“It was through
the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came into the world, and it is also through
her that he must reign in the world.” (St Louis de Montfort)
After being away
from blogging for such a long while but never losing sight and reflection of my
simple journey, today, I share my reflection of a milestone as we cross over to
the cosmopolitan town of Subang Jaya, in Malaysia, where the population of
Roman Catholics remain a small minority, what seem like a tiny drop in the vast
ocean…nevertheless, without this drop, the ocean would be incomplete.
There has been much
talk about a supposedly “apparition” of Mary on the window pane of a private
healthcare centre; Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC). Only through the eyes of faith, can one can
see the beauty of Our Lady and deep within the heart of faith knows that perhaps
the Lord is reminding us and a stern call to the corrupt party of the day to change,
or “ubah” as some would be more familiar.
St Bonaventure asserts that the Blessed Virgin
Mary is the way which leads to our Lord…where truth, justice, integrity and humility
prevail.
In the
holy scriptures, we know that Mary, a young Jewish woman from Nazareth in Galilee, remained
hidden during her life, poor and lowly, such that God was pleased to conceal
her from nearly every other human creature.
Nevertheless, Mary was chosen by God to become the earthly paradise of
Jesus Christ.
The Catechism of
the Catholic Church sheds more light that what the Catholic faith believes about
the all-holy, Blessed Virgin Mary is truly based on what it believes about
Christ, and what it teaches about Mary’s divine motherhood, illumines its faith
in Christ. Mary is the Mother of our Saviour,
the Mother of God (in Greek, Theo-tokos)…full
of grace and enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.
God had initiated the work of mankind’s redemption
on the basis of her cooperation. By
virtue of this, Mary becomes the spiritual mother of every human-being…we,
thus, becomes her children.
Echoing the
words of St Paul that, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has the heart of
man understood…” the beauty, the grandeur, the excellence of Mary, who is
indeed a miracle of miracles of grace, nature and glory.
“Devotion to
you, O Blessed Virgin, is a means of salvation which God gives to those whom he
wishes to save.” (St John Damascene)
Amidst much
publicity of this “apparition” in an Islamic-majority country, where much of Christian
literature, publications and scriptural texts are banned by the ruling party of
the day, some still remain positive, brave and hopeful that justice will prevail, whereas others are sceptical and
doubtful...easily seduced by money influence.
St. Louis de
Montfort also dealt with true and false devotion to Mary. Speaking of his own era he complained how, “The
devil, like a counterfeiter and crafty and experienced deceiver, has already
misled and ruined many Christians by means of fraudulent devotions to our Lady.” Obviously “fraudulent devotions,” also
includes the possibility of false apparitions, and if that was true three
hundred years ago, then it is even more the case today, especially in the case
of Subang Jaya.
He then goes on
to make an extremely important point, one which clearly indicates that some modern
apparitions must be false: “A counterfeiter usually makes coins only of gold
and silver, rarely of other methods, because these latter would not be worth
the trouble. Similarly, the devil leaves other devotions alone and counterfeits
those mostly directed to Jesus and Mary...because these are to other devotions
what gold and silver are to other metals.”
Yes, fellow pilgrims, the Roman Catholic church continue to possess much
treasures and richness of the apostolic faith, in this case, devotion to the
Mother of Christ, which many others, if not all, new Christian denominations
have conveniently cast or filtered away. Now, what disciple of Jesus Christ would cast their own
mother aside and then call themselves good Christians? Jesus, himself loved his mother till the very end; even entrusting her to all of us. To this end, only the Roman Catholic church has been faithful to this...still praying to Mary, the holy mother of God for her intercession for all our needs and the conversion of sinners.
Thus, unless the
devil has radically changed his method of operation, which seems unlikely if
not impossible, given that his opposition to the divine remains unchanged, then
some of the modern alleged apparitions of Mary today may be false. As is indicated in the section on biblical
prophecy and apparitions the devil's usual approach is to copy an
authentic prophecy, writing, movement or devotion and: “flood the market” with
forgeries, thus sowing confusion and causing problems for the Church.
Thus it is
certain that the authentic Marian apparitions have been counterfeited and that
in all probability many, if not most, of the modern alleged apparitions are
false. This may seem like an extreme
statement, but ultimately, the facts will surely bear it out.
To those simple
minded people who have simply been touched and strengthened their faith in Christ by virtue of
this Marian “apparition”, it can only be by the grace of God that your hearts be
moved and your faith increase.
Make no mistake
that St Louis de Montfort has always stressed that, “Christ must be the
ultimate end of all devotions. Jesus,
our Saviour, true God and true man must be the ultimate end of all our other
devotions; otherwise they would be false and misleading. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and end of everything.
“We labour,”
says St Paul, “only to make all men perfect in Jesus Christ.” For in him alone dwell the entire fullness of
the divinity and the complete fullness of grace, virtue and perfection. In him
alone we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing; he is the only
teacher from whom we must learn; the only Lord on whom we should depend; the
only Head to whom we should be united and the only model that we should
imitate. He is the only Physician that
can heal us; the only Shepherd that can feed us; the only Way that can lead us;
the only Truth that we can believe; the only Life that can animate us.
He alone is
everything to us and he alone can satisfy all our desires. We are given no other name under heaven by
which we can be saved. God has laid no
other foundation for our salvation, perfection and glory than Jesus. Every edifice which is not built on that firm
rock, is founded upon shifting sands and will certainly fall sooner or later. Every one of the faithful who is not united to
him is like a branch broken from the stem of the vine. It falls and withers and is fit only to be
burnt.
If we live in
Jesus and Jesus lives in us, we need not fear damnation. Neither angels in heaven nor men on earth, nor
devils in hell, no creature whatever can harm us, for no creature can separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Through him, with him and in him, we can do
all things and render all honour and glory to the Father in the unity of the
Holy Spirit; we can make ourselves perfect and be for our neighbour a fragrance
of eternal life.”
The salvation of
the world began through Mary and through her it must be accomplished. As true
disciples of Jesus Christ, in union with Mary, our Mother, we will crush the
head of Satan with our heel, that is, our humility, and bring victory to Jesus
Christ.
For the
community in Subang Jaya, as pilgrims through life on a journey back home, simply
feel blessed. Whether or not this “apparition”
is true, only your eyes of faith can reveal the truth known only to you. As we can only call Jesus Lord by the power
of the Holy Spirit, so it is with the same Sancte Spiritus that has graciously revealed
the same to mere pilgrims in Subang Jaya.
Again, St Louis
de Montfort reminds us that no other Catholic devotion calls for more
sacrifices for God, none empties us more completely of self and self-love, none
keep us more firmly in the grace of God and the grace of God in us. No other devotion unites us more perfectly and
more easily to Jesus. Finally no
devotion gives more glory to God, is more sanctifying for ourselves or more
helpful to our neighbour…then our simple devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To the pilgrims
at Subang Jaya and this blog…just two simple words… Fiat
(yes) and Amen (“So be it”…a simple
expression of faith that God will hear and act on the prayer)...
Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus tecum,
benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus
ventris tui Iesus.
Sancta Maria mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen
(to the gifted hands that took these phorographs, may the blessings of the Lord be with you)
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