Volume IV, Issue 20, September 22, 2007

China. A land of mysteries. Typically associated with force and fear in the minds of the West for the last 50 years, China now seems to be putting forth a new face. But who is the real China of the twenty-first century?

Recent feedback from the press and certain decisions made by the world seem to indicate that China has taken a new direction towards greater openness, greater freedom, greater respect for the human person. After all, Beijing has been selected as the place for the 2008 Olympics. Would the International Olympic Federation grant China the honor of hosting the world’s Olympics if they were still blatantly oppressing women by forced abortions and sterilizations, and if the police were still hunting down and persecuting Christian clergy and lay people?

What about the international business community? Beijing and other huge Chinese cities have become the focus of international trade. Western businesses don’t hesitate to visit China’s Communist capital, and in fact have enough trust in the Government to establish long-term business partners and manufacturing plants there. Economic success cannot be the only reason for the West’s new rush to do business with China. There must be some significant democratic progress there, right?

And what about common Westerners visiting China purely for the motive of vacationing? Beijing has recently blossomed as a tourist attraction, with hoards of Americans and Europeans going to the Great Wall and other Oriental wonders. This would never have happened in the 1980s when Reagan continued the strong Cold War front against a Chinese dictator who dressed in military attire. Now the president of China dresses in Western business suits, speaks about peace and dialogue, and President Bush warns Taiwan not to be too aggressive in its relationship with China, instead of the other way around. Something big must have changed between then and now.

Because I have a few friends doing some beautiful works of mercy with abandoned Chinese orphans, I decided to take a quick trip to China and see for myself, starting with a quick one-day visit with them, and then traveling to several other provinces by plane and by train.

I would like to share with you my brief experiences of China, not as one who has any true expertise in the complexities of the Chinese situation, but rather in the same way that a friend might introduce you to another person that they had recently met.

The narrative that follows is based upon the testimonies of real persons and on first hand experiences by trustworthy sources—people who have risked their freedom and even, in some cases, their lives to bring them to you, so much did they want them known and understood by Western minds, and felt with compassion by Western hearts. Names have been changed, locations left out, and specifics at times covered in more general expressions in order to protect those who are already so much afflicted. The following true events make up the seven sorrows of China.

During her December 8, 1976, Eucharistic Experience linked with an October dream (ecclesiastical approval, May 31, 2002, see "Church Approves Apparitions of the Lady of All Nations" article), visionary Ida Peerdeman sees in St. Peter's Square a large net in need of repair filled with fish. Beside the rock of Cephas rises the Lady of All Nations, again represented as a tall ivory tower. – Asst. Ed.

In the night of October 29 to 30, 1976

This night I dreamt as follows. I was standing in the centre of St. Peter’s Square in Rome and I saw two fishing nets hanging all around. They hung on stakes in order to dry and were full of holes and gaps. Here and there in a hole a fish was still hanging, trying to get out. Where I was standing, there was a rock, and big dark clouds were hanging over it. From there I heard "the Voice" complaining:

I had to look at these nets and over each fishing net I saw a mitre hovering, some bigger, some smaller. And I felt myself caught within all those nets. Again I heard "the Voice" complaining:

"Cephas, My Cephas, look at these holes and gaps. That is how it has happened that so many fishes got lost."

There is power in praying the Rosary. Come with me to discover that power—a power than can change the world; a power that can change families; a power that can change each one of us. Every time we pray the Rosary, Satan loses ground. Where there is prayer from the heart, Satan cannot survive.

When we speak of the "power of the Rosary" we speak of the supernatural power that God releases. This power is released when we meditate on the twenty Mysteries of Jesus Christ that make up the soul of the Rosary. Thus we look upon the face of Christ Jesus our Savior, and we do so in union with the Immaculate Heart of His Mother.

To cooperate with God and His Mother in releasing the power of the Rosary we must get to the soul of the Rosary. What is the soul of the Rosary?

Praying the Rosary has the power to change the course of human history. It has indeed done so on several occasions.

The renowned Battle of Lepanto is one obvious manifestation of the extraordinary power of this Marian prayer. In 1571, Pope St. Pius V called upon Western Christendom to pray the Rosary for victory over the significantly stronger naval fleet of the Muslim Turks, and specifically requested the Rosary confraternities to intensify their Rosary prayer in preparation for the October 7 naval battle. The sailors of the Christian fleet were likewise armed with the weapon of the Rosary.

It is said that while the battle raged, St. Pius V was granted a heavenly vision and exclaimed: "Victoria, Victoria!" The Christian fleet had delivered a deadly blow to the Turkish navy, the Church and the West were saved from Islamic invasion, and the feast of "Our Lady of the Rosary" was liturgically instituted. The October 7 feast, beyond a memorial of thanksgiving, should also remind the Church of the power of the Rosary in regards to our present time of monumental difficulties.

This is the second in a series of articles exposing the evils of Freemasonry (in which membership is forbidden for Catholics) and its war against the Catholic Church and Christianity in general.
—Asst. Ed.

In a constant effort to increase its acceptability to every segment of society, Freemasonry uses symbols, objects and beliefs which are both familiar to and held sacred by those it seeks to lure into its movement.

Fundamentally opposed both to the Jewish religion and to Christianity, Freemasonry seeks to lure Jews and Christians through pretended tolerance and by using whatever it can of these religions in its ceremonies and teachings. For example, the Torah, the Temple in Jerusalem and various symbols of Judaism are used to lure Jews. For Christians, the Holy Bible, the feast days of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, and the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Eucharist are used.