Great Harlot Antichrist City

 

by

 Damien F. Mackey

 

 

“Some have identified the Beast as being an individual such as the Pope,

Martin Luther, John Calvin, William of Orange or Hitler. Others have seen the Beast more as a group or movement of people, such as the apostate Roman Church, the Protestants, the Roman Empire (or the Common Market), the Roman persecuting power of the first century, or some other great world-power

that will rise up to persecute Christians”.

prererist.org

 

 

Introduction

 

Thanks to the influence of Preterist (as they call themselves) commentators, many of whom are presumably Protestants, a lot has changed since the days when the Beast of the Apocalypse was the pope (papacy) and the “Babylon” of Revelation was his Rome.

 

I, often inspired by writings of a Preterist nature, have written articles such as:

 

Literal Interpretation of Saint John’s Revelation

 

(2) Literal Interpretation of Saint John’s Revelation

 

Apocalypse Now? Or Then?

 

(4) Apocalypse Now? Or Then?

 

Apocalyptic Apoplexy

 

(4) Apocalyptic Apoplexy

 

Theme of Apocalypse – the Bride and the Reject

 

(4) Theme of Apocalypse – the Bride and the Reject

 

Josephus a key to the Book of Revelation

 

(3) Josephus a key to the Book of Revelation

 

Jewish Zealots like a wild beast grown mad ... eating its own flesh

 

(3) Jewish Zealots like a wild beast grown mad ... eating its own flesh

 

Book of Apocalypse based on Hebrew imagery

 

(4) Book of Apocalypse based on Hebrew imagery

 

Jesus Christ came as Bridegroom

 

(4) Jesus Christ came as Bridegroom

 

Stephen ‘Protomartyr’ is key to understanding ‘Beast’ of Revelation 13

 

(4) Stephen 'Protomartyr' is key to understanding 'Beast' of Revelation 13

 

Michal Hunt, writing for Agape Bible Study, has written well on the subject in:

 

CHAPTER 17: Babylon the Great Harlot and the Mystery Explained

 

Babylon the Great Harlot and the Mystery Explained

Succession Arrangements Continued

 

"....and the peace of God which is beyond our understanding will guard your hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

 

"Their corpses lie in the main street of the great city known by the symbolic names Sodom and Egypt, in which their Lord was crucified." Revelation 11:8

 

 "At the end of the Passover meal after everyone has received the wine of the Cup of Acceptance, the host announces the completion of the meal and the recommitment to the Covenant by calling out 'teltelestai' which means "it is finished" or "it is fulfilled."  Christ in the Passover

 

"A jar full of sour wine stood there; so putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a hyssop stick, they held it up to his mouth. After Jesus had taken the wine he said, "it is fulfilled'; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit." John 19:30

 

"The 7^th angel emptied his bowl into the air, and a great voice boomed out from the sanctuary, 'The end has come (IT IS FULFILLED)."  Revelation 16:17

 

*Old Testament reference: "The Great Harlot" Ezekiel chapters 16 & 23

In Revelation 11:8 the "Great City" was identified symbolically as both Egypt and Sodom.  After the sacrificial "pouring out" of the 7 chalices by the 7 angel/ministers of the Heavenly Temple it should be clear why this "Great City" is identified as both Egypt and Sodom. 

 

Question:  Why is this "Great City" identified with Egypt after the Chalice judgments? See Rev. 11:8. 

Answer: Egypt because of the "plagues" contained in the chalices, which correspond to the plagues of Egypt (see the Chart comparing the Chalice and Trumpet judgments to the Plagues of Egypt).

 

Question:  Why is this "Great City" also identified with Sodom (see Rev. 11:8). Hint: What happened to Sodom?

Answer:  The "Great City" is like Sodom because Sodom was destroyed by fire and like Sodom, the destruction will be complete!  After 31/2 months of the Roman siege and the intense suffering of the population, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by fire on the 9^th of Ab 70AD the same day Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon was destroyed in 586(7)BC.

 

The "Great City" where Christ was crucified (Rev. 11:8) had become a "false prophet" in her testimony to the world that Jesus was not the Messiah, and in her apostasy she had become a "great harlot" and a "false bride." This "Great City" that will be destroyed by fire and who has become a "False Bride" identifies both Biblically and historically with the city "once full of fair judgment," the city of Jerusalem.  In this chapter the "Great City" will be symbolically identified as "Babylon." 

 

…. Jerusalem was meant to be the true "gate of heaven"; God's holy witness to the nations of the world.  But Jerusalem, whose name means "will provide peace" rejected God and the "peace of God which is beyond our understanding" when she rejected Jesus, the Messiah, God come in the flesh.  "The faithful city, what a harlot she has become: Zion, once full of fair judgment, where saving justice used to dwell, but now assassins!" Isaiah 1:21 (circa 740BC)

Please read Ezekiel chapter 16

Ezekiel 16:35-36 (Yahweh to Jerusalem) "Very well, whore, hear the word of Yahweh!  The Lord Yahweh says this:

 

For having squandered your money (literally "poured out [ekcheo] your bronze" [meaning "lust"]) and let yourself be seen naked while whoring with your lovers and all the foul idols of your loathsome practices and for giving them your children's blood for this I shall assemble all the lovers to whom you have given pleasure,... (v.58) "You have brought this on yourself, with your lewdness and your loathsome practices" declares the Lord Yahweh.  (Yahweh's message to Ezekiel 5 years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586(7)BC)

 

Please read Revelation 17:1-7 Babylon the Great Harlot; the False Bride

Revelation 17: 1-2 "One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls came to speak to me and said, 'Come here and I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute (harlot) who is enthroned beside abundant waters, with whom all the kings of the earth have prostituted themselves, and who has made all the population of the world (those who dwell on the land) drunk with the wine of her adultery.'"  This is the 11^th time the phrase "those who dwell on the land" is used in Revelation. As you will recall, I have mentioned that this phrase is symbolic for apostate Israel and is used 12 times in Revelation; once for each of the 12 tribes of Israel: Rev. 3:10; 6:10; 8:13; 11:10 [twice]; 13:8, 12, 14 [twice]; 14:6; 17:2,8). 

 

Question:  In what verses was "the city" symbolized as Babylon in previous chapters and what was the judgment prophesized for "the city"?  Hint chapters 14 and 16. 

Answer: John has already been told that "the city" is symbolized as Babylon by the second of the three sets of angels of the Temple in Revelation 14:8 "a second angel followed him (the first angel), calling, 'Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, Babylon which gave the whole world the wine of retribution to drink.'" And again he was told in Rev. 16:18c-19 "The Great City was split into three parts and the cities of the world collapsed; Babylon the Great was not forgotten: God made her drink the full winecup of his retribution."  The original city of Babylon no longer existed in the 1^st century.  It had been the site of the building of the infamous tower of Babel in the land of Shinar … and had become the capital city of the Babylonian Empire, the world power that had destroyed Judah and Jerusalem in 586(7) BC. 

 

But John's city is not the original Babylon, instead ancient Babylon is a symbolic image of this city.  The clue lies in the description that this city sits or "is enthroned" beside "abundant waters."  This phrase can also be translated "many waters."  It is polus hydra in the Greek.  This is an image of the prophet Jeremiah's description of Babylon in his great oracle judgment against the city in Jeremiah chapters 50-51. "Enthroned beside abundant waters, rich in treasures, you now meet your end, the finish of your pillaging." (Jeremiah 51:13).  J

…. But ultimately the term "many waters" is used Biblically to refer to the abundant blessings that God bestows on His people. Yahweh even gave His blessing to Babylon but she prostituted those blessings for her own glory and rejected Yahweh.  Later in Rev. 17:15 we will told of an important aspect of the symbolic meaning of the term "many waters" but in this verse the point is the identification of the Harlot city with the ancient city Babylon who accepted God's blessings but turned from Him. 

 

Question:  So what is the connection between 'blessings' and Babylon and Jerusalem?

Answer: No other city in the world received more of God's blessings than the city of Jerusalem, but like Babylon she turned from Yahweh, prostituted herself and rejected God the Messiah and in doing this Israel (Judah) the Old Covenant Church and her priests have led "those who dwell on the Land" astray and into adultery.  They became "drunk with the wine of her adultery"; they become seduced into such a spiritual stupor that they did not even recognize their own Messiah and therefore have forfeited God's many blessings.

           

Let's look at the Biblical use of the words "many waters" or "abundant waters" and its significance in Scripture.  Biblically this expression is set within God's Covenant relationships reflected in His "abundant" blessings and in His liturgical interaction with His people.  In all the passages the Greek is the same "polus hydra" (Greek translation of Old Testament and Greek New Testament). Examples:

 

1.      Jeremiah 51:13: Babylon's abundance granted by God: "Enthroned beside        

abundant waters, rich in treasures, you now meet your end, the finish of your pillaging."

2.      Ezekiel 1:24: the voice from the Glory-Cloud sounds like many or abundant

waters and is produced by the innumerable angels in the heavenly council: "I also heard the noise of their wings; when they moved, it was like the noise of flood-waters [polus hydra], like the voice of Shaddai, like the noise of a storm, like the noise of an armed camp.."

3. Revelation 1:15: God's voice from heaven "as the sound of many waters" as His voice is similarly described in Ezek. 43:2 "like the sound of the ocean" (literally "many waters" polus hydra) and Rev. 14:2 "like the sound of the ocean" (literally many waters polus hydra)

4.  Revelation 17:1 "the great prostitute who is enthroned beside abundant waters" (polus hydra); the "city" to whom God has given many blessings.

5.  Rev. 19:5-6 "Then a voice came from the throne; it said, 'Praise our God, you servants of his and those who fear him, small and great alike.'  And I heard what seemed to be the voices of a huge crowd, like the sound of the ocean (many waters/ polus hydra) or the great roar of thunder, answering, 'alleluia!  The reign of the Lord our God Almighty has begun.." = Liturgical praise.

 

Given the Biblical background and context of the phrase "many waters" or "abundant waters" (polus hydra) it would be no surprise to John's readers that the Bride of Yahweh would be seen seated on "many waters"; the surprise is that she is a whore!

 

This Bride has received God's blessings and has prostituted them.  (I refer you again to Ezekiel chapter 16 in which Yahweh condemns Israel in a long allegory as a faithless wife, a "whore" of alien gods, and Romans 2:17-24 (verse 23-24 "If, while you are boasting of the Law, you disobey it, then you are bringing God into contempt.  As scripture says: It is your fault that the name of God is held in contempt among the nations.")

           

I should mention that a number of commentators identify the "harlot city" as Rome, the geographic center of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.  John's 1^st century readers certainly would not have accepted this interpretation.  Martin Luther championed this interpretation when he was excommunicated from the Church in the 16^th century.  Luther saw the Church of Rome as the Harlot Bride and the Pope as the Antichrist.  Interestingly enough, Pope Leo X in turn saw Luther as the Antichrist! 

 

But the Church, which is founded by Christ through Peter, His Vicar, stands on the promise that Jesus made in Matthew 16:16 that "the gates of Hades will not prevail against her" because she is the True and Holy Bride of Christ.  The Church of Jesus Christ is full of sinners yet she is the sinless Bride. 

           

Question:  But is there a warning for us in the 21^st century Church?  Did the Old Covenant Church believe that judgment could lead to destruction of their Temple and  the transformation of their Covenant?

Answer:  Even though the True Bride, New Covenant Church has the promise of Christ's protection we should never become so overly comfortable that we fall into complacency and therefore fall into the danger of unfaithfulness through unorthodox belief. 

 

We have so many blessings but how many Catholics truly understand their faith? 

…. It is only through ignorance that we lose Catholics to other denominations.  After all, if one truly believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist how could one leave Him?  And yet, every year thousands of Catholics leave Mother Church.

 

Biblically the imagery of the "False Bride" is a familiar image.  In Biblical symbolism the motif of the Bride falling into adultery and harlotry identifies God's Covenant people falling into apostasy.  To go after false gods and to abandon the sacred Covenant is equaled with adultery and harlotry.  This metaphor of harlotry is exclusively used in the Old Testament for a city or a nation that has abandoned God's holy Covenant and rejected God.  This imagery is always used for faithless Israel, "Bride of Yahweh" with only 2 exceptions:

 

1.      The Phoenician city of Tyre and

2.      the Assyrian capital city Nineveh. 

 

These are the 2 cities, outside of Israel, that had both been in covenant with God.  See 1Kings 5:1-12; 9:13; Is. 23:17; and Amos 1:9. 

 

The city of Tyre was converted to the worship of Yahweh during King David's reign in the early 11 century BC and her king contracted a covenant with Solomon (David's son) and assisted in the building of God's Holy Temple on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem. The passage in Revelation 17:2"with whom all the kings of the earth have prostituted themselves.."  is taken from Isaiah's prophecy against Tyre where it primarily refers to her international commerce through which her influence and beliefs spread (Isaiah 23:15-17). 

 

The other city is Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire.  The city of Nineveh was converted through the work of God's prophet Jonah and her king declared Yahweh the true God.  See Jonah 3:5-10.

Later the apostasy of these 2 cities would be considered unfaithfulness to Yahweh expressed as harlotry.  Pagan Rome of the 1^st century never entered into such a covenant relationship.

 

The other important point in the identification of the "False Bride" city is that she will be identified in contrast to another city.

 

Question:  What is the second city that is described in contrast to the Great City identified as the Harlot, the False Bride?  Hint: see Rev. 21:1-2. 

Answer: the "True Bride", the Church of the New Covenant founded by Christ, the "New" Jerusalem.  The identification of the "False Bride" as opposed to the "True Bride" only makes sense if the "New" Jerusalem is in contrast to the "Old" Jerusalem that has rejected Christ as her bridegroom and has become a False, Harlot Bride!  She has become like the builders of the tower of Babel that was built on the site of the city of Babylon.  Babel literally meant, "gate of God," but in rejecting Yahweh He judged them, cast down their tower and scattered the nations and confused their tongues. 

 

Question:  What was the reversal of the "confusion of tongues" at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9? Hint: see Acts chapter 2. 

Answer:  The second great Pentecost was the reversal of the Tower of Babel.  God the Holy Spirit came in "tongues of fire" and all the people present understood one language and the one message of salvation which would once again unite all nations in a Holy Covenant that would open the gates of Heaven through Christ the Savior, the Bridegroom of the New Covenant, universal Church and once again God's blessing would flow as "many waters;" Rev. 22:1 "Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing crystal-clear."  

 

Revelation 17: 3-4 "He took me in spirit to a desert, and there I saw a woman riding a scarlet beast which had seven heads and ten horns and had blasphemous titles written all over it.  The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and glittered with gold and jewels and pearls, and she was holding a gold winecup filled with the disgusting filth of her prostitution..."

This woman is in a "spiritual desert," an abode of demons (Matt 12:34 Jesus said: "When an unclean spirit goes out of someone it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and cannot find one.")  In chapter 12 we saw the Woman, the True Bride, being forced to flee from the Dragon into the desert for a time where God protected her.  But to the False Bride, the wilderness is her element where she chooses to remain instead of accepting the Messiah and following Him to her inheritance: the Promised Land.  Therefore, the "wilderness" becomes her destiny and her heritage (see Num ch 13-14; Zech 5:5-11).

 

….

Some commentators point out that the Red Dragon of Revelation chapter 12 is connected by the same color to the Red Beast of Revelation chapter 17 but the Greek does not indicate the same color.  Instead the color of the Beast in chapter 17 (Gr. kokkinon) matches the woman's own dress in verse 4 whereas the Red Dragon in Revelation 12:3 is the color of fire (Gr. purros). 

Kokkinon is crimson blended with dark blue (see Isaiah 1:18).  It was a color used to attract attention (for example, the scarlet thread attached to the first twin of Tamar in Genesis 38:28 and to the home of Rahab in Joshua 2:18). 

 

Question:  What is significant about the way the Harlot is clothed? 

Answer:  Some commentators suggest the color is an indication of ungodly conduct (for example Isaiah 1:18 "sin like scarlet" and Psalms 51:5) and that the color stands in sharp contrast to the white garments of the elect.  But other commentators suggest that she is not dressed as a prostitute.  Please see Gen. 2:11-12; Ex. 3:22; Proverbs 31:21-22; Isa 54:11-12; 60:5-11; Ezek 16:11-14; Ezek 28:9-29; Rev. 4:3-4; Rev. 21:18-21.  In these passages the description of her clothing is in keeping with the Biblical descriptions of the glorious "City of God" in Isaiah and Revelation.  There is also a connection to the pattern of the jewels that covered the high priest's garments in Exodus chapter 28 and the Throne of God in Rev. 4:3-4.  Exodus, Ezekiel and Proverbs all describe the dress of a Bride with such finery.  In other words, it is possible that to first century readers that this woman is dressed as a "righteous woman", as a Bride.  She is adorned in the beautiful garments of the Church.  If this interpretation is correct, the Harlot Bride is still carrying the outward adornments of the chaste Old Covenant Bride of Yahweh!

 

Revelation 17:4 "she was holding a gold winecup.."

Question:  What is the wine of her fornication and what contrast or parody is there to the winecup of Holy Eucharist?  See Revelation 17:6

Answer:  The wine of her fornication is the blood of the Saints and the blood of the witnesses (martyrs) of Jesus it is in contrast to the holy and pure golden cup of Christ's blood that He offers those of the Covenant who are in a state of grace. ….

 

 

 

 

 

Pope encourages us to be in awe at “the wisdom of Christmas”

 

 

Pope Leo: Announce the joy of Christmas, a feast of faith, charity, and hope - Vatican News

 

Pope Leo: Announce the joy of Christmas,

a feast of faith, charity, and hope

 

During the Christmas Mass during the Night on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Pope Leo XIV encourages us to announce "the joy of Christmas" and to celebrate it as "a feast of faith, charity and hope."

 

Vatican News

 

Presiding over the Christmas Mass during the Night in Saint Peter's Basilica, Pope Leo XIV recalled the bright star, "a spark newly lit and blazing with life" that illuminated the night sky, astonishing the world, as recounted in Luke's Gospel: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined” announcing “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

“Into time and space – in our midst – comes the One without whom we would not exist. He who gives his life for us lives among us, illuminating the night with his light of salvation. There is no darkness that this star does not illumine, for by its light all humanity beholds the dawn of a new and eternal life.”

God living among us

 

In his homily, Pope Leo described how in the birth of Jesus, "God gives us nothing less than his very self, in order to 'redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own'" And to find the Savior, we must look below to find God among us in the manger.

 

“The omnipotence of God shines forth in the powerlessness of a newborn; the eloquence of the eternal Word resounds in an infant’s first cry; the holiness of the Spirit gleams in that small body, freshly washed and wrapped in swaddling clothes.”

 

The child's need for care "becomes divine since the Son of the Father shares in history with all his brothers and sisters," the Pope added, and this divine light emanating from Jesus "helps us to recognize humanity in every new life." To help heal our blindness, the Pope said "the Lord chooses to reveal himself in each human being, who reflect his true image, according to a plan of love begun at the creation of the world."  And recalling words of Pope Benedict XVI, he noted that if we make room for the human person, then there is room for God. 

 

New life in the Child Jesus

 

The Pope encouraged us to be in awe at "the wisdom of Christmas" as God gives the world a new life, his own, in the Child Jesus, in "a love story that draws us in." 

 

“In response to the expectations of peoples, he sends a child to be a word of hope. In the face of the suffering of the poor, he sends one who is defenseless to be the strength to rise again. Before violence and oppression, he kindles a gentle light that illumines with salvation all the children of this world.”

 

God becomes like us, revealing the infinite dignity of every person," the Pope underscored, in contrast to a world where humanity can seek to become “god” in order to dominate others. He said "in the heart of Christ beats the bond of love that unites heaven and earth, Creator and creatures" and recognizing this reality is key to changing our history, letting God's light of mercy and love shine forth.

 

Joy flourishes, life changes

 

Recalling Pope Francis' words last year on this day after he opened the Holy Door of Saint Peter's Basilica to mark the start of the Jubilee Year, Pope Leo affirmed how "the Nativity of Jesus rekindles in us the 'gift and task of bringing hope wherever hope has been lost,' because 'with him, joy flourishes; with him, life changes; with him, hope does not disappoint'”

 

Sharing the joy of Christmas

 

In conclusion, the Pope encouraged everyone to experience and share "the joy of Christmas, which is a feast of faith, charity and hope." In faith we see how "God becomes man, born of the Virgin," while in charity we experience how "the gift of the redeeming Son is realized in fraternal self-giving."  And we celebrate the hope of Christmas, as "the Child Jesus kindles it within us, making us messengers of peace."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shining Glory Cloud

 

The Shining Glory Cloud 

(Kavod: כָּבוֹד)

 

 

by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

 

 

“It stopped” (Matthew 2:9).

Heavenly bodies do not stop.

The Glory Cloud did (Numbers 9:17).

 

 

 

 

It is commonly (though not biblically) known as the Shekinah.

 

One might say that, wherever the Lamb went, the Glory Cloud was sure to be there.

 

It manifested itself in the Book of Exodus, as Barry Setterfield said:

 

Barry Setterfield partly correct about Christ’s Star in Matthew

 

(3) Barry Setterfield partly correct about Christ’s Star in Matthew

 

as a: 'Pillar of cloud by day, and a Pillar of fire by night' (see Ex.13:21.22 etc), and, in Matthew 2, as the “Star” of the Magi.

 

Also, as a Burning Bush (Exodus 3).

 

The Magi called it “his Star” (Matthew 2:2) because they knew that it was inseparable from Him.

 

“It stopped” (2:9). Heavenly bodies do not stop. The Glory Cloud did (Numbers 9:17): “When the cloud moved from its place over the Tent, the Israelites moved, and wherever the cloud stopped, the Israelites camped”.

 

The Bible interprets itself.

 

The Magi and the Star that Stopped

 

(3) The Magi and the Star that Stopped

 

In far more recent times, when the resplendent Christ Child accompanied his Mother, Our Lady of the Rosary, to Pontevedra, Spain, on 10^th December, 1925, He stood upon the same Glory Cloud.

 

Vatican grants a Jubilee Year to the Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pontevedra for the centenary of Our Lady’s Apparition to Sister Lucia.

 

The Vatican has granted the Convent-Shrine of Pontevedra, in Spain, the privilege of celebrating a Marian Jubilee Year from December 10, 2025 to December 10, 2026, on the occasion of the centenary of the apparition of Our Lady and the Child Jesus to Sister Lucia. It was during this apparition, on December 10, 1925, that the devotion of the First Five Saturdays of the month was requested by Our Lady. The devotion consists in going for Confessing, receiving Holy Communion, reciting five decades of the rosary, and keep Our Lady’s company for 15 minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the rosary, with the intention of making reparation to Her Immaculate Heart. 

 

The commemoration will begin on December 10, 2025, date of the apparition and will be extended to December 2026. In granting this Jubilee Year, the Holy See is offering a special period of spiritual graces to all those who shall make a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Pontevedra and fulfill the required precepts to obtain the indulgences of the jubilee.

 

The World Apostolate of Fatima has launched an International Congress in Fatima and a pilgrimage to Pontevedra and Santiago of Compostela from December 5 to 12, 2025, with the purpose to grow in knowledge and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to join the solemn celebrations of the centenary of the apparitions in Pontevedra, reinforcing the importance of the First Saturdays request.

 

Registrations are still open! If you have not registered yet, please rush to do it and do not miss this unique opportunity. For more information and registration click here: https://congress.worldfatima.com/#info

 

 A Helpful Guide to the First Saturday Devotion

 

In order to obtain the promise of Our Lady, this devotion must be properly understood and duly performed. The requirements stipulated by Our Lady are as follows:

 

(1)    Confession, (2) Communion, (3) five Decades of the Rosary (4) meditation on one or more of the Rosary Mysteries for fifteen minutes, (5) to do all of these things in the spirit of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and (6) to observe these practices on the First Saturday of five consecutive months.

 

 

1. Confession

 

A confession of reparation means that the confession should not only be a worthy confession (valid and licit), but also be offered in the spirit of reparation, in this case, to Mary's Immaculate Heart. There is no need to formulate this offering in words, nor is there any need to inform one's confessor; but the intention to offer it in reparation must be made at least before receiving absolution; it also may be made when going to confession or even when deciding to go a few days earlier.

This confession may be made on the First Saturday itself, or eight days before or after the First Saturday, and it also may be associated with another devotion. Thus the confession made in connection with First Friday devotion may likewise be offered in reparation to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart in connection with the First Saturday devotion. The doubts that had risen in Sister Lucia's mind on this matter were resolved by the Child Jesus in His apparition to her of Feb. 15, 1926. She explained to Him the difficulties some experience in getting to confession on Saturdays, and asked whether confession made within the preceding eight days would suffice, the Child Jesus replied:

"Yes, the confession could precede, even for a longer period of time, provided when they receive Me, they be in the state of grace, and the confession is made with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of My Mother."

"But if the person forgets to make the intention of reparation at that confession?" asked Lucia. Our Lord told her, "Let him make the intention in the next confession, taking the earliest possible opportunity to confess."

 

2. Holy Communion

 

The Communion of reparation must be sacramental (actual reception of the sacred Species), duly received with the intention of making reparation. This offering, like the confession, is an interior act, and so no external action to express the intention is needed. The communion must be made within twenty-four hours of the First Saturday. For good reason, approved by our Pastor, we may receive the Communion on the next day, the Sunday following the First Saturday (a concession granted by the Child Jesus Himself).

 

3. The Rosary

 

The Rosary mentioned here was indicated by the Portuguese word "terzo", which is commonly employed to denote a Rosary of five decades, since it forms a third of the full Rosary of fifteen decades. This, too, must be recited in the spirit of reparation. It is customary on Saturdays to meditate on the Glorious Mysteries, but there is nothing to prevent one from meditating on either the Joyful or Sorrowful Mysteries. In our apostolate it is customary (but not obligatory) to arrange the meditations as follows:

 

Joyful Mysteries:	First Saturdays of December, January, February, and July
Sorrowful Mysteries:	First Saturdays of March, April, and September
Glorious Mysteries:	First Saturdays of May, June, August, October, and November

 

But the important thing is to say the Rosary well by doing one's best to be attentive and to meditate on the Mystery as we offer each decade. As in the other cases, one should make the intention to offer the Rosary in reparation to the Immaculate Heart at least at the beginning of the Rosary.

 

4. Meditation for Fifteen Minutes

 

This meditation on one or more Mysteries of the Rosary is to be made without simultaneous recitation of the decade of Hail Mary's. As indicated above, the meditation may be either on one Mystery alone for fifteen minutes; or on all fifteen Mysteries, spending about one minute on each mystery; or again, meditation on the Mysteries of a five decade Rosary, which can be made before each decade, spending three minutes or more in considering the mystery of that particular decade. This latter is the custom in our own apostolate.

This meditation, likewise, has to be made in the spirit of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and a mere intention suffices. But we should take care to truly meditate. Meditation consists in thinking over the events as if we were actually present at the scenes mentioned in the Mystery, or in considering what we would have done had we been present. Finally, meditation concludes with a determination or resolution of some sort to amend our life, according to the lesson taught in the Mystery, in our behavior at home, at work, in our dealings with others, etc.

 

Many find it difficult to meditate because they have never made the attempt to do so. But a start could be made by using holy pictures depicting the different Mysteries, or by reading slowly and devoutly appropriate meditations prepared for our use, or even by reading the Gospel narratives containing the Mysteries, with or without commentaries. Those who are unable to read could be counseled to spend fifteen minutes in recalling to mind all that they know about the Birth, Infancy and Childhood of Jesus (Joyful Mysteries); about the sufferings of Jesus represented in Lent, Holy Week, and the Stations of the Cross (Sorrowful Mysteries); and about Easter, the Ascension, the Coming of the Holy Ghost and its effects upon the Apostles and the world. Consider also the life of Our Lady from Pentecost until her death and her glorious Assumption into Heaven, where she exercises her privilege as the Mother of God in order to obtain from her Divine Son graces for her children on earth, even coming down bodily to earth at times, in order to warn us of the great dangers ahead and to give us timely aid to combat them.

There have been many apparitions of Our Lady, but those at Fatima are the first where meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary is specifically requested. It is obvious that this request is to teach us how to recite the Rosary properly, and to derive many aids for the amendment of our lives and for our sanctification. If many do not say the Rosary properly, or consider themselves incapable of doing so, it is because they are unfamiliar with the events connected with each of the Mysteries, and their immense significance to each of us. This fifteen minute meditation, as requested by Our Lady, will help us to concentrate on each of the Gospel scenes in the Mystery, and to recall to mind the lessons they contain. What a beautiful, simple way to grow in our knowledge, love, and service of God!

 

5. The Spirit of Reparation

 

All these acts, as said above, must be done with the intention of offering reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the offenses committed against her. Every one who offends her, commits, so to speak, a two-fold offense, for these sins also offend her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and so endanger our salvation. They give bad example to others and weaken the strength of society to withstand immoral onslaughts. The acts of our devotions, therefore, force us to consider not only the enormity of the offense against God, but also the effect of sins on human society, as well as the critical need for undoing these social evils, even if the offender repents and is converted. Further, this reparation emphasizes our enormous responsibility towards sinners who, by themselves, will not pray and make reparation for their sins. In the words of Our Lady so well remembered by little Jacinta, "So many, many souls go to Hell, because there is no one to pray and sacrifice for them!"

 

In short, this devotion brings before us our obligations to our neighbor, and reminds us that a true love of God overflows into a genuine love of our neighbor, above all by endeavoring to help him save his soul. An excellent way of doing this is through the example of our own spirit of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our living and effective devotion to Our Lady leads us to elevate our moral and religious standards, and so works to raise the standards of the family, community, and country in which we live.

 

 

The power of the Miraculous Medal

‘Is it possible that our enemies should display such activity and gain superior strength, while we remain idle, without getting down to work? Do we not have even stronger weapons, namely the protec¬tion of heaven and of the Immaculate Virgin?’ Saint Maximilian Kolbe We read in the following article: Maximilian Kolbe and the Miraculous Medal | Militia Immaculatae Maximilian Kolbe and the Miraculous Medal (Excerpt of the book “The Immaculate, our ideal”) As an outward sign of membership in the [Militia Immaculatæ), the Knight of the Immaculata wears her Miraculous Medal. We human beings are not only spirit, but also body. Our interior life, our ideal and mentality must be perceptible from outside, must be expressed in our external life. Therefore outward signs are necessary in order to bring the interior disposition to light. The Savior willed to grant His graces to people pre¬cisely through such “sacred signs”, namely the Sacraments. In a similar manner the Knight of the Immaculata must also make an outward pro¬fession. The Miraculous Medal is the outward sign of the interior Total Consecration to the Immaculata. Furthermore, as a weapon in the battle for souls he distributes these medals wherever he can. The Miraculous Medal should be the weapon, the bullet, which the Knight of the Immaculata makes use of. Even if someone is as wicked as can be, if he agrees to wear the Miraculous Medal, give it to him and pray for him, and occasionally try with a kind word to bring him to the point where he begins to love the Mother of God and to fly to her in all his difficulties and temptations. But anyone who sincerely begins to pray to the Immaculata will soon be con¬vinced to go to Confession as well. There is much evil in the world, yet let us consider that the Immaculata is even more powerful: “She will crush the head of the infernal serpent.” Isn’t such a practice somewhat exaggerated? How is it that the founder of the M.I. places so much trust in such an external thing? We should reply, first, that the very origin of the M.I. is closely related to a great miracle that was worked through the Miraculous Medal, namely the conversion of a Jewish man, Alphonse de Ratisbonne. In the year in which the M.I. was founded (1917), the seventy-fifth anniversary of this great miracle was being celebrated in Rome. Young Brother Maximil¬ian had already asked himself the question long before that: Is it possible that our enemies should display such activity and gain superior strength, while we remain idle, without getting down to work? Do we not have even stronger weapons, namely the protec¬tion of heaven and of the Immaculate Virgin? He found out the answer on that memorable twentieth of January, when the superior of the house presented to them the story of the impenitent Jew’s conversion as a theme for meditation. In that medita¬tion, as Father Pal, his friend and co-founder of the M.I. attests, the Saint received the inspiration to found a knighthood in honor of the Immaculata, which chose the Miraculous Medal as its emblem and shield for the future Knights. From that day on, Brother Maximilian often visited the church of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte in order to pray before the altar where Alphonse de Ratisbonne had converted. He also chose that altar as the one upon which he would offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the first time after his priestly ordination. Furthermore Fr. Maximilian often used to tell his friars about truly extraordinary incidents that he himself had experienced with the Mirac¬ulous Medal. For example, one time while he was recuperating in Zako¬pane he tried to convert a young Freethinker who proudly called him¬self “the Heretic”. All arguments were in vain. Nevertheless, out of courtesy he accept¬ed the Miraculous Medal. Immediately afterwards I suggested that he make a confession. “I am not prepared. By no means,” was his reply. But … at that very moment he fell on his knees, as though impelled by a higher power. The confession began; the young man wept like a child. The Immaculata had won. …. \Naturally, the cause of this miraculous change in a human heart was not the medal itself as a physical object, but rather the Immaculata, who attaches her special graces to the wearing of the Miraculous Medal. And there were many, many such incidents in the life of St. Maximilian. Therefore: Distribute her Medal, wherever there is an opportunity: to chil¬dren, so that they will always wear it around their necks; to the elderly and the youth, so that they, under her protection, might have enough strength to resist the temptations and falls that par¬ticularly beset them in our times. And also to those who do not go to Church, or who are afraid to go to Confession, who make fun of religious practices, who laugh at the truths of the faith, who are mired in a moral swamp or are living outside the Church in heresy – to all of these people you absolutely must offer the Medal of the Immaculata and ask them to wear it, but then fervently beg the Immaculata also for their conversion. Many people make use of another expedient when someone is reluctant to accept the Miracu¬lous Medal. They just sew it secretly into his or her clothing and pray for that person, and sooner or later the Immaculata will show what she is capable of. The Miraculous Medal is the ammunition of the M.I.