Why are there visions and apparitions?

# Why Do Visions and Apparitions Exist?The intimate union of man with God and the core of the mystical experience are directly and strictly dependent on the experience of **contemplation**. A fundamental aspect of the mystical fact is the manifestation of supernatural gifts of the Spirit, which ordinarily produces a passive experience of God or the perception of His divine action within the subject. This experience also includes secondary elements, not constituting its essence, some of which are somatic (e.g., ecstasies), and others cognitive (e.g., visions, locutions, instinctive knowledge of the sacred, and private revelations).Therefore, visions, where authenticity is verified, are secondary gratuitous graces. They are not comparable to infused contemplation, a precious grace received along the path of theological virtues, which is the only way that leads securely and directly to God, according to the constant teaching of great mystics.Instead, we find devoted individuals so preoccupied with their visions that they practically make them the foundation of their entire interior life. Moreover, many of them display extreme imprudence in confidently adhering to poorly established manifestations. And several times, directors are influenced by overly confident penitents.Nevertheless, visions and apparitions have a proper value in the development of individual and Church interior life. They express their relevance with the mystery of Christ, as an echo of His communication to humanity through Revelation, just as Christ did with His Church. Although they are not mandatory or foundational, they can become an aid to faith and manifest, if authentic, the divine goodness in drawing near to humans in a human way, thus assisting on the path of faith.If we consider these phenomena as manifestations of the mysteries of faith, we can conclude that they appeal to the fundamental structure of man, created for the knowledge of truth. It would be a lack of theological honesty to forget the phenomena from the early 20th century, which are still today a tool by which God attracts men to Himself. Let us think for a moment about those countless crowds that are insensitive to preaching, exhortation, and ordinary means of religious activity, deeply moved by celestial manifestations, suddenly abandon a life of indifference, impiety, or disorder, and find themselves transformed and capable of the most meritorious efforts and heroic virtues.The convenience of visions lies precisely in their convergence with divine Providence for the mission of the Church, so that when the faithful flock to the place where they occurred, it is necessary to read in this spontaneous movement a deep longing for God and a great love for Him, certain of the encounter “we want to see God.”In the appropriateness of visions to God’s salvific plan, we can find the ultimate purpose: the Lord uses visions to attract men to Himself, so that, taking advantage of this divine attraction, they join together and the faithful fully commit themselves to the long path of virtues of faith, hope, and charity, uniting themselves to God through intratrinitarian life.The theological reason for visions and Marian apparitions in the plan of salvation is deepened in the encyclical *Redemptoris Mater* by John Paul II, which situates the presence and action of Mary as a sign of God’s maternal solicitude for His people throughout history.**Deepen your studies:** explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions, and a Postgraduate degree in Mariology.

See the complete list of Marian apparitions recognized by the Church.