During the homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption, Benedict XVI invites the faithful to have the “courage to live” like Mary “against all the threats from the dragon” because “love is stronger than selfishness.” He strongly criticises anti-Christian dictatorships: Nazism, Stalinism and materialism. In the Angelus the Pope highlights the solidarity between Our Lady “and the Son, in the struggle and total victory against death.”Castel Gandolfo (AsiaNews) – Love “is stronger than hatred and selfishness” even in today’s world which is ruled by “the materialist ideology of consumerism and entertainment.” It is Mary who showed us this. “Overcoming death”, she “told us: Courage, love wins in the end!” This is what Benedict XVI said in his homily during the mass celebrated in the Pontifical Parish of San Tommaso da Villanova, in Castel Gandolfo, on the occasion of the Solemnity of the Assumption.
The Pope took inspiration from the apocalyptic image of the “red dragon, the symbol of absolute selfishness, terror and violence” to describe the story of the world as an ongoing “struggle between love and selfishness;” and not only in the age of the Roman Empire or in 1900, but today as well.
“We saw the power of the red dragon realised in the great dictatorships of the last century,” Benedict XVI said. “The dictatorships of Nazism and Stalinism had a power that penetrated every corner. On the long run it seemed impossible that faith could survive such a powerful dragon who sought to devour God who had become a child, and the woman, the Church. But in this case in fact love proved stronger than hatred.”
For the Pontiff today’s dragon is found “in the materialist ideologies that say: It is absurd to think about God. It is absurd to observe God’s Commandments. It is something from a bygone era . . . . Only consumerism, selfishness and fun are worth something. That’s life.”
“Again it seems absurd, impossible to oppose this dominant mentality with all its media and propaganda power. It seems impossible to think about a God who created man, who became a child, the real would-be ruler of the world,” he said.
Benedict XVI finally spoke what Our Lady means, a woman “dressed in the sun, that is to say God.” It is indeed Mary who “overcoming death told us: Courage, love wins in the end! My life means that I am God’s handmaid; my life means giving myself to God and my fellow man as a gift. Have trust, have courage to live thus against all the dragon’s threats. Mary,” he said, “is the sign that love, goodness and God shall win.”
Our Lady also means a “woman who suffers, who must flee, giving birth in crying pain, i.e. the Church, the pilgrim Church of all ages. In all generations the Church must give birth to Christ, bring him into the world in great pain and suffering. Throughout the ages the Church has been persecuted by the dragon.”
“But,” the Pope said, “throughout the ages the Church was nourished by God, nourished with the same bread that is the Holy Eucharist. And thus in all its tribulations, in all the various situations the Church found itself throughout time in the different parts of the world, the Church wins by suffering.”
“And thus the feast day of the Immaculate,” Benedict XVI explained, “is an invitation to trust God and an invitation to imitate Mary,” who said “I am the handmaid of the Lord, I am at the disposal of the Lord.”
Hence the Pope urged us “to give our life rather than take any, setting off on the path of love, which means losing ourselves, a path which alone can let us truly find ourselves as well as find true life.”
In concluding he said: “Let us look upon Mary, the Assunta, and be encouraged in our faith and in the feast of joy: God wins. Faith, which appeared weak, is the real power of the world. Love is stronger than hatred.”
In the late morning the Pope addressed as he usually does the many faithful and pilgrims who crowd the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace for the Angelus.
He used the occasion to highlight the solidarity between “Mother and Son, closely tied in their struggle against the enemy from hell till the total victory over him.”
“As Christ’s glorious resurrection was the final sign of this victory,” he said, “so does the glorification of Mary, including in her virgin body, constitute the final confirmation of Her total solidarity with the Son in both struggle and victory.”
Finally, “Mary did not grow remote from us. We need to feel that she is mother and sister in the concrete situations of our existence,” he said.
In love with myself
In love with my own reflection
With my own affection
With the vision that I see
There's nobody else
I'm taking my own direction
I can see perfection
Doing all I can for me
In love with myself...
I can take you to hell
I'm falling so deep inside it
And I just can't hide it
Feel it burning down on me
I dance with myself
As hundreds of eyes are waiting
Can't strip completely
And the lights are burning me
In love with myself...
Tonight I'm gonna meet somebody
After all the lights have died
I'm still living,
But what am I giving?
In love with myself
In love with my own reflection
With my own affection
With the vision that i see
There's nobody else
I'm taking my own direction
I can see perfection
Doing all I can for me
In love with myself...
Everybody wants your body
There's nobody who can
take you to heaven
We'll make it forever
Tonight I'm gonna meet somebody
After all the lights have died
I'm still living
But what am I giving?”(1)
I am not trying to border onto the ridiculous by comparing St Thomas Aquinas with DJ David Guetta, but fittingly these lyrics can indicate how self-love and vanity leads to a separation from God, a separation from the true Christian light. Selfishness was totally vanquished by the self-giving of Our Lord upon the Cross who redeemed all mankind, explaining to the Apostles before He experienced His passion that the seed must die to bear fruit. This total self-giving, loving act accomplished by the God-Man, the ultimate Sacrifice, enabled humanity’s redemption. In like manner Our Lady was the anti-thesis of both Lucifer’s vanity and the selfish act of our first parents. Vanity, pride, disobedience all were vanquished. It is clear now that ‘Tota Pulchra’ or the ‘all beautiful Virgin’ ignored her beauty (unlike Lucifer) and sealed her love for God which is beauty itself. The Dragon was represented by certain heavenly bodies which symbolised Lucifer’s perfection and status in Creation, Our Lady has eclipsed Lucifer, for as he was represented in Creation by both the Morning Star (Isaiah 14:12) and the North Star (Thuban in the constellation of Draco – in Egyptian times), her beauty surpassed his baneful fall and she became ever more fair. She now is represented by Polaris, the new North Star in Ursa Minor (Our Lady Star of the Sea) and Venus the Morning Star (Litany of Loreto). She has stripped him of his beauty, the perfect cherubim, who was so to speak ‘defrocked’ of his honour before Creation. The Immaculate Conception became ‘Queen of angels and mankind.’ All Hail Star of the Sea, Tota Pulchra!
Both the Catholic Church and Our Lady are identified with the ‘Woman’ of Genesis 3:15, whom God said would be the perpetual enemy of the Devil: “I will make you enemies of each other: you (the ‘Serpent’) and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.” Saint Bernard of Clairveaux explains that Mary, the image and model of the Church, already enjoys that victory by virtue of her Immaculate Conception, therefore, she is most evidently identified to the ‘Woman’ of Genesis 3:15 and of Revelation 12. In two occasions in the New Testament the Messiah addresses her as ‘Woman.’ In John 2:4 “Jesus said, ‘Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.’” Our Lady intercedes for mankind before her Son Jesus Christ. If Our Lord favored her intercession previous to ‘his hour,’ how much more does He favor her intercession following his sacrifice upon the cross, his Resurrection, Ascension and Our Lady’s Assumption of body and soul into heaven and coronation as ‘Queen of Heaven and Earth’? John 19:26 reveals that while crucified, the Messiah presented the Blessed Virgin to the disciple: “Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple He said, ‘This is your mother.’” Our Lord entrusts all mankind in the care of the ‘Woman’ and we in turn, receive her as our mother, or at least we should receive her as such. “By her maternal charity, Mary cares for the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led to their happy fatherland. Therefore, the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix. These, however, are to be so understood that they neither take away from nor add anything to the dignity and efficacy of Christ the one Mediator…. In the bodily and spiritual glory which she possesses in heaven, the Mother of Jesus continues in this present world as the image and first flowering of the Church as she is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise Mary shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come, as a sign of sure hope and solace for the pilgrim People of God.”(2)
By the power the Father bestowed upon the Blessed Virgin, she is triumphant over Satan. Revelation chapter 12 reveals Creation’s primeval and present conflict: “Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labor, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky…. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron scepter… And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven. The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had deceived the entire world, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him…. As soon as the devil found himself thrown down to the earth, he sprang in pursuit of the woman, the mother of the male child, but she was given a huge pair of eagle’s wings to fly away from the serpent into the desert, to the place where she was to be looked after for a year and twice a year and half a year… Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, that is, all who obey God’s commandments and bear witness for Jesus.” It is by no coincidence that the Marian title ‘Terror of Demons,’ is one of the images applied to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Humanity’s Mother and Queen, is brilliantly set in Heaven and on Earth, her Immaculate sinless glory abusively terrifies the demonic forces. Therefore, rightly does the Roman Catholic Church attribute this title to the Blessed Virgin, who is terrible as an army set in full battle array. The ‘Shulamite Woman’ in the Old Testament Book, Song of Songs 6:10, is indeed the ‘Woman’ of Revelation 12. “Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, as terrible as an army set in full battle array?”
Revelation 12, highlights the heavenly struggle between Saint Michael (Hebrew ‘Mi-Cha-el’ or ‘Who Is Like Unto God?’) and the Dragon who affirms his maxim: ‘I Shall Not Serve (the Son of God made man).’ Michael the Archangel, bravely and courageously rose to do battle against the Cherubim Lucifer, opposed the Dragon’s rebellious and disobedient will, humbled himself before God to serve Him and serve God’s Son, who would in the future be both God and man. Saint Michael did not consider Lucifer at par with the Holy Trinity and by his statement indicated his servitude and allegiance to the future God-Man, for he knew that Jesus Christ was like unto God and God Himself. As described in Revelation Jesus Christ was the only one in heaven who was found worthy to break the seven seals! In Daniel 12, the angelic apparition revealed details regarding the future apocalyptic times: “At that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who mounts guard over your people.” Michael is the protector of the Holy Eucharist.
During human combat and warfare, Saint Michael the Archangel stood in the way against Balaam (Numbers 22:22) and routed the army of Sennacherib (IV Kings 19:35). As Michael opposed Lucifer in the first rebellion, it would follow that the archangel protects mankind especially in those moments when it is led astray to reenact the rebellion against the Holy Trinity. Mankind’s rebellion fulfills the Dragon’s maxim: “I Shall Not Serve (the Son of God made Man).” The Archangel Michael, together with Saint George, was in the middle ages considered to be the Grand-Patron of chivalry. The French chivalric order of Saint Michael was established in 1469. In England the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George was founded in 1818, today in America paratroopers consider Michael their Patron Saint. Similarly to the Archangel Michael, Saint George is depicted engaged in battle against the ‘Dragon/Devil’ and is thus associated with Our Lady for this very reason. George is the human counterpart of the angelic warrior and imitates Saint Michael’s stand against the mighty Red Dragon. The early Church might have desired to attribute the same warrior imagery associated with Saint Michael to his human counterpart. It was and still is, an easier accomplishment to emulate Saint George rather than the angelic Michael. Therefore, in the process of invoking Saint George, Christianity gained an intercessory human ‘dragon slayer’ apart from the angelic one. However, it was Saint George himself who earned his sainthood by the superhuman grace of fidelity to Christ and a unique triple martyrdom and resurrection. This was an unheard of martyrdom, unique to no other martyr. Truly, Emperor Constantine’s claim of antiquity is valid today, for Saint George is indeed the ‘Champion of Christendom’ par excellence.
At the presentation of the Christ Child at the Temple, Simeon had a prophecy reserved for the Blessed Mother: “You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected, and a sword will pierce your own soul too, so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare” (Luke 2:29-35). Therefore, Simeon’s prophecy essentially revealed the destiny and the outcome of a liturgical, spiritual, social and political conflict. These conflicts and persecutions occurred immediately, to escape the furious persecution and the killings of the innocent babes, the Holy Family was forced to seek exile in the foreign land of Egypt. It is somewhat hard not to compare this act with the murder of the Hebrew babes during Moses’ days. Our Lady therefore showed that she defends the innocent Babe who has no voice to defend Itself. Our Lady is indeed a ‘champion of Christendom,’ she is the defender of the innocent babes and a true champion of women’s rights. During his public years, Jesus Christ said: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:18-20). The words are self-explanatory, the Lord clearly reveals that the power of God entrusted to the early Church, was and still is capable of conquering all forces of evil, and the forces of hell can never prevail against her.
Saul the Jewish scholar, Pharisee and Roman citizen, was a vigorous persecutor of the Church of Christ and as a young man witnessed his first Christian martyrdom of Saint Stephen by stoning (Acts 7:54-60). Later Saul was converted to the Faith, by the unexpected apparition of the risen Christ (Acts 26:12-20) and following his baptism, was named Paul. The future of the Church was revealed to Saint Peter through the vision of the varied creatures of the sea (Acts II: 4-10). By instruction from the Church Paul, the new Jewish convert, was sent on mission to evangelize the many gentiles of the world. Together with his companions in travel, Barnabas and Luke, Paul set out almost immediately from Antioch in Syria and visited Jerusalem. Paul would refer to Luke as ‘the glorious physician,’ the first of the evangelist’s many talents in the service of the Church of Christ. Born a Greek and possibly first meeting Paul at the school of Tarsus, he later became a most splendid Church chronicler and historian, one of the Evangelists, an iconographer and sculptor.
In the normal circumstance of life Saint Paul says that the major battle a Catholic fights is not against the flesh, but against the principalities and powers of the air. In Ephesians 6 the apostle elucidates: “Finally, grow strong in the Lord, with the strength of his power. Put God’s armor on so as to be able to resist the Devil’s tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the sovereignties and the powers who originate the darkness in this world, the spiritual army of evil in the heavens… To stand your ground, with truth buckled round your waist, and integrity for a breastplate, wearing for shoes on your feet the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to put out the burning arrows of the evil one. And then you must accept salvation from God to be your helmet and receive the word of God from the Spirit to use as a sword.”
Throughout the ages, these principalities and powers have ravaged mankind, caught up in the war between the ‘Woman’ and the ‘Dragon/Devil.’ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in his ‘De Laude Novae Militiae’ postulated, that in times when Christianity is in danger by way of war and conflict, the faithful fights a double-edged war against the enemy of his soul and of his flesh. The ‘Woman’ has been ever ready to help her children, rescuing them both from the dangers of the soul and the dangers, which place the body in peril in times of war and conflict. The following chapters are extensive enough in revealing many miraculous favors mediated by the Mother of God during such times. The ‘Woman’ has according to God’s heavenly plan, changed and re-directed the historical course of human events. A series of conversions, beginning with the work of evangelization by the twelve apostles and spreading throughout the whole world. Evidently, the ‘Woman’ supports this plan of salvation. She offers her children continuous help and the sure hope of witnessing an eventual final victory over all the forces of the ‘Dragon/Devil.’ In Romans 8:35-37 Paul says: “Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. As scripture promised: For your sake we are being massacred daily, and reckoned as sheep for the slaughter. These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us. For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In Luke 12:4-5 the ‘apostle of the gentiles’ clarifies: “I tell you, my friends do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
Both Paul and Luke were continuously persecuted and beaten with rods and shut many times in prison for bearing witness to the Faith. In 61 AD at the end of Paul’s apostolic mission and during his martyrdom in Rome, Luke remained an inseparable companion. The Apostle of the gentiles, writing for the last time to Timothy, says: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course…Make haste to come to me quickly. For Demas hath left me, loving this world…. Only Luke is with me” (2 Timothy 4:6-13). Saint Paul was martyred, beheaded for the Faith and received eternal rest for fighting ‘the good fight.’ He is remembered as the apostle of the gentiles for having evangelized many countries in his numerous voyages.
The calf or the ox, symbolic of the sacrifice of Zachariah the priest and the father of John the Baptist, represents Saint Luke the Evangelist. Saint Luke recounts the manner how Saint John the Baptist was born to Mary’s cousin Elizabeth. It is by no surprise or coincidence that Luke’s Gospel uniquely records Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, the Magnificat, and the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, and the account of the Child Jesus’ disappearance in Jerusalem. Elizabeth’s beautiful words uttered on her encounter with the Blessed Virgin: “Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:42-43). Mary, who proclaims that God, “…has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:46-56). It is Luke to whom we must be grateful for recounting the angelic salutation of Gabriel: “Rejoice, so highly favored! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28-29) Our Lady humbly accepted God’s invitation to be the Mother of the Messiah. She humbly replies: “I am the humble handmaid of the Lord… let what you have said be done to me” (Luke 1:38). With her FIAT, she opposes Lucifer’s rebellion and accepts to become the Mother of God. Essentially, Our Lady opposes the pride of the Dragon, by accepting humbly the will of God becoming the Messiah’s mother; God the Son was made man. She is the mother of Him, whom Lucifer rejected, causing a rebellion which reverberated throughout Creation. It is by no surprise therefore, that she is his foe, for the Blessed Virgin represents the humanity which Lucifer so ardently detests, albeit the fact that now she is also his Queen. The Angelic Rebellion led by the proud Dragon, was against the very fact that God the Son was to become a man and Sovereign of Creation, rightly so for Creation was begotten by the Father’s Word. The illogical and ‘hopeless’ rebellion accomplished by its chief architect, Lucifer, caused by his self-love and vanity is repeated on Earth. The spirit which opposes servitude to Jesus Christ, the anti-Christian spirit which is so evident in secret societies, is a spirit which affirms the repetition of Lucifer’s rebellion, and does not recognize the sovereignty of God the Son made man, Savior and Redeemer of mankind. Most reprobate sects publically declare that they need not a personal Savior who would save them from Original sin and personal sin. They invoke the architect of the heavenly rebellion to accomplish the same hopeless rebellion on Earth. On the other hand, Our Lady initiates her animosity against the rebel Dragon by humbly accepting God’s will and thus in the process, indicating the manner how mankind should return to the Father, that is by accepting humbly the redemption offered by God through her Son’s sacrifice. In this manner Our Lady opens for all mankind the wondrous door of real eternal hope.
Truly the enmity between the Dragon and the Woman was not begotten at the Anunciation, nor at the fall of Adam and Eve, when Our Lord explicitly declared this enmity in Genesis 3:15, but was conceived with Lucifer’s rebellion. When the Holy Trinity revealed the future intent (the birth of Jesus Christ), Lucifer refused to serve, for his ambition was such that the angel expected the Lord to unite with his angelic ‘almost perfect’ nature, rather than the inferior human. This wish was not granted for the angelic nature was not created in the image and likeness of God. An angelic rebellion followed when the Dragon swept one third of the stars from the sky or from heaven (Rev 12). One third of the angels joined forces with the Dragon, apostatized against God and were cast out of heaven by Saint Michael, a mere Archangel as opposed to the Cherubim. Lucifer’s enmity versus the Blessed Virgin was conceived previous to the rebellion, for Lucifer loathed the fact that God would unite with human nature. The Child (God the Son) conceived of the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary. The Cherubim Lucifer detested mankind previous to the angelic rebellion, for God the Son (conceived by the Holy Spirit) would borrow the Blessed Virgin’s flesh. Lucifer’s jealousy was eclipsed by the Lord’s decision, however, indeed the Dragon knew not then who the future mother of God the Son would be. While today Our Lady is both Queen of angels and mankind, previous to her birth she was one of the factors provoking Lucifer’s own undoing, which will carry on till the very end of time. Following this reasoning anyone can clearly understand howcome Our Lady was conceived Immaculate, free from the stain of Original sin for she is the foe of the Dragon’s rebellion and the pure mother of God the Son.
As well as being the great writer of the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke is accredited with many works of sacred art particularly depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child Jesus. Most early icons painted by Luke the Evangelist have surprisingly, evidently miraculously, survived to our modern day. Many iconographic depictions of Mary and Child bear witness to Luke’s love and devotion to Theotokos, the Mother of God. Mentioning Saint Luke in this particular work is necessary, for it is also through his paintings, which have survived for twenty centuries, that Our Lady has wrought many miraculous healings and interventions during the terrible times of war. Saint Luke’s writings clearly depicted Our Lady, he also produced pictorial paintings and icons which are traditionally acclaimed to be the authorship of Luke, such as the Icon of ‘Our Lady and Child of Czestochowa’ in Poland and ‘Salus Popoli Romani’ found at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. For the early Christians, the portrayal of God in art was not a subject of prohibition any longer, on the contrary there was now an urgency for the iconographic rendering of Christ, as He said: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:6-14). In those former times, an early practice performed by Christian neophytes following baptism, was the wearing of a blue cord around their neck. As testimony to their new found Faith, during travel the neophyte would also carry icons of Christ and the Mother of God, symbolizing the first and second coming of Jesus Christ. In keeping to the theme of iconographic rendering, Saint Luke is accredited for having painted many, as previously mentioned, the Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child Jesus of Czestochowa in Poland, the Icon Salus Popoli Romani at the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, the Icon of Our Lady of Philermos in Montenegro, various Russian Icons and the statue of the Madonna and Child, otherwise known as the Statue of Our Lady of Guadeloupe discovered in Seville. This form of evangelizing through works of art, confirms Luke’s desire to further the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He left such icons in places were recent conversions and new Christian communities were being established. This was the expression that Our Lady is the Mother and Protector of Christians and Christianity. The Christians prayed invoking her protection and intercession in times of calamity, understood as times of plagues, disasters and wars. Our Lady and Child’s iconographic renderings, grossly aided the conversions of pagans by the miraculous healings. In this manner, the flourishing of Christian communities persevered and were preserved. An attribute of human nature is to display pictures, especially pictures of our loved ones. All iconographic representations of Our Lady and Child, convey to the pilgrim a message of urgency for conversion and a nudging for the attention to be drawn on the person of Our Lady, that is, if we wish to discover her Son Jesus Christ. Most of the iconographic depictions painted by Saint Luke are the cause of innumerable miraculous intercessions wrought by Our Lady during times of peace and war. The devotions to Theotokos, as a result of Saint Luke’s Icons, have caused astonishing victories and great changes in the destinies of the entire human race.
Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter, ‘Rosarium Virginis Mariae,’ instituted the luminous mysteries and encouraged the recitation of the Holy Rosary, exhorting the faithful to use this prayer: “…to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ.” Pope Benedict refers to the Holy Trinity as the God with the human face, for He revealed all and sacrificed Himself. Praying the Holy Rosary before an icon undoubtedly facilitates the accomplishment of this exhortation, many spiritual and temporal graces are received when the Holy Rosary is recited before a miraculous Icon. Pilgrimages to shrines and sanctuaries displaying a miraculous Icon, exposed for prayer and contemplation, still contribute to the spiritual and temporal health of the Christian people. In today’s age of magazine, TV and computer images, such practices should be encouraged.
The word ‘icon’ is derived from the Greek word ‘eikon’ meaning ‘image’ or ‘depiction.’ In ‘The Catechism of the Catholic Church,’ CCC 1159 to 1162 and CCC 2129 to 2141, discuss the virtues of the Christian veneration of Images. CCC 1160 “Christian iconography expresses in images the same Gospel message that Scripture communicates by words. Image and word illuminate each other.” CCC 2131 “Basing itself on the mystery of the Incarnate Word the seventh ecumenical council, at Nicea (787), justified against the Iconoclasts the veneration of icons of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the angels, and all the saints. By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new ‘economy’ of images.” CCC 2132 “The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment, which proscribes idols. Indeed, ‘the honor rendered to an image passes to its ‘prototype’, and ‘whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it.’ The honor paid to sacred images is a ‘respectful veneration’, not the adoration due to God alone: Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement towards the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends towards that whose image it is.” CCC 2141 “The veneration of sacred images is based on the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word of God. It is not contrary to the first commandment.”(3)
The English historian and member of Parliament, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) wrote that: “A victorious line of march had been prolonged above a thousand miles from the rock of Gibraltar in Spain to the banks of the Loire in France; the repetition of an equal space would have carried the Saracens to the confines of Poland and the Highlands of Scotland; the Rhine is not more impassable than the Nile or Euphrates, and the Arabian Fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the River Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Qur’an would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Muhammed.”(4) The Moorish Governor of Spain, Abdul Rahman Al-Ghafiqi, crossed the Pyrenees and invaded Loire where he met Charles in battle. In 732, Charles Martel and the Blessed Virgin halted the invading army of the Cordoban Emirate. Known as the Battle of Poitiers or the Battle of Tours, this was a crucial and decisive moment in the development of the European Christian civilization. The outcome secured Christianity in the region and prevented the Islamic takeover of the entire European Continent. Edward Gibbon’s hypothesis was thankfully prevented from turning into reality, however, England today seems threatened in like manner as never before.
An article appearing in CatholicLife magazine (October 2007) titled “Our Lady of Westminister and the ‘Dowry of Mary,’” written by Christine Waters describes how the English tradition regarding ‘Our Lady’s Dowry’ beginning with King Edward the Confessor, during those times when the Holy House of Walsingham and Westminister Abbey were established, has a historical basis. According to the article’s author ‘Our Lady of the Pew’ or ‘Puy’ was venerated by King Edward III and his family in a building overlooking the Thames River called the Chapel of St. Stephen. A richly adorned statue of Our Lady of the Pew was present during King Edwards’s times (1355) and during King Henry III’s rule (1250), when devotion to Our Lady of the Pew in Westminister Palace was referred to as “the chapel in the King’s garden.” A second statue was donated by Countess Marie de St Paul in the 1370s and placed in the Benedictine Abbey of Westminister. This second statue became an object of veneration by the general public and it seems that this devotion might have surpassed Walsingham. The author cleverly points out the following, that the year 1380 was crucial for defining the tradition that Our Lady was the seat of power and authority in England. The English tradition of England as being Our Lady’s Dowry (up to the year 1380) must be quickly mentioned in point form. First on the list is the Glastonbury details of the wattle chapel dedicated to Our Lady and of Joseph of Arimathea’s (Our Lady’s uncle) burying place, secondly England was the place where the Christian Emperor Constantine was first acclaimed Augustus, thirdly the details regarding the devotion of King Arthur or Arturus to Our Lady, later followed King Alfred the Great’s victory at Ethandune by way of Our Lady’s intercession and lastly, William the Conqueror’s Norman crusade to England bearing a Papal banner of Our Lady given to him by the Roman Pontiff himself, however more must be added to these events. During William the Conqueror’s time there exists a story relating to the Immaculate Conception which is described in Chapter 19. There also exists the obvious element of St George as being Our Lady’s Knight battling the Dragon/Devil, (representing England battling the might of ancient Rome) however, the influence of the French Kings’ devotions to Our Lady and this influence on England should also be taken into consideration. Christine Waters argues that the devotion of Our Lady of the Pew was greatly established and venerated by both the Royal Family and the English populace by the year 1380.
Interestingly the word ‘Pew’ is associated with the French word ‘Puissant’ or ‘Powerful’ and also associated with the French Shrine of Our Lady of Le Puy in Auvergne. This title also means ‘Virgin of Strong Support’ or ‘Virgo Potens.’
Therefore, by 1380 Our Lady’s power at protecting and delivering the English Nation was evident by the devotion to Our Lady of the Pew at Westminister: “…the ancient seat of government and authority.” However, the public dedication of England to Our Lady occurred in 1381 when after Mass and praying before the statue of Our Lady of the Pew, King Richard II successfully quelled a rebel army referred to as the Peasant’s Revolt. He carried St George’s banner and following his victory as a votive offering, placed this banner at the feet of the statue at Westminister. He publically placed his Kingdom under Our Lady’s protection. These victories and events should be seriously taken into consideration by the frequenters of 60 Great Queen Street London, as Our Lady is the true protector of England unlike her nemesis the Dragon/Devil, the Grand Architect of the Universe. But alas, the battle between the followers of Our Lady and of her enemy raged and during the Masonically enlightened years of the French Revolution a painting which was commissioned by King Richard II, of himself and his Queen presenting England to Our Lady which bore the inscription “Dos tua Virgo pia haec est” or “This is your dowry, pious Virgin” was destroyed at the English College at Rome in 1798.
On February 10, 1399, the Archbishop of Canterbury issued a mandate which fulfilled the wish of King Richard II to place the Kingdom under her protection. The mandate read as follows, “The contemplation of the great mystery of the Incarnation has brought all Christian nations to venerate her from whom came the beginnings of redemption. But we, as the humble servents of her inheritance, and liegemen of her especial dower (as we are approved by common parlance) ought to excel all others in the favour of our praises and devotion to her.”(5) Evidently this was an early form of consecration of England to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The most amazing details regarding these events are the facts that Our Lady chose England during William the Conqueror’s times to strengthen the devotion to her Immaculate Conception in the west and even more striking the fact that the date given above regarding the ‘consecration’ of England to Our Lady (February 10) is the eve of the Catholic Feast-day dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, where in our modern times Our Lady publically declared herself as being the Immaculate Conception!
The Immaculate Conception – that is – the fact that Our Lady was kept from Original Sin – that first sin offered by the serpent, which promises the Knowledge of good and evil, which promises a transformation into gods, a separation from God – was OPPOSED publically by Our Lady at Lourdes “I am the Immaculate Conception” – we must reject all gods but the God of Christianity.
Transfiguration – THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW TESTAMENT GAZE UPON THE GOD WITH A HUMAN FACE – THE TRANSFIGURED SUN THE SON OF GOD
The Transfiguration of Christ is the culminating point of His public life, as His Baptism is its starting point, and His Ascension its end. Moreover, this glorious event has been related in detail by St. Matthew (17:1-6), St. Mark (9:1-8), and St. Luke (9:28-36), while St. Peter (2 Peter 1:16-18) and St. John (1:14), two of the privileged witnesses, make allusion to it.
About a week after His sojourn in Cæsarea Philippi, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them to a high mountain apart, where He was transfigured before their ravished eyes. St. Matthew and St. Mark express this phenomenon by the word metemorphothe, which the Vulgate renders transfiguratus est. The Synoptics explain the true meaning of the word by adding “his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow,” according to the Vulgate, or “as light,” according to the Greek text.
This dazzling brightness which emanated from His whole Body was produced by an interior shining of His Divinity. False Judaism had rejected the Messias, and now true Judaism, represented by Moses and Elias, the Law and the Prophets, recognized and adored Him, while for the second time God the Father proclaimed Him His only-begotten and well-loved Son. By this glorious manifestation the Divine Master, who had just foretold His Passion to the Apostles (Matthew 16:21), and who spoke with Moses and Elias of the trials which awaited Him at Jerusalem, strengthened the faith of his three friends and prepared them for the terrible struggle of which they were to be witnesses in Gethsemani, by giving them a foretaste of the glory and heavenly delights to which we attain by suffering.
LOCATION OF THE TRANSFIGURATION
Already in Apostolic times the mount of the Transfiguration had become the “holy mount” (2 Peter 1:18). It seems to have been known by the faithful of the country, and tradition identified it with Mount Thabor. Origen said (A.D. 231-54) “Thabor is the mountain of Galilee on which Christ was transfigured” (Comm. in Ps. lxxxviii, 13). In the next century St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech., II, 16) and St. Jerome (Ep. xlvi, ad Marcel.; Ep. viii, ad Paulin.; Ep. cviii, ad Eust.) likewise declare it categorically. Later St. Proculus, Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 447; Orat. viii, in Transfig.), Agathangelus (Hist. of Armenia, II, xvii), and Arnobius the Younger (d. 460; Comm. in Ps. lxxxviii, 13) say the same thing. The testimonies increase from century to century without a single dissentient note, and in 553 the Fifth Council of Constantinople erected a see at Mount Thabor (Notitif. Antioch. . . . patriarch.).
Some modern writers claim that the Transfiguration could not have taken place on Mount Thabor, which, according to Josephus, was then surmounted by a city. This is incorrect; the Jewish historian speaks neither of a city nor a village; he simply fortified, as he repeats three times, “the mount called Itabyrion” (“Bell. Jud.”, II, xx, 6; IV, i, 8; Vita, 37). The town of Atabyrion of Polybius, the Thabor or Celeseth Thabor, the “flank of Thabor” of the Bible, is situated at the foot of Mount Thabor. In any case the presence of houses on a wooded height would not have made it impossible to find a place apart.
It is again objected that Our Lord was transfigured on Mount Hermon, since He was at that time in its vicinity. But the Synoptics are all explicit concerning the lapse of time, six days, or about eight days including those of departure and arrival, between the discourse in Cæsarea and the Transfiguration, which would infer a somewhat lengthy journey. Moreover the summits of Hermon are covered with snow as late as June, and even the lesser peaks of 4000 or 5000 feet are likewise snow-covered in February and March, the period of the Transfiguration. Finally, the ancients judged of the height of mountains by their appearance, and Thabor especially was considered a “high mountain”, if not by David and Jeremias, at least by Origen and St. Jerome and the pilgrims who made the ascent.
Publication information
Written by Barnabas Meistermann. Transcribed by Paul T. Crowley. Dedicated to Father Edward V. Rutowski The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV. Published 1912. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Why is Divine Mercy So Important?
The Lord makes clear in Scripture that when He returns He’s not going to deal with sin, because He’s done that once and for all. When He comes again, it’s “to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him” (Heb 9:28).So when people ask me why is the message of Divine Mercy important for the world today, the answer is simple: Through the message of Divine Mercy, our Lord is preparing us for His final coming.
He told the great prophet of Divine Mercy, St. Maria Faustina, in one of a series of revelations in the 1930s: “Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My Mercy” (Diary of St. Faustina, 300).
Helena Kowalska, known today throughout the world as St. Maria Faustina (1905-38), was designated by Our Lord Himself as the “Secretary” and “Apostle” of His Mercy. The Lord told her: “You will prepare the world for My final coming” (Diary, 429).
The mission the Lord gave her was not only to remind the world of the great mercy of God as revealed in Sacred Scripture, but also to teach us new forms of devotion to The Divine Mercy and to initiate a movement of apostles of The Divine Mercy who show a childlike trust in God and love of neighbor.
Private revelation
Still, some people pay no heed to the message of Divine Mercy because it comes by way of a “private revelation.” But it’s important to remember what St. Paul said. He said the Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (see Eph 2:19-22). Then St. Augustine and St. Thomas after him identify the prophets of the Church as the people who receive private revelations.
But why does God resort to private revelations? Father Karl Rahner, SJ, the great German theologian writing about private revelations, said that all the mysteries of the Church, taken together, can not be emphasized all at once — and to the same degree. So from time to time, he says, the Holy Spirit puts a spotlight on a particular mystery that the Church and the world need to pay special attention to at a given time.
Message tailored to our times
The revelations of The Divine Mercy are particularly tailored to our times.
It is quite evident that Pope John Paul II took these revelations very seriously. In 1981 he wrote an entire encyclical dedicated to The Divine Mercy entitled Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy), illustrating that the heart of the mission of Jesus Christ was to reveal the merciful love of the Father. In 1993 he beatified Sr. Faustina.
In 1997 he visited Blessed Faustina’s tomb in Lagiewniki, Poland, and proclaimed: “There is nothing that man needs more than Divine Mercy. … From here went out the message of Mercy that Christ Himself chose to pass on to our generation through Blessed Faustina.” In 2000 he canonized St. Faustina, the first canonized saint of the new millennium, and on that same day he also established “Divine Mercy Sunday” as a special title for the Octave Sunday of Easter for the universal Church.
In his homily on Mercy Sunday in 2001, Pope John Paul II called the mercy message given to St. Faustina “The appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies. … Divine Mercy! This is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity at the dawn of the third millennium.”
In Lagiewniki, Poland in 2002, at the consecration of the new Shrine of The Divine Mercy, the Pope referred to a passage in the Diary in which the saint recorded: “As I was praying for Poland, I heard these words: I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will comes forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming” (Diary, 1732).
The Holy Father said: “Today, therefore, in this Shrine, I wish solemnly to entrust the world to The Divine Mercy. I do so with the burning desire that the message of God’s merciful love, proclaimed here through St. Faustina, may be made known to all the peoples of the earth and fill their hearts with hope. May this message radiate from this place to our beloved homeland and throughout the world” (the emphasis is the Holy Father’s).
Then, with direct allusion to Our Lord’s statement to St. Faustina, and quoting the last part of it, the Holy Father declared: “May the binding promise [writer's emphasis] of the Lord Jesus be fulfilled: From here there must go forth ‘the spark which will prepare the world for His final coming’ (Diary, 1732). This spark needs to be lighted by the grace of God. This fire of mercy needs to be passed on to the world. In the mercy of God; the world will find peace and mankind will find happiness! [Holy Father's emphasis].
The Pope calls this a “binding promise.” That’s a startling phrase. Some people just gloss right over it. But the Pope took the word of the Lord seriously, and he calls it a “binding promise.”
Prophetic revelations
Why did Pope John Paul II so strongly recommend that we pay heed to the Divine Mercy message and devotion given to the world through St. Faustina? Clearly, he did so because he saw it as more than just a collection of “private revelations”; rather, he saw them as prophetic revelations. In other words, revelations given to us by God to proclaim the heart of the Gospel in a way especially suited to meet the needs of our era.
Now, 101 years have gone by since our dear saint’s birth on Aug. 25, 1905. And on Oct. 5, 69 years will have passed since her departure to take the place destined for her, close to God. However, we who wish to stand ready and “eagerly await Him” should not forget her promise to us: “Poor earth, I will not forget you,” she wrote. “Although I feel that I will be immediately drowned in God as in an ocean of happiness, that will not be an obstacle to my returning to earth to encourage souls and incite them to trust in God’s mercy. Indeed, this immersion in God will give me the possibility to boundless action” (Diary, 1582).
May our going ever deeper into St. Faustina’s life and writings, and our counting on her promised help, bring about what our Lord so much desires from us and needs from us to be able to fulfill His divine will in us: boundless trust in Him who is the unfailing Divine Mercy in Person.
Father Seraphim Michalenko, MIC, served as vice-postulator for North America in St. Maria Faustina’s canonization cause. He also holds the title of “Fr. Joseph, MIC,” director of the Association of Marian Helpers.
How to Recite the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
The Chaplet of Mercy is recited using ordinary rosary beads of five decades. At the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts the Chaplet is preceded by two opening prayers from the Diary of Saint Faustina and followed by a closing prayer.
Optional Opening Prayers
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!
Begin with the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Apostle’s Creed:
Our Father
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen.
Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.
The Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified; died, and was buried. He descended into Hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Then, on the large bead before each decade:
Eternal Father,
I offer you the Body and Blood,
Soul and Divinity,
of Your Dearly Beloved Son,
Our Lord, Jesus Christ,
in atonement for our sins
and those of the whole world.
On the ten small beads of each decade, say:
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion,
have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Conclude with (Say 3 Times):
Holy God,
Holy Mighty One,
Holy Immortal One,
have mercy on us
and on the whole world.
Optional Closing Prayer
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.
Our Lord said to Saint Faustina:
Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you … Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death … When they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between my Father and the dying person, not as the Just Judge but as the Merciful Savior … Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from my infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy … Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.
Litany of Loreto
V. Lord, have mercy.
R. Christ have mercy.
V. Lord have mercy. Christ hear us.
R. Christ graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of Virgins, [etc.]
Mother of Christ,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother inviolate,
Mother undefiled,
Mother most amiable,
Mother most admirable,
Mother of good Counsel,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Savior,
Virgin most prudent,
Virgin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful,
Virgin most merciful,
Virgin most faithful,
Mirror of justice,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honor,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,
Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Comforter of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,
Queen of Angels,
Queen of Patriarchs,
Queen of Prophets,
Queen of Apostles,
Queen of Martyrs,
Queen of Confessors,
Queen of Virgins,
Queen of all Saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen assumed into heaven,
Queen of the most holy Rosary,
Queen of peace,
V. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
R. Spare us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
R. Graciously hear us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray. Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, that we thy servants may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body, and by the glorious intercession of blessed Mary, ever Virgin, may we be freed from present sorrow, and rejoice in eternal happiness. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.
The versicle and prayer after the litany may be varied by season. Thus, during Advent (from the fourth Sunday before Christmas to Christmas Eve):
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Let us pray. O God, who hast willed that by the message of an Angel, thy Word should receive flesh from the womb of the Virgin Mary: grant unto thy suppliants, that we who believe that she is truly the Mother of God, may be assisted by her intercession before Thee. Through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen.
From Christmas to Candlemass (the Feast of the Presentation), that is through February 1:
V. Thou gavest birth without loss of thy virginity.
R. Intercede for us, O holy Mother of God.
Let us pray. O God, Who by the fruitful virginity of blessed Mary hast offered unto the human race the rewards of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech thee, that we may know the effects of her intercession, through whom we have deserved to receive the author of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son. R. Amen.
From Candlemass to Easter (through Holy Week), AND from the day after Pentecost (or from Trinity Sunday, if Pentecost is celebrated with octave) to the beginning of Advent:
V. “Pray for us” and prayer “Grant unto thy servants,” as above:
During Eastertide (from Easter day through Pentecost, and throughout the octave of Pentecost if it is celebrated):
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. For the Lord is truely risen, alleluia.
Let us pray. O God, Who by the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, hast vouchsafed to make glad the whole world, grant, we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His mother, we may attain the joys of eternal life, through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen.
However, its meaning runs deeper still, this victory personifies in action the rightful authority and power of the Holy Trinity, the Father Creator, the Son or the Word and the Holy Spirit of Love. As explained clearly in ‘Hail, Holy Queen’ by Mr. Scott Hahn, during the Old Testament period, the Jericho victory (the Hrem) was initiated by the carrying of the Ark of the Covenant. Earlier, previous to ‘Hail, Holy Queen’ in the work titled ‘Daughter Zion – Meditations on the Church’s Marian Belief’ by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, better known today as His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, Our Lady is typologically compared with the living Ark of the New Testament Covenant. Our Lady, the Woman of Revelation is the New or Eternal Ark of the New Covenant. The comparison is not at all ridiculous, for the Blessed Virgin carried the Word in her virginal womb, she became the living Ark of the Son of God. Now we know that the Holy Trinity is inseparable, therefore she carried the Holy Trinity and also His power. After all we should not be surprised at this, for the Church refers to her as the ‘Mother of God.’ Interestingly this has deep ramifications for so do we (Catholics) receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist. This infers that the ancient Ark, the one hidden by the Judaic Prophet Jeremiah, before the Babylonian Exile, was prefigurative to the real and eternal Ark which will enable all mankind to exit our earthly exile. One was lost and never found while the ‘Woman’ was given to us for all eternity, King David, Israel and us all can dance before her for ever. Therefore, the most powerful of forces, the very creative powers which begot the Universe are enclosed within the Eternal Ark which brings protection and victory to the pilgrim people of God, and before which all visible and invisible forces quail in fear. A truly crushing victory for the Woman over the green and yellow speckled serpent of Catherine Laboure’s vision!
The Roman pagan people earnestly sought for and especially invoked, by way of sacrifices to their gods, divine protection. As mentioned earlier the protection of the Christians, of ‘God’s own,’ through victories such as at the Milvian Bridge, was surely not a novel phenomenon. Wars and battles for the defense of what is true, for the defense of what is right, for the defense of the ‘Holy Salvivic Religion’ and its people, had occurred numerous times during the Old Testament Age. When analyzing the implications of such victories it is hard not to bear in mind Psalm 91 by King David, where the heavenly anointed King summarized God’s protection in few but beautiful words: “God says, “I rescue all who cling to me, I protect whoever knows my name, I answer everyone who invokes me, I am with them when they are in trouble; I bring them safety and honor. I give them life, long and full, and show them how I can save” for “…though a thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, you yourself will remain unscathed, with his faithfulness for shield and buckler. You have only to look around to see how the wicked are repaid, you who can say, ‘Yahweh my refuge’, and make Elyon your fortress.” The enemies of ‘the chosen people’ persistently inquired, “Where is their God?” The Psalmist replies: “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust…. For lo, thy enemies, O Lord for lo, thy enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.” Indeed God is faithful to His Word and will protect His own. The following is a short list of Scriptural verses divulging God’s promises of protection; Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5, 1 Thessalonians 5:24, Exodus 17:25, John 8:12, John 10:7,9,10, John 14:6, John 11:25-26, Psalms 50:15, Deuteronomy 31:8, Joel 2:28,29,32, Ezr 8:32, Psalms 9:9 and Psalms 91:1.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church mentions in CCC 673-676, 673 (5)“Since the Ascension Christ’s coming in glory has been imminent, even though ‘it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority.’ This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment, even if both it and the final trial that will precede it are ‘delayed’. 674 The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by ‘all Israel’, for ‘a hardening has come upon part of Israel’ in their ‘unbelief’ toward Jesus. St Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: ‘Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.’ St Paul echoes him: ‘For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?’ The ‘full inclusion’ of the Jews in the Messiah’s salvation, in the wake of ‘the full number of the Gentiles’, will enable the People of God to achieve ‘the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’, in which ‘God may be all in all’. 675 Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh. 676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the ‘intrinsically perverse’ political form of secular messianism.”
Mr. Vittorio Messori in his book titled ‘Ipotesi su Maria’ pg 110 describes the origins of the Savoia family in Italy as intimitely linked to Our Lady. Mr. Messori explains how in the XIV century the ‘Conte Verde’ Amedeo VI chose a blue silk flag to invoke Our Lady as the standard for his little state. He established the Order of the Holy Anunciation and it became also the standard for the Savoia family. This colour found its way in other Italian National symbols. This colour represents the sky, a symbol of heaven and the blue sapphire the foundation of the New Jerusalem which descends from heaven as described in Revelation (21:19).
Enough is said regarding ‘Antichrists,’ and we are invited to focus on the weapons, which Our Lord has provided us with. Point number CCC 744 clarifies: (6)“In the fullness of time the Holy Spirit completes in Mary all the preparations for Christ’s coming among the People of God. By the action of the Holy Spirit in her, the Father gives the world Emmanuel, ‘God-with-us’ (Mt 1:23).” Revelation 5 reveals in its fullness the Mercy of the Lord, for the reconciliation between all mankind and God, can only take place by way of the Lamb’s sacrifice, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the only One adorned with the authority to break the seven seals. Saint Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort’s literary work, ‘Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin,’ describes ‘Mary’s special part in the last days.’ Firstly, mentioning Saint Bernard of Clairveaux, Saint Louis-Marie describes the manner in which in the last days, the people will turn more arduously than ever before to the invocation of Our Lady’s help. “After this, I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men see visions.” (Joel 3:1,2) Saint Bernard of Clairvaux’s interpretation of the prophet reveals that: “All the riches of the people will supply your countenance from generation to generation, and especially in the last days of the world.”(7) According to Saint Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort’s understanding, during this time, “…the greatest saints, the souls richest in graces and in virtues, will be the most assiduous in praying to the Blessed Virgin and in having her constantly before their minds as the perfect model for their imitation, and as their powerful aid to sustain and assist them.”(8) Therefore, Saint Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort associates the ones whom Joel refers to as the “receivers of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” with the ones dedicated and consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. There is no distinction between the two groups; they are one and the same body.Subsequently, Saint Louis-Marie Grignon describes Saint Vincent Ferrier’s understanding on the manner in which the Catholic priests and lay people consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin, will lead a multitude back to God and build the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God. Saint Louis points out the fact that the ‘temple of the true Solomon’ and the ‘mystical city of God,’ both allude to and prefigure the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Further elucidating his point by reciting Psalm 58, the Saint describes ‘the city’ humankind finds at the end of the world, quenching fully its hunger for justice, this city which is none other than the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The New Jerusalem descends from Heaven and the ‘Woman’ the Eternal Ark of the New Testament is dwelling there, as Mr. Scott Hahn affirms in ‘Hail, Holy Queen,’ Our Lady dwells in the heavenly metropolis. As Saint Louis-Marie Grignon explains further, Our Lady’s work is to proclaim her Son Jesus Christ, who has to be revealed, loved and absolutely served. Hers is the task to proclaim the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. She is to shine in those days exceedingly in Mercy, in Power and in supernatural Grace. Alas, Saint Louis mentions the fact that persecutions will increase daily until the time of Antichrist. The quintessential enmity created by God, between the ‘Woman’ and the ‘Serpent’ or ‘Dragon/Devil,’ will be most manifest in those days, witnessing an increase in hostility between the children of the ‘Woman’ and the children of the Devil. Quoting Saint Louis-Marie Grignon, the religious consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary will be: “Sharp spears in the hand of Mary most powerful, to pierce her enemies. The Queen of Heaven and Earth will spread the Empire of God upon sinful Earth.”(9) And against the threat of Antichrist we have the soothing words of Jesus Christ repeated by Pope John Paul II, “Be not afraid!”
Scott Hahn on Our Lady
The following is the transcript of Scott Hahn’s audio and video tape presentation, “Mary: Holy Mother” as it appears in the “Catholic Adult Education on Video Program” with Scott and Kimberly Hahn.
As you probably know, this is our third installment in a series of five sessions that we are spending together discussing how to answer common objections, questions regarding key tenets that are distinctive to the Catholic Church. We have focused upon the Pope and yesterday we looked at purgatory. This morning we want to focus on Mary and the Marian doctrines and devotions of the Catholic Church to see where in scripture do we see, not necessarily logical demonstrations that are brought forth from proof texts that kind of force the mind against the will to give in and to acquiesce in these beliefs, but where do we find in scripture the reflections and the illustrations and the assumptions and the conclusions that the Catholic Church affirms with regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary?
We are also going to be able to touch lightly and briefly upon some historical data, but our focus this morning will be primarily scriptural. Now non-Catholics also are concerned with historical evidences for Marian doctrines and devotions. But I would say the vast majority of non-Catholic questions and objections stem from scripture and the seeming silence from the holy writ. So that’s what we are going to be focusing our attention, our energy and our time upon this morning.
Before I go on, I want to make the same admission that I do at every point and that is, we don’t have time to cover everything. We don’t have time to cover even half of what we need to cover. I’ll do my best and you know how fast I can get going and you know how long I can go. I have to candidly concede the fact that you need to be reading scripture. You need to be asking our Lord for extra time to study, to ponder and to pray. Let me recommend some books to you, some secondary sources.
One of my favorites is by one of the top biblical scholars in France, Andre Foulier. It’s entitled Jesus and His Mother, the Role of the Virgin Mary in Salvation History and the Place of Women in the Church. This, I believe, is a masterpiece, and it’s published by St. Bede, and it’s only about two or three years old. The other book I want to recommend, and I am not sure is in print. In fact, I suspect it might be out of print, but you can find it in libraries, and I have found it in used book stores because that’s my favorite haunting place, to travel to used book stores. But this is by Max Thurien who is a reformed brother in the Taize community over in Europe. It’s entitled, Mary, Mother of All Christians.
What makes this distinctive is that when he wrote this, he was a Reformed Calvinist Christians. You don’t find Christians much more non-Catholic than that! I know. I was one! Now, rumor has it, and I have only heard it from two or three persons, and I’ve not confirmed this, that Brother Max Thurien has converted. He is considered to be one of the wisest Reformed Protestant theological sages of this century, not only for his theological depth and his scriptural understanding, but especially for his spirituality in guiding the Taize community in worship and community and in ecumenical environment.
Another classic, Joseph Duer, a Jesuit by the name of Joseph Duer. I believe it was originally written in German. It’s entitled, The Glorious Assumption of the Mother of God. This goes through the biblical and the historical, the patristic and the magisterial data and evidences for the doctrine, or the dogma, I guess we could say, of the bodily assumption of our Lady. Now this is an old copy, but I was just recently informed that the book is back in print. I’m not sure who publishes it, but my suspicion is Christian Classics.
Here’s another book, and I’ll tell you the story behind this a little later. Remind me; I might forget. It’s entitled The Assumption of Mary by Father Killiam Healey, a Carmelite theologian up in New England, in Massachusetts. This is published by Michael Glazier. I’m not sure if you can get it from them, but if you want to try, you have to contact Liturgical Press, because Glazier and Liturgical Press just merged up in Collegeville, Minnesota, which is their new address. But this is superb. This is for popular consumption. This could be like a primer, a first reader in Marian Doctrine and Devotion. He is very fair and even handed. And I might add, he’s a marvelous priest. I heard him preach, right after I joined the Church, but I’ll tell that story later on. It was a delight in my own life.
The real magnum opus on the subject was written by one of Great Britain’s top Biblical scholars, Father John McHugh entitled, The Mother of Jesus in the New Testament, published by Doubleday, and it’s in many public libraries that I have seen as well as college or high school or seminary libraries. I don’t believe it’s in print, but it is all around, so you could find it if you looked hard enough. This is just a copious study of all of the relevant passages in the New Testament, and McHugh looks at these from the perspective of the writers of scripture themselves, how the Fathers of the Church interpreted it, how Jewish and Rabbinic interpreters and commentators understood certain passages from the Old that were fulfilled by the New, all the way up until the present day. It’s very thorough but readable, very readable. I think anybody named McHugh has something good to say. I’m buttering up my host and hostess here.
Scriptural View of Mary
Total misreading, I believe. This is my own hypothesis. This is my own interpretation. You don’t have to abide by it, but my view is that the nahash, the serpent is deliberately depicted as a kind of, I’d say mythical figure but I don’t want to deny the historicity of this text. It’s just that Hebrew historical narrative can often use mythical imagery to communicate historical truth. In Daniel 7, I mentioned four gentile kingdoms are described as being “four beasts.” So, I believe, here we have the serpent as a kind of dragon. The word is used and used and used in Hebrew to connote or denotes a dragon figure like Leviathan or Banmuth or Rehab, the monster later than Isaiah and elsewhere in the Old Testament. In Revelation 12:9 in the New Testament confirms this translation of nahash, not as serpent/snake, but as serpent/dragon, because there Satan is described as the “ancient serpent” and then it goes on to describe a seven-headed dragon.
So she is being confronted and brutally intimidated by a dragon who is intent upon producing disobedience, come hell or high water. So in the cross-examination, in the interrogation that goes back and forth, Satan uses the truth in a clever, deceptive, but intimidating way to kind of force this woman to see, in effect, that if she doesn’t eat that fruit, she will die, at least in the biological, physical sense because Satan will see to it.
The question, then, as you read through this narrative is not based upon anything that is explicitly stated, but rather that which is so conspicuously unstated, and that is, where the heck is Adam in all this? By the end of the narrative you discover that he’s right by the woman because she just turns and gives him the fruit to eat; but the question is, where was he all along? This loving covenant head, this loving covenant partner who is to show the great love that he’s willing to lay down his life for his beloved? Well, he was probably rationalizing his silence by saying, “Well, if I oppose such a serpentile monster as this, I stand no chance.”
So in Hebrews 2:14-16, the New Testament tells us that Christ had to take on our flesh and blood to free us from the devil, from Satan, who held us in life-long bondage because of the fear of death and suffering we all have. So it seems as though Adam’s response, or lack of response, is due to his fear of suffering and death, which in turn subjects all of A-dam, humanity, to life-long bondage to he who holds the power of death, Satan, in this sense.
So the first Eve, then, is abandoned by her covenant partner and husband who was presumably to tell that dragon where to go, and then, in a sense, stand up for his convictions and possibly even suffer martyrdom and to lay down his life for his beloved and trust that God, his Creator, to whom he is loyal in love would raise him and vindicate him in proper covenant judgment. Which is exactly what the second Adam does on behalf of the second Eve, the Church, which is the whole dramatic encounter we read about in Revelations 12. I’m going to have to talk about that later on this day, so I’m not going to get into it too much this morning. You’re all invited to that. It’s at 1:30. We’re going to be talking about Mary, Ark of the Covenant, focusing upon the woman of the Apocalypse who is clothed with the sun, a crown of 12 stars, and the world under her feet. I think it’s the deliberate symbol of the second Eve for whom the second Adam lay down his life. Mary, the Church, Israel, and all New Testament believers in a sense.
But having sinned, Adam and Eve were now confronted by God. You can go all the way back, I believe, to verse 8, Genesis 3:8, “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves.” Now, this is, I think, perhaps somewhat of a mistranslation. We often have this kind of romantic, bucolic picture here of God kind of walking through the woods. You can hear the crushing of the leaves and the snapping of the twigs as he says, you know, “Adam, Eve, where are you?” Poor God, just doesn’t really know what’s going on!
But when you actually look at the Hebrew, what the people hear, verse 8, it says, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God.” We’re tempted to hear that as the crushing leaves and snapping twigs, this poor unwitting God is saying, “where… weren’t we supposed to meet, you know. Isn’t this the time? Isn’t this the place?” But no. The word in Hebrew for sound is qol. Now, what kind of noise does the qol of the Lord make? Well you can find out by reading Psalm 29. Keep your finger on Genesis 3 and take a look at Psalm 29 because there we discover an entire psalm devoted to describing what Adam and Eve must have heard when they heard the qol of the Lord, the sound of the Lord.
Verse 1 of Psalm 29, “Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings or sons of God. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name and worship the Lord in holy array. The qol of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord upon many waters. The qol of the Lord is powerful. The qol of the Lord is full of majesty.” Verse 5, “The qol of the Lord breaks the cedars. The Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf in Sirion, like a young wild ox. The qol of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The qol of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The qol of the Lord makes the oak trees to whirl and strips the forest bare and all in his temple cry, ‘glory’!”
What do you think they heard? It wasn’t the snapping of little twigs and the crunching, you know, of leaves. They heard a thunder and shattering roar, and they hid themselves. Quite understandably. Goes on, “They heard the qol of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” That word in Hebrew, cool, is ruah, normally translated spirit or wind, and that phrase could easily be translated as scholars have argued, “They heard the thundering, shattering roar of Yahweh Eloheim as he was coming into the garden as the spirit of the day!” What day? The day of judgment. We’ve got a primo parousia on our hands. The second coming in advance in a sense.
So they flee from the sound that they hear. They hide from the Lord God among the trees in the garden. “But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” Now he doesn’t talk about geographical location. The deity here, in order to meet the job description of the divinity is omniscient. He knows where they are. He’s asking, “Where are you in terms of your covenant standing before me. Where are you? “He answered, ‘ I heard you in the garden, but I was afraid because I was naked and so I hid. Who told you that you were naked?” What does the man say? “The woman! Have you eaten of the fruit that I told you not to eat?” And what does he say? He immediately starts passing the buck. Verse 12, “The man said, ‘The woman.’” But it gets worse, “The woman you gave me.”
Not so subtle, huh? He’s not just faulting her. Who’s he really faulting? Some help, some assistant you gave me! He’s not just blaming her. He’s implicitly blaming God. And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you’ve done?” The woman said, “The nahash deceived me and I ate.” Now, if you go back, the serpent never actually told a lie, but what the serpent did was to use a kind of blunt, brutal intimidation to get her to submit to the evil. “So the Lord said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this cursed you above all the livestock, etc.” But here we look at verse 15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”
Now some other translations render, “She will crush your head.” And so we have statues of our Lady crushing the head of the serpent. That’s an interesting but kind of tangential issue for us right now. At any rate, we see here the woman. “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.” Now you don’t have to be a scientist to wonder what they’re talking about here. The serpent’s seed, okay. But her seed? The Greek Old Testament translates this spermatos, that’s the term for seed. Now so far, so good, but wait a second. What is it doing in connection with the woman? The woman’s seed? Nowhere else in the Old Testament do you ever come across an expression like that. It’s always the man’s seed, the husband’s seed, the father’s seed. This is weird. The woman’s seed? Yeah, God’s going to elevate that woman and give to her in some unique sense perhaps a seed through which the serpent’s head will be crushed. Keep that in the back of your mind because that is going to be crucial.
Isaiah 7:14
That word, almah in Hebrew translated by the Greek Septuagint parthenos has been the subject of incredible debate. Is it young woman or is it virgin? You could stack up scholars who advocate either position, but I am persuaded, not only by the targums, that is the ancient Jewish interpretation of this was decidedly in favor of “virgin.” They saw it as some kind of Messianic prophecy in the targums, these ancient Aramaic paraphrases of the Old Testament.
Now there are a lot of scholars who debate, “Well, are the targums before Christ or after Christ or whatever?” But I think there’s a lot of evidence for them being before Christ, but even if they were a little bit after Christ, the fact remains that Jews from earliest times saw a Messianic reference with regard to parthenos, a virgin. A recent scholar whose article I just read by the name of Professor Wyatt argues that the Alexandrian Jews who rendered almah by parthenos were being entirely faithful to the Herogamic tradition. He goes on to talk about how Isaiah borrows all his pagan mythical imagery, only then historicizes it with reference to the coming Messiah, as the ritual technical term for an embodiment of a divine mother, who is both a fecund mother, a fruitful mother, as well as a perpetual virgin.
In other words, Isaiah in using this language is tapping into a well-known ancient outlook on what humanity needs for deliverance, that is, God is going to have to send an incredible figure, the likes of which humans have never seen, a creature, a human but in a sense possessed by God in an absolutely unique way. And this, by the way, is not unique to the Hebrew tradition. It’s shared throughout. Now maybe it’s because Genesis 3:15 was channeled out throughout the world as the human race spread, whatever you want to believe.
There are other ways to explain it, but the fact remains that this translation, this rendering of almah as virgin is strong and sure and is very reliable. At any rate, we know one thing for sure, the New Testament applies it to Mary and the virginal birth of Jesus. So in terms of the inspired narrative, what do we have? In Matthew, we have in a sense, the answer in the back of the book really, or at least we can treat it that way for this morning’s time together.
What is going on here? The Davidic line is almost at an end and the only way out for King Ahas in his own mind is to begin to move away from Yahweh and to begin to trust in all of these pagan neighbors who want to form alliances with him. Only, in order to form those alliances he’s going to have to submit as a kind of vassal. So Isaiah says, “Don’t do it. If you are weakening in your faith, ask him for a sign. He has one ready.” The problem is the Davidic line could be crushed. Well, the faithful were saying, “But God has sworn an oath: there will always be an heir on the Davidic throne.”
But now what happens if the king is deposed and if the royal family is murdered? Well, God will take a virgin and produce a son of David. In other words, we’re not dependent exclusively upon human resources, political power, economic wealth and all of the rest. So Isaiah 7:14 stands in line with Genesis 3:15 as in a sense the second key text with regards to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Mary as Ark of the Covenant
I mean, let’s face it, ladies and gentlemen, if your mother was out in the front lines, would you be tempted to fight a little bit harder? Yeah. So consistently, the Ark of the Covenant was what produced all of these miracle victories. Jericho, which was sort of like the Moscow of the ancient world — it was the central stronghold of the Promised Land and it went down like a house of cards, with the Ark going around it seven times and the seven trumpets of the priests blowing.
So there is clear evidence that Protestant, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, as well as Catholic scholars acknowledge that the New Testament deliberately depicts Mary in terms related to the Ark of the Covenant. And we’ll discover in Revelation after 580 years without an Ark, Jewish Christians look up and see a sign. It’s the Ark of the Covenant in heaven which had not been seen in 580 years approximately. This is where “Raiders of the Lost Ark” comes from. It’s been lost for that long. John sees it in Revelation up in heaven and the very next thing he sees is a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars, a Queen Mother. The Ark is no longer an empty throne.
Mary as Queen Mother
When I read this article, it was like a thunderclap striking me. I knew I had to really pay close attention to the evidence. What evidence? Well, this is known as the gebirah. The gebirah is the Hebrew term for the Queen Mother. I found in another book, The Graphic History of the Jewish Heritage, that the gebirah, the Queen Mother “occupied a unique and powerful position” throughout the history of ancient Israel’s monarchy. He gives as an example Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, who was enthroned, which we will look at in just a moment.
Also, another example, Maacah, in 1st Kings 15:13; Jezebel, who is the only Queen Mother in the rebellious northern kingdom of Israel. In fact, the northern kingdom of Israel is conspicuous because it lacked the Queen Mother. Father DeVoe, one of the greatest Old Testament scholars of the century said, “This was due to a lack of dynastic stability.” They kept getting overthrown up north. They didn’t have the Davidic covenant to anchor the claims of these potential kings. That’s in 2nd Kings 10:13. And then Athaliah, the very cruel and wicked queen who ruled for six years, trying to suppress the cult of Yahweh in the Temple. Mehushta over Johoachin in Jeremiah 13:18. Another scholar in Scandinavia, Ostrum says, “The Queen Mother’s position was essentially cultic in nature,” that is she actually had a position or a role to play in worship. It wasn’t priestly but it was important and it was cultic. It’s still left undefined.
In the ancient Near East it goes on talking about how, “The Queen Mother throughout all these ancient Near Eastern monarchies sat beside the king on a throne, survived the death without being deposed. If the king died, the Queen Mother continued to reign without being deposed. There was a cultic role for her in leading the songs and so on in worship but also she had an essential role in political, military and economic affairs of court. In fact there are records of where the Queen Mother could oppose the king on issues of state. This is found in the Eplah tablets and Uhr Hittite records, Egypt Marri tablets, Assyria and other Arabian documents, as well. And the Queen Mother usually began her reign, just as an interesting incidental detail, after menopause.
What’s really interesting from Andreason’s perspective is that even after the prophets are sent by God to purify the Jerusalem cult and the kingdom of all of these pagan encrustations, the institution of the gebirah continues with reforms by Hezekiah and Josiah. The fertility cults are suppressed and these ashora poles and so on are torn down, including sacred snakes, you know the nahushta and so on, but never the Queen Mother, that’s allowed to remain. The central role for Andreason’s research is that she was to be the king’s wisdom counselor. Lady Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs is sort of like a personification of the Queen Mother, or visa versa.
It goes on listing several other examples. I won’t bother you with all these examples but of the sixteen Queen Mothers named, seven explicitly seem to be Jerusalemites. It just runs throughout the whole gamut, the whole historical span of the monarchy and actually, the only chapter of the Bible that we know was written by a woman, Proverbs 31, was written by a Queen Mother as instruction for her son before he accedes to the throne and finds himself a wife, she says, “This is the kind you’ve got to find.” Andreason concludes that “This is the theological paradigm for Mary’s Queenship. Jesus is the Son of David and the genealogy in Matthew links Mary to the Davidic line. Being the Son of David makes her the Queen Mother.” There are some other works too, The Nature of the Queenship of Mary, published in 1973, The Royal Son of God, published in 1979 and so on. But I can share these sources with you , if you are interested, afterwards.
Let’s take a look at an example of the function and authority of the Queen Mother in 1st Kings. In chapter 1 there is an intense fraternal rivalry between Solomon or Jedidiah, whose throne name is Peace, Solomon, and his half-brother, Adonijah, who by the way is older and was born to one of David’s wives whom he had married before Bathsheba. So Adonijah seemed to have a kind of prima facia claim to the throne before Solomon, except that Bathsheba had exacted from David an oath to the effect that her son would get the throne. You can get it in Psalm 110 especially. So, anyway, Adonijah approaches Bathsheba in order to approach Solomon. We’re going to see how this goes. But first of all we see King David asking Bathsheba, verse 17, ” What is it you want the king asked? She said to him, ‘My Lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the Lord your God, Solomon your son shall be king after me and he will sit on my throne. But now Adonijah has become king and you my Lord, the king, do not know about it.’” And it goes on talking about this palace coup attempt.
Then King David says over in verse 28 and 29 calling Bathsheba. “So she came into the king’s presence and stood before him. The king then took an oath, ‘as surely as the Lord lives,’” and he goes on promising and swearing that “Solomon, your son, shall be king after me and he will sit on my throne in my place,” even though the majority of the people were going after Adonijah at the time, several key priests, as well. And so she rejoices.
Now turn over to 1st Kings 2. There’s where David gives his royal charge to Solomon and Solomon asks for wisdom, but just browse and just go through that as quickly as you can and just see what is going on here because it is very unusual. Let’s take a look in particular at verse 13. “Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. Bathsheba asked him, ‘Do you come peacefully?’ He answered, ‘Yes, peacefully,’ then he added, ‘I have something to say to you.’ ‘You may say it, she replied.’ ‘As you know,’ he said, ‘the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But then things changed and the kingdom has gone to my brother for it has come to him from the Lord. Now I have just one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.’ ‘You may make it she said. So he continued, ‘Please ask King Solomon, he won’t refuse you, to give me Abishag, the Shunamite as my wife.’” If you understood palace politics, you’d see what this was. “Very well,” Bathsheba replied. “I will speak to the king for you.”
Abishag happened to be David’s last lover and wife. She was the one young woman who kept him warm in his old age, sleeping next to him at all times. To have David’s last wife would be to have official claim to the throne. This is why Absolom publicly slept with David’s concubines after he threw his father out of Jerusalem, because if I have the Queen Mothers, if I have the king’s wives, who do you see as your king? Solomon is no fool. When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, look what happens. The king of Israel, the son of David, the supreme head of God’s covenant people in the whole world, according to Psalm 2 stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne and he had a throne brought for the king’s mother and she sat down at his right hand. “Sit at my right hand,” Psalm 110. That’s the position of authority. I have one small request to make of you. She goes on and makes the request. Solomon sees through it. Says no, of course, and executes Adonijah.
But look at the beginning of the institution of the gebirah. It’s something that continues. When the Queen Mother walks in, the king, because he is her son, pays filial homage to her and establishes her at his right hand, upon a throne as Queen Mother. If I am the father of the family of this kingdom, if I am the shepherd of this flock, that makes you the mother. Not only my mother but the grandmother of us all. That institution persisted down through the ages of the Judaite monarchy. There is no evidence of it ever being suppressed by the prophets or criticized by Yahweh or ever falling into hard times and being replaced because it was seen as something that was meaningless.
So what? So the Jews who had been waiting and waiting and waiting for five hundred years for the Davidic line to be reestablished at the time of Christ’s coming knew all this. They knew it like the back of their hand. We don’t. Many Biblical scholars aren’t even aware of it. But every Jew did. I mean Joe Six-pack or Joe Sixpackstein, they all knew it. They all knew that God had sworn an oath that there would always be a Davidic king and that the kingdom of David would be restored in its former glory, and in fact, greater glory.
But the last time we hear about the Davidic kingdom, it’s fallen upon hard times. We won’t go through all the passages in Chronicles and Kings but when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 586 and even prior to that, they had captured the king. They had killed all of his sons before his eyes, they drilled out his eyes and they sent him into captivity in chains. From there on the fortunes of the Davidic dynasty only went down and for hundreds and hundreds of years, for decades at a time, the Jews wondered, “Is there even a Davidic descendent?” I mean sure the Hasmonians claim some Davidic dynastic relations and so on, but never was it sure and whenever any claimant to Davidic authority would rise up, what would happen? Like Jerubabaal in coming back from Babylonian captivity, he went straight to Jerusalem and the High Priest is there and all the people were saying, “At last the Davidic throne is going to be restored.” Only what happens? He’s recalled to Persia and we never hear from him again. The Davidic kingdom is not restored.
So for centuries and centuries the Jewish people keep reading Psalm 2, keep reading Psalm 89, keep reading Psalm 110, keep reading Psalm 132 and all these other Davidic Messianic psalms that promised an ongoing, unbroken line of Davidic succession and glorious, glorious power. It would be sort of like if all of us took a refresher course on the promise that Jesus gave to Peter about the rock and the keys and the gates of Hades not prevailing and we reminded ourselves and we reinforced our conviction that the papal line would always be unbroken. Then all of a sudden we hear that the Pope has been assassinated and all the Bishops have been rounded up and assassinated as well.
What would happen? I’ll bet you some people’s faith would be shaken. I’ll bet you mine would be, and if yours isn’t, I don’t understand. I mean that’s an oath that Jesus swore, in effect. It was an oath that God swore in effect. Is there a Davidic line? Has God forgotten? Has he fallen asleep at the wheel? What is going on? Turn with me now to Matthew 1.
Matthew 1
In other words Matthew is reminding the Jews of the legacy of David’s line. Why? Because what was the scuttlebutt about this young 13-year-old Jewess named Mary getting pregnant before she was married? Messing around, right? Whenever you see in the New Testament, Jesus called “the son of Mary,” that’s derogatory. Why? It was an illegitimate birth in the eyes of the townspeople, probably. What’s Matthew doing? What’s new? The appearance of sexual immorality or even the reality of infidelity has never thwarted God’s purposes. In the case of sex with the father-in-law, and in the case of a harlot, in the case of a foreign woman and in the case of an adulteress. I mean what more is left?
In other words if God’s purposes had been fulfilled through the Davidic monarchy up until now and he didn’t complain about David coming from such women and there was Solomon, then this seeming scandal should not throw you too far off. And it goes on, verse 11, “Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation of Babylon.” And now all of a sudden some very good information that we never really had absolute certainty about anywhere in the Old Testament, “After the deportation of Babylon, Jechoniah, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel,” well, we know him. We don’t know what happened after him, Abiud, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar, Natthan, Jacob, “Joseph, the husband of Mary of whom Jesus was born who is called the Christ.” In other words, we have now the proof that they didn’t lose the line. It didn’t fizzle out. God didn’t forget.
But what was happening? I mean if you were in the Davidic line and you realize it, you stood up and said, “Hey, I’m Davidic!” What would happen? The Babylonians would go squash or the Persians would go squash or the Greeks or the Romans. Why? Because you are a pretender to the throne. Don’t give us this Davidic promise, this Davidic authority stuff. Your line is over. So if you have royal blood, not just any old royal blood, but I mean divine right royal blood flowing through your veins, what had you better do? Zip up. Right? You better shut up.
What happens as soon as the word gets out that the Messiah is born? What does King Herod do? “Oh gosh, gee willickers, I’ve got to go worship.” What a stinking liar. He ends up slaughtering dozens and maybe hundreds of infant males to do anything, no matter how diabolical, to put an end to the Davidic line. And Mary knew it all along. And you could actually see a Davidic line as far as she is concerned as you correlate the Mathian and the Lukan genealogies. Now we, I think, understand a little bit better how important and perhaps exciting this must have been to those faithful, humble, poor Jews who had been waiting and waiting and waiting for hundreds and hundreds of years, wondering if God had forgotten. He hasn’t. Verse 18, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph being a just man not wanting to put her to shame resolved to divorce her quietly. But then the angel appears to him in a dream, ‘Joseph, son of David,’” in other words, I want you to begin to figure things out here, Joe. Remember who you are? You’re a son of David. Weird things happen to Davidic sons. Okay? “‘Joseph, son of David, don’t fear to take Mary for your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called, God with us, Emanuel.’”
Joseph probably knew this as well as he knew any verse in the Old Testament because this is one of those few key texts, those few key prophecies on which the anawim hung their hopes. “So he knew her not until she had born a son and he called his name Jesus.” And here we go on and we discover that the Magi are sent by God. Now, three Wise Men, it doesn’t say they were Wise Men. It calls them the Magi. What are Magi? They are Eastern Sorcerers, probably Persian. There’s an old Rabbinic maxim, “If anybody learns anything from a Magi, one of the Magi, let him be accursed.” Because they were the practitioners in the Black Arts and some of the tools of their trade, according to Brown and some other scholars, is that they use gold for all their magical pages on which the incantations were written. They used frankincense and they also used myrrh.
These were some of the basic tools of the trade as practitioners in the black art did it. And when they give the stuff up to our Lord in the manger, what are they doing? They are renouncing it. They have followed the light, they have found the truth. But what of the Jews? What about the most knowledgeable of the Jews? The most powerful Jews, the priests in Jerusalem who are in cohoots with Herod, giving him all that he needs to track down the Messiah? Now maybe they didn’t know about Herod. Yeah. Maybe they didn’t know about Herod. Sure, the guy who kills his mother, kills his brothers, his cousins, murdered 35 members of the Sanhedrin? You trust a jerk like him? Something’s wrong.
The Magi and the shepherds, we discover of course, in Luke that the shepherds come to visit. Do you know that the shepherds were looked down upon as the lowest of the low in Hebrew society? Women and shepherds were not allowed to give testimony in a courtroom, but especially shepherds. They were dishonest and they were perverted according to Rabinic sayings. It would be sort of like having a baby and then, all of a sudden your neighbors look out the window as they see the whores and the junkies and the pushers come to your front door. What’s going on? You know, property values are decreasing! God has taken the humble and the sinners, those who are in most need of your mercy, and giving mercy and insight and wisdom and so much more. In a sense turning upside down the wisdom and the power of this age and this world.
Luke 1
So it goes on talking about in verse 5, the birth of John the Baptist foretold. We have here the annunciation to Zechariah. And then we have, after the birth of John the Baptist is recorded, the birth of Jesus foretold in the annunciation in verse 26, “In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Hail, full of grace.’” Now that Greek term is translated in various ways. Oh highly favored one, but the grace of God in the New Testament develops and it becomes a kind of substance and not just an attitude; that when God gives favor, it isn’t just a feeling. It isn’t just a thought. It isn’t just a subjective posture or attitude. It’s God’s own life. So that when God favors you, he didn’t just stand back and say, “Eeh, I like ya.” He gives himself to you.
So when she is full of God’s favor, she is full of God’s life and that’s the term grace as it develops in the New Testament. So, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you,” an absolutely unique address. Never before has an angel addressed somebody almost naming them full of grace. It doesn’t say, “Hail, Mary, full of grace.” It says, “Hail, full of grace,” and it says it almost like a title. Scholars have torn this apart to show the distinctiveness and uniqueness of the address. “The Lord is with you.” We could do so much with that, but we have to move on. “She was greatly troubled at this saying and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. ‘Don’t be afraid, Mary,’ the angel said to her, ‘for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.’” It goes on, “‘He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end.’”
“Mary said to the angel, ‘How shall this be since I have no husband?’ And the angel said to her. ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you,’” or literally it goes on, “‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.’” This is what we are going to develop in the 1:30 talk, but I’ll mention it now. That word “overshadow” is a rare verb. It’s used to describe what the Holy Spirit does over the top of the Ark of the Covenant. And so it doesn’t take much scholarship to see the connection that is probably intended by Luke as he recounts this.
The Ark of the Covenant was so sacred because the tablets were in the Ark and the tablets were the decalogue, the word of God, the ten words of God. Now why is Mary the Ark? Because the word has been made flesh and is dwelling among us, but within her. She is the true Ark, the true Ark of the Covenant, the New Covenant. “Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” And then some more and she replies, “‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done unto me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.” And she makes haste to go visit cousin Elizabeth. And as she walks into the house, John the Baptist, it says, “leaps for joy.” And look at 43, “Why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
People protest about the phrase theotokos “mother of God.” They should see it’s got a Biblical precedent in verse 43, “the mother of my Lord. For behold when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” And then, the song of Mary, the magnificent Magnificat! I want you to listen to this like you never heard it before. “My soul magnifies the Lord.” All right it’s built upon Hannah’s song, but it goes far beyond that song in 1st Samuel. “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For henceforth, behold all generations will call me Blessed.”
Now just stop a second. It I stood up and said to you, “My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. For he has regarded the low estate of his manservant and henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” Wouldn’t you wretch? You’d say, “What’s this guy come off. Who is this guy to stand up here and say, ‘Henceforth all generations shall call me, not us, me – get that – blessed.’” Now we usually think of Mary as just being humble and poor and faithful and so on – and she is. Humility and modesty do not consist in making yourself into a doormat or disowning God’s graces and privileges. It means, in fact, owning them as God’s graces and privileges that are given to you to serve others and him.
But with false modesty you say, “Awe, gosh, shucks, gee willickers, I did nothing. I’m just a doormat. Walk on me, you know?” Not Mary. “Henceforth, all generations shall call me Blessed.” Who do you think you are, woman? You really want to know? The Queen Mother of the Son of David, because I have been so humble and poor before the Lord. On my own I’ve got nothing, but the Lord has filled me with everything. I am full of grace, but it’s grace that I’m full of. It’s not personal power and Anthony Robbin’s “Secrets to Success.” It’s God’s grace. It’s all a gift. It’s icing. It’s gravy, but it’s now mine and so all generations shall call me blessed.
That’s what we do in the rosary, isn’t it? We just echo the angel, “Hail Mary,” which means gift, “full of grace. The Lord is with you.” And then we say, “You are blessed amongst all women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. For behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed, for he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.” Why? Because he has done great things for me. I am a humble, lowly handmaiden and we’re thinking, “Yeah, if you don’t say so yourself, you know? Tooting your own horn. Patting your own back. Come on, give other people a chance.”
Well, that’s what the Church has had for 2000 years, a chance to toot her horn and to pat her back. But she starts it off. “His mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.” Now you may be thinking that she is being proud in her imagination, but she is just being downright honest. “So he has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away.” We could spend an hour on every phrase. It’s just so packed! “He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy.”
Take a look at chapter 2, verse 22, “And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and offer sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” which was the sacrifice for childbirth that was incumbent upon the poorest of the poor, for those who could not afford a real sacrifice. It suggests that Mary really was a handmaiden and so was Joseph humble and poor.
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” It goes on, “And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ, the Lord’s Messiah.” This shows than anybody full of the Spirit, meditating upon the Old Testament would be expectant, waiting for a Messiah. This is Messianism. “And inspired by the Spirit, he came into the temple. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, ‘Lord, now letest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen the salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to thy people Israel. And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.” I love him. “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, ‘Behold this child is set for the fall and the rising of many in Israel.’”
It isn’t just unmitigated blessings. If you go back to the prophecy about the 77s in Daniel 9, you realize that the temple will be reconsecrated. A strong covenant will be made. Sacrifices shall cease and the holy city will be completely destroyed and desolate. And so at the same time that Christ comes after 490 years to reconsecrate the temple, there is a doom pronounced upon those who have accumulated in Jerusalem all kinds of wealth and political power and have corrupted the temple, because whose temple is it? Is it Solomon’s? No. Is it the second temple that Ezra and Nehemiah helped rebuild? No. It’s Herod’s temple. A half-Jew Edomite who was murdering half his family. The downfall of those who wanted power and prosperity and wealth more than faith and love and grace and justice. “A sign of contradiction and a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”
John 2 –Wedding Feast at Cana
So anyway, “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what is it between you and me? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus is thinking that the best wine will be given at the hour. What does Mary say? Mary is assuming another posture, now. She is going to have to distance herself from her son as her son. Now he’s addressing her not as Mother, but as Woman. It sure connotes in my mind Genesis 3:15 and other key passages. Now all of a sudden, you are not just my mother anymore, what you are talking about in this miracle would initiate a whole new economy of salvation, woman, because that’s what she is to be, a New Eve, a Mother to all of the renewed and redeemed humanity. “Woman, my hour has not yet come.” What does she say, “Awe, come on, what are you going to do this for your mother, and now we’re friends.” No. She turns to the servants and says to them exactly what she says to us and all those who are truly devoted to our Lady, “Do whatever he tells you.”
We should never allow ourselves to be so exclusively focused upon Mary that we don’t hear her primary utterance. Do whatever he tells us! That’s why Marian devotion does not take us away from Christ. It refocuses our eyes and our ears on whatever he tells us and that’s what she is passionately concerned about now as then. “Do whatever he tells you.” And it goes on and he tells the servants to take these six stone jugs full of water that were used for the Jewish Rite of Purification to wash feet. Can you imagine, if you were one of those servants? Well she said to do whatever he told me and you’re taking these big, I mean, literally hundreds of gallons of dirty water and you take those jugs and you fill the cups with this dirty, smelly water used to wash feet and wash the dirt off these people and you hand— laughter — these guys don’t know what to do with this man. What are they going to do when they taste the foot water?
There’s so much humor in this stuff that we miss, you know. And they’re sitting back there saying, “We’re going to get in trouble. No, no. She said, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ We’re just doing what the friend of the groom said, you know? We’re just following orders, you know?” And all of a sudden they just kind of sit back there cracking up, waiting for all hell to break loose and all kinds of problems. And then all of a sudden, what does the host say when he tastes the water? The steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine and didn’t know where it came from though the servants who had drawn the water knew. The steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, but when men have drunk freely and have become drunk, then the poor wine. But you have kept the best wine until now. This, the first of his signs Jesus did at Cana in Galilee.”
Now who is this steward of the feast called the bridegroom? Well, if you go over to John 3, you discover that that is what John the Baptist thinks about himself. Look over at verse 27. John answered, “No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I have said I am not the Christ but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.” Now John has deliberately joined together what the steward at the feast, the friend of the bridegroom has said about this great wine with John the Baptist, the last and the greatest of the Old Testament prophets who identifies himself as the friend of the bridegroom, the steward of the feast, as it were. This last and the greatest of the Old Testament prophets has said, “Hey, look, I’m baptizing you with water” and by the way the water in those six stone jugs goes back to Numbers 19. It was for the Jewish Rite of Purification in Numbers 19, the word is “baptizein.” It was for Jewish baptism purification. John the Baptist says using that kind of water to purify the people and get them ready for the Messiah, that same kind of water is all of a sudden transformed into the best wine by the Lamb of God and John the Baptist is saying, “The New Covenant has come.” And when you go into the Apocalypse, you see this thing just kind of thrown open to the whole universe in Technicolor. Because there the Lamb of God in Chapter 5 is enthroned and he leads all the people in worship and he invites all the universe to the wedding supper of the Lamb where he presents the blood, the wine, the best of the New Covenant at his banquet.
This is what our Lady triggered. Just a humble little Jewess who knows what grace is all about. “Do whatever he tells you,” and you won’t even begin to anticipate the glories that will be revealed to us. That’s what she said. If we will do whatever he tells us, we will not have to calculate what we can produce with our own human resources. Why? Because if Mary tells us anything, she tells us that God can do the greatest with the least. If we are tempted to say, “I’m really not that smart. I’m not that eloquent. I’m not that powerful. I’m not that rich. I’m a nobody.” I’d say, “Bingo. You’re qualified. You have just proven yourself to be the most qualified of all because who does God love to use?” The lowest, the least, the poorest, the humblest, the ones who know they are nobodies, so that when God does something great through them, everybody would look and say, “It had to be God,” and He gets all the glory. And that’s what Mary wants to do, to give God all the glory.
Conclusion: Why Give Glory to Mary?
Love is not a finite substance. God is love. Love just keeps multiplying and reproducing itself, and the more we love, the more love we have to give. And the more we love Christ, well, we know if there were 90 percent that goes to Christ and 10 percent that goes to Mary, 100 percent of it goes to God and the God-man and therefore 100 percent of it and more is available for us to give to others and especially his Mother who has become our Mother. Isn’t that what Jesus is trying to say at the Cross when he says to the beloved disciple. He didn’t say “John,” he said “to the disciple he loved, ‘Behold your Mother.’”
We See Mary as our Own Mother
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we pray: Father in heaven we thank you for our Mother in heaven. We thank you Lord, Jesus Christ, for filling her up with your grace, for giving to her spotless flesh and blood so that we, through her, might have a perfect gift to express our thanks and praise to you in giving you human nature that was unspotted to enable you to make the perfect sacrifice, uniting that spotless human nature to the glorious divine nature of the Second Person, the Eternal Son. Thank you for making us sons and daughters of the Most High. Thank you Lord Jesus for making the Blessed Trinity our family. Help us to renew our appreciation and devotion to our adopted status but help us see that it’s more than just a legal standing. That you have filled us to overflowing with the same spirit that filled Mary. Through her intercession increase our devotion in all propriety but in all magnitude and help us with joy to spread that. We thank you for Mother Church, called to be a virgin, a bride and a mother. Help us, O Lord to see that we who are your Church are called to accept the fullness of grace that Mary has. You chose her through whom to give Jesus to the world and now still that pattern remains. You are continually giving the life of Christ through Mary. Help us to always remember that in our hearts and to store it up like she so that we might do whatever he tells us, that we might do whatever pleases you, Lord Jesus. That we might sacrifice ourselves in union with your Eucharistic sacrifice continued perpetually in heaven forever in praise, honor and thanksgiving to our Father and your Father. And hear us as we pray that family prayer you taught us: Our Father, who art in heaven, etc.
Preparations for a Third Jewish Temple
Edited by Lambert Dolphin from various sources
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down,
yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
We hung out harps upon the willows in the midst of it.
For there those who carried us away captive required of us a song. And those who plundered us required of us mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her skill!
If I do not remember you,
let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth
- if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.
(Psalm 137:1-6)
Yearnings for a Third Temple
The 137th Psalm, a hymn of the exiles of Jerusalem during the Babylonian captivity, eloquently expresses the yearnings of the Jewish people for their homeland, their city and their temple – then and now.
Jerusalem, “City of Peace” has known nearly two dozen wars and destructions since its existence was first known to us from the Biblical record. Abraham’s meeting with Melchizedek about 2000 BC reveals that there was in the city (known then as “Salem”), even at that early date. A righteous Gentile king, Melchizedek, ruled there as “priest of God Most High” (El Elyon). Abraham’s family had lapsed into idolatry living in Babylon (Ur of the Chaldees), in spite of his legitimacy of his being in the line of Noah’s son, Shem. It is possible that Melchizedek was Abraham’s teacher and spiritual mentor who gave Abraham additional information, and possibly even ancient documents, concerning the God of the land of Israel who had called him there.
During the time period after 70 A.D. Jerusalem should have long since fallen into oblivion. This city with no natural wealth, no oil reserves, and no great strategic military value. Ancient trade routes passed up and down the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea or along the Jordan Valley. The “King’s Highway” ran North and South on the plateau of Jordan – Jerusalem was out of the way. Why should anyone pass by there?
Today, centers of modern commerce and trade are in Tel Aviv or Haifa. Jerusalem is more of a city of religion, art, culture, and museums than an economically viable regional marketplace or a center of business activity. Yet Jerusalem thrives in our time as a city full of mystical attractiveness and endless fascination.
As never before in history, Jerusalem is at the center of today’s headlines. The city which grew up around the small walled-village captured by King David from the Jebusites 3000 years ago is the focal point of never-ending debate among the great superpowers. No other city has been desired and fought over has Jerusalem. In its history Jerusalem has been fought over by armies of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Ptolemies, Seleucids, Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Seljuks, Crusaders, Mongols, Mamelukes, by the Turks, the British, and the Jordanians. Today the nations of all the world consider it their responsibility and obligation to meddle in her politics and destiny.
As a religious center Jerusalem remains sacred to (and fought over by) all three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is an open secret that the Pope aspires to set up his world headquarters there, having claimed for many years that the Holy Land has all along really been under Roman Catholic “stewardship.” UN debates, Arab neighbors, and the PLO urge the “internationalization” of this modest city, though it is no secret that the actually want the city all to themselves without any Jews. All the while, religious pilgrims from all nations continue to flock to the Holy City in droves numbering millions per year.
Thus all the eyes of the world are upon Jerusalem, City of Peace, today as never before. This is a city that has been besieged about forty different times and destroyed (at least partially) on thirty-two different occasions. The rulership of Jerusalem has changed hands some twenty-six times. Since 1948 Jerusalem has experienced four wars.
From the time of the establishment of the State of Israel in May of 1948 until 1967, the city was divided. Walls, barbed-wire fences and a desolated strip of non-man’s land cut through the very heart of the city, especially excluding the Jews from the Old City and the Temple Mount. During that time the Jewish Quarter was levelled and its synagogues burned. Jewish graves and monuments were desecrated or turned into latrines.
The Old City Liberated
In June of 1967 the Jews were involved in a war that resulted in the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem. On the third day of the Six Day War, Israeli paratrooper Motta Gur, mounted on a half-track, announced that the Temple Mount has been regained. On June 7 of that year the Israeli troops moved into the Old City and stood at the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) for prayer. Rabbi Shlomo Goren declared:
“We have taken the city of God. We are entering the Messianic era for the Jewish people, and I promise to the Christian world that what we are responsible for we will take care of.”
The city of Jerusalem was reunified and the Star of David flew again from its ramparts.
The Temple Mount Restored to Muslim Control
On Saturday June 17, 1967, shortly after the end of the Six Day War, Defense minister Moshe Dayan entered the Al-Aksa Mosque for a historic meeting. In a gesture of good will, Dayan sat down on the prayer carpet with five leaders of the Supreme Muslim Council (the Waqf) of what had been Jordanian-controlled Jerusalem. That discussion fixed Israel’s policy regarding the Temple Mount, a policy that remains unchanged to this day.
Dayan had ordered the Israeli flag removed from on top of the Dome of the Rock on the afternoon of the Old City’s liberation. His discussion with the Muslims led to further concessions. The administrative control over the Temple Mount was to be the sole responsibility of the Supreme Muslim Council – the (Jordanian) Waqf. Though the Jews would be permitted free access to the Mount, prayer by Jews was prohibited. Dayan refused to permit any Jewish identification with Judaism’s holiest site. To him, the Temple Mount held only historic interest. He said:
“I have no doubt that because the power is in our hands we must take a stand based on yielding. We must view the Temple Mount as a historic site relating to past memory.”
The government of Israel then allocated responsibility of the Temple Mount area to different groups. Israel’s Department of Antiquities were given the south, southeast, and southwest area of the Temple Mount to explore archaeologically. The top of the Temple Mount, however, site of the First and Second Temples, was given over to the Muslims to administrate. To the present day, the PLO Muslim Waqf allows tourists to visit the Mount a few hours per day – but they do not allow any freedom of worship or any non-Muslim archeological activity there. The entire area is treated as if it were a gigantic outdoor mosque. To this day, visitors who stroll out of very limited areas – to view over the wall at the Pinnacle of the Temple, or to see the interior of the Golden Gate, for example – will be quickly restrained by an Arab guard.
Shortly after the Temple Mount was recaptured, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, then chief chaplain of the Israeli army, and one of the leading advocates for the rebuilding of the Temple, attempted to establish a Jewish identity on the Mount. The Western Wall below the Mount was all Israel actually possessed and to Goren that was not enough. He believed regaining Jewish presence on the Mount would be a major step towards Israel’s long-awaited redemption. On August 15, 1967, Goren led demonstrative Jewish prayers on the Temple Mount compound. His actions caused shockwaves and much apprehension among Muslims as to the fate of their sacred sites.
Goren prayed within the Temple Mount courtyard, but this was contrary to the newly agreed arrangement with the Israeli government. The Waqf responded by locking the entrance gate above the Western Wall that leads to the Temple Mount. The keys to that gate were confiscated soon thereafter by the government of Israel and Jewish military police have been on duty at the entrance gate ever since.
The two chief Rabbis of Israel (Sephardic and Askenazi) then compiled a joint statement forbidding Jews to visit the Temple Mount. There position was that the Jewish people were ceremonially unclean and might accidentally tread on the place where the holy of holies stood in the Temple.
Now a Political Issue
The Temple Mount had become a political issue as far back as 1930 when Mufti Haj Arain El-Husseini turned Solomon’s Stables into a shooting range and whipped up a frenzy over Jewish prayer at the Western Wall. The current PLO-controlled Supreme Muslim Council looks to a 1931 decision that the Temple Mount is exclusive Waqf property. The Waqf – who nomimally owe their allegiance to Jordan – do not accept the reunification of Jerusalem. Islamic preachers during the regular Friday day of prayer on the Mount regularly and routinely denounce Israel the right of the Jews to exist, frequently delivering inflammatory polemics designed to foster Arab hatred towards the Jews.
Prior to 1967 the central structure on the Mount for the Muslims was the Al-Aksa Mosque. After the city was recaptured in 1967, the Waqf began to term the entire Temple Mount as Al-Aksa. In effect, they annexed the entire Mount.
No Exploration or Excavation
The rabbinical prohibition against Jews walking around on the Temple Mount has now been extended. The rabbis next declared that there was to be no exploration, excavation, or even prayer on the Temple Mount. Yet they continued to acknowledge that the Temple Mount is the center of Jerusalem:
The Temple Mount is the red-hot heart of the city. This doesn’t mean that everyone who lives here turns up there in the course of a day, a week, a month or a year, or even turns his mind to it. He may go through years without giving it a thought, just as a Roman might not think of St. Peter’s. Some young Jerusalemites, who can’t remember a time when Jews couldn’t freely and safely go to the Wall, do take it for granted. Yet even they know that Jerusalem, unlike Rome, is contested. They believe too that whoever holds the Holy Places, and especially the Temple Mount, possesses the upper hand in city, and therefore the country. (Ref. 1)
Orthodox Jews and the Temple Mount
In their attempts to minimize tensions between Jew and Arab concerning the Temple Mount a ban on Jewish entry was formally posted at the entrance gate by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
NOTICE AND WARNINGEntrance to the area of the Temple Mount is forbidden to everyone |
Jews were thus officially banned from setting foot on the Temple platform. In practice many Orthodox Jews observe the ban while other Jews do not. The stated reason for the ban is that gentiles, as well as Jews, are regarded as “unclean” today and are thus unfit to walk on the sacred mount. The Mount is considered so sacred that one is forbidden even to fly over it because the holiness of the site extends into the heavens. Therefore the Orthodox Jew is allowed only to admire the mount from a distance. This ban will stay in effect, many believe, until the Messiah comes. Because of the ban the Jews pray and celebrate at the Western wall, an area in earlier times known as the “Wailing” wall.
Other devout Jews have disputed the reasons for the Rabbinical ban claiming that the Temple Mount foundations are indeed defiled and must be ceremonially cleansed. Until the new temple is completed and ready to be placed into service it is permissible for unclean persons to visit there and even to work on the building of the Third Temple. First the temple must be cleansed – then the people – is their argument.
We know from history that when the Herodian Temple stood, stone plaques, some in Latin, others in Greek, were placed in the Court of the Gentiles warning any Gentile not to enter the precincts of the Temple at the risk of losing his life.
| No Gentile is to be approach within the balustrade round the Temple and the peribolos.Whosoever is caught will be guilty of his own death which will follow. |
While there were no such signs in later times, for example when the enclosure became a sacred place for Islam, Muslims were no less jealous to guard the area from the steps of non-Muslims and threats to kill people trying to enter are recorded in the reports of travelers who came to Jerusalem in the past. The restrictions were partially lifted in the middle of the nineteenth century but were clamped down again when Arab nationalism rose to a peak under the then Jerusalem Mufti, Haj Amin el Husseini, during the thirties of the twentieth century.
The Waqf these days only permits very limited access to the Temple Mount as noted. Sometimes for only a few hours a day and at other times no access whatsoever. Any attempts by Jews or Christians to pray, read from the Bible, sing or speak openly about their faith are immediately squelched by the ever-zealous and ever-present Arab guards, most of whom are ill-tempered, rude, and disrespectful to tourists. In all fairness, it should be added that those visitors who treat the Muslim guides, guards, and care-takers with courtesy and respect will often receive a warm response. As the Bible says, “Love covers a multitude of sins.”
Role of the Jewish Ministry of Religious Affairs
The ministry of religious affairs have not been sympathetic to those who wish freedom of access on the Temple Mount. On June 27, 1967, the day the law regarding the Holy Places was adopted, the Israel Minister of Religious Affairs said “it is our standing afar and our disinclination to enter that illustrate our awe and reverence over the site of our former Temples.”
After the city of Jerusalem was reunified in 1967 the Knesset passed a law which guaranteed freedom of access and worship in all the holy sites. This law is enforced with sensitivity and diligence all over Israel—with one notable exception, and that is the Temple Mount. Though freedom of worship is said to be guaranteed, any open display of non-Islamic worship is not allowed. The carrying of a Jewish prayer book or the attempt to pray on the Mount is strictly taboo. The police believe that such an act is a threat to the peace because of Muslim reaction, and indeed the Muslims regard such actions by non-Muslims are acts of disrespect for Allah. Hence the Temple Mount is treated differently by the government from all the rest of the holy sites in Israel.
On at least four different occasions the High Court of Justice has heard pleas from Jews to permit freedom of worship on the Temple Mount. Each time they have been denied. One of the reasons that this has not caused more of a furor is a ban on the entrance to the Temple Compound that has been published by the chief Rabbinate of Israel. The holy site is off limits to those who may transgress its sacred ground.
Former chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren believed otherwise. It was his opinion that only a small part of the Temple Mount area, some 15%, is off limits to the people. Goren attempted to measure the area to pinpoint where a worshipper can or cannot stand. It was his contention that worshippers should be allowed in the large area of the Temple Compound that is not the sacred portions. The problem is that there is no consensus of opinion as to where to measure to indicate what parts are sacred and what parts are not.
Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu suggested that if a synagogue were to be built, it should be done on the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. Such a synagogue stood there until the 16th century. The entrance to the synagogue could be from outside the wall preventing people from walking upon the prohibited areas of the Mount.
“Assaulting” the Mount
Since 1967 there have been various attempts by individuals and by groups to assault the Temple Mount in order to perform Jewish blood sacrifices, to destroy a Muslim building, or to upset the balance of power and to alter the status quo.
On August 21, 1969 Michael Rohan a non-Jewish tourist from Australia set fire to the Al Aksa Mosque. Firefighters fought the blaze for four hours as an angry Muslim crowd shouted “Down with Israel.” The president of the Muslim Council accused the fire brigades of a deliberately slow response. The Arab states blamed Israel for the incident even though Rohan identified himself as a “Church of God” member. The fire destroyed a priceless on thousand year old wood and ivory pulpit (minbar) that had been sent from Aleppo by Saladin.
At his trial Rohan told the court that he believe himself to be “the Lord’s emissary” in accordance with a prophecy in the Book of Zechariah. The court convicted Rohan but then declared him criminally insane. He was placed in an Israeli mental hospital. The Temple Mount remained closed to non-Muslims for two months after the incident. For the next three years, all non-Muslims were barred from El Aksa Mosque.
After the ban was lifted the Muslim guards were still very nervous. The mere opening of a purse for a handkerchief would cause the guards to come running and search for a bomb.
The Case of Yoel Lerner
In October 1982 Yoel Lerner, a member of Meir Kahane Kach movement, was arrested for planning to sabotage one of the mosques on the Temple Mount. Lerner was convicted of planning to blow up the Dome of the Rock. Previously he had served a three year sentence for heading a group that plotted to overthrow the government and establish a state based upon religious law. He was sentenced to two and one half years in prison.
…And of Allen Harry Goodman
In April 11,1982 Allen Harry Goodman, an Israeli soldier, went on a shooting rampage on the Temple Mount. Storming into the Al Aksa Mosque with an M-16 rifle Goodman killed a Muslim guard and wounded other Arabs. This incident set off a week of rioting and strikes in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. At his trial Goodman told the court that he had expected to become “King of the Jews by liberating this holy spot.” He was convicted a year later and sentenced to life plus two terms of twenty years.
Jerusalem’s psychiatrists and mental institutions have learned to expect, and to professionally render aid to a growing number of insane or marginally unstable individuals who flock to Jerusalem every year. Some pilgrims claim to be the True Messiah, or the Virgin Bride of Jesus, or the Two Witnesses of the Apocalypse. Moses, Elijah and Nehemiah, usually in costume, announce their return from the dead fairly often in the public square. Quickly these problem children are whisked off to wards now accustomed to the bizarre and the unexpected as regular parts of living in “the City of a Great King.” The problem is so significant it has been labeled “the Jerusalem Syndrome.” The City of Peace” preserves its tranquillity and peace one day at a time, sometimes by a slim margin indeed.
Another Foiled Raid on the Mount
On March 10, 1983 the police quickly stopped an attempted raid on the Mount:
JERUSALEM –Israeli security forces arrested about 45 Jewish extremists, including supporters of radical Rabbi Meir Kahane, foiling an armed raid on the Temple Mount to seize Muslim and Jewish holy places, police said Friday.
Security forces, working on a tip, Thursday night captured 10 of the extremists carrying army rifles, hoes and crowbars near an ancient passageway to the area in East Jerusalem, Israel radio said.
Thirty-five other Israelis were subsequently arrested, but four were later released after proving they had nothing to do with the incident.
An undisclosed number of those detained were Israeli soldiers but were not in uniform, police spokesman Meir Gilboa said.
The religious militants…wanted to occupy the area to be able to pray on the site, where Muslims worship, Israeli radio said…
Interior Minister Yosef Burg, the nation’s internal security chief, assured leaders of the Supreme Muslim Council that authorities will stop any possible attacks of worshipers or attempts to curtail freedom of worship. Jerusalem Police Chief Yehoshua Caspi said a takeover “could have caused a most serious conflagration” between Arabs and Jews.
Twenty-nine people were eventually charged for the intrusion but were acquitted of all charges.
Jerusalem Day 1983
On May 11, 1983 the Israeli high court of Justice ordered a very limited lifting of the ban of worship on the Temple Mount Compound. The court ordered the Jerusalem police to permit Gershon Salomon and other members of the “Faithful of the Temple Mount,” to enter a small corner of the Temple precincts to worship for an hour and a half. The service commemorated Jerusalem Day, the anniversary of the reunification of the Holy City. Hundreds of worshippers crowded into the tiny area, defined by a rim of police barricades stretching but 15 feet from the Mograbi Gate. The entire space allowed for Jewish worship was approximately 700 square feet, between 3:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., on Jerusalem Day.
The court order was controversial. Many Muslims saw it an infringement on their religious sovereignty over the Temple Mount. More secular Jews feared that the court’s decision would simply complicate the already delicate relationships with the Arabs. Many religious Jews celebrated the decision, declaring that Jerusalem cannot truly be considered liberated until a Jew has a right to share the Temple Mount equally with other religions who wish to worship the true and living God. Some Rabbis called for more severe restrictions to the point of allowing the Mount to be in permanent Muslim control so as to prevent Jews from entering altogether. As usual, paradoxes, extreme pluralism, diversity of opinion, and multiple contradictions (common to daily life in Jerusalem) prevailed.
An Underground Riot
In the summer of 1983 Rabbi Yehuda Getz, the former Rabbi of the Western Wall, (he died in 1995) broke through the Western Wall deliberately excavating to the East (at “Cistern 30″) in their newly excavated underground tunnel which runs under the old city. This tunnel extends from the prayer area, Ha Kotel, North towards the Fortress Antonia. Getz hoped to eventually reach the foundation of the Second Temple. During this tunnelling, Rabbis Getz and Goren claim to have seen the Ark of the Covenant according to statements they later made to the press. However the Waqf guards on the Temple Mount discovered the underground activity and soon sent down some young men through cistern entrances above to “discourage” the work. A fist fight ensued and the episode concluded with the sealing of the wall with six feet of reinforced cement. The incident was especially tense as it was not certain at the time whether or nor the Jerusalem police had jurisdiction to intervene in the undergound excavation since the area was under the jurisdiction of Rabbi Getz. The so-called Rabbinical Tunnel was opened to the public in 1996 as an outstanding new archaeological attraction.
The Lifta Band Incident
In January 27, 1984 the most ambitious plan to assault the Temple Mount occurred. The Lifta band, evidently wanting to bring the return of the Messiah, attempted to blow up the Muslim Holy sites on the Temple Mount.
The plan drew international attention. The headlines read “Israel Investigates Jewish Extremists in Mosque Plot.”
Israeli police established a special task force Sunday to investigate suspected Jewish terrorism after an attempt to destroy one of Islam’s holiest sites was thwarted at the last minute.
Police reportedly believe that Jewish zealots, perhaps including some with Israeli army training, organized the plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock shrine and Al Aqsa mosque in the walled Old City of Jerusalem.
Security forces, notified by an Arab watchman, prevented the assault early Friday. The attackers fled, leaving behind them explosives, including hand grenades of a type issued by the Israeli army.
Information about the thwarted attack was withheld for about 36 hours, apparently to allow emotions to cool. News of an attempt against the Islamic shrines could have touched off riots among the Arabs of Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank of the Jordan River and Gaza Strip, who are overwhelmingly Muslim. Israeli military censors prohibited publication of the news in Arabic-language newspapers published Saturday. Israeli police revealed the attempted attack late Saturday.
The mass-circulation Tel Aviv newspaper Yediot Aharnot said police recovered almost 250 pounds of explosives, including dozens of grenades, boxes of dynamite and about 12 mortar rounds. . .
Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek expressed shock over the incident. He assured the cities top Muslim official, Mufti Saadedin Alami, that the authorities will do everything possible to apprehend the criminals.
Kollek also urged Alami to permit installation of an electronic fence to increase security around the site. . .
The Supreme Muslim Council, which supervises the shrine, warned, “If the attempted explosions had succeeded all Arab countries would have immediately launched a holy war against Israel.” Based on the aftermath of far less serious incidents on Temple Mount – which have triggered rioting among the Arabs of Israel and the territories – the prediction seems to have been a reasonable one.”
This latest plot caused all of Jerusalem to shudder:
JERUSALEM –The attempted terrorist bombing of Islam’s third-holiest sight has created aftershocks in Jewish and Arab sectors of this city, releasing a collective shudder at the thought of what might have happened if the golden-topped Dome of the Rock or the silver-domed Al-Aksa mosque had been destroyed by dynamite. . .
A week ago Friday, six to eight intruders armed with at least 30 pounds of explosives and 22 Israeli army-issue hand grenades scaled the outer wall before dawn and sipped under the cover of a cloud sky onto the compound that contains the mosques. They headed toward the Dome of the Rock.
An unarmed Muslim guard noticed them and alerted Israeli police, who chased them off. The intruders left behind explosives, ropes, ladders and knapsacks. Palestinian sources claim that the amount of dynamite left was nearly 10 times what police have reported.
No suspects have been arrested, but police commander Yehoshua Caspi told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that he is convinced Jewish extremists had plotted the attack. . .
“There would have been riots and mass murder,” said a dental technician in Jewish West Jerusalem, reflecting the concern that has spread throughout the city. “And you know, I wouldn’t have blamed the Arabs. What would we do if Arab fanatics blew up the Western (Wailing) Wall?”
The aborted attack, media reports of which were censored for nearly two days, sparked isolated riots in Nablus and a nearby refugee camp on the West Bank. Arab commentators elsewhere in the Middle East claimed that if the bombing had been successful, it would have started a new jihad, or holy war, against Israel.
“It would have been the disaster of the decade,” said Bishara Bahbah, the new editor in chief of East Jerusalem’s Al-Fajr newspaper.
The incident has renewed a call for more protection for Jerusalem’s religious sites.
Police have not arrested anyone in those attacks, during which a Muslim clergyman and a Christian nun were injured. Anonymous callers have claimed responsibility on behalf of a group calling itself Terror Against Terror.
“Sometimes I can accept these things as isolated acts for extremist purposes,” said Nazmi Ju’beh, curator of the Islamic Museum near the Dome of the Rock, “but this is happening in an organized way, and the government isn’t doing anything.”
Police patrols have been stepped up since the foiled attack, and officials said they are planning new electronic surveillance around the 30-acre plateau that occupies the entire southeast corner of the walled Old City of Jerusalem.
Many Jerusalem residents believe that the attempted bombing is connected with increasing pressure from Jewish nationalist extremists to be allowed to pray on the compound , where the ancient Temple stood.
This threat to the peace of the city and the security of the Temple Mount was further complicated by claims in the press that money for the assault on the Mount was provided by Christian sources.
Not the Last Attempt
After the foiled attempt the Jerusalem Temple Foundation issued the following statement:
The latest attempted assault on the Temple Mount will not be the last as long as the present injustice prevails. Police and soldiers and violence and barbed wire could be dispensed with, and peace reign if one simple basic condition were fulfilled – namely freedom of worship for all faiths on the Temple Mount as provided by Israeli law and as confirmed by the high court of Israel. The rule of Israeli law must be observed and upheld.
Arrests and Convictions
Yehuda Cohen, one of the members of the assault group was sentenced to one and one half years of prison for his part in the conspiracy. Cohen confessed to scouting the security arrangement of the Temple Mount as his part in blowing up the Dome of the Rock. He later expressed remorse over his actions. The judge, Ezra Hedaya, stressed the gravity of the crime.
I won’t exaggerate if I say that the aim of the conspiracy – to blow up the Dome of the Rock, holy to many millions of Muslims around the world is shocking, and constitutes a threat to public order and endangers the public. Who knows what would have been the consequences of the conspiracy. (Ref. 2)
Claims by the Islamic Council
Jerusalem (UPI) –The Islamic Council in occupied East Jerusalem Wednesday said Israel is resuming controversial Temple Mount archeological excavations and charged the digging is destroying foundations of Muslim structures. A spokesman for the Council, who asked not to be identified, said foreign diplomatic missions were asked to intervene to stop the digging at Judaism’s holies site, where the Islamic shrines of Al-Aksa and Dome of the Rock also stand. ..
Sheik Saad-Eddin Alami, head of the Supreme Islamic Council, the highest religious body for east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, charged Tuesday that excavations continued despite Islamic objections. . .
Israeli officials denied they have renewed excavation work, and said people seen at the site are merely stationed as observers.
They said the actual digging, undertaken by the Ministry for Religious Affairs in a tunnel along the northern section of the Temple Mount’s Western Wall, was stopped in early April following appeals by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek.
The excavations have been in dispute since October 1981, when Old City Arabs clashed with authorities as diggers veered eastward toward the Dome of the Rock Mosque, the legendary site of the prophet Mohammed’s ascent to heaven.
The eastward dig was sealed off at the time, but continued in other directions.
A leader of the Islamic Council, Adnan Husseini, told United Press International “something is going on again down there in the tunnel.”
He said he and his fellow engineers have been barred from approaching the excavation site.
Husseini said he was “very concerned over the ongoing underground activity. ” He said he could hardly cope with the damage already caused to five Islamic structures straddling the dig.
Sheikh Sa’ad Din Alami, the head of the Islamic Supreme Council for the Waqf and Islamic Holy places, reacted in the following manner to various journalists concerning Jewish attempts to regain the Temple Mount:
The Temple Mount belongs to Muslims. Muslims only hate the Jew as a ruler. The Jews are free to believe that the Temple Mount is sacred to them, but I think that it is holy to me. To permit them a corner for prayer is against the Koran. (Ref. 3)
“There are no Jewish remains on the Mount. There never were Jewish antiquities here.” (Ref. 8)
“They must know that this is a mosque and they cannot pray in a mosque with a Sefer Torah.” (Ref. 9)
From these responses it is clear that the Muslims officially disdain any attempts by the Jews (or Christians) to have a presence on the Mount.
A Secret Weapons Cache?
Members of the Knesset, the Israeli government, have from time to time accused the Arabs of stashing arms on Temple Mount. Access to the entire area of the Southeastern corner of the Mount is strictly forbidden to all but the Muslim guards. This area below which are vaulted rooms known as Solomon’s stables, are reportedly an arms dump for Arab terrorist groups. There have been outcries from many Jews that the government investigate this allegation and take action.
On January 8, 1986 a group of Israel Parliament (Knesset) members including those who believe that the Jews have a right to pray upon the Temple Mount gathered to investigate charges that arms were being stored beneath the Dome of the Rock and that archaeological sites were being destroyed. Because of the growing number of Jews who wish to rebuilt the Temple, it is believed that Muslims were systematically destroying any evidence of the previous Temples.
When the group of Knesset members reached Solomon’s stables on their official tour they were informed that no cameras were allowed below the ground. Assuming the Muslims had something to hide, the Israeli officials then demanded to be allowed to take their cameras with them. The Muslim authorities confronted the delegation and an altercation broke out. Atop a Muslim minaret, a loudspeaker announced that the Jews were attempting to commandeer the Temple Mount. A near riot occurred and the legislators decided to leave.
They returned six days later with one member reading aloud from Psalm 123 and others praying aloud. This caused another disturbance of the peace. An Arab delegate in Morocco responded to this event by calling for Islamic countries to “wage a jihad (holy war) in all its forms until Jerusalem is liberated.”
More Flag Waving at Gate
Following the visit of the Knesset member to the Mount, three young people hoisted an Israeli flag over the Mograbi Gate of the Temple Mount. The flag was flying for about three minutes before they were arrested by police officers who removed the flag. The demonstrators were arrested for civil disturbance.
A local Sheik reacted to the visits of the Knesset members:
I condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms and demand that the keys be returned to the Waqf immediately, that the police be reminded that the Mosque is an Islamic holy shrine, whose gates only Muslims are entitled to open or seal off, and that the army and border police be forbidden to enter the Mosque area. Thousands of years ago, the Jews built a temple which was subsequently destroyed. During the period of the second Caliph, Omar Ben Khatab, a mosque was built on the southern part of the yard of Al-Aksa Mosque. At that time, there were neither temples for the Jews, nor churches for the Christians on the site and no building was destroyed.
Historically, there is no proof that Al-Aksa or the Dome of the Rock were built on the grounds of Solomon’s Temple, although the Jews claim that the Temple originally stood on this site. The Muslims have been in charge of this piece of land for 14 centuries now and the Jews have no right to advocate the destruction of our mosques because they want to rebuild Solomon’s Temple.
It is impossible for any Jew to be allowed to pray in the grounds of the Al-Aksa Mosque. They will have to kill all the Muslims before they can pray there unhindered. (Ref. 4)
Originally the Ottoman government designated a specific place on the Mount from which police could ensure the security of the Mosque. The British and later the Jordanians and the Israelis later used the same place as a police center. Then, the Israeli police were joined by border police. Following our protests, it was decided that the border police should merely man the doors of the Mosque area and would not actually wander in the grounds themselves, but this decision has subsequently been ignored, unfortunately.
The Islamic Council asked the Waqf to form a guard unit to protect the Mosque area day and night and survey all those entering. These guards have the authority to prohibit any non-Muslim from praying in the Mosque, and if necessary to use force in order to ensure that these rules are adhered to.
Yet Another Riot
In October 1990, when the Crisis in the Persian Gulf between the Allied Forces and Iraq was heating up an incident took place on the Temple Mount that caught the attention of the world. The Temple Mount Faithful marched on the Mount and unfurled a banner denouncing the Muslim presence. New reports erroneously said that the were Jews attempting to lay a foundation stone for the Third Temple on the Temple Mount. They marched from toward the Temple but were stopped by the Israeli authorities.
In the wake of the riot 22 Palestinians were killed. The United Nations censured Israel for overreacting to the incident. The United States, wishing to keep together the fragile coalition with Arab states against Iraq, voted against Israel. There was no censure of the Palestinians who started the riot.
Newsweek reported on the bloody clash that left over twenty Palestinians dead:
Last weeks clash was only the most bloody of several incidents in recent years in which young Arabs, rocks in hand, have rushed to ward off Jewish “attack.” Their religious leaders teach that those who die defending the Noble Sanctuary go immediately to heaven. “If we give up one centimeter, if we let them place even one toe [on the mount] it will be the end of our holy places,” said Muhammad Watani, a resident of the Old City. “It will be easier for us to die first.” To Muslims, the deaths last week only deepened the sanctity of a place both faiths have long associated with glorious redemption and epic destruction. (Ref. 5)
Newsweek also said it was:
…a cycle of misunderstanding: following rumors of a Jewish “invasion,” Palestinian youth rushed Israeli police on Al Aqsa plaza. When the police killed an Arab, the Palestinians replied with rocks, scattering worshipers at the Western Wall below. Enraged Israeli’s fought back with live ammunition killing 21. (Ref. 5)
This is what was commonly reported. But is that what really occurred? Mortimer Zuckerman, Editor-in-Chief of U.S. News and World Report, tells a different story:
The impression given to the world is that the Palestinians assembled at the Al Aksa Mosque in order to confront a small band of Jewish Zealots, the Temple Mount Faithful, who have been intent on establishing a third Jewish temple on the Temple Mount. It is true the group planned a march—marches in previous years have been non-violent—but there was no march of the Faithful on the fateful Sunday. The Supreme Court of Israel had banned the demonstration. The Muslim Council, Wakf, a kind of mini-Vatican organization that the Israelis permit to rule the Muslim holy places on the Temple Mount, was informed of the Supreme Court ruling. All the Arab language newspapers in Jerusalem had published news stories about the Court’s ban several days earlier, at the request of Israeli authorities. These efforts to keep the peace were frustrated because on the night before this holy day of Judaism, Palestinian-Arab activists recruited thousands of Arabs to come to this holy place where some 20,000 Jewish pilgrims – not the faithful zealots – would be praying on the adjacent plaza some 40 feet below the Western Wall.
Present on that day, in the mosque, was Faisal Husseini, a key Palestine Liberation Organization intifada leader, who is normally not seen at the mosque on a day that is not a special day of prayer for the Muslims. But not present on that day were the Wakf security personnel who had been surreptitiously withdrawn from the area between the gates, at the Western edge of the Mount that overlooked the Western Wall and the Jewish pilgrims gathering before it. Forty feet above them, the Arab youths assembled and did what they had been gathered to do. They rioted. (Ref. 6)
Summary: The Temple Mount Remains a Volatile Issue
Even though the Temple Mount has been regained and is officially part of the State of Israel, it is still being profaned as far as the God of Israel is concerned. When the Mount fell into Jewish hands after the Six Day War, Israel took the Western Wall Area but left administration of the Mount to the Muslim Council of Elders. Israel also banned Jewish worship. The secular Jews did not care and many of the Orthodox Jews believe that the Third Temple would have to await the arrival of the Messiah. These issues remain stalemated to the present day.
Current Preparations To Build A New Temple
The following section contains illustrative quotes from the literature of various groups who have been involved one way or another in plans for the rebuilding of the Temple in recent decades. This author does not necessarily endorse nor condemn these statements, they are merely offered in the interest of giving a broad picture of the complexities of Temple Mount politics at the present time.
The various Jewish groups change frequently. Some fade away or move to other pursuits, others join forces for a time – but nothing remains very static for very long.
TO ALL PERSONS OF THE JEWISH FAITH ALL OVER THE WORLD:
A project to rebuild the Temple of God in Israel is now being started. With Divine Guidance and Help the “Temple” will be completed. Jews will be inspired to conduct themselves in such a moral way that our Maker will see fit to pay us a visit here on earth. Imagine the warm feeling that will be ours when this happy event takes place. “THIS IS MY GOD” is the book that was the inspiration for this undertaking. God will place in the minds of many person in all walks of Jewish life the desire to participate in this work. Executive talent, Administrations, and Workers on all levels are needed. All efforts will be anonymous. GOD will know those desiring to participate.
Please write to Box M-917, The Washington Post. Under no circumstances send contributions. “GOD’S WILL WILL PREVAIL.”
The above advertisement appeared in the Washington Post, on May 21, 1967—before Jerusalem was liberated. The caption letters were 72 points – one inch – high. The ad occupied a space of eleven by eight inches.
Although the ban on visiting the Temple Mount is in effect it has not stopped those in Israel for thinking about the realization of a long lost dream, the rebuilding of the Temple. Once the city of Jerusalem was retaken this was no longer a pipe dream. Time magazine reported:
Since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, Conservative and Orthodox Jews have beseeched God four times a week to ‘renew our days’ as they once were—a plea for the restoration of the Temple. Although Zionism was largely a secular movement, one of its sources was the prayers of the Jews for a return to Palestine so that they could build a temple . . . Learned Jewish opinion has long debated when and how the temple can be rebuilt. The great medieval philosopher Maimonides, in his Code of Jewish Law, argued that every generation of Jews was obliged to rebuild the temple if its site was ever retaken, if a leader descended from David could be found, and if the enemies of Jerusalem were destroyed. (Ref. 7).
Why Rebuild the Temple?
Number 20 of the 613 commandments in the Torah (according to Maimonides) calls for the building of a Temple building in Jerusalem if one does not exist or orders the maintenance of a Temple if it exists. Orthodox Jews during the diaspora call for the eventual building of the Temple in Jerusalem.
The question arises as to the incentives the Jewish people would have for constructing a new Temple. Why would they want to rebuild it? Two reasons come to mind. (1) The fulfillment of a national dream of the Jewish people. (2) A rallying point for the nation’s religious and cultural heritage.
For centuries the Jews did not possess their homeland—they forced to wander as strangers and vagabonds across the face of the earth. Deep within the Jewish heart has been a longing for a return to the land and a rebuilding of the Temple. The temple is also a symbol of prosperity granted them from heaven, and a reminder of better days that the nation had in the days of David and Solomon. Desire for the restoration of the Temple has been the prayer of the Orthodox Jew since the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70.
A rebuilt temple could also be a unifying force for this small beleaguered nation. During their relatively new existence as a reborn nation Israel has experience a series of major wars. A house of worship, especially a house of prayer for all the peoples as they First and Second Temples had been, could serve as a rallying point for Jews worldwide. Not only would this help unify the many Jewish factions that exist in Israel today, but the Jewish people feel deeply that the redemption of all mankind is tied to the redemption of their land.
When Messiah comes, he will be the King and Savior of all the nations.
Not a United Front by Any Means—”Two Jews Equals Three Opinions”
In l982, after years of disagreement about methods of approach, three groups of devout Jews, The Jerusalem Temple Foundation, To the Mountain of the Lord, and The Faithful of the Temple Mount combined their forces to plan for and build the Third Temple. More recently The Temple Institute has begun to build the sacred vessels to be used in the Third Temple. One yeshiva (Yeshivot Ateret Cohanim) is presently located in the Old City in the historic Torat Haim Yeshiva building. Prior to the Arab riots of 1936 this area of the Old City was a thriving Jewish community. The yeshiva’s location places it not far from the spot the Holy of Holies (Kodesh Hakodoshim) once stood on the Temple Mount.
The following is an extract from the constitution of The Jerusalem Temple Foundation:
PURPOSES:
a) To undertake research into the history of Holy Places in Israel.
b) To provide scientific means and equipment for the efficient investigation of such places and of archaeological sites.
c) To study the religious, political, economic, social, cultural and ethnic aspects and implications of these investigations and explorations.
d) To advance the learning and application of the scriptures.
e) To work for the safeguarding an preservation of the integrity of Holy Places in Israel, and their restoration, with special emphasis on the Temple Mount.
f) To provide a forum for authoritative discussion of matters falling with the Foundation’s scope of interest.
g) To publish the results and records of its discussions and research in order to endow the public with a wider knowledge of Holy Places and archaeological sites in Israel.
h) To launch world-wide competitions for the design and construction of suitable edifices and similar projects in Israel.
i) To raise funds for the promotion and development of these and allied activities.
It is true that some of the Temple Mount activists view the matter in more nationalistic than religious terms. They see the Temple Mount as part of the land of Israel. They believe that until the Mount is in Israeli control then Israel does not have complete sovereignty over its country. One of their poets, Uri Zvi Greenberg wrote, “Israel without the Mount—is not Israel. He who controls the Mount, controls the land of Israel.”
The Faithful of the Temple Mount, under the leadership of Israeli military hero and patriot Gershon Salomon, issued the following:
A Jewish Prayer for All Peoples
The Faithful of the Temple Mount have provided a prayer which they feel that all true believers in the God of Israel can pray.
A Prayer of the Nations from
THE FAITHFUL of the TEMPLE MOUNT JERUSALEM
Our Father which art in Heaven! Guard the children of all nations who perform Thy will and fear Thy great name. Bestow upon them Thy blessings for prosperity and brotherhood and peace. Instill in the hearts of all the faith that Thou art alone G-d in heaven above and on the earth below.
Let all men call on Thy name and serve Thee with undivided heart. Bring near that day on which a multitude of nations will go forth and say, “Come, let us go to the Mount of the Lord, to the House of the G-d of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths – for out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
Save they people Israel in the Holy Land, and grant her sons the strength to withstand the foes who rise against them. Open the eyes and hearts of their neighbors that they should know that only in Israel’s peace will they enjoy peace. Let them understand that the Word of G-d came to the forefathers of this nation to grant them this Land – as it is written in the Law of Moses, and as was promised throughout the prophets – that He will gather them from their dispersion, settle them on their soil, renew their Sanctuary, and reestablish their Kingdom as of old.
Awaken the hearts of the Children of Israel for whom You descended upon Mount Sinai to give them the Law and its commandments by the hand of Moses – to observe all that is written in Thy Law, in order that they should succeed in all they do, and thus to hasten the coming of their salvation, and the salvation of the world. AMEN.
Are Materials for the Third Temple Ready?
For a number of years, especially back in the ’70’s, there were rumors that precut stones have been cut in America and shipped to Israel for the building of the Third Temple. Evangelist John Wesley White wrote:
Late in 1979 I was riding in Indiana with a local Presbyterian minister. At a certain point along the highway he informed me that we were driving past the gate of a company which purportedly handled a highly classified order of the finest building stones in the world. Sixty thousand tons of pre-cut stones had been shipped on 500 rail cars. They were allegedly bought by the Israeli Government, and had already arrived in Israel. (Ref. 8)
Such claims are highly unlikely! Anyone who has ever visited Israel will immediately be impressed that stones are everywhere. In fact, Israel actually exports them, and they have the highest quality of pure white limestone in abundance! Whether precut stones have already been made in Israel is another matter. Though rumors abound, no concrete evidence has come forward to support this idea.
During 1982 military action in Lebanon, the Israeli Army discovered and captured huge stores of Russian and Syrian weaponry stored in secret bunkers and tunnels in preparation for a Northern invasion. It was also reported by very reliable sources that a large supply of the famous Lebanese Cedar was also recovered and is safely stored away for use in construction of the Third Temple.
A New Priesthood
If a new Temple is to be constructed then there must be a functioning priesthood to perform the proper rites and ceremonies. Such a priesthood is now in the works. In an old stone building in the Old City of Jerusalem, a small group of young scholars are preparing for the building of the Third Temple and the coming of the Messiah.
The founder of one particular yeshiva (school) is Motti Hacohen. Hacohen knew he was a priest but that never affected his life very much. Until, that is, the day he looked up from his opened Talmud while he was studying at a Yeshiva on the Golan Heights and saw a friend pouring over a tractate dealing with the laws of the temple and the priesthood.
Hacohen asked him why he was studying such obscure laws. His friend responded, “Why aren’t you?”
He told Hacohen that he should be more interested in the Temple regulations seeing that he was from the priestly line. Hacohen decided to take up the challenge.
Hacohen then began a search for a yeshiva that could teach him matters concerning the rebuilding of the Temple. Finding none that would satisfy his needs Hacohen founded the Tora Kohanim.
On Good Friday, 1990, one hundred fifty devout Jews, members of the Yeshivot Ateret Cohanim, moved into four buildings in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem causing a protest from both Muslim and Christian groups. The site of the building, just around the corner from the church of the Holy Sepulchre, was chosen to help create Jewish settlements in the Old City of Jerusalem geographically near the Temple Mount. (The city is presently divided into separate quarters for Christians, Muslims, and Jews and each district’s residents are very sensitive to outsiders moving into their territory for any reason).
Temple Sacrifices and Offerings
The problem of restoring the sacrificial system is one that devout Jerusalem Jews have been researching with great zeal and diligent. In an article called, the “Significance of Sacrifice,” Jewish writer Pinhas H. Pell writes:
Ambivalence in regard to the sacrificial cult permeates Jewish thought and literature from the time of the ancient pre-exilic prophets through the Psalms to the rabbis of the Talmud and Midrash and the major medieval philosophers, down to contemporary religious thinkers. It left its imprint on the liturgy and has been (and still is to some extent) the subject of heated debates.
It is generally thought that sacrifices of life were among the earliest and most profound expressions of the human desire to come as close as possible to God. While in English the verb “to sacrifice” means “to make sacred,” the Hebrew word for “sacrifice” (korban, le-hakriv) is from the same root as “to come near, to approach. . . . “
Sacrifices do indeed present an esthetic, sometimes a moral problem to many modern Jews who are unable to envision being spiritually uplifted at the sight of slaughtered animals, spilled blood and burning incense. Yet, with all the reservations prophets, rabbis and philosophers have expressed about sacrifices they are indisputably an integral part of Torah legislation, as well as Jewish history in the First and Second Temples and are included in Jewish aspirations concerning the third temple, for whose speedy rebuilding Jews pray daily according to their traditional prayer book. (Ref. 9)
The Jerusalem Post reports:
The modern Jew found it difficult to face the binding obligation to rebuild the sanctuary, combined with the great dreams linked with it. He has suppressed the demands they make on him.
He was hesitant to use religious language to describe the historic return to Zion and to national sovereignty. There are indeed a few exceptions to this, as for example, “the Third Temple,” once used by Ben-Gurion or the excessive use of prophetic terminology of the “ingathering of the exiles” during the years of mass aliya.
Far beyond the formal commandment, the yearning to behold an actual concrete expression of a central religious and national focal point permeates all Jewish history.
Another argument is that the rebuilding as postulated by Maimonides requires a certain order of events: 1) coming to the land; 2) appointment of a king from the house of David; 3) blotting out the descendants of Amalek; and only then 4) the building of the Temple. The counter argument claims that, while this is indeed the ideal order of events, the events themselves are not necessary mutually interdependent and one must carry out whichever is possible at the time. (Ref. 10)
Time magazine observed:
Next week Israel’s Ministry of Religious Affairs will sponsor a first-ever Conference of Temple Research to discuss whether contemporary Jews are obligated to rebuild the Temple. However, several small organizations in Jerusalem believe the question is settled. They are zealously making preparation for the new Temple in spite of the doctrinal obstacles and the certainty of promoting Muslim fury.
Two Talmudic schools located near the Western Wall are teaching nearly two hundred students the elaborate details to Temple service. Other groups are researching the family lines of Jewish priests who alone may conduct sacrifices. Former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who heads another Temple Mount organization, believes his research has fixed location on the ancient Holy of Holies so that Jews can enter the Mount without sacrilege.
No group is more zealous than the Temple Institute, whose spiritual leader, fifty-year-old Rabbi Israel Ariel, was one of the first Israeli paratroopers to reach the Mount in 1967. “Our task,” states the institute’s American- born director, Zev Golan, “is to advance the cause of the Temple and prepare for its establishment, not just talk about it.”
One difficulty is the requirement that priest purify their bodies with the cremated ashes of an unblemished red heifer before they enter the Temple. Following a go-ahead from the Chief Rabbinate, institute operatives spent two weeks in August scouting Europe for heifer embryos that will shortly be implanted into cows at an Israeli cattle ranch.
But historian David Solomon insists that a new Temple is essential: “It was the essence of our Jewish being, the unifying force of our people . . . but sooner or later, in a week or a century, it will be done. And we will be ready for it.” He adds with quiet urgency, “Every day’s delay is a stain on the nation.” (Ref. 11)
There were more expressions of Jewish desire to build upon the Temple Mount during 1990:
According to tradition, no Jew may step foot on the site of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
But this week, leading Israeli rabbis, including the former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren ruled that while Jews may not step on holy soil, they are obliged to pray at a sanctuary to be established adjoining the site of the Holy of Holies.
The ruling touched off a storm in Muslim circles. Previously Jews had been forbidden to even enter the Temple Mount. Muslims were allowed total control of the area. The temple Mount includes the Dome of the Rock and the El-Aksa Mosque.
According to Rabbi Goren, a 1967 survey of the Temple Mount shows the exact location of the First and Second Temples as well as the site of the Ark of the Covenant.
By elimination, the rabbi determined the exact areas on the Temple Mount where a Jewish sanctuary could be constructed without violation of the ancient decree not to tread on holy soil.
The synagogue of course would not interfere with Muslim areas of the Mount, Rabbi Goren said.
Earlier efforts by Jews to pray on the Temple Mount touched off clashes with police and Arabs on the Mount. Mayor Teddy Kollek said he feared that Jews praying on the Temple Mount might encounter violence, since Muslims would interpret the Jewish presence as provocation.
But Jews and Muslims conduct prayers side by side at the Cave of Machpeleh in Hebron, site of the tombs of the Patriarchs.
Kollek voiced opposition to the rabbinical action, declaring that “the clam in Jerusalem is a direct result of the 1967 decision not to alter the status of the rights of the various religious groups.”
The action by Israel’s rabbinate calling for a sanctuary to be built on the Temple Mount is a religious edict that has the authority of . . . Jewish Law. (Ref. 6)
The Ark of the Covenant
One of the main issues surrounding a Third Temple is the long lost Ark of the Covenant. What will be its place, if any, in the Third Temple? The last mention of the Ark is 2 Chronicles 35:3 where it is placed back into the Temple in the realm of King Josiah. There was no ark in the Second Temple. There is no concrete evidence today that the Ark still exists or that someone has it. Does the Ark exist? If it does will it appear before the Third Temple is consecrated?
Most Orthodox Jewish believers in Jerusalem who are working towards the building of the Third Temple believe that the Ark of the Covenant is safely hidden in a chamber under the Temple Mount. They feel certain God has preserved the Ark for 25 centuries and that it will be available when the Temple is restored. The issue of the Ark, its history and present location (if it exists at all) is reserved for a later discussion.
The Ashes of the Red Heifer
Some rabbis claim that one of the things necessary for a Third Temple is the ashes of the Red Heifer. Of all the sacrifices for sin mentioned in the Old Testament, only the slaying of the Red Heifer was “outside the camp,” i.e., not in the temple. Numbers Chapter 19 describes this offering, and instructions for preparing water for ritual purification from the ashes of the sacrificed animal after it had been burned.
Red heifers without spot or blemish are today being bred and raised by at least one group in the United States, Rev. Clyde Lott who writes in a new 1995 Jewish publication, “The Restoration.” (Ref. 12)
American amateur archaeologist Vendyl Jones of Arlington, Texas, has for many years been searching in caves near Qumran for the ashes of the last red heifer sacrificed before the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
Authorities at The Temple Institute have stated, however, that Third Temple sacrifices and ritual cleansing can be accomplished (restored) without these old ashes if they are not found.
An Evangelical Group Gets Involved
Entering into the dispute over the Temple Mount which previously had been entirely an issue between the Jews and Muslims came a small but vocal group the evangelical Christians. The following open letter appeared in the Jerusalem Post in 1983.
OPEN LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND PEOPLE OF ISRAEL THE IMPRISONMENT OF RELIGIOUS ISRAELIS
Thursday, March 10, witnessed a great setback to religious freedom in Israel—and throughout the world. We refer to the jailing of earnest, faithful sons of Israel—whose only crime was to try and pray upon the most sacred site of Judaism, The Temple Mount:
Our Father which art in heaven: Guard the children of all nations who perform thy will and fear they (sic) great name.
We, as evangelical Christians, find the imprisonment of these sons of Israel with the gates of Jerusalem, biblically unconscionable.
This comes as an international shock to vast segments of the Evangelical world. For the Jewish people to be restricted and imprisoned for such a noble design staggers the moral imagination.
Exclusive and erroneous Islamic claims to this most holy site, militate against historical and biblical injunction. The People of Israel, through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and the early church (Stephen, Paul, James and Jesus Himself) with many others, paid the most holy price for this sanctified space. The Almighty desires it to be a House of Prayer for all peoples. (Isaiah 56:7) If the sons and daughters of Zion are restricted access to Zion’s holy hill, then the return of His chosen people to their land of promise is in vain–for the heart of Jerusalem awaits the foot of the Jew, not the trodding down by the gentiles.
Mr. Prime Minister, your brethren have considered their ways and gone up to the Mountain of the Lord. Therefore, we ask you to intervene on behalf of Israel’s faithful who demonstrate their divine privilege. Your people, who gave to the gentiles the knowledge of the one true God, must be allowed full freedom of worship within the holy boundaries of the Mount.
May the Almighty strengthen the resolve of your government to do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.
. . . and the gentiles shall come to Thy light
and kings to the brightness of Thy rising. . .
the forces of the gentiles shall come upon Thee
. . . they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar,
and I will glorify the house of my glory.
(Isaiah 60)Be strong, Mr. Prime Minister, and “all ye people of Eretz Israel, saith the Lord, “and work; for I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts.” (Haggai 2:4)YOUR EVANGELICAL FRIENDS IN AMERICA
Committee of Concerned Evangelicals
for Freedom of Worship on the Temple Mount
P.O. Box 6081; Norman, Oklahoma 73070
Terry Risenhoover, Doug Krieger, Dr. James DeLoach; Co-Chairmen
The Feast of Freedom–Pessah, 1983 (5743)< P>
This same group at the same time formed a Jerusalem Temple Foundation branch in America, but without the sanction and endorsement of the Jewish group of the same name in Jerusalem. Those involved were evangelical Christians who, for various motives, want to help the Jews gain access to the Temple Mount and rebuild a Third Temple. One of the members even considered himself to be “the new Nehemiah.” This group lobbied extensively on behalf of the various Temple Mount groups for some months beginning in 1983. Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel groups made an enormous mountain out of the mole-hill activities of this evangelical group. The group ceased to exist altogether after a few years and as far as anyone can tell only very modest sums of evangelical funds were ever contributed to the cause of rebuilding the Jewish temple.
More Media Reaction and Response
Segments of the international press immediately took an interest in the link between the Evangelical Christians and those in Israel who are associated with making the Temple Mount a free forum for worship.
In the magazine, The New Republic, an article appeared entitled “The Temple Mount Plot” by Barbara and Michael Ledeen. Over the title of the article the headline read, What do Christian and Jewish fundamentalists have in common? The article begins as follows:
A casual observer might be excused for believing that nearly all of the recent violence in Israel has been part of the usual cycle of Arab-Israeli conflict. The observer would be wrong. Though some of the recent acts, such as the plans to place time bombs on Arab buses in Jerusalem, seem to be the work of extremist Israeli nationalists, much of the destructive intent is fueled by a mixture of nationalist politics, messianic longing, and the search for roots. In fact, some of the current extremism is a direct outgrowth of the ancient forecast of the Apocalypse.
The targets of the most spectacular incidents over the past months have been the Muslim authorities and the area they control in Jerusalem, but for the most part the people who planned or participated in the attacks are the violent fringe of an informal movement that stretches from the United States to the Middle East, and encompasses millions of evangelical Christians as well as some Israeli Jews. This unlikely coalition rests upon a common belief that the Final Days are upon us. (Ref. 13)
Other reporters went on to write concerning this supposed plot or “conspiracy” between Christian and Jewish forces to rebuild a Third Temple. The Jerusalem Post even ran a special supplement on September 30, 1983 about these new Temple Mount controversies. One of the articles in the supplement, entitled “The Christian Connection,” had this to say:
While Gush Emunim, Yeshivot Ateret Cohanim and other Jewish groups cast their eyes in the direction of the Temple Mount, evangelical Christians abroad are digging into their pockets to help things along.
So far, the Christian Community’s support for the construction of the Third Temple has been somewhat discreet. But there are growing numbers of Christians, many organized into small churches and larger groups, who see the construction of a Third Temple as the cornerstone of their beliefs.
These are evangelical or Pentecostal Christians who believe the prophecies in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament indicate that the building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount is part of a divine plan leading up to the end of days.
Though there is a clear divergence in religious belief between these Christians and Jews who work towards the rebuilding of the Temple, they willingly and enthusiastically cooperate. Indeed, the Christians are encouraged by their leaders to contribute towards such groups as the Jerusalem Temple Foundation.
Such a view was stated by Stanley Goldfoot, activist and “foreign minister” of the Faithful of the Temple Mount who, in an earlier interview said, ‘I tell them there is no dialogue. I make it clear that I can’t accept their views and they can’t accept mine. If they prepared to help us openly, then we’re prepared to accept it. (Ref. 14)
A World Council of Churches periodical entitled “The Link” (a journal funded by Arab oil interests) commented:
Two violent attempts to “liberate” the Temple Mount recently have taken place. . . According to Middle East correspondent Grace Halsell, “Increasingly Zionist fanatics—Israelis and Americans—are plotting to destroy Islam’s sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. It is said that many of Israel’s highest officials sanction Zionist plans to destroy the mosque, the site from whence Muhammad ascended into heaven, and to build a Jewish temple there.
Christian Zionists, uncritical of any action undertaken by the Israeli government, apparently have the same rationale for supporting such actions. (Ref. 15)
These articles are representative of items that have appeared in print which have attempted to link Evangelical Christians to those groups of Jews who are attempting to “liberate” the Temple Mount. Only a small handful of evangelical believers were involved and it is now clear that no substantial sums of money were raised or donated to the Jewish groups. Evangelical ties with Jewish Third Temple groups have been almost entirely dialogues based on common interests in the Bible and the common heritage Christians share together in their hopes for the coming of the world’s true and final Messiah.
Disinformation and Misinformation Abound
One fallout from bad press over the years is the disinformation and misinformation that has appeared in the press concerning Christians and the Temple Mount. The Jerusalem Post reported:
. . . recently the Syrians have tried to make their mark by taking new directions. They have taken aim at Christians who support Israel. They have made a particular target the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, which represents in its own telling way the many millions of Evangelical Christians around the world.
Thus in a recent issue of the Syrian Times, the Rev, Jan Willem van der Hoeven, one of the prominent leaders of the Embassy was accused of telling the Jerusalem Post that “he believes in rebuilding the Temple on the debris of the holy al-Aksa Mosque.”
That Rev. Wm. van der Hoeven told The Post in an interview just the opposite proved no obstacle for the propagandists in Damascus. . .
The Syrians are evidently so disturbed by such “Biblical Christians” who have lent their support to Israel, that they are prepared to malign them and distort their views.
MORE PUBLISHED STATEMENTS BY JEWISH GROUPS
The Sanhedrin of the Sixth Millenium
G-D CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH AND ALL THAT IS THEREIN, IN SIX DAYS. AND G-D SAW EVERYTHING THAT HE HAD MADE AND, BEHOLD, IT WAS VERY GOOD. AND G-D BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY AND SANCTIFIED IT, AND SET IT APART FOR MAN TO CELEBRATE HIS CREATION(GENESIS). THE JEWISH PEOPLE DATE THE COMPLETION OF THE UNIVERSE 5745 YEARS AGO. THUS OUR ERA IS THE SIXTH MILLENIUM AFTER THE CREATION. THE WISDOM OF OUR SAGES PRESCRIBES THAT EACH DAY OF CREATION REPRESENTS A MILLENIUM (1000 YEARS) AND THEREFORE OUR ERA IS THE EVE OF THE SEVENTH DAY, THAT IS, THE SABBATH EVE. THIS IS THE EVE OF THE “PERFECTION OF DAYS,” THE EVE OF THE COMING OF THE TRUE MESSIAH-SON-OF-DAVID.
HISTORY of the SANHEDRIN
The SANHEDRIN (from the Greek meaning “assembly”) has its origins in the Exodus from Egypt, when G-d commanded Moses to assemble 70 Elders to share the leadership of the nation with him. This Council of 71 assumed all legislative and judicial powers throughout the history of the Israelites, until the destruction of the First Temple.
The GREAT SANHEDRIN—Men of the Great Assembly—was instituted by Ezra on the return of the Jewish People from the exile in Babylon and the rebuilding of the Temple. It convened in the Chamber of Hewn Stone adjoining the Inner Temple Courts. The Presidency of the Sanhedrin was conferred on the High Priest or on “he who excels all others in wisdom.” Though the GREAT SANHEDRIN had full legislative and executive powers, capital punishment was pronounced only in the rarest of instances. During the Roman occupation, the powers of the Sanhedrin was whittled down to matters of ritual, and its authority was further impaired by internal strife between rival factions. Though the Sanhedrin was dissolved by the Romans in 66 CE, four years before the destruction of the Second Temple, traces of it persisted in various forms throughout Jewish history in the Land of Israel.
Outstanding leaders of the GREAT SANHEDRlN included Shimon ben Shetah, who introduced legislation for universal education, women’s rights, the administration of trial courts, acceptance of testimony; Rabbi Hillel whose dictum, “That which is hateful to you do not do not others” was enunciated as the quintessence of Jewish teaching.
The rebirth of the State of Israel has given rise to ardent hopes for the re-establishment of the GREAT SANHEDRIN as the guiding light for the Jewish people.
THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM
Even as the Jewish people were crossing the Sinai desert, out of the bondage of Egypt on their way to the Promised Land, G-d said: “Build me a Temple and I shall dwell amongst you.” (Exodus 25:2)
Ever since those days, the Temple of Jerusalem has been the soul of the spiritual and national existence of the Jewish People. The Temple was the center of the royal authority of the Davidic and Hasmonean dynasties. It was the high point of all religious ceremony and the seat of the High Priest. Its Chamber of Hewn Stone was the convening place of the SANHEDRIN, the legislative and judicial authority of the Nation.
Twice the Temple was destroyed and the Jewish People dispersed, yet the Spirit of the Temple in all its implications sustained them through their bitter exile.
The prophecy of redemption is being fulfilled in our days with the Ingathering of the Exiles and the Liberation of the Land. Yet the great task of rebuilding the Temple is still before us.
It is written that the Temple of Jerusalem will be rebuilt by a King of the Davidic line, who will be installed by the High Court of Seventy-One, that is, the SANHEDRIN.
“And it shall come to pass in the end of days that the mountain of G-d’s house shall be set over all other mountains and lifted high above the hills and all the nations shall come streaming, For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah and the word of G-d from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:2-4)
The SANHEDRIN of the SIXTH MILLENIUM
For the prophecies to be fulfilled and the Temple rebuilt, the Nation must have a form of leadership, political and spiritual, worthy of the honour of such a task. It must be a Torah-based system of government, that is, the SANHEDRIN.
Like its predecessors, the NEW SANHEDRlN shall consist of 71 judges excelling in whom; understanding and knowledge of Torah, international law, physics and mathematics, macro and micro-economics, cybernetics, human sciences, and conversant with many cultures and languages. They will be people of exceptional moral fibre, maturity and human compassion.
By virtue of its collective acumen and wisdom, the NEW SANHEDRIN will be the guiding light which alone will be capable of leading the Jewish Nation to fulfill its mission and rebuild the Temple.
THE SANHEDRIN NOW
The SANHEDRIN is needed today to provide the Jewish Nation with the political and spiritual leadership it must have to achieve the long-awaited redemption of the People and the Land.
The SANHEDRIN is needed today to restore Torah law and Jurisprudence to the courts of the Jewish State.
The SANHEDRIN is needed today because it is the Torah-ordained and only authentic form of government for the Jewish People in their Sovereign State. All other forms of government are foreign to the spirit of the Nation and only lead to waste of the human resources of the Jewish People, to corruption of the moral fibre of the nation, to disorder. Witness the present situation.
The SANHEDRIN is needed today to reunite the Hebrew Nation and lead it to the heights of glory for which it is destined.
THE ISRAEL TORAH FOUNDATION AIMS AND MEANS:
- To prepare the ground in Israel for the re-establishment of the SANHEDRIN in our time, that is, in the era of the Sixth Millenium.
- To raise Torah-consciousness through special education programs, seminars, congresses.
- To establish an Information and Research Center, partly in conjunction with Bar-Ilan University, where all relevant data and its applications will be computerized.
- To design Teaching Modules relevant to the SANHEDRIN and the Jerusalem Temple for distribution to educational institutions.
- To reverse negative influences undermining the Nation’s faith in Torah and in the Jewish heritage.
- To expose and combat manifestations of anti-Semitism in all its insidious forms, inside and outside Israel.
- To restore Torah jurisprudence as the basis of the Israel legal system.
THE ISRAEL TORAH FOUNDATION
ITF Registered as a Fellowship, No. 58 – 007 – 740 – 2
P.O. Box 9433 Jerusalem Israel
25 Misgav Ladakh Street, Jerusalem 97500 Israel
Phone: From abroad 972-2-289023; In Israel 02-289023
A statement by the Temple Mount Faithful Group:
THE TEMPLE MOUNT AND LAND OF ISRAEL FAITHFUL MOVEMENT
LEADERSHIP
The founder and leader of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement is Gershon Salomon. In his private life, Gershon is an expert researcher and lecturer in Middle Eastern studies, specializing in the history of the national movement of the Kurdish people. He is an officer in the Israel Defense Force. Gershon is a 10th generation Jerusalemite. He is descended from Rabbi Avraham Solomon Zalman Zoref who settled in Jerusalem in 1811. Rabbi Zoref was the first Jewish pioneer in Jerusalem to start the redemptive process of the people and the land by rebuilding the waste land. He even sent out one of his sons to locate the ten lost tribes to bring them back to the Land of Israel, because he knew the return of the ten tribes was a condition for the redemptive process. Rabbi Zoref was assassinated by Arabs who thought they could stop this Godly process.
Even as a child, Gershon Salomon knew that God was calling him to continue the work for the redemption of the people of Israel. Gershon was involved as a youth in the War of Independence. He was arrested at age 11 by the British Mandatory police. Later when he joined the IDF, he led a company in the Golan Heights. In 1958, in a battle with the Syrian Army, Mr. Salomon was injured accidentally when, in the heat and confusion of battle, he was run over by a tank. Syrian soldiers are trained to shoot “again” any wounded Israeli soldiers. When they were about to shoot “again” Mr. Salomon, they all suddenly ran away. Later these Syrians soldiers reported to UN officers that they had seen thousands of angels around this IDF officer and had, therefore, fled. It was at this time that Mr. Salomon heard the voice of God speaking to him that He was not yet finished with him. Gershon Salomon understood this as a divine call to consecrate himself to the work of the Temple Mount.
After one year in the hospital, Mr. Salomon had recovered sufficiently to return to his unit even though he now walked on crutches. He continued his service in defense of the land of Israel. He feels that the greatest moment of his life, thus far, was his participation in the liberation of the Temple Mount and Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. He believes at that moment that the circle was closed between his generation and the generation of the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE
Moshe Dayan, the defense minister of Israel in 1967, made a terrible decision by turning control of the Temple Mount to the Muslim authorities of Jerusalem. Since that time Muslim Arabs have maintained control of this crucial Biblical site. Gershon Salomon recognized the tragedy of this action and formed the Temple Mount Faithful organization. Since that time he has dedicated himself to the vision of consecrating the Temple Mount to the Name of God, to removing the Muslim shrines placed there as a symbol of Muslim conquest, to the soon rebuilding of the Third Temple there, and the Godly redemption of the People and the Land of Israel.
LONG TERM OBJECTIVES
1. Liberating the Temple Mount from Arab (Islamic) occupation. The Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque were placed on this Jewish or Biblical holy site as a specific sign of Islamic conquest and domination. The Temple Mount can never be consecrated to the Name of God without removing these pagan shrines. It has been suggested that they be removed, transferred to and rebuilt at Mecca.
2. Consecrating the Temple Mount to the Name of God so that it can become the moral and spiritual center of Israel, of the Jewish people and of the entire world according to the words of all the Hebrew prophets. It is envisioned that the consecration of the Temple Mount and the Temple itself will focus Israel on (a) fulfilling the vision and mission given at Mt. Sinai for Israel to be a chosen people separate unto God, a holy nation, and a nation of priests, and (b) becoming a light unto all the nations (Isaiah 42:6) so that the Name of God may be revered by all nations and the Biblical way of life may be propagated throughout the world.
3. Rebuilding the Third Temple in accordance with the words of all the Hebrew prophets. This temple will be a house of prayer for the people of Israel and all nations.
4. Providing a Biblical point of assembly in order that all Israel may fulfill the commandment to assemble three times annually at the times of the Lord’s festivals and at the place where God established His Name forever.
5. Making Biblical Jerusalem the real, undivided capital of the state of Israel.
6. Rejecting false “peace talks” which will result in the dividing of Israel and the breaking of God’s covenant. God promised to Abraham and to his seed that the land and the borders of Israel are eternal and cannot be divided and given to other people and nations.
7. Supporting the settlements in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights as they are holy. No one is allowed to break the Word and the Will of God by commanding the settlers to leave. In the Biblical era, God commanded the people of Israel to settle the land completely. This command is applicable today. The holy connection and covenant between God, the People of Israel and the Land of Israel is eternal.
SHORT TERM OBJECTIVES
1. To strengthen the organizational structure of the movement in Jerusalem in order to pursue its long-term objectives.
2. To raise the awareness of the people of Israel to the significance of their nation in God’s plan of redemption. This will be accomplished in a number of ways including (a) youth education, (b) formation of youth clubs, (c) publication and propagation of relevant educational materials.
3. To demonstrate the fulfillment of the TANACH to the people of Israel.
4. To publicly proclaim the message of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Movement in newspapers, flyers, posters, newsletters, radio and television.
5. To demonstrate publicly to raise awareness of Israel to the issue of the Third Temple, the Temple Mount and the Land of Israel.
6. To buy a house in the Old City (Biblical Jerusalem) near the Temple Mount to establish a spiritual and educational center to be used by everyone. The four-ton cornerstone will be stored and exhibited on this site. This first stone of the Third Temple will soon be laid.
7. To organize conferences for the study of the issues dealing with the Temple Mount and the Third Temple.
VISION OF REDEMPTION
The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement understands the phenomenon of modern Israel as the beginning of the redemption of the world. Two and one-half millennia ago, the Hebrew prophets spoke that in the “last days” God would regather His people from all the lands where He had scattered them (Isaiah 43:6-7). For the last 100 years the Jewish people have been returning to and rebuilding Zion. Today Israel is again the dynamic center of Jewish life across the world. The regathering is not yet complete. Ezekiel prophesied that God would “leave none of them there any longer.” (Ezekiel 39:28b)
It is the view of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful that the redemption will proceed in an orderly fashion according to God’s plan. First is the foundation of the modern state of Israel and the miraculous victories that God gave the people of Israel in the wars against 22 Arab enemy states. Second is the regathering of the people of Israel from all over the world to the Promised Land. Third is the liberation and consecration of the Temple Mount and fourth is the building of the Third Temple. The final step is the coming of the King of Israel, Messiah Ben David.
The existence of the state of Israel and the return of the people of God to the Promised Land is the biggest Godly event and miracle in the history of mankind-ever. This was predicted by the prophets of Israel. We are calling all the nations to link arms in support of this people and the State of Israel to help her complete this process of redemption. We are not allowed to forget that the redemption of the people of Israel is a condition for the redemption of the earth. Also, we remember what God said over 4000 years ago to Abraham, the father of the Israelites: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.”
POLICY STATEMENT
The following are some statements of fundamental policy of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful:
1. Israel is the elect nation of God, sovereignly chosen for His purpose as a vessel through which redemption will be accomplished.
2. The Land of Israel (Biblical borders) was given specifically to the people of Israel and to no other nation. Israel is not permitted to give any of this land to any group for any purpose since the land is a grant to Israel from God Himself. Any division of the Land and the giving of it to another people represents a breach of the Covenant with God.
3. It is the distinct privilege and responsibility of every Jewish person to return to the Land of Israel and to directly participate in the redemption process. Anyone not exercising this privilege will lose it.
4. The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement is dedicated to the fulfillment of every detail of God’s commandments as recorded in the TANACH.
CHALLENGE TO BELIEVERS FROM THE NATIONS
1. The work of God in His redemption process does not affect Israel alone but, indeed, all nations will directly benefit from His blessing. Therefore, all who have placed hope in the Scriptures and have faith in the One true God are invited to participate in the activities of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement.
2. You are challenged also to contribute financially to the work of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement. All work done for the organization is done by volunteers. There are no salaried employees. Annual financial statements are available upon request by contributors.
The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement
P.O. Box 18325; 35 Osishkin Street
Jerusalem 94386, Israel
Phone: (02) 660611, (02) 612395 (fax)
A STATEMENT BY THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE IN JERUSALEM:The Prophecy of the Messianic Era
“Jerusalem is the light of the world…and who is the light of Jerusalem? The Holy One, Blessed be He.” (Bereshit Rabbah 59.8)
Jerusalem. No other city is known by so many names to so many people: Eternal City, City of Peace, City of Gold – and no other city is referred to as the “City of God”… a place of unique sanctity. Jerusalem is the focus of the spiritual energies of a large segment of mankind, and at its heart lies its greatest secret – the enigma of the Holy Temple.
Perhaps the first step towards understanding the significance of the Temple and all that it represents is the realization that it was not merely a magnificent building rooted in Jerusalem’s ancient Biblical past, but rather, the physical manifestation of a vast idea which existed even before the creation of the world.
The origin of the idea of the Holy Temple can be traced to the beginning of time, the very dawn of creation. To the days of Adam, the first man, and his descendants. We can follow its winding thread through the time of Noah, builder of the ark and renewer of life after the flood. And, it was in the days of Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, that the holy site was initially selected. Later, in the time of King David and King Solomon—the builders of the First Temple – it was this very spot which was transformed into the center of global spirituality.
Since the last destruction and the flames that engulfed the Second Temple, the world has awaited the establishment of the Third Temple and with it the fulfillment of the words of the Prophet Isaiah:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days. that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established at the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all of the nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come. and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. and he will teach us of his ways, and we shall walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of God from Jerusalem ” (Isaiah 2:2, 3).
To witness the fulfillment of this ancient vision is a lifelong desire shared by all peoples – not only the Jews, who have longed through all their wanderings to return and rebuild Jerusalem from its ruins and to re-establish the Sanctuary of God in its midst.
The education of countless generations has been steeped in these verses. Isaiah’s words formed the inspiration and driving force behind many diverse movements throughout world history, all of which centered around one purpose and objective: Jerusalem, the Holy City; Jerusalem, where the promised ultimate good shall be fulfilled; Jerusalem, which will once again be transformed into the spiritual center of all mankind.
It is in this future Jerusalem that the Shechinah, the Divine Glory of God, will again reside, and where the spirit of prophecy will once again be restored. And it is here that the Kingdom of God, Creator of all that exists, will be revealed to the world, and all of humanity will come to serve Him. Here every individual may be purified of sin and can rectify his very essence. In the future Holy Temple, each will pour out his heart in prayer before the Creator, and will hear the melodies of the Levites as they sing before God and His altar; and there each man may bring an offering to acknowledge God’s ever-present, constant kindness.
The Prophet Isaiah continues:
“And I shall bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer: Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.” (56:7)
The Concept of The Temple:
One of Seven Secrets Hidden in the Blueprints of Creation
The sages teach that the notion of the Temple is concealed in the plans for the very foundation of the world, and was a factor in the Divine plan of creation. As the Talmud explains, God’s anticipation of its eventual establishment even preceded creation:
“Seven things were contemplated (By the Holy One, Blessed be He) before creation:
Torah.
Repentance,
the Garden of Eden and
Gehinnom,
the Throne of Glory,
the Holy Temple and
the Messiah’s identity.” (BT Pesachim 51:A)The sages wish to tell us that by probing the nature of these seven elements, we can come to understand the purpose of creation.
Understanding These Seven Elements
1-2) Torah and Repentance:
This illustrates that the idea of the Torah existed before time, and was one of the central objectives behind the creation.
Before man was created God knew that “the impulse of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” (Gen. 7:21) and that he was destined to sin and stumble. This is an integral part of human nature.
Accordingly, before anything existed the Torah was prepared to guide him along his path through life. In similar fashion, the Torah’s counterpart, the concept of repentance, was also prepared in advance of man, so that one who transgresses the will of his Creator has a path to return to Him. This too was forged into the very foundation of the world to provide man with a remedy for sin.
3-4) The Garden of Eden and Gehinnom:
The concepts of the Garden of Eden and Gehinnom also reflect a key factor in the purpose of creation: reward and punishment. The reward, represented by the Garden of Eden, for those who fulfill the commandment of God; the punishment for transgressing His will Gehinnom.
5) The Holy Temple:
The next element in the Divine blueprint for creation is the Holy Temple. At this stage all of the factors in the plan mentioned previously are actually united:
Torah: For the seat of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Israel and highest body of wisdom, was in the Temple. From the Sanhedrin the knowledge of Torah was transmitted to all of Israel, as mentioned in the verse above, “For out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of God from Jerusalem.” It is for this reason that the two Tablets of the Law which contained the original commandments of God as revealed at Sinai were housed in the Temple’s Holy of Holies: signifying that the Temple was literally the source of Torah knowledge.
And Repentance: For at the same time, the Temple is the unique place of repentance. When one stumbles and sins, he brings his offering to the Temple and places his hands on the sacrifice, while confessing the error of his thoughts and deeds. After it is offered on the altar, the individual leaves, cleansed and purified as a newborn infant. This enables him to continue his worldly endeavors in the pursuit of righteousness. The sacrifice has no effect unless it is accompanied by thoughts of repentance.
The Holy Temple appears in this Divine cosmic plan precisely because it represents the apex of human longing: The ability for man to engage in a direct relationship with God. The world awaits the day when the Temple in Jerusalem will once again be the global center of spiritual values. At this one spot on Earth, unlike any other, it will be revealed to all that “God is One and His Name is One.” (Zechariah 14:9)
All will converge upon Jerusalem to receive the truth of Torah and to return to the way of God in sincere repentance—to atone in the Holy Temple and to merit the higher consciousness which will be revealed at that time: the spirit of Divine Inspiration.
6) The Throne of Glory: The Heavenly Jerusalem
“The Jerusalem below corresponds to the heavenly Jerusalem directly above… (BT Ta’anit 5:A; Zohar 183:B)
The rabbis make many references throughout the Talmud and Midrashim, which indicate the existence of a heavenly Jerusalem. The meaning is clear—the holiness of the earthly Jerusalem of this world has its source in another Jerusalem, a spiritual entity aloft of its physical counterpart. The one below is a direct parallel of the one above: The Godly Jerusalem. In the heavenly Jerusalem, a sublime spiritual Holy Temple exists where the Shechinah is revealed. This is the place of the Almighty’s Throne of Glory.
This celestial structure is another of the primordial Divine thoughts which preceded the world. God arranged it so that the physical Holy Temple, to which will flow all the earth’s multitudes, should be nourished and sustained by the Throne of Glory above.
The Temple: Gateway to Heaven
In his dream, the patriarch Jacob sees “… a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven…” (Genesis 28:12)
In the morning he opens his eyes and cries aloud: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the House of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (ibid. 17) In his prophetic dream Jacob saw the earthly Holy Temple set opposite the Throne of Glory. Jacob then erects a stone monument and anoints it with oil, effectively dedicating the site of the future Temple: First, Second and Third.
The Holy Temple is the gateway to heaven for every human being, where he is summoned to approach God. As the world advances with more sophisticated techniques in travel and communications, the moment approaches when the denizen of the most far-flung location, as far away from Jerusalem as can be imagined, can come from that great distance and appear before his Creator to purify himself and come in contact with the holy spark within.
Every human being is created in God’s image – “In the image of God He created man.” (Genesis 9:7) Therefore the Divine spark of holiness is alive in each of us. How much easier will it be to unmask this spark in the dwelling place of God’s Glory…each one will come up to Jerusalem to recharge his spiritual energy, to reveal his own unique essence, and then to return home with the spiritual nourishment needed to continue serving his own special purpose in the world.
7) The Messiah’s Identity
The seventh level of the Divine plan the Talmud refers to is the identity of the messiah. This is the summit of the seven elements and the culmination of God’s pre-creation thought. The messiah seals this entire design by bringing each preceding step to fruition. He is the master teacher of the Torah and commandments who will bequeath these ethical values to the human race. It is he who will succeed in establishing the earthly Kingdom of God and who will aid in bringing about the collective repentance of man. In the Messianic Era, justice will prevail on earth:
“… And with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked… and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins. and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.” (Isaiah 11:4-5)
It is in this period that reward and punishment shall be meted out: “The Garden of Eden” for the righteous, and “Gehinnom” for the wicked. And under the messiah’s leadership, Jerusalem shall be reinstated as the spiritual capital of the world with the Temple at its heart.
This is the general pattern of God’s plan, but it contains many ups and downs. Twice, the Temple did stand in Jerusalem – only to be destroyed; it is the Third Temple which is anticipated to bring the process to its conclusion…with the appearance of the messiah. The great expectation is for the Temple which will never be destroyed.
This yearning can be appreciated as a sincerely heartfelt desire… but it should not be mistaken for a precondition. For the Temple is not only a lofty idea which beckons to us…it is also a mitzvah, a precept of the Torah which is applicable at all times, regardless of when the messiah appears.
As Maimonides writes in his classic Letter on Religious Persecution, “Not one of any of the commandments of the Torah is dependent upon the messiah’s arrival.”
Based upon this understanding it stands to reason that a situation could arise wherein a third Temple could be built in Jerusalem and the messiah has still not yet arrived. This concurs with the opinion expressed in the Jerusalem Talmud: “The [third] Holy Temple will in the future be re-established before the establishment of the Kingdom of David.” (JT Ma’aser Sheni 29)
From:The Odyssey of the Third Temple, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, translated by Chaim Richman, G. Israel Publications and Productions, Ltd., The Temple Institute, 1992)
Contacts:
The Temple Institute
POB 31876
Misgav Ladach 24,
Jewish Quarter, 91317, Jerusalem, Israel
Phone: 011 9722 894119, 894336
FAX 011 9722 274 529
Light to the Nations
Rabbi Haim Richman
PO Box 31714
Jerusalem, Israel
tel/fax 9722 860 453
Mr. L. Goldsmith
1483 E. 34Th St
Brooklyn, NY 11234
The Restoration, $25/yr.
FINAL SUMMARY
Today the fragile peace that prevails on the Temple Mount grows more and more tenuous to this hour. Certain groups are clearly preparing to build a Third Temple. The Government of Israel is determined to keep things as they are. Christians who take their New Testaments seriously believe the Third Temple will indeed soon be rebuild and the status quo is bound to change. The power and influence of a billion Muslim are committed not only to maintaining control of the Temple Mount, but moving out to conquer of all of Israel and then the world in the name of Allah. Bible believers know how the story will end, but the unfolding of the story is exciting indeed – almost on a daily basis.
The above information was mostly taken from news releases, brochures and reports of events in Jerusalem from 1967 to about 1990. Some of this material is not up to date. Web sites for some of the groups described above are listed on the Temple Mount home page. For current events and news items regarding the Temple Mount see Recent Events, (Fall 1996).
End Notes
Primary reference source: The Coming Temple. By Don Stewart and Chuck Missler (1991) available from Koinonia House. 1. Ed Grossman, Symbol and Madness, The Jerusalem Post, Local Supplement, September 30, 1983.
2. Jerusalem Post, International Edition, July 22-28, 1984, p. 8
3. Koteret Rashit, Ha’aretz, Hadashot, middle eastern periodicals.
5. Newsweek, October 22, 1990.
6. Mortimer Zuckerman, US News and World Report, November 12, 1990, pp. 95-96.
7. “Should the Temple be Rebuilt,” Time Magazine, June 30, 1967.
8. John Wesley White, The Coming World Dictator, Minneapolis, Bethany Fellowship, 1981, p. 90).
9. Pinchas H. Pell, The Significance of Sacrifice, Jerusalem Post International Edition, Week ending March 30, 1985, p. 10.
10. Pinchas H. Pell, “A Place for the Lord,” Jerusalem Post, February 11, 1989.
11. “Time for a New Temple?”, Time, October 16, 1989.
12. “The Mississippi-Red Heifer Update,” The Restoration, May/June 1995, PO Box 31714, Jerusalem, Israel. US contact, Mr. L. Goldsmith, 1438 East 34th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11234. Phone/Fax: (718) 338-3158.
13. Barbara and Michael Ledeen, “The Temple Mount Plot,” The New Republic, June 18, 1984.
14. Haim Shapiro, “The Christian Connection,” Jerusalem Post Local Supplement September 30, 1983.
15. O. Kelly Ingram, The Link, November 1983, p. 9 . Published by the U.S. National Council of Churches.
Revised June 21, 1995, December 18, 1996, July 9, 1997.
As the Christian civilization progressed its survival was threatened uninterruptedly. Were it not for ‘Divine Intervention’ the Church and its people would have been destroyed many times over. In the 430s, Salvian of Marsailles criticized severely the behavior of the Christian Romans, as opposed to the chaste behavior of the Barbarians. Regarding Carthage he commented that men put aside natural relations for unnatural ones and defiled themselves with one another. Salvian praises the Vandals, who although had conquered Christian lands, did not adopt the vices of the Roman rich and corrupt. According to Salvian: “None of them became effeminate.” Is it not an interesting way of describing the Vandals? In fairly recent times, Mr. Edward Gibbon described the Christian Roman Empire as becoming ‘effeminate,’ in his opinion this came about due to the direct influence of Christianity on the people. Mr. Gibbon blamed this ‘effeminacy’ for the Empire’s decline and eventual fall. It is an absurd notion to argue that Christianity causes an effeminacy of society more than the effects brought about by perversion and homosexuality. Contrasting greatly with what Salvian has to say, that indeed the base lusts and vices of homosexuality and prostitution which the people practiced daily, were not due to their conversion to Christianity but to their unrepentance and hard headed persistence in sin. These vices were to blame for the ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ (in North Africa) and for the effeminacy of Roman society and rather not the Christian values, such as the virtues of purity and chastity. This fact is altogether more interesting when considering that the revolutions in the sociological context of modern day societies, are once again putting aside Christian virtues, replacing such with the age old vices of homosexuality and prostitution. In fact in our modern day, apart from the legal framework enabling the possibility for gay and lesbian marriages (Romans 1:26,27), the prostitution tax levied by the ancient pagan Roman government referred to as the ‘Chrysargyrum tax’ is being reintroduced by the European Union under a different form or title. For fear of being punished by the Christian God (and the very fact that this tax offended God), Emperor Constantine condemned and removed the Chrysargyrum tax, which is our modern day equivalent of ‘VAT on income generated by sex workers and pornography.’ When considering these sociological blunders, one should keep in mind the ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ as described by Salvian and badly explained by Edward Gibbon. Saint Augustine addressed the people of Hippo during the brutal Vandal siege saying: “Enough of your weeping and wailing! Are you not yourselves responsible for this fate which is overwhelming you? ‘These are difficult and dreadful times’ the people are saying. But these times are part of us, are they not? The times are what we have made them!”(4)
In 802, Charles issued a capitulary addressing monastic life indicating that monks: “…entirely shun drunkenness and feasting, because it is known to all that from these men are especially polluted by lust… if monks are found to be sodomites, we shall inflict such a penalty, not only on the guilty but also on those who have consented to such deeds, that no Christian who shall have heard of it will ever dare in the future to perpetrate such acts.”(6) It is interesting to note that in our modern day many nations might soon pass laws which would hold their citizens guilty of ‘hate-crimes’ especially when publicly pronouncing their negative opinions in the regard of same-sex relations. Both European Union and American politics is a far cry to our ancestor’s political Christian ideals.
St. Paul’s Argument From Nature Against Homosexuality (Romans 1)
[originally uploaded in 1998]
Romans 1:26-27:[26] For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, [27] and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
St. Paul mentions “dishonorable passions.” To what does he refer? The next word “for” implies that what follows is an example of what Paul calls “dishonorable.” So what does he present as an example?:
For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones,
Paul is saying, then, that there is such a thing as “natural sexual relations” and its contrary, “unnatural [sexual relations].” This brings it down to the matter of natural law and God’s created order, and all that that entails. Some things are natural, some are not.So far, I have merely followed the syntactical and grammatical logic of the passage (at least in its translation). I don’t think anything I have stated thus far could be argued differently, regardless of one’s stance on homosexuality. What follows in the next verse is clearly related to what came before it:
and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another.
This is very clear-cut. The “likewise” and the “also” inescapably imply that the men, too, have abandoned “natural relations” for “unnatural ones” (since it is an analogy). In other words, the contrast is between natural and unnatural, and also between heterosexual and homosexual sex. Paul is not merely saying that the “inflamed passions” are what is sinful, but the very concept and practice of homosexual relations, which goes against nature. The documented medical consequences of engaging in such unnatural and unhealthy sexual practices bear this out.Since it is “unnatural” for men to be (sexually) with men, and women with women, according to the Apostle (and God, since the Bible is God-breathed), he describes the sexual acts as “shameless” and “error.” There is no qualification here for things like rape or promiscuity or uncommitted, manipulative sex (that is the desperate eisegesis of those who already believe the Bible is neutral on the issue – itself an absurd proposition, in my opinion).
St. Paul makes an argument from nature. He is saying that the very notion of homosexuality is disordered and unnatural. Perhaps his phrase “received in themselves the due penalty for their error” refers to the medical and physiological consequences of these abnormal acts, but that is just speculation on my part.
There were plenty of negative repercussions for health with regard to sodomy before AIDS came around. AIDS is just one more confirmation that unnatural sex is physically dangerous (we know, e.g., that AIDS spread rapidly in Africa even among heterosexuals. Why? Because heterosexual anal sex is prevalent among many Africans – hence the spread of the disease). Sin is always dangerous. God tries to spare us of its consequences, but we are too dense and rebellious to accept Him at His word, and we insist on playing with fire, defying even nature itself, if need be.
Romans 1:18-32 is an argument from nature, a sort of primitive teleological argument (or, argument from design). He implies sins against nature in 1:24: “. . . the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves” (RSV). Idolatry is condemned in 1:25: “. . . they . . . worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator . . .” In my opinion, immoral sex amounts to a worship of the physical body as an object apart from the whole person who possesses it, and in defiance of the lifelong commitment within which moral sex is protected and placed in the proper context of whole love relationships with whole people (not just genitals), for a whole lifetime.
St. Paul makes a similar argument from nature (but a bit more sophisticated and theological) in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, by stating that excessive appetite for sex (and also food?) amounts to being “enslaved” (6:12). He exclaims:
Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two shall become one flesh.’ (6:16; RSV)
In other words, there is an ontological, created reality and natural order beyond mere physical pleasure, which must not be violated. Certain things are wrong by their very nature. Sex outside of marriage – whether heterosexual or homosexual – belongs in that category. Paul continues:
Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (6:18-20)
So heterosexual fornication and adultery are just as sinful, wicked, reprehensible, and unnatural as homosexual sex. These sexual sins violate the bounds of proper sex between males and females as God intended it: within a lifelong monogamous commitment of marriage. The same physical act which is right and proper and beautiful in one situation (in a marriage) becomes sinful in another (with a prostitute, or with one other than one’s spouse). Homosexuality also violates this boundary but it goes a step further and violates the created order of sex itself, which God intended for male and female (and I think this is self-evident in the complementary physiology of the reproductive organs, and in the end result of conception).One might say that fornication is an “ontological” sin against the moral “concept” of marriage, while homosexual sex sins both against the purpose of sex and the ontological, metaphysical, and spiritual (even physical) nature of sex itself. The next logical step is bestiality. The move has already been made from opposite sex and procreation to same sex and pleasure-only. In so doing, God’s laws and natural law are spurned and scorned. So why not make the move to an animal, if the purpose is simply pleasure?
On the other hand, Paul seems to teach that all forms of sexual immorality are a sin against nature and against the Holy Spirit within us. Something bad actually happens in the very real spiritual realm. We become joined with the harlot. We sin against ourselves and our own bodies as well. We violate the temple of God (ourselves, if we are Christians, since the Holy Spirit indwells us).
Various versions of Romans 1:26-27 show us exactly what St. Paul is teaching (in reference to women and men, respectively). He compares and contrasts the natural, moral sexual act, with the unnatural, immoral act:
1) Phillips:
“normal practices of sexual intercourse” ———-> “something which is abnormal and unnatural”
“natural intercourse with women” ——-> “lustful passions for one another”
2) Jerusalem:
“natural intercourse” ——-> “unnatural practices”
“natural intercourse” ——-> “consumed with passion for each other”
3) New English Bible / Revised English Bible:
“natural intercourse” ——–> “unnatural [intercourse]“
“natural relations with women” ——-> “burn with lust for one another”
4) King James (Authorized) / New King James Version
“natural use” ——> “that which is against nature”
“natural use of the woman” ——-> “burned in their lust one toward another”
5) Revised Standard Version
“natural relations” ———> “unnatural [relations]“
“natural relations” ———> “consumed with passion for one another”
6) New Revised Standard Version
“natural intercourse” ——-> “unnatural [intercourse]“
“natural intercourse with women” ——-> “consumed with passion for one another”
7) New American Standard
“natural function” ——-> “that which is unnatural” [note: "Lit., 'against nature'"]
“natural function of the woman” ——–> “burned in their desire toward one another”
William Barclay
God therefore allowed them to go their own way, until they ended up as victims of their own dishonourable passions. Their women substituted unnatural intercourse with each other for natural intercourse with men. In the same way, men abandoned natural intercourse with women, and were inflamed with passion for each other. Men perpetrated shameless things with men, and brought on themselves the inevitable consequences which such misguided conduct was bound to bring. (1:26-27)
I don’t see how this could be any clearer than it is. The assertion by radical homosexual exegetes that us traditional-types are distorting the Bible’s teaching (whether it is inspired and preserved properly or not) and not presenting it properly, out of alleged “homophobic” motives, is groundless. The Bible, as it reads, is indisputably opposed to homosexual acts as a sin against nature, God, and one’s own body. And it is all there right in Romans 1:26-27, as just shown – both lesbian sex and male homosexual sex are condemned as immoral as well as unnatural.
FIFTEEN PROMISES OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
TO CHRISTIANS WHO FAITHFULLY PRAY THE ROSARY
- To all those who shall pray my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and great graces.
- Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive some special grace.
- The Rosary will be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin and dispel heresy.
- The rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies. It will draw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
- Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary will not perish.
- Whoever recites my Rosary devoutly reflecting on the mysteries, shall never be overwhelmed by misfortune. He will not experience the anger of God nor will he perish by an unprovided death. The sinner will be converted; the just will persevere in grace and merit eternal life.
- Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
- Those who are faithful to recite my Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces and will share in the merits of the blessed.
- I will deliver promptly from purgatory souls devoted to my Rosary.
- True children of my Rosary will enjoy great glory in heaven.
- What you shall ask through my Rosary you shall obtain.
- To those who propagate my Rosary I promise aid in all their necessities.
- I have obtained from my Son that all the members of the Rosary Confraternity shall have as their intercessors, in life and in death, the entire celestial court.
- Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
- Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.
The Blessed Virgin presented her only son in the temple-
The Second Sorrow:
Mary flees into Egypt with Jesus and Joseph-
Forced to endure the hardships of a long journey, and becoming a foreigner in a strange land, Mary and her family flee to protect the child Jesus from those who would destroy him.
The Third Sorrow:
Mary seeks Jesus lost in Jerusalem-
Jesus disappeared for three days in Jerusalem at the age of twelve, causing his parents, especially Mary, agonizing sorrow.
The Fourth Sorrow:
Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary-
As Jesus makes his way to Calvary, condemned to crucifixion, He meets His mother, Mary. He is bruised, derided, cursed and defiled and her sorrow is absolute as Jesus drags His own cross up the hill of His crucifixion.
The Fifth Sorrow:
Mary stands near the cross of her Son-
Mary stands near her dying Son unable to minister to him as he cries “I thirst”. She hears him promise heaven to a thief and forgive his enemies. His last words, “Behold your mother,” charge us to look on Mary as our mother.
The Sixth Sorrow:
Mary received the body of Jesus taken down from the cross-
The passion and death are over but for his mother, grief continues. She holds His body in her arms.
The Seventh Sorrow:
Mary places the body of Jesus in the tomb, awaiting the resurrection-
The most tragic day in history ends, Mary alone in sorrow, as she lays the body of her Son, in the tomb.
Pope Saint Pius VII and General Napoleon Bonaparte
“The Blessed Virgin Mary: Enmity and War” (c) USA Jozef Sinpaal
CSF 8
7. Napoleon – the not so great and not so holy Emperor. General Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, Feast of the Assumption. This fact would lead one to believe that in his life, Napoleon would hold the Blessed Virgin highly, however, throughout his life Napoleon did not exhibit any devotion to the Blessed Mother. On the contrary he was probably initiated in Freemasonry on June 12-19, 1798, into the Army Philadelphe Lodge, in Malta. His Masonic membership is disputed, however, as a sure fact Napoleon Bonaparte was the protector of Freemasonry and experienced at least one ‘dark’ supernatural episode, whilst visiting the ancient pyramids at Giza, Egypt. When the Duke of Orleans died, Freemasonry in France needed a Grandmaster. They invited General Bonaparte to fill this post, the General demanded: “…a memoir on the objects and principles of the association.”(1) The memoir presented explained that, since the burning at the stake of Jacques de Molay, Grandmaster of the Knights Templars, the: “… vengeance alluded to in the Elu degrees and in Kadosh was that which the Templars formerly swore to execute upon King Philip the Fair, the destroyer of the Order, and upon his successors, but this vengeance was accomplished by the accession of Napoleon to the imperial throne.”(2) Napoleon nominated his brother, the King of Spain, as Grandmaster and invited many both in the military and government officials to join the Craft. Thus, the power of Freemasonry grew much. Not that the Craft needed further power and influence, for the sect had already succeeded at bringing about the French Revolution. The French authorities had indeed already carried out their antichristian persecution of the religious houses, blaming the cleric’s unswerving loyalty to the Pope. French Kings Louis XVI and his son Louis XVII, were assassinated during the ‘Reign of Terror,’ and the Masonic pledge of vengeance upon the descendents of King Philip the Fair, against Monarchy and Religion, had been accomplished in the foulest of ways. In 1796, the French Army crossed the Alps into Italy. The intention was to march on Rome, conquer the ancient city of the Empire and take hostage the Pope; this sounded like a perfect plan for the child of the enlightenment, the French Masonic General Bonaparte. Nevertheless, Napoleon had not considered the fine details, such as the fact that the Blessed Virgin, the protector of the Roman Pontiff and the Church of Jesus Christ, was about to pit her supernatural strength and favor before the Lord, against the earthly powers and their gods of illuminism, science, war and reason. On June 25, 1796, the picture of the ‘La Madonna del Duomo’ or ‘Blessed Virgin Queen of All Saints,’ in the Cathedral of Saint Cyriacus, Ancona, Italy, miraculously came to life. The Blessed Virgin moved her eyes and arms and wept, also changing the color of her visage. Many people including the parish priest Father Candelabri, witnessed the phenomenon. Three days earlier the Napoleonic French signed a ‘Treaty’ with the Papal representative at Bologna, authorizing the French to occupy Ancona. The painting of the Blessed Virgin repeated the miraculous movements and was studied by architects, engineers and painters. The sacred Icon was carried in solemn processions across the city, people ran to witness the prodigy, conversions occurred by the dozen and the church sacristies where full with penitents seeking and receiving the sacrament of reconciliation. The people repented of their evil deeds and sought to make amends, once again they gave their hearts to the God of the Christians and deserted the new gods of the Revolution.On February 10, 1797, Napoleon entered Ancona, declared that the local governing body was dissolved and imposed a high ransom, confiscating all the treasures of the churches. He was made aware of the miraculous painting by the local Jacobins and immediately made up his mind to stop this lie, which he presumed was purposely circulated by the tricky clergy. He ordered the priests to bring the painting before him, to inspect it personally. Napoleon intended to destroy the Icon of the Blessed Virgin, Queen of All Saints and stop the people’s hope in such fantastical notions, which as he concluded would: “…damage the well being of the citizens.” The following day the painting was removed and taken to the General, it was placed upon a table before the Corsican. The enlightened General Bonaparte hoped to provide a logical, natural reason for the phenomenon, he said: “Dear clergy, I am surprised at your ignorance, if you were to know minimally the laws of Physics, I am referring to the laws of reflection and refraction of light, the phenomenon of the reflections on the face of the Virgin caused by candle light.” Napoleon hoped to imitate Marat’s description on the manner light passes, reflects and is refracted through soap bubbles. Indeed, the spiritual insight of such was as shallow as the soapy water Marat placed himself before being assassinated by a woman. Our Lady was now the Woman who would tackle Napoleon. Father Candelabri, whose very name denotes a deep understanding of the nature of candlelight, replied: “Permit me, General. I am Father Candelabri. I myself have seen the prodigy and there was no flickering candlelight to confuse my sight. I used a lens and saw the prodigy occurring and can confirm the event! To confirm what I am saying you can ask the lawyer Bertrando Bonaria a well known Jacobin who has also witnessed the miracle.”(3) General Napoleon Bonaparte did not reply, his attention was drawn to the necklace of pearls, which adorned the Blessed Virgin’s neck. He said: “This shall be sold and the funds recovered will be given to charity. The funds shall be used for the wedding expenses of an orphaned girl.”(4) General Napoleon Bonaparte reached out to remove the necklace. At that very moment, Napoleon froze, both his expression and countenance shockingly changed. The people present in the room knew too well what had just transpired, General Bonaparte witnessed the miraculous prodigy. The French General sat down and on the spot decided that the painting should be burnt. If it were not for Father Candelabri who convinced him otherwise, pointing out that such a gesture would surely incite the people to revolt and pledging to keep it covered at all times, the General’s soldiers would have surely burned the Holy Icon. Thankfully, Father Candelabri saved the Image of Our Lady, which served to direct once again the people towards the light of Our Lord. It can still be venerated today at Our Lady’s church in Ancona, Italy. In 1845, the miraculous event was canonically confirmed and Our Lady dell Duomo, was proclaimed the Patroness of Ancona. If the events at Ancona are considered incredible, then the following is definitely more so. On July 9, 1796, and continuing for many months, starting in Rome and then Frosinone, Veroli, Torrice, Cepano Urbania, Frascati, Todi and Rimini, the images of the Blessed Virgin were (if not all but most) repeating the prodigy as the painting in Ancona had done. The testimonies to these miraculous events were so numerous that on February 28, 1797, the events were declared as ‘true and factual,’ and a Feast on July 9 was instituted in remembrance of these prodigies. The Madonna del Conforto (Our Lady of Consolation) had a special Feast, which occurred on February 15 in Tuscany. The Italians were told that the French were to destroy this painting, which was so dear to them. This was one of the many acts of violence perpetrated against Tuscany; the French had destroyed churches and forced the clergy into the army. The populace arose and with their battle cry “Viva Maria!” (Hail Mary) the revolts began. During those days, in Siena a blackened statuette of the Blessed Virgin called ‘Madonna di Provenzano di Siena,’ turned luminous white before a crowd of prayerful devotees. On May 6, 1799, the revolt against the French in Arezzo was successful, also were successful the revolts in Rome and the other Italian cities. In 1799, on orders of General Bonaparte, Pope Pius VI died virtually as a prisoner in the Directory of Rome. The battle was not over.On March 14, 1800, His Holiness Pope Pius VII was elected. Due to the potential Catholic support from the French peasantry, Napoleon decided to establish an agreement with the Pope. Notwithstanding the fact that he had no particular love for Christianity, he desired to restore the Church in France. Negotiations for an agreement were held in Paris between Napoleon’s representatives, Bernier and Talleyrand, and the Pope’s emissary, Archbishop Spina of Corinth. Following eight months of negotiations, a threatened military occupation of Rome and much bluff on Napoleon’s side, the agreement was signed on July 15, 1801. Napoleon Bonaparte recognized the Roman Catholic Faith as the religion of the majority of the French people. In return for the oath of loyalty to the French state, the clergy were to receive salaries. ‘The Concordat’ as the agreement came to be known, was considered by Pope Pius VII as a great triumph. The Concordat was ratified on August 15, 1801, Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin and Napoleon’s birthday. The many diverse factions in France reacted terribly to Bonaparte’s Concordat. The royalist Joseph de Maistre wrote: “With all my heart I wish death to the Pope in the same way and for the same reason I would desire death to my father were he to dishonor me tomorrow.”(5) However, Napoleon wanted to pacify the people. The French Council of State, the Tribunate, the Senate and the Army, all voiced their disapproval to the Concordat. The Jacobins and their Masonic allies viewed the Concordat as the final betrayal of the Revolution. With the reopening of churches for public worship, the Jacobins reasserted themselves with Voltaire’s principle to: “…wipe out the infamy of religion!” Following the Mass on Easter Day April 18, 1802, General Delmas to General Bonaparte said: “Pretty monkish mummery…. The only thing missing were the million men who died to overthrow what you are now setting up again.”(6) Due to his newly found popularity with the masses, Napoleon managed to introduce a new tax, the imposition was accepted without much fuss and the economic situation in France began to recover. Napoleon clearly understood the political benefits of being recognized as Emperor, however he could not fathom the spiritual aspect of such a position, whereby the Emperor would be guided by God and the Mother Church. Indeed, he was not capable of being an Emperor such as Charles the Great had been. For how can a child of the enlightenment, a Freemason, be God’s chosen Holy Emperor (a claim which Napoleon evidently made when writing to His Holiness Pope Pius VII)? While a true and honest conversion is done in secret, such as Emperor Constantine’s Baptism by Pope Sylvester at the Lateran Baptistry, political public conversions to Catholicism, in order to politically lead Catholics, equates to a spiritual farce and is evident political maneuvering, doomed for failure from the outset. In 1806, Pope Pius VII was not playing ball with the French self-declared Emperor; he disregarded Napoleon’s orders and refused to submit his Church to Bonaparte’s whims. The Roman Pontiff particularly opposed the Napoleonic elected King Joseph of Naples. His Holiness refused to garrison Ancona and allowed British spies to roam unhindered, also opening Papal ports to the British Navy. Napoleon wrote angrily: “For the Pope I am Charlemagne…. I therefore expect to be treated from this point of view. I shall change nothing in appearance if they behave well; otherwise I shall reduce the Pope to be merely Bishop of Rome.”(7) Following letters to the Pope insisting that he is the Emperor and his enemies are the Papal enemies, the Pope replied: “There is no Emperor of Rome.”(8) The Napoleonic regime forced the Church in France to commit schism with Rome. The rewritten Catechism of the Catholic Church in France, read in the seventh lesson: “Why do we owe all these duties to Our Emperor? Firstly, because God…. Plentifully bestowed gifts upon our Emperor, whether for peace or for war, has made him the minister of his power and his image upon earth…”(9) The Pope remained undeterred and refused to implement the Continental Blockade in his territories. Napoleon’s next move was to order the take over of the administration in the Papal States, thereby the Pontiff responded by issuing a bill of excommunication against the ‘Emperor.’ The General ordered his troops to storm the Quirinal Palace, he attempted to force Pope Pius VII to renounce his temporal power, which the Pontiff adamantly refused. On July 5, 1808, on Napoleon’s orders, Pope Saint Pius VII was arrested and detained for three years, first at Savona Italy, then at Fontainbleau. Napoleon Bonaparte was not the first to have kept a Roman Pontiff in jail, Philip the Fair and Charles V had dared arrest Popes previous to these terrible days.The title ‘Our Lady the Help of Catholics’ (Auxilium Catholicorum) has been adopted for veneration since the sixteenth century. On October 7, 1571, the triumphant Christian warriors returning from Lepanto, visited the Sanctuary of Loreto and saluted the Holy Virgin with the title of Our Lady Help of Catholics. Following the Battle of Lepanto, Pope Pius V had inserted this title within the litany of Loreto. In January 1814, as the Battle of Leipzig was over, Pope Pius VII was brought back to Savona and was set free on March 18, 1814, the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy, the Patroness of Savona. The return journey to Rome, was a Papal pilgrimage along many prominent Marian Shrines. The Pontiff attributed his release, as a victory owed principally to the Blessed Virgin’s intercession. He crowned the ‘Madonna del Monte’ at Cesena (Our Lady of the Mountain), the ‘Madonna della Misericordia’ at Treja (Our Lady of Mercy), the ‘Madonna della Colonna’ (Our Lady of the Pillar) and the ‘Madonna della Tempesta’ at Tolentino (Our Lady of the Storms). The picture of the Blessed Virgin in the Cathedral of Saint Cyriacus at Ancona, the Roman Pontiff crowned under the title of ‘Regina Sanctorum Omnium.’ Throughout his pilgrimage, the crowds pressed forward to view the Pontiff who withstood Napoleon. In May 24, 1814, Pope Saint Pius VII, entered Rome and in commemoration for the sufferings His Holiness and the Church had endured, the Pontiff extended the Feast of the ‘Seven Dolours of Mary’ to the Universal Church. The following year on March 22, 1815, when Murat intended to march upon the Papal States from Naples, Pope Pius had to flee to Savona. On May 10, 1815, in Savona the Pope crowned the picture of ‘Our Lady of Mercy.’On July 7, 1815, following the Battle of Waterloo, the Roman Pontiff returned to Rome. He gave thanks to God and Our Lady and on September 15, instituted the Feast of ‘Our Lady Help of Catholics’ for May 24. On May 5, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte died whilst exiled on the Island of Saint Helen in the South Atlantic Ocean, probably a victim of arsenic poisoning and betrayed by his own officers.
Litany composed by Pope Pius VII while held in captivity by Napoleon
For private devotions. From The Servite Manual
Electronic text (c) Copyright EWTN 1996. All rights reserved. http://www.ewtn.com/faith/Teachings/maryd6g.htm
Litany of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows
by Pope Pius VII
V. Lord, have mercy on us.
R. Christ, have mercy on us.
V. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
R. Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of virgins, pray for us.
Mother of the Crucified, [etc.]
Sorrowful Mother
Mournful Mother
Sighing Mother
Afflicted Mother
Foresaken Mother
Desolate Mother
Mother most sad
Mother set around with anguish
Mother overwhelmed by grief
Mother transfixed by a sword
Mother crucified in thy heart
Mother bereaved of thy Son
Sighing Dove
Mother of Dolors
Fount of tears
Sea of bitterness
Field of tribulation
Mass of suffering
Mirror of patience
Rock of constancy
Remedy in perplexity
Joy of the afflicted
Ark of the desolate
Refuge of the abandoned
Shiled of the oppressed
Conqueror of the incredulous
Solace of the wretched
Medicine of the sick
Help of the faint
Strength of the weak
Protectress of those who fight
Haven of the shipwrecked
Calmer of tempests
Companion of the sorrowful
Retreat of those who groan
Terror of the treacherous
Standard-bearer of the Martyrs
Treasure of the Faithful
Light of Confessors
Pearl of Virgins
Comfort of Widows
Joy of all Saints
Queen of thy Servants
Holy Mary, who alone art unexampled
V. Pray for us, most Sorrowful Virgin,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
O God, in whose Passion, according to the prophecy of Simeon, a sword of grief pierced through the most sweet soul of Thy glorious Blessed Virgin Mother Mary: grant that we, who celebrate the memory of her Seven Sorrows, may obtain the happy effect of Thy Passion, Who lives and reigns world without end. Amen.
The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady
1. The Prophecy of Simeon
2. The Flight into Egypt
3. The Loss of Jesus in the Temple
4. Mary meets Jesus Carrying the Cross
5. The Crucifixion
6. Mary Receives the Dead Body of Her Son
7. The Burial of Her Son and Closing of the Tomb.
