Ecstasy During Apparitions
 
Apparitions, particularly in Catholicism, are accompanied by the inducement of a state of supposedly miraculous ecstasy in the seers. They feel really high and enjoy the experience so much. 
 
While some people feel ecstatic about things, we must distinguish between their experience and the allegedly supernatural version.
 
In a book on the Medjugorje visions of the Virgin Mary and science, it was found that broadly speaking the visionaries there were in ecstasy. They looked normal and didn't show any signs of anything disturbing during their apparitions. They had no anxiety or sign of pathology before during or after. It is now agreed by experts in Catholicism that ecstasies like the Medjugorje ones at least tick the right boxes. They say the visions should be taken seriously enough for further investigation to see if they are really from God. They say the ecstasy should enhance the dignity and normality of the visionaries if the visions are from God. Garabandal, a site of alleged visions in the sixties, had visionaries who were rigid and pale and Mari Loli's evil expression and looking in a different direction to the rest of the visionaries has been noted by many. From looking at the ecstasy, the visions could not have been from God.
 
At Medjugorje there are no gimmicks performed during ecstasy. At Garabandal the visionaries seemed to be able to walk backwards over dangerous terrain without slipping. This may be less miraculous than it appears for they were children and children have a knack for doing dangerous things safely and they had their arms linked together. Gimmicks during ecstasy would be a bad sign.
 
In apparitions of the Virgin Mary, the seer goes into trance and seems unaware of any other stimuli. The person stares upwards and moves their lips as if talking to an entity only they can say.
 
The ecstatics report a religious experience as a union with God. They say it is a little taste of Heaven. By claiming ecstasy, the seers are claiming to have God in their souls and the ecstasy is described as a state of intense prayer. Jesus said that if you pray, try and keep it private if you can because of the risk of pride which can hide itself even in the guise of humility. To flaunt your humility is a form of pride and the Bible warns that the heart is very prone to self-deception. That means genuine seers would have their ecstasies in private. Bernadette of Lourdes and the visionaries of Medjugorje and Fatima made no effort to hide theirs. In fact they produced ecstasies after seeking an audience. Whatever was causing the ecstasies, it was not God. And their humility must be questioned and especially when it is the likes of the Medjugorje visionaries who are known for their worldly ordinariness and opulence.
 
To honour an apparition is to honour the visionary more than the vision.
 
Bernadette of Lourdes reported ecstasy and it was thought she didn't know what was going on around her. But there were times she did! Did she fake at times? Or is the perception that sometimes she went into a trance based on mistakes?
 
The Bible lists supernatural charisms and ecstasy is not mentioned. The Bible gives no authority for the acceptability of ecstasy. There is no biblical account of people going into a mystical trance and staring into space. The phenomena is occult. The Bible details what kind of phenomena is occult and what is from God. It is safe to say that anything it does not clearly endorse is of the occult. While the Bible does not condemn normal ecstasy, it does condemn those who sought supernatural trances such as mediums.
 
People who claim to have charisms are as prone to error as people who don't. Charisms do not give a person a monopoly on the truth. Consider the differences - many of them major - between Charismatics and Pentecostals. One camp says the Catholic Church is needed for salvation and others say it is not. That is a major thing. If charisms do not confer infallibility or anything nearer to it, then how can apparitions? What use are they if they are not lamps for the truth? Those who chase apparitions only want to be part of something magical. It is not about goodness or truth. People worry about the bad fruits that follow false apparitions but they forget that merely saying you have had an apparition is a bad fruit. It encourages the thrill seekers.
 
The Bible complains that people generally prefer fun and pleasure to God. Is it likely that God would confer ecstasy for the ecstasy could be preferred to him and be what the visionaries enjoy not the Virgin or him? Ecstasy isn’t mentioned in the Bible. True Christians say it is bestowed by Satan to create an addiction to spiritual pleasure and devotion to the apparition that he causes. Since apparitions are seen by the Church as private revelations Satan might be using them to separate the visionary from God or to try to and might have no other sinister purpose.
 
Ecstasy is taken as evidence that an apparition is taking place. But is it? Perhaps Bernadette of Lourdes was not seeing the Virgin for the duration of her ecstasy?

Apparitions are accompanied by the inducement of a state of supposedly miraculous ecstasy in the seers. They feel really high and enjoy the experience so much. The experience is union with God that is a little taste of Heaven. By claiming ecstasy, the seers are claiming to have God in their souls and the ecstasy is described as a state of intense prayer. Jesus said that if you pray, try and keep it private if you can because of the risk of pride which can hide itself even in the guise of humility. To flaunt your humility is a form of pride and the Bible warns that the heart is very prone to self-deception. That means genuine seers would have their ecstasies in private. Bernadette of Lourdes and the visionaries of Medjugorje and Fatima made no effort to hide theirs. Whatever was causing the ecstasies, it was not God. And their humility must be questioned and especially when it is the likes of the Medjugorje visionaries who are known for their ordinariness and opulence.