THE MESSAGE OF AKITA

I'm posting this because I doubt that many are aware of Akita or know of the message given there by Our Lady. Whether you believe or not that Mary, the Mother of God, has been appearing around the world since the death of her Son, it doesn't hurt to consider what the Church and the seers claim she has said. So much that has been prophesied has come true and so much is in the process of it.

Personally, I take these messages under advisement, for lack of a better phrase. I'm aware of them and what they say and I watch for the signs they mention. As I see the things that were prophesied happen I at least am not surprised by them. It gives me a chance to prepare, and brace myself.

"In 1984, just before retiring at a venerable age, the diocesan Bishop of Niigata, Bishop John Shojiro Ito, in consultation with the Holy See, wrote a pastoral letter in which he recognized as being authentically of the Mother of God, the extraordinary series of events that had taken place from 1973 to 1981 in a little lay convent within his diocese, at Akita, Japan. Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, in June 1988, approved the Akita events as "reliable and worthy of belief". In fact the Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, in 1998 spoke to Cardinal Ratzinger about Akita and the Cardinal: "personally confirmed to me that these two messages of Fatima and Akita are essentially the same". Hence in Akita we are dealing with a Church approved intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary as sure in this respect as Lourdes, La Salette, or Fatima.

Only a few Catholics know of Our Lady of Akita but the message, like that of Fatima, is a specific warning of worldwide chastisement. The chastisement threatened is truly terrible – far worse than the possibility of annihilation of several nations prophesied at Fatima. Akita is absolutely consistent with prophecies of Scripture.

The first message received by Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa on June 6, 1973, was a call for prayer and sacrifice for the glory of the Father and salvation of souls. The second message, August 3, 1973, was for prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices to soften the Father's anger.

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.
"The demon will rage especially against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will no longer be pardon for them."

In his pastoral letter approving the events of Akita as supernatural, the Bishop of Niigata said: "After the inquiries conducted up to the present day, one cannot deny the supernatural character of a series of unexplainable events relative to the statue of the Virgin honored at Akita (Diocese of Niigata). Consequently I authorize that all of the diocese entrusted to me venerate the Holy Mother of Akita."

Concerning the messages, His Excellency 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."

Our Lady of the Rosary Library