Signs of the Times  

                                                     AKITA PRAYER

   Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, truly present in the Holy Eucharist, I consecrate my body and soul to be entirely one with Thy Heart, being sacrificed at every instant on all the altars of the world and giving praise to the Father pleading for the coming of His Kingdom.  Please receive this humble offering of myself.  Use me as Thou wilt for the glory of the Father and salvation of souls.  Most Holy Mother of God, never let me be separated from Thine Divine son.  Please defend and protect me as Thy special child.  Amen.



    A TERRIBLE WARNING--- Message of Our Lady of Akita (1973-1981)

   Apparitions approved -- an urgent message for now


    In 1984, before retiring at a venerable age, the diocesan Bishop of Niligata, Bishop John Shojiro Ito, in consultation with the Holy See wrote a pastoral letter in which he recognized as being authentically of the Mother of God, the extraordinary series of events that had taken place from 1973 to 1981 in a little lay convent within his diocese at Akita, Japan.  Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) in June 1988, approved the Akita events as "reliable and worthy of belief."  In fact, the Philippine ambassador to the Vatican in 1998 spoke to Cardinal Ratzinger about Akita and the Cardinal: "personally confirmed to me that these two messages of Fatima and Akita are essentially the same."  Hence, in Akita we are dealing with a Church-approved intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary as sure in this respect as Lourdes, La Salette, or Fatima.

   Only a few Catholics know of Our Lady of Akita, but the message, like that of Fatima, is a specific warning of worldwide chastisement.  The chastisement threatened is truly terrible--far worse than the possibility of annihilation of several nations prophesied at Fatima.  Akita is absolutely consistent with the prophecies of Scripture.

     The first message received by Sr. Agnes Sasagawa on June 6, 1973, was a call for prayer and sacrifice for the glory of the Father and salvation of souls.  the second message, August 3, 1973, was for prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices to soften the Father's anger.

     The third message on October 13, 1973, the actual anniversary of the final visions and miracle of Fatima is as follows:  "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 greater part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor the faithful.  The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.  The only arms whcih 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 so many souls is the cause of my sadness.  If sins increase in number and gravity, there will no longer be pardon for them.  In his pastoral letter approving the events of Akita as supernatural, the Bishop of Niligata said: "After the inquiries conducted up to the present day, one cannot deny the supernatural character of a series of unexplainable events relative to the statue of the Virgin honored at Akita-Diocese of Niligata.  Consequently, I authorize that all of the diocese entrusted to me venerate the Holy Mother of Akita."    (to be con't)......