Comes now Estela Ruiz, a seer from South Phoenix [above, with large family, she wearing white pants], who began hearing the voice and then seeing the visage of the Blessed Mother in 1988.

On the night of December 3, Estela, her husband Reyes, their son Fernando, and Fernando’s wife, Leticia, were all praying the Rosary.

At the time Estela was a “Sunday morning Catholic” and skeptic — a schoolteacher — until husband Reyes, a devotee of Mary since the age of seven, journeyed to Medjugorje. During his trip, Estela, alone at home, having not wanted to go on the trip, was stunned to hear a voice as they passed an image of the Blessed Mother in their home.

Reyes returned, and that December night they were in particular praying for another son, Reyes Jr., who was struggling with cocaine addiction, and for Fernando and Leticia’s marriage.

During the final decade, Ruiz says she saw a light emanating from a portrait of the Immaculate Heart of Mary that grew brighter until it forced her to close her eyes. At that moment, the Virgin spoke to her: “Don’t you know that I am going to take care of your children?” She was overcome with emotion and, of Mexican descent, began to cry, calling out, “Qué linda! Qué linda!” (“She’s beautiful! She’s beautiful!”)

She began receiving many alleged messages from Our Lady (the Church never officially accepted her experiences), most of them pertaining to family and America.

A few samples pertinent to our current time:

“You do not yet understand the seriousness of the state of the world, especially you, my children, in the Americas.

“The evil one has so many concerned with mundane and material things that you fail to see the crisis in which the world stands.

“You are on the brink of great destruction, that you are still focused on whether you want to acknowledge God’s Power and Might. Many of my earthly children refuse to acknowledge His existence and sadly, will never do so until it is too late.

“My beloved children of the Americas, I call on you this evening to let go of your grand and material life which leads you to worry about your flesh and does not allow you to concern yourselves about your soul.

“Money and material things will not save your soul if you use them to concern yourself over them so much that you forget to honor your Creator, trust in Him and know and understand that it is Him, Whom you need in your life.

“The vision of my children in the Americas at the present time is limited to worldly pleasures and material things whether you possess them or desire them.

“I am here to help you refocus on what is really important, and that is your soul”  (9/22/90)

“I want to encourage you to the next step, which is beginning the work of detaching yourselves from emotions that are not good for your soul.

“These are feelings in you of greed, hate, selfishness, and lack of charity and hope.

“If your priority in life is still material goods and not God, then there is greed in your heart. If your anger causes you to burst out and hurt others, then you have not done away with that emotion and it may cause you to hate.

“If you cannot share your God with all that come into your life, by showing God’s Love through you, then selfishness still remains in your heart.

“If you have not yet learned to reach out with great love to help your brothers and sisters in need, the charity of which I speak about is not present in you. And if you continue to try to manipulate and control all things around you, believing only you can change them, then the faith and hope in God that should be ever-present in you does not exist.” (3/16/1991)

“I have spoken to you about the catastrophes that would occur through the world. You are experiencing these catastrophes at present, yet many do not understand God’s Power.

“Your eyes and ears are closed to the tremendous suffering of humanity throughout the world. This is especially true of my children in the Americas. Within your own country, many lives are being lost because the evil one pervades. In your country, men want to control each other and use many means to try to do so.

“The financially and physically strong want to overpower the poor and the weak.

“Many lives are being lost because of the greed that comes from the evil side.

“Many of you walk around without feeling the suffering and pain of others in the world.

“All of this happens because men have put God aside and no longer believe in Him or acknowledge His existence.”