My Slideshow

DO NOT BE AFRAID

The annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Mary is the event in the life of Mary that many people are familiar with. The exchange of words between Mary and the angel is contained in an oft-proclaimed prayer repeated in all churches at the strike of dawn and dusk. It contains the theme: God has a plan, do not be arfaid, salvation is at hand.

Mary too was afraid, he ascertained us. The message of the angel thus exactly she needed.In the midst of Mary's perturbation, the angel bid her not to be afraid. But the situation that Mary found herself in was truly fear-inspiring. To be with child at 15 was just too frightening to even think about. To suffer the fate of being discovered was just too horrible. So what then was that fear that the angel wanted her to dismiss?  It was the fear of participating in God's plan.

We found ourselves in a similar situation. And I guess there were likewise valid reasons for us to harbor dread and fright. But like Mary, there was a kind of fear that we needed to remove from our hearts. In the midst of those incomprehensible things that transpired in our lives then, we needed to allow God to step in and perform His plan, no matter how fearful it seemed to be.

It is frightening to experience God's intervention in our lives. More so to be disturbed by God as we go on with our own plans. For when God meddles with our affairs it would surely require a different kind of behavior from us.And that is even scarier. And so the challenge was thrown at us: will we become the kind of persons that God wants these fearful situations to make of us? Will we become better persons- compassionate, forgiving, loving and accepting?

Mary submissions to God's will is truly worth imitating. Human as she was, she manifested her trust and surrender despite herself. And because of this, salvation came to all of us. This should inspire us to examine how we should handle our own personal affairs. There would be times in our lives that God would simply disrupt our personal ventures. We need not fear. For when we allow Him to enter our life's pursuits, salvation will truly be ours.

WHEN MARY APPEARED

Scripture tells us how God communicates Himself and His messages to His people. He uses dreams, visions, inner voices. He also anoints prophets to be His mouthpiece to proclaim His messages to the people. Scripture are flooded with stories of miracles and supernatural events and these were normal back then. In the last century-and-a-half, we have heard of (and for some,have seen) numerous accounts of Marian Apparitions in different parts of the globe.The visionaries are usually young, quite normal, not particularly well educated and not extraordinarily holy or spiritual prior to the vision. These are the type of people the Lady chooses to reveal her message of and a warning. If we heed, there would be peace.
                                  But if we do not, a great chastisement  would befall mankind.
Below is the Marian apparitions that have received official approval by the Roman Catholic Church (although the list may vary in other websites)and their corresponding messages and prophesies.

                                                        OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

                                                       GUADALUPE, MEXICO 1531
                                                                      Juan Diego, 57
Our Lady's message is about love and compassion and her universal promise of help and protection to all mankind. Speaking in Juan's native tongue, the beautiful Lady identified herself: "My dear little Son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintain its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother's Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace." Mar left an image of herself miraculously on Juan Diego's tilma. A poor quality cactus cloth, the tilma should have deteriorated in 20 years but shows no sign of decay 469 years later. It still defies all scientific explanations of its origin.

                                   
                                                              VIRGIN OF THE POOR

       
                                                                BANNEUX, BELGIUM
                                                       January 15, 1933 to March 2, 1933
Mariette Beco, 11
Mary told Mariette, "I am the Mother of the Savior, Mother of God, pray much." She also described herself as the "Virgin of the Poor" and promised to intercede for the poor, the sick and the suffering.


                                                     THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
                                           

                                                              LOURDES, FRANCE
                                            February 11 to July 16, 1858 (18 visitations) 
St. Bernadette Soubirous, 14
The Lady told her that we all must "pray for the conversion of sinners," have "Penance, penance, penance!" and to "go tell the priests to have people come here in a procession and to have a chapel built here."


                                               OUR LADY OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
                                      

                                                      RUE DU BAC, PARIS, FRANCE
                                                         Summer of 1840  (3visitations)
 St. Catherine Laboure, 24
 The Miraculous Medal was revealed to St. Catherine as a powerful means of grace for the faithful. "Have a medal struck after this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces; abundant graces will be given to those who have confidence," On it were written these words in gold: "O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." Inscribed on the reverse of the medal is the letter M surrounded by a cross, and  below it two hearts...one crowned with thorns and the other pierced by a sword. Mary also revealed to St. Catherine, "The times are very evil.Sorrows will befall France; the throne will be overturned. The whole world will be plunged into every kind of misery."


                                  THE IMMACULATE VIRGIN AND MOTHER OF GOD,
                                                         QUEEN OF HEAVEN

                                                       BEAURAING, BELGIUM
                                                November 29, 1932 to January 1933 (33times)
Fernande Voisin, 15; Gilberte Voisen, Albert Voisin, 11; Andree Degeimbre, 14; and Gilberte Degeimbre, 9; Mary calls for prayer for the conversion of sinners, . "Pray,pray very much." "Pray always." "I will convert sinners." "I am the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven. Pray always." She also wanted a chapel to be built.


                                                             KNOCK, IRELAND

                               August 21, 1879 (2 hours or so) Mary Mcloughlin and Mary Beirne

The two woman visionaries saw three figures : Mary, Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist. They also saw an altar with a young lamb on it in front of a cross, and angels surrounding the altar. Thirteen other people also saw the vision. This was a silent apparition---no sound was heard and no verbal message was given. The symbolism of a lamb,cross and altar has been seen as pointing to the sacrificial death of Christ and the Mass, and yet these were behind Mary in the apparition at Knock,suggesting that the focus was on her and her role as a mediator.


                                                         OUR LADY OF ALL NATIONS

                                                        AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
                                                          March 25, 1945 to May 31, 1959

Ida Perdeman, "Come back, Come back to the One Who truly loves you! Come back to your Lord  truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist! There must be a return to Him first of all, before true peace can come. You have a great task to accomplish. Take courage and fear not. 'The Lady of all Nations'is standing before you...The time is now. This rosary has served you, Persevere to the end in saying it...Keep on praying [the rosary], all of you!... The prayer [of the rosary] is to be made known everywhere."



                                                                   OUR LADY OF HOPE
                                                     

                                                           POSTMAIN, FRANCE
                                                          January 17, 1871 (3 hours)
                             Eugene, 12 and Joseph Berbadette, 10 and two young girls,9 and 11
Our Lady's message encouraged prayer while emphasizing Jesus ' love concern. " Pray, my children.God will answer before long. My Son lets Himself be moved." The message of Pontmain is Powerful. Embrace the cross; be like children in your faith; have hope.



                                                            LA SALETTE, FRANCE

                                                     
                                                                 September 19, 1846
                                                     Melanie Calvat , 14 and Maximin Giraud,11
Mary expressed concern over the lack of devotion among Catholics. " I call on the true disciples of the living God...my children... the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in ... union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side ... provided that your faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times... "Prayer and the need for conversion to avoid chastisement were emphasized. She appealed for penance and end to Sabbath breaking and blasphemy in the region. The apparition is credited with a major revival of Catholicism in the area. She prophesied the crop failures in Western and Central Europe; these eventually led to an economic depression and the revolution of 1848.


                                                           
                                                            OUR LADY OF ROSARY
                                                             

                                                              FATIMA, PORTUGAL
                                                           May 13 to October 13, 1917
                                                            (every 13th of the month)
                                    Lucia dos Santos, 10; Francisco Marto, 9; and Jacinta Marto 7
 Mary's messages emphasized the need for daily rosary prayer for world peace and end of the war, reparation for sinners, the existence of hell, the consecration of Russia and First Saturday Communions of Reparation. Mary asked that we consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart as well. In addition, Mary foretold the end of World War 1,the onset of World War II and the rise of Communism. " When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: 'O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fires of hell, Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.' "She promised. "If my request are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace." But she also warned: If my request are not granted. Russia will spread her errors throughout the world raising up wars and persecutions against the Church, the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated."



                                                            OUR LADY OF SORROWS
                                                           

                                                                    AKITA, JAPAN
                                                             June 1973 to May 1982
Sister Agnes Sasagawa, "Pray, pray very much for the Pope, bishops and priests ...If we do return to His Sacred Heart truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist then we shall have the True Peace of the Holy Spirit; otherwise, if we do not return to Him and 'do not repent and better ourselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity." 'At Akita, the angel said: "The Rosary is your weapon....Say it with care and more often for the intention of the Pope, of bishops and priests.....With courage spread this devotion among the greatest number!" On October 13, 1973, on the anniversary of the miracle the sun of Fatima, our Lady spoke to Sr. Sasagawa, she said: Each day recite the prayer of the rosary. With the rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priest.... Pray very much the the prayers of the rosary, I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!"

There is one common message in all the apparitions:
        JESUS has been offended by the sins of humanity,and Mary exhorts us to prayer and repentance.






 

                                         

ARK OF THE NEW COVENANT

Marian doctrines and titles such as Protectress of Christians, Queen Mother and Mediatrics with Christ find expression from the biblical basis in Mary as Ark of the New Covenant. Unanimous teachings of Apostolic Fathers plus evidence of early inscriptions and graffiti in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Aramic, Syriac and Armenian in Catacombs excavations and Jewish- Christian cemeteries are incontrovertible witness of the ages.

We can comprehend this in the mindset of a first century Christian Jew, verify so for after all, Pope Leo XIII says we are all Semites in a sense. Christ did not abolish the Old Law, he fulfilled it in Christianity, where the fullness of Judaism shorn of pharisaic precepts resides. Early Christians recognized how types in the Old Testaments prefigured the realities in the New.

The Old Testament people venerated the Ark of the Covenant-- a box of acacia wood Yahweh instructed Moises to make,adorned with winged cherubim and fashioned with gold trimmings. Now why would Israelites pay homage to a fancy container crafted by human hands? Isn't that idolatry? What made it the holiest place on earth where it contains: God's Word inscribe in stone tablets, manna and stuff of the high priest. Aaron Scriptures says the Shekenah,God's presence,hovered over it like a cloud day and night (Exodus 40:31-34).

Mary, whom the Archangel Gabriel regarded as "full of grace" was overshadowed by the same Spirit of God at the Annunciation (Luke 1: 35). Elizabeth's greeting, "And why is this granted me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leapt for joy" (Luke 1:43-44), are foreshadowed in the Old Testament. David said, "How come the ark of the Lord come to me?" (2Samuel 6:8).His joyous dance and leaping before the Ark (2Samuel 6:16) replacated by John in his mother's womb(Luke 1:44)at the Visitation.

This biblical typology is proof that Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, created and preserved to be a sinless vessel -- the holiest place on earth where Jesus, the Eternal Word, Eucharistic Manna and Everlasting High Priest took flesh. Preserved virginally pure and undefilled for nobody desecrated the dwelling place of the Lord. She bridges the Old and New Covenants. Her prototypes: Sarah, Rebecca,Rachel, Miriam,Deborah, Jael, Ruth,Hannah, Abigail, Esther, and Bethsheba. In her is the prophetic fulfilment of God's promise that the True Ark would be revealed in His New Temple.

John in exile at Patmos is given a vision of the heavenly temple liturgy where the Ark of the Covenant precedes the woman crowned with 12 stars (Revelation 11:19-12:1). The Fathers of the Church saw the woman to be the woman of Cana, at the foot of the Cross, and the same woman of the protoevangelium who would be at enmity with the serpent (Genesis 3:15).

Mary is a type of the Daughter of Zion and the Church. Her crown of 12 stars symbolizes both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant Apostles. She reigns with her Son as Queen Mother, prefigured in the kingdom of Judah by the giberah --- the queen mother, who reigned alongside the king and interceded for the people, a practice that started with Solomon ( 1 Kings 2:19-20).

LOUIS DE MONFORT

A Saint fashioned on the Cross

      "The cross is the greatest gift God could bestow on His Elect on earth.
There is nothing so necessary, so beneficial, so sweet, or so glorious as to suffer something for Jesus. If you suffer as you ought, the cross will become a precious yoke that Jesus will carry with you" 
-St. Louise de Monfort.

       The quotation about the Cross that we have cited above aptly describes the short life of 43 years spent in suffering by this "vagabond" missionary and Marian saint known as St. Louise de Monfort. Almost lost in obscurity he lived in so much hardship that very few thought that he would become this great years later. And what more! He shook the Church and created a storm of a new spirituality that has influenced millions,including four popes of the 20th century, the chief among them being Pope John Paul II. By his own admission, John Paul II had made a new turn in his life after reading the "True Devotion to Mary" written by the Saint who called himself the "Slave of Mary".

    John Paul II made his confession in his book Gift of Mystery. On the 50th anniversary of my priestly ordination: " At one point I began to question my devotion to Mary, believing that, if it became too great, it might end up compromising the supremacy of the worship owed to Christ...."
    In another book (with the title of English translation: Andre Frossard talks with John Paul II: " Do not be afraid"] ( Rusconi, 1983),the French Journalist asked the Pope about his personal devotion to the Bl.Virgin Mary and the Pope again confessed:
      " Reading that book ( True Devotion to Mary)" he said, "has marked a decisive turning point in my life. I said "turning point", although this is a long inner journey.... At that very moment this unique treatise came into my hands, one of those books which it is not enough 'to have read'. I reread it constantly and certain passages in succession".
    It is also  easy to understand how John Paul II got his motto, " Totus Tuus" (Completely Yours) that he took from the same book in which there is a consecration to Mary written by St. Louise de Monfort that uses the same phrase, " Totus Tuus". The secret of Pope John II's success  as Priest. Bishop and Pope' definitely was his devotion to Our Lady, as was clear the way he loved and spoke about this devotion on various occasions. That secret was learnt from that great Marian devotee whose life we shall present briefly below.

  His Early Days
       Loius Grignion De Monfort was born in the hamlet of Monfort about thirteen miles east of Rennes, on 31 January 1673. The name of his birth place gradually became his surname. He was the second of eighteen children, and was one of the bfew who survived to adulthood. As a child he was noted for his love of the bHoly Eucharist that drew him into long hours of prayer.
        From his twelfth year when he was sent as a day pup[il to the Jesuit College at Rennes, he kept up his devotion to the Holy Eucharist and failed to visit the church before and after class.As a young man he joined a society of young men who during holidays ministered  to the poor and to the incurables in the hospitals. Louis Mary's uncle, a priest of the Church of the Holy Savior in Rennes, became the youth's close confident. His teachers considered him to be intelligent, studios, deeply religious, artistic in nature and somewhat shy. It was under the guidance of the Jesuits that Louis' priestly vocation matured. The decision to enter the priesthood was made, so he tells us,at the shrine of Our Lady in the Carmelite Church in Rennes. Monfort's solid devotion to the Mother of the Lord was already an integral part of his spiritual life.

His Vocatonal Life
       At the age of nineteen and after eight years at the Jesuit College in Rennes, Louis Mary decided to pursue his theological studies at Saint Sulpice in Paris. Having left his family and all memories behind, he trusted in Divine Providence and gave to the first beggars he met, his money, baggage and even exchanged clothes with one of them. With total abandon, he gave joyful, free expression to his deep desire to experience the radical demands of the Gospel. Begging for food and shelter along the way, he walked to Paris, arriving in the rags of the mendicant. One of his numerous hymns expresses his deep happiness- in spite of the pain of separation from family and house- in trusting so completely in Providence: "The Lord is my Good Father,Jesus, my Dear Savior, Mary,my Good Mother,could I have greater joy!"

Vagabond Preacher
       He was ordained Priest at the age of twenty-seven, and for some time  fulfilled the duties of chaplain in a hospital. In 1705, when he was thirty-two, he found his true vocation, and thereafter devoted himself to preaching to the common people. During the next seventeen years he preached the Gospel in countless towns and villages.As an orator he was highly gifted,his language being simple but replete with fire and divine love. His whole life was conspicuous for virtues difficult for the modern world to comprehend: constant prayer,. love of the poor, poverty carried to an unheard-of degree, joy in humiliations and persecutions.

    With utter disdain for human respect, Saint Louis Mary identified with the poor and found his greatest joy in serving them with the Word of God and also with any material help he could locate. Typical of his actions was the recorded event-probably one of many similar acts on his part- when the missionary tenderly embraced a dying leprous beggar lying in the streets of Dinan, carried him to a nearby religious house crying out "Open up to Jesus Christ!" The poor even took up a collection to purchased some warm clothing for this priest whom they proudly called "one of our own".

    His preaching, flowing from his own experience of God's love and Mary's maternal care, atrracted thousands back to the faith. In a Jansenistic age which harsley stressed the distance between God and people, he began, a tender devotion to the Mother of God, a lived baptismal total surrender to Jesus in Mary.

A terrible setback gracefully accepted
       One day he proposed to the poor people to build a Calvary at Ponchateau a neighboring village which they enthusiastically supported.For fifteen months between two and four hundred peasants worked daily without recompense, and the task had just been completed, when king commanded that the whole should be demolished, and the land restored to the former condition. The Jansenists had convinced the Governor of Brittany that a fortress capable of affording aid to persons in revolt was being erected, and for several months five hundred peasants, watched by a company of soldiers, were compelled to carry out the work of destruction. Father de Monfort was not disturbed on receiving this humiliating news, exclaiming only: "Blessed be God!"


Founder of two Congregations
       A year before his death, Father de Monfort founded two congregations -- the Sisters of Wisdom, who were to devote themselves to hospital work and the instruction of poor girls, and the Company of Mary, composed of missionaries. He had long cherished these projects but circumstances had hindered their execution, and, humanly speaking, the work appeared to have failed at his death, since these congregations numbered respectively only four sisters and two priests with a few brothers. But the blessed founder, who had on several occasions shown himself possessed  of the gift of prophecy, knew that the tree would grow. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Sisters of Wisdom numbered five thousand, and were spread throughout every country; they possessed fourty-four houses, and gave instruction to 60,000 children. Grignion de Monfort died in 1716 at Saint Laurent Survovre, France and was canonized in 1947 by Pope Pius XII. 

His great spiritual legacy
       He may have failed in his effort to set up a Calvary to remember the passion and death of the Lord, but he did leave behind a mighty spiritual legacy that boosted the sagging spiritual life of many in the Church and even set the foundation for a more authentic Marian devotion. He defined Marian devotion as more centred on the Trinity and similarly on Christ rather than building it as separate niche parallel to God and his Son Jesus. It was so convincing and effective that several popes too used his concepts to evolve their own spirituality and that of the Church. In support of his christocentric concept of Marian spirituality he quite forcefully argues that if devotion to Mary alienates us from Jesus it is necessary to reject it as a diabolical temptation.With Mary, he says, we enter into a more intense and more immediate union with Incarnate Wisdom, without Mary we reject the plan of salvation as designed by the Father. He was one of the first charismatic preachers to stress the promises of Christ when he said, "Pray with great confidence based on the goodness and infinite generosity of God and upon the promises of Jesus Christ. God is a spring of living water which flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray". His motto, "God Alone" shows a radical spirituality detaching him from every human or material attachment. Such a motto too influenced the many disciples and admirers he had, particularly the members of the Congregation he founded.
Returning to the theme of his Marian devotion, we cannot forget some of his memorable qoutes:
"She [Mothr Mary] is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God. If you say 'Mary' she say 'God'.
"If you put all the love of all the mothers into one heart it still would not equal the love of the Heart of Mary for her children."
"Never will anyone who says the Rosary every day be led astray. This is a statement that I would gladly sign with my blood."
"I feel a great desire to make Our Lord and his Holy Mother loved, and to go about in a poor and simple way, catechizing poor country people."

As a Final Word:
      We should never forget this great saint who has taught us among other great things, an easy way to holiness, namely, the devotion to Our Blessed Mother. It was his total consecration to Mother Mary surrendering himself totally (Totus tuus) a formula that was adopted by Pope John Paul II that led him to sanctity. If that was possible for him, it can be also the same for us.

WHAT WE HAVE IN CHRIST

A Love that cannot be fathomed;
A Life  that can never die;
A righteousness that can never be tarnished;
A peace that can never be understood;
A rest that can never be disturbed;
A joy that can never be diminished;
A hope that can never be disappointed;
A glory that can never be clouded;
A light that can   never be darkened;
A happiness that can never be interrupted;
A strength that can never be enfeebled;
A purity that can never be defiled;
A beauty that can never be marred;
A wisdom that can never be baffled;
Resources that can never be exhausted.

I do not ask, O Lord, that life may be
A pleasant road ;
I do not ask for that thou wouldst take from me
 Aught of its load;
I do not ask that flowers should always spring
Beneath my feet;
I know too well the poison and the sting
Of things too sweet.
For one thing only, Lord, I plead,
Lead me aright
Though strength should falter.
And though heart should bleed
Through Peace to Light.
I do not ask, Oh Lord, that
Thou should shed
Full radiance here;
Give but a ray of peace,
That I mat tread
Without a fear.