Our Lady of Betania

"This is what the Lord asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly,

and to walk humbly with your God."      Micah 6:8

 

       If there is someone to whom the

miraculous seemsordinary, it is Maria Esperanza Bianchini. Since she was a young girl, Mariahas reported numerous mystical and extraordinary experiences. Today, she is 67years of age, married with seven children. She is also a stigmatist whosewounds display themselves on Good Friday; she has been seen levitating during Mass, and she has reported frequent conversations withthe Blessed Virgin. Her stigmata have been witnessed by dozens of physicians, a number of her acquaintances have seen her bilocate - appear to be intwo places at the same time - and her children have seen her deep in prayer at night with a glow surrunding her as she prayed.

 

       In 1976, two years after Maria hadpurchased a farm near the Venezuelan village

of Cua, in aregion called Finca Betania, she received a vision of the Blessed

Virgin in whichshe was told by Mary, "You shall see me on the land you

purchased." OnMarch 25th, the feast of the Annunciation, Maria and thirty or so

of her friendsand family were meditating on the life of Christ in front of a

small grotto theyhad discovered on the property, when Mary appeared, saying,

"My child, I amgiving you a piece of Heaven. Lourdes...Betania in Venezuela. It

is a place foreveryone, not only Catholics."

 

       As the series of apparitions progressed,initially several others, then later dozens of others also reported seeing theBlessed Virgin at Betania. In 1984, Mary summarized her reason for appearingthe way she was at Betania in this message:

 

       "I come to reconcile them, to seek themout, to give them faith, which has disappeared in the noise and din of anatomic awakening which is at the point of bursting out. My message is of faith, love and hope. More than anything, itbrings reconciliation between people and nations. It is the only thing that can save thiscentury from war and eternal death...If a change does not come and a conversionof life, one will perish under the fire, war and death."

 

       In subsequent apparitions, Maryreportedly told Maria that mankind was facing

its hour ofdecision in the middle of the 1990's. There would arise the grave

danger of amassive war involving Asia and the former Soviet republics. In the

early '70's,Maria was told that Russia would act in a surprising way when least

expected duringthis period of decision. She was also told of a time of warning

which was aboutto befall humanity:

 

       "There is coming the great moment of agreat day of light. The consciences of

this belovedpeople must be violently shaken so that they may 'put their house

in order' andoffer to Jesus the just reparation for the daily infidelities

that arecommitted on the part of sinners..."

 

       The Catholic Church's evaluation of theapparitions, prophecies, mystical lights, beautiful aromas and healings thattook place at Betania was recorded in 1987, after more than ten years ofinvestigation. Bishop Pio Bello Ricardo

stated:

 

       "After having studied repeatedly theapparitions of the Most Holy Virgin in Betania, and having begged the Lordearnestly for spiritual discernment, I declare that in my judgement saidapparitions are authentic and have a supernatural character. I thereforeapprove, officially, that the site where the apparitions have occurred beconsidered as sacred..."

 

       As if to confirm the Bishop's findings, avery unusual event occurred on the vigil of the Immaculate Conception (December 8th) in 1991. Father Otty Ossa, Maria's spiritualdirector and the chaplain of Betania, was saying Mass in the

open air chapelnext to the grotto, when the Host began to bleed in his hands.

Fr. Ottyexplained:

 

       "I broke the Host into four parts. When Ilooked down at the plate I could not

believe my eyes.I saw a red stain forming on the Host and from it a red

substance wasbeginning to emanate similar to the way blood spurts out in a

puncture. Afterthe Mass, I took the Host and protected it in the Sanctuary.

The next day atsix in the morning, I observed the Host and I found that the

Blood was fluidand then began to dry, however to this day it still looks

fresh. Amazingly,the Blood is only on one side, not bleeding through the

exceedingly thinHost."

 

       A Eucharistic miracle had occurred atBetania, a supernatural episode that appeared to signal Divine acceptance ofthe events there as well as again signifying the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic Host. The digitizedvideoframe that follows shows the blood, a sample of which was analyzed andfound to be human blood, forming at the center of the broken Host:

 

       A similar event had occurred in Stich,Germany in 1970. In that occurrence, a bleeding Host stained the altar clothsof the local Bavarian chapel. The priests had been unable to determine thesource of the staining, so they sent the cloths for chemical analysis at the Polyclinical Institute of the University ofZurich.

 

       No one at the Institute was made aware ofthe source of the stains. The stains

were analyzed byfour different methods of chemical identification and in each

case the findingswere the same - the stains were human blood.

What does Maryask of those who believe in her appearances at Betania - she

tells us again:

       "...Forgive one another. Love oneanother. Serve one another. Pray for the Church. Pray for priests. Return tothe Sacraments, dear little children. Confess your sins while the sun shines.Sacrifice yourselves for the conversion of sinners and for peace in the world.All of you are children of God. All are loved."

 

       It would appear that Heaven is going outof its way to try to awaken all of us to Jesus' presence in the Eucharist andurge us to amend our lives before it is too late.