December 17, 2011 A.D.
What Happened on December 12, 2001
The following is Marija’s description of the apparition of December 12, 2001, in the Field:
When Our Lady came tonight, I recommended all those present here and all of our intentions that we have in our hearts. And Our Lady began to pray over us, but She didn’t pray a long time. Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I don’t know why Our Lady only stayed for a short time, maybe She had to get back to the feast in Mexico or maybe because it is raining. Anyway, Our Lady blessed us tonight. And She looked at each and every one of us and was happy. And She said:
It is humorous to hear Marija say that perhaps because it is a feast day, Our Lady did not stay long because Heaven was having a celebration that She had to return to. However, there may be some truth to this statement because Marija definitely has seen a pattern that the apparitions tend to be much shorter on feast days. To our human way of thinking, we would expect Our Lady to stay longer on these days. However, Our Lady may be showing us, by example, that all feast days are important to be celebrated—or at the very least, to take time to think about and meditate on the significance of the day in order to be brought nearer to the heart of God.
The fact that Our Lady “looked at each and every one of us” in the apparition was a great grace. How Marija describes this look is beautiful. She said Our Lady actually scans the crowd before Her, very slowly, taking the time to look at each face. If you picture a mother who has many children looking to make sure she can see that every one of them is present, that no one is missing, it would help to describe the look of Our Lady when She does this. It is a rare occurrence in Marija’s apparitions, but over the years it has happened here at Caritas on quite a few occasions.
The invitation for pilgrims to visit the Bedroom of Apparitions always draws long lines to the house. Every family is touched today by the lack of morality and a culture that has rejected God. So many families are broken apart and suffering deep pain. The solutions the world offers does little to bring healing. God, alone, is big enough to solve these problems but He is looking for repentant hearts. Many tears have fallen in the Bedroom while pilgrims were on their knees begging Our Lady to help them. They leave touched by the peace that pervades the room, assured that Our Lady has heard their cries.
This carpet of rose petals covers the Bed in the Bedroom where Our Lady many times has appeared. In 1989, as the apparitions were coming to an end, a gift was made to our founder and his wife of 12 dozen roses to be given to Our Lady. They were inspired to arrange the flowers to cover the Bed so that when Our Lady came in the apparition, She would see these roses given to Her as a farewell gift in gratitude for everything She had done for them during the three months She was with their family. When the Five Days of Prayer began in 1993 and the Bedroom was first opened to allow pilgrims to come and pray there, the Bed was once again arranged with flowers so to bring pilgrims back to that first visit of Our Lady.
December 12th is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of the Americas. During the Five Days of Prayer for the Reconciliation of Ourselves, Our Families and Our Nation Back to God, The Patriotic Rosary is prayed on this feast day of Our Lady. The Five Days of Prayer follow a pattern where during the early part of the week it is focused on individual conversion and repentance, leading to the consecration of the family in the Bedroom and finally the consecration of the nation with the Patriotic Rosary. With the horror of September 11 still so fresh in people’s hearts, and the future being very uncertain and even frightening, this Rosary was especially prayed with the heart—a cry to Our Lady to bring healing to our land.
See More Dates from the December 2001 Apparitions at Caritas:
December 10, 2001 – December 11, 2001 – December 12, 2001 – December 13, 2001 – December 14, 2001 – December 15, 2001
