Jesus the only way

 In Kolkota, the City o Joy, the City of Mother Teresa , we are fortunate that our people are very religious and respect the various religious communities that live in this very crowded city.  During these past weeks, we witnessed tremendous love and respet for our beloved Blessed Teresa o Kolkota, as we went about with her birth centenary celebrations. With great respect and love for Mother Teresa, the Co-workers of  Mother Teresa in Kolkota, launched the centenary celebrations in the Nazrul Manch Auditorium filled with poor children and inmates of Mothers various homes. Talented musicians from various religious backgrounds performed on the stage to pay homage to Mother Teresa. It was something beautiful. I praise and thank God for this attitude from our people in Kolkota while there is so much intolerance and hatred against Christians in some other parts of our country. 

       After having participated in severa of these programmes and especially the inter-faith and especially the inter-faith prayer meeting, i began to sense the promptings of the Spirit. He reminded me of an important Biblical instruuction -- HOLD FAST TO THE FAITH. We are living in times when people are fascinated by spititual matters but do not believe all that is ascribed to one religion. Pluralism has taken a firm hold. Pluralism claims that Jesus is in the same category as Buddha, Confucius, Osiris or Thor. We have , on one level, allowed our consumerist approach to affect our  view of God.

In today's world, it is as if you can go into the supermarket of gods and select a god of your choice. The attitude of our age is that one god is as good as another. 

      Certainly, there is much which is commendable in the different faiths. And I personally have have very good friends whom I admire much for their convinced faith and life style in accordance with the teachings of their religion. We, as Christians, must acknowledge what is good and never become prejudiced against any group. However, we are also reminded by the Word of God to "remain faithful to what you have learned and believed ... " What we claim as Christians is what God claims, and that is  the only way a man or woman can have a personal relationship with Him is through His Son, Jesus Christ. Other religious teach about God and some of their teaching is true. He is all powerfullll, all knowing, and all wise. However, they stop short of the ultimate truth that only through the redeeming Christ can we be guaranteed an entrance into heaven. No other faith can claim that its greater teacher was God incarnate. And that is what we claim for Jesus Christ. We read in Acts 4.12, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven...by which we must be saved." There is no way that we can come to God except through His Son. Jesus said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). He is not a way, as if there are many others. _He _is _the _Way,_the_only_Way.

       Many years ago a missionary was lost in one of Africa's jungles  and he asked a local to help him find the way. As the African led the way through the jungle, the missionary, seeing no track became doubtful as to the local's knowledge and said, "I see no track. Are you sure this is the way?" The local replied, "There is no way, I am the way." Christian are people who have come to God through Christ -- the Way. May be some pluralist may accuse us of intolerance when we refuse to place Jesus in the pantheon.

      I would say, that while respecting others and their faith, we must not forget the truth that only through Jesus, can we have a relationship with the Father. We need to pray that we will be helped by His grace and power to guard this truth no matter how unaccepted it may be for this pluralistic generation.

       The Holy Spirit is  reminding us all today, more than ever, that living as we do at a time where powerful forces are at work trying to steal the content of our faith , we must ensure we remain true. Jesus Christ cannot be placed in a pantheon alongside with other gods. Jesus Christ is unique, unparalled and unsurpassed. May the Lord grant each one of us the grace to be true to the faith "that was once for all entrusted to the saints." Despite the forces that work to steal its content, may we never weaken in our convictionthat Jesus is the only way to God.

        As I was reflecting on all these, my eyes fell on the words from Colossians Chapter Two."So, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted in Him, and built upon Him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one captivates you with an empty, selective philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world, and not according to Christ," (Colossians 2:6-8).

      In this centenary year of Mother Teresa, let us pray through her intercession, that we too, like her, while respecting other faiths, hold firm to the faith we have received. Her heart was given to Jesus totally and her goal in life was to satiate the thirst of Jesus. For her, there was no question of compromise when it came to her faith. May she through her intercession enable us to spread the message of Christ's love and light to this world steeped in darkness.

Praise the Lord!

Alleluia! 

        

Jesus' Identity always under fire

 "At that very moment he received in the Holy Spirit and said,"I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will" (Lk. 10: 21).

  Ever since God the Father wanted the truth to be hidden from a certain category of people, "the wise wnd the learned", and reveal it to the "childlike" there has been a battle being waged by the wise and the learned srsagainst divine revelation and all that is genuinely spiritual. Today's wise and the learned are scholars and experts think that they are able to teach God a thing or two. Practically everything in the Bible they are able declare unhistorical and invite everyone Religion and everything spiritual. They say  they are authorised to do so because they undertake a  critical study of everything and offer unbiased opinion but in absolute terms. There are many such who peroclaim that Jesus could not prophesy, or work miracles or heal people  except what was psychosomatic. These trendy teachings are coming now in a more systematic manner from a group of scholars known as the "Jesus Seminar" founded by a certain Robert Funk along with about 200 others, some of whome are known professors in Sacred Scriptures. Their efforts have led to the denial of   everything prophetic and miraculous in the Gospels and many of the sayings od Jesus, as well as, the facts about his birth, death and resurrection.

  Now it is usual to hear from Scripture professors that Jesus did not prophesy about the destruction of Jerusalem; but those who wrote the Gospels added these events in the form of prophecies after the incidents had taken place. Going in search of a historical Jesus, they end up denying everything about Jesus and finally losing faith. Jesus could not compromise on the fundamental teachings about his Gospel that centred around the one truth, that he was the Son of God. At the same time, he did not allow this information to reach the "wise and the learned" for their intensions were evil.

  One maybe shocked to know that the worst name that could be uttered, Jesus pronounced as he rebuked Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. you are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do"( Mt. 16: 23). This was really startling; but Jesus did want his real identity as the Saviour who would die to save the world, to be sacrificed. He had come from the Father only for this. For this, miracles and prophesies were signs and proofs. Now, to deny these things, as is not uncommon these days, especially during certain seminars, is to invite that condemnation, "Get behind me Satan". Jesus wanted Peter to have the answer clear to the question, "What do you say about the Son Man?" The complete answer would include also his death and resurrection that Peter could not accept at first. That was the most important of the catechism lesson given by Jesus to the Apostles.

   We need today to be on the alert and hold firmly to our faith in Jesus both human and Divine. Paul had expressed it powerfully, "We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1: 23-24).

Our Lady of Banneux Apparition - Belgium

 Mary appears to Mariette Beco 

In 1933, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared eight times to Mariette Beco, a twelve year old girl who had ceased going to Catechism classes and had not yet even made her First Holy Communion. 

      The winter of 1933 had turned extremely bitter. The eerie sounds of the wind wailing through the trees. bending thebbranches in a contest of strenght, created a deafening din inside the house. Drafts blew through the open cracks under the doors and in the window frames. 

       The flames in the fire place flickered wildly, as they battled the cold winds blowing down the chimney. It was dark, around 7 in the evening, on this freezing night. Mariette sat by the front window of her house, looking into the dark of night for some sign of her brother Julien, who was late returning home. As she opened the curtain to look out, she saw a Lady standing in their front yard, surrounded by a bright light.

      The Lady was exeptionaly beautiful, Mariette had never seen anyone so lovely before. She was not dressed like any of the ladies from the village.

      She wore a long white gown with a blue sash. One of her feet could be seen . She was barefoot, with just a gold rose in betwween her toes. In this kind of weather, she should be freezing. Mariette noticed that she stood just above the ground, sort of an a cloud. She didn't to be cold at all .

       Mariette had a very logical mind, even at age 11. The scene she saw before her eyes didn't make sense. It was probably the refletion of the oil lamp. She took the oil lamp from the table, and put it in another room. Then she went back to the window and looked out. The Lady was still there. She resorted to the next natural course of action.....she called her mother. Mariette explained what she was looking at, to her mother. Louise beco responded in a natural way also.

     "Rubbish", she said.

      Mariette was a very persistent girl. She described what the Lady looked like. her mother replied jokingly, 

       "Perhaps it's the Blessed Virgin."

       The child was insisted that her mother come over the window and see for herelf. After much persuasion, but feeling very foolish, Louise went over the windos and looked out. She did indeed see something, a white shape, but she couldn't make out any figures. 

       "It's a witch," she said, and let the curtain fall, blocking the image from Mariette's eyes. The child open the curtain again.

        "She's beautiful, mama. She's smiling at me." The mother ignored her eldest daughter.

       the child noticed that the Lady had a Rosary, hanging from the blue sash. The cross was the same colour of gold as the rose between her toes. Mariette went to a drawer, and rummaged through, looking for a Rosary she found outside on the road. When she found it, she began to pray. The Lady's lips moved, but she didn't say anything that Mariette could hear. After a few decades , the Lady raised her hand, and motioned with her finger for Mariette to come outside. The young girl told her mother what the Lady had wanted, and asked permission to go outside.

      "Lock the door," her mother replied.

      By the time Mariette returned to the window, the Lady had disappeared. She could not get the vision out of her mind. She keept going back to the window to see if the beautiful lady had returned, but she had not. Pretty soon, her brother Julien came back home. She told him what happened while she was waiting for him at the window. His reaction was similar to that or his mother's, only a little move vocal. His comments ranged from "You're a fool" "You're crazy".

      Her father too had some reservation about the child 's report but didn't discourage her by any comment.

       Following the first encounter with Our Lady of Banneux,  Mariette narrated the extraordinay phenomenon to her friend, Josephine Leonard, who in turn reported things to Fr. Jarmin.

       The priest was sure Mariette was influenced by the recent  apparitions in Beauraing , and paid no attention to it. He cautioned the girl friend, however, that one visit had a deep effect on Mariette's spirituality. She returned to her Catechism class on Wednesday, embracing the material with a renewed enthusiasm. She new her lesson perfectly. This amazed Fr. Jamin, because Mariette had always been the worst student in the class.

       After class , Father asked her why she had run away on Monday without telling him what she had seen. By this time , the child had had time to reflect on the possibility of what had happened anymore. She spoke very calmly to the priest, telling him exactly what she had seen. He, for his part , did not treat her as a child, or belittle what she claimed. He only told her to pray to Our lady for guidance.

      The second apparition of Our Lady of Banneux to Mariette occured three days later, on the 18th of January. Our Lady of Banneux, bathed in light , descended between tha tops of two tall pines and, floating on a cloud, beckoned Mariette to follw her. She led the child to the spring and told her, "This stream is reserved for me."

         That night, Wednesday , January 18, was the first time Mariette actually had contact with the Lady. it was cold, well below freezing. The ground outside the house was frozen like rock. Mariette knelt down at around 2 o'clock, and began to pray. Her father watched her from inside. Then after the time, she opened her arms. The Lady returned like a shooting star, appearing at first very small off in the distance. As she moved through the sky, she became larger, the closer she got to Mariette. She moved silently between two trees and came to a halt in front of the child. A dazzling brilliance emanated from her. Mariette could feel the warmth of it from where she knelt, a distance of about 5 feet from the Lady.

       The father came outside, and tried to speak to yhe child, but she did not seem to hear him. When she opened her arms, Julian Beco realized she was having another apparition.

       Mariette knelt a few times on her way, and then went over the stream. She knelt in front of iy. The Lady stood opposite her on the other side.

        "Plunge your hands into the water." Our Lady requested.

         After the child had obeyed, Mary spoked again.

         "This spring is reserved for me, Goodnight. Au revoir."

          Our Lady rose into the air, and proceeded to return to heaven. She became smaller and smaller, until finally she disappeared out of sight. Her eyes never left the child the entire time.

         On the third apparition , asked by Mariette who she was , the Lady answered : "I am the Virgin of the Poor." She also clarified her previous statement regarding the spring: :This spring is reserved for all nations --- to relieve the sick."

       On the fourth apparition of our Lady of Banneux, the Virgin made a request :  "I would like a small chapel." The fifth appariton of Our Lady of Banneux took place on 11 February, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the 75th anniversary of the apparitions to Bernadette Soubirous. The following day, Mariette recieved  First Communion from Fr. Jamin who had to be prodded on this matter. He was still sceptical over the whole thing despite the apparent positive changes shown by Marriette and especially her father Julien,who, touched by the whole thing, asked the  priest to hear his Confession after the second apparition.

       On the sixth apparition of Our Lady of  Banneux, Mariette relayed Fr. Jamin's request for a sign. This was met by silence on the part of the Lady until she finally said, "Believe in me, I will believe in you. Pray much. Au revoir," 

       On the seventh apparition, after descending on the pine trees in front of their yard, our Lady  of Banneux again beckond Mariette to the stream, some 325 feet away. She was grave and serious and told Mariette, "My dear child, pray much."

        The eight and last apparitionof Our  Lady of Banneux took place on March 2. The lady said, :I am the Mother of the Saviour, the Mother of God. Pray much," She strech forth her hands, blessed Mariette and said, "Adieu --- till we meet in God." And Mariette understood this would be her final appearance to her. Heartbroken, the child bowed to earth in heart-rending sobs.

The Church approves

       An Episcopal commission investigated the Apparitions of Our Lady of Nanneux from 1935 until 1937. A cult was being born which would come to be known as  'The Cult of the Virgin of the Poor."

        The Manifestation of Our Lady of Banneux were approved fully by the church in 1949 by Bishop Kerhofs of Liege and the Holy See.

        Monsignor Kerhofs, the bishop of Liege, Belgium where the manifestations took place was qouted as saying "Nevertheless, in the whole village she was the child who seemed to be the farthest from God, and the least prepared for any kind of mystical manifestation."

Marian Dogmas

 All four Dogmas of Mary:  

Divine Motherhood, Perfetual Virginity, Immaculate Conception, The Assumption

Divine Motherhood

Early in the fifth century Nestorius, a bishop in the Easttaught tthe heresay of two separate persons in Jesus one divine, the other human as opposed to the doctrine of two natures, true God and true man, its adherents claimed Mary was only the mother of the human Christ, not His entire person.

 In 431 AD, at the Council of Ephesus, Nestorianism was condemed and the first Marian dogma was proclaimed : Mary Mother of God ---Teotokos --- God bearer. Upon hearing the news, the people in this city went around cheering: "Holy Mother of God, pray for us sinners." The chant eventually became the second part of the "Hail Mary." the first comprising the greetings of the Archangel Gabriel and Elizabeth. All her titles flow out from singular privilege as Mother of God.

  God created His own mother free of the stain and curse of sin. The eternally begotten Son had to be formed in a spotless vessel; a ggrace-filled sinless mother, for God and sin cannot mix.

Perpetual Virginity

Mary's Perpetual Virginity was stressed in the Lateran Synod of 649 where Pope St. Martin I formally declared the Doctrine as an article of faith. Luther, Calvin and Zwingli --- the leaders of the Refornation --- all professed Mary's Perpetual Virginity that succeeding generations of Protestants rejected.

   If she had remained virgin all her life, how do we explainthen the brothers and sisters of Jesus as mentioned in the Bible? Wasn't He also referred to as the "first born"? There is a verse too in regard to Mary and Joseph that "he knew her not until she gave birth." Without Church Tradition and apart from Hebraic context , these passages can easily lead to wrong conclusions. 

   Closely-knit Jewish culture had no word for brother, a word that is used in 371 verses from Genesis to Revelation. These are four meanings of the word "brother" in biblical usage : siblings, relative or cousin, tribesman of Christian fraternity. Herman and Asaph are "brothers" sharing common ancestry from Levi (1 Chronicles 6:33-43). David called Jonathan , Saul's son, his brother (2 Samuel 1:26).

   "Brothers and sisters," as used in some Bibles, is an English translation from the Greek "addelphos" meaning kindred. it could denote either sibling, cousins and other relatives. This posed no problem to early Christians who were better catechised and addressedeach other as "brother" in the same wayCharismatics do today except for Helvidius and a few of his adherents. Today's misunderstanding is an offshoot of subjective or private interpretation among Protestants who have been cut off from the Sacred Tradition and teaching Magisterium of the Church. 

   The term "first born" denoted a male child that opened the womb, an an ancient Hebrew term (Ex 13:2; Nb 3:12) Mosaic Law prescribed  that the child be presented to the Temple with an offering 40 days after birth . "First born" did not necessarilly mean there weeeere other children, as our modern English usage connotes "Until" or "till" in Sacred Scripture expresses an action that had not happened up to a certain point but does not imply that it took place later. 

    For instance, "Michal, the daughter of Saul had no children until the day of her death" (2 Samuel 6:23). From that  would we assume that she bore a child after she died?  Noah released a raven from the ark thar "went back and forth and do not return till the water dried up upon the earth" (Genesis 8:7). Fact is, the raven never returned at all! Or about the location of the grave of Moses that no one knows "until this present day" (Deuteronomy34:6). Does that mean it has already been found today?

Immaculate Conception

Motherhood of God is the basis for the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, proclamed by Pius IX 1854. He said, "The Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved by a singular grace and privilege of God Omnipotent and because of the merits of Jesus Christ the Savior of all men, free from all stain of Original Sin." Mary was conceived free of sin and its consequences. She is not just another woman.

     She was the Virgin Mother (Matthew 1:23) who remained virgin throughout her life --- before, through and after the conception  and birth of Jesus according to Church teaching from antiquity. The only time this belief was questioned in the early Church was in 380 AD when Helvidius said that the "brethren of Jesus" were other children of Mary and Joseph.

    St. Jerome defended  Mary's Perpetual Virginity, using Scripture and writings of Apostolic Fathers, Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus and Justin Martyr. He labelled Helvidius and his teaching "novel, wicked, and a daring affront to the faith of the whole world."

     Who will doubt one of the Church's greatest patriarchswho look part in deciding what  books were to go into the Canon of Sacred Scripture at the Synod of Hippo? Apart from his reputation for translating the Bible into the Vulgate which all of Christendom used for centuries, Jerome is considered as the greatest Bible scholar of all time. A Bible commentary is even named after him, although the new edition by modern scholars is not as clean cut in orthodoxy as the previous one.

Assumption

Sacred Scriptures and uninterrupted Church tradition witnessed by the Fathers of the Church are the basis for celebrating Mary's being assumed body and soul into heaven. On November 1, 1950, Pope pius XII issued the PapalBull Munificentissimus Deus promulgating the fourth Marian Dogma.

  AlthoughMary's Assumptionis a fairly recent Marian dogma. It is not a entirely new belief, nor is it new revelation --- the Church teaches all public revelation ended with the last Aposle. This solemn feast dates back to the earliest Christian era. The Artmenian Lectionary of Jerusalem  (c 451) points to Mary's Qssumption, oriiginally known as the Dormition of Mary; it was generally believed she did not die, but went into a deep sleep and was brought up to heaven. In the eighth century , the title "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary" was given to the feast in the Gregorian Sacramentary. We have evidence of this as an early doctrine in liturgy.

 

The Virgin of Revelation, Rome

 On April 12, 1947 in Rome, Saturday after the Easter, Bruno Cornacchiola, a railway worker, decided to take his three children, Isola, aged ten, Carlo aged seven, and Gianfranco, aged four on a picnic. Early that afternoon he providentially missed a train going to Ostia and so decided to go to Tre Fontane instead , just outside of Rome noted for the shrine where St. Paul suffered Martyrdom. It was also , alas, notorious as a place of sin in which even the bodies of dead aborted babies were found. There, in the shade of the eucalyptus, while his children played, Bruno poured over his Bible, to deliver his speech in a meeting attacking the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

    Although Bruno had been baptized a Catholic and his First Holy Communion, he wasn't a practicing Catholic. His parents weren't very religious and his environment in an ill-famed district of Rome certainly didn't foster his Faith. A few months after he was married, he deserted his wife and volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War. It was there that he left the practice of the Catholic faith and embraced Protestantism, eventually becoming a militant Seventh Day Adventist. He returned to Rome and his wife, who remained a practicing Catholic, in 1939. In his uncontrollable anger, he often beat her up. He wouldn't allow her to bring the older children to church refused to have the youngest son baptized.

    Besides being a wife-beater, Bruno Cornacchiola was not a very good Christian. His language was punctuated frequently with obscenities, blasphemy and he had affairs with other women. The very morning of the picnic he passed a statue of Our Lady which had at its base the writing, "Virgin Mother." Bruno wrote there in pencil, "You are neither virgin nor mother." In his great hatred of the Church, he had even devised a plot to assassinate Pope Pius XII on September 8, 1949, the feast of the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the late afternoon of the 12th, in the middle of his preparation for his attack on Mary's great prerogative, one of his children interrupted him. Would he help them find their ball? Bruno put aside his Scripture text and the notes he had taken and joined in the search. While searching for the ball, Bruno found his youngest son, Gianfranco, kneeling at the entrance to a dark cave. The boy's hands were folded in the attirude of one engrossed in prayer, as though in ecstasy . with a happy countenance and his eyes fixed on a certain point of the cave, the child on a certain point of the cave, the child repeated, "beautiful lady! Beautiful lady!" as though he were addressing a living person.

    Bruno was surprised, then uneasy, and finally terror seized him. He could see nothing in the interior of a cave. What was he to make of his son's behaviour ? Excitedly  he turned to Isola and Carlo for an explanation. But the children's curiosity and fear for their younger brother were brief.  Within seconds they also-first Isola and then Carlo - fell to their Knees and joined their hands in prayer, enraptured with the same vision. Bruno was dumbfounded. Then he heard all three of his children cry out together: "Beautiful lady!" He tried to move each child, but they were as if glued to the ground. He was terrified.

      Suddenly, Bruno was also overcome by the strange mystical experience. His eyes were filled with intense light for a moment; then everything in front of him disappeared, his children and the cave. He felt himself becoming weightless, ethereal, as if his spirit had been freed of his body. When he regained his sight, after the momentary blindness, Bruno saw in the most illuminated part of the cave a woman of indescribable celestial beauty. Her head was adorned by a halo of brilliant golden light. The lady had black hair, and was clothed in a radiant white dress, gathered together by a rose-colored  sash whose edges fell gracefully at her side; over her shoulders she wore an attractive green mantle. The three colours of the dress (white), sash (rose-coloured) and mentel (green) have special significance to Bruno. He explains that they signify Mary's relationship to the Three Divine Persons and the three apparitions of Lourdes, Fatima and Rome. In fact, Our Lady identified herself as, "Daughter of the Father, The Mother of the Son, and The spouse and Temple of the Holy Spirit." At her bare feet lay a black cloth which had a smashed crucifix on it. Her face had an expression of motherly kindness, although clouded by sadness at times. In her right hand she held , resting on her breast , a small grey book. Her hands were crossed at her breast , but she unfolded them once to point to the broken pieces of crucifix. She then joined them together again. In a noteworthy departure from other modern apparitions, Mary appeared not only only to a non-practicing Catholic but to a zealous enemy of the Church and of herself personally. what message did she have for the wayward Bruno Cornacchiola and our times? We know only part of it; the remainder was to be delivered to Pope Pius XII, who later was to bless the statue of the Virgin that stands in the grotto where she appeared.

    When the Blessed Virgin identified herself to Bruno Cornacchiola, she did so with two profound truths. The first was of a general nature:  "I am the one that is of the Divine Trinity." Because of her reletionship to each person in the Blessed Trinity - daughter of the Eternal Father, spouse of the Holy Spirit and mother of the Divine Son - she is altogether unique among all of God's creation. In the second identification she chose to reveal herself in relation to Bruno's activity of Bible reading: "I am the Virgin of the Revelation."

    Then the Virgin of the Revelation addressed herself directly to Bruno, "You persecute me - enough of it now! Enter into the true fold, God's Kingdom on earth. The Nine First Fridays of the Sacred Heart have saved you. You must be like the flowers which Isola picked, they make no protest, they are silent and do not rebel .... With this dirt of sin . I shall perform powerful miracles for the conversion of unbelievers."

     She revealed to Bruno the sad condition of his soul, and at once all his mental state muddled in the vicious arguments and prejudices against the Church fell apart and he saw before him the way to salvation-the Roman Catholic Church.

    At that point, the Virgin of the Revelation taught him the sure means of salvation. for him  and for all mankind, which is prayer, and in particular the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary. "Pray much and recite the Rosary for the conversion of sinners, of unbelievers and of all Christians."  As a reward to those souls who would listen to her message of prayer for the salvation of mankind, the  Virgin promised great  favours  from Heaven. "In this place of sin I shall perform wonderful miracles for the conversion of unbelievers". 

     "Every time you meet a priest in church or in the street, you are to approach him and address him with these words, 'Father I must talk to you' . If he answers , 'Ave Maria! My son, what do you want?' beg him to stop because he is the chosen one. He will direct you to another priest by saying, 'he is the one for you'". It was quite a test that Our Lady put him through. He had to ask the question, countless time it seemed, to every priest he met without getting the proper response and had to walk away sadly aware of being thought of as rude or even out of his mind. It upset him so much that he was on the point of despair and even thought of committing suicide.

     Then he prayed as he had never prayed before. Didn't )Our Lady ask him to pray and suffer for the conversion of sinners, of unbelievers and for unity of all Christians? He persevered and it eventually happened exactly as Our Lady predicted. However, as the wrd of the apparition got around he had much to suffer from friends and associates who accused him of being a fanatic, crazy, etc. Others saw him as an exploiter of a situation that brought much attention to him. He was examined by the police and given, along with his children, psychiatric examinations. If he at times became depressed, he now turned to his spiritual guide, Our Lady of Good Counsel.

    As if to refocus attention on the shrine and her message to Bruno, on April 12, 1980, the 33rd anniversary of the Virgin's visit, a most astounding public miracle occurred at Tre Fontane in the presence of 3,000 people (including some 25 priests), who had gathered to hear Bruno Cornacchiola recall the first apparition and to attend a commemorative Mass. During the Holy Sacrifice strange images appeared in the sky above the Grotto. The sun seemed to turn backwards in the heavens and began to draw near the earth. It could be seen without straining the eyes. It appeared bigger than normal, and showed within its corona brilliant and diverse colours, in much the same way as the sun "danced" in the sky over Fatima, Portugal in 1917.

     The phenomenon lasted about a half an hour. Meanwhile, the Mass that had been in progress was halted so that the people could calm down and return their attention to the eternal Son present on the altar. when the Mass continued it was amid the visible emotions of the congregation. Many lapsed Catholics who had not gone to confession for years returned to the Faith. There were also many physical cures. A medical was set up and after extensive researched confirmed that the cures were miraculous and beyond any medical or scientific explanation. Two years later the same miracle of the sun was repeated , again on the anniversary date, April 12, 1982. Again the people  could look directly at the sun without hurting their eyes. An interesting difference between the two miracles of the sun is the first one in 1980 it was lay people who gave testimonies, whereas in the 1982 miracle the testimonies were given by the clergy. Incidentally, Our Lady had a fourfold message for priests: they were to have a deeper faith in the revealed truths of the Faith, greater obedience to the Teachings Authority of the Church, aa vigilant prudence in dealing with people, and a pure and dignified life style.

       Source: MARIAN SHRINES OF ITALY, Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, available from EWTN.

Dignity of birth and dignity of death: MOTHER TERESA'S VALUE

Whether title'Goddess of kindness' or 'Spendid woman of the gutter', "Saint on Earth", Saint of Gutters", "Angel of Mercy", "Living Saint of Calcutta", she was well known in the world as she was among the poor. She had many other names too, including some malicious ones like, "Hell's angel", "Hell's puppet", the "Popes' emissary" etc... But who does not get names good and bad especially when doing good going against the current?

Even Jesus had a variety of names such as, 'Glutton", "Samaritan", "possessed", "Beelzebul", "out of mind", "impostor", "a friend of publicans and sinners" and similar ones. Such was the fury of those who opposed his message and his ways that they could not call him by anything kinder name than what we have cited above.Granted that Mother Teresa used in her title, "Missionary" and spoke against abortion and too often spoke about Jesus, it is a great wonder that the attack against her was not really very big and she was never subject to violence. She went against the unethical and immoral trends of the present age and still was the darling of the media and of celebrities and rulers all over the world. People rushed to see her as though for absolution for their sins and to re-invent themselves and make a come back to respectability. Consider the thousand of volunteers who put up with the unbearable conditions of Calcutta to do what they could not do in the West,that is, to serve the poorest of the poor.In the same process, some even set their conscience right and do amends for the past life, as they take part in the recollection and prayer programmes at the Mother House.

As to her legacy, the media may say what it likes but for the honest on-looker it is impossible to explain how the frail - looking nuns are able to endure the extreme hot situations in Calcutta and sleep with out fans that many of the poor today have. The giant leap of the diminutive Saint of Kolkata is unbelievable in terms of thousands of followers they have, with hundreds of centres in thier care and lakhs of volunteers visiting them and extending their services to them and to the many thousands of the sick and the dying. it is estimated that some 80 thousand sick people who were picked up in a dying condition have been able to die with dignity and in peace in the homes of Mother Teresa.Only those who have some faith in a peaceful and happy death to gain eternal life and its bliss can understand this.

Another phenomenal achievement is the dignified life given to thousands of unwanted babies who have been either given in adoption or settled in life, something that Teresa the "Mother of the Living" from heaven will be now taking delight in. Even if the media has given  wide coverage to Mother Teresa at the most important moments of her life, death and after-death glorification, yet we should say that there is a lot that still remains unnoticed. Take, for example the homes for babies,mentally challenged women and HIV patients that are located at Tangra and is known by the name Shantidan (the gift of peace) - all these works which along with the HIV centre run by the male counter parts under the direction of the MC Brothers have grown into a mini township.Now it is quite well known that many of the HIV patients from these centres are able to return to normal life after two or three years in these centres.There has been reported the case of a man who was paralysed due to HIV and TB and the family too had stopped visiting him after admitting him in the centre at Deepshika run of the MC Brothers at Tangra. He is now able to walk and look cheerful.

To their credit, it must be said that the Sisters and Brothers are selfless and do not run any institution for the sake of money -- something rare among many private charitable institutions, and they are not discriminatory: They care for all irrespective of caste, religion or colour.So it makes sense to say that Mother Teresa and her works have a univresal character, except for that blue striped sari that is typically Indian and even the foreigners wrap it round joyfully.

Mother Teresa has not only done much in terms of charitable works but has taught us a great deal.There is no one whether abroad or in    India who would forget to insert a quote from Mother Teresa in their talk or writing.Let us take therefore, a quote from this Saint of the slums,

The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. And they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.

A birth centenary tribute to Mother Teresa
From the STREAMS.

MARY'S ASSUMPTION INTO HEAVEN

This feast means something more than what God done for Mary, that humble handmade, who had never foreseen her future glory. This feast means a great deal more, that is, it includes what God is doing for us too.The promise of after death glorification is our hope too, though not in the way as Mary had it. Mary was a true pro-type and image of the human kind; she belonged fully to God, and her answer to the angel says it all, " Behold the handmade of the Lord,be it done to me according to thy word".

Many things happened in her life starting with that annunciation by the angel and many roads appeared in front of her through valleys and mountains, ending on the the last mountain, Calvary where her heart was pierced from which flowed out her self-sacrificing spirit of abundant love for God and us.All this she experienced with that humility of a handmade because she didn't make plans for herself but only waited at the Master's door to know his will. All this was happening to her not only for herself but for ourselves too.Millions today who tread the Marian path know how easy it is to pass through deep valleys and go over steep mountains, always lifted high by the grace of God and Mary's hands. The final stage, the experience of heaven is there for all of us