Wonders of Grace

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, October 12, 2014

Wonders of Grace

 

During the month of October we try to be especially faithful to our daily Rosary, and to honor Mary, the Lady of the Rosary. On Tuesday we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Rosary, and on Saturday the Feast of the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And tomorrow is October 13, which, you will remember, is the anniversary of the greatest public miracle since those of Jesus Christ Himself, the miracle of the sun at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. It was estimated at the time that 70,000 people witnessed the miracle as the sun “danced” throwing off all the colors of the rainbow, and then seemed to hurtle crazily towards earth, causing the people to fall to their knees in the mud screaming for God’s mercy.

This event signaled in a special way that the struggle described in the Apocalypse between the Woman clothed with the sun, and the great Red Dragon, the devil, had begun in earnest: “And the dragon was angered at the woman, and went away to wage war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God, and hold fast the testimony of Jesus” (Apoc.12:17). Any mother will put up a fierce fight for her children upon seeing them threatened or attacked. Mary, described in her liturgical feasts as “terrible as an army arrayed for battle” (Cant.6:10), fights like no other.

 Woman Clothed with the Sun

We can identify some specific ways in which the Dragon makes war upon the Woman and her children. Today motherhood itself is attacked, when many women, having come under the power of the devil, sin against life and frustrate God’s plan through the practice of contraception and sterilization. Some even harden their hearts and lose their natural tenderness towards their own children and destroy them through abortion or infanticide. Innocent human life even becomes the subject of experimentation, a commodity to be bought or sold, or salvaged for parts. Men, of course, are equal partners in these sins against nature, just as Adam and Eve were partners in disobedience by eating of the fruit of the tree of good and evil.

Mary, the New Eve, is the sign of all that is good and beautiful in woman and in motherhood. She has always been held up by the Church as an example of the supreme virtue and holiness for which we are all to strive, as in the Feast of the Immaculate Conception: “You are all beautiful, O Mary, and in you there is no stain of original sin” (Gradual). But today, among the horrors brought to us by the New World Order which has overtaken God’s intended order, we have dreadful parodies of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as entertainers and rock stars prance and gyrate, displaying themselves in lewd attire which would put Eve to shame. Mary warned us at Fatima about such things. They even make use of Mary’s symbols and mock her virtues. How can those who do these ungodly things, and those who patronize them, hope to escape the most dreadful punishments of Hell? 

The Church has for us other examples of womanly beauty and virtue in the saints. Many of these saints were mothers whose children also became saints, like St. Monica, whose son became the great St. Augustine. We celebrated this week the Feast of St. Bridget of Sweden (b. 1303), Patroness of that country. From the age of three Bridget had a great love of the Passion of our Lord. She became the happy wife of the Prince of Nierck, and she and her husband carefully nurtured their eight children in the faith, one of whom became St. Catherine of Sweden. After her husband’s death Bridget founded the Order known as the Bridgettines, and her mystical writings and prayers have become one of the Church’s spiritual treasures.

St. Margaret of Scotland was born in Hungary (c. 1045). Margaret had been visiting England with her parents when her father died, but as she and her mother were returning to the Continent a storm drove their ship to the coast of Scotland, where Malcolm III, King of Scotland, received the party under his protection, and subsequently married Margaret. In her position as queen Margaret worked for the reform of certain abuses in the Church in Scotland. Her private life was one of constant prayer. She founded several churches, including the Abbey of Dunfermline, built to enshrine her greatest treasure, a relic of the true Cross. A testimony to her holiness is that her son, David, is also known as a saint, and became King of Scotland in 1124.  

It is said that in St. Louis IX, King of France (b. 1214), were united the qualities of a just and upright sovereign, a fearless warrior, and a saint. That he became a saint may be attributed to the careful instruction of his mother, Queen Blanche, who strove to implant in him a deep regard and awe for everything related to religion. Her words to him are often quoted: “I love you my dear son, as much as a mother can love her child; but I would rather see you dead at my feet than that you should commit a mortal sin.” Blanche’s daughter, Isabelle, is also honored as a saint by the Franciscan Order.

How blessed are the children who have saintly parents and teachers for their instructors and are able to claim the Holy Virgin Mary as their Mother. Jesus Christ Himself was homeschooled by Mary and Joseph. When He spoke at the synagogue in Nazareth, his hearers were astonished at His doctrine, and said:

“Where did he get all this”, and “What is this wisdom that is given to him?” (Mk.6:2b).

Today Mary must be our teacher too. It is not too late for the children, and for all of us, to remedy the terrible damage to our souls caused by a godless and worldly education, by consecrating ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and choosing her as our Mother and Teacher. This can be done very simply. Don’t imperil your soul by delay, but speak to her as a child to his/her Mother, and listen to her instruction as the Child Jesus did. On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception the Church sees the Blessed Virgin Mary in these words from the Book of Proverbs:

“So now, O children, listen to me; happy those who keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Happy the man who obeys me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts; for he who finds me finds life, and wins favor from the Lord” (Prov.8:32-35).

Mary is Queen & Christ is King!
The double-headed eagle signifies Church and State

St. Louis de Montfort says: “When Mary has taken root in a soul she produces in it wonders of grace which only she can produce; for she alone is the fruitful virgin who never had and never will have her equal in purity and fruitfulness. Together with the Holy Spirit Mary produced the greatest thing that ever was or ever will be: a God-man. She will consequently produce the marvels which will be seen in the latter times. The formation and the education of the great saints who will come at the end of the world are reserved to her, for only this singular and wondrous virgin can produce in union with the Holy Spirit singular and wondrous things” (True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, 35).

God's Blessings,

Fr. Campbell