THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for December 12th, 2013
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Liturgical texts here
(Selected: Rev 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; Judith 13; Luke 1:39-47)
Jump for Joy, by Corby Eisbacher
SOMETIMES when I’m speaking at conferences, I will look into the crowd and ask them, “Do you want to fulfill a 2000 year old prophecy, right here, right now?” The response is usually an excited yes! Then I’d say, “Pray with me the words”:
IMAGINE a small child, who has just learned to walk, being taken into a busy shopping mall. He is there with his mother, but does not want to take her hand. Every time he begins to wander, she gently reaches for his hand. Just as quickly, he pulls it away and continues to dart in any direction he wants. But he is oblivious to the dangers: the throngs of hurried shoppers who barely notice him; the exits that lead to traffic; the pretty but deep water fountains, and all the other unknown dangers that keep parents awake at night. Occasionally, the mother—who is always a step behind—reaches down and grabs a little hand to keep him from going into this store or that, from running into this person or that door. When he wants to go the other direction, she turns him around, but still, he wants to walk on his own.
Now, imagine another child who, upon entering the mall, senses the dangers of the unknown. She willingly lets the mother take her hand and lead her. The mother knows just when to turn, where to stop, where to wait, for she can see the dangers and obstacles ahead, and takes the safest path for her little one. And when the child is willing to be picked up, the mother walks straight ahead, taking the quickest and easiest path to her destination.
Now, imagine that you are a child, and Mary is your mother. Whether you are a Protestant or a Catholic, a believer or an unbeliever, she is always walking with you… but are you walking with her?
“Flight Into Egypt”, Michael D. O’Brien
Joseph, Mary, and the Christ Child camp in the desert at night as they flee to Egypt.
The stark surroundings accentuate their plight,
the danger they are in, the darkness of the world.
As the mother nurses her child, the father stands watch and plays gently on a flute,
the music soothing the Child to sleep.
Their entire life is founded on mutual trust, love, sacrifice,
and abandonment to divine providence. —Artist’s notes
WE can now see it coming into view: the edge of the Great Storm. Over the past seven years, the image of a hurricane is what the Lord has used to teach me about what is coming upon the world. The first half of the Storm are the “labor pains” that Jesus spoke of in Matthew and what St. John describes in more detail in Revelation 6:3-17:
You will hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, but it will not yet be the end. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes from place to place. All these are the beginning of the labor pains… (Matt 24:6-8)
From the XIII Station of the Cross, by Fr Pfettisheim Chemin
“WOULD you pray over me?” she asked, as I was about to leave their home where she and her husband took care of me during my mission there in California several weeks ago. “Of course,” I said.
She sat down in a chair in the living room facing a wall of icons of Jesus, Mary and the saints. As I placed my hands on her shoulders and began to pray, I was struck by a clear image in my heart of Our Blessed Mother standing beside this woman to her left. She was wearing a crown, like the statue of Fatima; it was strapped with gold with white velvet in between. Our Lady’s hands were outstretched, and her sleeves were rolled up like she was going to work!
At that moment, the woman I was praying over began to weep. Continue reading
Rembrandt van Rijn, “The return of the prodigal son”; c.1662
MY time in Rome at the Vatican in October, 2006 was an occasion of great graces. But it was also a time of great trials.
I came as a pilgrim. It was my intention to immerse myself in prayer through the surrounding spiritual and historical edifice of the Vatican. But by the time my 45 minute cab ride from the Airport to St. Peter’s Square was over, I was exhausted. The traffic was unbelievable—the way people drove even more startling; every man for himself!
The Annunciation, by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1898; Philadelphia Museum of Art)
AND so, we have arrived at the days in which great changes are imminent. It can be overwhelming as we watch the warnings which have been given begin to unfold in the headlines. But we were created for these times, and where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. The Church will triumph.
Apparition Hill at Dawn, Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina
WHILE only the Public Revelation of Jesus Christ requires the assent of faith, the Church teaches that it would be imprudent to ignore the prophetic voice of God or “despise prophecy,” as St. Paul says. After all, authentic “words” from the Lord, are, from the Lord:
One can therefore simply ask why God provides them continuously [in the first place if] they hardly need to be heeded by the Church. —Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mistica oggettiva, n. 35
Even controversial theologian, Karl Rahner, also asked…
…whether anything God reveals can be unimportant. —Karl Rahner, Visions and Prophecies, p. 25
The Vatican has insisted upon remaining open to the alleged apparition thus far as it continues to discern the authenticity of the phenomena there. (If that’s good enough for Rome, it’s good enough for me.)
As a former television reporter, the facts surrounding Medjugorje do concern me. I know they concern many people. I have taken the same position on Medjugorje as Blessed John Paul II (as witnessed to by Bishops who have discussed the apparitions with him). That position is to celebrate the wonderful fruits flowing from this place, namely conversion and an intense sacramental life. This is not an ooey-gooey-warm-fuzzy opinion, but a hard fact based on the testimonies of thousands of Catholic clergy and countless laymen.
MEDJUGORJE is that little town in Bosnia-Herzogovina where the Blessed Mother has allegedly been appearing for over 25 years. The sheer volume of miracles, conversions, vocations, and other supernatural fruits of this site demand a serious examination of what is occurring there—so much so, that according to new confirmed reports, the Vatican, not the new commission, will direct the final judgment on the alleged phenomena (see Medjugorje: “Just the facts, ma’am”).
This is unprecedented. The significance of the apparitions has reached to the highest levels. And significant they are, given that Mary has allegedly said these will be her “last apparitions on earth.“
FEAST OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
POPE John Paul II called her the Star of the New Evangelization. Indeed, Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Morning Star of the New Evangelization which precedes the Day of the Lord.
A great sign appeared in the sky, 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 and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. (Rev 12:1-2)
I hear the words,
There is coming a powerful release of the Holy Spirit.
I rose at 3:30 am on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception this past December 8th. I had to catch an early flight on my way to New Hampshire in the U.S. to give two parish missions.
Yes, another border crossing into the States. As many of you know, these crossings have been difficult for us lately and nothing short of a spiritual battle.
Mary, presenting Jesus, a Mural in Conception Abbey, Conception, Missouri
From a reader:
If we must enter into the ark of protection provided by our Mother, what will happen to Protestants and Jews? I know many Catholics, priests as well, who reject the whole idea of entering the “ark of protection” Mary is offering us—but we don’t reject her out of hand as other denominations do. If her pleas are falling on deaf ears in the Catholic hierarchy and much of the laity, what about those that don’t know her at all?
Noah’s Ark, Artist Unknown
THERE is a quickening of events in nature, but also an intensifying of human hostility against the Church. Yet, Jesus did speak of labor pains which would be “only the beginning.” If that is the case, why would there be this feeling of urgency which so many people sense about the days in which we are living, as if “something” were imminent?
WORDS which have been circling my heart…
As the darkness gets darker, the Stars get brighter.
OPEN DOORS
I believe Jesus is empowering those who are humble and open to His Holy Spirit to grow rapidly in holiness. Yes, the doors of Heaven are open. Pope John Paul II’s Jubilee celebration of 2000, in which he pushed open the doors of St. Peter’s Basilica, is symbolic of this. Heaven has literally opened its doors to us.
But the reception of these graces is dependent upon this: that we open the doors of our hearts. Those were the first words of JPII when he was elected…
Sun setting on "Apparition Hill" –— Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina
IT was my fourth, and last day in Medjugorje—that little village in the war-torn mountains of Bosnia-Herzegovina where the Blessed Mother has allegedly been appearing to six children (now, grown adults).
I had heard of this place for years, yet never felt the need to go there. But when I was asked to sing in Rome, something within me said, "Now, now you must go to Medjugorje."
St. James Parish, Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina
SHORTLY before my flight from Rome to Bosnia, I caught a news story quoting Archbishop Harry Flynn of Minnesota, USA on his recent trip to Medjugorje. The Archbishop was speaking of a luncheon he had with Pope John Paul II and other American bishops in 1988:
Soup was being served. Bishop Stanley Ott of Baton Rouge, LA., who has since gone to God, asked the Holy Father: “Holy Father, what do you think of Medjugorje?”
The Holy Father kept eating his soup and responded: “Medjugorje? Medjugorje? Medjugorje? Only good things are happening at Medjugorje. People are praying there. People are going to Confession. People are adoring the Eucharist, and people are turning to God. And, only good things seem to be happening at Medjugorje.” —www.spiritdaily.com, October 24th, 2006
Indeed, that’s what I’d heard coming from that Medjugorje… miracles, especially miracles of the heart. I’d had a number of family members experience profound conversions and healings after visiting this place.
THE explosion of division, divorce, and violence this past year is striking.
The letters I’ve received of Christian marriages disintegrating, children abandoning their moral roots, family members falling away from the faith, spouses and siblings caught in addictions, and startling outbursts of anger and divisiveness among relatives is grievous.
And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet. (Mark 13:7)
St. James Parish, Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina
AS the controversy surrounding the alleged apparitions of the Blesssed Virgin Mary at Medjugorje began to heat up again earlier this year, I asked the Lord, "If the apparitions are really authentic, why is it taking so long for prophesied "things" to happen?"
The answer was as swift as the question:
Because you’re taking so long.
There are many arguments surrounding the phenomenon of Medjugorje (which is currently under Church investigation). But there’s no arguing the answer I received that day.
SO few, it seems, understand the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church. I want to share with you two true stories to shed light on this most honored member of the Body of Christ. One story is my own… but first, from a reader…
WHY MARY? A CONVERT’S VISION…
The Catholic teaching on Mary has been the most difficult doctrine of the Church for me to accept. Being a convert, I had been taught the “fear of Mary worship.” It was instilled deep within me!
After my conversion, I would pray, asking Mary to intercede for me, but then doubt would assail me and I would, so to speak, (put her aside for a while.) I would pray the Rosary, then I would stop praying the Rosary, this went on for some time!
Then one day I prayed fervently to God, “Please, Lord, I beg you, show me the truth about Mary.”
Outside St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans
A FRIEND wrote me today, on this Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with a spine-tingling story:
Mark, an unusual incident occurred on Sunday. It happened as follows:
My husband and I celebrated our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary over the week-end. We went to Mass on Saturday, then out to dinner with our associate pastor and some friends, we later attended an outdoor drama “The Living Word.” As as anniversary gift a couple gave us a beautiful statue of our Lady with the baby Jesus.
On Sunday morning, my husband placed the statue in our entry-way, on a plant ledge above the front door. A while later, I went out on the front porch to read the bible. As I sat down and started to read, I glanced down into the flower bed and there lay a tiny crucifix ( I have never seen it before and I have worked in that flower bed many times!) I picked it up and went to the back deck to show my husband. I then came inside, placed it on the curio rack, and went to the porch again to read.
As I sat down, I saw a snake in the exact spot where the crucifix was.
Polaris: The North Star
MEMORIAL OF THE QUEENSHIP OF
THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
I HAVE been transfixed with the Northern Star the past few weeks. I confess, I did not know where it was until my brother-in-law pointed it out one starry night in the mountains.
Something in me tells me I will need to know where this star is in the future. And so tonight, once again, I gazed up at the sky mentally noting it. Then logging onto my computer, I read these words a cousin had just emailed me:
Whoever you are that perceive yourself during this mortal existence to be rather drifting in treacherous waters, at the mercy of the winds and the waves, than walking on firm ground, turn not away your eyes from the splendor of this guiding star, unless thou wish to be submerged by the storm.
Look at the star, call upon Mary. … With her for guide, you shall not go astray, while invoking her, you shall never lose heart … if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal. —St. Bernard of Clarivaux, as quoted this week by Pope Benedict XVI
“Star of the New Evangelization” —title given Our Lady of Guadalupe by Pope John Paul II
Mother and Child reading the Word—Michael D. O’brien
WHY do “Catholics” say they need Mary?
One can only answer this by posing another question: why did Jesus need Mary? Couldn’t Christ have materialized in the flesh, emerging from the desert, proclaiming the good news? Certainly. But God chose to come through a human creature, a virgin, a teenage girl.
WHILE contemplating Jesus in the Glorious Mysteries last night, I was pondering on the fact that I always picture Mary standing up while Jesus crowns her Queen of Heaven. These thoughts came to me…
Mary knelt in profound adoration of her God and Son, Jesus. But when Jesus approached to crown her, He pulled her gently to her feet, honoring the Fifth Commandment "Thou shalt honor thy mother and father."
And to the joy of Heaven, she was enthroned their Queen.
The Catholic Church does not worship Mary, a creature like you and me. But we honor our saints, and Mary is the greatest of them all. For not only was she Christ’s mother (think about it–He probably got His nice Jewish nose from her), but she exemplified perfect faith, perfect hope, and perfect love.
These three remain (1 Cor 13:13), and they are the largest jewels in her crown.
YESTERDAY’s liturgy marks the end of Pentecost week–but not the profound necessity in our lives of the Holy Spirit and His spouse, the Virgin Mary.
It has been my personal experience, having traveled to hundreds of parishes, meeting tens of thousands of people–that souls who open themselves to the activity of the Holy Spirit, coupled with a healthy devotion to Mary, are some of the strongest apostles I know.
And why should this surprise anyone? Wasn’t it this combination of heaven and earth over 20 centuries ago, that wrought the incarnation of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ?
That is the way Jesus is always conceived. That is the way He is reproduced in souls… Two artisans must concur in the work that is at once God’s masterpiece and humanity’s supreme product: the Holy Spirit and the most holy Virgin Mary… for they are the only ones who can reproduce Christ. –Archbishop Luis M. Martinez, The Sanctifier
POPE John Paul II called the Rosary "the school of Mary".
How often have I been overwhelmed by distraction and anxiety, only to be immersed in tremendous peace as I begin to pray the Rosary! And why should this surprise us? The Rosary is nothing other than a "compendium of the Gospel" (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, JPII). And the Word of God is "living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword" (Heb 4:12).
Do you wish to cut through the sorrow of your heart? Do you wish to pierce the darkness within your soul? Then take up this Sword in the shape of a chain, and with it, contemplate the face of Christ in the Mysteries of the Rosary. Outside of the Sacraments, I know of no other means by which one can so quickly scale the walls of holiness, be illumined in conscience, brought to repentance, and opened to the knowledge of God, than by this little prayer of the Handmaiden.
And as powerful is this prayer, so too are the temptations not to pray it. In fact, I personally wrestle with this devotion more than any other. But the fruit of perseverance can be likened to the one who drills for hundreds of feet beneath the surface until at last he uncovers a mine of gold.
If during the Rosary, you are distracted 50 times, then begin to pray it again each time. You have then just offered 50 acts of love to God. –Fr. Bob Johnson, Madonna House Apostolate (my spiritual director)
It shall be established for ever as the moon,
and as a faithful witness in heaven. (Psalm 59:57)
LAST night as I looked up at the moon, a thought burst into my mind. The heavenly bodies are analogies of another reality…
Mary is the moon which reflects the Son, Jesus. Though the Son is the source of light, Mary reflects Him back to us. And surrounding her are countless stars–Saints, illuminating history with her.
At times, Jesus seems to "disappear," beyond the horizon of our suffering. But He has not left us: at the moment He seems to vanish, Jesus is already racing toward us on a new horizon. As a sign of His presence and love, He has also left us His Mother. She does not replace the life-giving power of her Son; but like a careful mother, she lights the darkness, reminding us that He is the Light of the World… and to never doubt His mercy, even in our darkest moments.
After I received this "visual word", the following scripture raced by like a shooting star:
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.–Revelations 12:1
TWO days ago, I wrote about Noah’s rainbow—a sign of Christ, the Light of the world (see Covenant Sign.) There is a second part to it though, which came to me several years ago when I was at Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario.
This rainbow culminates and becomes a single ray of bright Light lasting 33 years, some 2000 years ago, in the person of Jesus Christ. As it passes through the Cross, the Light splits into a myriad of colors once again. But this time, the rainbow illuminates not the sky, but the hearts of humanity.
FAR from "stealing Christ’s thunder"
A READING from the Divine Liturgy this week has lingered with me:
God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark. (1 Peter 3:20)
The sense is that we are in that time when the ark is being completed, and soon. What is the ark? When I asked this question, I looked up at the icon of Mary……… the answer seemed that her bosom is the ark, and she is gathering a remnant to herself, for Christ.
And it was Jesus who said he would return “as in the days of Noah” and “as in the days of Lot” (Luke 17:26, 28). Everyone’s looking at the weather, earthquakes, wars, plagues, and violence; but are we forgetting about the “moral” signs of the times Christ is referring to? A reading of Noah’s generation and Lot’s generation–and what their offences were–should look uncomfortably familiar.
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. —Winston Churchill
IN A GRIP OF FEAR
IT seems as though the world is gripped in fear.
Turn on the evening news, and it can be unnerving: war in the Mid-east, strange viruses threatening large populations, imminent terrorism, school shootings, office shootings, bizarre crimes, and the list goes on. For Christians, the list grows even larger as courts and governments continue to eradicate the freedom of religious belief and even prosecute defenders of the faith. Then there is the growing “tolerance” movement which is tolerant of everyone except, of course, orthodox Christians.
HOPELESS?
What can stop the world from plunging into the unknown darkness which threatens peace? Now that diplomacy has failed, what is left for us to do?
It seems almost hopeless. In fact, I have never heard Pope John Paul II speak in such grave terms as he has lately.