Quantum Physics and the Shroud of Turin

 

Although the author demonstrates how science and reason can get us to the threshold of understanding great religious events and realities, he shows that a leap of faith is still required to take us all the way to God.

 

 

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Although the author demonstrates how science and reason can get us to the threshold of understanding great religious events and realities, he shows that a leap of faith is still required to take us all the way to God.

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NASHVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - Millions of Christians around the world believe the Shroud of Turin to be the actual linen burial cloth that wrapped the broken and battered body of the historical Jesus of Nazareth after His crucifixion, a hypothesis that has been extensively investigated by both scientific and religious experts.

Does the Shroud of Turin, on display in Turin, Italy's cathedral right now, offer scientific evidence of the Resurrection? Can an interpretation of the Resurrection through cutting edge physics research correspond with a traditional Christian understanding? Is the Shroud, therefore, somehow a portal to another dimension, heaven perhaps?

The Shroud Codex, by Jerome Corsi, Ph. D. suggests so. Corsi, inspired and informed by his lifelong interest in the Shroud of Turin, draws scientific speculation on advances in quantum physics and intrigues in religious mysticism - namely stigmata, relics, and near-death experiences - together, until they meet in the Shroud of Turin in a literary fiction Venn approach.

A brilliant quantum physicist leaves science on a religious quest and enters the Catholic priesthood. After a near death experience leaves him with the belief he has a cosmic role to play in history for both science and religion, he begins displaying stigmata that mimic exactly the bloody image left on the herringbone linen weave of the Shroud of Turin.

Atheists and believers in both the scientific and religious communities investigate the reality of the physicist-turned-priest's claims. Is he traveling through time by way of multiple dimensions to literally experience aspects of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, as he claims his stigmata, cutting edge physics, and the Shroud reveal? Or do his stigmata testify, rather, to severe psychiatric disturbance?

As a sharer in Corsi's interest in both the Shroud of Turin and quantum mechanics, I was particularly interested in how he would bring his scientific and religious themes together through them, and what new information I might discover about the Shroud and particle physics through the story. The images of the Shroud, information on the scientific investigations done on it in the 70's and since, and the arguments for and against authenticity were significantly explored in the book, at least they were to my satisfaction as a reader.

I was disappointed in the treatment offered on quantum mechanics as a scientific explanation for the soul's survival into an afterlife and the Resurrection of Christ, the protagonist's stigmata and related experiences, and the probabilities of our living in a multi-dimensional universe.

The scant discussion left me wondering if Corsi really understood what he and quantum physics seem to suggest about them, or if he was worried his audience would not understand such seemingly convoluted "realities" if he delved too far into them. Either way, I was left wanting more information from that angle, but the author provided extra resources in the back of the book that I will happily explore.

I was also somewhat disappointed in the author's fiction writing style, but as his professional brilliance, background, and success lie more in political nonfiction, that does not really surprise me. Corsi is a Harvard educated political scientist and the author several #1 New York Times bestsellers, including The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality.

Non-fiction writers often have difficulty writing fiction, and this story suffered from some of the typical pitfalls. I found the whole situation with Anne Cassidy, the contemporary Mary figure, forced and improbable, as well as other, less significant aspects of the story somewhat flat and unbelievable.

However, the book's pace was brisk, the themes were thought-provoking, I learned quite a bit about the Shroud of Turin through reading The Shroud Codex, and the author's knowledge, interest and love for the Shroud were evident in the story. Together, these were enough to make me pleased I read it.

If his intention was to explore how faith and science can be mutually supportive, I believe Corsi succeeded. Although the author demonstrates that science and reason can get us to the threshold of understanding great religious events and realities like Creation, Resurrection, afterlife, stigmata and the like, he preserves the mystery and necessity of faith by showing that they can never take us all the way to God, who is immaterial and waits to encounter us in extraordinary ways that will always require a leap of faith.

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Sonja Corbitt is a Catholic speaker, Scripture teacher and study author and a contributing author for Catholic Online. This review first appeared on CatholicExchange.com and is used with permission. She is available to speak on the New Feminism, current events and your preferred theme. Visit her at www.pursuingthesummit.com for information and sample videos, or www.pursuingthesummit

 

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Taken from: http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=36284

Human Rights Groups Support Russian Law To Protect Children From Homosexual Propaganda

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D.

NEW YORK, August 30 (C-FAM) Human Rights Organizations from around the world are supporting Russia's effort to protect children from homosexual propaganda.

A statement from civil society affirms the recently enacted Russian law, which imposes fines on individuals and groups that promote homosexuality among minors, as important steps towards fulfilling international obligations towards the family and minors.

 

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Fatima scoops CNN



MARY'S PREDICTIONS COME TRUE

Dramatic events in the world of communism, such as the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent advent of democracy, stirred journalists to reexamine the 1917 apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima.
A front-page boxed article in the Oct. 1, 1991 issue of the Asian Wall Street Journal took note of the collapse of communism; the event was seen as the Fatima prophecy fulfilled. The U.S. edition of the Sept. 27, 1991 Wall Street Journal also noted that the Blessed Virgin beat CNN to the news on the fall of communism by more than 74 years.  In this regard, Our Lady was featured as Time Magazine's cover story on Dec. 30, 1991.
On Nov. 7, 1991, the anniversary of the communist revolution, for the first time there was no official communist parade of strength in Russia, but a Russian TV station aired a program on Fatima - the second time it did so!
(Fatima Family Messenger, Jan.-March 1992).
In 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, and Lucia dos Santos, in Fatima, Portugal. The apparitions, which have been approved by the Catholic Church, revealed to the children coming events:

*  The End of World War I
*  World War II
*  The Rise of Communism and future wars it would bring about
*  The Fall of Communism
These prophecies have already come true.
Atheists Editor Sees Mary's Miracle
The children requested from Our Lady a sign of her presence, so Mary promised a great miracle would take place at Fatima on Oct. 13, 1917. It occurred on that date, as recorded by the Portuguese paper O Seculo which formerly denounced the apparitions as fraudulent. (The country then was under an anticlerical government.)
The atheist editor wrote the following article, obeying his duty as a journalist to report the truth:

TERRIFYING EVENT! HOW THE SUN DANCED AT MIDDAY IN THE SKY AT FATIMA

"We witness a spectacle unique and incredible. The sun resembles a dull silver plate. It does not warm, it does not dazzle. One would say that an eclispes had occurred. But now a shout is heard: "Miracle! Miracle." Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose attitude takes us back to biblical times, and who, pale with fear and with heads bare, look at the azure sky, the sun trembles. makes abrupt movements, never seen before, and outside all cosmic laws, the sun "begins to dance" as the peasants say.

"Only one thing remains to be done, namely for the scientists to explain from the height of their learning, the fantastic dance of the sun, which today at Fatima has made "Hosannas" burst forth from the hearts of the faithful, and which, as trustworthy people assure me, has impressed even freethinkers, as others not at all interested in religious matters, who have come to this spot, henceforth celebrated."
The solar miracle wasn't meant only as a show of God's power. It was objective proof that what Mary said at Fatima would really happen.
Mary Calls Us to Repentance
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's chief theologian, spoke of the message of Fatima in his Report on Faith Today.
"A stern warning has been launched from Fatima which is directed against the prevailing frivolity, a summons to the seriousness of life, to the seriousness of history, to the perils which threaten humanity today. It is that which Jesus himself recalls very frequently, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3)
"The contents of the Marian apparitions approved by the Church only reconfirm the urgency of penance, fasting, forgiveness, conversion."
Mary Predicts World War II
On July 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima said that another world war was coming and provided the signs:

"The war is going to end but if they do not stop offending God, another and worse one will begin in the reign of Pius XI. When you shall see a night illumined by an unknown light, you know that this is a great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its many crimes by means of war, hunger, and of persecution of the Church and the Holy Father.
"To prevent this, I shall come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the communion of reparation on the Five First Saturdays. If my requests are granted, atheistic Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, she will scatter her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecution of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will suffer much, and various nations will be annihilated.

"In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph, the Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world."
The war going on at that time was World War I, and Pius XI was not the pontiff then. The "unknown light" was seen on the night of January 25, 1938 and was described by scientists as a freak form of aurora borealis. But observers noted that unlike the aurora borealis, the streaks of light and color did not originate from below the horizon, but at the zenith of the sky, shining downwards. The New York Times reported the event as follows:

"London, January 25, 1938. The aurora borealis, rarely seen in Southern or Western Europe spread fear in parts of Portugal and Lower Austria tonight while thousands of Britons were brought running into the streets in wonderment."
Forty-five days later, Hitler invaded Austria, starting the World War II in the reign of Pius XI.
Significant World Events on Marian Feastdays
May 13, 1955, Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.  The Soviets pulled out from Austria after a daily rosary campaign involving some 700,000 individuals.
October 12-13, 1960, Anniversary of the Fatima Miracle.  Pope John XXIII gathered a million at Fatima to pray for Russia.  At the same time, a nuclear missile had malfunctioned and exploded at a Moscow launchpad, killing some 300 people. Among those killed were Soviet officials and the man reputed to be the USSR's best nuclear scientist then, Marhal Nedelin.

May 13, 1981, Fatima.  Pope John Paul II was gravely wounded by an assassin's bullet at St. Peter's square.
December 7, 1988, Eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
In his UN speech, Mikhail Gorbachev promised to withdraw 10,000 Soviet tanks, 8500 artillery pieces and 800 fighter aircraft from Hungary, East Germany and Czechoslovakia.

On the same day, Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan also signed a treaty on Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) to eliminate the entire array of shorter-range nuclear missles of both the United States and the Soviet Union.
September 14, 1989, Eve of the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin. The last wave of 13,000 East Germans left Hungary for West Germany, an event which led to the toppling of the Berlin Wall.
November 20, 1989, Eve of the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The 200,000-strong protest march in Prague that demanded free elections and the resignation of Communist leaders caught fire in other cities, eventually leading to the fall of the Communist Party from power.

August 22, 1991, Feast of the Queenship of Mary.  The coup attempt in the Soviet Union was defeated.
December 8, 1991, Immaculate Conception. The Soviet Union was declared officially dead.

FATIMA VISIONARY JACINTA MARTO (died 1920) :
"I saw the Holy Father in a very big house.  He was kneeling before a table, holding his face in his hands and he was weeping.  Outside there were many people: some were throwing stones, others were cursing him and saying many ugly words to him."
POPE SAINT PIUS X (died 1914):
"I saw one of my successors by name fleeing over the corpses of his brethren.  He will flee to a place for a short respite where he is unknown, but he himself will die a cruel death."
KAROL CARDINAL WOJTYLA (later Pope John Paul II), June 24, 1977:
"We find ourselves in the presence of the greatest confrontation in history, the greatest mankind has ever had to confront. We are facing the final confrontation between the Church and the Anti-Church, between the Gospel and the Anti-Gospel."

POPE JOHN PAUL II (from Crossing the Threshold of Hope):

"And thus we come to May 13, 1981, when I was wounded by gunshots fired in St. Peter's Square. At first I did not pay attention to the fact that the assassination attempt had occurred on the exact anniversary of the day Mary appeared to the three children of Fatima in Portugal and spoke to them words that now, at the end of the century, seem close to their fulfillment."

PRAYER OF THE ANGEL AT FATIMA
"My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love you.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not trust and do not love you."

THIS IS WHAT OUR LADY OF FATIMA WANTS
"Do whatever He tells you."  - John 2:5
Convert.  Turn away from sin and go back to God "If you love Me, keep My commandments." - John 14:15

"Offer up each day whatever God requests of you. for the conversion of sinners and reparation for sin."

"Pray, fast and make sacrifices for your sins and for the sins of all sinners and unbelievers."
"Confess, offer Mass, receive Holy Communion on the First Saturday of five consecutive months with the intention of making reparation to me."

Pray the rosary every day.
Consecrate yourself to Jesus and to Mary's Immaculate Heart. Wear the brown scapular as a sign.

(Marian Messenger, Volume IV, Issue 1, October 1996)


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Taken from: http://www.mariansolidarity.com/features/fatima/marypredicts.htm

The Queenship of Mary

 

 

Mary's Queenship

 

 

by Fr. William G. Most

The beginning of the concept that Mary is a Queen is found in the annunciation narrative. For the angel tells her that her Son will be King over the house of Jacob forever. So she, His Mother, would be a Queen.

The Fathers of the Church soon picked up these implications. A text probably coming from Origen (died c. 254: cf. Marian Studies 4, 1953, 87) gives her the title domina, the feminine form of Latin dominus, Lord. That same title also appears in many other early writers, e.g. , St. Ephrem, St. Jerome, St. Peter Chrysologus (cf. Marian Studies 4. 87-91). The word "Queen" appears abut the sixth century, and is common thereafter (Marian Studies, 4, 91-94).

The titles "king" and "queen" are often used loosely, for those beings that excel in some way. Thus we call the lion the king of beasts, the rose the queen of flowers. Surely Our Lady deserves the title richly for such reasons. But there is much more.

Some inadequate reasons have been suggested: She is the daughter of David. But not every child of a king becomes a king or queen. Others have pointed out that she was free from original sin. Then, since Adam and Eve had a dominion over all things (Genesis 1. 26) she should have similar dominion. But the problem is that the royalty of Adam and Eve was largely metaphorical.

The solidly theological reasons for her title of Queen are expressed splendidly by Pius XII, in his Radiomessage to Fatima, Bendito seja (AAS 38. 266): "He, the Son of God, reflects on His heavenly Mother the glory, the majesty and the dominion of His kingship, for, having been associated to the King of Martyrs in the unspeakable work of human Redemption as Mother and cooperator, she remains forever associated to Him, with a practically unlimited power, in the distribution of the graces which flow from the Redemption. Jesus is King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest: through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him, Mary is Queen by grace, by divine relationship, by right of conquest, and by singular choice [of the Father]. And her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and God, since nothing is excluded from her dominion."

We notice that there are two titles for the kingship of Christ: divine nature, and "right of conquest", i.e., the Redemption. She is Queen "through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him." The qualifications are obvious, and need no explanation. Her Queenship is basically a sharing in the royalty of her Son. We do not think of two powers, one infinite, the other finite. No, she and her Son are inseparable, and operate as a unit.

Of the four titles Pius XII gave for her Queenship, we notice that two are closely parallel to those of Jesus:

(1) He is king by nature, as God; she is Queen by "divine relationship" that is, by being the Mother of God. In fact her relation to her Son is greater than that of ordinary Mothers of Kings. For she is the Mother of Him who is King by very nature, from all eternity, and the relationship is exclusive, for He had no human father. Still further, the ordinary queen-mother gives birth to a child who later will become king. The son of Mary is, as we said, eternally king, by His very nature. (2) He is king by right of conquest. She too is Queen by right of conquest. We already saw that this title for Him means that He redeemed us from the captivity of satan. She shared in the struggle and victory. Since the Pope expressed her dependence on Him in a threefold way--something we would have known anyway--then it is clear that he did not have in mind any other restriction which he did not express. So, maintaining this subordination, "by right of conquest" means the same for her as it does for Him.

The other two titles: (3) She is Queen by grace. She is full of grace, the highest in the category of grace besides her Son. (4) She is Queen by singular choice of the Father. A mere human can become King or Queen by choice of the people. How much greater a title is the choice of the Father Himself!

Pius XII added that "nothing is excluded from her dominion." As Mediatrix of all graces, who shared in earning all graces, she is, as Benedict XV said, "Suppliant omnipotence": she, united with her Son, can obtain by her intercession anything that the all-powerful God can do by His own inherent power.

In the Old Testament, under some Davidic kings, the gebirah, the "Great Lady", usually the Mother of the King, held great power as advocate with the king. Cf. 1 Kings 2:20, where Solomon said to his Mother Bathsheba, seated on a throne at his right: "Make your request, Mother, for I will not refuse you." Here is a sort of type of Our Lady.

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Excerpted and adapted from Theology 523: Our Lady in Doctrine and Devotion, by Father William G. Most.
Copyright (c) 1994 William G. Most

Electronic text (c) Copyright EWTN 1996. All rights reserved.


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Taken from: http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/marya6.htm

 

 

Pope St Pius X: To renew all things in Christ through Mary

Adapted from: http://catholicgorillas.org/faq/newman-center

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Pope Saint Pius X (Latin: Pius PP. X) (2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914), born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 258th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII (1878–1903). He was the first pope since Pope Pius V (1566–72) to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox theology. His most important reform was to publish the first Code of Canon Law, which collected the laws of the Church into one volume for the first time. He was a pastoral pope, encouraging personal piety and a lifestyle reflecting Christian values. He was born in the pastoral town of Riese.   Pope Pius was a Marian Pope, whose encyclical Ad Diem Illum expresses his desire through Mary to renew all things in Christ, which he had defined as his motto in his first encyclical. Pius believed that there is no surer or more direct road than by Mary to achieve this goal.Pius X was the only Pope in the 20th century with extensive pastoral experience at the parish level, and pastoral concerns permeated his papacy; he favoured the use of the vernacular in catechesis. Frequent communion was a lasting innovation of his papacy. Pius X, like Pope Pius IX, was considered by some to be too outspoken or brusque. His direct style and condemnations did not gain him much support in the aristocratic societies of pre-World War I in Europe.   His immediate predecessor had actively promoted a synthesis between the Catholic Church and secular culture; faith and science; and divine revelation and reason. Pius X defended the Catholic faith against popular 19th century views such as indifferentism and relativism which his predecessors had warned against as well. He followed the example of Leo XIII by promoting Thomas Aquinas and Thomism as the principal philosophical method to be taught in Catholic institutions. Pius opposed the theological school of thought known as modernism, which claimed that Roman Catholic Dogma itself should be modernized and blended with nineteenth century philosophies. He viewed modernism as an import of secular errors affecting three areas of Roman Catholic belief: theology, philosophy and dogma.   Personally, Pius combined within himself a strong sense of compassion, benevolence, poverty, but also stubbornness, and a certain stiffness. He wanted to be pastor and was the only pope in the 20th century who gave Sunday sermons every week. His charity was extraordinary, filling the Vatican with refugees from the 1908 Messina quake, long before the Italian government began to act on its own. He rejected any kind of favours for his family; his brother remained a postal clerk, his favourite nephew stayed on as village priest, and his three sisters lived together close to poverty in Rome. He often referred to his own humble origins, taking up the causes of poor people. I was born poor, I have lived poor, and I wish to die poor. Considered a holy person by many, public veneration of Pope Pius began soon after his death. Numerous petitions resulted in an early process of beatification.   ….

Russian parliament passes new anti-blasphemy law



Tough anti-blasphemy law takes effect in Russia

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CWN - July 01, 2013

From Our Store: Liturgical Year 2012-2013, Vol. 6: Ordinary Time Completed (eBook)

A tough new anti-blasphemy law that takes effect in Russia on July 1 allows for fines up to 300,000 rubles ($9,000) and imprisonment for up to 2 years for public acts that “manifest patent disrespect for society and are committed with the aim of offense to the religious feelings of believers.” The penalties for offenses are increased if the acts take place in houses of worship. Human-rights activists have expressed concern about the new law, seeing potential for abuses, including the use of secular courts to resolve religious disputes. But Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the chief public-affairs official of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow, welcomed the legislation and suggested that the penalties may be “too mild.”


Additional sources for this story
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• Criticised by pro-democracy activists, Russia's anti-blasphemy law comes into effect (AsiaNews)

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Taken from: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=18312

Mary is with us in our struggles, Pope Francis teaches [Assumption]

 



Vatican City, Aug 15, 2013 / 11:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During his homily for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Francis said that this feast helps us reflect on the Christian themes of struggle, resurrection, and hope.

 

“Mary … has of course already entered, once and for all, into heavenly glory. But this does not mean that she is distant or detached from us,” the Pope preached Aug. 15 during a Mass said at the Piazza of Liberty in Castel Gandolfo.

“Rather Mary accompanies us, struggles with us, sustains Christians in their fight against the forces of evil.”

 

While pontiffs have customarily spent August in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Francis has remained in Rome this month, traveling this morning to the resort town by helicopter to say Mass for today's holy day of obligation.

 

He began his homily by reflecting on “Lumen Gentium,” Vatican II's Constitution on the Church, which refers twice to Mary's assumption, body and soul, into heaven.

The first of the themes found in “Lumen Gentium” is Mary's solidarity with our struggles, which was found also in the Mass' first reading, from Revelation, of a struggle between a woman and a dragon.

“The figure of the woman, representing the Church, is, on the one hand, glorious and triumphant and yet, on the other, still in travail,” the Pope noted.

 

The Church, whose “dual condition” Mary shares, is both “already associated in some way” with Christ's glory in heaven and still living “the trials and challenges” of the conflict between God and Satan.

This struggle is faced by every Christian disciple, and “Mary does not leave them alone,” Pope Francis said. “The Mother of Christ and of the Church is always with us. She walks with us always, she is with us.”

 

The Pope recommended the rosary as a prayer with Mary that “has this 'suffering' dimension, that is, of struggle, a sustaining prayer in the battle against the evil one and his accomplices. The Rosary also sustains us in the battle.”

He chided his listeners to pray the rosary daily, saying: “Do you pray the Rosary every day? But I'm not sure you do … Really?”

 

Mary's assumption also shows her solidarity with the resurrection of the dead and with Christ's resurrection, the event and “fundamental truth” that is the basis of Christian faith.

In his resurrection, Christ “entered into eternal life with all the humanity he had drawn from Mary; and she, the Mother, who followed him faithfully throughout her life, followed him with her heart, and entered with him into eternal life, which we also call heaven.”

In her solidarity with her son in the “martyrdom of the Cross,” Mary lived the Passion “to the depths of her soul” and so was given “the gift of resurrection.”

“Christ is the first fruits from the dead and Mary is the first of the redeemed, the first of 'those who are in Christ.'”

“She is our Mother, but we can also say that she is our representative, our sister, our eldest sister, she is the first of the redeemed, who has arrived in heaven.”

 

The final theme of the assumption, Pope Francis taught, is hope: the hope of those who live the struggle between good and evil and who believe in Christ's resurrection.

The Magnificat, Mary's song of praise at the Visitation, he said, is “the song of hope,” which is also “the song of many saints … some famous, and very many others unknown to us but known to God: moms, dads, catechists, missionaries, priests, sisters, young people, even children and grandparents.”

“These have faced the struggle of life while carrying in their heart the hope of the little and the humble.”

 

The Pope linked hope to persecution and the Cross, saying the Magnificat is “particularly strong” in the places “where the Body of Christ is suffering the Passion.”

“If there is no hope, we are not Christian. That is why I like to say: do not allow yourselves to be robbed of hope.”

He exhorted his listeners, “may we not be robbed of hope, because this strength is a grace, a gift from God which carries us forward with our eyes fixed on heaven.”

 

He concluded by encouraging Christians to pray the Magnificat with Mary, who accompanies and suffers with us.

“With all our heart let us too unite ourselves to this song of patience and victory, of struggle and joy, that unites the triumphant Church with the pilgrim one, earth with heaven, and that joins our lives to the eternity towards which we journey.”

 

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Taken from: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/mary-is-with-us-in-our-struggles-pope-francis-teaches/

Pope to consecrate world to Mary’s Immaculate Heart



 

Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square on Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2013. Credit: Stephen Driscoll/CNA.

Vatican City, Aug 14, 2013 / 12:03 am (CNA).- Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary this Oct. 13 as part of the Marian Day celebration that will involve the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima.

“The Holy Father strongly desires that the Marian Day may have present, as a special sign, one of the most significant Marian icons for Christians throughout the world and, for that reason, we thought of the beloved original Statue of Our Lady of Fatima,” wrote Archbishop Rino Fisichella.

Archbishop Fisichella, who serves as president of the pontifical council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, made his remarks in a letter to Bishop Antonio Marto of Leiria-Fatima.

According to the Portuguese shrine's website, the statue of Our Lady of Fatima will leave for Rome on the morning of Oct. 12 and return on the afternoon of Oct. 13. The statue normally resides in the shrine’s Little Chapel of Apparitions.

The archbishop said that “all ecclesial entities of Marian spirituality” are invited to take part in the celebration. Hundreds of movements and institutions that emphasize Marian devotion are expected to attend, the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima says.

The two-day observance includes an Oct. 12 pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter and moments of prayer and meditation. On Oct. 13, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s Square.

Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three shepherd children in the village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917. She warned of violent trials in the twentieth century if the world did not make reparation for sins. She urged prayer and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

At the request of Pope Francis, Cardinal Jose Polycarp, the Patriarch of Lisbon, consecrated the Pope’s pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima on May 13, her feast day.

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Taken from: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-to-consecrate-world-to-marys-immaculate-heart/#.UgxPIO4gb48.email

Marian Coredemption and St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe

 

By Fr Stefano Maria Manelli F I

 

•February 11, 2012•

 

Co-redemptrix & Fifth Marian Dogma•

 

Pope Paul VI placed St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe “among the great Saints and enlightened spirits who have understood, venerated and sung the mystery of Mary,” (1) and Pope John Paul II placed in relief the prophetic vision and great value of St. Maximilian’s life and Mariology for the Church today. (2) Consequently, St. Maximilian’s Mariological doctrine has already been the subject of studies at the highest level of systematic research and scholarship. (3) With regards to his doctrine on Marian Coredemption, there is a detailed study by L. Iammorrone. (4)

 

St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe († 1941)

The coredemptive thought of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe is of great value for several reasons. He was our contemporary, and more importantly, was a great mystic and Marian theologian, besides being such an extraordinary apostle and missionary of the Immaculate as to be called the “Fool of the Immaculate,” (5) and to be defined by the Ven. Fr. Gabriel Allegra, his contemporary, as an “Apostle of the end times,” (6) recalling the thought of St. Louis Mary Grignon de Montfort. (7)

First of all, it must be stated that St. Maximilian was not only diffusing and defending the truth of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s universal Mediation, but was writing, praying, and ardently longing for the solemn dogmatic definition of Mary as Mediatrix of salvation (Coredemption) and Mediatrix of all graces (Dispensatrix). As a matter of fact, as soon as he knew that Pope Benedict XV had named three commissions of study on the definability of Marian Mediation, he wrote an article in which he exhorted all to pray “so that our Most Holy Mother might hasten the moment of the Solemn proclamation of this her privilege.” (8)

In addition to the eternal predestination of Mary with Christ according to the celebrated Franciscan thesis, (9) St. Maximilian too based the Holy Virgin Mary’s coredemptive and distributive Mediation on the biblical-patristic foundation of Mary as the New Eve. Reflecting, as such, on the original fall of Adam and Eve, our first parents, St. Maximilian maintains that “from that moment God promised a Redeemer and a Coredemptrix saying: ‘I will place enmities between thee and the Woman, and thy seed and her Seed; She shall crush thy head.’” (10) “The Fathers and Doctors of the Church,” writes the Saint again, “proclaim that She, the second Eve, repaired that which the first had ruined; that She is the channel of the divine graces, She is our hope and our refuge; that we receive the grace of God through Her.” (11) One easily reads here the equivalence between the Reparation and the Coredemption, in parallel with the devastating action of the Eve of old with the salvific action of the New Eve: both Eves presented as protagonists, respectively, in the fall and ruin of humanity (the first Eve), and in their ransom and salvation (the second Eve).

It is clear from the writings of St. Maximilian that for him the most certain truth, the most secure and unquestionable doctrine, and therefore the least needy of demonstration, was that of Marian Coredemption; whether because of the very clear reference to the devastating work of the first Eve neutralized by the reparative work of the second Eve (Mary), or because of the very life of Our Lady utterly bound, spent, and consumed in an indivisible union with that of her divine Son in the work of the universal Redemption from beginning to end, that is from the Annunciation to the Crucifixion, from Nazareth to Calvary.

On the other hand, it seemed to St. Maximilian that the doctrine most in need of in-depth theological elaboration was that of Marian Mediation, the distributing of all graces, which is consequent to the Coredemption and which he links above all with the mystery of the ineffable union between the Holy Spirit and the Immaculate Virgin, a spousal union which creates a perfect collaboration in the distributive economy of all graces for the salvation and sanctification of men. (12)

All that aside, St. Maximilian did render an account of the complexity of things surrounding Marian Coredemption which were in the process of being clarified and developed. He wrote that, “It is clear that our relationship with Mary Coredemptrix and Dispensatrix of graces in the economy of Redemption was not understood from the beginning in all its perfection. But in these, our times, faith in the Blessed Virgin Mary’s mediation is always growing more and more each day.” (13)

As for his thought specifically on the Coredemption, however, we can say in summary that St. Maximilian, by reasoning and reflecting, profoundly grasped both the expressly Christological value of Marian Coredemption and the pneumatological value of Mary’s mediation of all graces; he affirms that “Mary, as Mother of Jesus the Savior, becomes Coredemptrix, while as Spouse of the Holy Spirit she takes part in the distribution of all graces.” (14) Fr. Domanski writes that according to the Mariological thought of St. Maximilian, it was the plan of God “that His own Mother, the Immaculate, should take part in the work of the Redemption, as she had likewise taken part in the work of the Incarnation.” (15) And the demonstration which St. Maximilian took from a study of Bittremieux affirms that “… as the first Eve, with truly free actions, contributed to our ruin, in that she exercised a real influence, so also Mary, with her own actions, collaborated in the reparation…: in this is contained, by now in a most clear manner and properly speaking, an authentic mediation.” (16)

The doctrine of St. Maximilian is presented as logical and luminous in its solidity of method and development: “In the thought of Fr. Kolbe,” writes Fr. Iammarrone, “Christ is the only universal Mediator between humanity and the Father… Mary is chosen by God as Mother of the Son and thus Mediatrix of grace because she must accompany Him inseparably in the realization of the Redemption. Son and Mother labor together in originating the life of grace (Redemption and Coredemption) and in distributing that life to men.” (17) Always retaining the complete subordination of the Mother with respect to the Son, the biblical-patristic reference to the first Eve with the first Adam once again pointedly and precisely indicates the camp of the opposing operations: that is, the operation of our ruin, which had as its absolute and primary operator the first Adam, with the first Eve as its relative and dependent co-operator, and the operation of our salvation, which had as its absolute and primary Operator the second Adam, Jesus, with the second Eve, Mary, as its relative and dependent Co-operator.

This, according to St. Maximilian, is the plan of God. “In the divine plan of salvation,” writes again Fr. Iammorrone, “Mary is the New Eve who collaborates together with the New Adam, Jesus her Son, in the Redemption of man. In Fr. Kolbe’s thought Mary’s cooperation is subordinate to that of Christ the Redeemer, but it is immediate and proximate, active and direct… Mary, in the thought of Fr. Kolbe, participated in the Redemption in the objective sense (that is in the acquiring of salvation with her own proper activity united and associated to that original activity of the Son) and she participates in the Redemption in the subjective sense, that is in the distribution of the graces of salvation to each person in the course of time right up to the coming of the Lord in glory,” and in this way “Mary fully realizes her maternity with her maternal compassion on Calvary.” (18)

From his thought taken as a whole, it is obvious that for St. Maximilian such doctrine on Mary’s coredemptive and distributive mediation of grace is well founded and solid. And regarding his personal experience, it cannot be considered anything less than superlative, recalling his terrible martyrdom in the deathcamp of Auschwitz, which assimilated him in an extraordinary way to the coredemptive offering of the Blessed Mother. No one, in fact, is so close and so similar to the Coredemptrix as the martyr. The supreme glory of the Coredemptrix, in truth, is precisely that of being the Queen of the Martyrs. Even in this St. Maximilian has left us his orthodoxy (the doctrine on the Coredemptrix) which is perfectly united with his orthopraxy (the most concrete imitation of the Coredemptrix, that of shedding one’s own blood).

Master and Model of the doctrine and spirituality of Marian Coredemption: this is St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe. (19) Consequently, concerning the coredemptive and distributive mediation of Mary, one can say that, according to St. Maximilian, there is not much to discuss, but rather there is much need to pray so that the Immaculate “might hasten the moment of the solemn proclamation” of this dogma on the part of the Church.

 

Fr. Stefano Manelli, FI, is Founder and Minister General of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. He is internationally known for his distinguished preaching and biblical, Mariological scholarship. His biblical Mariology has recently appeared in English under the title: All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed.

 

Endnotes

(1) Insegnamenti di Paulo VI, Rome, IT, 1971, vol. IX, p. 909.

(2) Cf. L’Osservatore Romano 8-9, XII, 1982.

(3) It is sufficient to cite the weighty volume of the Acts of the International Congress held at Rome in 1984: La Mariologia di san Massimiliano M. Kolbe, Rome, IT, 1985.

(4) This is one of the conferences held at the International Mariological Symposium “Maria Corredentrice. Storia e Teologia,” celebrated at Castelpetroso, IT, Sept. 8-12, 1997, where twenty theologians coming from every part of the world participated (cf. S.M. MANELLI, Cronistoria del Simposio con rilievi, spunti e riflessioni, in Corredemptrix in Annali Mariani, 1966, Castelpetroso, 1997, pp. 133-171). The conference of Fr. L. IAMMORRONE, Il mistero di Maria Corredentrice in san Massimiliano Maria Kolbe, is found in AA.VV., Maria Corredentrice, Frigento, IT, 1999, vol. II, pp. 219-256.

(5) One can profit from reading the life of this apostle synthesized by S.M. MANELLI, “Folle dell’Immacolata,” Frigento, IT 1990, 120 pages.

(6) G. ALLEGRA, Apostolo degli ultimi tempi, in Miles Immaculatae 18 (1982), pp. 156-162.

(7) Ibid., pp. 160, 162.

(8) ST. MAXIMILIAN MARY KOLBE, Scritti, Rome, IT 1997, n. 1029 (quotations abbreviated: Scritti and the margin number).

(9) “The participation of Mary in the redemptive work of her Son,” writes Fr. Iammarrone, “is founded, according to Fr. Kolbe, in the eternal decree of Mary’s predestination together with her divine Son.”: L. IAMMARRONE, work cited, p. 221; cf. also pp. 223-247.

(10) Scritti, 1069.

(11) Scritti, 1029.

(12) Cf. H.M. MANTEAU-BONAMY, La dottrina mariana di p. Kolbe. Lo Spirito Santo e l’Immacolata, Rome, IT, 1977; G. BARTOSIK, Rapporti tra lo Spirito Santo e Maria come principio della mediazione mariana, negli ultimi scritte (1935-1941) di s. Massimiliano Kolbe, in Miles Immaculatae 27 (1991), 244-68.

(13) Scritti, 1229.

(14) Ibid.

(15) G. DOMANSKI, Il pensiero mariano di P. Massimiliano M. Kolbe, Rome, IT 1971, p. 38.

(16) J. BITTREMIEUX, De Mediatione universale B.M.V., in Scritti, 1.c.

(17) Work cited, p. 237.

(18) Ibid., pp. 244, 245, 246.

(19) Certainly very little has been written on the coredemptive spirituality of St. Maximilian, coredemptive insofar as he was a martyr and one who suffered (illness of tuberculosis and always generous in sacrifices without number). There would indeed be much to discover and write in order to deeply comprehend the vital bond which united the Holy Martyr to the mystery of the Immaculate in her universal, coredemptive mission, and in order to make our own the school of life and Marian spirituality in a coredemptive key which he has left us, so that we might be ever closer and more faithful children of her whom Jesus gave us on Calvary, not only as Mother, but also as Coredemptrix, or, even better yet, as Mother Coredemptrix, that is, He has left the Coredemptrix as our very own Mother.

 

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Taken from: http://www.fifthmariandogma.com/co-redemptrix-fifth-marian-dogma/marian-coredemption-and-st-maximilian-mary-kolbe/

The Real Presence

by Saint Peter Julian Eymard

First Published: 1906

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Description

The works of Saint Peter Julian Eymard are recognized in the French world as classics of Eucharistic piety. In the hope they may become so in the English Catholic world, we are offering the public a new translation of them. Possibly no one has so insistently and perseveringly written or spoken of the Eucharist as Saint Eymard has. The Eucharist worked on the faculties of his soul like a magnet. His mind and heart, as if polarized, invariably swerved back towards their star, the Eucharist. He was never at a loss to discover some hidden link between the Eucharist and the subject under study. Like the 'householder who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old,' he drew all things out of the Eucharist for every purpose. In fact he looked at the world only through the 'Divine prism of the mystery of the Eucharist.'

This Eucharistic approach to the problems of the soul is distinctive of his spirituality. Duty never came alone in its cold and austere stiffness but with something of our Eucharistic Lord in it that transformed it into a labor of love. The road that wound in and out of the shadow of the Cross was never a lonely one, for the Eucharistic Christ stood ever near with His strengthening and consoling companionship. The virtues were made lovable by being presented not in their native asperity but as actions of Jesus in the Eucharist. The result was a spirituality based on and motivated by love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. He made universal use of the Eucharist in his own life and advised others to do as much. In short, he laid down in theory and in practice that the Eucharist is the chief means of progress in spiritual life, the light which shows the way and supplies the needed strength to follow it.
Unfortunately Saint Peter Julian never wrote nor even planned a complete treatise on the spiritual life, although his long experience with souls, his deep insight into their needs, his sure sense of the supernatural, and the stem logic of his mind eminently qualified him for such a task. However, in his sermons and letters of direction he touched practically every point of ascetical theology, so that there is in them sufficient matter for a comparatively complete study on the spiritual life.

The present volume, The Real Presence, is a collection of sermons that deal almost exclusively with the wonders operated by our Lord's love in the Eucharist. From every page, Saint Peter Julian, the 'Priest of the Eucharist,' sends a ringing plea to all men to love our Eucharistic Lord as He deserves and to take Him as both the model and the means of their holiness.
Pondering over these chapters cannot but make us know better and love more the Eucharistic Christ. And with a more practical understanding of this supereminent means of grace, the problem of salvation should be easier to solve. May His Eucharistic Kingdom come! That was Saint Peter Julian's most ardent wish.

© Portico Good Reading Guide


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Taken from: http://www.goodreadingguide.com/Real-Presence-Eymard-Saint-Peter-Julian/9781482016215