In the Japanese town of Yuzawadai located less than 90 miles from the city of Sendai, the site of the March 11, 2011, tsunami, is the site of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Akita and the apparitions of Our Lady that took place there.
The extraordinary events began on June 12, 1973, when Sr. Agnes Sasagawa saw brilliant rays emanating from the tabernacle as she knelt in prayer. The same thing happened again the next two days. Sixteen days later, on June 28, 1973, a cross-shaped wound appeared on the inside of Sister Agnes’ left hand. It bled profusely and was very painful. On July 6, Sr. Agnes heard a voice coming from the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the chapel where she was praying. The statue was carved from a single block of wood from a Katsura tree and is three feet tall. Our Lady spoke to Sister Agnes and asked her to pray for the reparation of sins and to consecrate herself to the Eucharistic Lord. This was only the beginning of many mysterious happenings occurring with the statue. On the same day, a few of the sisters noticed drops of blood flowing from the statue’s right hand. On four occasions, this act of blood flow repeated itself. The wound in the statue’s hand remained until September 29, when it disappeared. On September 29, the day the wound on the statue disappeared, the sisters noticed the statue had now begun to “sweat”, especially on the forehead and neck. Two years later on January 4, 1975, the statue of the Blessed Virgin began to weep. It continued to weep at intervals for the next 6 years and eight months. It wept on 101 occasions. Including the message of July 6, Sister Agnes Sasagawa received three messages from Our Lady of Akita. The last of them is chilling in light of the recent events in Japan. The Blessed Mother said: “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 will never have 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 the priests. The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, and bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their Confreres. The Church and altars will be vandalized. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will rage especially against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will no longer be pardon for them.”
For Reflection:
In what ways does the message of Our Lady of Akita relate to Our Lady’s messages in Fatima? How seriously do I take these messages? What might God be saying to us as a people? To me individually? What am I willing to do?
