Last year I had a letter published in the Irish News defending our Lady after someone called Humanist criticised Catholic devotion to the mother of God. Here was my response: May I reply to the letter by Humanist of Belfast (May 17) re pagan origins of devotion to Mary. Humanist insults Catholic Christians who venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary in his claim that the origins of our devotions to her are to be found in Greek culture and pagan worship. This displays a patent ignorance of Holy Scriptures on which lie the foundations of our belief in Mary, the mother of God. Humanist obviously has no understanding of the incarnation and the nature of God’s work of grace upon the soul, of sanctity and the beauty of holiness to which we Christians are called and which have reached their perfection in Mary, most holy. We honour and love Mary because of her son. The first place in which we find Jesus in the Gospels is in the womb of Mary – he is not only the inhabitant of the womb but also its fruit (Luke 1:42). Speaking of the incarnation, St Paul says that the Son of God is born of a woman (Gal 4:4). The word woman is significant in this regard. For the apostle, as for Jesus himself at Cana (John 2: 4) and from the cross (cf John 19: 26), the virgin Mary is the woman of human history, the new Eve, the woman whose crushing of the serpent was prophesied by Moses (Genesis 3: 15). We find the foreshadowing of Mary’s beauty among all the women of the Old Testament in the lives of Eve, Rebecca, Rachel, Judith, Esther, the bride of the Canticles, the valiant woman of Proverbs. She is the unspoilt daughter of Sion as foreseen by the prophets, the lovely bride praised by Solomon. As God made himself present in Mary, the greatest ever shrine of God, she is foreshadowed in the Old Testament as the ark of the covenant (2 Sam 6), Tent (Ex 40: 34), and Temple (2 Chron 5: 13). Elizabeth’s greeting on Mary’s visitation resonates through the generations, that ‘‘Blessed art thou amongst women’’ (Luke 1: 42). The angelic salutation has become our prayer: ‘‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you’’ (Luke 1:28). Grace, as the poet Gerard Manly Hopkins says, is ‘‘God’s better beauty’’ and ‘‘the splendour of the soul’’. Grace perfects nature and Mary, who is ‘full of grace’, ‘‘She is more beautiful than the sun and above all the order of the stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it’’ (Wisdom 7: 29). Grace conforms the soul into the likeness of Christ, so it is with Mary. Hers is a reflected beauty: she is, according to the poet Christina Rosetti, ‘‘Christ’s mirror, she of grace and love’’. All the beauty for soul and body that the Son of God brought into the world, all the loveliness He wants to lavish on mankind, is summed up in, and mediated by, the person of his ever-virgin mother – ‘‘a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars’’ (Revelation 12: 10). If there is beauty, it is here: ‘‘All fair art thou, O my love and there is no spot in thee’’ (Song 4: 7). St Padre Pio offers this reflection on true Christian devotion to Mary: ‘‘My most pure mother, my soul so poor, all stained with wretchedness and sin cries out to your maternal heart. In your goodness deign, I beseech you, to pour out on me at least a little of the grace that flowed into you with such infinite profusion from the heart of God. Strengthened and supported by this grace, may I succeed in better loving and serving almighty God who filled your heart completely, and who created the temple of your body from the moment of your immaculate conception (Padre Pio: Meditation Prayer on Mary Immaculate). As for Mary herself, her whole life was centred on God. With humility she declared: ‘‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour, for he has looked with favour on the humilty of his handmaid. Behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed for he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name‚ (Luke 1: 46-49). Humanist did not respond to this letter Garabandal
The sad thing is 'Humanist' is probably an apostate Catholic. You certainly love Our Lady, Garabandal.
Padraig, I have discovered our Lady as a Mother which is a true conversion for me as I did not always appreciate her role and in fact had problems with her role as mediator, as my spirituality was quite Christocentric. I started to say the daily Rosary 5 years ago [from St Stephen's day 2003], as on St Stephen's day I undewent my own personal warning that plunged my whole being physical, emotional and spiritual into an intense inner darkness that I can only describe as an inner hell and this purgation lasted for weeks, months [I thought I would never get out of it and my thinking was if I don't get out of this I might end up in Purdysburn mental hospital] but slowly I emerged from this inner darkness with the help of Our Blessed Mother who proved to be a true mother to me hence I will always defend her honour and promote devotion to her. It is hard to express what I went through in words but I do think it was a spirtual purgation rather than mental illness as from it I found a devotion to Mary that I did not have before and feel I have underwent a deep conversion in soul. I suppose this episode in my life would only make sense if you knew something of my life before and after this 'warning' event in other words my testimony. Garabandal
Saint Teresa of Avila remarks that one of the Sings of a great grace is that we should recall it long after the event. This certainly appears to be the case. Another effect would be that: Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a rotten tree cannot produce good fruit. again that appears to be the case here too. So I wouldn't hesitate to say it was a grace. Perhaps its different for others but I have always found great growth to be linked to great suffering. maybe its part of us being sinners. Of course there is in the Catholic tradition that of being fools for Christ. growth in grace can appear to be insanity, for example Saint Francis stripping naked and Saint Louis De Montford was often taken to be mad. To be different , to be a person of prayer is often to provoke comment. Once it might have annoyed me a bit...'He's eating the altar rails' ..now I take it as a great compliment. They said Jesus was possessed by demons, John 7:20 20The people answered and said, "Thou hast a devil. Who goeth about to kill thee?" and if they said that when the wood was dry what will they not say about us , whose wood is so green?? Luke 23:31 And if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
Padraig - thanks for that. The quote from Saint Teresa of Avila is a comfort to me. I recall St Stephen's day 2003 as the 'day of my conversion' to a deeper spiritual reality or dimension. In a sense I think might know personally what purgatory might be like and I now take much more seriously the reality of the soul and the last things, heaven, hell and purgatory. Like the children of Fatima who were given a vision of Hell, I now offer up little and large sufferings with their prayer, 'Oh my Jesus, it is for love of you, for conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary'. My friends the 3 children were given a vision of Hell and saw many souls falling into the pit like snow-flakes on a winter's day and our Lady explained it was because few people were making sacrifices for poor sinners The children subsequently offered their entire lives for poor sinners making many, many sacrifices for their salvation. This contrasts markedly with the view of many in the church today - for many they do not take seriously Hell at all because they argue that a mortal sin is so hard to commit. This is an erronous belief from the depths of hell itself. Look all around and see the reality of sin in the abortion mills, the sex shops, the pornography in our newsagents, the immorality on TV: divorce is rampant, cohabitation is common place; homosexuality and sodomy promoted as a right and a lifestyle, I could go on and on. I think at Fatima that the vision of Hell relates to these times that we live in today when we are at the peak of a vast spiritual crisis that calls out for the Warning. The warning will convince the world that there is a soul and a spiritual dimension hence our churches will be packed and less people will then go to Hell. This may seem to be a bleak assessment of our current times but I try to speak the truth in love for St Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6v9-10, 'Do you not know that the iniquitous will not possess the kingdom of God? Do not choose to wander astray. For neither fornicators, nor servants of idolatry, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor males who sleep with males, nor thieves, nor the avaricious, nor the inebriated, nor slanderers, nor the rapacious shall possess the kingdom of God'. This is the Word of God. We must, 'Pray, Pray, Pray'. Garabandal
Saint Alphonsus Ligouri had a vow he made the Redemptorists, his spiritual sons take and that was to preach on hell. they only abandoned this very sadly relatively recently. When I was young my dad used to take us boys once a week to the Redemptorist Confraternity to hear the proests preach. they preached fire and brimstone sermons that used to make our young hair stand on end. Sadly TV won out in the end and no one came to the Confraternity in the end . 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom'. I recall one time at a prayer group in London quoting from Our Lady of Fatima about the souls falling like snow flakes into hell. The folks there fairly boggled at what I said but many of them approached me afterwards to ask me to repeat it. People are very,very ready to hear these things but the priests let face it, are too afraid , for it is too counter cultural, they are probably afraid of being locked up for child cruelty or something. Our Lady herself would be locked up forever for child cruelty forever in that she brought young children in person to see hell, not only at Fatima but at Medugorje were the children actually saw souls enter hell and be turned into animals when the Holy SPirit was removed from them there when they entered. This is tough love, the only love that works. Its the same at work; we have bosses and if you don't work you get your ass kicked. Some of us like working and don't need pushed, but many, many do need this tough loving. I think I would have commited suicide many times in the past if I had not recieved those fearful sermons on hell when I was young. Its one of the reasons I pit down to us having such a high suicide rate round here...that folks don't believe in hell, of sin. Another thing I often think about is death and the last judgement. Two other things that keep my feet on the ground. As St paul says, he had nothing to for his concience to reproach himself but IT WAS GOD WHO WOULD JUDGE HI, GOD AND NOT HIMSELF. 1 Corinthians 4:3-4 3I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
Padraig - you are so right: The fear of God is the 'beginning of all wisdom.' That is a rightful fear of His omnipotence and holiness. God is unbelievably HOLY and His Love is like an all comsumming Fire. Praise God for His Holiness and His Love! Garabandal
Garabandal. I always take it as a bad sign when people are unwilling to be open to subjects like this about places like Garabandal and Medugotje. i know people who have been to Medugorje many, many times who refuse to consider the secrets. I think they consider places like Garabandal a kind of spiritual summer camp, a good place for a holiday. The secrets at both Garabandal and Medugorje and the warning at Fatima are central. Mary comes with great, great urgency to the world. But others just don't see this, its as though they had a kind of blindness. I find this attitude bafflong. I call it the pink scented rosary syndrome. :lol:
Padraig - The Marian era began I believe with Lourdes and the prophetic pulse beats faster with each apparition from Fatima, Garabandal to Medjugorje, and that pulse beats with the Heart of a Mother concerned for her wandering children, As for those who fail to read the signs of the times they are a bit like the folk who sneered at Noah and ridiculed him for building an Ark! The present Ark is the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I sense that the warning is like that first domino that once it it topples the sequence of events are set in motion [Tribulations] that have an unstoppable momentum. The warning is the passover from Mercy to Justice for God's justice is a Mercy. We cannot say that we have nor been fore-warned - a Flood of Justice is coming and the only safe place is in the heart of Mary. Garabandal Garabandal
I think ,Garabandal you mentioned Spiritual Directors somewhere. Saint Teresa advises that if she had the choice of a Holy Spirtual Director or a leaned one she would go for the learned one. The ideal is a one who is holy and learned. I would prefer to go for a priest though there is no reason why a layman or woman or a nun could not be one. The reasons I would choose a priest is you can go to a priest for confession at the same time and so you get a double whammy at the same go. What you tell the priest is then covered by the seal of confession and so gives greater security. The priest is an alter Christus..another Christ in the sacrament and so there's great grace. As well as this you can be sure the priest had minimun education in things like theology and philosophy. However its not so easy finding one. Candidly many, many priests now are spiritual Protestants. I would be very,very, very careful about who you choose and to test the one you select over a period of time ; judging them on such points as..do they have a Devotion to Our Lady? Are they obedient to Rome? Do they believe in miracles and the supernatural? Do they place prayer at the centre of the spiritual life? Do they reverence the saints? If the priest is off the tracks it will be the blind leading the blind. Also I would prefer a priest who was a member of a Religious Order, in my opinion they have a much better religious culture to fall back on. To give you an idea how difficult this all is, when my very holy SPirtual Director was dying I asked him to recommend a new Spiritual Director, but, although he himself was Director to many priests he could think of no one, no one at all that he would trust and advised me to pray directly to GOd on difficult matters. I hope you are more successful than I have been in finding some one.
If a priest today were to preach about Hell in a typical Sunday sermon, what would most likely happen? Fury and ridicule would rage among the congregation! 'How dare he!', they would say. As if that priest was too old fashioned for today's world. And in some cases, a letter of complaint might even be written to the Bishop. Hell today (I know this firsthand) is usually treated as a subject of comedy, and for many subcultures, as something 'cool', as if it were to be respected. Honestly, today, to hear persons talk about Hell, one would swear that they were demons themselves trying (and succeeding) to dissuade others from the truthful existence of Hell! As you said, Padraig, it definitely is something that would keep you grounded, and keep your eye on the bigger picture. As St Faustina noted, most of the souls that are in Hell did not believe it existed. A friend of mine asked me about six months ago "Do you really believe in all that s***?" I immediately responded that I did, but no words of mine could convince him that our great and true Faith was what should be the first thing in our lives. Ask anybody my age about Hell today, and you'd nearly have to duck for cover... Seán
I think Sean, that the Church today is like a big shiny Golden Bell , it seems one and unified and rings with Golden sonorous tones. However in actual fact if is cracked and deeply flawed ; one day it will be asked to ring louder and more urgently but when the Bishop of Rome askes the bell ringers the Bishops and Cardinals to ring the bell the bell will crack and splinter. The bell will have to be tolled in times of increasing darkness and persecution and will not stand the stress, there will be schism. This is a far, far worse case scenario than the so called, 'Reformation' for then the enemy packed his bags and laft. Now its enemies work like termites from within and have done for many, many years undermining the very foundations. So, on the outside the building looks strong and fit for purpoe but in the inside it is rotting and ready to collapse. A good example happened recently in England were new lawa meant that Catholic adoption agencies were made to release children to same sex 'married couples or partners, the Catholic Bishops said, 'No' but the largest Catholic adoption agency has said yes. To be firm and strong when things are going well is easy to stand up for your faith when the winds blow is another matter. Recall that at the time of Henry 8th only one Catholic Bishop Fisher stood firm the rest bolted like rats and Saint Thomas Moore was one of the very few bright stars on the horizon. It will be the same next time round. I just hope and pray that the Irish will stand firm. Certainly according to many visionaries the Church in America will well splinter. However it will be better to have things out in the open were it can be seen. I would say my greatest sign of folks going along the right path is devotion to Our Lady; when I see this I know that person is well. The only problem being, well I don't see it too often. Another warning sign is that in places like Medugorje, which should be a stronghold there are folks who brush the Secrets under the counter, this is very much a red warning sign. But I am as always full of hope, the woman clothed with the Sun will crush the serpent, the victory is already won an Calvary. But, as for the Church in England there are already very,very serious warning Signs and in Ireland the Bishops are running scared, many of them like mice. What hope for the sheep if the shepherds dive for cover?
Padraig, Thankyou for the sound advice and I will pray about this as I have before. I have said to the Lord that if he does not provide me with a spiritual director then I will have to prostrate myself at the foot of the cross and ask for divine light and wisdom directly from Him. We need to ask for much grace and wisdom in these times of confusion. I agree that the Church is infected by spiritual Protestantism. 'A la carte' and 'pick and mix' Catholicism is the order of the day but the lack of clarity from the pulpit is alarming. It is as if our pastors are asleep. But the warning will help many of them. Then we have priests who are openly defiant of Church teaching - I wonder how the warning will influence them?
Luke 12:48 But the servant who did things that deserved a beating without knowing it will receive a light beating. Much will be required from everyone to whom much has been given. But even more will be demanded from the one to whom much has been entrusted." Priests and Bishops will not be judged as many others have. For to whom much has been given much will be expected. I have to say this gives me the shivers for since I started to pray I have been deluged with oceans of graces, yet what have I got to show for it? But I always love what Saint Francis said to the brothers, 'Brothers, let us begin today!!' This is one thing I really love about being a Catholic that it is just full of new beginnings. I say and act of contrition and move forward again , today and tommorrow to a new beginning. I think for priests many of them have been caught up in a freezing fog in their minds and hearts of the great deception of our age. To be 'modern', to be 'progressive', to be relevant' moving from the Gospel message to other messages. Waking up from this will be very,very painful and it will be like rising from a deep, deep sleep..a bit like the Story of Sleeping beauty. For as Saint Paul said the wisdom the good news we are given is not some human wisdom as Pope john Paul said at saint Josephs seminary in Yonkers: Dear Brothers, Cardinals, Bishops, Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 1. These words of the Advent Antiphon come to mind as we listen to the reading of today’s Vespers here in this beautiful chapel of Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul writes of wisdom: "What we utter is God’s wisdom: a mysterious, a hidden wisdom. God planned it before all ages for our glory" (1Cor. 2: 7). But what wisdom is this? Saint Paul is speaking of God’s plan for our salvation, the plan brought to completion by the Eternal Word, Divine Wisdom himself, the Son who is of one being with the Father, the Holy Word of God spoken of in the Advent Antiphon. This is the Word, of course, of whom Saint John speaks in the Prologue of his Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word. The Word was in God’s presence and the Word was God... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory" (Jn. 1: 1.14). 2. Dear members of this Seminary community, and you from other Seminaries, as well as the many people outside this Chapel who have joined us: Eternal Wisdom became flesh, being born of the Virgin Mary. This is why we pray to Mary as the "Seat of Wisdom", Sedes Sapientiae. Wisdom, the Person of the Son, was conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. Born of her flesh, Jesus is Eternal Wisdom, the Son of God, whose glory is revealed in his passing from the Cross to the Resurrection. It is crucial that you seminarians understand this because, as Saint Paul says, the "rulers of this age" did not understand God’s wisdom at the time, for – he writes – "if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory" (1Cor. 2: 8). And many do not understand it today. Even some who call themselves Christians do not recognize that Christ is the Eternal Son of the Father who brings true wisdom into the world. For this reason, they do not understand or accept the teachings of the Church. Perhaps you have already been confronted by this. You will certainly have to confront it as priests. If you are to become priests, it will be for the purpose – above all other purposes – of proclaiming the Word of God and feeding God’s people with the Body and Blood of Christ. If you do this faithfully, teaching the wisdom that comes from above, you will often be ignored as Christ was ignored, and even rejected as Christ was rejected. "I preach Christ and Christ crucified", says Saint Paul (Cf. ibid. 1: 23). 3. Why has the Pope come to Dunwoodie to give you such a serious message? Because in Christ we are friends (Cf. Jn. 15: 15), and friends can talk about serious matters. If there is one challenge facing the Church and her priests today, it is the challenge of transmitting the Christian message whole and entire, without letting it be emptied of its substance. The Gospel cannot be reduced to mere human wisdom. Salvation lies not in clever human words or schemes, but in the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The wisdom of the Cross is at the heart of the life and ministry of every priest. This is the sublime "science" which, above all other learning, the Seminary is meant to impart to you: "The Spirit we have received is not the world’s spirit but God’s Spirit... we speak... not in words of human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit" (1Cor. 2: 12-13). This is also the framework of the service I have tried to render at the United Nations during these days. If the Pope did something other than what Saint Paul calls "interpreting spiritual things in spiritual terms" (Ibid. 2: 13), what message could he preach? How could I justify my presence and my speaking to that Assembly? My task is not to speak in purely human terms about merely human values, but in spiritual terms about spiritual values, which are ultimately what make us fully human. 4. Over the magnificent doors of this chapel I am able to read words that have a very special meaning for me: "Aperite portas Redemptori". These were my words to the peoples of the world at the very beginning of my Pontificate: "Help the Pope", I said, "and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ’s power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind. Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ"! (John Paul II, Homily at Saint Peter's Basilica, 5, 22 October 1978) Do not be afraid, I say, because great courage is required if we are to open the doors to Christ, if we are to let Christ enter into our hearts so fully that we can say with Saint Paul, "The life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me" (Gal. 2: 20), Conquering fear is the first and indispensable step for the priest if he is to open the doors, first of his own heart, then of the hearts of the people he serves, to Christ the Redeemer. You need courage to follow Christ, especially when you recognize that so much of our dominant culture is a culture of flight from God, a culture which displays a not – so – hidden contempt for human life, beginning with the lives of the unborn, and extending to contempt for the frail and the elderly. Some people say that the Pope speaks too much about the "culture of death". But these are times in which – as I wrote in my Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" – "choices once unanimously considered criminal and rejected by the common moral sense are gradually becoming socially acceptable" (John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 4). The Church cannot ignore what is happening. 5. And yet, this is only one part of the picture. The complete picture is what I wrote at the beginning of the same Encyclical: "The Gospel of Life is at the heart of Jesus’ message. Lovingly received day after day by the Church, it is to be preached with dauntless fidelity as ‘good news’ to the people of every age and culture" (Ibid. 1). Therefore, dear Seminarians, you must not be afraid to confront the "wisdom of this world" with the certainty of the teachings of Christ in which you are grounded, but above all with the love of Christ, with the compassion and the mercy of Christ, who – like the Father – desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (Cf. 1Tim. 2: 4). The disciple cannot be greater than the master (Cf. Mt. 10: 24). You will not become priests to be served, or to lord it over others (Cf. ibid. 20: 28), but to serve others, especially the poorest of the poor, the materially poor and the spiritually poor. Open the doors of your hearts in order that Christ may enter and bring you his joy. The Church needs joyful priests, capable of bringing true joy to God’s people, which is the Good News in all its truth and transforming power. 6. This evening’s reading from Saint Paul is very appropriate for the Seminary community. Why are you here as Seminarians? Why are you here, members of the faculty and others who help to prepare Seminarians for the priesthood? Is it not to "know the mind of the Lord"? The Seminarian must ask himself: Is Christ calling me? Does he wish me to be his priest? If you answer "yes", then the great work of the Seminary is to help you to put off "the natural man", to leave behind "the old man", that is, the unspiritual man who used to be, in order to experience the action of the Holy Spirit and to understand the things of the Spirit of God. You must enter into an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit and with all his gifts, in order that the Lord’s intentions for you may become clear. This is another way of expressing the need for wisdom. Indeed, the Seminary must be a school of wisdom. Here you must live with your patron, Saint Joseph, and with Mary, the Mother of Jesus; and in the silence of this intimacy you will learn that wisdom of which Saint Luke speaks: "Jesus for his part progressed steadily in wisdom and age and grace before God and men" (Lk. 2: 52). I have to say a word of appreciation to the Rector and his associates for recently incorporating into the Seminary program a full year devoted exclusively to spiritual formation. This will be a precious time for advancing in wisdom and holiness, that wisdom and holiness which are essential for the priesthood. 7. Next year, Saint Joseph’s Seminary will celebrate its Hundredth Anniversary. It is providential that the same year, 1996, will be a year of evangelization in the Church in New York. It helps us remember the countless souls, redeemed by the Blood of Christ, who have been helped toward salvation by the thousands of priests trained in this Seminary. Priests, like the most distinguished alumnus of this Seminary, the humble saintly Cardinal Terence Cooke whose death twelve years ago today we commemorate with prayerful remembrance. You will join them in continuing the work of salvation, which will never end until, as Jesus prayed, all will become one in him as he is one with the Father (Cf. Jn. 17: 21-23). I thank Cardinal O’Connor, your Rector Monsignor O’Brien, the Faculty and staff and all who have invited me here for this special privilege of praying with you. Above all, I encourage you, the Seminarians, to be unselfish in answering the call of Christ and in offering your lives to his Church. Do not be afraid! If you begin to lose courage, turn to Mary, Seat of Wisdom; with her at your side, you will never be afraid. Amen. I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for your warm welcome. I thank all the Priests and Seminarians and all the many people outside. I thank the Pastors, the Parishioners here in Yonkers, who have received me with such enthusiasm – it may be said – and affection. That is true. I bless all of you, and I bless all your religious objects: In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God love you all!
