by Susan Fox
Decades ago, I had a
dream. I walked into a very special “grocery
store.” The case of refrigerated milk was illuminated with red tinted lights
that looked like burning candles in a church, and inside the refrigerator case
was row after row of Blessed Virgin
Mary milk! The ordinary milk cartons were
labeled with sweet pictures of Our Lady holding the Infant Christ. Not only
that, but there was churned butter with the same drawing on the label. Unknown to me, I was just introduced to the "Milk of the Apostles!" (Interesting
Stories from Susan Fox)
It is a question of milk.
People are intrigued.
What has a pro-life protest
got to do with satanists dumping milk over the heads of enslaved women at a
Planned Parenthood protest in downtown Detroit?
On Aug. 22, 2015, more than
78,590 people demonstrated against Planned Parenthood at 354 locations in the
U.S. and in six foreign countries -- the single largest protest day in the
history of the pro-life movement. But in some places, the peaceful pro-life challenge
was interrupted by some, who favored child murder instead of adoption.
Thirty-six couples wait for every one baby who is adopted.
There is no shortage of
adoptive families; no reason to imagine that anyone is forced into motherhood
because they can’t get an abortion. I write this now while Kentucky clerk Kim
Davis is in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.
Satan’s thinking has taken over the U.S. courts, medical establishments as well
as many of our citizens.
In Detroit, the pro-abortion
protestors were satanists. The Satanic Temple unveiled a one-ton bronze
statue of goat-headed Baphomet on July 25 as a means of fund-raising for
abortion. On Aug. 22, in front of the downtown Detroit Planned Parenthood, the
same group – dressed as Catholic priests ---
dumped gallon after gallon of milk
over two struggling women, while shouting “Hail satan!” It was a curse, but the
intended message was that people who do not support abortion force women to
give birth, and produce milk for the child (i.e. breast feed.) Nonsense,
consider the number of people waiting to adopt a baby.
Unwittingly, the satanists
resurrected an ancient struggle. Just when the Serpent in the Garden of Eden gloated,
thinking he had destroyed God’s creation by causing Adam and Eve to sin, God
snatches victory from his hands:
“I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
your offspring and her offspring,
and you will strike her
heel.”
(Gen 3:15)
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| Woman crushing the head of the Serpent |
God tells us there is war
between children, and a war about children. Some are children of the Serpent
who tempted Adam and Eve, leading to the first original sin. Some are children
of the Woman...and her Seed. And some are victims of abortion – these last are
the child sacrifice demanded by the evil god Moloch, another face of the devil.
For as Christ said, satan is a liar and a murderer from the beginning (John
8:44)
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| Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe |
Ah, let us unpack these
images. The Seed is Christ. The Woman is His Mother, Mary. She is a human being,
a creature like you or I. He is True God and True Man. He was not born out of “urge of the flesh, nor will of man, but of God himself.” (John 1:13) The power comes from the Seed, but
the humble Virgin Mary shares Her Son’s battle with the snake that demands
child sacrifice. That’s why the pregnant
Lady of Guadalupe was so immediately effective at ending Aztec human sacrifice
by converting the Mexican people to her Son, Jesus, in 1531.
Some people have told me they
think Catholics worship Mary. They went to a Catholic wedding and watched the
bride and groom kneel at the feet of a statue of Mary, and they assumed the
young couple was worshipping a goddess.
I always say, “How dare you
judge us? If I went into your house and saw you kiss a picture of your
grandmother, I would never assume that you were worshipping your grandmother!”
In fact, the young couple was consecrating their marriage to Jesus through Mary. The Catholic Church
teaches that all true devotion has Christ as its end. And anyone who makes Mary
a goddess is an idolater.
Now comes the same person and
asks how can we pray to Mary since she is not God, and Christ is the only Mediator. Well,
my friend, if I ask you to pray for me, are you not participating in the One
Mediation of Christ? Is He not permitting you to participate in His One
Mediation? And if you can do it, why can’t His Mother?
But it is Big Intercession
when it involves the Mother of God. For from the throne of the instrument of
torture itself – the holy cross, Jesus said, “Behold
your Mother!” (John 19:27) And if you are so myopic as to
think, “He was speaking to John! Not me,” ask yourself, do you not want to be
Jesus’ beloved disciple? Are we all not Jesus’ beloved disciples, who love Him,
stay near to Him, and witness to His Love?
Yes, Genesis prophesized that
a cosmic struggle would ensue throughout history between the devil and his
children, and Mary and her children – with the Firstborn among those children being
Jesus Christ Himself!
Who are the children of Mary?
They are those who live like good brothers and sisters to Christ. They keep His
commandments and bear witness to His Life, according to Rev. 12:17 “And the
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| Revelation 12 |
dragon was angry against the woman: and went to
make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have
the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
A woman in
the crowd cried out "Happy the womb
that bore you and the breasts you sucked!” She spoke truly! But Jesus replied “Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it.” (Luke 11:27-28) But both statements
described the Mother of God. For at the Wedding Feast of Cana, she reminded us,
“Do whatever He tells you.” I always respond, “Mother, help me
to do just that.”
So the
satanists threw down a gauntlet to the Christian pro-lifers in Detroit, and
reminded them of the cosmic battle of Genesis 3:15. They used milk -- an image they
perverted, an image they stole, for that image rightfully belongs to Christ and
His Church. "Milk is a metaphor for the love that flows from one Person of the Trinity to the next, for the love that created the universe and maintains it in being. And even as God created the universe from nothing, just so was He able to become incarnate of a Virgin and receive nourishment from her virginal breast," according to Medieval scholar Phoebe Wise.
"As I mentioned in my piece on Knock, the ancient and medieval Christians loved to meditate on the Virgin’s womb. They saw it as the literal Gate of Heaven. If Mary is the Mother of God, her womb is the portal through which God entered the world. We must take her as our mother so that we may be born into heaven. Likewise, the ancient and Medieval Christians loved to meditate on the breasts of the Virgin, which nourished God-made-man. Since they were steeped in scripture, all the passages about milk and breasts and nursing sprang to their minds and helped further their understanding of salvation history, and helped foster their love of the Holy Family," Wise added.
On speaking of the vocation of virginity, fourth century bishop St.
Ambrose identified Christ as the Virgin who was married to the Church. Mary’s
Son is a Virgin! It was He who bore us, who fed us with the Virgin’s milk, and
He of Whom we read, “How great things has the virgin of Jerusalem
done! The teats shall not fail from the rock, nor snow from Lebanon, nor the
water which is borne by the strong wind.”
Ambrose comments, “Who is
this virgin that is watered with the streams of the Trinity, from whose rock
waters flow, whose teats fail not, and whose honey is poured forth? Now,
according to the Apostle (St. Paul), the rock is Christ. (1Corinthians 10:4)
Therefore, from Christ the teats fail not, nor brightness from God, nor the
river from the Spirit. This is the Trinity, which waters their Church, the
Father, Christ, and the Spirit.” St. Ambrose is using the image of the rock that
followed the Israelites through the desert in the Exodus and provided them with
water.
That is the Source of Mary’s
milk, God Himself. Nuestra
Señora de la Leche is
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| Shrine of Our Lady de la Leche in St. Augustine, Florida |
actually the first shrine dedicated to Our Blessed Mother in the United States.
And it’s located in St. Augustine, Florida. It’s a devotion to Christ through
the simple love of His Nursing Mother, a 4th Century tradition in
the Church.
It is a devotion to the first
nourishment that Our Lord Jesus Christ received in this world. We should all be
grateful for that nourishment. For we
read “He came to his own domain and his own people
did not accept him.” (John
1:11)
But on behalf of the whole
human race, the Woman received Him. The Woman wrapped Him in swaddling clothes.
The Woman kissed Him. And then she gave Him His first nourishment on this earth.
Oh yes, disparage her role if you wish by misunderstanding Christ’s words “Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
But think on this. She heard
the Word of God. She kept the Word of God. She kept it to such a degree that
she conceived the Word of God in her womb! Has anyone else ever done that?
“She
saw her Son in the crib of Bethlehem, and believed Him the Creator of the
world...She heard Him weep, and believed Him the joy of Paradise. In fine, she
saw, Him in death, despised and crucified, and, although faith wavered in
others, Mary remained firm in the belief that He was God.” (Glories of Mary by
Saint Alphonsus Liguori)
She stayed faithful even to
the foot of the cross, the one place where all the apostles but John were
afraid to stand. And so Mary is rightly
called the Terror of Demons. “Who is she who comes forth as the morning rising,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and terrible (to satan and his followers)
as an army in battle array?” (Legion of Mary prayers) Satan and his hoards are
afraid of a little Jewish virgin who lived 2,000 years ago because they know
the prophecy – She will crush your head! Mary wears army boots!
What is the means she uses
for the Serpent’s destruction? Her humility. Does that seem odd to you? Think
of St. Michael battling God’s Light Bearer Lucifer. We think in terms of armor
and swords, but Michael -- a lowly archangel up against the greatest Seraphim
God created -- won the battle with a simple question, “Who is like God?” That
is what Michael’s name means. And so
satan and his hoards fell into the pits of hell through one angel’s humility.
How much more fearful to the
demons is the humble Virgin Mother of Christ?
And so Mary’s heel has the
power to crush all resistance to God. With her powerful intercession – her army
boots -- every man is able to overcome his own stubborn intransigence. That’s
why the Catholic Church teaches true (Christ-centered) devotion to Mary is a
sure, easy and firm approach to Jesus Christ Himself.
The “Milk of the Apostles” --
that is what St. Ambrose called the virgin’s milk. Like the Virgin Mary, Holy
Mother Church is “ignorant of wedlock, a virgin, yet a mother of offspring. The
Church bears
her children not by a human father but by the Holy Spirit. She
bears us not with pain, but with the rejoicings of the angels. The Church, a
virgin, feeds us, not with the milk of her body, but with the milk of the
Apostles.”
And that milk makes apostles,
disciples, evangelists, catechists and martyrs strong. And so the Woman was
also present at the Birth of the Church on Pentecost. Her powerful intercession
brought her Holy Spouse on the Infant Church. Mary was an evangelist, being the
only source from which the apostles could have learned of Christ’s Incarnation,
Birth and Infancy. After the death of Christ, she was the only living witness
to those details that appear in the Gospel of Luke.
Of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
St. Ambrose says, “The first thing that inspires enthusiasm in learning is the
greatness of the teacher. Who is greater than the Mother of God? Who is more
glorious than the one whom Glory itself chose? Who is more chaste than the one
who bore a body without contact with another body?”
“But how can this come
about, since I am a virgin?” Mary asks the angel Gabriel, who brought the news that she would
conceive and bear a Son, and name Him Jesus. (Luke 1:35)
“‘The Holy Spirit will
come upon you,’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover
you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.’”
(Luke 1:35-36)
What is the Virgin’s response
to God? “Yes, yes, yes!” “I am the handmaid of
the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) With those words, she
ushered in the salvation of the world.
Would that today men and
women would respond with the same courage when they find themselves facing an
unplanned pregnancy. The devil is a lying-thief stealing the lives of our very
children from our nation’s arms.
"Human beings are meant to be a perfect union of body and soul, but the Fall caused us to feel alienated from Creation -- even and especially alienated from our own bodies. People, who are male, “identify” as female, and vice-versa, despite the evidence of their own bodies. I can remember being horrified by the changes of puberty in my body, and wishing to return to my child’s body. My grandmother was disgusted by the thought of breast feeding my mother, and she refused to do it, so my mother had nothing to eat for a few days, until my grandmother finally gave into my grandfather’s wishes and reluctantly nourished her child with the milk God had provided. When I was born, in 1951, most mothers in America had been convinced by heartless and ignorant doctors that breast feeding was hopelessly old-fashioned and primitive; they gave women shots to stop the flow of milk. I never tasted a drop of mother’s milk. When my daughter was born and I had difficulty nursing, my grandmother and mother both hounded me to give up on nursing and go to the "good old bottle.". They never understood why I wanted to breastfeed my children," Wise said, adding, "If even mothers can be so alienated from the raison d’être of their own body parts, namely their breasts, it is no wonder that women experience pregnancy as the growth of a parasite or invader inside them, and want that “alien” to be removed, i.e., aborted. The Fall, and its warping of the intellect and the will, have alienated us from our bodies, our sexuality, and our children. The unity of the family was Satan’s target in the Garden, because it is the image of the Holy Trinity."
So many good families are
waiting for a child to welcome into their home. No one need be forced into an
abortion, nor forced into parenthood that they are not ready to accept. Every
abortion clinic I’ve encountered had a pregnancy crisis center nearby where
willing people stand ready to provide access to medical care, housing and help
in finding a job.
Ultimately, the satanists
pouring milk outside a Planned Parenthood facility on Aug. 22 remind us that Christ
and His Church will triumph. The serpent will lie in wait for her heel, knowing
in the end all his resistance will be crushed. The Virgin Christ, Son of a
Virgin Mother, nourishes his people with the River of Life that proceeds from
the throne of God and the Lamb (Rev. 22:1) God has the teat that never fails in
whatever distress we find ourselves. And He gave us a Virgin Mother, who will
feed us the same nourishment Her Son enjoyed. She will help us live the life of
virtue so necessary for our own happiness.
And we must ask then, who are
we? Who are we that the Mother of the Virgin Christ should come to us?
“But is Mary the Mother of
Christ only? Nay, what is most joyful, she is not only the Mother of Christ,
but also the Mother of all the faithful. St. Ambrose saith: ‘If Christ is the
brother of all
believers, is not she, who brought forth Christ, the mother of
all believers?’" (Mirror Of The Blessed Virgin Mary by Saint Bonaventure,
13th century) She is Mother of all the Faithful. She is Our Mother.
From Phoebe Wise: "I am sending you a link to a famous painting called the Virgin and Child before a fire screen. The focal point of the painting is Mary’s exposed nipple, which she is offering to the Child, but also to everyone who views the painting, since the nipple is pointing straight out, not toward the Child. Little Jesus is also facing out to the world and almost waving, as if to say, 'Come, all of you, nurse with delight at her abundant breasts. Drink the milk of my mother, and become my adopted brothers and sisters.' Modern people probably find this notion shocking, or silly. We have sexualized and objectified women’s breasts to the point that they no longer have any connotation of nourishment. Few people nowadays can understand an exposed nipple as a metaphorical invitation to grow in holiness."
"There are so many things going on in this painting which a Medieval person would have understood instantly, but which are invisible to moderns. I’ll mention just a few. The Blessed Virgin Mary is seated before a roaring fire in the fireplace, but she is being shielded from its heat by a fire screen made of woven rushes. The firescreen is behind her head and looks like a halo. Just one bit of flame from the fire appears at the top, and it reminds one of the tongue of fire that rested on her head on the day of Pentecost. The fire screen is a metaphor for the Blessed Virgin Mary. The human flesh she gave to Jesus shields us from the heat of the infinite flame of love that is the Trinity, and gives us the ability to look upon it with human eyes. Charity has always been depicted as a nursing mother, and Mary is the embodiment of this virtue -- Charity -- the greatest of virtues. She gave Jesus flesh in her womb, and now she sustains Him with her milk. What greater image of love exists on earth than the nursing mother? But there is an even greater mystery here. After raising her Child to maturity, Mary will witness His sacrifice on the cross, and then He will give us His Flesh to eat and Blood to drink. We see all of this in the painting. Mary is not only offering us her milk, her spiritual wisdom; she is offering us the Eucharist, the Flesh and Blood of her Son. The book on her right reminds us of the Word made Flesh, and the chalice on her left reminds us of His Blood."
"People have always understood milk as analogous to blood and somehow linked to it. Scientists tell us the truth of this: they call milk "white blood." The breast miraculously takes in blood, strains out corpuscles and other components, and transforms it to milk. Milk is a powerful metaphor, and more than a metaphor: it is self-sacrifice, true charity, the gift of the self to the other. The child whose mother lovingly pours out her milk for him experiences the irreplaceable gift of security and well-being; he feels himself at home in the heaven of his mother’s breasts," Wise continued.
"Our society has lost the ability to value the child in the womb, and to honor motherhood; no wonder it has also lost all respect for the breast and the mystery and beauty of a mother’s gift of milk to her child," she concluded.
Enjoy this piece? Maybe you'd like to read Confessions of a Scrupulous Devotee to Mary
