Religious Apparitions There are quite a few people who have seen religious apparitions and it has been going on for thousands of years. Some people will tell you only people with a mental illness claim to have seen them, but nothing could be further from the truth. I am sure some mentally ill people do make this claim, but there have been far too many sightings for everyone claiming this to have a mental problem. Many people have heard about the Virgin Mary appearing to three children in Fatima, Portugal, but how many know there were so many more appearances over many years? Many times, when an apparition of the Virgin Mary takes place it happens to children and in times of crisis. One of the strange things is more reports of Mary appearing are registered than any other figure. Sometimes these apparitions are not reported as being Mary, but of a lady dressed in white which is presumed to be Mary. One appearance of Mary is now called Our Lady of Akita where a nun was told even though she was deaf; her hearing would return in later years. When the nun heard this, it was not clear if it was a voice in her head, but as I said she was deaf. Some years later, in 1982 Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa had her hearing return fulfilling what had been told her. Sometimes when the apparition appears there is no verbal communication. Some say this just proves people are not seeing what they think they are. In 1981 to 1989 six girls and a boy received multiple apparitions and messages from Mary showing them horrible things and telling them if Rwanda did not come back to God there would be a river of blood. Eventually this came to pass and two of the children died. An apparition is the basis for the Catholic religion. After Jesus was crucified many saw him when he returned. Basically, he was an apparition. Remember how he showed his wounds to doubting Thomas? It is said Jesus reappeared at least 10 times to his apostles after his resurrection. Luke 24:13-43 states after Jesus died two of Jesus’ followers were walking down a road. They were walking toward the village of Emmaus. They were discussing what had happened when Jesus appeared and walked with them. In 1205 A.D. Saint Francis of Assisi said while he was praying a vision of Jesus came to him. The vision said, “Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins.” There were many other apparitions then in 1366 Saint Catherine of Siena reported seeing Jesus who told her to tend the sick. In 1559 A.D. Saint Teresa of Avila report seeing visions of Jesus for years. She said he was in full bodily form. I am skipping over some other famous appearances to get to the 19th century. In 1859 St. John Vianney had many visions of Jesus along with visions of Mary and also demons. He was known as the great exorcist. In 1899 Saint Gemma Galgani reported seeing Jesus after having a recurring stigmata. She said she saw Jesus and he showed her his wounds but it was not blood which came from them but fire. He was said to reappear regularly as did her stigmata. A stigmata, is when someone experiences the wounds Jesus suffered. The appearances just keep coming and there were plenty of them in the 20th century. There were so many more appearances of Mary and Jesus over the years I could fill a book with them, but they are not the only religious apparitions to appear to people. In 590 A.D. a terrible plague had descended on Rome. Pope St. Gregory decided to ask God for help and marched through the streets of Rome with a painting of the Virgin Mary in the lead. He begged for help from the plague and as he was marching, he saw the sky open up and there was the Archangel St. Michael with other angels. They came down to the crowd and a pleasant odor wafted over the people. The pope responded by singing lines from Regina Coeli: “Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia!” At the end of the sighting St. Michael sheathed his sword and that was the end of the plague. In 1631 A.D. St. Michael appeared over Tlaxcala, Mexico who was also experiencing a terrible plague. A procession was being held called the Greater Litanies procession. A form of smallpox was ravaging the area. The people prayed for an end to the plague and it is said God once again sent St. Michael to end it and he did. Michael appeared to a native and told him there was a spring between two mountains and under a great boulder and the spring would cure people of their ills and he was warned not to neglect what he was told, but he did and Michael came back and was asked why he ignored what he was told and he was stricken with the plague and just kept getting sicker for about a week. Michael appeared again and took the villager to the spring and cured him. Others watched as a bright light descended on the village. Indeed, the spring could cure the sickness. Miracles and apparitions have happened to people of all different religions and all walks of life. They are not the purview of any one religion. There are many stories of apparitions of a religious nature appearing to Muslims for example. They report seeing Muhammad, Krishna, and even Jesus and Mary. There have been reports of apparitions of Mary appearing over Egypt and Jerusalem among other areas and thousands of people have seen them and also bright lights over mosques and churches and no explanations can be found for these strange events. Buddhists have their own stories of apparitions. I would like to end this article with a story about three villages which were Buddhist. It is said a heavenly lady appeared under a banian tree which is a sacred Buddhist tree. A pagoda was build there and a statue of Buddha was placed in it. The leaders of the three villages had a dream where Buddha told them to remove his statue from there since a lady more powerful than he was occupying the place. When the leaders went to the pagoda, Buddha’s statue was outside. They put it back in. That night they had the same dream and decided to remove the Buddha from there and donated the building to the Catholic Church.
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