Eulogy for the Virgin Bride

By Susan Fox

Patricia DeSimone was a friend for over 30 years. This is her eulogy given May 1, 2012 at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Arlington, VA

Terry Burdett and I were in our 20s in 1980 when we joined the Legion of Mary at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, VA. Pat DeSimone was the president of the group. When I informed Terry in Twenty-Nine Palms, California, that Pat was dead on Easter Tuesday, Terry responded, “I remember how she helped knuckleheads like us find our place in the church.”

I conducted several interviews with friends and family of long-time Legion of Mary member Patricia Marguerite DeSimone, who died on April 10, 2012, at the age of 86. What amazed me about their stories of her is that during her whole life she acted as a mentor, a “big sister” if you will, for several generations of younger people.

Pat didn’t just fall into the role of mentoring young people. She had a little brother, James DeSimone, and he was born when Pat was 12 years old. He remembers when he was a teenager and she was in her 20s. She was his big sister and she was very inspiring because she taught him to drive, and “Boy could she ever drive!”

Fr. Daniel Spychala was in the Junior Legion of Mary 40 years ago, when he met Pat DeSimone as president of that group. But what impressed him about Pat was the fact that she stayed in touch with him after he left the Junior Legion. He told me, “She was there at my ordination and first Mass. She was a friend when I was in the seminary and a young priest.”

Thirty years ago, I was a Catholic, who didn’t sympathize with devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I joined the Legion of Mary because they did cool stuff. I told Pat how I felt. Pat was undismayed. She simply gave me a copy of “True Devotion to Mary” by St. Louis Marie de Montfort. It changed my life. I made my consecration to Jesus through Mary in 1980 with Pat DeSimone as my witness. It was the best thing anybody ever did for me. Three years later on my wedding day, I consecrated my marriage and all my future children to Jesus through Mary. That subsequently gave me immense consolation, for two of my three children died in miscarriage.

But many of you are younger and met Pat more recently. I am 59 years old. Jackie DeForge is only 37 years old and she met Pat in 2004 at first Friday devotions at St. Agnes and she remembers going out to IHOP with Pat at 2 a.m., “and it was like going on a retreat!” Jackie said, adding her favorite Pat saying was “Ask the Blessed Virgin and the Holy Spirit to enlighten you!”

That was Pat’s saying and that was Pat’s doing. I have letters from her where she says she is trying to discern God’s will. Pat wrote, “I think the Lord and Our Blessed Mother are sending me more people (to work with). I’m trying to determine if I’m right about them or is the devil trying to distract me?” Verbally, she told me many times, “The devil drives, God leads.”

Believe me, if Pat concluded that God wanted her to work with you, there was nothing you could do about it. That was David DePero’s experience. David met her at all night adoration. He was approaching 40; she was in her 80s. It was a very unlikely friendship on the face of it. He bumped into her at Whole Foods. She gave him a ride. He told me, “She kept trying to get in touch with me. She pursued, kept bugging me, it's like who is this lady?” Finally they started eating together at a local café. “She had a way of releasing you from the bondage of yourself,” David concluded.

I’m tempted here to tell you that members of the Legion of Mary hand out the Miraculous Medal so often, they are called the “Miraculous Meddlers.” And Pat spent a large portion of her life in the Legion.

Eva Balino met Pat in 2003. They both did adoration at St. Agnes, and went out to eat afterwards. Eva related this story: “I was brokenhearted and praying there. She came up to me, and said, ‘The Blessed Virgin Mary told me you need a ride.’ I said, ‘Yes, I need a ride.’ That started our friendship.”

Trudy Harlow said the things she remembered about Pat were that she always tried to bring everyone she met to Christ, and she was irrepressible. She stayed up all night, read junk mail, she had the most amazing laugh, she loved to eat and drink and be Italian and she church-hopped. Trudy said, “I loved her for who she was, for the faith she taught me and the fact that she stayed proud of me. She was humble and outrageous all at once.” And about Trudy, Pat wrote to me in 1991,”Spending Thanksgiving with Trudy. I sponsored her into the Church in 1985. She’s been very active! I’m proud of her.”

Now I am going to tell you the secret of Pat’s fruitfulness in our lives. Pat DeSimone chose to give her life to Christ as an unmarried virgin. I can attest that she lived a life of great purity. The world today does not regard virginity very highly. Watch television, listen to politics, go to the movies and you’ll see virginity is simply something to be thrown away. Some might call Pat a spinster or label her “on the shelf” because she never married. Poor Pat, no children. But the world is wrong.

It’s a paradox, but Pat – the virgin married to the Virgin Christ – had so many children we’ll probably never know them all until we get to heaven. St. Ambrose talked about Pat’s life in 377 AD. He likened Pat’s life to that of Holy Mother Church, who 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.”

That’s the kind of milk Pat fed us, the milk of the apostles. “Holy Mother Church has not a husband, but she has a Bridegroom.” Whether she is the Church or a human soul choosing the life of virgin dedicated to God, St. Ambrose said, “Without any loss of modesty, she weds the Word of God as her eternal Spouse.”

Pat understood this. A year ago I was talking to her on the phone and I told her that St. Faustina had a vision of the place reserved for virgins in heaven. Pat -- with longing in her voice -- wanted to know all about it. Unfortunately, St. Faustina didn’t say much except that it was beautiful.

Pat experienced another side to the life of the virgin bride. Our Lord – all bloodied and marred with the marks of His most cruel Passion – appeared to St. Faustina, and said, “The Bride must resemble her Groom.” Pat received that aspect of her spiritual marriage with great enthusiasm. On Good Friday, Pat lay dying of cancer at the Joseph Richey Hospice in Baltimore. She was unresponsive at this point as she hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for five days. I called her up and had the nurse put the phone to her ear.

“Pat, “ I said, “It’s Good Friday, and you’re up on the cross with Jesus!” The nurse got really excited, took the phone back and said, “Miss DeSimone nodded her head! Oh my, the hearing is the last thing to go!”

And so Pat, nicknamed Pasquelina, which in its Latin roots means related to Easter, died two days after Easter. That place in heaven reserved for Virgins? She probably is checking it out right now.

TRANSFIGURED INDEED

by Lawrence Fox

Consider the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ. The recorded events are a rich foundation for understanding: the mystery into the Blessed Trinity, the Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Communion of the Saints, the Exodus of the New Testament Church out of the Earthly Jerusalem, and the veracity of the Resurrection events (since the apostles were not anticipating nor did they understand the resurrection of Jesus prior to the Sunday event as evidenced by their confused response to his command to tell no one until after His Resurrection from the Dead. They wondered what he meant by, “Tell no one until after I have risen from the dead.”)

And yet the reading last Sunday, which drew my attention, was the responsorial psalm 115 (116) “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.”

I imagine Jesus reciting these words with his disciples on Holy Thursday. Consider the various messianic statements: Jesus’ sacrifice to the Father in the Holy Spirit is most precious for He is the faithful one, God’s Beloved Son. We heard God the Father say as much when Jesus was baptized and again here on the Mountain of Transfiguration. These word are a comfort to those of us who were baptized into the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ for again “precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

Next we hear that the Messiah is the Son of God’s Handmaiden. Mary (Jesus’ mother) confirmed these prophetic words when she humbly responded to the Angel Gabriel: “Behold the Handmaiden of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your message” (Luke 1:38). Mary’s proclamation as being “the Handmaiden of God” testified that Jesus is the Messiah. And because Mary is the Mother of the Messiah, she is the Handmaiden of the Lord. Since Jesus is the same ‘yesterday, today, and forever,’ Mary, too, remains God’s Handmaiden, ‘yesterday, today, and forever.’ Being God’s eternal Handmaiden, she continues to serve and disciple the Mystical Body of Christ as it journeys into eternal life (the communion of saints).

Then we understand via the Psalm that the Messiah offers a new sacrifice, one of Thanksgiving (Eucharist) to the LORD. It is my understanding that rabbinic tradition states: “the Messiah would bring an end to animal sacrifice and establish a new and eternal sacrifice; a covenant with the Father which is a Eucharistic (todah) Sacrifice of Thanksgiving.”
On the night before Jesus died, he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it and gave it to his disciples and said: “This is my Body which is offered up for you… in the same way he took the cup saying this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.”

St. Ignatius the Martyr and the third bishop of Antioch (110+ AD) in his Letter to the Church in Ephesus identified this Eucharist (one common breaking of bread) as “the medicine of immortality and the sacred remedy by which we escape and live in Jesus Christ for evermore.”
Symbolic bread is not the “medicine of immortality and the means of being eternally united to Christ.”

And so, Jesus who is God’s Eternal Word -- for whom and through whom all things were made and through whom God sustains all things – made a command to nature on Holy Thursday, “This is my Body.” The Apostles witnessed Jesus command nature on many occasions: Jesus said to the wind and the waves, “Stop and be still!” (Mark 4:39) and so they became calm. And again in Mark’s Gospel Jesus takes the loaves and fishes, offers a prayer of thanksgiving, breaks the two loaves of bread (Mark 6: 41) and then gives it to his disciples and through them feeds 5000 men not counting children and women. In Mark 14: 22, the same exact words are recorded as part of the Holy Thursday events. And yet, Jesus’ command to nature “this is my body” still scandalizes many disciples.

The literal reality of Jesus' one eternal sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and the Eucharist as being "Body and Blood" remains verboten as part of their assent of faith in Christ. Atheists argue, "Jesus’ words are only symbolic" – a natural conclusion since they deny his Divinity. In other words, a person’s faith only needs to be on the same level of an atheist to hold that the Eucharist is a symbol. Is that the core of the matter? Maybe there resides an element of doubt about whether “Jesus is True God and True Man?” Or is it simply a struggle with obedience to the Deposit of Faith (the oral and written tradition of the Church handed down to us by the apostles) and the implications thereof?

Either way, the Mystical Body of Christ never reaches full communion, as St. Paul envisioned would be the case. “Because there is one loaf, we who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” (1 Corinthians 10: 17)

Merry Christmas from the Foxes

And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." (Luke 2:8-12)

Good News! A Savior is born!

Who knew first? A lowly group of ordinary shepherds. But the news was intended for everybody -- for all mankind for all time because those shepherds were excited. And they checked it out. They went over to Bethlehem to see this thing that happened, and found the Baby lying in a manger. And they told other people!

It must have been very rare to find a new born baby laying in a stable in a place where animals feed. But that is indeed how Our Lord Jesus Christ chose to come into the world. And those are the type of people He invited to His birth -- ordinary people.

When He exited the world, Jesus chose the cross as the means of his leaving. The cross became a stumbling block for the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. Muslims teach somebody else took His place on the cross because to them Jesus was a great prophet, and to die on the cross was a shameful death. It's too bad more people didn't pay attention to His birth because being born in a stable is a shameful birth. I mean who do you know who was born in a stable?

But Good News! God doesn't see things the way we do. He picked a lowly virgin to be Jesus' mother. He picked a carpenter to be his foster father. They weren't rich. The didn't have a car. And their status in life was bottom of the barrel. But God was excited because it was His Son -- the Word made flesh -- Who came to dwell among us. And He sent his angels with the Good News.

But he also invited kings from the East. They were led by a star. And they brought gifts, and so the tradition of Christmas giving began. For it is Jesus Who said, "It is better to give than to give than receive."

Whether you are led by a star or led by an angel, we are hoping you also find yourself in a stable this Christmas standing next to an Infant lying in a manger. For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son. . .
-- Susan Fox

HATRED MAKES YOU STUPID: A Family Conversation

by Susan Fox

Imagine a super-intelligent creature, whose whole desire is bent on evil.

But every time he thinks of some terrible tragedy to inflict on mankind, the loving God brings great good out of his evil actions. He does evil, but good triumphs.

“Curses, foiled again.” That is the refrain of Satan.

Case in point: Roughly 2,000 years ago, he plotted against what he thought was a man named Jesus. He organized Jesus’ Jewish detractors to ask him tricky questions. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” Satan probably thought, “Yeah, answer that one.” But Jesus answered with a question, “Whose image is on that coin?” The answer being “Caesar’s” So He answered, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.".(Mark 12:17) And Mark goes on to say, “they were amazed at him.”

Jesus had an answer for everything they threw at him. The Sadducees, who said there was no resurrection, came to Him with another trick question. A woman was married consecutively to seven brothers and had no children with any of them. So at the resurrection whose wife would she be as she was married to all seven? He told them they were in error. “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead -- have you not read what God said to you, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead but of the living." (Matt. 22:30-33) And again the crowds were amazed at this.

Finally, Satan stirred up so much hatred against Jesus Christ that the Jews spurred Pilate to condemn Jesus to death on the cross. There is a striking literary image of this in the movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” During the scourging at the pillar, a twisted ugly figure with a monstrous baby circles the crowd as Jesus willingly submits to horrible torture by the obviously brutal Roman soldiers. Satan gloats.

But what a short time he has to rejoice! In three days, he finds out that Jesus has risen from the dead! He is again teaching and preparing His apostles for Pentecost when the Church will be born and thousands converted. The apostles will reach the whole world with Christ's message, going first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles and finally to the ends of the earth -- to peoples never even known in that time.

“Curses, foiled again!”

Christ’s death was Satan’s biggest blunder.

But he keeps making the same mistake over and over again. “Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:20) And so the saints and martyrs in all centuries since have suffered through hatred and persecution.

This led to my family conversation. A very holy man died violently Thursday morning in a car accident in India on his way home for Christmas. The blows to his head apparently were quite awful according to eye witnesses. This priest was a dear friend of my family and friends, and he had started an organization that led many onto the path of holiness. His life was incredibly fruitful.

Father used to tell us that Satan often threatened to destroy him -- even when he was a little boy. But Father knew that if God ever allowed Satan to kill him, God would use his death and suffering to save many other souls. It’s called the communion of saints: united with the sufferings of Christ in love, our peril is helpful to others, redemptive in nature.

Given the sudden violence of this priest’s death at a fairly young age, my family and I reflected that it was like Satan finally got his chance to viciously end the priest's life. He must have thought, "I will put an end to that organization by killing the priest. The good they are doing will stop."

So Satan must have also thought when he agitated for the death of Christ. He thought, "His apostles will be demoralized. The work of Jesus will be at an end." If he had but known the good that would come from the tragedy of Christ’s death, Satan would have been stirring up the Romans and the Pharisees to save His life -- not destroy it.

But hatred actually makes you stupid. Think of Satan, probably the most intelligent creature God ever made, certainly one of the most beautiful. He should have realized that great and infinite good that would come out of the death of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. But hatred blinded him. Hatred confused him in his innermost thoughts.

How funny that a creature so bent on causing evil, succeeds and then finds his best efforts have unintended good results because God is in control and God is love.

We -- his family and friends -- will miss Father. Jesus' disciples were terribly demoralized for three days after his death. But on Pentecost they were up and at them -- busy preaching the word of God to the multitudes; exultant when they were allowed to suffer abuse and death for the sake of Christ.

Father used to say that dying was just a change of address. You go to sleep and you wake up somewhere else, and God says, “You are going to live here now.” It's the company you keep that is important. Father used to urge us to become PIGs (Planted In God). "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (Matt 24:35) Anchor your heart in the Word. Father did. He always kept company with Jesus.

And now Satan must have realized it. “Curses, foiled again.”

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” (Ps 116:15)

Beautitudes are a Map to Happiness

by John Paul Shea, Tucson Seminarian
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Superstition Mountains

In Arizona, not far from where I am from, there is a mountain range called the Superstition Mountains. According to history, there is a fantastic gold mine that was discovered there. The mine is said to have been first discovered by the Apache Indians in the 1500s.

People have been searching for the mine ever since, but no one has found it. Over the years the mine has been given the name the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine. Everyone who is said to have discovered the gold have either been found dead or have vanished. Just last year Arizona officials called off a search for three hikers who were on a quest for the legendary lost gold mine. The men disappeared into the sweltering wilderness with little camping gear or water. According to news reports, “They had one thing on their mind, and that was finding [the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine], and they didn't take into consideration the other factors."

In today’s Gospel we also hear about a mountain. Like the Superstition Mountains, this mountain also has a hidden trail that leads to gold. However, unlike the Superstition Mountains, this gold can be found. The map that leads to the gold comes from the mouth of Jesus Christ and is written in the scriptures. This map is the Beatitudes.

The map of the Beatitudes is a map to happiness. Everybody wants to be happy. We want what makes us feel good. We desire pleasure. We want prosperity. Although these things are not bad in themselves, they do not bring us the kind of happiness that Jesus gives us. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus brings the notion of happiness to a whole new level. Jesus is telling us that happiness does not come from what we have. Rather, happiness is given through the way we live.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus shows us a way of living that is radically different than what had ever been heard before. Jesus is asking us to change. He is not just asking us to make a few changes in our behaviors, but is asking us to change every aspect of our lives. These changes do not promise laughter, fortune, or even safety. What they do promise, however, is divine union. We all know that making changes in life is not easy. None of us can do it on our own. That is why Jesus gives us a series of steps. The Beatitudes is kind of like a twelve step program. However, instead of twelve steps, there are only eight.

In the first step, Jesus tells us to become poor in spirit. This first step is very important because it breaks the sin of pride. By taking this first step, we will empty ourselves of our self so that God can fill us with His self. When we become filled with God, we will then have the grace to take the following steps. By the time we reach the last step, we will see firsthand that no Christian will reach the top of God’s mountain without major difficulties. Yet, if we persevere, even to the point of death, we will find true happiness because we will have overcome the world.

If we look into the lives of the saints, we can see that many of these holy individuals have followed the steps of the Beatitudes in their own creative ways. For example, Saint Teresa of Avila climbed through nine mansions, taking each step of prayer and self-denial until she reached divine union. Saint Therese followed the steps in her “little way.” Saint John of the Cross, who climbed the mountain in darkness said, “The beatitudes are a marvelous chain of mountains of which each peak is a steppingstone in the sublime ascent that leads to God. Each one of the beatitudes is something perfect and excellent – a summit in itself; and at the same time it is a beginning of future happiness even in this life.”

My brothers, climbing the Beatitudes is not easy. But, Christ has assured us that he will give us blessings all the way. Let us continue to persevere on this Christian journey. Let us not fall backwards into the false gold of the world, but let us climb up the Mountain until we reach the true gold, the gold of divine union. On that day we will reach true happiness. We will hear the words, rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

The Cross in Christmas, Not the Nightmare Before!

by Susan Fox
Larry, James and I celebrated the week before Christmas at Disneyland. Excessive rain and crowds made the trip a little tough and drippy. The Haunted Mansion ride has been redecorated as the Nightmare Before Christmas with Sandy Claws. What a parody of the truth! The ride is designed to instill fear within children about Christmas, while the true message of Christmas gives us hope and courage. So the highlight of the week for me was the sermon on courage at Sunday Mass at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim, Calif., on Dec. 19, 2010.

The sermon's setting was significant. I attended first grade at this school in 1959-60. It was two years after my father died, my mother had to work and I went to daily Mass so she could get to work early.

St. Boniface recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. It was 100 years old when I attended grade school there. I remember they said three Masses simultaneously on all three front altars in Latin. I always attended the left altar Mass. That sounds very funny now because Vatican II ended that practice. We have only one Mass said at one time. The left altar at St. Boniface has been replaced with the tabernacle and the right altar with the Nativity crèche.

The church had been redecorated since 1960. So in order for me to recognize it, I had to exit through the door behind the left altar and look at the steps as I remembered rushing down those, running for the bathroom when Mass was over. I suffered during those Masses as I always had to go to the bathroom, but I was too young and shy to realize it was okay to leave during Mass. Somehow the Catholic understanding of suffering had been explained to me at the age of six, so I offered my pain in union with the sufferings of Christ, and I embraced the cross. What a gift. In subsequent years, I sometimes fled the cross. It's never easy to face our fear and suffering.

When I attended St. Boniface, I'm sure that most of the people were white. Now they are mostly brown and of various nationalities. The priest who gave the sermon was Vietnamese. My husband greeted him in that language as he has made a point of learning some phrases from our Vietnamese friends.

Actually, the young priest was once a child who escaped Vietnam as a refugee in a boat. Literally, the man saying Mass at St. Boniface was one of those suffering boat people! The reading for the day was about St. Joseph. You remember he discovered that Mary, his betrothed was pregnant and he decided to divorce her quietly. Why? Because he knew he wasn't the father. But an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife as the child within her womb was conceived by God not by man. Hence the sign promised to King Ahaz was fulfilled: A Virgin shall be with Child.

Joseph overcame his fear and took Mary into his home, and hence he became the foster father and provider for the Son of God. And so there was suffering in that first Christmas, but Joseph overcame his fear and trusted in God.

The Vietnamese priest said when he was a little boy he was very afraid of the dark. And his family had a very dark cellar. One day his mother asked him to get a can of tomatoes from the cellar, and he told his mother he was afraid of the darkness in the cellar. She told him not to be afraid because Jesus was in the cellar. So the little boy descended the stairs and stood at the doorway of the cellar and yelled, "Jesus! If you are in there, please hand me a can of tomatoes."

He was trying to explain how we can be very afraid in certain situations, but we have to learn to trust God. Later, this priest as a young boy was in a boat escaping Viet Nam and there was a terrible storm. The waves were rocking the boat, almost overturning it. One little boy was almost dying with fear, and another was so relaxed he was almost asleep. The terrified boy asked the relaxed boy why he wasn't afraid. And he said, "Because my father is the pilot of this boat!"

If we could all realize that Our Father in heaven is the pilot of our boat perhaps we would relax more and enjoy this life. It is short.

But I was amazed that God arranged for a sermon on suffering in the church in which I had suffered! I felt like I died and came back to earth to see the changes. All the suffering seems to have paid off as the liturgy at the St. Boniface was absolutely lovely. The music and chant drew me into prayer instead of distracting me as it does in other local churches. That's why I enjoyed St. Boniface. In prayer, Jesus and I can return to the St. Boniface of 1959 and converse about old times. I always wondered what Moses and Elijah had to say to Jesus at the Transfiguration. I guess they were discussing the cross. The Bible says they were discussing Jesus' exodus from Jerusalem. Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt in their Exodus. Jesus led us from the slavery of sin by His suffering on the cross - His exodus from Jerusalem.

I faced the dark cellar in 1959 when I attended Mass in suffering refusing myself access to a bathroom. The young priest faced his fears in a boat when he came to America to grow up and preach the gospel. St. Joseph faced his fears when he took a pregnant Mary for his bride. This year, I feel like I faced a similar fear when I nearly died and had heart surgery. This issue of fear and suffering plagues us our whole lives long. The solution is to trust in God and to realize He doesn't look at suffering the way we do. To Him, it's a means to fulfill our purpose in life - to know, love and be imitators of God, Who Himself suffered and died on the cross.

There is a famous Italian saint, called Padre Pio. He suffered the wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and head for 50 long years. He also fought with the devil - literally. One night as the devil was pummeling him yet again, he noticed his guardian angels were happily flying around the ceiling and singing. When the devil left he asked his good angel why he didn't help him fight the devil. The angel said he did fight -- by praising God. That's the difference between this life and the next. We glorify God with our suffering in this life and with our happiness and singing in the Presence of God in the next life. To believe otherwise would make us bitter, angry and resentful.

We adore thee O Christ and bless thee because by the Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world!

God bless you.
Susan Fox

Mary's Role in Salvation: The New Eve

by Susan Fox
What an amusing time I had reading the web page run by the Evangelical Outreach on the titles of Mary.
They very correctly identified the fact that many Catholic titles of Mary like Morning Star and Help of Christians are identified with the actions of God in the Bible. “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Heb 13:6)
Furthermore, they concluded many Catholic titles of Mary like Gate of Heaven and Refuge of Sinners show that Mary has a role to play in our salvation. However, they erroneously decided that “Mary is never included with Jesus in the Scriptures as having even the slightest role in salvation.” I wonder if we are reading the same Bible!
By the very fact that the Bible says that God sent the angel Gabriel to a Virgin in Nazareth to ask her to be the Mother of His Son, God involved Mary in our salvation. What could be more obvious than that? No Mary, no Jesus.
Not that God needed Mary, but He wanted her cooperation and that is what she offered: “Behold the handmaid (servant) of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Just because we recognize her role in salvation and have given her many titles that reflect what God does, Catholics still do not worship Mary. The Catholic Church teaches that all true devotion to Mary is Christ centered. If Mary were the end of our devotion and not the means, we would be idolaters. Christ as God has the power. It was His sacrifice on the cross that brought our salvation. We agree on that! Mary as human being and mother simply cooperated in our salvation. As such, she is the perfect model of a disciple of Christ. She is the Untarnished Image of the Church. “Do whatever He tells you,” she told the servants at the wedding feast of Cana. (John 2:5)
The Bible identifies Mary cooperating in our salvation in many other places. Her role was foretold in Genesis 3:15: “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.”
Some translations say, “he” shall crush your head and some say “she” or “it.” But the serpent crushing action comes from the Woman and her Seed. The Seed is Jesus Christ. He is God. He has the power. But the Woman is allowed to share in this crushing role -- this defeat of evil leading to our salvation. Her role is cooperative. And as our early Church Fathers remarked there is a justice in having Jesus and Mary joining together to bring about our salvation. For it was through a man (Adam) and a woman (Eve) that sin came into the world. Hence, a man and a woman were needed to repair the damage of sin. It was Eve’s “No” that brought sin into the world. It was Mary’s “Yes” that brought Christ and his redeeming sacrifice on the cross. Hence, Mary is called the “New Eve.” And Christ is called the “New Adam.”
You, who are reading this, are human beings. Yet you may be involved in raising children or some chore helping to bring God’s salvation to the world. God doesn’t need you to do this work. But He wants to share the joy of His work with you. "My Father goes on working and so do I," Jesus said. (John 5:17) And when the apostles brought food to Jesus after his conversation with the woman at the well, He said “I have food to eat that you don't know about." (John 4:32) She had just repented of living with a man after having five husbands, and she went to tell the village about Jesus: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" (John 4:29) Jesus’ food, His joy was bringing salvation to the people! Why does He let you help Him bring the Gospel to all peoples? He doesn't need you. He can do it without you. But God delights to work with nothing. He lets us cooperate with Him in bringing His salvation to the world. And if us, then why not Mary, His mother?
Mary is simply the best model, the first example of the Christian disciple. She responded perfectly. And yes, she was without sin because if she had any sin she would have exploded the minute the Seed was conceived in her womb. Think about David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant. What was the Ark? Containing manna, the rod of Aaron and the 10 commandments, it was the tabernacle holding the Real Presence of God among the Jewish people.
The ark started to slip from its pallet and fall and one of David's men tried to catch it with the motive of protecting it. But he died instantly. Why? He had sin. Nothing with sin can touch God and live. "Nothing defiled shall enter heaven." (Rev. 21:27)
But Mary is identified in the first chapter of Luke as "FULL OF GRACE." The angel Gabriel says, Hail (Hello) and addresses her with the title "Full of Grace." Why? She has no sin. She is all full of God alone. To be the mother of Jesus Christ -- true God and true man -- she must be sinless. So the Church calls her the New Ark of the Covenant.
How was Mary conceived without sin? Medieval Theologian John Duns Scotus explained it best. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was applied to Mary at her conception. How? God is outside time. He is in eternity. While she was redeemed like the rest of us by Jesus Christ on the cross, yet the sacrifice was applied to her before His death on the cross by God, who was preparing the Woman and Her Seed from the first moments in mankind's history to bring salvation to the world.
Revelation Chapter 12 gives you a replay of the same thing. At the end of Chapter 11, the Ark of the Covenant is seen in heaven. My goodness, the Ark hasn't been seen for hundreds of years. The Jews lost it. Then it appears in heaven at the end of Revelation Chap. 11. Then the next line is: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Ah, here again is the Woman of Genesis 3:15, a cooperative human woman doing feats that only God could accomplish by God's power not her own.
She is wailing in pain while she is about to give birth to a Son while a red dragon waits to swallow both of them. This woman is Mary, who cooperates in our salvation as a human being. But it is also the Catholic Church herself, and the pain is the struggle involved in our salvation – the salvation of the members of the Body of Christ. Mary -- being without sin -- probably did not suffer the pangs of childbirth in Christ's delivery. But in trying to bring the Body of Christ into eternity, there is a lot of suffering.
At the end of Chapter 12, the devil is very grumpy standing angrily on the beach. He goes off to make war against the Woman's other children; the one's who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
If this describes you, then God is Our Father and Mary is Our Mother. She is a human being, but as such she was given the opportunity to represent us, to be the one creature who said YES to God when Adam and Eve said NO, allowing sin and death to enter the world.
Another such figure as Mary is Abraham – a human being who said YES to God. He was willing to offer his son Isaac as an offering to God when asked. He was obedient to God. That is why he is called our father in faith. But Isaac hauling the wood up the mountain, asks his father Abraham, “Father where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham answers, "God Himself will supply the lamb for the sacrifice." (Gen. 22:8)
Without realizing how prophetic his words are, Abraham believes he is about to sacrifice his son, Isaac. But God intervenes and provides Abraham with another sacrifice, a ram. But those words -- “God Himself will supply the lamb for the sacrifice” -- those words resonate down through the centuries and we realize that God Himself so loved the world He gave His Only Son. There was no ram caught on a bush to replace Jesus' Sacrifice on the Cross. In the death of Jesus Christ, God the Father actually made the sacrifice that He symbolically demanded of Abraham.
Now if Catholics gazed adoringly at Mary just for the purpose of worshiping her, that would be idolatry. But no, we fully expect her to be a sinless means to a Great End. She will take us to God. And that is what we want. We want God with our whole mind, heart, strength and being! And Mary is a means to that end. Do you not ask your friends to pray for you? My goodness, who are they but sinful weak people like ourselves? Why not ask the Woman who gave birth to the God who taught us to "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER?” Would not such a God honor His mother and listen to your request more readily than if you asked Him directly while in all your sins?
All the great titles of Mary, and there are many of them, express the idea that she is cooperating in God's action. So yes, they seem to be strongly related to God Himself, but the power is God's. He has simply allowed Mary to participate in His action, and because she did so perfectly without falling into sin, she is honored, not worshiped. For if she had failed, so would Christ not come into the world and we would not now have the opportunity to accept our salvation from God.
Abraham's faith was rewarded for his children are a numerous as the stars. Mary's faith is rewarded also because at the foot of the Cross, she is made the New Eve, Mother of Mankind, when her Son says to John, "Behold, Your Mother!"
New Eve, Virgin crushing the head of the serpent, pray for us.
And that, my friends, is a title for Mary.