本週，我們再看看天主教和東正教主教同時所確認的一個真實聖母顯現個案。這次是敘利亞、大馬士革的索菲尼Soufanieh。

事情發生在一九八二年十一月二十二日，結婚不久的穆妮Mirna，正為生病的妯娌、妮拉Layla祈禱；穆妮的手突然滲出油劑，妮拉卻又突然痊癒過來。十一月二十七日開始，穆妮家中的聖母圖像，滲出油來。

聖母給穆妮顯現了五次。一九八二年十二月十五日的首次顯現，倒把穆妮嚇呆了，神父鼓勵她以熱切的祈禱，準備聖母另次的顯現。十二月十八日，聖母果然再顯現，並給穆妮以下訊息：

「我的孩子們，要記得天主，因為祂常與我們一起。

以德報怨，不要傷害他人。

要有信德，要悔改！在喜樂中記得我。宣示我兒厄瑪奴爾。宣示祂的人會得救，不宣示祂的人的信仰是徒然的。

要互愛。我不要求你們捐獻教會，也不叫你們施捨窮人，而是去愛。捐獻或施捨，假如沒有愛心，都是徒然的。」

翌年的一月八日，聖母第三次顯現給穆妮 —— 穆妮只見得聖母在哭。二月二十一日，聖母第四次顯現時指出：

「不要指罵傲慢和缺乏謙卑的人。謙遜的人喜愛別人指出自己的短處；然而敗壞傲慢的人會忽視、反叛、和充滿敵意。寬恕是最好的選擇。

在別人面前偽裝純潔和仁愛的人，在天主面前是污穢的。

妳銘記這經文，並經常祈禱：天主拯救我，耶穌光照我，聖神是我的生命，我無所畏懼！

要克制、要寬恕。」

同年三月二十四日的顯現，是最後一次。聖母呼籲合一：

「耶穌創立的教會是唯一的教會，因為耶穌是唯一的。教會是地上的天國，分裂教會的人犯了罪，喜歡教會分裂的人也犯了罪。耶穌建立教會，她原本很細小。她增長，人們卻分裂她。分裂教會的人，心中沒有愛。

我說：要團聚。要祈禱！祈禱！祈禱！當我的孩子跪下來懇求，那是多麼的美啊！不要怕，我與你們在一起。不要像那些大人物，互相分裂。你們自己要以合一、愛德和信德的言行，世代孕育。」

神魂超拔和五傷

一九八三年至二零零四年間，穆妮共有三十七次神魂超拔，並見到耶穌或聖母。他們傳遞給穆妮有關基督徒重要的訊息，例如：三位一體、聖言降生、歸依天主、聖母的轉禱、祈禱與齋戒、婚姻的神聖，和教會的合一等。

為象徵合一，當天主教和東正教同時慶祝復活節時，耶穌苦難的傷印在穆妮身上出現。

讓我們遵從索菲尼聖母的吩咐，為基督徒的合一，多祈禱和多行愛德善功。

Over the last three weeks we have been looking at different approved apparitions. This time we are looking at the apparitions of Our Lady of Soufanieh in Damascus, Syria. This private revelation has been approved by both Catholic and Orthodox bishops.

On Nov. 22, 1982, Mirna, a newly wedded young lady, prayed for her sick sister-in-law, Layla. Oil exuded from Mirna’s hands, and Layla was cured. On Nov. 27, oil started to exude from an icon of Our Lady at Mirna’s home.

Apparitions of Our Lady

Our Lady appeared five times to Mirna. The first apparition was on Dec. 15, 1982. Mirna was frightened by the apparition. A priest encouraged Mirna to prepare for the return of Our Lady with fervent prayers.

Our Lady appeared again on Dec. 18, 1982, and gave the following messages:

“My children, remember God, because God is with us.”

“Do good to those who do evil, and do not harm anyone.”

“Repent and have faith, and remember me in your joy. Announce my Son the Emmanuel. He who announces Him is saved, and he who does not announce Him, his faith is vain.”

“Love one another. I am not asking for money to give to churches, nor for money to distribute to the poor. I am asking for love. Those who distribute their money to the poor and to churches, but have no love, those are nothing.”

The third apparition was on Jan. 8, 1983. The Virgin Mary was crying. She appeared again on Feb. 21 with the following messages:

“Do not insult the haughty who are devoid of humility. The humble person craves other people’s remarks to correct his shortcomings, while the corrupt and haughty neglects, rebels, becomes hostile. Forgiveness is the best thing.”

“He who pretends to be pure and loving before people is impure before God.”

“I would like to request something from you, a word that you will engrave in your memory, that you shall always repeat: God saves me, Jesus enlightens me, the Holy Spirit is my life, thus I fear nothing.”

“Forbear and forgive.”

The fifth and final apparition was on March 24, 1983. Our Lady gave this message on unity:

“The Church that Jesus adopted is one Church, because Jesus is one. The Church is the kingdom of heaven on earth. He who has divided it has sinned. And he who has rejoiced from its division has also sinned. Jesus built it. It was small. And when it grew, it became divided. He who divided it has no love in him.”

“Gather! I tell you: ‘Pray, pray, and pray again!’ How beautiful are my children when they kneel down, imploring. Do not fear, I am with you. Do not be divided as the great ones are. You, yourselves, will teach the generations the word of unity, love, and faith.”

Ecstasies and stigmata

Mirna experienced ecstasies 37 times from 1983-2004. During ecstasies she saw Jesus or Mary. The messages she received during ecstasies summed up important Christian messages like Trinity, Incarnation, repentance to the Lord, mediation of Mary, prayer and fasting, sanctity of marriage, and unity of the Church.

As a sign of unity, Mirna had stigmata when Easter for the Western Church and the Eastern Church landed on the same day.