The Biggest Marian Shrine – Born Out of Faith

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 26 October 2013)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ

Marian shrines at Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe, and so on have originated from Mary’s apparitions at those places. In her apparitions, Mary calls us back to our faith, to conversion and prayer. She asked for the shrines to be built so that we remember the messages. Do you know that the biggest Marian shrine in the world, was born not out of Mary’s apparitions and messages, but rather from the faith of the faithful? I would like to share with you the story of the shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil.

In October 1717, when Brazil was still under Portugal rule, the Governor of the State of São Paulo was going to pass through Guaratinguetá, a small city in the Paraiba river valley (now called Aparecida). The people there decided to honour him with a feast. Although it was not the fishing season then, they went down to the Paraiba river to fish for the feast. Three fishermen, Domingos Garcia, Filipe Pedroso and João Alves prayed to God and invoked the intercession of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. After hours of fruitless fishing, they were going to give up. João decided to cast his net for the last time near the Port of Itaguagu. This time, he hauled in a statue’s headless body. A later cast of the net brought up the head of the statue. After cleaning up the statue, they saw that it was a black version of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. According to legend, the slender statue then became so heavy they could not move it. They named it Our Lady of the Conception Who Appeared from the Waters, or in short, Our Lady of Aparecida [which means who appeared]. They wrapped it in cloth and continued fishing. This time, their nets were full to the point of sinking their boats.

Felipe Pedroso brought home the statue and repaired it. Over the next 15 years, he and his family and friends venerated the statue with many rosaries, hymns and prayers before it. Friar Agostino de Jesus, an Augustinian monk famous for his sculptures, was known to have made the statue around 1650. Why it was at the bottom of the river, however, remains a mystery. Devotion grew around the statue with many miracles attributed to it. Later a local chapel was built; it was replaced by a large colonial basilica by 1888, receiving 150,000 pilgrims a year then (de Oliveira, n.d.). To commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1904, the statue was crowned at the decree of the Holy See. Around 1930, Our Lady of Aparecida was proclaimed the Patroness of Brazil.  Her feast day is on 12 October. In 1955, they started building the new Basilica, which was consecrated in 1980 by Pope John Paul II.

Today, the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, Sao Paulo, which houses the statue, is the largest Marian shrine, and the third largest basilica in the world (Schaeffer, 2011). Receiving 8 million pilgrims a year, it is the fourth most visited Marian sanctuary in the world. William Thomas wrote in the Catholic Voice, an Irish Catholic newspaper:

‘Although there were no words spoken, nor apparition seen here, nevertheless, the extraordinary number of miracles which are recorded attest to the fact that Our Lady wanted this Shrine built in her honour.’

What can we learn from the history of Our Lady of Aparecida? A certain Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira noted that through the graces, Our Lady persuades the people, especially the simple and poor, to come to her in all their needs, thus stimulating the grace of prayer. The discovery of Our Lady in Brazil as the Immaculate Conception also prepared the Brazilian Catholics to believe in the dogma, which was proclaimed more than a century later.

From Pope Francis:

1)    Like the fishermen who found the Marian statue and then abundant fish, Christians need to be open to being surprised by God. He said, “…even in the midst of difficulties, God acts and he surprises us.” (Aparecida, July 24, 2013)

2)    In the mysterious discovery of Our Lady of Aparecida, the fishermen did not dismiss the incomplete mystery, but awaited its completion patiently. They got the answer not long after. Whenever we see pieces of the mystery, (I quote the Pope), “We are impatient, anxious to see the whole picture, but God lets us see things slowly, quietly. The Church also has to learn how to wait." (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 28, 2013)

In this Year of Faith, may the Aparecida story remind us that with faith all things are possible. We only have to be patient.

References

de Oliveira, P.C. (n.d.) Our Lady Aparecida – October 12. Retrieved 26 Oct 2013 from http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j227sd_OLAparecida_10-12.html.

Pope's Homily at National Shrine of Our Lady of Conception in Aparecida. (24 July 2013). Retrieved 26 Oct 2013 from http://www.zenit.org/.

Reflections From Francis for the Church in Brazil. (28 July 2013). Retrieved 26 Oct 2013 from http://www.zenit.org.

Schaeffer, F. (27 Oct 2011). Our Lady of Apericida. Retrieved 26 Oct 2013 from http://franciscan-sfo.org/FP2/FR2-580.html.

The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady

(Sharing during the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 21 September 2013)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ

Today, I would like to share on a devotion that contains one of my favourite prayers. Although I did not fully understand the purpose of this devotion then, I took to it because of the meaningful prayer. This devotion relates specially to Christ’s passion and death, two of the central elements of our faith. It is the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady.

In this devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows, we meditate on the seven sorrows of Mary while praying one Our Father and seven Hail Mary’s for each sorrow. At the end of each cycle, we pray, “My Mother, share thy grief with me; let me bear thee company, to mourn thy Jesus’ death with thee.” This sums up the devotion’s purpose, that is, to share in Mary’s sorrows and unite ourselves with the Passion of Christ and His holy Mother. Thus, we are led to enter into Jesus’ Heart and honour Him, more so because we have honoured His Mother by revering her sorrows.

As written by Scott P. Richert (About.com Catholicism, n.d.), by uniting ourselves to Mary in her sorrow, we hope to one day also share her joy in the triumph of her Son. Accordingly, the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows on 15 September, one day after the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are events in Jesus’ life, taken from the Scriptures. They are:

1)    The prophecy of Simeon

2)    The flight into Egypt

3)    The Child Jesus lost in the Temple

4)    Mary meets Jesus carrying the cross

5)    Mary at the foot of the cross

6)    Mary receives the body of Jesus

7)    The burial of Christ

As Fr. William Saunders (Arlington Catholic Herald, 10 October 2000) wrote, the key image is our Blessed Mother standing faithfully at the foot of the cross with her dying Son, as recorded in St. John’s Gospel. The Lumen Gentium document wrote: ”…  She stood in keeping with the divine plan, suffering grievously with her only-begotten Son. There she united herself, with a maternal heart, to His sacrifice, and lovingly consented to the immolation of this Victim which she herself had brought forth” (#58). Through her sufferings with Christ, she plays a part in our redemption.

The Calvary event is also seen as Mary’s spiritual martyrdom. Fr. Saunders cited St. Bernard thus, “Truly, O Blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart.... He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since His” (De duodecim praerogatativs BVM).

Indeed, throughout the centuries, Our Lady has shown her love for us, her children, given by Christ at the foot of the Cross, by her visitations to us. Twenty centuries after Christ’s resurrection, Our Lady still weeps in sorrow, at her apparitions at La Salette, Akita, and Kibeho, among others. Why? At Kibeho, Rwanda, in her most recent and famous apparitions as Our Lady of Sorrows, she told us why.

“The world conducts itself very badly.” “The world hastens to its ruin, it will fall into the abyss.” The Mother of God was very saddened by people’s unbelief and lack of repentance. She complained of our bad way of life. “Faith and unbelief will come unseen”, referring to apostasies.

In her urgent appeal for repentance, she exhorted us, “Convert while there is still time.”  

“No one will reach heaven without suffering.” Suffering helps us compensate for the sins of the world and participate in Jesus’ and Mary’s sufferings for the world’s salvation.

“Pray always and single-heartedly”. Mary begs us to pray with greater zeal and purity of heart.

Marian devotion should be expressed through sincere and regular praying of the Rosary.

She asks for the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of the Mother of God to be renewed and spread in the Church, but not replacing the Holy Rosary.

She asks to pray always for the Church, when many troubles are upon it in the times to come. Her messages are for the whole world, for all times.

Upon reflexion, the call for repentance, while there is still time, applies to all of us, who face our own inevitable deaths. Indeed, there is a prayer in preparation for death, in the devotion; it is the one that caught my fancy.

In this Year of Faith, let us with greater zeal pray for conversion and daily prepare ourselves for our inevitable deaths. Only then would we progress into our heavenly Father’s kingdom. Our Lady of Sorrows, intercede for us. Amen.

Year of Faith

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 7 July 2012)

•     Faith “is the lifelong companion that makes it possible to perceive, ever anew, the marvels that God works for us”. With the Apostolic Letter, Porta fidei, Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year of Faith. This year will begin on 11 October 2012, and will conclude on 24 November 2013, the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King.

•     Pope Benedict speaks of the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of “the encounter with Christ“.

•     The beginning of the Year of Faith coincides with the anniversaries of two great events which have marked the life of the Church: the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, called by Blessed Pope John XXIII (11 October 1962), and the twentieth of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, given to the Church by Blessed Pope John Paul II (11 October 1992).

•     “I know him in whom I have believed”. These words of Paul to Timothy help us to understand that faith is “first of all a personal adherence of man to God. (2 Tm 1:12). It is also a free assent to the whole truth revealed by God.” Faith, which is a personal trust in the Lord and the faith which we profess in the Creed are inseparable; they focus on each other and require each other. A profound bond exists between the lived faith and its contents. The faith of the Witnesses and Confessors is also the faith of the Apostles and Doctors of the Church.

•     This year will be a special occasion for the faithful to understand more profoundly that the foundation of Christian faith is “the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” Founded on the encounter with the Risen Christ, “Faith is a gift to rediscover, to cultivate and to bear witness to” because the Lord “grants each of us to live the beauty and joy of being Christians.”

•     The Second Vatican Council noted in Lumen gentium: "Devoutly meditating on Mary and contemplating her in the light of the Word made man, the Church reverently penetrates more deeply into the great mystery of the Incarnation” and... “looks to Mary” for “… She not only contemplates the wondrous gift of her fullness of grace, but strives to imitate the perfection which in her is the fruit of her full compliance with Christ's command: "You, therefore, must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48).” (Lumen gentium #65; Pope John Paul II, 1997)

•     For the community of believers, in the great prayer of the Magnificat, Mary represents “the authentic holiness that is achieved in union with Christ…the perfect harmony with the person of Her Son and by her total dedication to the redeeming work He accomplished.” (Pope John Paul II, 1997)

•     Christ’s redeeming work was accomplished at Calvary, witnessed by Mary at the foot of the cross. Though Mary's Heart was pierced, it was sustained by three pillars: unshakeable faithfulness to Her mission, unfailing hope for humanity, and profound sacrificial love for God. She showed us that Her Heart, being immaculate and never touched by either darkness or sin, could not be touched by evil in the darkest and most painful hour of the Passion and death of Her Son. (Buck, 2010; Mother Adela, n.d.)

•     Mary’s faith, hope and love for humanity has sustained humanity’s faith, hope and love in God’s salvation in spite of man’s sinfulness. And yet, Mary’s call to humanity in different continents throughout the centuries to follow a different path and a different world than the tragic, materialistic, de-Christianised, sinful society, which is so close to all of our lives today, remains unheeded by too many. It is a call that has gone unheeded again and again. Our Lady is seen as weeping, weeping for the world*…and pierced to the Heart.

•     In the image of Her Immaculate Heart pierced by a sword, we see the heart of the Blessed Virgin stabbed for all of those who have lived – and died – by the sword, and by sin. Jesus said, “Put your sword back, for all who have lived by the sword, die by the sword.” (Mt 26:52)

•     During this Year, the faithful are invited to turn with particular devotion to Mary, model of the Church. Despite the sins of her members, the Church is first and foremost the community of those who are called to holiness and to strive each day to achieve it. In this arduous path to perfection, Mary who “shines forth to the whole community of the elect as the model of faith, hope and love” succours and encourages us to live as she lived, in obedience to God’s will…so that we may rediscover the journey of faith…and shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of “the encounter with Christ“. (Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, 2012; Pope John Paul II, 1997)

N.b.: * [Summary of History of Our Lady of Akita]

In 1973, the Blessed Virgin Mary gave Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in Akita, Japan, three Messages through a statue of Mary. Bathed in a brilliant light, the statue became alive and spoke with a voice of indescribable beauty. Her Guardian Angel also appeared and taught her to pray.

The wooden statue, about 3 feet high, had been carved by an artist on the request of the Sisters of the Institute of the Handmaids of the Eucharist, founded by the local Bishop, Most Rev. John Shojiro Ito, of the Diocese of Niigata. This statue, from which the voice came, wept 101 times over a course of several years, from January 4, 1975, to September 15, 1981, the Feast of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows. It also perspired abundantly, and the perspiration sent out a sweet perfume. Its right palm bled from a wound that had the form of a cross.

References:

•     Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. (6 January 2012.) Pastoral Recommendations for the Year of Faith. Retrieved from http://www.annusfidei.va/content/novaevangelizatio/en/annus-fidei/indicazioni-pastorali-per-l-anno-della-fede.html

•     Pope John Paul II. (10 September 1997). Mary: Model of Faith, Hope, and Charity in L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, p. 11.

•     Mother Adela. (n.d.) Mary, Model  of Faith, Hope and Charity for the Third Millennium. Retrieved from http://www.piercedhearts.org/mother_adela/mary_faith_hope_charity.htm

•     Buck, R. (5 March 2010). Marian Apparitions, the Bible and the Modern World – Donal Anthony Foley (Review). Retrieved from http://corjesusacratissimum.org/2010/03/book-review-marian-apparitions-the-bible-and-the-modern-world-donal-anthony-foley/

Recommended reading:

1. Finley, Mitch. (1997). Surprising Mary. Meditation and Prayers on the Mother of Jesus. Mineola, New York: Resurrection Press. ISBN 1-878718-37-1.

2. Gambero, Luigi. Mary and the Fathers of the Church. The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Thought. Translated: Thomas Buffer. (1997). San Francisco: Ignatius Press. ISBN 978-0-89870-686-4.

3. Hahn, Scott Walker. (2001). Hail Holy Queen. The Mother of God in the Word of God. Darton Longman Todd. ISBN 9780 2325 24321.

4. The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission. (2005). Mary grace and Hope in Christ. Harrisburg, London: Morehouse. ISBN 0-8192-8132-8

5. Buono, Anthony. (2008). The Greatest Marian Titles – their History, Meaning and Usage. The Philippines: St. Pauls. ISBN 978-971-004-004-9.