Mary – Page 3 – Jimmy Akin

Our Lady of Guadalupe: 6 things to know and share

December 12 is the commemoration of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In the United States, the day is a feast.

Linked to this day is December 9, which is the optional memorial of Juan Diego, to whom she appeared.

Here are 6 things to know and share . . .

1) Who was Juan Diego?

More formally known as St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, he lived from 1474 to 1548.

According to the biography of him on the Vatican web site,

Little is known about the life of Juan Diego before his conversion, but tradition and archaelogical and iconographical sources, along with the most important and oldest indigenous document on the event of Guadalupe, “El Nican Mopohua” (written in Náhuatl with Latin characters, 1556, by the Indigenous writer Antonio Valeriano), give some information on the life of the saint and the apparitions.

Juan Diego was born in 1474 with the name “Cuauhtlatoatzin” (“the talking eagle”) in Cuautlitlán, today part of Mexico City, Mexico.

He was a gifted member of the Chichimeca people, one of the more culturally advanced groups living in the Anáhuac Valley.

When he was 50 years old he was baptized by a Franciscan priest, Fr Peter da Gand, one of the first Franciscan missionaries.

2) What happened to him so that he is remembered today?

According to the Vatican biography,

On 9 December 1531, when Juan Diego was on his way to morning Mass, the Blessed Mother appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill, the outskirts of what is now Mexico City.

She asked him to go to the Bishop and to request in her name that a shrine be built at Tepeyac, where she promised to pour out her grace upon those who invoked her.

Note that this event took place on December 9th, which has become the memorial of St. Juan Diego.

3) What happened next?

KEEP REDING.

The Immaculate Conception: 8 things to know and share . . .

December 8th is ordinarily celebrated as the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, but this year in the U.S., it’s being celebrated on Monday, December 9th.

It celebrates an important point of Catholic teaching, and it is a holy day of obligation.

Here are 8 things you need to know about the teaching and the way we celebrate it.

1. Who does the Immaculate Conception refer to?

There’s a popular idea that it refers to Jesus’ conception by the Virgin Mary.

It doesn’t.

Instead, it refers to the special way in which the Virgin Mary herself was conceived.

This conception was not virginal. (That is, she had a human father as well as a human mother.) But it was special and unique in another way. . . .

2. What is the Immaculate Conception?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it this way:

490 To become the mother of the Saviour, Mary “was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.” The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as “full of grace”. In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God’s grace.

491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

3. Does this mean Mary never sinned?

Yes. Because of the way redemption was applied to Mary at the moment of her conception, she not only was protected from contracting original sin but also personal sin. The Catechism explains:

493 The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God “the All-Holy” (Panagia), and celebrate her as “free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature”. By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long. “Let it be done to me according to your word. . .”

4. Does this mean Mary didn’t need Jesus to die on the Cross for her?

KEEP READI

Did Pope Francis just tip his hand on Medjugorge? (10 things to know and share)

Many people are wondering what will happen at the end of the current investigation of Medjugorje.

As a result, they’re trying to figure out what attitude Pope Francis takes toward the reported apparitions.

On Thursday, Pope Francis made remarks which some people think tipped his hand and revealed his attitude.

Here are 10 things to know and share . . .

1) What is Medjugorje?

Medjugorje is a location in Herzegovina where, in 1981, a group of young people began reporting visions of the Virgin Mary.

Currently, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican is investigating the reported phenomena.

When their investigation is finished, they are expected to report its findings to the Pope, who will make the final determination of what, if anything, is to be done regarding the apparitions.

2) Where did Pope Francis make his remarks?

He made them in the “fervorino” (informal homily) at his daily Mass on Thursday, Nov. 14.

By the Pope’s own request, the full text of these fervorinos are not published, only summaries of them.

This means that we need to be somewhat cautious when interpreting them, because we do not have the full remarks.

YOU CAN READ THE VATICAN RADIO ACCOUNT OF THE FERVORINO HERE.

3) What did he say about Medjugorje in the fervorino?

If the fervorino is taken at face value, he didn’t say anything about Medjugorje.

It is not mentioned explicitly.

He did make remarks that have been interpreted as a reference to Medjugorje without naming it.

4) What did he say?

KEEP READING.

9 things to know and share about the “Third Secret” of Fatima

This RockFatima Cover jpg — The "Third Secret" of Fatima is the most famous private revelation of the 20th century. Here are 9 things to know and share with friends about it . . .

The apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima are famous for the three-part “secret” they conveyed.

Of these, the “third secret” is the most famous, because it was kept confidential at the Vatican for many years.

Only a few popes and a select few others read it–until the year 2000, when Pope John Paul II published it for the whole world to read.

Here are 9 things to know and share with friends about it . . .

NOTE: We’ve already looked at the apparitions at Fatima in general and at the first two parts of the secret. For information on that, you should click here.

1) What is the third part of the secret or “third secret”?

Here is what Sr. Lucia wrote:

After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’

And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it’ a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the holy father’.

Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions.

Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God [The Message of Fatima [MF], “Third Part of the ‘Secret'”].

2) What does the secret refer to?

In a letter to John Paul II date May 12, 1982, Sr. Lucia wrote:

“The third part of the secret refers to Our Lady’s words [in the second part of the secret]: ‘If not, [Russia] will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated’ (13-VII-1917)” (MF, Introduction).

In general terms, then, the third part of the secret refers to the twentieth-century conflict between the Church and Communist Russia.

3) What does the angel with the flaming sword symbolize?

KEEP READING.

9 things to know and share about Fatima

fatima_children — On May 13, 1917, the three "little shepherds" received a powerful revelation from Our Lady of Fatima. Here are 9 things to know and share with friends . . .

May 13 is the optional memorial of Our Lady of Fatima.

Fatima is the most prominent approved apparition of the 20th century.

It became famous the world over, particular for its three “secrets.”

The third and final secret was kept in the Vatican for many years, but in 2000, it was released to the world by John Paul II.

Here are 9 things to know and share with friends . . .

1) What happened at Fatima, Portugal?

A young shepherd girl, Lucia dos Santos, said that she experienced supernatural visitations as early as 1915, two years before the famous appearances of the Virgin Mary.

In 1917, she and two of her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, were working as shepherds tending their families’ flocks. On May 13, 1917, the three children saw an apparition of Our Lady. She told them, among other things, that she would return once a month for six months.

At Our Lady’s third appearance, on July 13, Lucia was shown the secret of Fatima. She reportedly turned pale and cried out with fear, calling Our Lady by name. There was a thunderclap, and the vision ended.

The children again saw the Virgin on September 13. In the sixth and final appearance, on October 13, a dramatic outward sign was given to those gathered to witness the event. After the clouds of a rainstorm parted, numerous witnesses—some as far as 40 miles away—reported seeing the sun dance, spin, and send out colored rays of light.

2) What happened after the main apparitions?

As World War I raged across Europe, an epidemic of Spanish flu swept the globe. It erupted in America and was spread by soldiers being sent to distant lands. This epidemic killed an estimated twenty million people.

Among them were Franciso and Jacinta, who contracted the illness in 1918 and died in 1919 and 1920, respectively. Lucia entered the convent.

On June 13, 1929, at the convent chapel in Tuy, Spain, Lucia had another mystical experience in which she saw the Trinity and the Blessed Virgin. Mary told her:

“The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father in union with all the bishops of the world to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means” (S. Zimdars-Schwartz, Encountering Mary, 197).

On October 13, 1930, the bishop of Leiria (now Leiria-Fatima) proclaimed the apparitions at Fatima authentic and worthy of assent.

3) How was the “secret” of Fatima written down?

KEEP READING.

Was Jesus Dissing His Mother When He Called Her “Woman”?

At the wedding at Cana, Jesus turns to Mary and says, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”

Sounds disrespectful, doesn’t it?

Or at least you could take it that way.

But Jesus wasn’t being disrespectful at all.

Here’s the story . . .

Pronoun Trouble

First, the translation “How does your concern affect me?” (John 2:4 in the NAB:RE) is not a literal rendering of what Jesus says in Greek.

Word-for-word, what he says is “What to me and to you?”

In context, Mary has just come up to him and informed Jesus that the people running the wedding have no wine, so you might literally translate his response as “What [is that] to me and to you?” In other words: “What does that have to do with us?”

He’s not dissing her. He’s putting the two of them–both of them–in a special category together and questioning the relevance of the fact that people outside this category don’t have wine. He’s saying that it’s not the responsibility of the two of them to make sure they have wine.

But that’s lost if you take the Greek pronoun that means “to you” (soi) and obliterate it in translation.

“Woman”

Part of what makes it sound like Jesus might be dissing his mother is the fact that he refers to her as “woman.”

We don’t talk to women like that today–not if we respect them, and certainly not our own mothers.

But the connotations–of respect, disrespect, or other things–that a word has in a given language are quite subtle, and we can’t impose the connotations that a word has in our own language on another.

Consider: Suppose, in English, we replaced “woman” with a term that means basically the same thing but with better connotations.

For example, the word “lady” or “ma’am.”

Suddenly what Jesus says sounds a lot more respectful.

In British circles, “lady” has distinctly noble overtones (it’s the female counterpart to the noble honorific “lord”).

And even in demotic America, a son can say, “Yes, ma’am” to his mother and mean it entirely respectfully.

So what can we learn about the connotations of “woman” as a form of address in Jesus’ time?

KEEP READING.

9 Things You Should Know About How the Church Celebrates January 1

mary-baby-jesus — On January 1, the Church celebrates several things connected with Mary and Jesus. What are they? And why do we celebrate them now?

January 1 is an important day in the Church’s liturgy.

There is a lot that we commemorate on this day!

What we are celebrating, and why we are celebrating it now, can be a little confusing.

Here are nine things you should know . . .

**1. What exactly are we celebrating on January 1?**

According to the Universal Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar [.pdf]:

1 January, the octave day of the Nativity of the Lord, is the Solemnity of Mary, the holy Mother of God, and also the commemoration of the conferral of the Most Holy Name of Jesus [Norms, 35f].

2. Didn’t this day used to signify something else?

Yes. Pope Benedict explains:

It was Pope Paul VI who moved to 1 January the Feast of the Divine Motherhood of Mary, which was formerly celebrated on 11 October.

Indeed, even before the liturgical reform that followed the Second Vatican Council, the memorial of the circumcision of Jesus on the eighth day after his birth — as a sign of submission to the law, his official insertion in the Chosen People — used to be celebrated on the first day of the year and the Feast of the Name of Jesus was celebrated the following Sunday [Homily, Jan. 1, 2008].

3. Why would the commemoration of Jesus’ Most Holy Name be moved to January 1?

KEEP READING.

A Mysterious Incident from Jesus’ Childhood

finding-the-savior-in-the-temple-william-holman-hunt- — Mary and Joseph knew the agony of having a missing child. What are we to make of this mysterious incident, and what does it tell us about Jesus' future?

This Sunday we celebrate the mystery of the Holy Family.

What was it like for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to live together?

Each is a very remarkable person! Put all three together and . . . wow.

Today we have reality shows about interesting and extraordinary families, but they didn’t have reality shows back then.

Fortunately, we are given a glimpse into the domestic life of the Holy Family.

And it’s a glimpse provided by the Virgin Mary herself . . .

Missing Child!

This episode in the life of the Holy Family begins on a holiday: specifically, the feast of Passover.

Luke records that the Holy Family went up to Jerusalem each year for the feast of Passover, apparently in a company of “their kinsfolk and acquaintances,” and when Jesus was twelve, he stayed behind in Jerusalem.

Joseph and Mary did not realize this until they had already gone “a day’s journey” back to Nazareth, at which point they realized he was not with the company.

They thus began to experience the agony and anxiety of parents who discover their child is missing.

And note the foreshadowing: Was there ever another time in Jesus life, at Passover, in Jerusalem, when Mary would be deprived of Jesus?

“On the Third Day”

Joseph and Mary thus return to Jerusalem and “after three days” find him.

The three days, in this case, are apparently:

the first day spent journeying from Jerusalem,
a second day spend journeying back to Jerusalem,
and the third day (or part of a third day) searching for him in Jerusalem.

Again, note the foreshadowing: The three days echo the three days (or, more precisely, parts of three days) that Jesus spent in the tomb, during which Mary and the disciples were deprived of Jesus’ presence but then found him again “on the third day” (cf. Lk. 9:22).

Why Weren’t They Monitoring Jesus More Closely?

KEEP READING.

9 things you need to know about Christmas

grotto — This is the actual Grotto of the Nativity under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Why is there so much confusion today about Christmas and what it means?

There’s a lot of confusion about Christmas.

Is it a day? Is it a season? Is it based on a pagan holiday? What is its real meaning?

Here are 9 things you should know about Christmas . . .

1. What is “the real meaning of Christmas”?

Although many voices in pop culture suggest that the true meaning of Christmas is being kind to each other, or being with our families, or something like that, the real meaning of the day–and the season it begins–is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:

525 Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family. Simple shepherds were the first witnesses to this event. In this poverty heaven’s glory was made manifest. The Church never tires of singing the glory of this night:

The Virgin today brings into the world the Eternal
and the earth offers a cave to the Inaccessible.
The angels and shepherds praise him
and the magi advance with the star,
For you are born for us,
Little Child, God eternal!

2. Christmas is not based on a pagan holiday.

No matter how many times you hear Sheldon Cooper (or anyone else) say Christmas is based on a pagan holiday (whether Saturnalia, Sol Invictus, or anything else), we simply have no evidence of this.

If you read the writings of the Church Fathers, you do not find those who assign Christmas to December 25th saying things like, “Let’s put Jesus’ birthday here so we can subvert a pagan holiday.” (Not that subverting pagan holidays is a bad thing.)

They simply don’t do that. The ones who say Jesus was born on December 25th do so because that is when they think he was born.

In his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, Pope Benedict comments:

KEEP READING.

Why Did Joseph Plan to Divorce Mary?

dream-of-st-joseph — God sent an angel to convince St. Joseph not to divorce Mary. But why was he planning to divorce her in the first place?

Matthew tells us that when “Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.”

Why did Joseph intend to divorce Mary?

The view that suggests itself to most people is that Joseph thought Mary had been unfaithful to him.

But there is another theory: that Joseph knew the Child had been conceived “of the Holy Spirit” and so Joseph was afraid to take Mary as his wife.

What are we to make of this issue?

And what does Pope Benedict have to say in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives?

What Did Joseph Know & When Did He Know It?

The idea that Joseph did not think Mary had been unfaithful to him may be suggested by the fact that Matthew mentions the miraculous conception of Jesus before he introduces Joseph’s idea of divorce.

He says: “before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit.”

Found by whom? Who knew that the Holy Spirit was responsible for the pregnancy?

Presumably, Joseph would have been one of the first to be told.

If he believed this then one could understand why he would be afraid to take Mary as his wife.

Who wouldn’t hesitate to take to wife someone who, in later centuries, would be called “the spouse of the Holy Spirit”?

Thus, as a “just man” he might seek to quietly sever the legal bond between them and would need the assurance of the angel telling him “do not fear to take Mary your wife.”

On the Other Hand . . .

KEEP READING.