Apparitions 101 with Fr. Peter May 23 & May 30 to Understand through scripture the Virgin Mary's presence and importance of her intercession in the life of the faithful as we pray the Rosary
Archdiocese of Toronto deepens the "Why" of Marian Apparitions with pastor of Holy Rosary Parish + RHP Annotated Notes and Resources (1st Edition Peer Reviewed by Karen Rocha / Izzy Nunziato)
THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST | 22 MAY 2023 - ST. RITA, SAINT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
2nd Edition (Typos Revised)
Fr. Peter Turrone on SM states:
“Please join us this Thursday at 7pm. Holy Rosary Parish, Parish Hall Room 2.”
Fr. Peter will lead a conversation on two not-to-be-missed dates:
MAY 23rd, 2024 - MEETING 1 from 7-8:30 p.m.
MAY 30th, 2024 - MEETING 2 from 7-8:30 p.m.
He reminds: “May is the month dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Pray the Rosary. You will grow in love for God and neighbour if you do!”1
MARY MOTHER OF THE CHURCHR. (59b) Give glory and eternal praise to him.
"Sun and moon, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever."
WHY REVISIT MARIAN APPARITIONS NOW?Christian vitality is in every age very much less dependent on all that is discussed and done and picked to pieces on the world’s stage than we are often led to believe. There is a life it is almost impossible to judge of from the outside; and that life keeps itself going, passes itself on, and renews itself under all the turmoil of politics, all the swirl of public opinion, the currents of ideas and the controversies, far removed from the scene of public debate, unsounded and untabulated. The blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them; the Kingdom of God shines in secret.”
(The Splendour of the Church, pg. 299-300)
Fr. Elias Mary Mills (FI), Fr. Anthony Gramlich (MIC), Fr. Nuno Rocha and Fr. Peter Turrone (IMC) have been helping the Rosary Hour Podcast team to realize / rediscover the importance of teaching the apparitions of Our Lady.
In many ways, they remind us that Our Lady is the great Catechist of our times — gently teaching us through her appearances in human history, increasingly and reported all over the world, to promote the importance of prayer and confidence in God’s Divine Mercy.
ABOUT FR. PETER’S MARIAN APPARITIONS SERIES IN TORONTO, CANADAFr. Peter Turrone’s first talk in Toronto on May 23 at 7 p.m. covered the scriptural foundations of Our Lady’s importance to Salvation history; he explored the key aspects of the timeline in which Our Lady was called into this great story of Christ’s entry into the world through her, the Mother of the Church. Fr. Peter cited Lumen Gentium and other relevant documents / resources that might build an intellectual foundation for grasping the supernatural aspects of “apparitions” in next session: May 30 in which he will talk directly about key Marian Apparitions.
Fr. Peter has led many trips with his parish as Spiritual Director to many shrines built in honour of Our Lady at key apparition sites. He is one of the content Spiritual Directors advising the Rosary Hour Podcast and has been developing our the formation of our listeners via his teachings on scripture since 2022.
In an earlier “Meu Deus” video, Fr. Anthony explained that God has allowed these apparitions in our times to invite reflection on the supernatural reality of God’s presence in the world — a sort of “wake-up call” to return to God.
While private revelation is not a mandatory requirement of the Faithful (CCC 67), and does “not belong to the deposit of the faith”, or “improve or complete Christ’s Divine Revelation” (pg. 28), apparitions are linked to the mission of the visionary, as perhaps we might derive from the example the Annunciation of Our Lord: this intervention by the Angel Gabriel invited Our Lady to give her “Fiat” to God.
In this sense, we can acknowledge that sometimes, the indifference of human beings to God’s will can demand Heaven to inspire other pathways toward formation, as was the case with the 3 child visionaries at Fátima to “enable them to give reason for their hoping” (St. Pope John Paul II Christifedeles Laici, pg. 148).
MARIAN APPARITIONS 101: FR. ANTHONY GRAMLICH EXPLAINS THE PHENOMENON OF MARIAN APPARITIONS HERE from the NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE DIVINE MERCYREVISITING DEFINITIONS:
“WHAT IS AN APPARITION?”
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “apparition” is derived from the late Middle English (in the sense ‘the action of appearing’): or from the Latin apparitio(n-) ‘attendance’ and from the verb apparere (see appear).
To use the term “Marian” apparition refers to the idea that Our Lady, the Mother of God, is in “attendance” (she isn’t there, and then she is).
EWTN clarifies the theology of apparitions below:
An apparition … “is a charismatic gift granted by God for some greater purpose of His than the benefit of the one receiving it. It says nothing necessary about the sanctity of the recipient(s); although God usually chooses simple and good Christians, often children, who will readily accept and do His Will. Generally, it can be understood as an external vision, created by some means of God, to represent the holy person depicted. It would not necessarily have to be the person him or herself. Only Christ and Our Lady (possibly St. Joseph, according to St. Francis de Sales and others who hold that he was taken to heaven body and soul), could actually appear in their bodies. All others, and even they, could appear by some representation accessible to the human senses. In such a way God appeared by means of angels to Abraham and to Moses.
For more background on the power of the Holy Spirit, watch the following video led by Fr. Anthony Gramlich who this week via the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy asks the question, “What is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?”2
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTHThe apparitions of Our Lady inspire the great prayer that is needed to offer our sufferings and bring about the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart — which we celebrate June 8th this year.
At the heart of any apparition is a conversation between Heaven and Earth, and an opportunity for humanity to turn its gaze with confidence and trust toward the intercession of the Blessed Mother who forms us as she formed Christ Himself.
In other words, the recipient of any apparition is called to witness only “Christ” via “Our Lady”, and “possibly St. Joseph” and others who “hold that he was taken to heaven body and soul”.
The belief in eternal life is itself that which causes the “state of journeying” (in statu via) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained (CCC 302), and it invites a reality of interdependence between Heaven and Earth in which we are “called to share, by knowledge and love, in God’s own life” (CCC, 356, pg. 102).3
Authors at Ascension Press, further argue that Marian apparitions are:
known as appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary, coming down from heaven to earth. These appearances are often paired with some type of message Our Lady wants to communicate, and depending on the nature of her visit, can be anywhere from one short appearance to several over the course of years. There is always at least one witness to an apparition, and it is not uncommon for the witness to later become a saint or holy figure within the Church.
ALSO,
Over the course of Church history, there have been many reports and accusations of Marian apparitions. However, the twenty-six that have been approved as authentic and worthy of belief are spread all across the globe from Japan, to Wisconsin, to Egypt.
SOURCE: https://media.ascensionpress.com/2020/05/30/the-ultimate-guide-to-marian-apparitions/
This appearance of the body is important as it replicates Christ’s own apparitions after the Resurrection to 500+ and others who were called to proclaim the Resurrection of Christ as His apostles.
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, this manner is the ordinary cause of mysticism and apparitions. In the case of Fátima it is clear that something more than an intellectual vision took place, an external apparition accompanied by indications of the actual presence of Our Lady. This latter cannot be conclusively determined. However, it reasonably follows from the descriptions of the events and especially from the sense of Her Presence continued to be felt there to this day. As a fruit of the events, and of the fidelity of the three children to the message of Fátima, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta grew in holiness and became mystics in the proper sense.
Thus, it is not for being the recipients of an apparition, but for their heroic virtue in the pursuit of God, that the two youngest were raised to the honor of the altar, and that the eldest, Lucia, has been proposed. This fact, more even than the miracle of the Sun, authenticates the message of Fátima.
Note that the author of the above EWTN article pursues the importance of the end goal of the apparition, which should lead to “pursuit of God”. 4
The miracle of the sun in Fátima was at the same time a public prophecy, argues Fr. Elias Mary Mills, FI, and in that sense, it became a means through which Our Lady’s instruction could inspire worldwide action through the prayer of the Rosary every day — an offering that might rise above discouragement of human action by invoking supernatural maternal intercession by our collaboration and offering of prayer, most often efficacious when this happens before the Eucharistic Jesus in the tabernacle.5
Venerable Lucia states in her book “Calls”6 that “the great concern of God and of Our Lady is that people should be saved and go to Heaven” (pg. 203) and in that sense, “it is for this reason that the Message” of any apparition is to “speak to us” of “Heaven” and “urge” us to “keep to the way that will lead us there.”
AVE MARIA!
The Rosary Hour Podcast Team
COPYRIGHT © 2022-present, TRAVESSA DA SENRA HOUSE PRESS in PORTO, PORTUGAL - 🥹 THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST NEWSLETTER™️. COPYRIGHT © (NOTE TRANSCRIPTION FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY). VIDEO BY FR. ANTHONY from the NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE DIVINE MERCY. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION for EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY. THEDIVINEMERCY.ORG.
BEFORE OUR LIVE RECORD LIVE: If you are in France this summer, consider attending the following conference “ADORATIO” featuring Antonia Salzano Acutis and Dr. Blythe Kaufman:
7 au 11 juillet 2024.
See more details here:
https://toulon2024.missionnaires-eucharistie.fr/
ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK: MAY 22, 2024
NATIONAL EUCHARISTIC PILGRIMAGE STARTS TODAY
VISIT https://tinyurl.com/erpilgrims
STARTS SOON! GO TO: St. John Bosco | 260 Westchester Ave., Port Chester
• 3:15 PM: Procession arrives
• 7:30 PM: Mass with Bishop Edmund Whalen
(Bilingual English and Spanish)
◦ Join us for a bilingual English/Spanish Mass with Bishop Edmund Whalen, as we welcome the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage into the Archdiocese of New York. After Mass the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available and we will have all night Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
◦ Le invitamos a la misa bilingüe (inglés/español) con el obispo Edmund Whalen, como bienvenida de la Peregrinación Eucarística Nacional a la Arquidiócesis de Nueva York.
Después de la Misa, el Sacramento de la Reconciliación estará disponible y tendremos Adoración del Santísimo
Sacramento toda la noche.
• 8:30 PM – 8:00 AM: Nocturnal Adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament
• 8:30 – 9:30 PM: Confessions available
FOOTNOTESAlso, mark your calendars for 3 part meetings on the Saints led by Fr. Peter Turrone in Canada. All are welcome.
Finally, Fr. Peter offers 3 part series on prayer: “Teach us How-to-Pray” in October
In the past, Fr. Anthony was the Director of the Diocesan Charismatic Renewal for Springfield, MA. He was also the chaplain for the New England Rachel’s Vineyard Ministries, and his certification in spiritual direction has helped our team develop our apostolate mission. This video attempts to pray over each of us for the gift of the Holy Spirit — the end goal of Our Lady’s efforts — which is itself a desired renewal of the Church through God’s Spirit and which is translated to each of us through the prayer of the Rosary which forms our hearts in divine grace.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Revised in Accordance with the Official Latin Text Promulgated by Pope John Paul II. (DOUBLEDAY, NY, 1995, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Imprimatur)
And of the history of the first Marian Apparition, Wincenty Laszewski’s book The World of Marian Apparitions gives a very brief 2 pages introduction jumping straight to the timeline of Our Lady’s ability to bi-locate as an apparition before her assumption, body and soul, into Heaven:
The first apparition of Mary happened in the year 40 when Mary was still alive. She was living in Jerusalem and appeared to the Apostle James the Greater in Spain. The apparition was controversial in Spain but was later approved by the Congregation of Rites in 1723 under Pope Innocent XIII. (pg. VII)
Laszewski states that “This first apparition was really a bilocation since Mary was physically present in Jerusalem when she appeared in Spain. The supernatural aspects of the account were described in the book The Mystical City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda in 1665.”
This miracle has manifested in different times in history, including exactly 33 years to the day prior to the great Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, that is, on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had a remarkable vision:
"When the aged Pontiff had finished celebrating Mass in his private Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices – two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh.
SEE:
https://stjosephschurch.net/vision-of-pope-leo-xiii/“Calls” by: Sister Lucia COPYRIGHT COIMBRA CARMEL and FÁTIMA SHRINE (Sept. 2017, 8th Edition)