A question for Catholics only please

[eucharist04]

I have been a Catholic for 4 years and I still have struggles when it comes to Marian devotions and Mary sightings around the world. My question is this, is it possible that all this could be Satan influenceing the church.(2 Cor.11:13-15)?

If yes, please explain.

if no, please explain.

 

[ziapueblo]

God honored Mary. He honored her so much in fact that he choose her to be the mother of our Lord and Saviour. Jesus himself honors our Blessed Mother and this is evident at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11). Christ was not ready to perform any miracles. However, under the instruction of Mary, His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye, (John 2:5) Jesus performed His first miracle.

As to sightings of Mary around the world there are some that are recognized as authentic by the Church and some that are not. As Catholics we do not even have to believe in these sightings. These sightings are not even part of divine revelation. If I am wrong with this statement, please, anybody, fill in the blanks or correct me.

God bless,
ZP

 

[Sean_Boyle]

I have been a Catholic for 4 years and I still have struggles when it comes to Marian devotions and Mary sightings around the world. My question is this, is it possible that all this could be Satan influenceing the church.(2 Cor.11:13-15)?

If yes, please explain.

if no, please explain.

I like answers on the simple side so here it is from the simple side…

The Church is either everything that she says she is or it is nothing.

She can’t be right about somethings and not others.

 

[strugglingalong]

I have been a Catholic for 4 years and I still have struggles when it comes to Marian devotions and Mary sightings around the world. My question is this, is it possible that all this could be Satan influenceing the church.(2 Cor.11:13-15)?

If yes, please explain.

if no, please explain.

I’ve struggled with it too but I now know that Mary has a special place in God’s plan for us all. Here is an example from a more recent apparition site. Here is one of the messages from Our Lord to Rosario Toscano:

"Tuesday, July 8, 1986, at the rock.

Today I see that our Lady is sorrowful and has tears in her eyes.

R. - Why are you crying?

M. - I cry because my Son cries, I cry because my children gratify my Son’s enemy.
Men have no regard for the blood shed by my Son on the cross.
Whoever is in sin and wishes to have mercy and forgiveness from his Savior must repent and ask for absolution of his sins from my Son’s ministers.
Do hear His messages of love, which can be read not only in the Gospel, but also from the Cross: love Him, do tell Him that you are not deaf to His call.
I wish you to recite many and many “Our Fathers”.
I wish to lead you to salvation.
Trust in Me and run into my arms, because I bring you immediately to God.
Make yourselves servants of the Lord and tell Him to do with you whatever He wants.
He is pleased with the love of His people, be His apostles. I wish to give this prayer to the priests who are very great apostles.
I am the Mother of the Church and the Queen of Confessors of the Faith: it is therefore right that, as a mother, I help them.
Here is your servant, here is my love.
Here is your apostle, the one who brings You to the others.
Here is the peace that I want to bring.
Here is the light, the light of love.
Here is the love that I want to give.
Here is the apostle, the servant at every moment, of God the almighty Father.
Look, I have Jesus in my heart, I want to bring many others to Jesus.
Here is the apostle of Divine Love, Jesus give me your light throughout my long way.

I bless you, now and forever in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The love and the peace of the Lord our God be with you always, and may it remain with you forever, through Christ our Lord.
May the Holy Spirit enlighten all the priests."
(from: rocciadibelpasso.it/messaggiusa.htm )

I promise you that satan would never say that part that is bolded. It would not be a deception to call people to repent, to leave sin, to do God’s will. satan would never say such things or do anything closely resembling such things because it is a call for souls to live for Christ. As Jesus said, a house divided against itself cannot stand. He said that when someone said that He the God of all creation, was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. The same is true here: satan would never ask people to repent of their sins and turn to God because that would ruin his plan of turning souls away from God and toward sin. Every time Mary has appeared she has said the same thing: turn away from all sin, do penance, pray, pray, seek God, turn to God, follow and love Christ. That is of God. That is God’s message. It is not satan.

Pax Christi tecum.

 

[trrocks03]

As there are two sides to life (good and evil) there are two sides to the Marian issue.

The catholics, who honor Mary for being such a holy woman

And the select non-catholics who believe that catholics worship Mary, thus hating the Catholic church.*

In my opinion, if satan is involved, then it is the latter option. Honor vs. Hate, which is more satan-like? Wouldn’t it make sense that satan would try to find a way to make people hate God’s church? Spreading lies is a common form of work for satan.

*Note: I am not saying all non-catholics hate the catholic church, just some in particular.

 

[redrosetea]

Mary has only ever come to bring her children back to God…would Satan do this?

Miracles like the healings at Lourdes and the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima were only to show people God did exist…Would Satan do this?

Mary comes to console, to warn, and to get people to return to God…Is this Satanic?

I think you need to forget what you were taught by heretics and use some common sense

Do you think it pleases Christ to see His Mother insulted?

Do you think it pleases God to know the pure vessel He created to become the ark of the New Covenant is called Satanic?

 

[puzzleannie]

I have been a Catholic for 4 years and I still have struggles when it comes to Marian devotions and Mary sightings around the world. My question is this, is it possible that all this could be Satan influenceing the church.(2 Cor.11:13-15)?

If.

it is very possible that Satan could be influencing individuals who claim to see or hear Mary or the saints. IN fact that is one of the possibilities the Church considers in its careful, prolonged and detailed examination of such claims. It is never possible for the Church herself to be deceived, so when the Church declares such an event to be genuine, or conversely NOT to be of supernatural origin, we may be sure she speaks the truth. We have this assurance from Christ himself.

 

[masterjedi747]

I have been a Catholic for 4 years and I still have struggles when it comes to Marian devotions and Mary sightings around the world. My question is this, is it possible that all this could be Satan influencing the church. (2 Cor.11:13-15)?

If yes, please explain.
if no, please explain.

All of them? Could it be possible? In theory, I guess so.

But in reality, it’s just incredibly absurd to actually think that.

For one, Satan would be really, really, really hurting his own goals…
so much so that the term “counter-productive” hardly even begins to scratch the surface.

Secondly, there are already certain apparitions that have been given Church approval. Now of course you could argue that such approval isn’t necessarily infallible (and you’d be right)… but really? What about all of the miracles and conversions that have taken place regarding these apparitions? Did Satan work them too? Why would he ever do such a thing, when it is so incredibly contrary to everything that he is fighting for?

But let’s even say, if only for the sake of argument, that he did… even if we take it this far, you’d still have to recognize that God is ultimately the one who allows Satan to do anything at all in this world… so if God is allowing him to do these things, then they are only being allowed for the sake of a greater good that God can bring out of it, namely the salvation of souls.

So then, even setting the whole principle of Occam’s Razor aside, I’d go straight to the following passages, which are probably the best to consider in regards to your question:
Matthew 7: 15-18:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them.

Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.

Matthew 12: 22-26:

Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute. He cured the mute person so that he could speak and see.

All the crowd was astounded, and said, “Could this perhaps be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man drives out demons only by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.

But he knew what they were thinking and said to them,"Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and no town or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself; how, then, will his kingdom stand?

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

 

[strugglingalong]

Let me add as a caveat to my above post that I do think it is possible for people to be deceived by satan and claim to have some sort of apparition of Mary but that would not be a true apparition but a deception, it would have matter contrary to the Faith and probably not be a call to repent, flee from sin and to serve God more.

Pax Christi tecum.

 

[OnlyAmbrose]

I have been a Catholic for 4 years and I still have struggles when it comes to Marian devotions and Mary sightings around the world. My question is this, is it possible that all this could be Satan influenceing the church.(2 Cor.11:13-15)?

If yes, please explain.

if no, please explain.

There are perfectly valid defenses for the Marian devotion, but from one Catholic to another, here’s a thought:

The major parts of the Catholic devotion to Mary (immaculate conception, etc) are infallible doctrine. As in they will never change.

If Satan has caused this untruth to be preached as infallible doctrine through the Church, then Christ broke his promise to prevent the gates of Hell from prevailing.

Simple answer, not sure if it’s what you’re looking for

 

[eucharist04]

Let me add as a caveat to my above post that I do think it is possible for people to be deceived by satan and claim to have some sort of apparition of Mary but that would not be a true apparition but a deception, it would have matter contrary to the Faith and probably not be a call to repent, flee from sin and to serve God more.

Pax Christi tecum.

True. I think what satan does is take the Churches teaching on Mary and twist them so that people will so focus more on Mary and that they lose their sight of Jesus. This is also true concerning some Marian apparitions.

 

[eucharist04]

All this is helping me alot. So please continue. I would like to read more.

 

[trrocks03]

True. I think what satan does is take the Churches teaching on Mary and twist them so that people will so focus more on Mary and that they lose their sight of Jesus. This is also true concerning some Marian apparitions.

Like I said earlier, he also spreads lies about how the Church deals with Marian issues, which make people dispise and hate the True Church. I don’t know how so many people think that we “worship” Mary.

 

[strugglingalong]

True. I think what satan does is take the Churches teaching on Mary and twist them so that people will so focus more on Mary and that they lose their sight of Jesus. This is also true concerning some Marian apparitions.

Yes, I agree. Mary is sent by God and called by God to help us follow Christ more fully, more precisely and to call us back from sin and evil when we go astray. So if that is true then people who accept certain apparitions and make a big deal out of them should also be growing in love of Jesus. If they only focus on Mary all of the time that can be dangerous and not what Mary herself would want, in my opinion. They can be big supporters of an apparition but also really show a great love for Jesus. That is the whole point: to follow Jesus in every thing, in every way.

Pax Christi tecum.

 

[strugglingalong]

Like I said earlier, he also spreads lies about how the Church deals with Marian issues, which make people dispise and hate the True Church. I don’t know how so many people think that we “worship” Mary.

I think that is true. I’m sure satan sees how God is working through Mary, how important she is in our spiritual battle, how she has a key role, so he is going to want to disparage her, attack her and get people to not listen to her - especially when she calls for us to repent, to turn from sin, to do penance and to turn to Christ then is satan going to want to get people to ignore her pleadings and calls.

Pax Christi tecum.

 

[strugglingalong]

All this is helping me alot. So please continue. I would like to read more.

I think it’s important to remember too that Mary is “the handmaiden of the Lord” and that she always points us to Jesus just like at the wedding at Cana she said, “Do whatever He tells you to do.” She teaches us humility and she points us to Jesus. She never points to herself or to glorify herself.

But she was the one woman - the only human being - chosen to actually give birth to God, to have God dwell physically within her. That is a calling different than anyone else in history. She therefore plays a unique role in the plan of salvation. She gave birth to our Savior, was at the Cross and she still plays a role in the plan of salvation. That is why we have the Rosary and that is why she is appearing. As she said to Rosario in Belpasso: “I am the Mother of the Church and the Queen of Confessors of the Faith: it is therefore right that, as a mother, I help them.” She comes as a mother to help us. What mother can resist helping her children in need? So much more the Mother of God, the Mother of the Church!

Pax Christi tecum.

 

[redrosetea]

Mary always brings us straight back to God the father and Jesus, if it is true devotion…she never comes to say worship me,

 

[redrosetea]

Mary was created free from original sin to be a pure vessel to carry Christ

If she hadn’t been made pure from the very beginning ,Christ would have been born with the taint of original sin. We get it automatically from our parents, because of the sins of Adam and Eve…Mary was born without this…she is special and was right from the beginning

 

[Rogerteder]

I have been a Catholic for 4 years and I still have struggles when it comes to Marian devotions and Mary sightings around the world. My question is this, is it possible that all this could be Satan influenceing the church.(2 Cor.11:13-15)?

If yes, please explain.

if no, please explain.

read about OUR LADY OF FATIMA PLEASE!!! It will make you fall in love with Our Lady, and realize that Christ LOVES IT!!! WHEN WE HONOR HIS HOLY MOTHER!!!

 

[beeliner]

1. As to sightings of Mary around the world there are some that are recognized as authentic by the Church and some that are not.
2. As Catholics we do not even have to believe in these sightings.

1. The Church, as far as I know, does not ‘recognize as authentic’ any of them. Rather, it attempts to sort out those that violate Church dogma in some way with those which do not. In some cases that is easy to do, in other instances difficult.

A good example of the latter is the appearances at Fatima. At one point, Lucia claimed that the Lady gave her a message to be forwarded to the pope. That is highly suspect, as there would have been nothing to prevent the message from being given to the pope directly and thereby with greater authority.

1. Correct. We MAY, but are not required to, believe in those that present no conflict with established doctrine.