Interesting, I had never heard of this one. But seems to happen with East/West Easters are aligned like they were this year.
Dean, Thank you. I have followed Our Lady of Soufanieh for many years. God's timing is not whimsical; the term I prefer is pivotal. The Two Hearts are sounding wake-up calls to every culture and every land. TIME IS SHORT! REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL. Safe in the Refuge of the Immaculate Heart!
So the last time the icon wept was Holy Week of 2001 and that September 11th USA was attacked and now the icon is weeping and we possibly have the Woman Clothed with the Sun completing on September 23rd. This appears to possibly be another sign pointing to something "Big", unfortunately not something that is big and good. I agree that we need to keep praying and trust in Jesus as many of you have stated on this thread. I unfortunately am one of those people who feel that things are going to happen quickly. If the sign completing on 9/23 is the one from Revelation 12 and if Blessed Emmerich is correct about her vision of the Beast from the Sea (the False Prophet) entering the church while the woman is still pregnant then it appears that the church (the Woman) will be going into the wilderness soon. The Beast from the Sea has 42 months as is stated in Revelation 13, a new pope who will rule with an iron scepter will follow this False Prophet and if Blessed Taigi is correct that after the Three Days of Darkness, "Saint Peter" and "Saint Paul" will select the new pope, then it appears that the Three Days of Darkness could be 42 months after 9/23/17. Lots of if's but I think that it is quite possible that Daniel's 70th week could begin in September. I don't think that Revelation is chronological, I think it overlaps. BTW, I hope that I am wrong, it wouldn't be the first time. Does it make sense that the Three Days of Darkness could happen in the middle of Daniel's 70th week? Maybe the 3dofd rids the church of the FP and so begins the reign of the new pope. The AC and the False Prophet live for another 3.5 years until they are finally defeated? This is what Bl. Emmerich may have referenced in the following, "I saw a new Pope who will be very strict. He will estrange from him the cold and lukewarm bishops. He is not a Roman, but he is Italian. He comes from a place which is not very far from Rome, and I think he comes from a devout family of royal blood. But there must still be for a while much fighting and unrest." Sister Lucy said it is all in the Book of Revelations.
Specifically Sister Lucy said that Chapters 8-13 of the Book of Revelation deal with the Third Secret.
I understand the emphasis on 2029 and the reasoning behind it. But something BIG is coming in 2017 nonetheless. The weeping icon has received Catholic and Orthodox approval and is occurring in Damascus, Syria! I'd take that most seriously.
I forgot to mention that Rosh Hashanah begins the Hebrew Year 5778 which means Divine Peace. A false peace more than likely lasting 3.5 years.
http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/eclipse/0412017/ And don't forget about the eclipse which occurs across the USA on the anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Knock 1879. I know, I know ...dates.
JAK, I didn't realize the date was in common with the eclipse and I know that St. John the Evangelist appeared in that apparition. Maybe since the USA represents people from all over the world, the eclipse represents the division of the world into two camps?
" Our Lady is seen as intercessor. St. John is preaching, St. Joseph as patron of the Universal Church also represents the sanctity of marriage and the family. The angels circling around the Lamb are a reminder of the constant movement of life in the Holy Spirit, and the never-ending praise and glory of God in which we participate during Mass when we join with the angels and saints in the Sanctus. We should not equate Knock with simple devotion or dismiss it as religiousity Our Lady’s Shrine at Knock is the centre and focus of Marian devotion, beloved by the people of Ireland. Many graces are received here through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother. But Knock is more. It is a foil to the teaching of counterfeit doctrine. We would miss a great deal if we only understood Our Lady’s Shrine at Knock simply as devotion to Our Lady. It is a liturgical apparition of global significance." https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/lexc...k-apparition-its-liturgical-significance/amp/
This is very interesting. Praetorian and I were only talking about Knock the other day and how people give little credence to this apparition, possibly because they think there was no message. In fact I think it gives a very important message that's within the book of Revelation and the vision John saw of the seventh seal.
Father Gobbi, a very close friend of Saint John Paul II, with whom he con-celebrated mass in his private chapel many many times. In his published locutions Our Lady answers the question why she is weeping in a very straight forward manner: "Why am I still weeping? I am weeping because humanity is not accepting my motherly invitation to conversion and to its return to the Lord. It is continuing to run with obstinacy along the road of rebellion against God and against His law of love. The Lord is openly denied, outraged and blasphemed. Your heavenly Mother is publicly despised and held up for ridicule. My extraordinary requests are not being accepted; the signs of my immense sorrow which I am giving are not believed in. Your neighbour is not loved: every day attacks are made upon his life and his goods. Man is becoming ever more corrupt, godless, wicked and cruel, A chastisement worse than the flood is about to come upon this poor and perverted humanity. Fire will descend from heaven and this will be the sign that the justice of God has as of now fixed the hour of his great manifestation. [Virgin Mary] I am weeping because the Church is continuing along the road of division, of loss of the true faith, of apostasy and of errors which are being spread more and more without anyone offering opposition to them. Even now, that which I predicted at Fatima and that which I have revealed here in the third message confided to a little daughter of mine (i.e. Sister Lucia) is in the process of being accomplished. And so, even for the Church the moment of its great trial has come, because the man of iniquity will establish himself within it and the abomination of desolation will enter into the holy temple of God." I am weeping because, in great numbers, the souls of my children are being lost and going to hell. I am weeping because too few are those who accede to my request to pray, to make reparation, to suffer and to offer. I am weeping because I have spoken to you and have not been listened to; I have given you miraculous signs and I have not been believed; I have manifested myself to you in a strong and continuous way but you have not opened the doors of your hearts to me. At least you, my beloved ones and children consecrated to my Immaculate Heart, little remnant which Jesus is guarding jealously in the secure enclosure of his divine love, harken to and accept this sorrowful request of mine which, from this place, I address again today to all the nations of the earth. Prepare yourselves to receive Christ in the splendor of His glory, because the great day of the Lord has even now arrived." (To the Priests, Our Lady's Beloved Sons, No. 362, September 15, 1987, p. 572.) http://www.heartofmaryarabic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/The-Blue-Book.pdf. This so was published when Father Gobbi was alive and it is 22nd edition.
Oh I do take all of these things very seriously. I think this year has a lot of prophetic significance. The astronomical alignment in September, the eclipse over the USA in the summer, the assorted miracles around the world. I am mostly trying to stave off damage to anyone's faith if nothing seems to happen. There could be a great Marian miracle (A Signum Magnum), an illumination of our sins, etc. I am not discounting any of that. However it is just as possible nothing will happen or at least not visibly. It seems spiritually great battles are already happening even at this moment. As our good friend Dean often points out, and rightly so, we should be wary of exact dates. The only dates I give any significance to are the ones predicted by Heaven in approved prophecy/apparitions and those are few and far between. The ones I am aware of I can count on one hand. My personal belief is that 2017 is the kickoff, but it will be an unseen kickoff (at least to those without faith). In the coming decade we will see increased persecution of the Church, we will be forced underground, there will be an increase in wars and plagues, etc. All of the assorted prophecies will begin to come true (it would seem they have already started), but it won't be some overnight thing. Those who have no faith may see nothing supernatural happening. I stress this is just my personal belief. I could be wrong. I think the date of 2029 will be the culmination of the attacks on the Church. If the fate of the Pope is tied to the fate of the King of France we need to look at what happened to the King. When the 100 years were up for the King of France his power was usurped by the National Assembly of France. He was not imprisoned and killed until several years later, but shortly after his usurpation the French Revolution began. He was then set up as a "constitutional monarch" until he was imprisoned 3 years later and executed. What could this relate to regarding the Pope? Purely hypothetically maybe it means a total usurping of the Church by the secular authorities possibly followed by a worldwide revolution of some kind. Perhaps the Pope might be set up and controlled by the secular authorities (maybe a false Pope?). Then eventually after a short period of this he is killed. That is just a pure speculation based off of the words Sister Lucy reported Our Lord as saying at Rianjo Spain in 1931: ‘You console Me a great deal in asking Me for the conversion of those poor nations: Request it also of My Mother, while saying to Her often: Sweet Heart of Mary, be the salvation of Russia, Spain, Portugal, Europe and the whole world. ‘At other times say: By Thy Pure and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, obtain for me the conversion of Russia, Spain, Portugal, Europe and the whole world. ‘Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune. It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.’ In another text she wrote, Later, through an intimate communication, Our Lord complained to me: ‘They did not wish to heed My request! ... Like the King of France they will repent of it, and they will do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread its errors in the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church. The Holy Father will have much to suffer.’
Great news, We must keep praying to Our Lady of Damascus for Unity between east and west, Orthodox and Catholic.
http://spiritdaily.org/blog/uncategorized/icon-weeping-again-in-syria This is a good overview of Our Lady of Soufanieh. 20 years ago, I purchased a large picture/icon of Our Lady of Soufanieh from Father Robert Fox in Alexandria, SD. It hasn't exuded oil yet, but I am sure it has brought many graces. I was wondering recently whatever became of Mirna and if she got swept up in all the violence in Damascus. It seems our Blessed Mother has her protected.
That suggests that the Holy Father was looking forward to the fruits of St. John Paul's consecration of Russia and not any kind of chastisement. According to this account of a talk given by Fr. Gobbi in 1996, he expected the fire falling from the sky to be a spiritual fire of a second Pentecost - a kind of illumination of conscience https://www.mmp-usa.net/arc_triumph.html
I agree Praetorian. Makes a lot of sense. What I have learned these many years of trying to serve God and remain faithful is that my timeline is never His timeline. He always surprises me when and How He acts. That is just in my own walk of faith. Sometimes prayers are answered with breathtaking speed. Other pleas are "pending". I have learned to be cautious of unapproved apparitions. Especially the ones that set dates. Only Our Lady did that at Fatima and it wasn't years. It was a few months. Things are scary right now. Very scary. But we have to keep praying and persevering and trusting and remembering that God would have saved Sodom for ten righteous men. Perhaps there are fewer serious committed Catholics now but the intensity of faith and prayer is greater I believe. We just have to go deeper and truer and more generously and let God take care of the rest. Our Lord told Sister Josefa Menendez "I work in the dark though I am the Light." A lot of powerful seeds of grace are being sown by faithful prayer. At some point they will break into the light. I live in hope!!
You are right AED. God's ways are not our ways. I am sure we will all be surprised at how events unfold. It's funny, when I first came back to the Church I had an idea to write out all of the approved end times prophecies and make a timeline so I knew what was going to happen. Now I realize that is not possible. Maybe just in the broadest sense. Prophecy seems more a general warning and then to confirm our faith after the event than show us events exactly as they are going to unfold. That's why I try not to pin exactly how current events fit into the big picture. In the words of Winston Churchill: "I always avoid prophesying beforehand, because it is a much better policy to prophesy after the event has already taken place."
I agree. But he did specifically refer to 2017. I think that this year or the next few will see something very significant happening. I hope that it will be the illumination of conscience.
