From Mary Garden to Eternal Kingdom
The Blessed Virgin is "the Rose of Charity, the Lily of
Chastity, the Violet of Humility and the Golden Gillyflower of
Heaven"
- St. Bernard
In the Garden
The Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens afford a means of home
religious enabling and teaching of Marian devotion from children's
earliest years, with a spiritual communion through their baptismal
grace which prepares them to preserve and strengthen their faith
with each new life stage and world encounter as they move to
adolescence and adulthood.
Early Marian Devotion
In Catholic families infants are disposed from birth to Marian
devotion through their experience of mother love, bonding and
communion - which they then extend to Mary, the Mother of the
Infant Jesus, of whom they learn from Christmas creches and
Madonna and Child pictures and statuettes, and to whom parents
express devotion in the family Rosary and before her statue in
Church.
When they learn to walk, one-year-olds may then initiate their own
devotion to Mary before her approachable statue, such as one
placed in a garden setting, as described and illustrated in
"Tip-toeing to Mary" - posted to the website. Then there is the
familiar example of St. Therese's devotion from childhood through
life to Our Lady of the Smile. There comes to mind, anecdotally,
the comment of a young girl regarding a parish Mary Garden Grotto,
that her baby sister, for starters, "only likes to pray to the
Lady and not 'the guys'".
Creation
When child readiness is shown for teaching as to the origin of
things, the garden with its flowers, God's direct creations,
provides a ready setting for instruction that the origin of garden,
world and humans is in their creation by God, the infinite, almighty
loving Heavenly Father, who has created us and the world in a desire
to show forth and share with us, his divine goodness and action.
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name."
Thus, the beauty and fragrance of the flowers, the texture of their
foliage, the taste of herbs, the sound and feel of the breeze - in
all their variety and changing - together with the animals, birds,
butterflies and bees, all are now seen as showing forth the
attributes of God and heightening our sense of his existence.
Children are assisted in expressing thanksgiving and praise to God
for thus sharing of himself with us - in time with the words of the
"Gloria" and "Holy, Holy, Holy" from the Mass.
Later, when children learn of Our Lady's blessed union with God at
the Annunciation, in the Divine Maternity, and, after her earthly
death, of her Assumption body and soul into union with him in heaven,
they will learn, further, that, in the heavenly essences of Creation
and through the "heavenly retroactivity of eternity" she is united
with God at the very Creation - in accordance with the passage
ascribed to her by the Church Fathers and the liturgy:
"The Lord begot me, the firstborn of his ways . . .
"I was the first, before the earth . . .
"When he established the heavens I was there . . .
"Then was I beside him as his craftsman,
and I was his delight day by day,
Playing before him all the while,
playing on the surface of the earth;
and I found delight in the sons of men."
Proverbs 8:22-32
from which she is known as "Our Lady of Creation"
From "Then was I beside him as his craftsman" we may conclude that in
her union with the Divine Word of God - "All things were made by him:
and without him was made nothing that was made" (John 1:3) - Mary
indeed participated humanly in the work of Creation; such that if
there are those who may be able to contribute to the continuing
"evolution" of Creation today, they will do so only in emulation of
her immaculate purity of intention, her utter humility before God,
and her total conformity with his word and will.
We are to be miindful also, in respect to astronomy and space
exploration, of Mary's participation in the creation of the universe
with its galaxes, stars, planets, moons and comets.
God's Revelation of His Word
Before children learn to read they are read from and given picture
books, with simple texts, on the basis of which they learn the names
of things and see the names in written words with the pictures.
From this familiarity with books and writing it can, in time, be
explained to them for their understanding, that God has revealed to
selected persons, starting with our first parents, for eventual
writing down in the Bible, the purpose of Creation - to show forth
and to share with us his divine goodness and action - and to inform
us as to how we are to participate in this sharing.
Further, he has established his Church to preserve these revelations
in the Bible, and to teach and interpret them - from which we have
the story of Creation, the Gospel story, the Apostles' Creed, the
Mass, the sacraments, theology, the Rosary and prayers.
Earthly Peaceable Kingdom
It is thus to be taught to children that God has revealed to us his
will that we share with him, beginning in the garden, in caring for
his creatures, composing them, and developing them - with
culmination to be in the building and the coming of the earthly
Peaceable Kingdom, for divine transfiguration on the last day, with
the general resurrection of all humans, into the eternal New Heaven
and New Earth.
"Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it
is in heaven."
Individual Uniqueness of Each Flower, Human Being
Among the characteristics of flowers to be noted by children for
reflection are: 1) the different species of flowers, God's direct
creations, in nature and in the garden - each species esteemed for
its characteristics, 2) the unique characteristics of the blooms of
each species, and the minute differences between individual
blooms, and 3) the growth and opening of each bloom to perfection.
From this, children are taught that: 1) human persons, in their
various groups, are likewise all to be equally esteemed; that 2)
each of the millions and millions of individuals in the world
through time is endowed with an unique potential for: a) knowing
and loving God; b) sharing and showing forth aspects of the divine
goodness and action; and, c) contributing - with the guidance of
God's revelation and grace - to the building of the
earthly/heavenly Kingdom of divine/human sharing; and that 3) each
individual human has the potential of growing, in grace and glory,
to spiritual perfection.
The essence of religious education ("bringing forth") is the
assistance of each child in the discovery, development, exercise
and perfection of his or her endowed unique potential for showing
forth God's attributes, and for contributing to the building of
the earthly Peaceable Kingdom - in contrast to the secular
"education of subservience", which has as it goal primarily the
teaching of students to fit into contemporary jobs and
professions.
In family, school and community, each child, "created in the
divine image and likeness" is to be looked to and rejoiced in for
his or her unique religious endowment and potential, in the
Communion of Saints, rather than judged by group background, I.Q.
and secular job potential
Stewardship
Children in observing their parents' care for the garden flowers -
both the initial provision of soil texture and nutrients, and
adequate light and temperature range for growth; and then their
regular watering, as necessary to preserve soil moisture; weeding;
the pinching off of spent blooms; and the trimming of excessive
growth - learn in its simple plant form the need of stewardship
for all living creatures, including themselves.
And from the basic needs of plants for water, light, air and
nutrients, they are to consider their own comparable need, in
their human spiritual growth for grace, illumination, wisdom and
strength, as well as food for their physical survival.
"Give us this day our daily bread."
Artistry
In addition to considering flowering plants individually, students
are to be shown their composition in the garden, with its
enclosure, focal figure and beds.
In this they are introduced to the principles of artistic
composition - as set forth, for example, in the website article,
"Honoring Mary with God's Artistry" - of integrity, proportion and
clarity,
In this they learn the positioning of plants within the overall
enclosure and axes of the garden proportionately according to
height, color, bloom size, period of bloom and foliage, to provide
an overall harmony through the seasons of the year.
They thus learn the principles of composition to be applied in all
they do, for the ultimate building of the earthly Peaceable
Kingdom and its cities.
Flowers of Our Lady
As children grow older - learning to pray the family Rosary, with
reflection on its mysteries; and having read to them, or
themselves learning to read, the Gospel stories - they are shown
in the Mary Garden, for their recognition and reflection, the
flower symbols of the mysteries and Gospel - as described, for
example, per the website article, "In Mary's Garden".
It is to be explained that the basis for the flower symbols of Our
Lady's life and mysteries is the unity of all things through their
creation by the one God, such that there are, for our reflection,
discoverable correspondences in creatures to God's revelation -
known as "signatures" - on the basis of which Adam was ordered by
God, in Eden, to name all the creatures (Gen. 2:19).
Flowers were seen by the Church Fathers to be signatures of Our
Lady from Isaiah's prophecy of the Virgin Birth of the Redeemer
under the imagery of the miraculously blossoming Rod of Jesse
(Isaiah 2:11). Mindful of the purity of flowers, Mary was seen by
Chaucer to be the "Flower of flowers".
Discernment of Grace
It is to be explained to children, further, that the joys,
consolations, and promptings they experience in their continued
communion with Our Lady as they reflect on the symbolism of her
flowers and care for them, are from God's sharing of his presence
with them, through his indwelling grace.
They thus learn - in their baptismal state of sanctifying grace,
and in the pure innocence of childhood - to discern the consolations
and promptings of the actual graces that God sends them, and will
send to confirm and guide their decisions and actions for Kingdom
through life. In this they learn ever to pray for the guidance of
this grace in the "Come Holy Spirit":
"Send forth your spirit, and they shall be created,
and you will renew the face of the earth".
Later, as they learn of Our Lady's heavenly mediation of all grace
they will understand that their sense of Mary's presence in the
garden is a discernment of her presence through her mediating action
wherever grace is distributed.
Annunciation Virtues
At this point, children are to be instructed that they may be
increasingly responsive to the graces of the Holy Spirit, by ever
purifying themselves of any attachments to creatures only for
personal gratification - that, thus purified, they may ever rejoice
through them in God, with responsiveness to his will to employ them
for Kingdom.
Thus, children are to be guided to meditate on the Rosary mystery
of the Annunciation through the flower symbols of Mary's virtues,
through which she was "full of grace" and "the Lord is with
(her)": the white lily of her immaculate purity, the lowly violet
of her utter humility, and the eardrops adorning her ears which
"heard the word of God, and kept it" with total fidelity.
It should be understood that this is not some sort of "moralism" to
be imposed by adults for obedience, but a cultivation of children's
fidelity in sustaining their experience of the sanctifying graces of
their baptism and childhood innocence, that they may continue to be
open and responsive to the actual graces sent to guide them in their
further sharing through life in God's goodness and action.
For their emulation, in reflecting on Mary's Annunciation virtues,
Children are to be instructed, in accordance with St. Augustine's
teaching - in the Litury of the Hours for the feast of the Child
Mary's Presentation in the Temple - in regard to Christ's response to
the woman who said, "Happy is the womb that bore you, blessed is that
womb" that "More blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep
it", that:
"Mary heard God's word and kept it, and so she is blessed.
She kept God's truth in her mind, a nobler thing than
carrying his body in her womb. The truth and the body were
both Christ...but what is kept in the mind is of a higher
order than what s carried in the wmb."
Reflections on flowers of The Annunciation and other Joyful
Mysteries of the Rosary are set forth in the Background
Reference/Index for Teachers
Mary's Union with God
Reflection on Mary's Annunciation fullness of grace, God's presence
with her, and her conception of Jesus, God the Son, the Divine Word
Incarnate - as Mother, with God the Father - by God the Holy Spirit
provides the occasion for instructing children that through Mary's
thus being brought and entering into the fullness of union with God
for the Divine Maternity, God, in turn, now revealed as the Trinity
of Divine Persons, was thereby enabled to share and to show forth
through her all the divine action for the world, in a fulfillment of
the divine/human sharing purpose of Creation.
In praying the remaining mysteries of the Rosary, children are to
be assisted in seeing them also as aspects Mary's divine union and
mediation - especially as Co-redemptrix in the sorrowful mysteries
and as heavenly Mediatrix and Queen in the glorious mysteries.
Fallen World
When children question the source of the imperfections and ills in
the fallen world - as observed generally, but also at hand in the
garden (plant disease, insect attacks, climatic damage, etc.) - they
are ready for instruction as to the origin of these: as consequences
of our first parents' original sin of offending creating God the
Father by turning to creatures for ends other than their showing
forth and sharing of God's goodness, and other than their
grace-guided employment for the building of the Creation-culminating
earthly Kingdom of God.
It is be explained, as children's ability to understand increases,
that this came about because Satan and some others of the angels
God created to convey his governance to Creation elected to
exercise some of the governance for their own self-exalting use,
rather than for the showing forth and sharing of God's goodness;
and then succeeded in tempting our parents to join in this -
portrayed in the Bible as Satan's tempting them to eat of the
fruit, forbidden to them by God, of the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil.
As a consequence of this, God withdrew his grace from the world; the
sinful acts of humans were multiplied and were and are passed on from
generation to generation in the "time binding" of the myths, epics,
traditions, histories, poetry, drama, transcriptions, monographs,
letters, recordings, documentaries and websites of the "time stream
continuum"; and many aspects of the original harmony of the material
world were upset, with the ills experienced today.
Sins, in addition to offending God the Father by countering the
revealed purpose of the human sharing in the divine goodness and
action through Creation, produced temporal effects which
penetrated, resided in and perpetuated themselves in the world
moral climate, or environment of values - sustained by word of
mouth and social action and interaction, and today especially by
print media, movies, radio, TV and Internet, etc.
In this the effects of sin produce, and then are sustained by,
darkness of intellect, weakness of will and disorderly affections
of individuals - leading to further personal temptations and sins,
and also to the conditioning and tempting of individuals to sins
against the truth, justice, love and freedom required for the
building of the Peaceable kingdom.
Christ's Redemption of the World
With this understanding of the fall of the world from its original
harmony and grace, children are ready to learn the truth of the
world's redemption by God from this fall - through God the Son's
human incarnation as True God and True Man, that as infinite God
he might:
1) take upon himself all the sins of the world for their
annihilation with the sacrificial death of his body as
man, on the Cross, in satisfaction to God the Father for
sins, with restoration of grace, and
2) take upon himself the temporal effects of sins
continuing in and on the hearts, minds and souls of
persons in the world, for their reparational dissolution
through the mortificational sufferings of his Passion,
that persons thus delivered from them may be freed to
respond in their innate, created goodness to the
restored graces of peace and Kingdom.
Human Sharing in Christ's Redemption
In accordance with God's desire for the fullness of divine/human
sharing, in Creation, Christ enables us to share in his redemptive
sacrifice of Calvary through its continuation in the daily
celebrations of the Mass - in satisfaction for continuing sins.
And to this end, sharing in Christ's sacrifice, we pray in the
"Our Father",
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who
trespass against us."
He likewise calls us to share in his reparation for the temporal
effects of sin in the world, by our taking up sacrificially all our
daily difficulties, disappointments, sorrows and sufferings in union
with his taking them up, with those of all the world, sacrificially
in his Passion.
We are familiar with the undertaking of the mortifications given us
by our confessor in the sacrament of reconciliation, in reparation
through Christ for the temporal effects on our souls of our own
confessed sins and imperfections; and with reparations through
prayers, mortifications and Mass intentions for effects of sins
continuing on the souls of the deceased in purgatory, that they may
rest in heavenly peace.
But we are less familiar, in contemporary Catholicism, with the
offering sacrificially of all our daily difficulties,
disappointments, sorrows and sufferings for and with Christ, in
union with his mortificational taking up of them in the sacrifices
of his Passion, in the masses of each day - in reparation for
temporal effects of sin in the world, that all, and especially world
rulers and leaders, may be freed to respond in their innate created
goodness of heart, to the guiding and prompting graces now
redemptively restored to the world, for resumption of the
divine/human building of the earthly Peaceable Kingdom.
In keeping with God's desire for Creation for the fullness of
divine/human sharing, in love, he wills that these reparational
mortifications for the temporal effects of sin be initiated by us -
through our sacrificial offering for and with Christ of all our
daily duties, works and sufferings, which he then takes upon himself
in sacrificial reparation in his Passion.
This is the essence of God's revelation through Mary at Fatima in
1917 as to the prayers and sacrifices required for the graces of
world peace.
In this, we lovingly comply with God's desire for the fullness of
our sharing, in grace, in the divine action in the world - in the
redemption of the world that the building of the
Creation-culminating Peaceable Kingdom may be resumed, as well as in
its actual building.
It is our sharing, through our daily sacrifices, in the continuing
sacrifice of Christ that is spoken of by St. Paul, saying:
"I...rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up
those things that are wanting of the sufferings of
Christ" (Colossians 1:23)
Christ's Passion and Cross
In this, the Mary Garden flower symbols of the Rosary Sorrowful
Mysteries and the Stations of the Cross serve to quicken
reflection on the intensity of Christ's suffering and death in
taking upon himself sacrificially all the sins of the world, and
their effects - including ours.
Mary' Co-Redemption
As Mary's immaculate purity, utter humility and total assent
enabled her bringing by God at the Annunciation into blessed
divine/human union, through the fullness of the grace of God the
Holy Spirit - for the conception, and Divine Motherhood with God
the Father, of God the Son, Incarnate, True God and True Man,
Jesus - so, too, her fullness of divine/human union brought her
into union likewise with Jesus, as Co-redemptrix, in his
world-redeeming Passion and Death.
Mary's Reparational Sword of Sorrow
In Mary's union with Jesus as Co-redemptrix is contained the essence
of the redemptive deliverance of the world from the temporal effects
of sin: the reparational dissolution of these effects through the
offsetting offering of our human mortifications, through and with
Jesus, who takes them on himself as his own in the sufferings in
his Passion.
It is through Mary's sacrificial offering, for and with Jesus, of
the motherly sword of sorrow piecing her soul over the sufferings of
his Passion, and Jesus taking it upon himself sacrificially as his
own, that - according to the prophecy of Simeon at the Presentation
of the Child Jesus in the Temple - the thoughts of many hearts were
revealed; that many hearts, thus delivered from the temporal effects
of sin, were revealed as responding in their innate created
goodness, so often referred to by St. Paul, to the promptings of
God's graces of peace and of the building of the earthly and
heavenly Kingdom.
Mary's offering of her sorrows for and with Jesus is thus the model
for emulation by us all for the offering likewise, through her
Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart, both of our own sorrows sacrificially
for and with Jesus, and of our sorrows, with hers, over Jesus'
sufferings in his Passion - until in the aggregate, in the sacred
history of the world, such offerings will, through him, deliver us
humans sufficiently from the effects of sin, for the grace-guided
building of God's Kingdom in peace.
"Deliver us from evil"
In our era Mary has conveyed to us her sorrows in her appearance as
the Weeping Madonna of La Salette, bearing emblems of Christ's
torture, the nails of his cross. and the pliers needed to remove them
to take his body down from it; and imploring the people of the area
to repent of their sinful ways lest their agricultural work fail -
attesting to the effects of sin on the governance of the material
order, as initially at Eden, and of which she is now Mediatrix as
Queen of Angels.
In this Mary appeared to shepherd children at a little "paradise"
of stones and flowers they had constructed while resting - herself
adorned with three garlands of roses.
In the Mary Garden, children are constantly quickened, in emulation
of Mary, to make such offerings of their sorrows for and with Jesus
- as they reflect on flowers of The Sorrowful Mysteries.
In this they learn, further, in experiencing each inconvenience,
annoyance, irritation, aggravation, obstacle, opposition, pain or
suffering in their daily lives, to reflect on how in the Mass the
same is experienced by Jesus in his Passion - not only of his own,
but of those of all the world, which he takes upon himself. Through
thus reflecting they learn to offer their diminishments, as they
occur, in union with Jesus, as he offers them as his own.
In this they thus learn that with and through Mary they are to be
co-redeemers with Christ.
Virtual Sorrowful Mary Garden
Divine/Human Sharing
Thus, all our works for the building of God's Peaceable Kingdom
are to be undertaken both directly for the care and development of
the earth and its creatures; and also sacrificially for the
intention of reparational mortification, through Christ, for the
effects of sin, propagated in the world environment of values, and
in human behavior - that delivered from these effects, the hearts
and minds of all, and especially of world rulers and leaders, may
increasingly be freed to respond, in their endowed created human
goodness, to the promptings of the graces of reconciliation,
peace and kingdom beseeched in the Rosary prayers and sacrifices
of the Faithful.
The City of God and the Earthly City
Since Christ's redemption it can be said, as expressed by St.
Augustine, that until the building and coming of God's Kingdom on
earth we live in two cities: the City of God and the Earthly City.
Thus, the City of God is the city of faith. adoration and
glorification of and sharing in the goodness and action of God; while
the Earthly city is the city of continuing to seek enjoyment and use
of creatures for their own sake, in continuation of Satan's
temptation of our First Parents and the consequent seven capital sins
and other sins.
Daily Sacrifices
The undertaking by children of the special religious work of
caring for the Flowers of Our Lady in the Mary Garden - very
likely their first such undertaking of a specifically religious
work, as distinct from from personal and household tasks -
provides the opportunity for introduction of the general concept
of special works for God, both directly for Kingdom, and
indirectly in reparational mortification for temporal effects of
sin, that more may be freed to undertake the work of Kingdom.
From this can then be introduced to children the practice that all
personal and household tasks, as well, be undertaken both for
Kingdom, and also sacrificially, for and with Christ, in
reparation for the temporal effects of sin - to be offered
virtually each day in their Morning Offering, and then actually in
each instance through the day, making the sign of the cross.
In this, as children reflect on the many flower symbols of the
life of the Holy family in Nazareth, their apparel, their household
articles and the performance of their household tasks, they gain an
appreciation of how these serve as physical supports for the life of
the spirit.
Works of Mercy, Truth, Justice and Freedom, in Love
As children become aware of the deprivations and sufferings of
individuals, resulting from the effects of sin in the world, they are
to be shown, and given parental example of, the opportunity for the
relieving of these, where encountered by them, through works of
mercy, truth, justice and freedom, in Love.
Initial opportunities arising in their own immediate lives are those
of mercifully assisting family members or schoolmates who are having
difficulty, have been hurt or are handicapped. In this they
undertake beginning exercise of the spiritual works of mercy of
bearing wrongs patiently, forgiving offences willingly, comforting
the afflicted, and praying for the living and the dead.
Further, as they show their Mary Garden and it's Flowers of Our Lady
to their neighbors, relatives and classmates, and explain their
meanings, they have a beginning opportunity to undertake the
spiritual work of mercy of instructing the ignorant.
Similarly, for their beginning contributions to the building and
coming of God's earthly Peaceable Kingdom they can be shown by
example, and coached, by parents in truthfulness, sharing, fairness
and respecting the freedom of other children to learn and to
experiment.
These are the basics for extension to their eventual lives in the
world; and in their learning of them at home they can be shown, in
anticipation, how the same basic actions can be taken in respect to
the needs they see in the community in newspapers or on television,
and will see and encounter more directly as they go out into the
world.
Holy Communion
When children reach the age of reason - with the ability to
distinguish between good and evil, and thus to recognize their
temptations by the effects of sin in the world - they are admitted
to the sacrament of Holy Communion, that they may receive directly
graces bestowed through Christ's sacrifice, for the renewal and/or
increase in their souls of the sanctifying grace of their baptism;
that they may be strengthened in the resistance of temptation; and
may be preserved in purity for fullest responsiveness to the
promptings of the actual graces they receive for their contribution
to Christ's redemption and to the building of God's earthly
Peaceable Kingdom.
Reconciliation
Children are likewise introduced to the practice of spiritual
self-examination, for recourse to the associated Sacrament of
Reconciliation, whereby through the confession of their sins and
imperfections, they may receive - in addition to divine forgiveness
and absolution for sins - the grace to overcome imperfections,
through the practice of the "opposite virtues"; and may be given
mortificational penances to be performed to repair for the effects,
on themselves, of their sins.
While children's sins are essentially violations in conscience of
their sense of right and wrong, as learned from their parents and
teachers; in preparation for reception of the sacrament they are
also taught more formal self-examination in respect to sins against
love, justice and freedom; the Ten Commandments; the seven capital
sins; and the commandments of the Church.
Most importantly, they are taught, in accordance with Christ's
prayer of the "Our Father", that as the Father, through Christ's
sacrifice, forgives all the sins of the world, so are they to
forgive all who sin against them:
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who
trespass against us'
This temporal forgiveness of others removes from the overall
continuing temporal effects of sin in the world, the perpetuation
there would be of the effects of these particular sins if there were
to be a cause and effect, action and reaction, "eye for an eye and
tooth for a tooth" response or retaliation to them.
While children have learned previously, in the garden, to offer
their good works and their experienced adversities sacrificially
for and with Christ - "to do and to suffer" - in reparation for
the temporal effects of sin they observe and encounter in the
world; the penances they are given in sacrament of Reconciliation,
in mortificational reparation for the effects of their own sins, on
themselves, serve to strengthen their conviction also as to the
effectiveness of personal sacrifices in reparation for the
temporal effects of sin on others, in the world generally - viz.
that, for example, a daily sacrifice so offered might marginally
enable a world leader's pivotal de-escalating of violence, toward
peace.
Prayers for the Faithful Departed
Similarly, children are introduced to the practice of offering
sacrifices, for and with Christ's sacrifice, for the "happy
repose" of the souls of the deceased - viz. their reparational
deliverance from the purgatorial, temporal effects of sins with
which they died, that they may rest in heavenly peace. This gives
a further sense of the reparational efficacy of their sacrificial
offered works and sufferings for and with Christ - now offered
virtually in their Morning Offerings, and in their offertory
intentions at Mass, as well as actually when they are undertaken
or experienced in their daily lives.
Each child's understanding and practice of offering all his or her
daily works and sufferings, through Christ, in liberating reparation
for the temporal effects of sin in the world furthers the sense of
the unique contribution he or she, and each person, can make to the
world.
Indulgences
At this time children are to be instructed also to make recourse
to indulgences in reparation of the temporal effects of sin - that
by the praying of indulgenced prayers, as on liturgically blessed
Rosary beads, scapulars, medals, etc. they may draw on the
heavenly storehouses of the spiritual effects of meritorious acts
and mortifications of members of Holy Church.
Daily Sacrifices For Peace
We have faith that the Peaceable Kingdom will come on earth, for
which we pray in the "Our Father". God has revealed, through Mary
at Fatima in 1917, that the graces for world peace are to be
obtained through the offering by us, the faithful, together with our
Rosary prayers, of all our daily duties, works, aggravations and
sufferings sacrificially, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
for and with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
This establishment of peace on earth, to culminate in the Peaceable
Kingdom, awaits fuller understanding of the divinely revealed
general need for, and practice by the faithful of, reparational
sacrifices for and with Christ to this end; but from the
perspective of nineteen centuries of Christian involvement in
violence, the just peace treaties following the end of World War
II, and the peaceful termination of the Cold War, represent a
hopeful trend to this end, in sacred history.
The ultimate foundaton for world peace is mutual graced forgiveness
by religious, ethnic, geographical, national and political groupings
of, and reparations for, historic wrongs and injustices, that
cooperatve, honest, just, respecting and freely entered into
relationships of renwal and development may be entered into.
Evidently what is needed is a heightened sacrificial participation
for and with Christ in reparation for the temporal effects of sin -
a religion of prayerful, sacrificial sharing rather than of medieval
dependency. We hear daily from religious leaders how conflict
should be resolved through ceasefires, dialog, negotiaton,
compromise, agreement and cooperation - but with little mention of
the accompanying need for sacrificial reparational deliverance from
the temporal effects of sin so that the hearts of leaders will be
responsive, in their innate created goodness to the graces to do
this.
To this end, Mary requested at Fatima that all our Rosary prayers
and daily sacrifices be offered to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through
her Immaculate Heart - that they be most fully attuned by Jesus, and
through her universal mediation, to the deliverance of hearts
corrupted or constrained by the world temporal effects of sin.
Consecration to Mary's Immaculate Heart
For this it was requested by Mary that the world be formally
consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. This consecration was made
by Pope John Paul II in 1984, with a request to all the bishops
worldwide to carry it out in their respective dioceses; and was
renewed by him on March 25, 2004 - on both occasions with the
prayer:
"Mother of Christ, may the infinite salvific power of
the Redemption be revealed once again in the history of
the world: power of merciful Love! May it put a stop to
evil! May it transform consciences! May the light of
hope be revealed to all in your Immaculate Heart!"
The Christian Churches in Iraq consecrated their country to the
Virgin Mary before a statue of the pilgrim Virgin of Fatima, Queen
of Peace in the Chaldean-rite Cathedral of St. Joseph in Baghdad
on March 21, 2003
Heavenly Mary
Mary's fullness of divine union, through which she became the
Blessed Mother of the Divine Word Incarnate, true God and True Man,
at the Annunciation; and Co-redemptrix with Jesus at the
Crucifixion, was culminated with her mediation of the Holy Spirit
to the apostles at Pentecost, and with her Assumption, body and
soul, after her death, into Heaven as our spiritual mother,
protector, nurturer, counselor, guider, helper, advocate and
intercessor, and Queen of heaven and earth.
Children are quickened to reflection on this, and to make
recourse to Mary in prayer by reflection on the many flowers of her
Pentecostal and heavenly mediation, as detailed in the website
article, Home Schooling Mary Garden Projects
Later, as children grow older, in contemplating golden flowers
they may find that they rise illuminatively in their mind's eye or
active imagination to contemplation of the source of their glory,
God's heavenly glory, after which, returning again to earthly
perception, all golden flowers now seem to them as not just sense
perceptions but as interiorly illuminated with a ray of God's
glory. Then, from this, they come to see the full rays of this
radiance as flooding the entire sky and countryside, now seen as
God's face, our interface with God, resplendently showing forth
the Divinity.
Similarly, in view of Mary's heavenly union with God in his glory,
in contemplating the marigold, "Mary's Gold" they rise to
contemplation of heavenly Mary as the "Woman Clothed in the Sun",
the "Queen in Gilded Clothing", and "She who comes forth as the
morning rising...bright as the sun".
The earliest record we have found of the actual dedication of a
flower to the Virgin Mary by name is that of the "glorious"
naming of the plant Calendula officinalis as "Mary's Gold", by St.
Hildegard of Bingen, of whom it is said, in "The Life and Works of
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)":
"In 1141, Hildegard had a vision that changed the course
of her life. A vision of god gave her instant understanding
of the meaning of the religious texts, and commanded her
to write down everything she would observe in her visions.
"'And it came to pass ... when I was 42 years and 7 months
old, that the heavens were opened and a blinding light of
exceptional brilliance flowed through my entire brain. And
so it kindled my whole heart and breast like a flame, not
burning but warming... and suddenly I understood of the
meaning of expositions of the books...'"
This Marian naming of Calendula officinalis has been found in all the major
records we have found of medieval monastic medicinal herb gardens.
Mary's Union with God
Reflection in the Joyful Mysteries on Mary's Annunciational
fullness of grace of God's presence with her, and on her
conception of Jesus by God the Holy Spirit, provided the occasion
for instructing children that through her thus being brought, and
entering, into the fullness of divine union for the Divine
Maternity, God was enabled as well to share and to show forth
through her all the divine action for the world, in a fulfillment
of the divine/human sharing purpose of Creation.
Then, reflection on Mary's union with Jesus, her soul penetrated
with a sword of sorrow, during his Passion and at the foot of the
Cross provided the basis for understanding the fullness of her
sharing in his Redemption as Co-redemptrix
It is likewise understood, in meditating on the Glorious Mysteries,
how the fullness of her divine union enabled God to mediate
through her to the apostles the grace, light, wisdom and power of
Pentecost; and then, assumed body and soul into heaven, to mediate
to us on earth the divine protection, spiritual motherhood,
nurturing, mercy, counsel, guidance, help, co-redemption,
In this, considering again our creation by God to share to the
fullest in the divine goodness and action, and considering Mary as
our model of this sharing, we see that just as in emulation of Mary
we are to be, with and through her, co-conceivers of Jesus in our
hearts, and sacrificial co-redeemers with Christ at the foot of the
cross, so too are we to be, with and through her, co-mediators with
Christ in Heaven. Thus, our prayers to the Trinity are not to be
dependent and subservient, but co-mediating through and with Mary.
The culmination of Mary's heavenly Assumption is her queenly
mediation to us of God's graces for our sacrificial offering for
and with Christ of our daily duties, works and sufferings in
reparational dissolution of the temporal effects of sin by which
Satan corrupts the world.
Satan, cast down from heaven to earth after the Ascension of the
risen Christ (Rev. 12:9), sought to persecute Mary there (12:13),
who, however, was protected from him providentially by the earth
(12:16); whereupon he sought and now seeks, to persecute all her
spiritual children (12:17), given to her by Christ from the Cross.
In this, the dragon and serpent, Satan became and is the ruler of
the redeemed but as yet unrepaired world, and will continue to be
until we humans, for the building of God's Kingdom in grace, are
delivered from the temptings of the temporal effects of sin,
through their nullification by our widespread divine/human sharing
our lives sacrificially for and with Christ, through the example
and mediation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, now assumed into
Heaven - between whom and Satan enmities have been created by God
such that she shall crush his head and he will lie in wait for her
heel (Gen. 3:15).
These revealed truths of Mary's protection from Satan, beginning
on earth, and of her crushing of him with her heel in her heavenly
mediation, are shown forth in the focal sculpture of 'Mary, Model
of the Church' in the Mary Garden of St. Catherine of Siena Church,
Portage, Michigan - her protection from Satan by the earth being
symbolized by the sculpted flowers growing up around her and
protectively enveloping her; and her crushing of him as the red
dragon under her foot.
"A great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun . . .
and being with child." (Rev. 12:1,2)
"I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and
her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for
her heel." (Gen.3:15)
Mindful of our creation by God to share, fully, in the divine action,
we, as Mary's spiritual seed and in emulation of her humility, are to
share in the divine grace, light, wisdom and power of her heavenly
mediation for the crushing with her of Satan's head.
The key to our participation in this is our emulation of Mary's
humility, in regard for which God "shewed might in his
arm...scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart...put down
the mighty from their seat and...exalted the humble" (Magnificat,
Luke 1:45-54).
As St. Louis de Montfort has said,
"Mary's power over the evil spirits will especially shine
forth in the latter times, when Satan will lie in wait for
her heel, that is, for her humble servants and her poor
children whom she will rouse to fight against him. In the
eyes of the world they will be little and poor and, like
the heel, lowly in the eyes of all, down-trodden and
crushed as is the heel by the other parts of the body. But
in compensation for this they will be rich in God's graces,
which will be abundantly bestowed on them by Mary.
"They will be great and exalted before God in holiness. They
will be superior to all creatures by their great zeal and
so strongly will they be supported by divine assistance that,
in union with Mary, they will crush the head of Satan with
their heel, that is, their humility, and bring victory to
Jesus Christ."
- True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, par. 54
Mother of Mercy
"And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them
that fear him".
While God has revealed that the ultimate overcoming of human
suffering from illness and injury will be through the fullness of our
joining, through the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary, of our
own adversities and sufferings with Christ's sacrifice, in
satisfaction for sins and in reparation for their temporal effects -
that in spiritual justice, with delivery from these evil effects, the
Peaceable Kingdom may, in grace, be built and come on earth as it is
in heaven - he, in the meantime, shows his loving mercy for
sufferings through miraculous healings, in each present moment.
In view of God's universal mediation through Mary of the divine
action in the world in his Creational desire for the fullness of
divine/human sharing, we pray to Mary, as Mother of Mercy, for God's
mercy through St. Bernard's "Memorare",
"Never was it known, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary, that
anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help.
or sought your intercession was left unaided . . . "
In our times Mary, in her mediation, has revealed God's miraculous
healing especially through the spring waters of Lourdes - of which
mediation Pope Pius XII stated, in an address to rose growers, "When
Mary appeared to St. Bernadette on the rock at Maisabielle, where the
speckled rose bush grew, each of her feet was adorned with a blooming
rose. She whom the Church had just proclaimed the Immaculate
Conception, manifested in this way, to a poor and artless child, the
fulness of her perfections and the delicacy of her goodness."
From Garden to World
On entering the "world" of community, higher education, citizenship
and work, young Mary Gardeners bring with them and extend the
religious formation, devotion, illumination, prayer and action of
their cloistered, nurturing environment of home, garden and church,
In this, they are now called upon to extend their works of mercy,
truth, justice and freedom, in love. In the world they have
opportunities to undertake as well as the spiritual acts of mercy the
physical acts of mercy of feeding the hungry, giving drink to the
thirsty, clothing the naked, harbor the harborless, visiting the
sick, ransoming the captive, and burying the dead.
And the spiritual acts of mercy which they learned to practice in
home and school - To instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful,
admonish sinners, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offences willingly,
comfort the afflicted, and pray for the living and the dead - they
are now enabled to practice in the world.
For this, they receive increased knowledge, understanding, wisdom,
fortitude and holy fear of God through the sacrament of Confirmation
- for their encounters with the persons of many circumstances,
beliefs and motives they meet, relate to or learn of as they go out
into the world.
To this end, the present article has been written in confirmational,
rather than devotional, mode, to provide a reasoned basis for
assistance in preparing children for such encounters.
This has been done mindful that without such confirmational
strengthening, children of early innocence and protection may be
unprepared to resist the fleshly and worldly temptations encountered
in adolescence and young adulthood - through peer groups, TV,
Internet, and high school, college and work environments - and
therefore may be prone to rebel against early home and school
instruction as arbitrary, authoritarian, moralistic, etc.
"Lead us not into temptation."
More than this, confirmational reasoning equips young people to
respond to those who would directly question or attack their faith,
devotion and morality - in their response thereby winning
intellectual respect, and extending to them them the spiritual works
of mercy of instructing the ignorant and counseling the doubtful.
Vocation
On or after, and in some circumstances before, completing high
school education, consideration is to be given by each young person
entering the world as to the vocation to be chosen, or prepared for,
in consideration of inclinations, aptitudes, opportunities and needs
- and in respect to the envisaged single state, marriage, or
religious vocation.
Having learned to discern and to be responsive to the promptings and
consolations of grace in respect to lesser decisions, they have
recourse to such prmptings and consolations as the basis for making
these larger vocational elections.
If promptings and consolations of grace have not been clearly
discerned as to these major life elections to be made, recourse can
be made to St. Ignatius Loyola's counsel on spiritual elections in
his classic "Spiritual Exercises":
1 - In periods of quiet recollection, to reflect consecutively
on each of the alternatives being considered, in order to
discern for which one the reflection is accompanied with
consolations of grace; or, conversely, which one(s)
may be accompanied with desolations, of grace withrawal,
or
2. If clarity is not experienced in this, generally to reflect
on the purpose of Creation, and then to reflect on each
alternative in this context, discerning accompanying
consolations or desolations. or
3. To reflect on God's love in creating us to share in the
divine goodness and action, and then to reflect on each
alternative in this context, discerning accompanying
consolations or desolations
The Communion of Saints
Of special importance in moving from home and school to the world is
the accompanying extended particiption in the Communion of Saints
through the sharing of one's experiences of movements of grace and
providence, and sacrifices offered - to the greater glory of, and in
spiritual communion with, God - with new persons of faith met and
worked with - as all work and pray in the world for Kingdom.
For those in the single state, or religiously committed to God
through community vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, this
communion serves to heighten the sense of ecstacy and rapture of
their union with God. For those in the human married state,
spiritual communion between marital partners - augmented by the
graces of the sacrament of holy matrimony - finds expression in
ever-renewed rapture of sexual union in its mirroring in Creation, of
divine-human union.
Marriage
Spiritual communion is of primary importance in marriage, as it is
this communion between husband and wife which is ever expressed anew
in sexual union as they grow step by step spiritually through life.
In this the initial physical, emotional, esthetic, social,
intellectual, interest or other attractions through which couples
fall in love are ever renewed in the deepening of spiritual communion
throughout life, with the assistance of the graces of the marriage
sacrament.
Without incorporation in increasing spiritual communion, initial
attractions leading to marriage may diminish through repetition
without deepening, or through the temptations of new such attractions
encountered outside of marriage - leading to infidelities, or
eventally to marriage annulment based on the demonstration of the
absence of the basis of the marriage in spiritual communion. Pastors
have observed that a majority of the parishioner marriages for which
they are asked to officiate lack an adequate basis in spiritual
communion, but when their offer of instruction has been declined,
they have nevertheless been obligated to perform the sacramental
ceremony.
Preparation for Attacks on Faith
While preparations are made to extend the life of faith from home and
school to world, it is at the same time necessary that children be
prepared for anticipated specific questioning of or attacks on their
Catholic Faith as they go out into the world from a nurturing
Catholic environment - that they be not taken by surprise by these.
Initiatons and Hazings
First there are the widespread general encounters with peer groups,
clubs, organizations or employers, etc. that require those who join
them to undergo explicit or implicit initiations, "hazings" or
acceptances compromising their ability to participate in them with
moral integrity in accordance with truth, justice, love, freedom
and/or other virtues through which one is to contribute in all
activities to the building of the earthly Peaceable Kingdom.
Avoiding the judgmental mode - the separation of oneself from
others in judgement - formal joining is respectfully to be declined;
and the career obstacle encountered offered sacrificially for and
with Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in reparation for
the temporal effects of sin involved.
Atheism, Evolutionism
Lack of belief in Creation by an infinite, almighty, personal God is
characteristically affirmed on the basis of the inability to prove
the existence of a such a creating God scientifically; of the
compelling evidence in support of the theory of the physical
evolutionary development of humans, via a series of lower life
forms, from elementary life cells; of the seeming meaninglessness of
human suffering and death; and of the historic and contemporaryy
scandals of the religions of the world.
A response to such affirmations is that the basis of Catholic
Christian belief embraced by baptized and raised Catholics - vis a
vis atheism or other religions - is instructively demonstrated by
the logical steps taken by converts, following the experience of an
intervention in their lives discerned to be of a loving, guiding,
transcendent, personal being - recognized as fitting the description
by believers of God.
These steps, explicitly or implicitly, are:
1) Belief that the loving, creating God will have
revealed the purpose and goal of Creation through
a widely accessible truth source,
2) Conclusion that this truth source will be a divinely
revealed scripture with a divinely established
interpreter,
3) Conclusion that the Bible and Catholic Church best
fit the requirements of such a truth source and its
divinely established interpreter,
4) Study and instruction in the Apostles' Creed,
Bible, Catechism, theology, and Church personal
and social teachings, etc.
5) Understanding that the scientifically discovered
relationships of life forms is not inconsistent
with the summary of the steps of Creation set forth
in the Bible; understanding of the revealed origin
and redemptive sacrificial employment of suffering;
and understanding that the failings of Church
members do not negate its divine establishment and
preservation through history as truth source.
6) Baptism and attendance of Mass and the sacraments
7) Personal commitment to contribution, in grace, to
the building and coming of the earthly and eternal
Kingdom of divine/human sharing, as God's divinely
willed consummation of Creation.
8) Growth in spiritual perfection in love of and
divine/human sharing with God - Father, Son and
Holy Spirit - with and through the Blessed Virgin,
in the fullness of her union and sharing with God
and consequent divinely embraced universal
Mediatrix of the divine action in heaven and on
earth.
With respect to (5), the understanding that the scientifically
discovered relationships of life forms is not inconsistent with the
summary of the steps of Creation set forth in the Bible, those who
seek to contribute to the continuing "evolution" of Creation today,
are to do so in emulation of the immaculate purity of intention, the
utter humility before God, and the total conformity with God's word
and will of Mary, who in Creation was "beside (God) as his craftsman"
(Proverbs 8:30).
Christianity vs. the Other World Religions
A major questioning to be encountered is that of the truth of
Catholic faith compared to that other major world religions.
While this is a matter of faith, it is to be pointed out that of the
major religions, Christianity is the only one that teaches the
existence of God as the Trinity of Divine Persons - Father, Son and
Holy Spirit; with the teaching of Creation as having the purpose of
showing forth and sharing the divine goodness and action; and with
the teaching of the redemption of the world from its ills through the
sacrifice of the Divine Son Incarnate, True God and True Man, in
satisfaction for sins and in reparation for the temporal effects of
sin, to enable the building and coming of the earthly Peaceable
Kingdom, for transfiguration at the end of time, with the general
resurrection, into the eternal new heaven and new earth - as distinct
from the "pie in the sky" transcendent focus of Islam on Paradise; of
Buddhism on Nirvana; of Hinduism on the Supreme Identity of "Thou art
That"; of Taoism on Universal Harmony, etc.
On the other hand, Christianity's belief in a purposeful Creation
and in the building of the earthly Peaceable Kingdom, through the
coming of the Messiah, has its origins in Judaism and in the Jewish
Bible, adopted as the Christian Old Testament; but differs from
Judaism in its belief that Christ was the Messiah while Judaism
believes the Messiah is yet to come.
In view of historic anti-semitism, pogroms and other persecutions of
Jews by many Christians, some atheists and agnostics experiencing
conversion to belief in God have converted to Judaism. While there
has been increased cooperation between Christians and Jews, the
temporal effects of the sins of Christian anti-semitism run deep. It
was only in the 1960's that the term "perfidious Jews" was removed,
by Pope John XXIII - saying "Joseph. my brother" - from the Catholic
Good Friday liturgy.
Christian Ascetic/Mystical Experience
Encountered along the same lines, is the assertion that the
ascetic/mystical ascents of soul in other religions - and in
psychism, esooteric astrology, theosophy, spiritism, out-of-body
experiences, angelism, celtism, New Ageism and other explorations of
the subtle domains through which God creates, sustains and acts upon
the world - are much more extensive than in Christianity. In this,
it is to be pointed out that despite their extensiveness these other
ascents fail to rise to full union with the Trinity, as does the
Christian ascetic/mystical purgative, affective, illuminative,
unitive path to union - following of the teachings of Saints Teresa
of Avila, John of the Cross and Francis de Sales, etc. - which rises
to full union with the Trinity and thereby to union with the divine
will for spiritual "return" to earth for the building in grace of the
earthly Peaceable Kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven".
Instructive here, is the experience of St. Paul, who after an
initial mystical ascent to the Third Heaven, was blocked from
further ascent, with accompanying counsel from God, "My grace is
sufficient for you" - for return to earth for reparational
sacrifices for and with Christ (II Cor. 12:1-10), for the building
of Church and Kingdom:
" . . . For such an one (mystically ascending) I will
glory: but for myself I will glory nothing but in my
infirmities. . . And (the Lord) said to me: My grace
is sufficient for thee: for power is made perfect in
infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I
powerful."
Also, we have the example of Mary in this, when she was on earth,
in the words of the lesson in the Liturgy of the Hours for the
feast of Mary's Queenship, August 22nd:
"While still in the flesh, at one moment she withdrew to God
in ecstasy; at the next she would bend down to her neighbors
with indescribable love. In heaven angels served her,
while here on earth she was venerated by the service of
men. . . . And both obeyed her with loving devotion."
Church Support of Violence
The Apostles - other than St. John, protector of Mary - were put
to death, and some, like Christ, crucified, in Roman pagan
society, as were the Roman martyrs, for their profession of
Christ's teaching.
With the conversion of Rome in the 5th century, Pope Leo I, in
adherence to the Gospel teaching of love of one's enemies, and
prayers for those who persecute you - of the Apostles and the
Roman martyrs - met non-violently with Attila the Hun outside the
walls of Rome and persuaded him to spare he city.
However, Christians were soon permitted to kill - as members of
the state militia maintaining law and order; as members of the
army in state-declared defensive just wars; and, when inspired by
God, in defense of the Church - to all of which the Commandment,
"Thou shalt not kill" was held not to apply - as set forth by St.
Augustine in "The City of God" (Book I, Chapter 21):
"there are some exceptions made by the divine authority
to its own law, that men may not be put to death. These
exceptions are of two kinds (whereby) persons have by no
means violated the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill."
. . . either by a just law (of the state), or by
a special intimation from God Himself, the fountain of all
justice."
Thus, Christ's teaching, "Blessed are those who lay down their
lives for their friends" was held to apply to those who were
killed in wars for state and Church, as well as to those who were
non-violent martyrs for the Faith, per Christ's Gospel teaching -
of non-violent "turning the other cheek", "going the second mile",
returning good for evil, and praying for one's persecutors and
enemies, etc.
In justification of Christian violence, St. Augustine taught that
the Gospel teachings of love of enemies and returning good for
evil of the interior ("The Kingdom of God is within you") and
heavenly "City of God" of Jesus' redemption existed "intermingled"
with the "earthly city" in which the Christians were to resort to
the just use of violence to defend state and church. Paradoxically,
the use of violence was thus justified for the preservation of
those who lived by non-violence.
However, as set forth by St. Thomas Aquinas, in his elaboration of
just war doctrine (Summa Theologica Part II, Question 40), it was
judged that, in the intermingling spoken of by St. Augustine, there
was ever the complementary obligation after a just war peace
settlement to draw on the teachings of Christ for the further
establishment of religiously based peace - of love, truth, justice
and freedom.
Historically, the granting of permission for Christians to kill in
just defense of the state from attack by other states or by
criminals, and in defense or extension of the Roman Church, rapidly
deteriorated into Christian involvement in conquest, forced
conversions, auto de fe, torture, crusades, pogroms, inquisitions,
repression, oppression, slavery, colonialism and imperialism -
culminating in the present preemptive war against terrorism and the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In respect to killing for the Church in the Crusades, St. Bernard
wrote ("In praise of the New Knighthood - A Sermon of Exhortations
for the Knights of the Templar"):
"Advance you knights and drive away the enemies of the
cross of Christ with an untroubled soul. Be certain
that neither death nor life has the power to separate
you from the grace of God in whom is Christ Jesus.
indeed at every kind of anger reply, 'Whether we are to
live or whether we are to die, we are the Lord's.' How
glorious to return from the victories of such a battle!
How blessed to die a martyr in battle! Rejoice courageous
champion, if you live and conquer in the Lord. Indeed
there is great rejoicing and glory. If you die, you are
joined with your Lord. Life is certainly fruitful and
victory is glorious. but a sacred death is truly more
important. To be sure, if 'you who die in the Lord are
blessed,' how much more blessed are those who die for
the Lord?"
This was foreseen by Jesus, in his prophecies that there were those
who would not follow his full teaching of the way of love and
peace - "I bring you not peace, but a sword", and "All those who
live by the sword, shall die by the sword."
However - in accordance with Jesus' promise to Peter in
establishing the Church that "the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it" - the Church has survived for the fifteen centuries
since Augustine, despite the extensive unjust adoption of violence
and warfare by many Christians. Also, despite all this violence,
the Church has preserved the continuity of Jesus' sacrifice of
Calvary for the forgiveness of sins, in the masses said each day
throughout the world; has preserved his teachings in the
magisterium of the Church; has clarified the overall revealed
deposit of faith in evolving world circumstances; and has
administered the sacraments of sanctifying grace. In this, Pope
John Paul II has spoken of the coexistence of the "Church of
Peter" in the world, and the interior "Church of Mary".
Midst worldly political violence, the teaching and living of
Jesus' way of love and redemptive sacrifice has indeed been
continued non-violently by the "religious" Church of the City of
God - especially in religious orders, with their vows of special
Christian commitment to poverty, chastity and obedience; and also
widely by laity in the secular world.
Mary's call at Fatima for Rosary prayers of reparation for peace
is thus to be understood as a drawing on the interior "Church of
Mary" to establish peace in the world of the "Church of Peter".
The Sinning Church
Finally, one may to be asked that if the Holy Catholic Church was
founded by Christ why have there been so many scandals in its
hierarchy and members through the years, including those so very
recently in the U.S.
In this it is to be clarified first of all that, as the Second
Vatican Council of the Roman Church re-affirms, the Church is not
the hierarchical institution, but its baptized people, "the people
of God", including many holy people in religious orders who live
according to religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience; as
well as many holy bishops, priests and laity.
The hierarchical, priestly members are directly descended from the
Apostles by the "laying on of hands", and as the formal element of
the Church, preserve the scriptures and the creedal, dogmatic,
deposit of faith; and the Mass and sacraments - ritual sources of
grace and holiness.
All Church members start out with the holiness of the innocence of
childhood or conversion, and the sanctifying grace of the
sacrament of baptism. Following this they have the teaching of
the Church and the further sanctifying grace of the the other
sacraments, and also the absolution and penance for sin of the
sacrament of reconciliation, through which to further their
holiness.
However, like all persons, members of the Church are subject to
the temptations of the temporal effects of sin - of the flesh and
world - and scandals result from public visibility of their
succumbing to these temptations. The scandals, therefore, are
those of some individuals in the Church - not of "the" Church.
The holiness taught and sacramentally nurtured by the Church in
individuals is furthered through self-examination for one's
spiritual defects and imperfections - for absolution through the
confession and mortificational penances of the sacrament of
reconciliation, followed by the practice, in grace, of the
"opposite virtues"
With respect to historical scandals, Pope John Paul II stated in
the apostolic letter "Tertio Millennio Adveniente":
"It is appropriate that ... the Church should become
more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children,
recalling all those times in history when they departed
from the spirit of Christ and his Gospel and, instead of
offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by
the values of faith, indulged in ways of thinking and
acting which were truly forms of counter-witness and
scandal".
He thus prayed:
"Lord, God of all men, in some periods of history
Christians have yielded to methods of intolerance and
have not followed the great commandment of love, thus
disfiguring the countenance of the Church, your Bride.
Have mercy on your sinful children and accept our
determination to seek and promote truth in the
gentleness of charity, conscious that the truth only
imposes itself with the force of truth itself. Through
Christ our Lord."
In keeping with this, the Pope has asked forgiveness for Christian
participation in the Crusades, the sacking of Constantinople,
Spanish Inquisition, Jewish pogroms, slavery and other historical
scandals.
However, the historically perpetuated resentments for these outrages
run so deep that the hope for their reparation and reconciliation
must rest in the faith and hope that the eventual fulfillment of
God's will for Creation for its culmination in the building and
coming of the earthly Peaceable Kingdom will be accomplished through
mutual sacrificially beseeched, grace-inspired historic forgivness.
While the very envisioning of the practical possibility of the
earthly Peaceable Kingdom has taken fifteen hundred years to
develop since the acceptance of violence by the Church of Rome and
Augustine, there is historical hope for its building/coming in the
emergence of attempted world government and world human rights,
and of "the contraction of space and the acceleration of time"
through science and technology.
But the failure of global economics and of diplomatic and military
strategy, tactics and timing to bring this about, due to blocking
by the deep-seated and widespread historical perpetuation of
temporal effects-of-sin resentments over past injustices and
killings, brings us back to the key to the Peaceable Kingdom, as
revealed by Mary at Fatima, as the undertaking by the faithful of
all their daily lives sacrificially, for and with Christ, through
her immaculate and sorrowful heart, in reparational, liberating
dissolution of these temporal effects, that delivered from them,
the hearts of all, and especially of leaders, may be freed to
respond to the graces of peace exhorted in Rosary prayers and
sacrifices of the faithful for peace.
With respect to the Church, "The People of God", it is to be
remembered that each believer is a part of it - not institutionally
submissive to it - so that each is to sacrifice for and with
Christ for the temporal effects of sin tempting some of its
members to scandal.
In this we have the scriptural example of St. Paul, who, for the
conversion and sanctification of those to whom he preached the
truth and morals of Christ, undertook all the adversities of his
life sacrificially for and with Christ in reparation of the
temporal effects of sin which might block such conversion and
sanctification:
Colossians 1:23-24
"I Paul am made a minister, who now rejoice in my
sufferings for you and fill up those things that are
wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for
his body, which is the church."
2 Corinthians 12:,9-10
"Power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will
I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in
persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am
weak, then am I powerful."
Galatians 6:2
"Bear ye one another's burdens: and so you shall fulfill
the law of Christ."
Philippians 1:29-30
"For unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe
in him, but also to suffer for him: Having the same
conflict as that which you have seen in me and now have
heard of me."
Romans 12:4-5
"As in one body we have many members, but all the members
have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body
in Christ; and every one members one of another"
Conclusion, on Entering the World
While in the home, observant parents and guardians can discern the
readiness of children for each further step of religious
formation, it is a challenge for parents and/or mentors to learn
the occasions for counseling adolescents and young adults for
meeting the challenges of "the world" to faith and devotion.
Such counseling prior to the challenges may result in rebellion in
the name of freedom, yet after the challenge it may be too late.
A preferred approach is the proactive one of "turning it around",
viewing faith and reparation for Kingdom as the challenges - to
the world - which they properly are. From this viewpoint, what
others may see as challenges to faith and devotion are viewed as
opportunities to present the sacrificial dimension of faith and
devotion as the necessary means to reparation of the temporal
effects of sin which - sustained in the world environment of
values - lead to exploitation and oppression, with consequent
rebellion, terrorism and wars.
From this viewpoint, the rebellion of young people from the
widespread "education of subservience" for fitting into available
job opportunities and obeying some moral rules so they will get
into heaven when they die is a source of hope because this
rebellion evidences the sense they have that there is more to life
than this.
It is the same with the many adults who, feeling unfulfilled
fitting into the available job markets and secular life, and, while
abiding more or less by the moral rules, read the thousands of
books published each year, hoping to find something "more".
Affirming world justice and peace; and educating and perfecting
oneself in order best to promote these, in grace, in one's own
circumstances, and, through sacrifice for and with Christ, for the
repairing of the temporal effects of sin blocking these world-wide,
is a far greater challenge and personal fulfillment for all - as
God's sharing creatures - than promiscuous sex, drugs, in-group
exclusiveness, wealth accumulation, personal ascendency and power
over others, etc.
Broader Context
With the Church emphasis today on the building and coming of God's
Kingdom on earth - for transfiguration, at the General
Resurrection on the Last Day, into the eternal New Heaven and New
Earth - the garden, as locus of Creation and its initial
revelations, takes on renewed importance as a context for
instruction in the Faith.
While the goal of the building/coming of the earthly Kingdom, for
which we pray in the "Our Father", is set forth in God's command
to Adam and Eve to "dress and keep" the earthly paradise and to
"Increase and multiply and fill the earth" (Gen. 2:15, 1:28), in
Isaiah's prophecy of the coming of Emmanuel and his kingdom (Is.
9:7); in the prophecy of Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), and
more extensively in Revelations of the Apocalypse (21:1-27); the
earthly Kingdom is now seen to have a more concrete material, as
well as spiritual, achievability by virtue of the communications,
transportation, and technology of the modern world.
Today's heightened focus on the earthly Kingdom has been set forth
in Mary's revelation at Fatima of the prayers and sacrifices
necessary for the graces of peace on earth; in Pope John XXIII's
encyclical "Pacem in Terris" for peace through truth, justice,
love and freedom; in Pope Paul VI's Vatican II "Constitution on
the Church in the Modern World"; and in Pope John Paul II's
statements such as, "God did not create the world to be a
graveyard", and "this is our great hope and our invocation: 'Your
Kingdom come!' - a Kingdom of peace, justice, and serenity, which
will re-establish the original harmony of creation".
More basically, we are to reflect on the teaching of theologians,
from revelation, that God's purpose for Creation is to show forth
and share the divine goodness and action with us humans - for
which end we are "created in the divine image and likeness" (Gen.
1:26,27), and of which, Kingdom is to be the earthly culmination.
This renewed focus on Kingdom represents a shift from the emphasis
in conventional Christianity on Christ's forgiveness of sins, and on
the goal of the heavenly repose of the souls of individuals
deceased - an interim state wherein souls await re-joining with
their resurrected bodies upon the transfiguration of the
culminated Earthly Kingdom in the eternal New Heaven and New Earth
at the end of time.
The focus on the heavenly repose of souls was emphasized by the
wording of the "Penny Catechism" that we are created "to know,
love and serve God in this world and to be happy with him forever
in the next" - which omitted specific mention of God's purpose for
Creation: the showing forth and sharing of the divine goodness
and action, with culmination to be in our grace-inspired building
of the earthly Peaceable Kingdom, for transfiguration on the last
day, with the General Resurrection, into the eternal New Heaven
and New Earth.
Also, the characterization of Jesus as "our personal Savior who
died in love to save us from our sins" diverts focus from his
overall redemption of the fallen world for Kingdom - with its two
aspects of:
1) sacrificial satisfaction to the Father for all sins,
with forgiveness and return of grace, and
2) reparation for the perpetuated tempting and corrupting
temporal effects of sin in the world environment of
values - that, delivered from these, hearts, in their
freed innate created goodness, may embrace the virtues
and guiding graces for the building of the Peaceable
Kingdom.
For which we pray in the "Our Father":
"Forgive us our trespasses...deliver us from evil."
Finally, while in Creation the divine attributes of the infinite
God are to be shown forth and shared, variously and uniquely, by
each of history's billions of persons; the full personal sharing
of the divine attributes and actions, as between the Divine
Persons themselves, can be accomplished in only a single person -
which person was the Blessed Virgin Mary, by virtue of God's
bringing her at the Annunciation into total divine union for the
Divine Maternity of God the Son Incarnate, True God and True Man,
through the bestowed fullness of grace; which she was enabled to
receive through the total spiritual openness of her immaculate
purity, utter humility and loving assent.
Through the fullness of Mary's Annunciational divine union - for
the Divine Maternity - God was enabled thereby to share and to
show forth through her all divine action for the world, in
fulfillment of the divine/human sharing purpose of Creation.
Thus, Mary, at the foot of the Cross shared as Co-redemptrix with
her divine/human son's redemption of the world; and, assumed into
heaven, mediates for us God's grace, light, wisdom and power; and
also the divine protection, governance, spiritual motherhood,
nurturing, mercy, counsel, guidance, help, co-redemption,
intercession, advocacy, and queenship of heaven and earth.
As mentioned, through "the retroactivity of infinity", Mary shares
as well in God's very creation of the world.
As Christine Rosetti expressed it in her poem, "Ave":
"Mother of the Fair Delight,
Thou handmaid perfect in God's sight,
Now sitting fourth beside the Three,
Thyself a Woman-Trinity,
Being a daughter born to God,
Mother of Christ from stall to rood,
And wife unto the Holy Ghost . . ."
In addressing God through Mary's mediation and intercession we
thereby avail ourselves of the fullest divine access; and in
responding through Mary's mediation, God not only furthers the
sharing desired for Creation with the universe of individuals, but
furthers the fullness of individual divine/human sharing through
and with Mary.
Since God, in accord with this purpose, receives and sends all
communications from and to us through Mary, and initiates all
action for us through her mediation, we address all our prayers
and acts for God through her Immaculate Heart.
Mary's universal mediation of prayers and grace is shown by the
channeling position of her hands in the tableau silently revealed
at Knock of her standing as Mediatrix - assisted by angels, and
with St. Joseph and St. John - before the altar of the Heavenly
Lamb that was slain.
.
While the foregoing is a summary of the fuller exposition of
Marian veneration, devotion and prayerful recourse, to be learned
and reflected on by children after reaching the age of reason,
devotion to Mary as loving spiritual mother is first learned by
them at the earliest age from her love as mother of the infant
Jesus - from family devotion to Christmas manger scenes, with the
star of Bethlehem; with the adoration of angels, St. Joseph, the
shepherds, the Three Kings; and with the little girl's giving of
the miraculously appearing Christmas rose - as set forth at the
beginning of this article.
Prayer
All for you and with you, my Jesus, through the
Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary in reparation
for temporal effects of sin in the world that, delivered
from them, the hearts of all and especially those of
world leaders may be freed to respond in their innate
created goodness to the promptings of the graces of
reconcilition, peace and God's Kingdom beseeched in the
Rosary prayers and sacrifices of all the faithful.
John S. Stokes Jr.
© Mary's Gardens
July, 2004