Another war?

It seems like it's one after another - news of violence ... bloodshed ... and threats of WAR.  Just yesterday, Iran launched a missile attack against Israel, the repercussions of which could mean a new war that would likely involve other key countries.  It can all be overwhelming for many people.

Reflecting on these current events, I couldn't help but think how we could've, perhaps, avoided turmoil like this.  Sadly, Heaven has been warning us for decades now of the dreadful consequences of our sins, and we were also given direction to change our ways and even how to prevent calamities.  The following are just a few excerpts from messages spoken by the Virgin Mary during modern-day Church-approved apparitions ...

+ FATIMA, Portugal

  "... continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war for she alone can help."

  "... If people do what I ask, many souls will be saved and there will be peace."

+ AKITA, Japan

[from a message given to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa on 10/13/1973]

  "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 never 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 priests."

Our Lady of Cuapa

+ CUAPA, Nicaragua

[from a message given to Bernardo Martinez on May 8, 1980]

  "Pray, pray, my son, the Rosary for all the world.  Tell believers and non-believers that the world is threatened by grave dangers.  I ask the Lord to appease His justice, but, if you don't change, you will hasten the arrival of the Third World War.  I want the Rosary to be prayed every day.  I want it to be prayed permanently, within the family ... including the children old enough to understand and to be prayed at a set hour … in the home."

Did we pay attention to our Holy Mother and amend our ways?  Judging by the current state of our world, we most likely, as a general society, ignored these messages despite the urgency of her words (note, in particular, the Cuapa message!).

Closer to home for me, and on a less grander scale ... and perhaps directly related to what just happened between Iran and Israel, is something that's been ongoing in our Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace since October 2023.  I blogged about it last year (see here), but as a recap - there are uncanny images resembling the Madonna and Christ Child ... and the suffering face of Jesus ... visible on a pillar near the Sanctuary.  This author first spotted them on 10/2/2023 (coincidentally, 5 days prior to the Hamas attack on Israel).  I, nor any of the regular parishioners, recall the figures being there before.

I didn't know what to make of the images, at first, but after the Hamas/Israel incident a few days after, I was inclined to believe the tableau and the attack were connected; that the figures in our Cathedral are not just random blotches, but are indeed a prophetic sign from Our Lady of Peace (the cathedral's namesake), asking for prayers for peace ... so I've been doing so routinely, and urge others who also discern the holy figures to pray, too.

        

Left:  A recent photo of the pillar image,

taken in April 2024.  Right: Two visiting

priests from the Philippines gaze with

joyful awe at the holy figures.

Now, with this escalation of events in Israel, I am more convinced that we could be seeing something BIG unfolding in real-time, right before our very eyes; something dire requiring our serious attention and much prayer.

Again, in her many appearances throughout the centuries, our Blessed Mother has cautioned us; her guidance was also consistent in how to respond to horrific events looming before us: Conversion, Prayer, and Penance.  With the world spiraling more and more out of control, isn't it about time we pay heed and make positive changes in our lives?  Let us begin with a simple prayer ...

Lord Jesus, King of Peace,

have mercy on us.

Our Lady, Queen of Peace,

pray for us!

We ask for a speedy and

peaceful end to the

war in the Middle East ...

as well as, all other wars

raging in the world.

Help us to also mend

our lives.  Amen.

NOTICE: The images in our cathedral have not been evaluated by the Honolulu Diocese, nor will they likely be.  What this blogger and others see on the pillar, and how I interpret them are strictly my personal opinions.