It may sound like a strange question, and we really don't think it's the case. But let's ask the question: Is the Blessed Mother receding?

It's a strange question because around the world, especially in the past several weeks, have been headlines about statues of the Blessed Mother weeping. And as always, there are apparitions. There are alleged "locutions." As we reported just last week, there is a proliferation of dreams.

Yet in the midst of all that is the vague notion that Mary may be stepping back, at least a bit, from the more dominant role she played during the 1980s and 1990s -- when claims of apparitions were far more robust and when huge apparition sites like Medjugorje were more in the public eye (at least in North America; in some nations, the site is as popular as ever).

It was at Medjugorje that a visionary said she was told that when this particular apparition site, the most intensely attended since Fatima, was widely disclaimed that events would begin to happen, and it is here that a second seer reportedly commented a month ago that Mary seemed preoccupied during a recent apparition because she is tending to part of her "plan" (not indicating what that "plan" might be). 

Is there something in the wind? Might the Blessed Mother be "preoccupied"? Are manifestations now more directly involving Jesus?

We can note that while the statues and images of the Blessed Mother remain in the news and probably always will, images of Christ seem to be gaining prominence. Is this a telling sign? Are we at a turning point? Might He be joining her in open manifestation?

First, a comment on Mary's statues. In Sacramento she is said to be exuding a blood-like fluid. The diocese says at this point there is no plan to investigate but the statue has gained international headlines. Startling this has been for those who claim everything is fine and that we are not at a critical juncture of history.

If everything is going so swimmingly, if all is well, one wonders why the Blessed Mother has been manifesting in such a way. "A statue weeping blood -- kind of obviously, she's not crying for joy," notes Dr. Sandra Zimdars-Swarz, an expert on Marian apparitions.

"She cries for everybody's sin," comments Van Li, a visitor to the statue who cuts right to the heart of the matter at a time when others try to cover over the nature of our time, granting false assurances.

When Jesus manifests, His statues also exude tears and He too has been known to exude blood. A statue of Christ Crucified has been shedding blood in Cali, Colombia, and His Face was recently claimed on a car in a lot in Laredo, Texas. Can we put stock in that? "God is speaking to his people, especially through private revelation which is so politically incorrect among the priests," a Texas priest wrote us.

The prophecy also foresaw that "in the period also will be a warning that involves not fire from the sky but fear of fire from the sky, and strange loud rumblings."

Again, there is no way of knowing if there is a link, but we must note that reports of mysterious rumblings have been coming from around the world of late -- right there in news reports -- along with countless "signs" in the sky.

"We had a spectacular comet land in Western Australia yesterday up north from Perth, where as I'm sure you are aware, a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes has been shedding tears for almost a year now," writes Barry Mc Innes this past weekend from Down Under -- where the spiritual warfare is hot and heavy.

In the Canary Islands -- where many fear collapse of a volcano that could cause an enormous tsunami -- a tropical storm recently tumbled a formation in rock long known as "The Finger of God" [left].

That's on Gran Canaria,  which is one of the world's foremost homosexual playgrounds -- like New Orleans, where "Decadence Weekend" was canceled due to 'Katrina,' and Key West, where the annual debauchery festival called "Fantasy Fest" also fell  victim to a hurricane, in that case 'Wilma.'

Signs in the sky? Jesus?

"On November 7th, at about 4:20 p.m., my daughter pulled into the parking lot at K-Mart," writes Pam Urdiales of Copley, Ohio, in an e-mail typical of hundreds we have received. "She was thinking the sun looked particularly beautiful. It was a huge white gauzy globe, low in the sky, obscured by clouds, but beaming bright. She got out of her car to see it better, and took out her cell phone, which has a camera on it, to take a picture of it. When she held her phone up and pointed it at the sun, there suddenly appeared in the center of the white, a bright, pink, small ball. She began to videotape it (her phone also has a video recorder). As she watched, the small ball bounced around, or danced, and pulsated, and the bright pink color spread around the white area of the sun. She described it as looking like a little ball in a box, bouncing around in it. You can hear her voice on the video as she is watching, saying, 'Am I really seeing this?' We put the video on our computer, and watched it over and over.  Soon, we were able to see a likeness of Jesus' Face above the sun similar to the face on the Shroud of Turin."

In Chicago, meanwhile, the "miracle of the sun" was seen to shine a ray in Daley Center Plaza [left] on a Nativity Scene, also recently. We get the "word" here that soon clouds will obscure the sun.

What of "fire" from the sky? Might this be a meteor shower -- one that frightens us but does not cause catastrophic destruction?

Signs in the sky have been important throughout history-- the Star of Bethlehem as one example -- and there is currently interest in an unexpected burst of meteors on October 5 that some fear may betray the presence of a thus far unknown comet.

Such astronomical phenomena are known to history and recently we saw how Hale-Bopp appeared unexpectedly and nearly out of nowhere, spotted by an amateur astronomer. Are we in store for another surprise?

Whatever the case, prophecies concerning events on earth continue to unfold and demand that we revisit an especially astute one given to a Catholic evangelist named Ralph Martin on Pentecost Monday during a Charismatic Conference at St. Peter's Basilica in 1975 -- at the height of the charismatic renewal. This prophecy too seems to have materialized.

Another "word" here: She may seem a bit quiet, but expect her to remain in the fore -- pointing to her Son.

"I will come not as a man of flesh, but like My mother, who already nurses Me and holds Me in her arms, as a light and power," Jesus said in the alleged 1990 locution. "I will manifest Myself in a series of supernatural events similar to the apparitions but much more powerful."

12/5/05

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