It isn't just alleged apparitions. It isn't just wonders in the heavens. Many matters are coalescing in our time, from cultural events -- happenings in society -- to healings, conversions, and at the same time an outbreak of spiritual war.

On the world stage, there is currently the famous movie on the Passion of Jesus at the same moment that there are the struggles against abortion, euthanasia, and cloning -- all crystallizing before our very eyes, along with signs.

The war is breaking out -- and there are more Christians than many thought. But in changing society, they have their work cut out for them.

And then there is the personal level: this is where the spiritual war is fought more than anywhere. Currently there is much in the way of divorce, emotional disruption, or illness -- and this too is part of it. The secret thoughts of many are being revealed, and we are more plainly seeing who falls where. In other words: there is an agitation in the spiritual dimension, and it is manifesting in various ways. Our souls are battlefields.

But for now let's get back to alleged supernatural signs. Incredible it is how little attention our society now pays to such events -- which were so important in the time of Jesus (and for many centuries after). Of course, not every claim of a sign has validity, but since so few in the media pay such matters heed (despite the biblical admonishments to do so), we try to do that here -- submitting it all for your own determination. We got quite a bit of mail after a commentary (link below) last week on a red moon over Washington.

It seems such a moon is being seen in more places than one.

"I was very surprised to see you mention the phenomenon of a red moon because I experienced one just this past Monday and it was on the heels of a great spiritual battle connected to The Passion of the Christ," writes Maryanne Petty of Kalamazoo, Michigan. "I took my teenaged nephew to see the movie on Sunday afternoon. The connection to the red moon is that I came home from work the following day -- this past Monday (March 8). I went to my local gym that night to work out and was surprised to find that two bodybuilders had seen the movie on Sunday night and another two were planning to see it this weekend. After I left the gym I had to stop at the local grocery store for an errand and as I was getting out of the car, there was the 98 per cent full moon, just coming up over the horizon. I was stunned to see that it was blood red and my first thought was 'it's no wonder.'  I'd already known that the anger at home [a major fight with a relative] was because of the spiritual battle being waged by this movie's release, but now here was further proof."

The red moon was also reported to us from residents in Whittier, California, and Joliet, Illinois. An atmospheric effect? Jan Wanechek was on the way back from Ellenburg, Washington, when it was noted that there was exactly what was described in the article: not only a red moon, but one that seemed oddly "flattened." Others report seeing a large red object that was not the moon.

For you to discern. We must be careful. We all know that things in the sky can be deceiving -- products of effects we don't understand. But let's consider all testimony. And let's try to see if there is meaning. "I was recently blessed with a gift of the Rosa Mystica statue from the apostolate of Horst Mehring in Germany," notes Maryann Wichmann in Colchester, Vermont. "Recently I awoke in the middle of the night and started praying. She gave me a very short vision of the night sky with a red full moon. I understood this to mean 'chastisement.'"

Another who saw the moon as not only red but distorted was Pam Conry in Iowa. "It was huge and neon red -- quite spectacular!"

Delusions? We doubt all such cases are. Jesus Himself said there would be signs in the sun and moon and stars (Luke 21:25).

Are we now too smart -- too "scientific" -- to believe that? Writes a man from the West Coast: "I am responding to a story you posted the other day about a ball of flame sighted in the sky somewhere over California. Several months ago I encountered something very similar. The couch opposite my television is next to my front window and one night as I was watching television I thought I saw fire in the sky. After a few moments I figured I was just seeing things and went back to watching television. Then a couple of nights later I saw it again, and this time I managed to turn my head quick enough to see it.  It was definitely a ball of flame descending in the night sky. After watching it for a few seconds it just disappeared. I didn't hear a crash or anything so I'm sure it wasn't a plane or helicopter or some kind of meteor. I don't know what it was, but it reminded me of the chapter in The Book of Revelation where the rebel angels were thrown out of Heaven."

Natural effects? Or signs? Perhaps there are meteorologists who will tell us why this is happening. There are also reports of strange displays of the aurora borealis -- which have been occurring in a special way since September 11. Such an aurora was the "great sign" prophesied at Fatima, and the northern lights also inform us that the sun is acting in a strong fashion, with sunspots that are often accompanied by swerves in the weather. One scientist from Harvard told us that the sun has not acted this way since the Middle Ages.

Meanwhile we have noted that the terrorist bombing in Spain was the calendar opposite of September 11. It occurred on 3/11 -- and came precisely 911 days after the World Trade Center bombing.

"I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown," says Revelation 3:11, in whichever way you wish to interpret that. Note too that the Passion script was completed on September 11.

The movie, of course, is only a part of a much larger picture. Many are those who write us of colors that spin off the sun or a strange "disc" -- resembling the Host -- that seems to blot out its rays, as at Fatima. One recent report was from Providence, Rhode Island. In Granbury, Texas, a while back, a large red cross allegedly was seen in the sky, while from Fairport, New York, comes the report of puffy clouds to the right of the sun and then a clear spot. "In that clear spot was a round white circle which looked like a Host," says Sharon A. Norton. "Coming from that Host were two rays, one red and one a very pale blue, like rays of Mercy."

This is how Jesus is portrayed in the Divine Mercy revelations of St. Faustina.

"I just finished reading your report on 'signs' and the possibility of a disaster in the US," writes Azure Nelson of Eugene, Oregon. "What I want to share with you may not be the kind of sign you were looking for, nor is it a portent of doom. But I think this 'sign' is as important for hope as any of the others are for a warning. I work with people who are entering the Church and being baptized at Easter. I also belong to a roundtable of churches around the U.S., Canada and even New Zealand. It has been the great joy of many of us, as we share on various things, to report that the numbers of people entering the Church is up, despite the scandals, the Church's strong stance many 'unpopular' issues, and even the trials many parishes are facing in a priest shortage time. Our society and country surely is sick and in need of a 'lash,' as you say -- but all the while God's great love and mercy is working in the hearts and lives of people in great numbers. This to me, is a very great sign that God is with us ( 'I will never leave you, not forsake you') and still building the Kingdom."

Notes another: "I believe that we will find out that Blessed Mother was right at Medjugorje when she said that as long as we pray, receive the sacraments, and stay close to God, we really don't have anything to fear."

March 2004

[see also: Of prophecy and a red moon]