The Apocalyptic Vision of John Paul II

For the past few weeks I've been pondering a quote in the Magnificat missalette from the feast of Blessed John Paul II on October 22nd..

“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think the wide circle of the American Society, or the wide circle of the christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the Gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. This confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is therefore, in God’s Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously.... 

"We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary."   Blessed John Paul II

The first part of this statement was reported in the Wall Street Journal of November 9, 1976 from an address to the U.S. bishops before Cardinal Karol Wojtyla became pope. The second part is from an interview with Catholics of Fulda in 1980 when he had been pope for several years. I can't help feeling as I read this piece that John Paul actually heard these warnings from the Blessed Mother herself. Did she appear and tell  him the tribulation could no longer be averted? His words sound like statements Mary's made in apparitions around the world. And the pope certainly had an intimate relationship with Our Lady. Reading this makes me want to be more faithful and more devout in praying the rosary. Our world is in such desperate need of Mary's intercession.