Heavenly bliss and earthly woes

According to Father Salvatore M. Perrella of the Marianum Pontifical Institute in Rome, of the 295 reported apparitions studied by the Holy See over the centuries only 12 have been approved, the latest being in May 2008 in Laus, Japan. This miracle, which is purported to have occurred in 1973, consisted in Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in the remote area of Yuzawadai, in Laus near the city of Akita in Japan, hearing the voice of the Blessed Virgin Mary on three occasions.

As Sister Agnes was in fact totally deaf and remained so until 1982 when she was cured during Sunday Mass as foretold in the messages, it seems that the Virgin Mary somehow managed to communicate to her otherwise than by airwaves. The miracle was approved at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1988 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who is today, of course, known as Benedict XVI, the reigning Pope.

Belief in miracles and the supernatural is an essential component of all religions. Even the Buddha, according to his proponents, felt obliged to forbid his disciples to use miracles to prove the superiority of his teachings, he whose own life, so they affirm, was marked by numerous miracles.

"Respect the supernatural but keep a distance" advised Confucius in a similar vein. As for Lao-Tse, the father of Taoism, he too, from all accounts, seems to have been of a similar frame of mind. Hinduism, the oldest of present day religions, is particularly rich in miracles.

It should be recalled that religion originated as a strategy for survival of our early ancestors. It does not depend on the existence of a god or gods but on the belief that there is a god or gods.

As long as mankind is subject to the sentiments of fear, relief and gratitude and as long as he nurtures an aspiration for justice (revenge or vengeance) denied to him on earth, he will continue to have recourse to belief in the supernatural and a god or gods.

Religion plays an important psychological role in assisting us to assume the adversities of our earthly lives. It is the promise of a better life in heaven and of joining loved ones who have passed away.

As long as nothing can be proven, neither one way nor the other, religion will not only survive, it will thrive. People will continue to believe. Plain, simple reality is totally out of the question. It is inconceivable and unsupportable.

In addition, religion provides important social, medical, educational and welfare services to its communities with the benediction and co-operation of the State political authorities. Together with school and family, religion is a vector for the moral values that help structure society.

As Karl Marx pointed out, religion is the opium of the people. It subdues the vast social communities that constitute the population of nations into the meek acceptance of their miserable earthly condition. It avoids social unrest and prevents revolutions more efficiently and in a much more acceptable manner than the brutality of armies.

It is the promise of heavenly bliss that allows us to sublimate those all too familiar companions, our earthly woes.