Blood, sweat and tears: the statue of the Virgin Mary

Blood, sweat and tears are all physical signs of suffering humans going through this fallen world, where sin causes stress and pain for everyone. The Virgin Mary has often reported in her many miraculous apparitions over the years that she deeply cares about human suffering. So when his statue in Akita, Japan, began to bleed, sweat and cry tears as if he were a living person, crowds of onlookers visited Akita from all over the world.

After extensive studies, the statue's fluids were scientifically confirmed as human but miraculous (from a supernatural source). Here is the story of the statue, the nun (Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa), whose prayers seemed to trigger the supernatural phenomenon and news about the healing miracles reported by "Our Lady of Akita" in the 70s and 80s:

A guardian angel appears and solicits prayer
Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa was in the chapel of her convent, the Institute of the Handmaids of the Holy Eucharist, on June 12, 1973, when she noticed a bright light shining from the place on the altar where the Eucharistic elements were. He said he saw a fine mist surrounding the altar and "a multitude of beings, similar to angels, who surrounded the altar in worship."

Later in the same month, an angel began meeting with Sister Agnes to talk and pray together. The angel, who had a "sweet expression" and looked like "a person covered in a white as bright as snow," revealed that he / she was Sister Agnes' guardian angel, he said.

Pray as often as possible, the angel told Sister Agnes, because prayer strengthens souls by bringing them closer to their Creator. A good example of prayer, the angel said, was what Sister Agnes (who had only been a nun for about a month) had not yet heard - the prayer that came from the apparitions of Mary in Fatima, Portugal: " Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the flames of hell and lead all souls to heaven, especially those who most need your mercy. Amen."

wounds
Then Sister Agnes developed stigmata (wounds similar to the wounds Jesus Christ suffered during his crucifixion) on the palm of her left hand. The wound - in the shape of a cross - began to bleed, which at times caused Sr. Agnes great pain.

The guardian angel said to Sister Agnes: "Mary's wounds are much deeper and more painful than yours".

The statue comes to life
On July 6th, the angel suggested that Sister Agnes go to the chapel for prayer. The angel accompanied her but vanished after we got there. Sister Agnes was then drawn to the statue of Mary, as she later recalled: “Suddenly I felt that the wooden statue came to life and was about to speak to me. It was bathed in brilliant light. "

Sister Agnes, who had been deaf for years due to a previous illness, then miraculously heard a voice speaking to her. “… A voice of indescribable beauty hit my deaf ears,” he said. The voice - which Sister Agnes said was the voice of Mary, coming from the statue - told her: "Your deafness will be healed, have patience".

Then Mary began to pray with Sister Agnes and the Guardian Angel showed up to join them in unified prayer. The three prayed together to dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to God's purposes, Sister Agnes said. Part of the prayer exhorted: "Use me as you wish for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls."

Blood flows from the statue's hand
The next day, blood began to flow from the statue's hand, from a stigmata wound that looked identical to Sister Agnes's wound. One of Sister Agnes's nuns, who observed the wound of the statue closely, recalled: "It seemed to be truly incarnate: the edge of the cross had the appearance of human flesh and even the grain of the skin was seen as a fingerprint."

The statue sometimes bled simultaneously with Sister Agnes. Sister Agnes had the stigmata on her hand for about a month - from June 28th to July 27th - and the statue of Mary in the chapel was bleeding for a total of about two months.

Sweat beads appear on the statue
After that, the statue began to sweat beads of sweat. As the statue sweated, it gave off a scent similar to the sweet aroma of roses.

Mary spoke again on August 3, 1973, Sister Agnes said, giving a message about the importance of obeying God: “Many people in this world afflict the Lord ... In order for the world to know his anger, Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great punishment to all humanity ... Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the wrath of the Father ... know that you must be fixed to the cross with three nails: these three nails are poverty, chastity and obedience. the three, obedience is the foundation… Each individual strives, according to capacity and position, to offer himself or himself entirely to the Lord, ”quoted Mary as saying.

Every day, Mary urged, people should recite the prayers of the rosary to help them draw closer to God.

Tears fall as the statue cries
More than a year later, on January 4, 1975, the statue began to cry - screaming three times that first day.

The crying statue attracted so much attention that its crying was broadcast on national television across Japan on December 8, 1979.

When the statue cried for the last time - on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15) in 1981 - it had cried a total of 101 times.

Body fluids from the statue are scientifically tested
This type of miracle - involving bodily fluids inexplicably flowing from a non-human object - is called "tearing." When tearing is reported, fluids may be examined as part of the investigation process. Samples of blood, sweat and tears from the Akita statue have all been scientifically tested by people who have not been told where the samples came from. The results: All fluids were identified as human. The blood was found to be type B, sweat type AB, and tears type AB.

Investigators concluded that a supernatural miracle had somehow caused a non-human object - the statue - to exude human bodily fluids because that would be impossible of course.

However, skeptics pointed out, the source of that supernatural power may not have been good - it may have come from the evil side of the spirit realm. Believers retorted that it was Mary herself who performed the miracle to strengthen people's faith in God.

Mary warns of a future disaster
Maria uttered an alarming premonition of the future and a warning to Sister Agnes in her last message from Akita, October 13, 1973: "If people do not repent and improve," said Maria according to Sister Agnes, "the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the flood (the flood involving the prophet Noah that the Bible describes), such as has never been seen before. The fire will fall from heaven and wipe out almost all of humanity - good and evil, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they envy the dead. … The devil will especially inflict against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no more forgiveness for them ”.

Healing miracles do happen
Various types of healing for the body, mind and spirit have been reported by people who have visited the Akita statue to pray. For example, someone who came on a pilgrimage from Korea in 1981 experienced healing from terminal brain cancer. Sister Agnes herself was cured of deafness in 1982, when she said that Mary had told her that it would eventually happen.