What is Catholic Familyland?

Just got back from Catholic Familyland and wanted to help spread the word about this holy place.


I'm outta here...

A Catholic family planning a summer vacation may wonder where to go to Mass or what shrine they could visit while gone. What if your whole family vacation was something spiritual? What if you could vacation in a kingdom of sorts, but not a certain Magic Kingdom that may come to mind?

It’s been said that a main theme of all the teachings of Jesus is the proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom is where the King is. Jesus came to earth to touch us, heal us and save us. The Church continues his work today in his Kingdom on earth, through graces and the sacramental life.

But what might the loyal subjects in the Kingdom be like or act like? I suspect they would be exactly like what you’d find at a Holy Family Fest at Catholic Familyland in Bloomingdale, OH, which is part of the Apostolate for Family Consecration. A family “camping” vacation with swimming, hiking, horseback riding and much more, but also inclusive with:

• Mass available each morning in a huge auditorium with jumbo-tron screens no less!

Holy Mass

• Inspiring and encouraging talks by professional speakers after Mass for adults while the kids are out doing  age appropriate activities.
• Rosary every evening at 7pm.
• Everything stops at 3pm for the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Those swimming at the pool need to stop and sit on the edge. Even the St. John the Baptist water slide shuts down!

St. John the Baptist Water Slide

• Outdoor confessions available all afternoon everyday at Holy Family Park. Several priests sit under shady umbrellas hearing confessions for hours.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

• Eucharist adoration made regularly available.

The Apostolate is dedicated to the renewal of the Church and the world through the renewal of the family. It’s a fruit of the apparitions at Fatima in 1917 and the Marian spirituality of Saint John Paul II with the goal of consecrating as many families as possible to Jesus, through Mary, in union with St. Joseph.

They have an audacious message of hope that is a formula for world peace. I share my notes from this “Message of Hope” in one of the blog tabs above which elaborates about a specific problem and specific solution based on the message of Fatima.

My youngest at Holy Family Park as we were heading to the 7pm outdoor Rosary.
A rainbow appears right on cue.

 

Month of Mary - Month of Mothers - Month of Life

I wonder if the March for Life in January each year might be more conducive to its ultimate end in the month of May, since May is the month of Mary and the month of mothers and the month of life. As new life springs up in the northern hemisphere and we forget all about the cold and dead winter, could thoughts about the sanctity of human life flow more naturally in the month of May?

In any case or in any month we can always say that human life beings at conception as an objective fact. My blog partner Joe recently sent me this link from Lifenews.com about 41 quotes from the medical profession that prove human life begins at conception. Here are a few of my faves:

• “Fertilization is the process by which male and female haploid gametes (sperm and egg) unite to produce a genetically distinct individual.” Signorelli et al., Kinases, phosphatases and proteases during sperm capacitation, CELL TISSUE RES. 349(3):765 (Mar. 20, 2012)

• An embryology textbook describes how birth is just an event in the development of a baby, not the beginning of his/her life. “It should always be remembered that many organs are still not completely developed by full-term and birth should be regarded only as an incident in the whole developmental process.” F Beck Human Embryology, Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1985 page vi

• “Although it is customary to divide human development into prenatal and postnatal periods, it is important to realize that birth is merely a dramatic event during development resulting in a change in environment.” The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology fifth edition, Moore and Persaud, 1993, Saunders Company, page 1 

• National Institutes of Health, Medline Plus Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary (2013), http://www.merriamwebster.com/medlineplus/fertilization. The government’s own definition attests to the fact that life begins at fertilization. According to the National Institutes of Health, “fertilization” is the process of union of two gametes (i.e., ovum and sperm) “whereby the somatic chromosome number is restored and the development of a new individual is initiated.”
   
  

• “….it is scientifically correct to say that human life begins at conception.” Dr. Micheline Matthews-Roth, Harvard Medical School: Quoted by Public Affairs Council 

• Scarr, S., Weinberg, R.A., and Levine A., Understanding Development, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1986. page 86 “The development of a new human being begins when a male’s sperm pierces the cell membrane of a female’s ovum, or egg….

• The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th ed. Keith L. Moore, Ph.D. & T.V.N. Persaud, Md., (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998), 2-18: “[The Zygote] results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm … unites with a female gamete or oocyte … to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.”

Sounds pretty clear, but what do people who write medical text books know about anything anyway? From here the discussion may often turn to “personhood”. The unborn “entity” may be human, but it is not a person. I remember someone telling me that life begins when you’re born. I asked, “If your son was born yesterday at 1:00PM, what made him not a human being or not a person at 12:59PM? What would be the distinction other than time and/or the surrounding environment?” He could offer no clear answer because he was simply making-up a threshold of his own liking.
 

 

When pressed under questioning, one wonders how supposedly educated people can be both pro-choice and recognize science & human rights all at the same time. This is such a harsh contradiction that one can see a need for a diabolical force to help the pro-choice movement along.

As the Lifenews article shows, it is scientifically correct to say that human life begins at conception. To say the first stage of one’s life or one’s “personhood” begins at some other threshold of consciousness or viability is subjective; a matter of opinion. To declare something as important as this on something subjective is irrational when something objective is clearly available. In fact, irrationality is not a strong enough expression; it’s more like an invincible blindness.

Sorry, I can't see your personhood.

 

 

 

 

The Immaculate Deception?

Here is some Catholic trivia for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. What saint wrote that the Mary was conceived WITH original sin? The answer is St. Thomas Aquinas. I did a double-take myself when I first stumbled upon it in the Compendium to Suma Theologica, chapter 224:

 “Likewise, if Mary had been conceived without original sin, she would not have had to be redeemed by Christ, and so Christ would not be the universal redeemer of men, which detracts from His dignity. Accordingly we must hold that she was conceived with original sin, but was cleansed from it in some special way.”

Could this be the beginning of a new scandal in the Church that has its roots way back in the 13th century? Is the Immaculate Conception really the Immaculate Deception? Should Catholics be mortified, crushed and shaken to their very core of their faith? No, not at all; why not? Because when someone is declared a saint, it does not mean everything he or she did, said or wrote is infallible.

How then, can we know true Christian dogma? What is the foundation for truth? Where do we turn? What do we do? We can start with the Bible, but the Bible will direct us elsewhere; it directs us to “…God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1Timothy 3:15 is a verse every Catholic should memorize)

The Immaculate Conception was dogmatically defined by “God’s Household” in 1854 and is one of those “thorny” teachings that non-Catholic Christians object to, and I’ll bet some Catholics object to it too. This is the teaching that Mary was spared from original sin by God. An analogy is that we all fell in a mud puddle, and God cleaned us up afterward through baptism. In Mary’s case, God saved her by not letting her enter the mud puddle to begin with. Some may say this teaching is not only unbiblical, but actually contradicts the Word of God. After all, the Bible is clear, “all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23), but what is clarity without perspective, and what is perspective without context.

We can't really be clear about something until it is understood in its proper context. Suppose someone said they have beheld the most beautiful eyes on a woman and then proceeded to show you her eyes in a box, would you be entranced by their beauty or be horrified? Her eyes are beautiful in the proper context of her face, not in a box.

Another way to better understand a thing is to compare it to other similar things in a similar context. Consider temperature in degrees kelvin. If I told you it is 250°K outside, what would you wear to go out? You may have no clue unless you had a relevant basis of comparison. 250°K is about -23°C, or about -10°F; not exactly flip-flop weather.

250°K

To what can we compare Romans 3:23 to get a better understanding?

• How about this verse? “In Adam all have died…” (1 Cor. 15:22). In the Old Testament Enoch and Elijah did not die; they were taken up to heaven. Does this mean Paul contradicts scripture? No, this shows how “all” does not mean “every single one.” Also, if Christ never sinned, once again “all” does not really mean all. It reminds me of other generalizations like, “Everybody loves pizza”. I bet you can find at least one human on earth that does not like pizza.

• Paul also says that “death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned” in Romans 5:12. Again, this proves that “all” does not mean “every single one” because death did not spread to all men as we have already seen with Enoch and Elijah.

• Here’s a doozy; “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one;’” (Romans 3:10). Some may use this verse to show how all human beings are sinful including Mary, but the basis for the verse comes from Psalm 14:3 or Psalm 53:4. These psalms are not talking about all people being sinful. They note that among the wicked, all are sinful.

• What about the words of Jesus himself? In Luke 18:19 Jesus says, “No one is good but God alone.” But then in Matthew 12:35, Jesus also says “A good person brings forth good…” So Jesus says no one is good but God, and then calls another person good. Is Jesus also contracting himself? I think not.

How do we know what’s true? The saints, as they lived on earth, were fallible humans just like you and I. The Bible alone leads to confusion alone (30,000 different Christian denominations & counting). Conscience alone leads to relativism alone. It is the spirit of truth that guides us to all truth (see John 16:13), but we cannot know the stages of guidance. Whatever the case or whatever the stage, remember to stick with God’s Household, which is the Church of the living God, and have a happy feast day!

You're kinda lost without it...

My Dear Mother Mary

It’s been three years since my son’s Godmother passed away at age 46, far exceeding her original life expectancy. She suffered from Cystic Fibrosis and succumbed on August 22, 2010.

She was a faithful Catholic (to say the least) that wrote prodigiously. All her final journal entries began with “Dear Mother Mary”. As a read them, I began to see the entries as a kind of Anti-Screwtape Letters. If you are familiar with the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, you will recall that each letter began with “My Dear Wormwood”, but those letters are sinister, these letters are the precise opposite.

She and her husband were planning a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the summer of 2010, but the Lord prepared a final pilgrimage to holiness instead. Below is her final journal entry. Since the number three in scripture can be symbolic of “perfection”, I thought it fitting to share this exactly three years later on the Feast of the Assumption.

                                                                                                Sunday, Aug 15, 2010

                                                                                                Feast of the Assumption

Dear Mother Mary,

Happy Feast Day!  What a glorious moment that must have been to be reunited with your Abba, your spouse, your son.

Today was the day we were to begin our travels to the Holy Land.  Today was the day I wondered if I was going to end my pilgrimage on earth.  Even up to this afternoon’s CPT, I still felt unwell.

I was delighted that I seemed to figure out the Tobra was causing problems.  As more and more time passes since my last dose of it, I feel so much better, OK, I am still sick, but I can breathe again! The Dr. doubled my diuretic dose and that has helped a lot too I guess.

Somehow the Lord is allowing me to get back to normal(ish?). Many, many people are praying for us.  Was this recovery a gift from you Mother Mary to celebrate your feast day which is a celebration of God’s love and mercy?

My head is pounding though, so I think I need to bring this to a close.

Thank you that Father came by today and anointed me and listened to my confession.  What an awesome gift!  I received so much today!  Happy Feast Day!

                                                                                                                        Love,

                                                                                                                       Janice

 

The number seven in scripture is often symbolic of “completion”. Jan went home to the Lord seven days after writing this, on August 22, the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. These were the last words she ever wrote. What a fitting way to begin eternal life and what a fitting example to us about fostering a relationship with the Mother of God.

Happy Feast Day Dear Mother Mary!

The Marian Month of...JUNE

May is the month of Mary, but now it’s June and Catholics should move on to other things. In case you can’t tell I‘m being sarcastic; I purposely held back this post until June just to keep some Marian thoughts going.

Our Lady should indeed be revered every month as a Queen of great goodness and power in her intercession for us, for she loves all the children of God who are born with the image & likeness of her own son. Her powerful love is often forgotten or not understood in the blindness & foolishness of the world.

It must be especially painful for Mary (and Jesus) when she is ignored by devout Christians. At the foot of the cross, St. John can represent all of us when Jesus says to him, “Behold your mother”. This seems to be more of a command than a suggestion, especially since Jesus said it as He was being tortured to death (see John 19:27). Also, if He chose to say it at this time, it must be a part of the redemptive process and not merely a domestic arrangement. I sometimes wonder what non-Catholic Christians think of Luke 1:48 “For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed,” Do they ever ask themselves, “How does my generation ‘called her blessed’ and how do we do this at our church? Do we even ‘call her’ at all?”

God chooses to work through people and He went through Mary in the most intimate way imaginable for she is not only a daughter of God like any woman, but also a Mother and a spouse. We may often think of Mary as the Mother of God, but perhaps not as often as the spouse of the Holy Spirit (CCC #507). We can say the job of the Holy Spirit is to make us Holy because He is the Sanctifier. We can also say that two become one in spousal union; therefore we should be able to say that the Holy Spirit is pleased to work and act through His spouse for the sanctification of the human race. Every person is invited to be transformed through Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, into Christ’s own image. Of course, God did not have to be so united with Mary, it was His free choice and He takes delight in it.

 

God going through Mary might be easier to internalize if we imagine light passing through glass. If we are in a room with a window, the sunlight passes through the glass to light up the room whether we know the glass is there or not; whether we like the glass or not. The glass is in no way the source of the light, but the light goes through the glass regardless. The glass can also help to keep bad things out of the room like insects, wild animals and cold air. Incidentally, if God were to make a piece of glass for the light of the world to shine through, would He choose some dirty, cracked or chipped glass that would block and distort His magnificent  light, or would He create an immaculate piece glass? Think about it.

 

And think about this; Mary in terms of three things: passion, baptism and gift. The Holy Spirit wants to work wonders in our day and raise-up great saints with great passion. Why does this happen so rarely? Perhaps it is because He rarely finds a soul willing to be more perfectly transformed in Christ through His spouse Mary.

At baptism we are made into “other Christs” by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was pleased to first form Christ through Mary and He continues to form “other Christs” through her. Remember that baptism is a beginning not the end, and the goal of any devotion to Mary is our ongoing post-baptismal transformation and consecration in Christ.

Consecration to Jesus through Mary is a gift that gives back infinitely more via magnification. Mary’s soul magnifies the Lord (see Luke 1:46). Think of a magnifying glass placed in the sun. The rays of the sun that go through the glass are concentrated and the heat & light is greatly magnified. Mary acts as the magnifier of God’s Grace and magnifiers tend to work both ways. If we give Mary our meager efforts, she will purify and magnify them for us while at the same time protecting us from evil and temptation. St. Louis de Montefort says that going through Mary is the quickest, easiest and surest way to Jesus. If we were to fully realize what a great gift this is, we’d never stop praising God for it.

The proceeding was inspired by a book called “33 Days to Morning Glory” by Fr. Michael E. Gaitley and the teachings of St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Louis de Montefort.

That's Not in the Bible: Contemporary Dilemmas with Sola Scriptura

Some time ago, I had a religious discussion with a co-worker that took on an unexpected twist. We were out at a local pub after the last day of a logic class I teach to our company’s support staff about problem-solving and decision-making. One of the members asked me, “So what else do you teach?” I responded, “Some technical product training and some religious education, specifically, confirmation class…I’m Catholic.” He said inquisitively, “Really?” I said, “Really.” He went on to tell me about how he gave his life to God a few years back and how it has completely changed his life; he described himself as a born again Christian.

As the discussion continued, he began to express his frustration with other Christians that do or teach things that are not found in the bible. I set down my beer, sat-up straight, took a breath and began to brace myself for what you know would be next. I was expecting him to barrage me with a litany of things Catholics do or teach that are not (explicitly) found in the Bible, but it never came up. Instead he began to complain to me about other “born again” Christians.

He is a member of what Catholics would call a parish council over at his church. He complained that his pastor taught that ANY consumption of alcohol was sinful. One drink leads to two; two will lead to three, and so on. Therefore, starting this process with even one drink would be sinful even if you stopped at one. A Catholic might call this kind of reasoning inviting the “occasion of sin”. There is some logic there, but my coworker had a big problem with this. The problem was not that he likes alcoholic drinks. His objection was, “that’s not in the Bible”.

Were you just applauding?
Really?

On another occasion he was invite to a piano performance by his niece during a worship service at his brothers’ non-denominational church. He began to applaud after the performance, but immediately noticed that no one else was applauding. Additionally, he received some icy stares as he began to applaud. Afterward, it was explained to him that during a worship service they only applaud for God. Applauding for others in church is taking away praise from God and is wrong. My colleague had a big problem with this also. Once again, the objection was “that’s not in the Bible”.

I thought to myself, "All Christian churches will do or teach things not specifically found in the Bible. What clear, real-world examples of how the teaching of Sola Scriptura (Bible alone) relentlessly affronts reason". Bible Christians do not actually use the bible alone; they use the bible along with whatever interpretations their leaders may have, and different interpretations results in different denominations as a natural consequence. I was going to tell him that using ONLY the Bible is also something that’s not in the Bible, but I was afraid he might self-destruct right there in front of me.

 

Instead, I went on to talk about how scripture is subject to different interpretations and how the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus actually founded one, and only one, universal Church for everybody; a visible & authoritative Church that uses imperfect men, together with the Holy Spirit, to guide us in faith & morals. If there really is a God and He really cares about people, He would provide a way for us to know what is true or what to believe (faith), and how to behave (morals). A good Father would not just leave a book behind and for us to “figure out”; a good Father would not leave His children as orphans.

This got his attention on Catholicism, but he suddenly changed the subject to the 2nd coming of Christ. He said, “I believed Jesus is coming back very soon. What’s the Catholic take on that?” I mentioned Mat 24:36 “But of that day and hour, no one knows…”, but also added a twist of my own for him to think about.

I told him that some Catholic thinkers speculate that since the 1st coming of Jesus came through Mary, it is conceivable that His 2nd coming will also come through Mary, except this time He would not come as a helpless baby. This could explain some of the increased Marian activity and apparitions around the world in the last couple of centuries as a kind of “spiritual pregnancy” for the 2nd coming (I also made it clear that is only speculation, not formal Catholic teaching). He said, “You know, that makes a lot of sense. I’ve never thought of that before”. Since he did not do very well in the class, I thought to myself, "I bet there are many things you’ve never thought of before".


On the surface, bible alone Christianity might make more sense than Catholicism to a believer that just wants to praise God and “be saved”, but as one asks probing questions about both faith & reason that go deeper and deeper, a reversal takes place. Catholicism stands-up to battering questions like that house built on rock we read about in Matthew 7:24-27. Bible alone Christianity crumbles like a biblical house built on sand.

The Message of Hope

The Apostolatefor Family Consecration headquartered in Bloomindale, OH is a lay apostolate dedicated to the renewal of the Church and the world through the renewal of the family. It’s a fruit of the apparitions at Fatima and the Marian spirituality of Blessed Pope John Paul II with the goal of consecrating as many families as possible to Jesus, through Mary, in union with St. Joseph. They have an audacious Message of Hope that derives from a peace plan given by Our Lady.




Setting the Stage:
One truth accepted by most everyone is that people desire happiness, and not only happiness, but lasting happiness. Everyone knows the situation of being unhappy in the midst of outward abundance. Many ask, “Why is there so much unhappiness”, “Why am I unhappy?”, “When I feel happy, why doesn’t it last? Either we seek a solution to our unhappiness or we begin to despair. A question then becomes, are we seeking a corrective solution to our unhappiness or an interim/adaptive solution, and do we know the difference?

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: One night, in my late teens, a friend of mine showed up at our house in a very happy mood; turns out he was a wee bit drunk. He asked me, “Why can’t I feel this way all the time?” I had no answer back then, but it was first time I ever contemplated “lasting happiness”.

The Message of Hope outlines a specific 4-point plan for lasting happiness and world peace.

Point #1:
STOP SINNING!!! God is already too much offended! The first thing to understand is what the problem is. The problem is sin. Sin is the cause of unhappiness. We are prideful and distrust God. Since we distrust God, disobedience naturally follows.

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: Sin can be thought of as taking some guilty pleasure.
Q: What would be the precise opposite of taking guilty pleasure?
A: Giving – Innocent – Suffering
Who does that remind you of?

Point #2:
God’s Grace is the solution. Men seek power, possessions and pleasure as temporal (or temporary) solutions to unhappiness. God’s Grace is an eternal and simple solution to the problem of sin.

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: The solution is truly simple; think of weight loss. If you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight; VERY simple. What could be simpler? But how difficult it is to lose weight with our natural tendency towards fatty food, our bad habits, hunger pains and the “culture of food” we live in? So it is with sin and we need God’s Grace to overcome it.

Points 1 and 2 can be expressed in some troubleshooting language we use where I work. When taking some action on a problem, we must ascertain if we are taking action on the cause or an effect of the problem.

Ø  Action on the cause is called corrective action; it eliminates the cause.

Ø  Action on the effect is called interim or adaptive action; it limits the effect.

Example:

Ø  Problem: I have a cold

Ø  Cause: Virus

Ø  Effect: Runny nose (among other things)

v  Corrective Acton: kill virus

v  Interim or Adaptive Action: blow your nose

A troubleshooting triangle for the problem of sin looks like this:

Point #3:
We are called to holiness. How can the world receive this Grace which is also our solution? It can come through everyday people in the world. We are all called to strive for holiness. This is beyond the secular moral advice of “just be nice”. It is also more than a general adherence to the 10 commandments. It is the narrow path. It is a call to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mat 5:48 & Lev 19:2). If you think I’m OK and your OK, just read what comes after the beatitudes for a terrifying examination of conscience (Mat 5:21-48). But what practical steps can an imperfect person hope to take to ever be “holy”?

Ø  Formation: Study your faith!!! Read Two Catholic Men and a Blog.

You will NOT love a God you do not know, and you will NOT serve a God you do not love.

Ø  Sacraments: Frequent confession and reception of the Eucharist. Sin blocks God’s Grace. Even small sins begin to block the pipes through which Grace flows. Confession clears the pipes for an unhindered flow of Grace. You will receive more Grace at your next communion after confession, which will in turn allow you to make a better confession next time, which makes a better communion, which makes a better confession, and on and on. It’s an upward spiral to holiness.

Ø  Works: This is reaching out to others, evangelizing, teaching & helping. Scripture is clear; faith without works is dead (James 2:26).

Ø  Prayer: Simply put, prayer is directing one’s life toward God. Our Lady asks us to pray the Rosary daily as a way to do this.

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: This is nothing new. The early Christians were doing the four things listed above (Acts 2:42-47). Also, check out the four main sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and see how well they match.

Point #4
Consecration to Jesus through Mary. To be consecrated means to be “set apart” for a holy purpose, but why be consecrated through Mary? Prayerfully consider the following…

Ø  Mary is “full of Grace” (Luke 1:28). If the solution to our problem is Grace and Mary is full of Grace, we can deduce that Mary would be most helpful in solving our problem.

Ø  Mary’s soul magnifies the Lord (Luke 1:46). Think of a magnifying glass placed in the sun. What happens? The rays of the sun that go through the glass are concentrated and the heat & light is greatly magnified. How many ants discover this at the hands of mischievous little boys? Mary acts as the “magnifier” of God’s Grace and, once again, God’s grace is our solution. Magnifiers also work both ways. Mary will magnify our feeble efforts before God as well, if we go through her.

Ø  Jesus went through Mary as the way to reach Man. Man can go through Mary as the way to reach Jesus. The God of the universe entrusted himself to the care of Mary and Joseph. Why can’t we? What examples can you find where God can trust someone that we cannot?

TRUST

Ø  Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant. Maybe someday we’ll have a separate post on the many ways the ark in the Old Testament foreshadows Mary in the New Testament, but for now, we’ll look at one way which relates to a kind of battle plan for world peace.

In coming to the promise land, the ancient Israelites were told by God to conquer the walled city of Jericho. How was this done? What was the divine battle plan? They were told by God to simply march around the city in silence for seven days with the ark. On the seventh day they were to blow their trumpets, shout aloud, and the walls would fall… that’s it. This required an audacious hope in God and the walls of Jericho did indeed fall. God wanted them to use the ark; this foreshadows how God wants us to use today’s new ark (Mary) to win world peace.

“Jericho-type” events involving Mary as the new Ark of the Covenant:

Ø  In 1984 Pope JP2 consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Within seven years the Berlin wall fell, the iron curtain collapsed, the Soviet Union dissolved and on Dec 25 1991, the Christian Russian flag was raised above the Kremlin. Not a single shot was fired!

Ø  On October 31 1942, Pope Pius XII entrusted the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during WWII. From then on, Hitler’s army’s began suffering a series of crushing defeats on liturgical feast days.

v  Victory at Stalingrad: Feb 2, 1943 – Feast of the Presentation

v  Sicily taken: August 15, 1943 – Feast of the Assumption

v  Italy to the Allied side: September 8, 1943 – Feast of Mary’s birth

v  Allies land at Toulon: August 15, 1944 – Feast of the Assumption

v  Japan’s initial surrender ending WWII: August 15, 1945 – Feast of the Assumption (formal surrender was September 2)

What’s so special about Fatima? The Miracle of the Sun:

Ø  The Miracle of the Sun on October 13, 1917 was the greatest public miracle since the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Ø  It was foretold to happen at a specific time and place.

Ø  There were 70,000 eye witnesses.

Ø  It was documented by an atheistic press. The government in Portugal in 1917 was communist and the press was sent to show the world how nothing would happen, and how stupid the people were that stood there in the pouring rain waiting for a miracle. After the events, members of the atheistic press were among the eye witnesses.

Ø  As in the Bible, miracles are meant to get our attention and always point to a greater message. Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, papal theologian for five popes, concludes that The Miracle of the Sun points to a most significant message from heaven for our time.

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE:

Mary warned in 1917 that if people continued to offend God, a war would come even worse than WWI which was already raging, and it would be preceded by “a night of unknown light”. On January 25-26, 1938 a remarkable display of light, like an aurora borealis, was visible across all of Europe and the eastern part of the United Sates.

The night of unknown light was witnessed by Adolf Hitler. Part of The Message of Hope shows an interview with Hans Dieter, Hitler’s’ personal Assistant at the time. He describes Hitler’s crazed reaction to the lights and quotes him as saying, “It means blood, blood, blood and again blood! Destruction and terrible suffering! Blood and again blood! If it has to be, then let it be now!”; soon after he started WWII. (Austria annexed into the German Third Reich March 12, 1938).

Few heeded the message in 1917 and the result was “blood and again blood”, but the Message of Hope remains. If enough people follow the 4-point plan, enough Grace will flow into the world to usher in an era of peace.
It’s not too late. The efforts of a consecrated few will offset the sins of the many

The entire Message of Hope video given by Michael O’Rourke, member of the Apostolate for Family Consecration, can be viewed HERE. Scroll down to "(3) Message of Hope video".