. Although I was the only one there, they conducted the Mass as if that little place was filled to the rafters. Every ritual was honored, every reading carefully read, every antiphon recited. The priest could no longer read; the assistant did all of that. At consecration he struggled tremendously to raise the Host with his arthritic arms and could barely do so and was so crippled that I had to take the Communion out of the chalice myself. But he had persevered. He didn't care that he was alone in the world's largest city, that he was looked on as a relic, that no one even knew he was there. He was still trying with everything he had, he had finished the consecration, he finished the Mass -- and he granted a lesson in faith: If we want to get to heaven, if we want to find paradise after this life -- after this struggle -- we have to face it like this priest. We have to keep our heads up in every struggle. We have to forget what's going on around us. We have to give it our best shot every minute and persevere with our eyes on Christ even if it seems like no one else is... https://www.spiritdaily.org/persevere.htm
Differences in Popes.....unable to copy images Seeing without sight, my second encounter with a pope TOKYO (Reuters) - When Pope Francis came through Tokyo this week, I got the chance to see my second pontiff and was surprised with a second blessing - both humbling but also very different experiences. Reuters employee Mayuko Baba displays her commemorative photo of Pope John Paul II with her at the Vatican, which was taken in 1989 during her trip as a student of Sophia University, at her office in Tokyo, Japan November 22, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato It may seem odd for me to say I’ve seen two popes, since I am blind. But I saw them, only without my eyes. Blind since the age of four, I may not register visual images, but I see. I love birdwatching and even blog about it. My mind forms a tableau: I hear the birds singing, moving about, looking for food. It’s a scene of imagination, a scene of feeling. In the same way, I saw Francis on Tuesday after his speech at Sophia University. As he walked by, I reached out my hand and it touched his vestments - they were fluffy, with air rustling through them. He shook my hand and then gently patted my head, as one might to a child. It was like being wrapped in warm air. I said “Gracias, gracias,” and he was gone. In the enormous Tokyo Dome on Monday and at the university on Tuesday, I was struck by the gentleness Francis projected, in contrast with the power I had felt when I saw Pope John Paul II at the Vatican 20 years ago, who also graced me with his touch. On Monday, it was quieter than I expected in a stadium used for rock concerts and baseball games. He led 50,000 people into silent contemplation, with only the occasional sound of a baby crying. My encounter with John Paul, by contrast, was overpowering. After an hour of prayers and hymns in the Paul VI audience hall near St. Peter’s Square, John Paul greeted each group, telling ours: “Kami ni kansha” – Thanks be to God. Pressed against a rail at the front, I reached out as he approached. When he came to me, he held my head strongly between his hands and blessed me with a kiss on my forehead. ADVERTISEMENT I felt a jolt of energy. I thought I might fall over backward. I started to cry. I didn’t know why - I wasn’t sad, I was happy. Later, as I reflected on that moment, I felt it was beyond my control - that it was God’s power, God’s presence. That day, I became a pope-watcher. A year later I was baptized, becoming one of just half a million Catholics in Japan. I was a student when I went to the Vatican. This week I was working. A translator at Reuters for 26 years, I was thankful for the personal connection with John Paul that made me part of the team organized to cover Francis’s visit. Francis seems more of a philosopher than John Paul, who could speak the language of politics with strength and clarity. In his mass, Francis spoke of “the many people who are socially isolated,” and who are “enclosed and even asphyxiated.” He spoke of a community that accepts the imperfect as worthy. “Is a disabled or frail person not worthy of love?” he asked. He was speaking for people like me. While Japanese people are famously kind - strangers are always helping me on crowded commuter trains - many people here are marginalized. When I was a child, disabled students were not integrated into society. And when I got my master’s degree, I was refused job interviews with more than 100 companies because of my disability. Francis’s call to abolish nuclear weapons in the only country upon which they have been used attracted the most headlines from this visit. But I also hope I will live to see his message of defending the vulnerable take firmer hold in Japan. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...my-second-encounter-with-a-pope-idUSKBN1Y019Q
Remember tomorrow, the 6th, is not only the feast of St. Nicholas, but also a day of reparation! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Had another look at Akita new message. She received the message at 3.30am on 6th October 2019. So Rome was 8 hours behind Toyko on that date above mentioned. It would mean its 7.30pm in Rome on 5th of October. Have no idea of what took place in Rome on that day 5th. OR : Does Sister S literally mean on the 6th October when false idol took place in Rome? Or 5th as im clutching at straws here. Church authorities have already sprung into action and are persecuting Sr Sasagawa for getting the message out from seclusion that they have arranged for her. Why are they (church authorities) persecuting her as she is very advanced in her age(89)? I would say just leave her alone.
If im not mistaken, the Pachamas had made their appearance in the Vatican Gardens that day, Friday 4th of October, and they were about to be processed in to Saint Peters two days later - so Sister Agnes was visited by the Angel in the day between the two ceremonies, the first Ceremony was the first incursion of the idols into the perifery, and the second Ceremony was the final actual ensconcement of the idols inside the Holy Place.
See first para of this weblink which i hadnt seen it before: https://www.thecampofsaints.com/2019/11/the-new-akita-message-is-absolutely.html
This came from the original report in WQPH:http://wqphradio.org/2019/11/05/a-s...w-message-from-sr-agnes-of-our-lady-of-akita/ Particularly, we know that Sister Agnes has suffered greatly since the last message of Akita, and we are concerned that this new message, this very simple call to repentance, which we obtained through sources close to her, has begun new tribulations for her and her confidants.
Sorry, I was mistaken, the Vatican Gardens Tree planting ceremony took place on the Friday, 4th October, not Saturday 5th October. So then Sister Agnes received the visit from the Angel on Saturday at 7.30 pm Rome time, or Sunday 3.30 a.m. Japan time. In any case, there was one day that separated the 2 ceremonies and the Angel Visited Sister Agnes on that day.
Hoping this link works. Well worth rewatching especially in light of what has taken place since the beginning of this year!
I don't think it is a new message. It looks like a forum member reposted a video originally released last December about the Akita message received about the same time as the idolatry at the Vatican last October 2019. Now, I see a report in Spirit Daily that Father Altmans Bishop is about to pounce and shut him up because he told Catholics it is a sin to vote for politicians who enact laws that murder babies and other degenerate practices. To be honest it appears the poor Bishop is being bombarded by lefties who want Father Altman silenced. I think Father Altman would call it white martyrdom, meaning no blood gets spilled. Unless his Bishop manages to grow a pair, as they say. Of course the lefties will have their way and we can kiss goodbye to another great and courageous Priest. Here is his sermon.
So the 6 weeks that Fr Rodrigue (yes I saw his Bishops letter) said we would have after the warning would work out to be the exact same time frame as spoken about in this video re Akita.. the 40 days from Nov. 3rd to the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.. how very interesting...
thanks for clarifying Julia....I knew of the original message but thought there was a recent one from this month
Akita is so relevant today -- the world is immersed in great darkness. The Church is filled with the spirit of compromise -- The message approved by the Bishop was stern. The third message on October 13, 1973, the actual anniversary of the final visions and miracle of Fatima is as follows: “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 never have 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 the priests. The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, and bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their Confreres. The Church and altars will be vandalized. 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. In 1973, concerning the messages, His Excellency Bishop Ito said: “As for the content of the messages received, it is no way contrary to Catholic doctrine or to good morals. When one thinks of the actual state of the world, the warning seems to correspond to it in many points.” His Excellency explained that he had taken eight years to give this judgment because of the importance and the responsibility in question. “The Congregation of the Doctrine for the Faith has given me directives in this sense,” the Bishop said, “that only the bishop of the diocese in question has the power to recognize an event of this kind.” We need to pray the Rosary and offer many sacrifices to placate the justice of God. The new alleged Akita message of October 2019 is very much in the spirit of Catholic reparation -- “Cover yourself in ashes and please pray your rosary for penance everyday.” Sacrifices, penance, Rosary --
