“The World the Woman Loves” - talk by Father Allan MacDonald C.C - October 14, 2017, Saint Maurice Parish, Ottawa, ON

http://www.companionscross.org/articles-blogs/articles/world-woman-loves

“The World the Woman Loves”

Marian Retreat Day,

St. Maurice Parish,

Ottawa, ON

October 14, 2017

Introduction

“The key to understanding Mary is this – We do not start with Mary – We start with

Christ, the Son of the Living God … The less we think of Him, the less we think of her;

the more we think of Him, the more we think of her – The less we adore His Divinity, the

less reason we have for respecting her …We did not make her different, we found her

different.”

(Fulton Sheen, The World’s First Love, p. 67-68)

Why We Love Mary

i. As Companions of the Cross we have as one of the 4 pillars of our

spirituality a great love of Mary – She is our Mother, given to us by Jesus

Himself as He hung on the Cross = The “First Companion of the Cross”

We pray the Rosary daily and know she is with us as we celebrate the

Eucharist.

ii. My relationship with Mary comes from the example of my father –

depressed for many years – but always prayed the Rosary and trusted in

Mary’s powerful intercession.

He died 19 years ago “alone”, but I know he was not alone because Mary

was there with him – “… pray for us sinners now and at the hour of

our death” – why I always pray for those who will die alone.

iii. My father was 19 years older than my mother – it was easier for me and

my siblings to relate to my mother than to my father – Maybe this has

something to do with my love of Mary (and my mother’s name is Marie)

When we would ask our father for something he would always give us the

same answer – “Go and ask your mother!”

I have always known of Mary’s love for me and her role as an intercessor

in my life.

She got me back on track as a young priest after I first went to Medjugorje

in 1995.

Many of my CC brothers will tell you of how Mary played an important

part in their vocation.

B. Praying for Peace

i. We stand here today in a world torn apart by wars/violence and threats of

wars/violence – Mary calls us to join together in storming heaven for

peace – She has been calling us to this for a long time – Are we listening?

ii. This peace will only come about when we have peace in our own hearts

FIRST = Meditate on Christ, the Prince of Peace = Be quiet and still.

“If we have a box in which we keep our money, we know that one thing

we must always give attention to is to the key … without the key we

cannot get to the money … Mary is the key to Jesus.” (Ibid, p. 77)

iii. Let’s take a look at some of the key appearances of Mary around the world

– some popular/known and other not so – But in all of them she’s been

calling us to conversion to her Son, Jesus – She been warning us too of the

consequences of not doing so.

Various Apparition Sites Around the World – What is Mary Saying to the World?

Lourdes (1858)

i. Mary is a missionary disciple (the preeminent one!) = Calling all of us to

join with her in proclaiming the name of Jesus, calling the world to

repentance (beginning with ourselves), and speaking of God’s universal

call for our lives = To be saints with Him forever in heaven!

Saint Bernadette’s encounters with Our Lady began on Thursday February 11,

1858 – when Bernadette was 14 years old – 

you can read for yourself the whole story of the 18 apparitions of Mary to Bernadette.

 ii. Mary’s messages to Bernadette are ageless and apply to all of us today – both

because of where they were given and their content:

First, “Where” = Mary appeared in the Grotto at Massabielle = A dirty,

hidden, damp and cold place - Called the "pigs' shelter" because that was

where the pigs feeding in the area usually took shelter.

The Virgin Mary – “The Immaculate Conception” (she revealed herself to

Bernadette by this title) – appears dressed in white, a sign of total purity.

The “where” of this apparition reminds us of the Gospel: the meeting of the

wealth and goodness of God with the poverty of the human person.

Where do I meet God? – In my poverty (God’s grace is like water, it settles at

the lowest place)

God is not afraid, embarrassed or uncomfortable to join us where we are

In the midst of our poverty and failures.

He sends Mary to the “sheep shelter” to tell us that he loves us - 
This is the heart of the Message of Lourdes = He loves us as we are = With our successes but also with our wounds, our weaknesses and our limitations.

He meets us where we are so He can take to where He wishes us to be!

iii. We serve a God who wishes to relate to us a person = 3 of Mary’s words to

Bernadette:

"What I have to say to you does not have to be written down"

Mary speaks to us at the level of the heart = The very centre of the person =

Bernadette was invited to open the depths of her heart to this Message of Love

= Words that strike the heart are always remembered – They do not need to be

written down.

"Would you do me the kindness of coming here for 15 days?"

The first time anyone had addressed Bernadette in a formal way - The Virgin

looked at her as one person looks at another person = Bernadette felt that she

was being respected and loved = We are all worthy of our dignity in the eyes

of God - Because each of us is loved by God.

"Go to the spring, drink of it and wash yourself there"

Mary asked Bernadette to scrape the ground, at the back of this "pigs’ shelter"

- At first this water is muddy and dirty then, little by little, it becomes clear.

The mystery of the heart of Jesus is revealed for us:

The grass and the mud signify the human heart, wounded by sin - But in the

bottom of this heart, there is the life of God, as signified by the spring = Are

we willing to dig away the grass and the mud surrounding our hearts to

 discover God’s grace?

Our Lady of Knock (1879)

This visitation of Mary is best understood in the context of a Scripture passage:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my

yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find

rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

i. On the evening of August 21, 1879 two women from the village of Knock

were walking back to their home in the rain when they passed by the back of

the village church - It was then that they saw the apparition.

But first, what was the historical context?

The years preceding the apparitions were the most tragic years in the history

of Ireland = Famine and unimagined misery engulfed the entire Catholic

country - Priests often anointed as many as 40 parishioners a day as they faced

death - The magnitude of such suffering was unimaginable.

In 1879, the potato crop was threatened once again – Land rents rose - Money

was borrowed - Evictions occurred daily - People became desperate.

The pastor of Knock had begun a series of 100 consecutive Masses for the

repose of the souls of those who had died.

Mary's apparition took place on the evening of the day when the 100th

Mass was celebrated = August 21, 1879.

It was into this time of sorrow and distress that our Lady came, but not alone.

Our Lady, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist appeared at the South gable

of the church.

ii. It is recorded that Mary said nothing at all during these apparitions – She

came to be with the people in their hour of need.

In the midst of Ireland's agony, the mother of the Lord came to her

people to be with them, to be present to them, to share their fate in

silence.

My first pastor gave me some good advice = “Allan, at the end of the day,

people may not remember the things you said … but they will remember that

you were there.” = “Father came to the house … the hospital … the funeral

home.”

iii. Mary comes again to be with us – To comfort us and to strengthen us in our

times of trial, weakness and distress – She is the Queen of Peace and wants to

be bring us to Christ so we can experience His peace.

Fatima (1917)

i. The story begins in the village of Fatima, Portugal, on May 13, 1917 –

Mary appeared to three young children (note the appearance of Mary to

children): Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia; ages 10, 9 and 7 – You can read

for yourself the details of the apparitions of Mary from May through

October 1917 (save August, when imprisonment by the anti-clerical

authorities prevented it),

Mary promised that God would grant peace to the entire world if Her

three requests were heard and obeyed.

a. Prayer

She announced herself = “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Pray the

Rosary every day.”

She also asked for prayers for the Holy Father = “the Bishop

clothed in white” – The children saw a vision of him making his

way with great difficulty towards the Cross amid the corpses of

those who were martyred - He too falls to the ground, apparently

dead, under a hail of gunfire.

[It is possible that the vision predicted the 1981 attack on Pope

John Paul II’s life. The Pope has always credited the Virgin for his

survival.]

b. Reparation

The children were shown a frightening vision of hell, “where the

souls of poor sinners go” – Mary asked for acts of prayer and

sacrifice to save souls, with particular emphasis on devotion to the

 

Immaculate Heart of Mary.

c. Consecration

Mary spoke of the immense damage that Russia would do to

humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing

Communists’ totalitarianism.

Our Lady asked that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate

Heart so its errors and evils would not spread throughout the

world.

ii. Mary visited the children for the last time on October 13, 1917 –

She had promised a sign that would convince the world she had

appeared = We know this as the “miracle of the Sun” (you can

read more about it yourself) = Every single person who was

there testified to seeing the sun dance - Non- believers dropped

onto their knees and begged for forgiveness.

= Their eyes of their hearts were opened to “see” their need for

God’s mercy!

iii. Our Lady of Fatima promised that the world would be in peace,

and many souls would go to Heaven if Her requests were listened

to and obeyed.

At Lourdes Mary reminds us that we are all sinners in need of

God’s mercy and forgiveness – God comes to us where we are

and invites us to drink of the fountain of His mercy where we find

healing and strength.

At Fatima we hear the anguished appeal of our Heavenly Mother

= She sees us in great danger and comes to offer us Her help and

advice.

Mary loves us and calls us to return to Her Son.

Are we willing to let Jesus show us our spiritual blindness?

How? = Let us call out to Jesus for mercy with the words that we learned

in Fatima:

“Oh my, Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead

all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of your mercy. Amen.”

Another prayer is the one taught to the children by the angel who appeared

to them in 1916 ahead of Mary’s apparition – A prayer we can say in

reparation = Ask for assistance for ourselves and our contemporaries who

need grace to convert and change:

"My God I believe, I adore, I hope and I love you. I ask pardon of you for

those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love you."

(3X)

Our Lady of Akita (1973

 i. This apparition of Mary involves Sister Agnes Sasagawa of the Handmaids of

the Eucharist in Akita, Japan.

Sister Agnes had a great love for Jesus in the Eucharist - When she went to

visit Jesus in the Tabernacle, it was just Him and her = She could hear Him,

not with her ears, but with her heart – Sister Agnes was deaf

She told him all that was in her heart – Then she remained silent, while He spoke

to her On Tuesday, June 26, 1973 the Lord had a special plan for her = 

He was to bestow upon her a blessing which would remain with her for the rest of her

life.

ii. In her own words, Sister Agnes tells us:

"When I approached to open the Tabernacle...an overwhelming, unknown light

suddenly shone forth. Seized with emotion, I prostrated myself immediately with

my face to the floor...I remained perhaps an hour in this position, subjugated by a

power which overwhelmed me."

The next day, she went towards the Tabernacle, her heart pounding, and again,

was overcome by a great light, which blinded her.

She immediately went down on her knees and prostrated herself before the

Tabernacle.

Stigmata

On Thursday, June 28 = Eve of the Feast of the Sacred Heart - Sister Agnes felt

 as though something pierced the palm of her left hand = In the centre of her palm,

were two red scratches in the form of a cross.

This phenomenon lasted the whole month of July = On Thursday evenings, the

wound began to swell up - On Friday mornings, blood flowed - On Saturday

mornings, the wound stopped bleeding and became dry again.

On July 6, her Guardian Angel appeared to Sister Agnes, and said:

“Do not fear - I am the one who is with you and watches over you - Pray with

fervour not only because of your sins, but in reparation for those of the whole

world.

“The world today wounds the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord by its ingratitude

and injuries - The wounds of Mary are much deeper and sorrowful than yours -

Let us go and pray together in the chapel.”

iii. The Statue of Mary

It was there the statue of Mary became alive = Over the course of a few years it

spoke and shed tears & blood.

A voice of indescribable beauty struck Sister’s totally-deaf ears.

This statue, from which the voice came, wept 101 times over a course of several

years, from January 4, 1975, to September 15, 1981, the Feast of Our Lady of

 Seven Sorrows.

Unlike other cases the entire nation of Japan was able to view the tears of the

statue of the Virgin Mary on national television.

It also perspired abundantly, sending out a sweet perfume.

Sister Agnes reported that she heard the statue calling her and giving her

messages for the whole world.

iii. Three Messages of Akita:

The First Message “Spoken” to Sister Agnes

“My daughter, my novice, you have obeyed Me well in abandoning all to follow

Me - Is the infirmity of your ears painful? - Your deafness will be healed, be sure

- Be patient - It is the last trial - Does the wound of your hand cause you to suffer?

Pray in reparation for the sins of men.”

The Second Message “Spoken” to Sister Agnes

On August 3, 1973, the First Friday of the month, Sister Agnes received the

second Message from Mary:

“Many men in this world afflict the Lord - I desire souls to console Him.

“The Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind -

With My Son, I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father

- I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the

Son on the Cross - His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him and

form a cohort of victim souls.

“Prayer, penance, and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father's anger.

“Be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master.”

The Third Message “Spoken” to Sister Agnes

It was on Saturday, October 13th = The anniversary day of the last Apparition of

the Virgin Mary to the three children of Fatima = the most important and

serious one:

“If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible

punishment on all humanity - It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such

as one will never have seen before - Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a

great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor

faithful.

“The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The

only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My

Son. “Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the

Pope, the Bishops and the priests.

“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one

will see Cardinals opposing Cardinals, Bishops against other Bishops. The priests

who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by other priests.

“Churches and altars will be sacked. The Church will be full of those who accept

compromises, and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to

leave the service of the Lord.

“The demon will be especially ruthless against the souls consecrated to God. The

thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness.

“...Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. Those who place their

confidence in me will be saved.”

On the last Sunday of May, 1982, during the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament,

Sister Agnes was completely cured from her deafness.

At Akita Our Lady stressed the importance of

a. Praying the Rosary

b. Accepting from God whatever He may send in the course of each day

c. Offer it up in reparation for so many sins committed throughout the

world at this time.

Our Lady begged especially for prayers for bishops, priests, and religious, and for

reparation before the Blessed Sacrament that they be strong and not “sifted

like wheat” (G).

The impending chastisement can be averted if enough people pray the Rosary

daily and do penance which Our Lady requested at Fatima in 1917.

Akita is really a repeat of the Messages of Fatima.

Our Lady of Kibeho (1981)

The Message of Kibeho:

 1. An urgent call to repentance and to the conversion of hearts: “Repent, repent,

 repent! … Convert your heart while there is still time.”

2. A diagnosis of the moral state of the world: “The world is very unwell.” 
“The world races to its loss, it risks falling into the abyss, which means it will be

immersed in innumerable and unceasing tragedies. The world is in rebellion

against God. Too many sins are committed in it. There is neither love nor peace.”

“If you don’t repent and don’t convert your hearts, you will all fall into the

abyss.”

3. “The door was opened and you did not enter”.

 The apparitions begin in 1981 – 13 years before the genocide in Rwanda of 1994 when 1

million people were killed over a one hundred day period. – in a small rural village of

Kibeho.

Mary appeared first to 16 year old Alphonsine – She described Mary as, “Imagine how

much you mother loves you, and then multiply that love a million times – the lady loves

us a million times more than that.”

Mary then began to appear to Anathalie Mary, the most popular student in the school,

then to 23 year old Marie-Claire (who challenged Mary to a fist fight when she appeared

and called Marie-Claire by name).

Mary’s message to the girls was:

- Love God

- Be kind to one another.

- Read the Bible

- Follow God’s commandments

- Accept the love of Christ

- Repent of sin

- Be humble

- Seek and offer forgiveness.

- Live with a clear and open heart and clear conscience.

- Pray the Rosary daily.

Most significant day – August 15, 1982 – Mary was full of grief and crying unconsolably

– Few people were responding to her messages.

The visionaries were given a glimpse of what was to come to Rwanda – They saw rivers

of blood & dead bodies (too many to be counted)

Most people refused to soften their hearts – 12 years after the warning was given,

Rwanda experienced one of the worst genocides ever – the Hutus took up machetes and

slaughtered Tutsis.

In 2001 (after 20 years of rigorous investigation) the Church officially approved the

apparitions of Kibeho as “worthy of belief”.

Kibeho is the one and only Marian apparition site in Africa that has Vatican

approval.

What does our Lady say to us through Kibeho?

- We need to examine our hearts to see if there is any anger, resentment, self pity

that needs to be rooted out.

God wants to heal our hearts! Will we let Him?

Medjugorje (1981 – present?)

i. Here I speak of the alleged apparitions of our Blessed Mother in Medjugorje

= I say “alleged” because they are still under investigation = They have not

been declared by the Vatican to be “worthy of belief”

As Catholics, we are free to go there – and can expect to receive spiritual

support while there.

In March, 2010, the Vatican confirmed that a Commission has been

established to investigate Medjugorje, under the direct supervision of the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

This constitutes the first time in Church history wherein the highest office of

the Holy See will investigate an ongoing apparition site.

Normally, it is custom for Church authorities to wait until the reported

supernatural phenomenon concludes before passing judgment on the matter.

With this exception Vatican officials are recognizing what a significant and

serious event Medjugorje is for the faithful on a global scale.

ii. On June 24th, 1981 this village was illuminated by a light seeming to come

from above a nearby mountain - Two teenage girls, Mirjana Dragicevic from

Sarajevo and her friend Ivanka Ivankovic from Mostar, saw what they

described as a "beautiful woman holding a child surrounded by a brilliant

white light" - As time progressed Mary appeared not only to Mirjana and

Ivanka, but also to four other children: Jakov, Ivan, Vicka, and Marija.

iii. In the visions, Mary is said to convey messages to us that can be summarized

into nine basic themes:

1. God is revealing himself to man in order to help man prepare for the coming

days.

2. Faith: Without it, it is impossible to please God as you cannot love Him if you

do not believe.

3. Love God as love is the power behind our faith.

4. Convert: Give your heart to God.

5. Reconcile: Reconciliation is the way to open your heart to God's love.

6. Pray: Through prayer you will come to know the greatest joy and the way out

of every situation that seemingly has no way out.

7. Fast: Fasting brings union of thought, spirit and body.

8. Acceptance: Accept the will of God to bring you clarity of soul and peace in

your heart.

9. Peace: Peace in our hearts, peace in our family, peace in our community and

finally peace in our world

Since 1981 between 20 and 30 million people of all races and creeds have visited

this alleged apparition sight to decide for themselves.

The message of Medjugorje is a call to Conversion, back to God.

Our Lady's purpose for coming to earth is to guide each one of us back to her Son

Jesus.

The time for decision is NOW!!. Our Lady's call is URGENT!!.

Conclusion

Our Lady’s Main Message throughout the World

i. Our Lady's mission (wherever her appearances have been declared as “worthy of

belief”) is one of peace and love.

ii. She comes to earth to re-educate us and to help us convert and center our lives

back to God. Our Lady's role has always been one of guiding people to Her Son,

Jesus.

iii. What an amazing opportunity we have before us! It is important that we

understand both the magnitude and the urgency of Our Lady's call to conversion,

and that we respond with all our hearts.