Ave Maria!  I was caught by surprise when, browsing Marian news online, I encountered a decent article about Our Lady of Fatima in the Washington Post.  They apparently published the article for the 100th anniversary of Fatima, because it’s a very important a celebration in the Catholic Church.  The article provides some of the evidence in favor of the Miracle of the Sun and only gives a couple sentences to the skeptics’ explanations.  The Washington Post included a link to Sister Lucia’s biography on amazon, so a fair number of their readers will likely purchase her extraordinary testimony.  The Washington Post has over 100 million readers, so this could lead to conversions.

About 2 p.m., some began to see what later became known in the Catholic Church as “the Miracle of the Sun.” The rains that had plagued the day ceased, and the sun emerged from behind clouds to spin and tremble for 10 minutes.

“Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bareheaded, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws — the sun ‘danced’ according to the typical expression of the people,” reported O Seculo, a Lisbon newspaper.

The strange phenomena included odd colors.

“Looking at the sun, I noticed that everything was becoming darkened. I looked first at the nearest objects and then extended my glance further afield as far as the horizon. I saw everything had assumed an amethyst color. Objects around me, the sky and the atmosphere, were of the same color. Everything both near and far had changed, taking on the color of old yellow damask,” said José Maria de Almeida Garrett, a science professor from Coimbra, Portugal, who was at the scene.

Onlookers from as far as 25 miles away noted the strange phenomena in the sky.

There were scientific reasons put forth for what had happened: Perhaps the witnesses had stared at the sun too long. Perhaps it was a combination of optical effects and a real meteorological shift caused by the weather and the cloud cover.

But the miracle was acknowledged as “worthy of belief” by the Catholic Church in 1930.

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Ave Maria!  In this article from crux.com, Vatican correspondent Inés San Martín describes the intensely Marian celebration at Trujillo, Peru, where Pope Francis linked honoring Mary with protecting women today from violence.  Ms. San Martín then goes on to provide a description of publicly known events in Pope Francis’ Marian devotion.

Pope Francis on Saturday displayed yet another example of his love affair with the Virgin Mary, presiding over a Marian celebration in Peru’s “city of the eternal spring,” where popular Catholic devotion is nearly ubiquitous and people proudly display their devotion to the Mother of God.

The pontiff linked the love affair with the Virgin with women’s issues today.

In Trujillo, Francis spoke against the “scourge that affects our American continent: cases of femicides, and the many situations of violence that are kept quiet behind so many walls.”

The pontiff called for a fight against this suffering through legislation, and a culture that “repudiates every form of violence.”

. . . “Mary,” Francis said, “shows us the way home. She brings us to Jesus, who is the Gate of Mercy.”

Francis’s love affair with Our Lady is well documented, and it began long before Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio was made a bishop: In 1990, the future pope gave up TV because of a promise he made to the Virgin of Carmel.

After he was appointed archbishop of Buenos Aires, in Argentina, he’d participate in a massive pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Lujan, patroness of his country. Before and after every foreign trip today, he visits Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major to venerate the famous icon of Our Lady known as Salus Populi Romani (protectress of the Roman people).

 

Source: Pope’s love affair with Mary adds new chapter Saturday in Peru

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Ave Maria!  I found an interesting and entertaining article this morning about how a Lebanese judge sentenced 3 Muslim men who insulted the Virgin Mary to memorize verses from the Quran praising her and Jesus.  The story went viral and the Lebanese public and government praised the judge.

A Lebanese judge ordered three Muslim young men who insulted Christianity to memorize verses from the Quran’s Al-Omran surah which glorifies Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.

Instead of handing down a prison sentence over their contempt of religion, Joceline Matta ordered the men to memorize the verses to be released.

While reading out the verdict in court in Tripoli, North of Lebanon, last week, Matta noted that her decision aims to teach the young men about Islam’s tolerance and love for Virgin Mary.

“The law is a school and not just a prison,” she said. Prime Minister Saad Hariri commended the move on Twitter and saluted Matta for her decision which reflects justice and teaches mutual concepts between Muslims and Christians.

State Minister for Combating Corruption Nicolas Tueni also praised Matta and said her decision paves way towards innovative judicial approaches that help resolve social problems and religious intolerance.

Source: Lebanese judge orders 3 Muslims to memorize Quran verses hailing Mary, Jesus – Al Arabiya English

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Ave Maria!  In the Philippines, Archbishop Jose Palma led thousands of Catholics in a March for Life with Mary, protesting the government-led slaughter of drug users and dealers in the country.  Since President Rodrigo Duterte began his drug war in June 2016, over 12,000 people have been killed by police and masked gunmen.  Several journalists who wrote about links between police and these unidentified gunmen have also been murdered, and human rights protesters in the Philippines are continually harassed and threatened with murder.  Duterte’s chief political opponent, Senator Leila de Lima, has been imprisoned for over a year on apparently politically motivated drug charges.

Archbishop Jose Palma emphasized that while the Catholic Church supports efforts to end drug-addiction, it stands firmly against the killing.  He sought divine aid through the Virgin Mary’s intercession to protect the family and end all threats to life in the country.

CEBU CITY — Carrying lighted candles while praying the rosary and singing chants, at least 5,000 people joined the dawn procession on Saturday to denounce the series of killings in the country and to seek divine intervention to get rid of all threats against life and family.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma led the 2-kilometer “Walk for Life with Mary” from Fuente Osmeña to the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral in downtown Cebu City.

The 67-year-old prelate also presided over the Mass at the cathedral to close the event.

In his homily, Palma reminded the people about the sanctity of life, marriage, and family.

He stressed that the Catholic Church supports President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs but is concerned about the way it is being carried out.

“We question the manner it is done because of questionable motives and circumstances. This may not be the will of God for them,” he said.

“No man has the right to [end] another’s life. God is the beginning and end of life. Let us protect life from womb to tomb,” he said.

“I hope all threats to life and the series killings will stop because we are all brothers and sisters in Jesus and Mary. The Lord came that we may have life and live it to the full,” he added.

Source: 5,000 people join ‘Walk for Life With Mary’ in Cebu to denounce killings | Inquirer News

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Ave Maria!  In an act of Marian devotion, Pope Francis has put the Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church, into the Roman Calendar, requiring that it be celebrated in the Church’s liturgy worldwide.  This memorial has historically been celebrated only by various religious orders, by St. Peter’s Basilica, and by the Church in Argentina and Poland, because they had requested and obtained permission to celebrate it from the Holy See.

Pope Francis has decreed that the ancient devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Mother of the Church, be inserted into the Roman Calendar.

The liturgical celebration, B. Mariæ Virginis, Ecclesiæ Matris, will be celebrated annually as a Memorial on the day after Pentecost.

In a decree released on Saturday by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Robert Sarah, its Prefect, said the Pope’s decision took account of the tradition surrounding the devotion to Mary as Mother of the Church.

He said the Holy Father wishes to promote this devotion in order to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety”.

Source: Pope institutes new celebration of Mary, Mother of Church – Vatican News

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Ave Maria!  An Italian exorcist has spoken up, linking recent worldwide attacks on the Virgin Mary to the devil’s particular hatred for her.  See also these two articles if you wish; they discuss additional recent attacks.

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 8, 2018 / 03:25 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Italian priest Sante Babolin said that Satan is behind attacks in various parts of the world against the Virgin Mary, noting that she is a powerful advocate for him during exorcisms.

“In my experience – so far I have performed 2,300 rites of exorcism – I can say that the invocation of the Most Holy Virgin Mary often provokes significant reactions in the person being exorcized,” he told Mexican weekly Desde la Fe.

Fr. Babolin, who also taught at the Gregorian University in Rome, said that “in face of the failure of the onslaught by non-believers, now, in order to offend and confound the Catholic people, the Virgin Mary, whom the devil hates, is being attacked.”

Desde la Fe noted the 2017 events of the Spanish drag queen Borja Casillas, who masqueraded as the Virgin Mary and mocked her in a performance, as well as a woman who dressed up as the Virgin Mary and simulated an abortion during a protest in Argentina.

The Italian exorcist said that “as proof of this hatred” of the devil toward the Mother of God, “while I was insistently invoking the Most Holy Virgin Mary, the devil answered me: ‘I can’t stand That One (Mary) any more and neither can I stand you any more.’”

Source: Why the devil hates Mary – especially during exorcisms

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Ave Maria!  This beautiful story from the New York Times explains how the traditionally acclaimed miraculous statue of Our Mother of Monserrate is serving as a beacon of hope for the people of Ecuador following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

The earth shook and the steeple fell, taking most of the bell tower with it. A white facade gave way, leaving the pews open to the street.

But amid the wreckage at the basilica, one object remained untouched: Our Mother of Monserrate, the statue of the Virgin Mary for which the church was named.

Dressed in gold robes and wearing a tiny crown, she is only about three feet tall. But the statue, which landed on these shores from Spain in the 16th century, has long played an outsize role in the history of Montecristi.

She survived bombardment by pirates and became a rallying point for Catholics when a secular government expelled priests generations later. Every November, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims trek from across Ecuador for nine days of festivities in her honor.

Now, after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake upended the nation last weekend, the survival of Our Mother of Monserrate has become a symbol of the persistence of this hillside town.

Source: Virgin Mary Statue, Intact Among Ecuador’s Quake Ruins, Becomes a Beacon of Hope – The New York Times

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“Passion of the Christ” star Jim Caviezel told CNA that he relied on scripture, daily Mass and the rosary to portray holiness on the big screen in “Paul, the Apostle of Christ.”

The film, which premieres March 23, depicts the persecution of the early Christians in Rome under Emperor Nero, along with an imprisoned Saint Paul conveying a message of hope at the end of his life.

“I thought that that was one of the greatest parts of the script,” Caviezel told CNA. “Here is a beat up old man in prison, facing execution. How can this man be a light to the world?”

“But it’s often through our struggles, our trials, our tragedies that triumph comes,” the Catholic actor said.

Caviezel plays the role of Saint Luke, who regularly visits Paul in prison to document his story while composing the Acts of the Apostles. The audience sees Luke serving the early Christian community in Rome as a physician, spiritual leader and writer.“

He [Luke] mentioned the Virgin Mary more than any other writer,” reflected Caviezel on portraying the Gospel evangelist, “I use the rosary to focus, to pray.”

Source: Paul, the Apostle of Christ movie: How the rosary helped Jim Caviezel play St. Luke

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Ave Maria!  I greatly enjoyed this little article about Charles Dickens and Catholicism, and an apparent encounter he had with the Blessed Virgin Mary.  I expect you will, too.

One night in 1844, a year after he published A Christmas Carol, while vacationing in Italy, Dickens woke to see an apparition at the foot of his bed?

A woman dressed in blue. He wrote to his friend describing her as looking like “the Madonna might in a picture by Raphael.”

The spirit was silent but stared at him with an otherworldly love in her eyes.

Dickens later wrote to his biographer and friend John Forster (April 2, 1812 – Feb. 2, 1876), the following description of that fateful evening in the author’s own words:

Let me tell you of a curious dream I had, last Monday night; and of the fragments of reality I can collect; which helped to make it up… In an indistinct place, which was quite sublime in its indistinctness, I was visited by a Spirit.

I could not make out the face, nor do I recollect that I desired to do so. It wore a blue drapery, as the Madonna might in a picture by Raphael; and bore no resemblance to any one I have known except in stature… It was so full of compassion and sorrow for me… that it cut me to the heart; and I said, sobbing, ‘Oh! give me some token that you have really visited me!

…’‘Answer me one… question!’ I said, in an agony of entreaty lest it should leave me. ‘What is the True religion?’ As it paused a moment without replying, I said – Good God in such an agony of haste, lest it should go away! – ’You think, as I do, that the Form of religion does not so greatly matter, if we try to do good?’

‘Or,’ I said, observing that it still hesitated, and was moved with the greatest compassion for me, ‘perhaps the Roman Catholic is the best? perhaps it makes one think of God oftener, and believe in Him more steadily?’

‘For you,’ said the Spirit, full of such heavenly tenderness for me, that I felt as if my heart would break; ‘for you it is the best!’

Then I awoke, with the tears running down my face, and myself in exactly the condition of the dream. It was just dawn.

Source: When Charles Dickens Met the Blessed Virgin Mary

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Ave Maria!  This morning, I enjoyed reading a beautiful, simple testimony about how Mary saved lives through a cop in Virginia.  Have a good time with the read.

It’s no coincidence what Officer Frederick Yap was praying shortly before all three calls came in.

Frederick Yap was born and raised by his single mother in the Philippines, where he was baptized Catholic and attended Catholic school — but he never really considered himself very devout, nor did he have a lot of experience with praying the Rosary. But one memory from his youth has always lingered under the surface, even years later after he immigrated to the US in 1987.

And it took some 20 years for him to discover why.

Every day after school he’d go running. His route took him passed his Catholic high school, where he’d usually stop to get a drink from the water fountain. As it was usually the same time each day, he’d always see one of the nuns, Sister Sophia, walking the hallway praying the Rosary. He would say hello, they would talk a little, and he would return on his run. Not a big deal. He couldn’t say why, but he always felt “close” to Sister Sophia after witnessing that, day after day.

Fast forward to Reston, Virginia, where Yap is now a police officer for Fairfax County. One night early in his police career, Yap pulled into the lot of St. Thomas Church  to park his cruiser and write up his reports — only to find himself parked in front of a faded statuette of the Blessed Virgin. He decided to offer up a simple prayer in three parts: one Our Father, one Hail Mary, one Glory Be. The habit became routine, always ending with “I love you, Lord, I love you, Mama Mary.” Eventually he began to pray the entire Rosary.

The power of three Divine intervention often isn’t as dramatic and obvious as what is shown in movies; it usually happens subtly, quietly, and most often reveals itself only in hindsight — those without faith might even mistake it for coincidence or random luck.

It took Officer Yap many years to connect the dots over three separate incidents he faced while on the job. All three involved women in danger. And for him, it was no random coincidence.

The first incident was in 2011. The call was for a suicidal woman, according to an article in the Arlington Catholic Herald. When Yap and another officer arrived, they watched in shock as she drove her car into the Potomac River. Even though Yap wasn’t trained in water rescue, he and the other cop were able to get the woman out of the car to safety.

The second time was in 2015. Just starting his shift after the prayer, the call came in: a woman shot multiple times by her husband. A team of officers was able to get the injured woman out of the house safety, with Yap staying by her side, applying pressure to her wounds, all the way to the hospital, where she was treated and eventually recovered.

The third time was in 2016, according to the Arlington Catholic Herald report. He went to his prayer spot as usual, and when he finished he looked at the Holy Mother as her face appeared to convey to him, “I’ll see you later.” Shortly afterward, Yap responded to a call with another officer: a woman was in danger of harming herself. Arriving at her home, they approached the locked garage. Hearing two car engines running, they broke inside — finding the woman in her car, unconscious from the fumes. They opened the garage doors and dragged her from the vehicle. Yap swears that as he was administering CPR he saw the face of the Virgin Mother in front of him. … more

Source: Policeman saves lives of three women — and credits the Virgin Mary

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