Among the intriguing aspects of the approved San Nicolas apparitions in Argentina are the fact that messages there often include direct biblical citations -- further Scripture reading directly related to the missives -- and the strong way in which they pronounce "contamination" of modern humanity.

The apparitions were acknowledged as supernatural on May 22 (2016) by Bishop Hector Sabatino Cardelli. There had been previous approval of the messages themselves (as opposed to of the entirety of phenomena) by another bishop, Mario Luis Bautista Maulion, several years before, and tacit approvals through the years when, for example, the diocese erected a church at San Nicolas and held official celebrations of Mass on anniversaries of the apparitions. But this was the formal pastoral approbation.

As far as messages to the world, Our Blessed Mother said such things as:

"The Sacred Heart of Jesus will give you plentiful blessings." In adding that the promises of the Lord "are waiting to be fulfilled," she cited Amos 5:9-15.

"At these moments all humanity is hanging by a thread," said Mary. "If the thread breaks, many will be those who do not reach salvation. That is why I call you to reflection. Hurry because time is running out; there will be no room for those who delay in coming!"

In words strikingly similar to those so often used by Pope Francis, who is from this general region of Argentina, the Blessed Mother strongly requested assistance for the "poor" and "destitute" -- and intercession also for the rich, "because they are lost in their faith." The Lord, she warned, "does not want anyone to fall into worldly temptations." This she linked to 1 John 2:-6,17.

"I give you biblical passages with my messages for the world to see that they are authentic, so as not to doubt you," said Mary. "Reread the passages and you will find answers you do not find now."

The seer, Gladys Quiroga de Motta, whose experiences began on September 25, 1983, and by the early 1990s included 1,900 messages (they may still be occurring), would have to be a world-class biblicist to know as many direct references as she fluidly cited in the ream of missives.

The important goal of life -- the Virgin of San Nicolas de los Arroyos intoned -- is to multiply spiritual goods, not material ones; the latter, she repeatedly emphasized, are a diversion of the devil.

Such messages call to question modern ways of finance (and "growing" money). She called reliance on what is man-made "a mistaken way of living."

"Read the Holy Scripture and you will learn to know Him," Mary said.

"The world is full of falsehood, of vain people," she noted, according to Gladys. "Do not let yourself be pulled by them. Whenever you are tempted, seek the Savior's help and He will put you on the right road."

"Today the Sacred Heart of Jesus is beside you to be your guide and to ward off the evil one who is attacking with all his fury," added Mary in a subsequent message (May of 1984). The enemy attacks "like a violent tempest," she said, "in all places... he knows he is unable before the Lord, and this makes him worse still. You are protected. Glory be to the Most Holy."

Indeed, in February of 1985, Gladys had a vision in  which she saw a street and found herself standing there as "some enormous monsters come toward me; it is like an avalanche. They are horrible, some like dinosaurs and others seem to be people, but very ugly, with large heads and ears. When they are very near me, there appears a blue wall and it is interposed between the monsters and me. Then I see the Virgin."

The wall, Mary explained, "is my protecting cloak. The Lord places me like a shield, like a guardian. I will defend you, my children [she said]."

In April, Mary added, "Stay with the Lord and fear no attack, fear nothing, because nothing can prevail against God. He gives safety to His beloved fold. Amen, amen. Read: 2 Timothy 2:19."

When perturbed or anguished, Mary told Gladys, "invoke God, invoke Him at all times because He is the One Who reigns in the universe, only He." Especially, said Mary, remember the Holy Spirit, Whose "strength can do more than any other strength." Walk, she advised, with surrender and assurance (and, she said, see Hebrew 3:12-15). Do not humble oneself before the enemy, but to God. Avoid those who hate, she implored, to paraphrase.

And so it has been at San Nicolas -- hundreds of messages. We will have a second part soon.

Gladys was also granted the vision of a city with many building that had been destroyed "as if there had been a war." But during the experience she saw a white pigeon flying and heard Mary tell her how the warlike tendencies of men come from an impulse for "ambition and power" -- another "fruit" of worldliness.

The Blessed Mother (we no longer must use the word "alleged" as far as the apparitions themselves) also railed against skeptics. "I am constantly seeing the blindness of other people to the Lord's warning," she said back in 1984, adding later that year, "My children, the senseless person is dead, even if alive, because they do not fear the Justice of God, nor fear not fulfilling His Commandments. They want to ignore the fact that the Lord's day and His Judgment will arrive."

[resources: The Final Hour, Fear of Fire, Sent To Earth, and On the Brink]