Our Lady of Akita - Pray for Us

With all that is going on with the earthquake & tsunami in Japan, we need to keep them in prayer. & we should especially ask the intercession of Our Lady of Akita. In the early 70s Mary appeared to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in the remote area of Yuzawadai, near the city of Akita in Japan. The message was similar in many ways to that of Fatima. Here is a video about that apparition:

Yes, that is Ricardo Montalbán narating the video. 1 of the things not mentioned in the video is that before Bishop John Shojiro Ito of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Niigata (the diocese Akita is located in) gave final approval to the apparitions he went to Rome to consult with then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Papa Benedetto) as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Cardinal Ratzinger gave a definitive judgement on the Akita events & messages to be reliable & worthy of belief.

You can read more about the apparations here. Or you can go to the 101 Foundation website. 1 of the books available at their website is Akita - The Tears And Message Of Mary. The book is a translation of the book by Fr. Teiji Yasuda, O.S.V. about the events. The translation was done at the request of Bishop Ito. I highly recommend the book. It was given to me many years ago shortly after it was 1st published in 1989. The book gives the whole story of the apparitions as well as the story of Sr. Agnes. & I firmly believe that the message is even more urgant today than it was nearly 40 years ago. (Note: Just a reminder that when the Catholic Church approves an appartion & its message we are not required to believe it as it is a private revelation. However, the Church does say it is worthy of belief because it doesn't contain anything contrary to public revelation. It is prudent to pay attention to the message however since the private revelation usually tells us how to apply God's revelation to the current situation we find ourselves in.)

Video source: Our Lady of Akita: Pray for Japan!