Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant

The carving above was unveiled on EWTN as the largest monstrance in the world. Inquiring minds can read all about it here.

Taken from:

http://marysanawim.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/mary-the-ark-of-the-new-covenant/

I am especially thrilled with this project because I’ve always had an affinity towards the title of Mary, Ark of the New Covenant. Steve Ray does an AMAZING job explaining this in the entry (below) posted on Catholic Answers:

Why do Catholics call Mary the Ark of the New Covenant? Answering that question will take us on a thrilling journey through the Old and New Testaments.

For example, Luke wove some marvelous things into his Gospel that only a knowledgeable Jew would have understood—a Jew who knew Jewish Scripture and had eyes to see and ears to hear. One of the things he would have understood is typology.

We all know that the Old Testament is full of stories, people, and historical events. A type is a person, thing, or event in the Old Testament that foreshadows something in the New Testament. It is like a taste or a hint of something that will be fulfilled or realized. Types are like pictures that come alive in a new and exciting way when seen through the eyes of Christ’s revelation. Augustine said that “the Old Testament is the New concealed, but the New Testament is the Old revealed” (Catechizing of the Uninstructed 4:8).

The idea of typology is not new. Paul says that Adam was a type of the one who was to come—Christ (Rom. 5:14). Early Christians understood that the Old Testament was full of types or pictures that were fulfilled or realized in the New Testament.

Here are a few more examples of biblical typology:

• Peter uses Noah’s ark as a type of Christian baptism (1 Pet. 3:18–22).
• Paul explains that circumcision foreshadowed Christian baptism (Col. 2:11–12).
• Jesus uses the bronze serpent as a type of his Crucifixion (John 3:14; cf. Num. 21:8–9).
• The Passover lamb prefigures the sacrifice of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7).
• Paul says that Abraham “considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Heb. 11:19).

The Ark of the Old Covenant

God loved his people and wanted to be close to them. He chose to do so in a very special way. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The prayer of the people of God flourished in the shadow of the dwelling place of God’s presence on earth, the ark of the covenant and the temple, under the guidance of their shepherds, especially King David, and of the prophets” (CCC 2594). God instructed Moses to build a tabernacle surrounded by heavy curtains (cf. Ex. 25–27). Within the tabernacle he was to place an ark made of acacia wood covered with gold inside and out. Within the Ark of the Covenant was placed a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant (cf. Heb. 9:4).

When the ark was completed, the glory cloud of the Lord (the Shekinah Glory) covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34–35; Num. 9:18, 22). The verb for “to cover” or “to overshadow” and the metaphor of a cloud are used in the Bible to represent the presence and glory of God. The Catechism explains:

In the theophanies of the Old Testament, the cloud, now obscure, now luminous, reveals the living and saving God, while veiling the transcendence of his glory—with Moses on Mount Sinai, at the tent of meeting, and during the wandering in the desert, and with Solomon at the dedication of the temple. In the Holy Spirit, Christ fulfills these figures. The Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and “overshadows” her, so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus. On the mountain of Transfiguration, the Spirit in the “cloud came and overshadowed” Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter, James and John, and “a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’” Finally, the cloud took Jesus out of the sight of the disciples on the day of his Ascension and will reveal him as Son of man in glory on the day of his final coming. The glory of the Lord “overshadowed” the ark and filled the tabernacle (CCC 697).

It’s easy to miss the parallel between the Holy Spirit overshadowing the ark and the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary, between the Ark of the Old Covenant as the dwelling place of God and Mary as the new dwelling place of God.

God was very specific about every exact detail of the ark (Ex. 25–30). It was a place where God himself would dwell (Ex. 25:8). God wanted his words—inscribed on stone—housed in a perfect container covered with pure gold within and without. How much more would he want his Word—Jesus—to have a perfect dwelling place! If the only begotten Son were to take up residence in the womb of a human girl, would he not make her flawless?

The Virgin Mary is the living shrine of the Word of God, the Ark of the New and Eternal Covenant. In fact, St. Luke’s account of the annunciation of the angel to Mary nicely incorporates the images of the tent of meeting with God in Sinai and of the temple of Zion. Just as the cloud covered the people of God marching in the desert (cf. Num. 10:34; Deut. 33:12; Ps. 91:4) and just as the same cloud, as a sign of the divine mystery present in the midst of Israel, hovered over the Ark of the Covenant (cf. Ex. 40:35), so now the shadow of the Most High envelops and penetrates the tabernacle of the New Covenant that is the womb of Mary (cf. Luke 1:35) (Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, The Shrine: Memory, Presence and Prophecy of the Living God).

Luke weaves additional parallels into the story of Mary—types that could be overlooked if one is unfamiliar with the Old Testament. After Moses died, Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Joshua established the Ark of the Covenant in Shiloh, where it stayed for more than 200 years. One day the Israelites were losing a battle with the Philistines, so they snatched the ark and rushed it to the front lines. The Philistines captured the ark, but it caused them great problems, so they sent it back to Israel (1 Sam. 5:1–6:12).

David went out to retrieve the ark (1 Sam 6:1–2). After a man named Uzzah was struck dead when he touched the ark, David was afraid and said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” He left the ark in the hill country of Judea for three months. We are also told that David danced and leapt in front of the ark and everyone shouted for joy. The house of Obed-edom, which had housed the ark, was blessed, and then David took the ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:9–14).

Compare David and the ark to Luke’s account of the Visitation:

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:39–45).

• Mary arose and went to the hill country of Judea. I have been to both Ein Kerem (where Elizabeth lived) and Abu Ghosh (where the ark resided), and they are only a short walk apart. Mary and the ark were both on a journey to the same hill country of Judea.
• When David saw the ark he rejoiced and said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” Elizabeth uses almost the same words: “Why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Luke is telling us something—drawing our minds back to the Old Testament, showing us a parallel.
• When David approached the ark he shouted out and danced and leapt in front of the ark. He was wearing an ephod, the clothing of a priest. When Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant, approached Elizabeth, John the Baptist leapt in his mother’s womb—and John was from the priestly line of Aaron. Both leapt and danced in the presence of the ark. The Ark of the Old Covenant remained in the house of Obed-edom for three months, and Mary remained in the house of Elizabeth for three months. The place that housed the ark for three months was blessed, and in the short paragraph in Luke, Elizabeth uses the word blessed three times. Her home was certainly blessed by the presence of the ark and the Lord within.
• When the Old Testament ark arrived—as when Mary arrived—they were both greeted with shouts of joy. The word for the cry of Elizabeth’s greeting is a rare Greek word used in connection with Old Testament liturgical ceremonies that were centered around the ark and worship (cf. Word Biblical Commentary, 67). This word would flip on the light switch for any knowledgeable Jew.
• The ark returns to its home and ends up in Jerusalem, where God’s presence and glory is revealed in the temple (2 Sam. 6:12; 1 Kgs. 8:9–11). Mary returns home and eventually ends up in Jerusalem, where she presents God incarnate in the temple (Luke 1:56; 2:21–22).

It seems clear that Luke has used typology to reveal something about the place of Mary in salvation history. In the Ark of the Old Covenant, God came to his people with a spiritual presence, but in Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant, God comes to dwell with his people not only spiritually but physically, in the womb of a specially prepared Jewish girl.

The Old Testament tells us that one item was placed inside the Ark of the Old Covenant while in the Sinai wilderness: God told Moses to put the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments inside the ark (Deut. 10:3–5). Hebrews 9:4 informs us that two additional items were placed in the Ark: “a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded.” Notice the amazing parallels: In the ark was the law of God inscribed in stone; in Mary’s womb was the Word of God in flesh. In the ark was the urn of manna, the bread from heaven that kept God’s people alive in the wilderness; in Mary’s womb is the Bread of Life come down from heaven that brings eternal life. In the ark was the rod of Aaron, the proof of true priesthood; in Mary’s womb is the true priest. In the third century, St. Gregory the Wonder Worker said that Mary is truly an ark—”gold within and gold without, and she has received in her womb all the treasures of the sanctuary.”

While the apostle John was exiled on the island of Patmos, he wrote something that would have shocked any first-century Jew. The ark of the Old Covenant had been lost for centuries—no one had seen it for about 600 years. But in Revelation 11:19, John makes a surprising announcement: “Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple.”

At this point chapter 11 ends and chapter 12 begins. But the Bible was not written with chapter divisions—they were added in the twelfth century. When John penned these words, there was no division between chapters 11 and 12; it was a continuing narrative.

What did John say immediately after seeing the Ark of the Covenant in heaven? “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child” (Rev. 12:1–2). The woman is Mary, the Ark of the Covenant, revealed by God to John. She was seen bearing the child who would rule the world with a rod of iron (Rev. 12:5). Mary was seen as the ark and as a queen.

But does this passage really refer to Mary? Some say the woman represents Israel or the Church, and certainly she does. John’s use of rich symbolism is well known, but it is obvious from the Bible itself that the woman is Mary. The Bible begins with a real man (Adam), a real woman (Eve), and a real serpent (the devil)—and it also ends with a real man (Jesus, the Last Adam [1 Cor. 15:45]), a real woman (Mary, the New Eve [Rev. 11:19–12:2]), and a real serpent (the devil of old). All of this was foretold in Genesis 3:15.

John Henry Cardinal Newman wrote about this passage in Revelation:

What I would maintain is this, that the Holy Apostle would not have spoken of the Church under this particular image unless there had existed a Blessed Virgin Mary, who was exalted on high and the object of veneration to all the faithful. No one doubts that the “man-child” spoken of is an allusion to our Lord; why then is not “the Woman” an allusion to his mother?

Later in the same chapter we read that the devil went out to persecute the woman’s other offspring—Christians—which certainly seems to indicate that Mary is somehow the mother of the Church (Rev. 12:17).

Even if someone rejects Catholic teaching regarding Mary, he cannot deny that Catholics have scriptural foundations for it. And it is a teaching that has been taught by Christians from ancient times. Here are a few representative quotations from the early Church—some written well before the New Testament books were officially compiled into the final New Testament canon:

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373) was the main defender of the deity of Christ against the second-century heretics. He wrote: “O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O [Ark of the] Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides” (Homily of the Papyrus of Turin).

Gregory the Wonder Worker (c. 213–c. 270) wrote: “Let us chant the melody that has been taught us by the inspired harp of David, and say, ‘Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy sanctuary.’ For the Holy Virgin is in truth an ark, wrought with gold both within and without, that has received the whole treasury of the sanctuary” (Homily on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church echoes the words from the earliest centuries: “Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. She is ‘the dwelling of God . . . with men’” (CCC 2676).

The early Christians taught the same thing that the Catholic Church teaches today about Mary, including her being the Ark of the New Covenant.

Steve Ray is the author of Crossing the Tiber, Upon This Rock, and St. John’s Gospel. He is also co-author of Catholic Answers’ Papacy Learning Guide. You may contact him through his web site, www.catholicconvert.com.

Fatima Book Dedication

I [Damien Francis Mackey] wrote this as a dedication in my Fatima book, "The Five First Saturdays":

"I had only just begun the preparatory work towards revising a previous article of mine on the same subject [Five First Saturdays of Our Lady of Fatima] in the light of new global developments and, hopefully, in the light of a better appreciation of the significance of the book of Esther, when on the 30th of October 1989 my father William Ambrose Mackey died suddenly in Hobart (Tasmania).

Born in May 1917, his busy life spanned the same 72-year period as was the duration of the modern ‘Babylonian Captivity’ of the Church’s suppression by the Bolsheviks in what they called the Soviet Union.

May all who read this kindly pray for the repose of the soul of William Ambrose Mackey. It is with profound gratitude that I wish to dedicate to the memory of him this small book of

The Five First Saturdays of Our Lady of Fatima.

{His father, Private Francis Joseph Mackey, my grandfather, a Tasmanian, who was killed in action at Broodseinde, October 1917, was mentioned by Australia's Governor-General, Michael Jeffery, during a speech at the Tyne Cot memorial service, Belgium, 4 October 2007}.

http://www.gg.gov.au/governorgeneral/speech.php?id=281

For picture, see:

http://blog.awm.gov.au/1917/2007/04/04/private-francis-joseph-mackey/

My sister, Frances Wipprecht, wrote this piece on our grandfather, Francis Mackey:

PRIVATE FRANCIS (FRANK) JOSEPH MACKEY

My grandfather, Francis Joseph Mackey was” killed in action” on 5th October 1917 at the Battle of Broodseinde, Belgium – one of several battles of Third Ypres, usually termed Passchendaele. He was 37 years old.
He enlisted on 30th October 1916 and began training at Claremont Camp. His younger brother, William Ambrose, 32, had died there of meningitis four months earlier, only seven weeks after enlisting.
Frank had no complaints about the training camp and in a letter dated 4-11-16 to his mother, Ellen, who lived at Rhyndaston, near Colebrook he wrote: “I feel very well since I came and I like it very much, they treat us very well, get plenty to eat.”
On 10th February, 1917, Frank sailed with his unit, the Tasmanian 40th Battalion, on “HMAT Seang Bee” for England leaving behind his wife, Cecilia, who was expecting their first child in May. He requested that, if the baby was a boy, he be named William Ambrose, after his late brother.
The ship arrived in Devenport, England on 2nd May 1917 and in a letter dated 25-8-17 to his sister, also Ellen, he wrote: “…after a pleasant trip, we managed to dodge the submarines but had a little excitement the night before we landed our escorts sighted a submarine at dusk and fired on it but it got away, we were about 70 miles from Devenport where we landed.”
On 8th May 1917, my father, William Ambrose, was born at Ranelagh and his doting mother, Cecilia, sent photos and a postcard to Frank overseas, “I hope it will not be long before you are able to see your dear little son in reality.” And the proud father wrote back, “I was so pleased to know that you are well and it was a son, Dear I am anxious to get another letter from you to hear all about it and when it was born. I wish I was coming back to look after you dear, but don’t worry we will look forward to a good time coming. I often think of you although we are a long way apart.”
Frank enjoyed four days leave sightseeing in London but commented to Ellen “but you want plenty of money here, you have to pay through the nose for every thing…but Australia will do me and I won’t be sorry when I get back but I am thinking it will mean another winter in the trenches…” They were given extra training in England and he also spent two weeks with measles in an Isolation Hospital “very nearly all our boys got them…it was only a holiday for us we were well treated.”
In the same letter to his sister he writes, “…we are going to France tomorrow…so when you hear the Australians are in action again you will know I am with them, and trust to God for the rest. I have every confidence I will come through safe we have been well trained here, been through poison gass with helmets on.”
An entry in his notebook reads, “Arrived in France 30/8/17. Went up the line 12/9/17.” The troops were marched many miles through France and Belgium where they were involved in active duty on the battlefields.
Frank was transferred to a stretcher platoon. However, his time spent carrying the wounded was short.
During the heavy fighting on the hellish muddy wartorn battleground he was hit by a shell and died instantly at Broodseinde Ridge near Ypres on 5th October 1917.
Record from Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau Files 1914-1918 War:

Informant A. Harman of the 40th Battalion wrote: “I saw him killed at Ypres, Oct 5th 1917. His head was blown off with a shell. Knew him well, a real good fellow. He was a stretcher bearer and did good work and helped many a fellow on his feet. We were carrying the stretcher when we were hit. The stretcher was blown to pieces. I was hit, fractured scull and damaged sight.”

Captain F.C. Green of the 40th Battalion wrote: “My runner took his identity disc and papers and they belonged to 3147 Pte. F.J. Mackey. I made a note of it at the time, and noted that his people lived at Ranelagh, Tasmania. His body was buried by a burial party of the Battalion. The grave is near a place called Beecham on the Zonnebeke Map.”

My grandmother, Cecilia, was notified on 28th October 1917 that her husband was wounded in action and was reassured on November 3rd by the Defence Dept that “it is to be assumed that he is making satisfactory progress towards recovery..” However, a letter dated 5th December 1917 informed her that Frank was “Previously reported wounded, now reported killed in action.” He had been dead already for two months.
His personal possessions – wallet, photos, purse, coins and prayer book were returned to his wife.
Cecilia never remarried and grieved all her life for her beloved Frank. She wrote numerous letters in the hope of acquiring a photograph of his grave which did not exist. She passed away in 1973.
In 1977 when I was living in Holland with my Dutch husband we drove to Ypres in search of my

grandfather’s grave. We were directed to the Menin Gate Memorial where we found Francis Joseph’s nametogether with other members of the 40th Battalion who died on the battlefields and were buried where theyfell.

The names of 55,000 missing British and Empire troops are engraved on the Menin Gate Memorial, 6,000 of whom are Australians.

The inscriptions on the monument read:

TO THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO STOOD HERE FROM 1914 TO 1918
AND THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE

Above the staircase arches is inscribed:

IN MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM
HERE ARE RECORDED NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN WHO FELL
IN YPRES SALIENT, BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH

Photos of the monument and my grandfather’s name were promptly sent to my father in Tasmania and he wrote back, “It touched me greatly to think of my little daughter and her husband visiting that battlefield scene nearly 60 years after his death. God bless you both for what you did.”

On the 4th October 2007, the 90th anniversary of the battles of 1917 in Flanders, a huge honour was bestowed on Francis Joseph and Cecilia Mackey when they were mentioned in an address given by the then Governor-General Michael Jeffery at the Tyne Cot Memorial Service in Belgium. He urged us never to forget the families of soldiers at home waiting for news of their men.
Quote from the Governor General’s speech: “Mrs Cecilia Mackey of Tasmania wrote a simple yet anxious plea to the Secretary of Defence seeking official advice about conflicting news of her husband’s welfare: this is what she wrote: “Could you oblige me with particulars as to date that my husband was wounded as I have since been told that he was killed in action. Only three days ago I got word that his wound was not serious.
Please oblige as I am anxious.”

To be remembered 90 years later on the now peaceful battlefields of the Western Front was indeed an honour for my grandparents.

The names of Francis Joseph Mackey and his brother William Ambrose Mackey are also inscribed on the war monument at Richmond.

LEST WE FORGET

[End of Frances' article]


The Fatima apparitions took place between May 1917 and October 1917.
William Mackey was born in May 1917 and his father died in October 1917.

Fatima the Antidote to Apostasy

Fatima: the Antidote to Today’s
“Insidious Apostasy” from the Father’s House

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Mary, sign of God’s mercy, does not leave Christians alone. …. She is the icon of God’s tenderness for us.
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Graces and Mercy

John Paul II had spoken of the Fatima apparitions of 1917 (-1929) in terms recalling Moses and his efforts to restore Israel to the one true God. The popes have indeed likened Fatima to a new Mount Sinai and the altar of the world. Unlike false apparitions, the true and authentic visitations of the Blessed Virgin Mary are deeply rooted in the Scriptures. And they also profoundly affect contemporary history.
The above picture illustrates the Fatima seer Sister Lucia’s great Trinitarian vision at her convent in Spain, with ‘Graces and Mercy’ flowing down onto the altar. Scott Hahn, in “a Father Who Keeps his Promises” (Charis, 1998), has taken up this very theme of Grace and Mercy, when combined, as “the single greatest attribute of God”; and he has done so in connection with Moses’ encounter with God at Sinai (pp. 159f.):

Mercy Me!

Did Moses end up with less intimacy with God than when he started? It might look that way, judging from his apparent loss of face-to-face access with [the Lord]. Upon closer examination, however, the narrative may lead us to the opposite conclusion.
Before the collective bargaining session had begun, Moses was able to enjoy very close encounters with God on a regular bass – he beheld [the Lord] with his own eyes. But whatever natural capacity Moses possessed that enabled him to see the glory of God physically manifest, still it was just that, a natural capacity. And that is all that he lost.
In exchange, Moses was ordered to hide his face “in the cleft of the rock”, so that the Lord could pass by and proclaim his name (see Ex 33:17-23): “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (v. 19). So “Grace and Mercy” are God’s very name, his own identity. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, divine grace and mercy combine to form the single greatest attribute of God.
Thus, the Lord more than compensated Moses for whatever he lost by way of a natural vision of divine glory; for in return, Moses received a far greater revelation of God’s supernatural glory, as it is revealed in his covenant grace and mercy. This is the deepest and most glorious mystery of all, unknowable by the human mind and invisible to the natural eye. It is the essence of God’s inner life and the heart of the covenant. We may be sure then, that Moses came out a winner that day, not a loser; for he gained much more than he lost, infinitely more.
[End of quote]

THE CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

On the eve of the first Friday of June 1929, Sister Lucia in prayer near the tabernacle, saw a supernatural light which lit up the whole chapel, while a cross of light rising right to the ceiling, appeared on the altar. She saw a more intense light, at the upper part of the cross, God the Father and His body down to the waist, a luminous dove (the Holy Spirit) on His breast and the Lord Jesus Christ nailed to the cross. A chalice was seen above His waist, surmounted by a large host suspended in midair and drops of blood fell from His face and from the wound on His side upon the host and from there into the chalice. Our Lady was under the right arm of the cross. In her left hand was her Heart encircled with thorns and surmounted with flames. Under the left arm of the cross large letters, made of crystalline water flowing down upon the altar formed the words, "GRACES AND MERCY".

Lucia understood this to be the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. Our Lady then told her, "The moment has come when God is asking the Holy Father to consecrate Russia to my Immaculate Heart, in union with all the bishops of the world. He promises to save it by this means."

Sister Lucia, representing the chosen people at the new Mount Sinai - where now, not Moses, but the very Mother of God was ‘standing in the breach’ as the mediator (or Mediatrix, not however replacing Christ’s essential mediation) with the Godhead - was also the recipient of this tremendous ‘Sinaïtic’ mystery. Now it was in this awesome context that Our Lady of the Rosary (of Fatima) would ask for the collegial Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart - She had already, in 1925, asked for the Communion of Reparation (known as the Five First Saturdays) - to save the world from disaster, and, even more importantly, to save souls from Hell.
In September of 2007 Cardinal Bertone, the Secretary of State for the Vatican, referred to this Trinitarian aspect of the Message of Fatima, and to Fatima’s profound impact on contemporary history, when he said:

The profitable meeting of charisma and institution, of the Trinitarian mystery and the Christological mystery, is realized in the message. Mary, sign of God’s mercy, does not leave Christians alone. She gives us indications like a road sign to fight the battle between good and evil. Mary is the icon of God’s tenderness for us. [Fatima] is something that taps into and impregnates contemporary history like no other Marian apparition, and the density of its message touches the hearts of mankind, inviting to conversion and the shared responsibility for the salvation of the world.
[End of quote]

The comparison with Sinai is also most fitting given that our Third Millennium world, is like that of the nation of Israel, lost in a ‘Sinai wilderness’, drifting far away from God, lured again by the seductive ‘Golden Calf’ in its many forms. This, too, was explicitly noted by Cardinal Sodano in his homily of 13th May, 2007 (90th anniversary of the first Fatima apparition), especially in relation to Europe:

Today, 90 years have passed since the apparitions at Cova da Iria. We would like to ask Mary to continue to show all her motherly tenderness for the men and women of our time, who are sometimes tempted to forget God and set their hearts on the golden calf of earthly fatuity. Mary knows that the eternal salvation of her children is at stake, and for this reason repeats to us Jesus’ call: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15).
Mary’s call, it is strong and decisive, such as a mother would address to her children at the important moments of their life….
Today, we feel the need to address her with the invocation of a well-known hymn of the liturgy: “Monstra te esse Matrem”; “Show us, O Mary, that you are Mother!”
Many people today seem to be drifting away from the Father’s house, and we cluster around our Mother so that she may enlighten their consciences and bring prodigal sons back to the Father’s house.
It is particularly the children who live in Europe who are tempted to forget the faith that was their strength down the centuries. An insidious apostasy is taking place in our countries, which should give us cause for concern.
Today, let us entrust to the Immaculate Heart of Mary the future of the people and peoples of our Continent, committing ourselves to restoring to the heart of our society that Gospel leaven which permeated history down the ages. Let us also promise Mary to work intensely for this noble end, seeking to be “salt of the earth and light of the world”. With our prayers, our work and our Christian testimony, we will thus respond to Mary’s call and foster the dissemination of Christ’s Gospel in today’s world. Indeed together with the Second Vatican Council (cf. Gaudium et Spes, n. 10), we believe that the “key, the centre and the purpose of the whole of man’s history is to be found in her Lord and Master … Jesus Christ, [who] is the same yesterday and today and for ever” (Heb 13:8). Amen!

PONTEVEDRA: LUCIA AND THE APPARITIONS AFTER 1917

By: SCTJM

http://www.piercedhearts.org/treasures/shrines/pontevedra.htm


Introduction

Lucia was the oldest of the Fatima visionaries. She entered religious life with the St. Dorothy Sisters in Pontevedra and later entered the Carmelites in Coimbra, Portugal until her death on February 13th, 2005.

During this time the following occurred :
- the petition of Our Lady of the Five First Saturdays of Reparation
- the vision of the Trinity with the petition of the consecration of Russia

The First Saturdays in Reparation

History

Saturdays are traditionally dedicated to Our Lady. Since the beginning of Christianity, the Church has considered Saturdays to be dedicated to intensifying our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our mother. Many people consecrated the first Saturday of the month to Mary for this intention and in reparation for the blasphemies and sacrileges against her from sinners and false teachings.

Pope Saint Pio X, on July 12th, 1905, promulgated a decree praising this practice, and moreover, he granted indulgences for it. This same year, in the month of November, the Holy Father again blessed and granted indulgences to the sons and daughters of the Heart of Mary and the Confraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who traditionally had dedicated each first Saturday to repairing the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The Blessed Virgin requests the Five First Saturdays of Reparation

The Blessed Virgin said: “To prevent the war, I will come to ask for the consecration to Russia to my Immaculate Heart and communion in reparation on the first Saturdays of the month.”

Our Lady promised Lucia on July 13th, 1917 that a future manifestation would occur in relation to the practice of the first five Saturdays of the month.
This was fulfilled on December 10th, 1925.

Lucia was a postulant in the Convent of St. Dorothy in Pontevedra, Spain when she had the apparition of our Blessed Mother. She was standing over a cloud of light with the Child Jesus at her side. The Blessed Virgin put one hand on Lucia’s shoulder, while her other hand sustained her Immaculate Heart that was surrounded with thorns. The Child Jesus said: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Blessed Mother. It is surrounded with thorns that ungrateful men pierce each moment, and there is no one that is willing to offer an act of reparation to take the thorns away.”

Our Lady immediately said to Lucia:
“Look, my daughter. My Heart is surrounded with thorns that ungrateful men pierce unceasingly with their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me and announce that for all those, who for five consecutive first Saturdays, confess, receive Holy Communion, pray the Holy Rosary and accompany me for15 minutes by meditating the mysteries of the Holy Rosary with the intention to do reparation, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with the graces needed for salvation.”

The elements of the First Saturday devotion

1- Confession. Essential for the journey of repentance and conversion.
2- Eucharist. The first fruit of this devotion is the worship of the Holy Eucharist in three ways: sacrifice, communion, and adoration.
3- Holy Rosary prayer with two aspects : prayer, meditation. Five mysteries are to be prayed.
4- The promise of salvation.

Meditation of the Holy Rosary:
The vocal prayer of the Rosary has always been fundamentally based on the interior act of meditation on the mysteries of the life, sufferings, and glory of our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The prayer that our Lady requested us to pray after each mystery is : “Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.”

In this prayer, we are praying for the conversion and eternal salvation of the souls of sinners. These sinners may be very obstinate in their sins, refusing to repent. Some are unknowingly in mortal sin and are at the precipice of death. Finally, there are those who because of circumstances of location or education, are far from the possibility of finding a priest and receiving the sacraments, even in their last moments. The graces and merits from the reparation and prayers of Christians who are united in meditation with the Heart of Mary, Mother and refuge of sinners, are especially for these poor souls “most need of God’s mercy.”

Promise of Salvation:
To those who practice this devotion of the First Five Saturdays of the Month, Our Lady promised:
“I promise to assist them at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation.” She does not promise eternal salvation, but the graces necessary for salvation.
There are many testimonies from souls particularly devoted to the Heart of Mary who receive knowledge from heaven about the proximity of their hour of death. It is not necessarily an announcement of death, but a new awareness and need to receive the sacraments with more dignity, a purer intention in all their actions, and an intensification of charity and dedication to their apostolate. The Heart of Mary perfects the souls of her children until they reach their decisive encounter with their Divine Savior.

Spirit of Reparation

All the acts of devotion offered should be done with the intention of repairing the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Those that offend Mary commit a double offense because they offend her and her Divine Son. As a result, their salvation is in danger.

This reparation emphasizes our personal responsibility towards sinners who do not pray and do not do reparation for their sins. This devotion represents a social responsibility and reminds us that in order to reach God, we should love our neighbor and try to save their souls. Also, it teaches us an excellent way of doing this - by repairing the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Some worry about forgetting to offer the intention of reparation on one of the First Saturdays of the month. This can be avoided by making the resolution to offer the reparation at the beginning of the first First Saturday.

“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love you. And I ask forgiveness for those who do not believe, do not adore, and do not love you.” (the angel to the shepherd children at Fatima)

Why the Five Saturdays?

During her prayer time, our Lord revealed to Lucia the reason for the Five Saturdays of Reparation:

“My daughter, the reason is simple; it concerns the 5 forms of offenses and blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
1-Against her Immaculate Conception.
2- Against her virginity
3- Against her Divine Maternity, refusing at the same time to receive Mary as Mother of all humanity.
4- Against those that publicly instill and induce indifference, hate and scorn towards our Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children.
5- Against those that insult or directly offend her sacred images.

“This is why, my daughter, that before the offended and insulted Immaculate Heart, my mercy was moved to request this small reparation in recognition to Her, in order to grant forgiveness to souls who go through this disgrace of offending My Mother. But you, at least, try unceasingly, with your prayers and sacrifices, to move my mercy for these souls.”

It is important to establish a fixed time for this devotion; in this case, it is the First Saturdays of the month. This will help us establish a habit, just as the Church leads our spiritual lives through liturgical cycles: lent, advent, etc . . .

The Importance if this devotion

On February 1926, the Child Jesus appeared to Lucia asking her if she promoted the devotion to our Blessed Mother. Lucia talked about the difficulties she encountered in order to fulfill this mission. Jesus responded that His grace is sufficient.

In Fatima, the Blessed Mother’s desire was to recommend this devotion, specifically “ Five First Consecutive Saturdays,” promising salvation to those who practice it.
It is God who is offended by each sin. For this reason, it is also God the ultimate object of each act of reparation from Christians. We would not comprehend the celestial message given at Fatima in this essential element of reparation unless it is directed to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Our Lord Himself says: “Have compassion for your Mother’s Heart. It is surrounded with thorns that ungrateful men pierce at each moment, and there is no one who does acts of reparation to remove them.”

The predestination of Mary in her Divine Maternity, her active collaboration in all the work of redemption, her mission to be the spiritual mother of all the Church and of each person redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ constitute the basic laws of divine providence for the effective application of redemption in each soul.

Therefore, devotion to her Immaculate Heart should be intensified and promoted. As a result, whoever offends our Mother, either by blasphemies, by rejecting the greatness in her mission of co-redemption, or by trying to demote the devotion of Our Lady in the Church or in souls, offends God and His providence at the same time. A Christian who understands how vile this type of offenses are tries to do reparation by intensifying his personal devotion and efforts so the Reign of the Heart of Mary may be established. This is how love responds.

Both aspects of Christian reparation, first directed to God and subordinated to the Heart of Mary, are complementary manifestations of one same reality and one same Spirit.

Fruits of this devotion

In all true devotion to Our Lady (devotion to her Immaculate Heart is a perfect expression of true devotion) there always exists an effective invitation to return our hearts to Christ Our Savior.

When it is about those who have lost grace, it is a call to conversion, to the life of grace and eternal salvation.

When it is about the souls that live in God’s grace, the true devotion to Mary gives them a strong push to advance towards holiness creating in them an apostolic Christian spirit.

This is a constant law in the Church’s vitality. Whether it is from Marian Institutions, Marian Shrines, movements or Marian Pilgrimages, there has always been an irresistible call from Mary’s Maternal Heart to return these souls to Christ.

The practice of the First Saturdays of reparation corresponds to this new chapter of sanctification and the eternal salvation of the redeemed.

Vision of the Trinity and the petition for the consecration of Russia

In June 1929, Lucia, already a religious of St. Dorothy, describes the following apparition:
“ . . . . suddenly the entire convent Chapel was illuminated in a supernatural light, and a Cross of light appeared over the altar and reached the ceiling. On the superior part the face of man was seen and his body down to the waist. A dove of light was over his chest and nailed to the Cross was another man.
Suspended in air over his waist I was able to see a chalice with a large Host. Drops of Blood from the face of Jesus Crucified and His pierced side fell into the
the chalice, dripping from the Host.

Beneath the right arm on the Cross was Our Lady. It was Our Lady of Fatima, with her Immaculate Heart in her left hand, without thorns or roses, but with a crown of thorns and flames. Underneath the left arm on the Cross, big letters, similar to crystal water came down to the altar forming these words:
“Grace and Mercy.” Lucia said: “I understood it was the mystery of the Blessed Trinity that was revealed to me, and I perceived inner light about this mystery which I’m unable to reveal. The Blessed Virgin told me: “Time has come in which God asks the Holy Father that in union with all the bishops of the world the consecration of Russia to my Heart be made. I promise salvation through this means.”

Papal Consecrations:

Dec. 1940 - Lucia receives permission to write the Holy Father Pio XII, asking for this consecration.

Oct. 1942 - Pope Pío XII consecrates the world mentioning specially Russia.

July 1952 - Special Consecration only of Russia.

1965 - Pope Paul VI also consecrates Russia.

1984 - Pope John Paul II consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart.

2000 - Pope John Paul II consecrates the III Millennium to the Immaculate Heart.

Many times these consecrations were considered to be incomplete because they were not done in union with the bishops of the world.

The consecration that John Paul II, did of the world in 1984, in Roma before the image of Our Lady of Fatima was, according to Lucia, in conformity with Mary’s desires. All the bishops of the world were formally invited by the Holy Father John Paul II to unite to him in this consecration.

The Marian Way

"I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next." (The Blessed Virgin to St. Bernadette at Lourdes, 18 February, 1858).

Our Lady appeared at Lourdes in the same year (1858) that Charles Darwin was writing his Origin of the Species; the book that would enable for the spread of so many "false evolutionary notions" that would later be condemned by the Church, but would be taken up with wholehearted en-thusiasm by Teilhard de Chardin and his colleagues.

The Blessed Virgin repeated to St. Bernadette what the Church had recently (1854) defined as Dogma: "I Am the Immaculate Conception".

De Chardin, infatuated with his evolutionary views, would later implicitly deny the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, because of his rejection of the notion of sin and of the need for a Redemption by Christ.

But his opinions are meaningless. He is one of those thieves and robbers who, according to Our Lord, try to force another way; a way that leads only to destruction.

The Immaculate Virgin, on the other hand, is co-Redemptrix. God, of course, had no need of any help from His creatures, but He nevertheless chose Mary to be a partner for Christ, a New Eve for the New Adam.

And how fortunate for us that He designed salvific history in this way! We thus have a spiritual Mother to help us along the painful and difficult road to salvation. Even to make it relatively easy, as the Popes and Saints down through the ages have taught us. For they, whilst not denying the Cross - far from it! - have made it abundantly clear that to walk life's way of the Cross with the Virgin Mary is to have chosen at once the shortest, easiest, safest, most secure and most meritorious path to salvation.

Whilst there are no short cuts along this way - with every single step having to be traced out - still, for those accompanied by Mary, the road seems short because they walk it more quickly and more surely, without having to re-trace their steps. Whilst one still will have to carry the Cross - and perhaps a very heavy one at times - with Mary the Cross will seem far lighter and more sweet, because She helps her friends to carry it and She even communicates to them some of Her own ardent love for the Cross.

We may thus appropriately conclude our article with these consoling words of St. Bernard:

When you follow Mary, you will not go astray; when you pray to her, you will not despair; when you think of her, you will not err; when she sustains you, you will not fall; when she protects you, you will not fear; when she leads you, you will not become tired; when she favours you, you will arrive safely" ["Inter flores", cap.135, De Maria Virgine].

Originally written on 11th February, 1996.

Was Fatima's Miracle of the Sun Also Represented in the Constellation Virgo (Virgin)?

According to:
http://www.treeoflifesword.com/God-Jesus-Christ-sun-Fatima-moon-planets.html

Look at what was happening in the heavens during the miracle of the sun at Fatima Portugal in 1917...The sun was actually positioned in the hand of 'Virgo,' or 'the Virgin.' Then at the time of the miracle, 3pm [AMAIC book has 2 pm], the sun actually was starting to exit her hand. This is a snapshot of that moment.

[One will need to visit this site to see the actual star maps].

...

"She always had a star on her tunic."-Sr. Lucia, one of the children who saw Our Lady at Fatima.

Pope Pius XII and the Miracle of the Sun
When Pope Pius XII first saw the Miracle of the Sun, while walking in the Vatican Gardens on 10-30-1950 at 4pm, the Sun was astronomically positioned on the lower part of the tunic of Virgo (the Virgin).Also, Venus the mother planet is right above the Sun.
4pm 10-30-1950 view from Rome
Above you see how so many of the statues of Our Lady of Fatima have been portrayed. Notice the star positioned, as Sister Lucia so precisely described for future artist representations, on the hem of her tunic. To add a chill factor, it is directly over her left foot. In the same position where it was astronomically when the Holy Roman Pontiff first saw theSun Miracle. Stunning.
....

Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich on the Basic Truths of the Catechism

Anne Catherine Emmerich was told by Our Lord that her gift of seeing the past, present, and future in mystic vision was greater than that possessed by anyone else in history. Born at Flamske in Westphalia, Germany, on September 8, 1774, she became a nun of the Augustinian Order at Dulmen. She had the use of reason from her birth and could understand liturgical Latin from her first time at Mass. During the last 12 years of her life, she could eat no food except Holy Communion, nor take any drink except water, subsisting entirely on the Holy Eucharist. From 1802 until her death, she bore the wounds of the Crown of Thorns, and from 1812, the full stigmata of Our Lord, including a cross over her heart and the wound from the lance.

Anne Catherine Emmerich possessed the gift of reading hearts, and she saw, in actual, visual detail, the facts of Catholic belief which most of us simply have to accept on faith. The basic truths of the catechism--angels, devils, Purgatory, the life of Our Lord and the Blessed Mother, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the grace of the Sacraments--all these truths were as real to her as the material world. Her revelations make the hidden, supernatural world come alive. Below are some of the most enthralling of these revelations:
She saw that each parish and diocese, each city and country has its own particular and powerful guardian angel.

She saw that the Church never has allowed children of Catholics to be raised outside her fold, and that as soon as solidly established, she banned mixed marriages.

She saw how the various indulgences we gain actually remit specific punishments which otherwise would await us in Purgatory.

She revealed that to gain an indulgence we must approach the Sacraments with true repentance and a firm purpose of amendment--or we do not gain it.

She deposes that it is more holy to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory than for sinners who are still alive.

She describes the nature, extent and power of victim souls, and their role in the life of the Church. She describes the condition of St. Lydwine of Schiedam, a victim soul during the time of "three popes," and how her body came apart into three pieces, joined only by the slenderest of sinews. She saw only 6 victim souls in her time working like herself on behalf of the Universal Church, and about 100,000 Catholic people worldwide who were great in their faith.

She revealed that saints are particularly powerful on their feast days and should be invoked then.
She saw that many saints come from the same families, the antiquity of which often extends far back into the Old Testament.

She saw the strong link--even long after their deaths--between holy souls in Heaven and their descendants here on earth, lasting even centuries.

She saw that the Garden of Eden, with all it contained, was a perfect picture of the Kingdom of God.

She revealed that Enoch and Elias are in Paradise where they await their return to the world to preach at the End of Time.

She revealed that Our Lord suffered from the wound in His shoulder more than from any other.
She continually saw a false church, and wicked men scheming against the Catholic Church and doing much harm--both in her own time and in the future.

She saw in a vision the enemies of the Church tearing it down and trying to build a new one on strictly human plans--but none of the saints would lend a hand. Later, this church of men is destroyed and the saints of God join in to rebuild the true Church of God, which becomes more glorious than ever before.

She saw the revival of the priesthood and the religious orders after a period of great decadence.
She describes in detail her visions of heaven, which she saw as "the Heavenly Jerusalem."

Quotes from Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich:

"The Church is the only one, the Roman Catholic! And if there were left upon earth but one Catholic, he would be the one, universal Church, the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ against which the gates of Hell shall never prevail."

"Then I had the sweet assurance that Mary is the Church; the Church, our mother; God, our father; and Jesus, our brother."

"O who can tell the beauty, the purity, the innocence of Mary! She knows everything, and yet she seems to know nothing, so childlike is she. She lowers her eyes and, when she looks up, her glance penetrates like a ray, like a pure beam of light, like truth itself! It is because she is perfectly innocent, full of God, and without returns upon self. None can resist her grace."

"All over the world I saw numberless infusions of the Spirit; sometimes, like a lightning-stroke, falling on a congregation in church, and I could tell who among them had received the grace; or again, I beheld individuals praying in their homes, suddenly endowed with light and strength. The sight awoke in me great joy and confidence that the Church, amid her ever-increasing tribulations, will not succumb; for in all parts of the world I saw defenders raised up to her by the Holy Ghost. Yes, I felt that the oppression of the powers of this world serves but to increase her strength."

"There is no created good so lightly esteemed, so carelessly trifled away by an immense majority of human beings as the fugitive moments of this short life so rapidly flying toward eternity."

"Man's value before God is estimated by the dispositions of his heart, its uprightness, its good-will, its charity, and not by keenness of intellect or extent of knowledge."

"If the Church is true, all in her is true; he who admits not the one, believes not the other."

"What the Pilgrim [Clement Brentano, her self-appointed secretary] gathers he will bear far away, for here there is no desire to have it. But it will produce fruit where he goes, and that same fruit will one day return and make itself felt even here."

"From the lips of those that pray I see a chain of words issuing like a fiery stream and mounting up to God, and in them I see the disposition of the one who prays, I read everything. The writing is as varied as the individuals themselves."

"I saw Adam's bones reposing in a cavern under Mt. Calvary deep down, almost to water level, and in a straight line beneath the spot on which Jesus Christ was crucified."

"Mass badly celebrated is an enormous evil. Ah! it is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it."

"Were man and the earth in perfect harmony, there would be paradise here below. Prayer governs the weather . . . I see the life of nature intimately connected with that of the soul."

"She said what is most painful for me to repeat, that if only one priest offered the Unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church."

"I can never grieve for a person who dies resignedly, nor for a child suffering patiently; for patient suffering is the most enviable state of man."

"Now, for all who are not in living union with Jesus Christ by faith and grace, nature is full of Satan's influence."

"Owing to the spirit of the world and tepidity, if the Savior returned to earth today to announce His doctrine in person, He would find as many opponents as He did among the Jews."

"Now I saw clearly by this that the dear God looks only at the heart in time of prayer."

"No grace, no degree of sanctity surpasses in intrinsic dignity and grandeur the sacerdotal [priestly] character."

"The poor souls suffer inexpressibly."

"Many stay a long time in purgatory who, although not great sinners, have lived tepidly."

"The prayer most pleasing to God is that made for others and particularly for the poor souls. Pray for them, if you want your prayers to bring high interest."

Read her book The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ online. Read an excerpt from The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich.