We take a lot on faith here, and while we don't know about the majority who claim apparitional visits, some seem especially interesting, including those made in conjunction with a weeping statue in western Australia.

The statue [left] allegedly began exuding tears on March 19, 2002. About 10 days later, on Good Friday, Our Lady again wept until Easter Monday. She then exuded tears in June on the Feast of Corpus Christi. 

The prelate, Archbishop Barry Hickey, in the Diocese of Perth, formed a committee to investigate the statue, which is owned by a local woman, Patty Powell, of Rockingham, who had picked it up in Thailand many years before.  After an inquiry that included use of x-rays and C-T scans, the archbishop concluded that while there was no evidence of fraud, there also was no proof of authenticity.

As it happens, the statue wept before and after the tests, but did not do so while in the hands of scientists, and has not wept since January 8, 2004.

"It is therefore my rightful duty as Archbishop of Perth, for the correct guidance of the people of God, to say that the case for a miraculous happening has not been proved," . "The Church requires very strict criteria for a miracle that rule out other explanations. In this case the criteria have not been met."

In a less formal setting, speaking with a newspaper, Hickey put it this way: "I'm not saying it wasn't a miracle, I'm saying we haven't sufficient proof. I don't know how it happened. All I can say is other interpretations are possible."

The bishop has yet to rule on a related matter that may be of greater moment. For it is not a simple case of a weeping statue [pictured left, with Patty and a priest]. During the statue phenomena, a former military officer and friend of Patty's who has remained anonymous at the request of Archbishop Hickey began experiencing what he says were dramatic visits from the Blessed Mother -- and receiving equally dramatic messages. The statue, it seems, wept in the midst of those alleged revelations, as part of a larger run of events that continue to this day.

Going by the pseudonym of Ian (for "I am nothing"), the Rockingham man, now in his fifties, says that it began around Easter of 2000. His wife had died -- a trauma that he blamed on God -- but soon he happened onto the path of Patty, who became a spiritual friend and guided him back to the Church.

At a retreat that March during meditations on the Prodigal Son, Ian was sitting with a group talking and reading Scripture when he says he suddenly had a vision of red and blue flames crossing each other. As he opened his Bible, he saw that there were two ribbon bookmarks -- blue and red -- on the page concerning the Prodigal Son, and that they had left a mark on the paper.

"I also started hearing things and thought I was going crazy," says the Australian -- who submitted himself to a spiritual director and a battery of psychological tests, all of which came back normal. Around Easter that year, he told Spirit Daily, he began to feel sick and to develop "certain marks" on his body: bleeding from his hands and what seemed like slash marks on his back and shoulders.

On November 27, 2003, Ian was praying the Rosary and walking outside between 8:30 and 9 p.m., trying to lose an uneasy feeling that had been with him all day, "when I felt this incredible presence. It was hard to explain because you see, you feel, you smell -- an incredible perfume, an aroma like we later smelled around the statue, and when I turned, there was a brilliance that took the form of the Blessed Mother."

We submit this only for discernment and as a highly preliminary report with as yet no on-site investigation. It is one of hundreds of such reports in the wake of Medjugorje, the apparition site in Bosnia-Hercegovina that burst into headlines during the 1980s. As always, we urge great caution at a time of widespread deception. At the same time, we remain open to the type of phenomena that have been reported in the Church for nearly 2,000 years -- since Zaragoza in the middle part of the first Christian century.

"I was shell-shocked," says the former  officer. "I felt such an incredible feeling inside, an incredible liveliness, a vibrancy. She was animated and had a radiance from within -- at the same time that she was solid and gentle -- soft, loving, no words to really describe her, just so beautiful."

The Blessed Mother appeared to him as Our Lady of Lourdes (the "Immaculate Conception"), asserts Ian, which was interesting in light of the fact that it was not the way this officer, who had developed a special interest in Our Lady of Fatima, would have designed the appearance.

On one occasion an eight-year-old saw a "crying woman" during the apparition. At another point, mysterious footprints appeared on a cement slab on which the Virgin allegedly appeared.

No words were said at that time, but on December 11, Ian says he began to receive messages from an inner voice. Since that time, he has experienced apparitions that come on what he claims is nearly a daily basis -- "spontaneously," except for the eighth of every month, when she comes at 8 p.m.

The messages are discerned by Ian's spiritual director and then sent to Archbishop Hickey, who has allowed them to be made public, says Ian. A check with the diocese has indicated no negative pronouncements from the bishop at this point. On three occasions when the spiritual director was not available, "Ian's" messages were directly discerned by the bishop -- who allows Patty to expose the Blessed Sacrament once a month at a shrine attached to Patty's home (where the statue resides and first lacrimated). The shrine is known as “The Holy Family House of Prayer” and is open to the public.

"There's an urgency to the messages," Ian told Spirit Daily. "There's an urgency to be selfless and humble. There is the message of the importance of prayer in our time. Now is the time to awaken your sleepy conscience." The battle with Satan, which she has asked all to prepare for, is very near, say the messages.

"We are in winter, of course, and in Western Australia we have very mild conditions," Ian wrote us last week. "In the tropical north of Australia we have monsoons and cyclones (hurricanes). In March of this year we had one of the most powerful cyclones ever recorded in Australia. It was the first to cover the entire top end of the continent on it's course. Usually they hit in an east-west direction when they form in the Coral Sea and they strike the east coast and head southward.

"This one crossed the coast across the top of Queensland and strengthened after crossing, continued west and next went across the northern territory and eventually in to the northern section of West Australia. It did not lose intensity and, praise God, did not take any lives. It approached many townships and areas of population and always seemed to veer at the last moment. It passed Darwin to the north and turned back on its track, headed south-south-east stopped and veered to the west. Usually when a cyclone crosses from the Pacific to the Indian oceans it rapidly looses intensity and is downgraded to a depression and renamed if it should reform. This time that did not occur. A few weeks later the South West of western Australia was hit by full blown tornadoes. Perth and Bunbury experienced massive damage in parts. In Bunbury the cathedral was moved almost an inch from the foundation and has since been demolished because of the extent of the damage. It was a solid stone Cathedral and was moved. Interestingly western Australia does not experience tornadoes on the coast and when tornadoes occur inland they are very small and mild and in summer.

"In Queensland in the last month, from 8th July, to be precise, there have been widespread flooding and torrential rain the like of which has not been experienced before at this time of year. This is usually their dry period. Similarly Sydney was rocked by tornado-like conditions in the last weeks and severe rain fall. I like yourself always allow time to reflect and discern and I also accept some amount of 'coincidence,' but it seems clear to me that we are talking global anomalies at this time. I have some birds at the shrine in an aviary  and yesterday I noticed them nesting and sitting on eggs; also we have a couple of doves that have decided to nest in a branch above the statue of Our Lady in the grotto and they are nesting as well. Cute story I know, but they are two months early for breeding! Even they are confused. On Sunday Our Lady said 'even the creatures of the earth and the birds of the air see Almighty God's signs though His children do not and remain blinded.'

As for the statue? Comments Patty on the state of the world, "No one needs to ask why she weeps any longer."

Some of the revelations are "veiled" predictions, says Ian, and there is a secret, but the predictions -- which we will look at next -- are a "small part" of what's happening. Perhaps they can be synopsized by one that allegedly said, "Never forget that when times are dark the light of my Adored Son will shine through you. It will be a beacon which will light the narrow path to Heaven."

When it comes to prophecy and "messages," we are certainly living at a time of them. Not since a paroxysm of similar utterances in the 13th and 14th centuries has the Catholic Church been so rife with missives from what is said to be the Blessed Mother.

There is no doubt that the Vatican accepts certain such messages as legitimate and has from its onset. In fact, although largely forgotten in the current secular climate, private revelations (as they are known) have played a crucial role in the formation of many, even most, major Church traditions.

Still, caution is in order, for it is also a time of great deception. There are imaginings. There is delusion. We can attempt to discern only through fasting.

But there is no denying the consistent tone of the vast majority: that the world is on the brink of great change, change that will be both wondrous and painful. We are in an intensifying curve of "chastisement."

And so it is with purported messages granted to a former military officer in Rockingham, Australia, whose bishop has asked him to remain anonymous -- but has also allowed propagation of his messages.

Known as "Ian," he is associated with a statue that allegedly has exuded tears (in a way the Church has not authenticated) and began seeing the Blessed Mother as an apparition in 2003, with later locutions that continue to the present [see previous story]. We present them as representative of many we receive -- too many to post, let alone validate.

On November 27, 2003, Ian was praying the Rosary and walking outside between 8:30 and 9 p.m., trying to lose an uneasy feeling that had been with him all day, "when I felt this incredible presence. It was hard to explain because you see, you feel, you smell -- an incredible perfume, an aroma like we later smelled around the statue, and when I turned, there was a brilliance that took the form of the Blessed Mother."

Soon, she was conveying messages to him through locution (the "hearing" of an inner "voice"). And the content?

"It is a message of repentance and brotherhood," says Ian, now 50 and a devout Catholic. "There's an urgency to be selfless and humble. I take them as they come. They are meant for all. There is a message of the importance of prayer in our time. There's a message to be a visible Christian."

There is also drama. Ian says he was given a secret that he prefers not even to allude to in general terms. We are entering a time, his public messages assert, when we will see the "final confrontation with Satan." He believes the world right now is experiencing "a horrible unease," and that "we are under a cloud," at the precipice of upheaval, including a major event. There is spiritual warfare erupting around us. There is need for great conversion and protection.

But it's not the end, he says, "it's a beginning and a rebirth; there will be victory." Moreover, says Ian, "I believe everything can be mitigated and changed by prayer."

It is not a dismal message.

But neither can one downplay the serious nature of most of his -- and other -- alleged  messages.

"Now is the time to awaken your sleepy conscience," Ian quotes Mary as telling him (and we repeat the messages in excerpts and composite quotes, for your personal determination):

"The battle with Satan, which you have been asked to prepare for, is very near. This is truly a time of preparation. Remember to not criticize or judge others, for then you will be prevented from being a child of God. Love, humility, and compassion conquer evil. Grow in holiness. Become small to grow even larger.

"You are in a time of mercy, a time of peace," say the messages -- in concert with Fatima, where the late seer Lucia dos Santos said we are living in a period of peace won by the 1984 consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart. But the messages go on, "The time has come that all must repent and do penance for their sins.

"Change is needed to appease God's wrath, for without change and a desire to live a holy life the mountains will shake, the sea will roar. Soon you will understand, for a change is going to occur that will wake those who are deep in slumber. A time is coming that in order to survive you will need to be totally dependent on the Eternal Father.

"I am with you for it is not yet time to leave you completely... The time is coming and Jesus will renew the face of the earth. The time is at hand. Believe in God's love and mercy. He has plans for those who persevere, for those who remain loyal to Him. Prepare now before the storm starts."

Humility and trust in God, say the messages, will bring peace in the midst of the "storm." It is a time for spiritual cleansing. It is also a time for family protection.

"Be prepared, for as day turns into night the warning will turn into a time of great darkness for man...Know that the great sign is to come and that sign will rise out of the east," the messages go on at other junctures. "When you see that sign you will know that the battle is on. Cleanse your souls. Prepare now.

"As I have warned you, beware of the men of science. Be especially aware of the men who treat theology as a science for they spread a merely human theology. This is Satan's greatest weapon, errors made in human theology. I have come as a sorrowful mother to proclaim the time of God's judgment, the beginning of the trial. Prayer is your only weapon in the face of the storm and the storm is gathering. To understand the storm you need to read the Scriptures. Read and understand what is written in Zephaniah.

"There is great hidden destruction in this world that few notice but I tell you that the evil one is preparing the earth day by day by day to be more susceptible to his will and in so doing he is able to cause greater damage than that which has already started. Be prepared, for he opens the world up to great destruction.

"It is time to live more simply so you have more time to be with God," said one of Ian's messages in June (again, using excerpts). "Let go of the things of this world, for they will not help you in times to come. What will be needed is a pure heart and complete trust in God. I say to all My children, do not cling to your material wealth. Detach from your worldliness, for it will draw you away from the Eternal Father. Learn to do without so you may become more dependent on God. Through sacrifice on your part, you will learn how to truly trust in God for all your needs."

Says another: "Remember that even though events which surround you may be tumultuous and dramatic you still live in a time of great grace."

"In the time of destruction that is to come you will know those who are of the Eternal Father and who have accepted the truth and the light of the message of my Adored Son for amongst all  the clamor they shall show nothing except peace and calm..."

"Satan roams throughout the world trying to destroy all of you and trying to claim your souls as his.

"Stay close to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The truth is that the great trials have begun.

"Do not fear the truth for the truth is the Light of My adored Son Jesus the Christ and you have no need to fear Him, for He will never harm you. Know that He is always with me as I am with Him and therefore  where I am so shall He be. As the light of the day increases be grateful for the many who respond to the truth and increase the Light of His truth and give that Light to so many more. Draw close to the Light of the Most Sacred Heart and remain under the protection of the mantle of my Immaculate Conception. The darkness will be vanquished forever by the light of the Truth of  Christ."

Ian says he has only the desire to spread what he has been told to spread. Most strikingly, this former military officer says he "can't emphasize too strongly that war is wrong. All killing is wrong. There has to be a better way."

Speaking of the environment, "Our Lady has said you cannot continue to destroy the Creation," he claims.  It is all for your consideration as the Bible tells us not to despise prophecy but to discern it and take from it what is good.

And so take from such messages -- here and elsewhere -- what your spirit, in prayer, finds truthful.

Are there nuggets with which some can argue? Are they pure? Or are there tones that sound like the filter of a man?

It is all for personal judgment. It is difficult to deny, however, that we are in a time of great darkness.

"The worldliness which Satan creates always tries to seduce you with the lure of secular luxuries and transient possessions," is a final alleged comment from Mary, for our purposes, at least for the time being. "Satan’s time is quickly running out and he seeks to destroy and blind as many as possible before the last battle.  Stand firm in your beliefs and never lose hope. If you pray and offer all for My Adored Son, then He will be your strength.  God’s justice must soon prevail and the persecutions wrought by Satan and his followers will manifest in the short time. Stay close to the Sacred Heart of the Christ for He will never leave your side.  He is and will be your comfort and your nourishment for all time."

08/10/05