20170513 THE PLACE OF MARIAN APPARITIONS IN CATHOLIC FAITH
First
Reading Is 61:9-11
9 Their
race will
be famous throughout the nations and their offspring throughout the peoples.
All who see them will
admit that they are a race whom Yahweh
has blessed.
10 I
exult for joy in Yahweh, my soul
rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation, he has
wrapped me in a cloak of saving justice, like a bridegroom wearing his garland,
like a bride adorned in her jewels.
11 For as the earth sends up its shoots and a garden makes seeds
sprout, so Lord Yahweh
makes saving justice
and praise spring up in the sight of all nations.
Psalms 41 : 11-12. 14-17
11 You
hand us over like sheep for slaughter, you scatter us among the nations,
12 you
sell your people for a trifle and make no profit on the sale.
14 you
make us a by-word among nations, other peoples shake their heads over us.
15 All
day long I brood on my disgrace, the shame written clear on my face,
16 from
the sound of insult and abuse, from the sight of hatred
and vengefulness.
17 All
this has befallen us though we had not forgotten you, nor been disloyal to your
covenant,
Gospel
Lk 11:27-28
27 It
happened that as he was speaking, a woman
in the crowd raised her voice and said, 'Blessed the womb that bore you and the
breasts that fed you!'
28 But
he replied, 'More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and
keep it!'
THE
PLACE OF MARIAN APPARITIONS IN CATHOLIC FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [
IS 61:9-11; PS 44, 11-12, 14-15, 16-17 ; LK 11:27-28 ]
Today is the 100th anniversary
of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. It is important that we
celebrate these apparitions in the mind of the Church. Right from the
outset, we must be clear that the main purpose of our celebration is not the
apparitions themselves, but the message Our Lady has for us. Otherwise
such pious celebrations can turn into superstition and also encourage a wrong
attitude towards the Catholic Faith, especially for those who have a penchant
for visions and apparitions.
Consequently, we must be clear about what
we are dealing with in respect of the apparitions of our Lady. We are not
speaking about public revelations but private revelations. Public revelations
and private revelations differ in essence and degree.
Public revelations deal with the whole
economy of salvation revealed by God Himself to the prophets, beginning from
the time of Abraham until the last of the apostles. These revelations are
contained in scripture and in tradition. Indeed, with the coming of
Christ and with His death, passion and resurrection, the revelation of God for
our salvation is complete. There is nothing else to add, for everything
that needs to be said or revealed has already been revealed in Christ who is
the Word of God in person. After Christ, there can be no more public
revelations. However, it does not mean to say that having been revealed
once and for all, we have grasped everything. We still need to grow in
understanding of the truth revealed to us by Christ. The Church teaches
that “This tradition which comes from the Apostles develops in the Church with
the help of the Holy Spirit. For there is a growth in the understanding
of the realities and the words which have been handed down.” (Dei Verbum
8b)
It is within this context that private
revelations should be appreciated. Approved private revelations do not
add anything new to public revelations. They are not necessary for
salvation. Hence, whereas divine faith is required for public
revelations, meaning all must accept the truths taught in scripture and
tradition without compromise even if we do not understand, private revelations
only require human faith to accept or reject the revelation. Whilst it is
prudent and helpful to accept the apparitions, it is not necessary for one to
do so. Consequently, such private revelations fall under the category of
prophecy, which is to apply the message of God that is already contained in
public revelations in today’s time. It is meant to be an aid for a
particular point in time. Our Lady does not reveal new things but make
things new. This is what the Holy Spirit does for the Church as
well. He does not reveal new things because Christ is the fullness of
revelation. But He makes things new.
The analogy that could be used to
highlight the difference between public and private revelations is liturgy and
popular devotions, like Marian devotions. Liturgy and popular devotions
also differ in essence and degree. Liturgy is the public worship of the
Church with Christ, in Christ and through Him to the Father. It is the
highest form of worship. Popular devotions cannot take the place of
worship, especially of the Eucharist. Rather, the promotion of popular
devotions must lead us to Christ and the sacraments. The celebration of
the sacraments and the Eucharist is then expressed concretely in popular
devotions. In other words, popular devotions originate from the liturgy
and flows back to the liturgy. When popular devotions are undertaken at
the expense of the liturgy or alienated from the liturgy, such popular
devotions are false and dangerous to the faith.
It is within this perspective that we are
celebrating the opening of the 100th anniversary of the apparitions
of Our Lady of Fatima. This celebration must lead us closer to the Lord
who is the Saviour of the world. Devotion to our Lady of Fatima is to
lead us to the heart of our salvation, that is, Christ Himself. Unless,
devotion to her brings us closer to our Lord, and helps us to live holy lives,
then this celebration would be out of focus. Indeed, all the three
scripture readings of today’s mass point to the heart of our celebration.
In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah
gave hope to the people that Israel would once again be restored to her
dignity. All shame and disgrace would be taken away and they once again
would belong to the Lord. Such were the blessings that Israel were told
to hope for. “I exult for joy in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God,
for he has clothed me in the garments of salvation, he has wrapped me in the
cloak of integrity, like a bridegroom wearing his wreath, like a bride adorned
in her jewels.” Israel would once again be the radiant and beautiful
bride of God.
Of course, this
passage refers both to Mary and to the Church, since both are called to be the
bride of Christ. Mary is the bride of Christ because she lives in perfect
union with the Lord in mind and heart. When a woman said, “Happy the womb
that bore you and the breasts you sucked!”, Jesus replied, “Still happier those
who hear the word of God and keep it!” Mary truly is not just the
biological mother of our Lord. More importantly, she carries the heart of
Jesus in her, beating as one in union with Christ. Like the Lord, she
strives to offer herself to the world in obedience to the will of God, saying,
“fiat” to whatever the Lord asks of her. She followed Jesus not
just in His ministry but right to the cross, standing beneath it. She was
with Jesus not just in His success but even in His failures. Only she
stood beneath the cross when all the other apostles abandoned Jesus.
Mary, in union with Jesus, prayed for their enemies and offered themselves for
the salvation of humanity. Accordingly, she has been given the title,
co-redemptrix and not just mediatrix.
Our devotion to Mary, the Immaculate
Heart, as our Lady of Fatima invites us, should lead us to cultivate the heart
of Jesus. We are called to share the heart of Mary so that we too can
beat with the heart of Jesus. We too must strive to do His holy will at
all times, even when it is difficult and we do not understand. Only when
we do the will of God as she told us at Cana, “Do whatever He tells you!” (Jn 2:5) can we find life
and salvation. All of us might not be the biological parents of Jesus but
we are His spiritual parents, brothers and sisters if we do His will, for Jesus
promised us, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother
and sister and mother.” (Mt 12:50)
This, precisely, is what St Paul wants to
remind us, that we are all called to be the adopted sons and daughters of God
in Christ through Mary. He wrote, “When the appointed time came, God sent
his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of
the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons.” Of course, this is
possible only in Christ who was born of a woman! Only because of Mary,
could the Second Person of the Trinity assume our humanity. Without Mary,
Jesus could not be fully human. If Jesus were not truly man, the death He
died would not be real and the sufferings would be just a phantom. But
Christ’s sufferings and death were real. He died to death so that He
could conquer death once and for all by His resurrection. And only upon
His resurrection could He send us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and
the Son upon us so that we can become the adopted sons and daughters of God
because we now share the same Spirit of God, the same heart of God, the heart
of Mary and the heart of the Church.
So today, as we begin the centenary
celebration of the 100th years of the apparitions of our Lady of
Fatima, let us take to heart her message to come to her and learn from Her
Immaculate Heart so that like her, we can have the heart of Jesus, becoming
like her in humility, obedience, service and faith. Through our obedience
to the Word of God and through our self-offering with Christ for the salvation
of the world, we too will enjoy the full dignity of divine sonship and
daughtership, fulfilling the promise of God through Isaiah.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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