Sister Margaret Catherine Sims, CSJ, has traveled to a small village in Venezuela where she believes a 65-year-old woman there has seen apparitions of the Virgin Mary.
The messages the mother of Jesus Christ gives to the visionary are of reconciliation, forgiveness and love, said Sims.The sister has traveled to the village of Betania 13 times to talk to the visionary named Maria and to interview numerous people who have made the pilgrimage in hopes of also seeing the apparition.
Sims, who wrote a book titled "Apparitions in Betania," told the congregation at Holy Family Christian Church on Sunday that she, too, feels a supernatural power in the village.
"There are miracles that have happened," she said. "And this (apparitions) is one of them."
The sister said that Maria had her first apparition when she was 5 years old. The young Maria was at the river with her mother and handed her a long-stemmed rose. When the mother asked her daughter where she got the rose, Sims said, Maria told her a woman came out of the river and handed the flower to her.
Maria was a sick child, and Sims said that Jesus and Mary came to Maria twice and healed her. Then in 1974, Maria and her family bought some land and the place became known as Betania. Now thousands of people journey there to drink the water for wellness and to try to see the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Sims said that Mary at one time told Maria that she would at first only appear to her and she would know when Mary was present because a blue butterfly would be close by. Eventually, Sims told the congregation,Mary told Maria that others would see the apparition also.
"Many pilgrims see the blue butterfly in the village. Even I see it," said Sims. "So Mary is certainly there in Betania."
Sims said people not only go to the village to be healed, but they also go to pray for peace, love and forgiveness. "The spiritual journey can be a struggle," said Sims. "Our Mary, our mother, is guiding us. We must live out our life as Jesus lived out his."