Defending God's Holy Mother, who is ours as well - July 19 remnantnewspaper.com
Sadly, I have been the witness (either directly or indirectly) of these affronts to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary at various points of my life.
The first incident happened when I saw an image of the Mother of Perpetual Help defaced in the Catholic girls school I attended during my middle school years in Asia. Till this day, only God knows who defaced Our Lady’s image, though none of our teachers publicly spoke about it, nor did any of my schoolmates own up to it (at least to my knowledge).
The next incident happened during my high school years, on September 8, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A Protestant classmate, well-meaning but nevertheless misguided, handed me a book that she claimed to be “important” for me to read.
If I recall correctly, this classmate told me something along the lines of:
“Read this book to know what you should do about your Catholic devotion (to the Virgin Mary).”
Piqued, I began browsing through the pages of the supposedly “important” book my classmate gave me out of the blue.
My initial curiosity morphed into horror and disgust. Why? Well, it turned out that this book detailed the story of a “former Catholic priest” who alleged that he had a “supernatural encounter with God” and then unfortunately did away with his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, saying that our Catholic Marian devotion was unfounded in our “path to God”, among other things.
In an unprecedented attack on Catholic churches in Poland, leftists and baby-killing zealots disrupted Holy Masses and church services, signifying the extent they were willing to go to protect their so-called “rights” of massacring the unborn.
Growing up in a relatively sheltered Catholic environment with regular access to the Traditional Latin Mass (Deo gratias et Mariae), I was clearly shell-shocked after perusing the book.
What was more, my classmate handed me this book on the very birthday of Our Blessed Mother itself!
Another episode which I recount happened around the time when I was living in Poland, when the pro-abortion strike protests (Strajk Kobiet) were unleashed in full force with a hellish fury.
In an unprecedented attack on Catholic churches in Poland, leftists and baby-killing zealots disrupted Holy Masses and church services, signifying the extent they were willing to go to protect their so-called “rights” of massacring the unborn.
Besides, gender ideologues tried to push their LGBT+ agenda onto Poland’s traditionally Catholic and conservative social fabric, including blasphemously portraying images of the venerable Virgin Mary of Częstochowa with the LGBT+ rainbow halo. Activists who were guilty of distributing the aforesaid sacrilegious images went on trial for their egregious depictions of the Holy Virgin.
In remarks cited by National Catholic Register (NCR) at that time, Karolina Pawłowska (now Dobrowolska), director of the Ordo Iuris International Law Center in Warsaw, declared:
“The image that is the subject of this case — which depicts the Mother of God and Baby Jesus with the halos replaced with colors that are commonly associated with LGBT movements — I think it’s one of the cases that fulfills all premises of profanation, which is defined in the Polish criminal code in Article 196.”
Elaborating, Pawłowska said:
“It is clear, especially when you take into consideration the Polish cultural circle, which is very much focused on and built upon Catholic ethics and values which are very important to Polish people. So from the side of people who are Catholics, who are defending Christian values, defending religious freedom, it should be obvious that such provocations should not take place in public debate, because it is not an element of public debate and should not be accepted as an element of public debate but should be considered as an offense to many, many people. It is also important to say that we are talking not only about the image, which was offensive and provocative of course, but also about the way it was promoted. It was very widespread on social media. It was also placed on the walls of the Sanctuary of St. Faustina and at the convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw. So in places that are very important to Catholics, places that are the object of cult [religious practice]. It was also very offensive to people that believe in God, believe in Jesus.”
The NCR article then added that Article 196 of Poland’s penal code stipulates the following:
“Whoever offends the religious feelings of other persons by publicly insulting an object of religious worship, or a place designated for public religious ceremonies, is liable to pay a fine, have his or her liberty limited, or be deprived of his or her liberty for a period of up to two years.”
Unfortunately, these aforementioned incidents are not isolated ones in the history of the Catholic Church.
More recently, a blasphemous anti-Marian statue in the New Cathedral in Austria’s Linz, sanctioned even by Bishop Manfred Scheuer, rightfully outraged many faithful Catholics devoted to the great Mother of God. This statue is an undeniable insult to the inviolate purity and perpetual virginity of the Mother of God. Yet what bothered me most was the Linz’s bishop’s apparent approval of the statue, despite its horrific portrayal of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
During the 15th century, when a bunch of Hussites tried to attack Poland’s Jasna Góra (“Bright Hill”) monastery, one Hussite soldier slashed the image of the famous Black Madonna or Our Lady of Częstochowa, leaving two lacerations. Divine Providence would not permit the Holy Mother of God to be once again attacked, so the unfortunate soldier (God have mercy on his soul) was struck dead once he lifted his blade to deface the holy image of Our Lady of Częstochowa again.
More recently, a blasphemous anti-Marian statue in the New Cathedral in Austria’s Linz, sanctioned even by Bishop Manfred Scheuer, rightfully outraged many faithful Catholics devoted to the great Mother of God.
It is torturous to pen down how this statue of “Our Lady” represented the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I would spare the Remnant’s readers the details.
Having said that, this statue is an undeniable insult to the inviolate purity and perpetual virginity of the Mother of God, depending on how viewers see it.
Yet what bothered me was the Linz’s bishop’s apparent approval of the statue, despite its horrific portrayal of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
If sculptors were to create insulting images of the Prophet Muhammad, I am fairly confident that many Muslims would be angered and rise up in protest (think of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France some years back).
Certainly, I am not advocating that faithful Catholics employ physical violence or resort to sins against charity to protest the attacks on our holy Faith, but it is frustrating when many prelates and laity seem to be silent or indifferent towards anti-Christian attacks.
Why, even the Muslims exalt the purity and dignity of the Holy Virgin Mary in their Quran!
People who neglect or despise devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary or worse still, ridicule Her, cannot claim to truly love Jesus Christ. As Saint Joseph Cafasso said:
“Whoever does not have a great love for the Mother of God cannot have great love for Her Son.”
Upon closer scrutiny, many Catholics today could be in favor of a pacifist stance towards the culture wars and attacks on our Faith today after reading and misunderstanding the Gospel of Saint Matthew (Matthew 5:38-45). In context, the Gospel text is as follows:
“You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other: And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two, Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away. You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.”
However, if the pacifist interpretation of Saint Matthew’s Gospel text is correct, why did Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself rebuked an official in the court of the High Priest during His trial and Passion. According to the Gospel of Saint John (John 18:19-23):
“Jesus answered him: I have spoken openly to the world: I have always taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither all the Jews resort; and in secret I have spoken nothing. Why asketh thou me? ask them who have heard what I have spoken unto them: behold they know what things I have said. And when he had said these things, one of the servants standing by, gave Jesus a blow, saying: Answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him: If I have spoken evil, give testimony of the evil; but if well, why strikest thou me?”
As writer Karlo Broussard wrote in Catholic Answers, Jesus Christ did not “turn the other cheek” in the pacifist sense but reprimanded the officer for striking him. Certainly, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”, cannot contradict Himself.
If God’s honor is at stake, faithful Catholics have a duty to speak up and defend God’s rights, just as Jesus Christ Himself taught us. On that note, just as any honor accorded to the Blessed Virgin Mary redounds to Her Divine Son, faithful Catholics should be quick to decry (publicly if possible for the instruction of others) any attack on the Holy Mother of God.
Moreover, Fr. Jean-Michel Gomis (FSSPX) preached a beautiful Sunday sermon on the example Our Lord Jesus Christ gave to us on how to deal with false accusations (as well as attacks on our Faith). (Readers may listen to Fr. Gomis’ sermon in full here.) In short, Fr. Gomis, quoting saints like Saint Thomas Aquinas, exhorted Catholics to remain silent when others falsely accuse us.
Nevertheless, Fr. Gomis continues, if God’s honor is at stake, faithful Catholics have a duty to speak up and defend God’s rights, just as Jesus Christ Himself taught us. On that note, just as any honor accorded to the Blessed Virgin Mary redounds to Her Divine Son, faithful Catholics should be quick to decry (publicly if possible for the instruction of others) any attack on the Holy Mother of God.
The purity of the Holy Virgin Mary is a matter of unquestionable truth, and not simply Catholic opinion. The Church Fathers vigorously promoted the truth of Our Lady’s purity and virginity. At the Annunciation, the most humble Virgin Mary Herself was keen to preserve the flower of Her virginity, to the extent that She dared not dream to become the Mother of God. Such was Our Lady’s desire to remain inviolate and virginal, that She even asked Saint Gabriel the Archangel how She was to become God’s Mother, as recorded in the Gospel of Saint Luke:
“And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
Thus, as Catholics who claim to love God, we cannot sit by and watch others insult His Holy Mother. Of course, Catholics need not resort to writing treatises like Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo praising the perpetual virginity and purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yet we can make reparation for the numerous offenses against the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and pray for the conversion of those who insult Jesus, the Holy Virgin Mary, and the saints.
As we hope that the Blessed Virgin Mary would be our Advocate and Protector in times of trial and need, we too, as children of Mary, should courageously step up and defend the honor of God’s Mother, who is ours as well.
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