REFLECTION ON MESSAGES THAT REFER TO NATURAL DISASTERS

Mons. René Laurentin - a French theologian who is considered an expert in Mariology

In the light of the various apparitions of the Virgin Mary, some of which have been approved by the Catholic Church, and in the light of the numerous alleged Marian messages from different parts of the globe, which messages refer to natural disasters occurring in the world, it is beneficial to consider the reflections published by Mons. René Laurentin in his book: The Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary Today, p. 123-127.

Reflecting on the theme of the various alleged messages of Our Lady given in our age, Mons. Laurentin writes:

“Like previous apparitions those of today are at one and the same time a prophetic message and an evangelical response. The response may appear to be repetitive, even banal. We have heard it before. It makes us look more seriously at a reality we have neglected and forgotten, because for us the urgent often displaces the essential.

“The message of the apparitions offers us in the first place a diagnosis: our modern world has abandoned itself happily and quietly to sin. It is destroying itself. The threats are serious. This is what the apparitions are saying in different ways, sometimes in a language intended to shock, at other times in a secret elliptical language…

“The apparitions soften and to some degree filter the proclamation of imminent threats… because the intention is not to frighten people or increase their anxieties, but rather to invite them back to the source which will heal their ills and anxieties…

“The root of evil is sin (insult to God and the destruction of humanity)… Our sin destroys the order and the ecology of divine creation. We develop and degrade the world over which we rule. Ecologists are aware of this at the level of the natural rhythms of the world. But there is not sufficient awareness at the level of moral and religious balance through which creation has an essential relationship with the creator, and humankind, under pain of self-destruction, a similar relationship with God. In endeavouring to cut ourselves from the creator, we are like a woodcutter who saws off the branch on which he is sitting.

“This moral and divine balance is, in the final analysis, the most important aspect… By destroying the relationship of the creature with the creator, sin destroys the creature itself. Through sin we are wounded, physically, bodily and spiritually and the world is destroyed. The evidence is as clear as day.

“None of this is vengeance poured out from above but is the intrinsic consequence of human error. Self-destruction is a form of immanent justice. It is not God who is the author of evil, it is we ourselves. We should not forget that, because of human solidarity, evil extends even to the innocent.”

Mons. René Laurentin in his book:

The Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary Today, p. 123-127.

  Who is Mons. Rene' Laurentin. ... > click.