Spiritual

On 9 December 1531, the Virgin appeared to Juan Diego, a native peasant, on the Hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City. Speaking to him in the local Nahuatl language, she asked for a church to be built on the site.

Juan Diego reported the sighting to the archbishop of Mexico, but he didn’t believe him and asked for a miraculous sign. The Virgin healed Juan Diego’s uncle and appeared to him as well, instructed Juan Diego to pick Castilian roses on top of the usually barren Tepeyac Hill, and transformed his cloak into an image of the Virgin.

A few days later, the cloak was displayed in a hastily erected chapel. Miracles started occurring almost immediately. Our Lady of Guadalupe became Mexico’s most popular religious symbol, and is the patron saint of Mexico, of the Americas, and of the unborn – and thus also a symbol for the Pro-Life movement. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City is the world’s most visited Catholic shrine, receiving millions of pilgrims every year. 

In 1578, woodcutter Thomas Michalek saw a bright light in the forest. It was the Virgin Mary, who asked him to alert the authorities to build a church on the site. Thomas was scared and did nothing. The Virgin then reappeared and instructed him to take action. Which he did and small chapel was built here. In 1606, a larger shrine was built here thanks to the efforts of the local Bishop and the support of the Polish King. Later, the Bishop’s successor confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions. Pope Benedict XIV ordered that the image be crowned on September 8, 1752.  

In the summer of 1608, some children tending sheep reported seeing a beautiful lady holding a baby on the spot where a church had stood, and she was weeping. The children returned the next day with some villagers, including a Calvinist minister. They all saw the lady as well.

A new Catholic church was built on the site of the old one, and eventually replaced by a much larger one to accommodate the multitudes of pilgrims – now the Basilic of the Nativity of Mary. The Chapel of the Apparition, built over the rock where the Virgin appeared, has the tallest steeple in Lithuania. Pilgrims kiss the rock itself, which is accessible under the chapel’s altar.

For its devotion to the Virgin, Pope Pius XI entitled Lithuania as Terra Mariana (‘Maryland’). Until World War II, processions of pilgrimage to Šiluva would start in towns all over Lithuania. Our Lady of Šiluva is the patroness of those who have lapsed from the Catholic faith, and of those who pray on their behalf.

In May 1664, Benoîte Rencurel, a 17-year-old shepherdess in southeastern France, saw an apparition of St Maurice, a third-century martyr greatly revered in her home region. He warned her that locals eyed her flock and counseled that she should go to a nearby valley, where she would see the Virgin Mary.

In a grotto in the Valley of Kilns, she discovered Mary, holding baby Jesus. The Virgin directed Benoîte to go to the village of Laus, where she was instructed to build a chapel where sinners would be converted and the Virgin promised to appear often.

Some of the pilgrims to Laus have themselves become saints, including Eugene de Mazenod, founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The Marian apparitions at Laus lasted until 1718. Despite their antiquity, the apparitions of Our Lady of Laus were recognized by the Holy See only in 2008.

On 20 January 1842 while visiting Rome, Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, an anti-Catholic Jew, had a vision of the Virgin Mary. He converted to Catholicism and began a ministry for the conversion of the Jews. 

Together with his brother, who had converted and become a priest years before, he founded the Sisterhood of Our Lady of Sion. Ratisbonne eventually joined the priesthood himself and becomes a Jesuit. In 1855, he moved the sisters to Jerusalem, where he founds the Convent of Ecce Homo and the Convent of St John. 

On 19 September 1846, two cowherders, Maximin Giraud (11) and Mélanie Calvat (15), reported seeing a ‘beautiful lady’ in the mountains, wearing a pearl-studded white robe and a gold apron. Her face buried in her hands, she was weeping bitterly. She spoke to them, first in French, then in the local language, Occitan.

The apparition urged people to respect the seventh day and the name of God, sorrowfully threatening punishment (including a scarcity of potatoes). She asked that her message be spread to the world. Each child received a secret, after which the lady vanished.

In 1852, the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette were founded. The order still has missionaries serving in many countries. The shrine remains popular with traditionalist believers and the Charismatic Movement within the Catholic church.

On 11 February 1858, ‘a petite damsel’ spoke to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous in the grotto of Massabielle about a mile from the southern French town of Lourdes. The lady, who appeared 17 further times, revealed herself to be Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and asked that a chapel be built on that spot.

Bernadette’s vision has similarities to that of Anglèze de Sagazan, a 12-year-old shepherdess who in the 16th century saw the Virgin at a spring in nearby Garaison. Pilgrimages to Garaison were soon eclipsed by those to Lourdes.

The Virgin revealed a spring to Bernadette and directed pilgrims to drink from and wash in it. The water, provided free of charge to pilgrims, is a popular memento of a trip to Lourdes. Some have claimed to have been cured by it.

Millions of pilgrims, many suffering from illnesses, travel to Lourdes each year. Lourdes now is a major pilgrimage site, and has more hotel rooms than any other place in France, with the exception of Paris.

The Lourdes Bureau Médical has documented around 70 miraculous healings at the site. Bernadette was canonized as a saint in 1933. The apparition at Lourdes is also recognized by the Anglican church, which has its own Marian Shrine at Lourdes.

At four in the morning on 13 January 1866, the Virgin Mary appeared at the sickbed of Magdalena Kade. Mary, dressed in white and wearing a golden tiara, pronounced Magdalena healed from her long illness. Many miraculous healings were subsequently reported. A church (later elevated to basilica-status) and convent were built on the location, which is sometimes called the ‘Lourdes of Bohemia’

On 17 January 1871, at the height of the Franco-Prussian War, 12-year-old Eugène Barbedette looked out at the night sky over Pontmain and saw a beautiful woman wearing a blue gown studded with stars and a black veil under a golden crown.  His 10-year-old brother also saw the apparition, but their parents, and other adults, saw nothing. Two other children described the apparition in the same detail as the two brothers. Adults could only see a triangle of stars.

After three hours, the apparition vanished. That same evening, Prussian forces inexplicably abandoned their advance towards the town. The children who saw the apparition later became priests and nuns. 

On 27 June 1877, a ‘Bright Lady’ showed herself to 13-year-old Justyna Szafrynska and a day later also to her friend Barbara Samulowska. The lady appeared over the maple tree in front of the church, seated on a throne with the infant Jesus on her lap, surrounded by angels.  She told the girls she was the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, and she wished them to say the rosary every day. The Virgin blessed a spring, said the sick would be healed and asked that they too pray the rosary.  Asked what happens to people who swear falsely, the Holy Mother said that “Such person is not deserving to go to Heaven (and) is induced to do it by Satan”. The Prussian authorities saw the apparitions as an expression of Polish nationalism and sought to suppress the event, even imprisoning the local parish priest.

On 21 August 1879, the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist appeared to two women (both called Mary) outside a church in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland.  They were joined by other witnesses, who also saw a cross and a lamb on a small altar behind the three figures. A witness further away described the scene as ingulfed in golden light.  The apparition lasted for nearly two hours, during which the witnesses – standing in the pouring rain – recited the rosary. Meanwhile, the ground around the apparition remained entirely dry.

Between 13 May to 13 October 1917, ‘a lady more brilliant than the sun’ appeared six times to three Portuguese shepherd children, Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto.

The lady asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray the Rosary every day; prayer would end the Great War then still raging. She also showed them a vision of hell and entrusted them with three secrets.

The children’s visions drew thousands of visitors and upset the political balance in the country, with a young, anticlerical republic fighting off a strong conservative reaction. The children were even briefly jailed, and variously ordered to reveal the secrets or admit that they had lied. The local administrator even threatened that he would boil them one by one in a pot of oil.

At the Virgin’s last appearance, many of the up to 100,000 visitors reported a ‘Miracle of the Sun’: multicolored light and erratic movement from the sun. Others saw nothing out of the ordinary.

As predicted by the Virgin, Francisco and Jacinta died soon afterward, in the Spanish Flu pandemic that started in 1918. Lucia became a nun, and sporadically saw the Virgin again later in life, as well as Jesus. She died in 2005, aged 97.

Already in the first few years after the events, Fátima attracted millions of visitors. Our Lady of Fátima was popular among anticommunist and traditionalist Catholics. Pope John Paul II credited Our Lady of Fátima with saving his life in the attempt on his life of 13 May 1981 – the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima. The Pope donated the bullet that wounded him to the Sanctuary at Fátima. Fátima currently is one of the world’s most popular centers of pilgrimage.

On 19 July 1930, a voice woke up the nun Catherine Labouré calling her to chapel, where the Virgin Mary told her that “times are evil in France and the world” and instructed Catherine to produce medallions that would confer graces on those that wore them. 

The medallions proved very popular. Inscribed with the slogan ‘ ‘O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee’), they were influential in the Vatican’s promulgation, in 1854, of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. 

Sister Catherine spent the rest of her life caring for the sick and elderly. Her body, now encased in glass in Paris, was discovered to be incorrupt. She was canonized in 1947. Pope John Paul II used a variation of the medallion’s image as his coat of arms. 

Ellen and I visited this chapel on our first visit to Paris.

Between November 1932 and the next January, the Virgin Mary appeared a total of 33 times to five children between 9 and 15 in the small Belgian town of Beauraing. 

The lady, dressed in a long white robe, said she was the Immaculate Virgin, requested that a chapel be built at the site of her apparition, and asked the children – and everybody – to pray. During one of the last visitations, she revealed her golden heart. 

Mariette was made fun of, even by her own grandmother and aunt. Others tauntingly called her ‘Bernadette’, after the French girl who had visions of Mary in Lourdes.  

On 2 April 1968, a Muslim bus driver thought he saw a lady standing on top of St Mary’s Coptic Church in Zeitoun, near Cairo and thought she was about to commit suicide. The police were called, but the gathered crowd quickly identified the figure as the Virgin Mary. 

After a few minutes, the figure vanished. The lady returned a week later, again for a few minutes. After that, apparitions occurred up to several times a week, until 1971. The Vatican sent an envoy but left the investigation to the Coptic authorities. 

Uniquely, the location of the apparition has a historical link to the Virgin Mary, at least according to Coptic tradition: It is said to be one of the places where the Holy Family rested on their flight from Bethlehem to Egypt.  

Also unlike most other apparitions, the Zeitoun Virgin was seen by huge crowds – estimates vary from 250,000 to even millions, over the course of the four years the phenomenon lasted. Included were many Muslims, Egyptian president Nasser among them (Mary features prominently in the Quran as well). The phenomenon was also captured on camera. 

On 28 November 1981, the Virgin Mary first appeared to Alphonsine Mumureke, and over the next few years also to two other pupils at Kibeho College, a girls’ school in southwestern Rwanda. 

She identified herself as Nyina wa Jambo (‘Mother of the Word’ in Kinyarwanda) or Umubyeyi W’Imana (‘Mother of God’) and asked everyone to pray to prevent a terrible war – perhaps a premonition of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, as tensions between Hutus and Tutsis were already rising back then. 

The three women reported going on ‘mystic voyages’ with the Virgin during their individual visions, which could last for hours. Inexplicably, the women seemed to acquire so much weight during their visions that they could not be lifted off the ground. 

Four other people in Kibeho reported apparitions – one met Christ in a beanfield – but these have not been approved by the Holy See. 

The apparition was named ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’ two years before the start of the genocide in 1994. Marie Claire Mukangango, one of the three young women receiving visions in the 1980s, was among those killed, together with her family, in a massacre in Kibeho, in April 1995. 

The announcement by the Angel Gaberiel to Mary that she was to be the Mother of God is described in the Gospel of Luke Chapter one Versus 26-36. This is the only Gospel where the announcement of the birth is explained.

Mary was startled (my words) by the announcement but did not hesitate to accept the role she was selected for. Mary did not challenge what Gabriel was telling her but she did ask for an explanation. Gaberial explained that the Holy Spirit would “come upon” her and the power of the Most High would “over shadow” her and that she would “conceive… and bear a son” and that His name would be Jesus.

From what I have read, Mary was young (12 or 13) according to what we are used to but not uncommon I think at that time. My opinion is that she probably had never been visited by an Angel before based upon her reaction.

In versus 36 and 37 the Angel Gabriel announces the birth of John to Mary’s cousin Elizabeth. Luke then goes on to explain Mary’s visit to Elizabeth.

After the Angel spoke to Mary announcing her pregnancy the Angel told her that her elderly cousin Elizabeth had conceived a son. Mary must again have been astonished, since Elizabeth was much too old to conceive a child. Again, she understood of God's intervention. 

What would we have done at this point in time? Probably nothing. Not Mary. I expect that she talked to her parents, Joachim and Anne and received their advice. Out of love of family Mary traveled to visit Elizabeth to help her during the last 2-3 months. It was a trip of 85-100 miles and Mary would have been walking probably with a caravan heading in that direction. She was young so may have been accompanied during the trip but we don't know.

Upon meeting, Elizabeth is overcome by the Holy Spirit and exclaims, " How is it that the mother of my Lord should visit me?" Obviously, she did not know that Mary was coming but did recognize her. Elizabeth continued, "As soon as your greeting reached my ears, the child leapt with joy in my womb." Mary again must have been astonished at the greeting and the fact that Elizabeth knew that she was to be the mother of our Lord.

Mary stayed three months helping her elderly cousin cope with the child birth. She was probably there when John was born and Zachariah received his speech back. All amazing events. Mary returned home, probably about 3 months pregnant and wondering what her reception would be. 

Considerations of my own. Joseph was obviously a merciful person. He was concerned when he realized Mary was pregnant but he decided not to say anything but quietly dismisses her. An Angel, however, advised him otherwise in a dream. He must have been astounded but was humble and obeyed. 

In Luke we hear of the journey to Bethlehem in the last weeks/days of Mary’s pregnancy. It must have been very difficult for Mary. Then when they arrived, Joseph couldn’t find accommodations and settled for a stable, I am sure out of desperation. A stable then was a cave where animals were housed. I can feel Joseph’s anxiety as he cleaned up an area for Mary and her compassion towards him. He probably felt a sense of failure.

Then we hear of the Shepherds, who were considered of the lowest state, hearing of the birth, visiting and paying homage to Jesus. And Mary was amazed at their vision.

Thoughts that I have about this my story follow:

This is the first time Jesus is in the temple. I think of later passages in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that speaks of Jesus driving out the money changers and animals from the temple, and speaking to the multitudes. 

This would indicate to me that many people were there to perform the same offering that Mary and Joseph were to do. It seems to me that there were many witnesses to Simeon’s exclamations of Jesus being the salvation, which God promised. All of the people there must have been astounded as Mary and Joseph were. 

Some of my thoughts:

Mary and Joseph must have been shocked to discover Jesus missing after the first day going home from their annual pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem. I can see Joseph being really upset at having failed to properly look after his SOMETIHNG from God. I can also see Mary concerned but comforting Joseph. Twenty years of age, as I read it, was when a boy became a man in the Old Testament. So Jesus humbly returned home with His parents. Luke says that the teacher that Jesus was talking to were “amazed at his understanding and his answers.” I’m guessing that when the teachers saw His parents they probably spoke to them questioning them about the teaching that Jesus had. Some of those teachers may have still been around when Jesus began His public life and remembered their encounter in the Temple. 

The Baptism of Jesus is integrally connected with John the Baptist so I have included versus about John that occur immediately prior to the actual baptism of Jesus. It is interesting that all four Gospels include a narrative of Jesus being baptized.

Jesus’ baptism occurred immediately before his public life started and took place in the Jordan River. At the site of the Baptism, the Jordan is a slow moving narrow river with reeds growing on both sides, and is well depicted in movies of Jesus’ life. From the brief description of John, I conceive of him as a tough “fire and brimstone” individual. He is a no-nonsense guy calling the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers” when they approached him. It appeared that he recognized Jesus immediately when he approached. And there was no reason why he wouldn’t since he recognized Jesus while still in the womb. Even with all his notoriety, John humbly said to Jesus that he, John, should be baptized by Him and later told his disciples that now was the time for him to decrease as Jesus increases. Many of his disciples took him at his word and left him to follow Jesus. I am sure that John was one of the ones that heard the Voice from heaven saying “you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased.” At the same time the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. 

It is only in the Gospel of John that Jesus’ first miracle of his ministry is cited. Jesus had already attracted his first disciples by the time that He and His mother, Mary, attended the Wedding Feast in Cana. I am no theologian and will not provide a complicated explanation. It seems rather simple to me. Mary has discovered that the hosts have run out of wine and they were, I am sure, very embarrassed and probably the father of the bride was “catching it” from the mother and daughter. Mary, feeling compassionate, gets Jesus’ attention and explains the situation. Jesus, I would guess, was surprised and said that his “hour had not yet come”. Mary knew her son and what son would not do what his mother asked if they were able. Mary just says to the servants “Do whatever He tells you”, and leaves. The servants received their instructions from Jesus to fill six large jars (25-30 gallons each) full of water. Jesus says a prayer over them and sends one of the servants with some of the water changed to wine to the head steward. Not knowing where this wine came from, he is amazed at how good it is. I can just imagine all of the discussion from this point on. Only the servant knew that it had been water. This is stated by John as Jesus’ first miracle in Cana and that His disciples knew of it and “believed in Him”.

This mystery can be understood as the whole public ministry of Jesus over three years. It can be summed up as "the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel". 

Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God by showing that He was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. He preached in the Synagogues, probably every week in my opinion and to all that would listen during the week throughout Israel. Miracles in my opinion were part of the process as they provide authentication of his authority. Who could doubt him after witnessing healing, expulsion of evil spirits, changing water to wine, multiplication of loaves and fishes, walking on water and raising the dead to life. 

The passages of the transfiguration of Jesus are brief. For meditations purposes the transfiguration occurred on Mount Tabor about 1800 feet in elevation and located west of the Sea of Gailee. Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the top of the mountain and they saw Him transfigured with His clothing becoming dazzling white. He was speaking with Moses and Elijah. A voice came from a cloud overshadowing them saying, "This is my son, my chosen, listen to him". They were exceedingly afraid. When the vision was over and they descended from the mountain, they were told to tell no one "Until the son of man is raised from the dead". 

On the Feast of the Passover, immediately before Jesus' Passion, Jesus with the twelve apostles ate the Passover meal. "As they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, Eat; this is my Body'. And He took a chalice and gave it to them saying 'Drink of it, all of you: for this is my blood'".

Jesus took Peter, James and John to Gethsemane and went off a short distance to pray. He was so distressed that as He prayed St. Luke reported that His sweat became like great drops of blood." Three times He went back to His disciple and found them asleep. This must have been distressing to Him as if He wasn't suffering enough in anticipation of His upcoming torture and death. The Kidron Valley at this point, as I recall, is narrow compared to our valleys and separates the old Jerusalem from Gethsemani. The "Great crowd" that came to arrest Jesus would have crossed this valley to reach Gethsemani, and they would have been seen and heard by Jesus as they got closer carrying torches to light the way and talking. This must have added to the stress. 

More of this later