I am so glad I found this forum, 'The Mother of God Forum'. Something profound has happened in my life - 'I have found a mother', a beautiful, holy and real mother, which is just incredible. What a comfort, what a joy, what a delight, what a blessing. The Mother of God forum is a blessing from heaven!! Why, Oh why since Vatican II have they relegated the Mother of God to the sidelines? What a disaster!! She must be restored to her place of honour in the Church if the Church wishes to be healed and resored - true and authentic renewal will come when she is honoured as Mother of the Church. For in honouring Mary we honour her Son. Padraig, keep up the good work of making her better known. Marian spirituality has a profound depth and reality that is at the heart of true Catholic worship. Ave Maria
Once again Garabandal I find it strange that someone should post on something I was just recently praying about. One of the effects of the so called 'Reformation' was the death in the Protestant sects of the Mystical, of if you like the 'heart; which was taken over by the 'head'. The worst casualty of this, I believe was the death of belief in the Eucharist. The furnace that blazes heating our souls with love each day. The second mystical casualty was the sacraments especially the sacrament of confession again a profoundly mystical meeting of the soul with Jesus in the person of the priest . But another great death of the mystical was the loss of Devotion to Mary. We say, 'Devotion' to Mary but I would seek an even stronger word. For Mary is our mother and mother to the Church. Again this shows a loss of the heart to the head. After Vatican 2 we saw such a marked Protestantisation of the Church, a swing from the heart to the head. I am not criticising Vatican 2 for that, but there were very many , especially in Europe , particularly France, Germany, Holland, Austria and Switzerland who swung and misused Vatican 2 to push the Church towards a Protestant spirituality and theology. We became in many ways a Church without a heart. So look at things of the Heart, the mystical and see how we have lost them, Devotion to Mary, regular reception of the Eucharist and attendance at confession, personal prayers and devotions, statues, prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and on and on and on... SO we moved to a new 'modern Church dumping the traditions of 2,000 years. We became a social Church, full of grand ideas, a modernizing church running after 'new ideas' like a kitten chasing butterflies. We devasting our Catholic Culture with horrible music and liturgical practises, we ripped our precious Church architecture to pieces. Well you've started me!! I'll rave on and on and end up frothing at the mouth and taking some kind of fit But I'll not write anymore about this, for what good would it do, really? I am glad Pope JP2 and Benedict are trying hard to straighten things out. I no longer go to my local Catholic Church, There is no statue of Our Lady there, no candles, no pictures or statues of the saints. I cannot have private confession. The Church is round so when I go to pray we are sitting staring at each other which is so distracting, so I seek older more traditional places to pray and worship. Places that are truly Catholic. To be frank I would feel far more spiritually at home in many of the old Protestant Churchs than in my own very modern and up to date Catholic Church. Then we wonder why are Church's are empty and there no vocations? But young people want there hearts filled with love rather than ideas. I read an interesting point about the so called 'Reformation' from an historian some time back. He said that it nearly died out. Why? Because they had dumped the things of the heart , like Devotion to Our Lady that their places of worship became cold heartless places. But what saved them. Well, believe it or not it was when Back wrote that marvellous hymn, 'Jesu joy of man's desire' a great creation of the heart if there ever was one. Bach showed that it was possible to a member of a Protestant sect and still have 'heart' as did hymns like 'Amazing grace' and 'Jerusalem' and people like John Wesley and the founder of the Quakers. The great irony is that while we have been rushing in the direction of Protestantism of a faith of the head, our Protestant sisters and brothers, knowing how barren this is have been rushing in the exact opposite direction in their hordes, towards, for instance Devotion to Our Lady. Well you've set me of on a mad rant. Its your own fault I will be quiet now, I've got it off my chest. :lol: :lol: :lol:
