During his consecration of the world to the immaculate heart of Mary Pope Francis talked about the danger of secular culture to our faith, citing Our Lady as the exemplar of fidelity for humanity:
‘Mary said her “yes” to God: a “yes” which threw her simple life in Nazareth into turmoil, and not only once. Any number of times she had to utter a heartfelt “yes” at moments of joy and sorrow, culminating in the “yes” she spoke at the foot of the Cross. Here today there are many mothers present; think of the full extent of Mary’s faithfulness to God: seeing her only Son hanging on the Cross. The faithful woman, still standing, utterly heartbroken, yet faithful and strong.
And I ask myself: am I a Christian by fits and starts, or am I a Christian full-time? Our culture of the ephemeral, the relative, also takes its toll on the way we live our faith. God asks us to be faithful to him, daily, in our everyday life. He goes on to say that, even if we are sometimes unfaithful to him, he remains faithful. In his mercy, he never tires of stretching out his hand to lift us up, to encourage us to continue our journey, to come back and tell him of our weakness, so that he can grant us his strength. This is the real journey: to walk with the Lord always, even at moments of weakness, even in our sins. Never to prefer a makeshift path of our own. That kills us. Faith is ultimate fidelity, like that of Mary.’
Protect the Pope comment: Over the past couple of days Pope Francis has mentioned the danger posed by relativism to faith in homilies about fidelity of Our Lady and the deceit of the Devil. This takes us to the heart of the evil that is at the sick heart of our culture, and reveals by contrast the importance of Our Lady to the Christian struggle against secularism. Pope Francis has dedicated his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima, and these two homilies show that Our Lady’s messages at Fatima are inspiring and guiding the Holy Father in his shepherding of the Church at this time.
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-consacrates-world-to-immaculate-heart-of-mary
Here is Pope Francis’ entire homily:
In the Psalm we said: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things” (Ps 98:1). Today we consider one of the marvellous things which the Lord has done: Mary! A lowly and weak creature like ourselves, she was chosen to be the Mother of God, the Mother of her Creator.
Considering Mary in the light of the readings we have just heard, I would like to reflect with you on three things: first, God surprises us, second, God asks us to be faithful, and third, God is our strength.
First: God surprises us. The story of Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, is remarkable. In order to be healed of leprosy, he turns to the prophet of God, Elisha, who does not perform magic or demand anything unusual of him, but asks him simply to trust in God and to wash in the waters of the river. Not, however, in one of the great rivers of Damascus, but in the little stream of the Jordan. Naaman is left surprised, even taken aback. What kind of God is this who asks for something so simple? He wants to turn back, but then he goes ahead, he immerses himself in the Jordan and is immediately healed (cf. 2 Kg 5:1-4). There it is: God surprises us. It is precisely in poverty, in weakness and in humility that he reveals himself and grants us his love, which saves us, heals us and gives us strength. He asks us only to obey his word and to trust in him.
This was the experience of the Virgin Mary. At the message of the angel, she does not hide her surprise. It is the astonishment of realizing that God, to become man, had chosen her, a simple maid of Nazareth. Not someone who lived in a palace amid power and riches, or one who had done extraordinary things, but simply someone who was open to God and put her trust in him, even without understanding everything: “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). That was her answer. God constantly surprises us, he bursts our categories, he wreaks havoc with our plans. And he tells us: trust me, do not be afraid, let yourself be surprised, leave yourself behind and follow me!
Today let us all ask ourselves whether we are afraid of what God might ask, or of what he does ask. Do I let myself be surprised by God, as Mary was, or do I remain caught up in my own safety zone: in forms of material, intellectual or ideological security, taking refuge in my own projects and plans? Do I truly let God into my life? How do I answer him?
In the passage from Saint Paul which we have heard, the Apostle tells his disciple Timothy: remember Jesus Christ. If we persevere with him, we will also reign with him (cf. 2 Tim 2:8-13). This is the second thing: to remember Christ always – to be mindful of Jesus Christ – and thus to persevere in faith. God surprises us with his love, but he demands that we be faithful in following him. We can be unfaithful, but he cannot: he is “the faithful one” and he demands of us that same fidelity. Think of all the times when we were excited about something or other, some initiative, some task, but afterwards, at the first sign of difficulty, we threw in the towel. Sadly, this also happens in the case of fundamental decisions, such as marriage. It is the difficulty of remaining steadfast, faithful to decisions we have made and to commitments we have made. Often it is easy enough to say “yes”, but then we fail to repeat this “yes” each and every day. We fail to be faithful.
Mary said her “yes” to God: a “yes” which threw her simple life in Nazareth into turmoil, and not only once. Any number of times she had to utter a heartfelt “yes” at moments of joy and sorrow, culminating in the “yes” she spoke at the foot of the Cross. Here today there are many mothers present; think of the full extent of Mary’s faithfulness to God: seeing her only Son hanging on the Cross. The faithful woman, still standing, utterly heartbroken, yet faithful and strong.
And I ask myself: am I a Christian by fits and starts, or am I a Christian full-time? Our culture of the ephemeral, the relative, also takes its toll on the way we live our faith. God asks us to be faithful to him, daily, in our everyday life. He goes on to say that, even if we are sometimes unfaithful to him, he remains faithful. In his mercy, he never tires of stretching out his hand to lift us up, to encourage us to continue our journey, to come back and tell him of our weakness, so that he can grant us his strength. This is the real journey: to walk with the Lord always, even at moments of weakness, even in our sins. Never to prefer a makeshift path of our own. That kills us. Faith is ultimate fidelity, like that of Mary.
The last thing: God is our strength. I think of the ten lepers in the Gospel who were healed by Jesus. They approach him and, keeping their distance, they call out: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (Lk 17:13). They are sick, they need love and strength, and they are looking for someone to heal them. Jesus responds by freeing them from their disease. Strikingly, however, only one of them comes back, praising God and thanking him in a loud voice. Jesus notes this: ten asked to be healed and only one returned to praise God in a loud voice and to acknowledge that he is our strength. Knowing how to give thanks, to give praise for everything that the Lord has done for us.
Take Mary. After the Annunciation, her first act is one of charity towards her elderly kinswoman Elizabeth. Her first words are: “My soul magnifies the Lord”, in other words, a song of praise and thanksgiving to God not only for what he did for her, but for what he had done throughout the history of salvation. Everything is his gift. If we can realise that everything is God’s gift, how happy will our hearts be! Everything is his gift. He is our strength! Saying “thank you” is such an easy thing, and yet so hard! How often do we say “thank you” to one another in our families? These are essential words for our life in common. “Excuse me”, “sorry”, “thank you”. If families can say these three things, they will be fine. “Excuse me”, “sorry”, “thank you”. How often do we say “thank you” in our families? How often do we say “thank you” to those who help us, those close to us, those at our side throughout life? All too often we take everything for granted! This happens with God too. It is easy to approach the Lord to ask for something, but to go and thank him: “Well, I don’t need to”.
As we continue our celebration of the Eucharist, let us invoke Mary’s intercession. May she help us to be open to God’s surprises, to be faithful to him each and every day, and to praise and thank him, for he is our strength. Amen.
Pope Francis (AP)
Lest we obsess about the consecration of Russia, this was requested for the purpose of preventing the Second World War and the consequent extermination of the Jews. What mother would hear her children cry to her for help and refuse to come to their aid unless and until she was given what she wants when she wants it and her way?
Now, let’s see what Our Lady does.
In overshadowing Mary at the moment of the Incarnation, and again as she stood at the foot of the Cross, God asserted His exclusive claim of liberty to dispose at will of the beginning and the end of human life in the Person of the New Adam.
This is the significance of the relationship in the OT of the glory of God (His corporeal manifestation) reposing over the mercy seat on top of the Ark. It prefigures the power of God overshadowing Mary at the Incarnation and again on Calvary, and it provides the reason for the death of the High Priest (Leviticus 16:1-2).
The reality is that the Church did consecrate Russia to Our Blessed Lady.
The Fatima document in the Church makes clear.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html
“Behold, as we stand before you, Mother of Christ, before your Immaculate Heart, we desire, together with the whole Church, to unite ourselves with the consecration which, for love of us, your Son made of himself to the Father: ‘For their sake’, he said, ‘I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth’ (Jn 17:19). We wish to unite ourselves with our Redeemer in this his consecration for the world and for the human race, which, in his divine Heart, has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation.
The power of this consecration lasts for all time and embraces all individuals, peoples and nations. It overcomes every evil that the spirit of darkness is able to awaken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in the heart of man and in his history. ..”
Look at the consequences. The fall of the Soviet Union.
Here is a list of Cathedrals in Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cathedrals_in_Russia
Some former churches were turned into museums.
Here is one and note the comment on atheism.
The cathedral was named after the “miracle-making” icon of Our Lady of Kazan, which the church housed till the early 1930s. The Bolsheviks closed the cathedral for services in 1929, and from 1932 it housed the collections of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, which displayed numerous pieces of religious art and served anti-religious propaganda purposes. A couple of years ago regular services were resumed in the cathedral, though it still shares the premises with the museum, from whose name the word “atheism” has now been omitted.
http://www.saint-petersburg.com/virtual-tour/kazan-cathedral/
How that contrasts with Britain now under the atheist cosh.
In 2011 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was personally present at a St. Petersburg airport on October 20 to receive an Orthodox relic of the Virgin Mary from Greek monks bringing it from the Vatoped Monastery on Mount Athos.
SAINT PETERSBURG, October 26, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was personally present at a St. Petersburg airport on October 20 to receive an Orthodox relic of the Virgin Mary from Greek monks bringing it from the Vatoped Monastery on Mount Athos.
The relic, which is believed to be a belt worn by Mary, the mother of Jesus, is also believed to be associated with miraculous restorations of fertility.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vladimir-putin-receives-virgin-mary-fertility-relic-as-russia-fights-aborti/
Are not so poor.God loves us too. Happy for the respect given
To our lord by receiving on the tongue. At least in heaven there will
Be no third and first world.
Communism has fallen. Russia is no longer an atheist society.
Russians launch dedicated center to fight ‘atheist extremism’
A group of activists connected with the Russian Orthodox Church are setting up a center against atheist extremism which, according to them, is promoted mainly by foreign-sponsored organizations.
The decision was announced this week at a meeting between city residents and deputies of a district council that was held near the pilgrimage center of the Moscow Patriarchate, in south-west Moscow.
“The atheist extremism is currently rearing its head. It is sponsored by various funds and NGOs with roots outside Russian borders,” reads the first statement released by the new movement.
The group claims that their enemies are opposing citizens’ lawful right for freedom of thought, conscience and religion, guaranteed by the Constitution.
In particular, the activists listed incidents when certain people protested against the construction of new churches, “creating an artificial psychosis and pumping up hysteria by intimidating the public”, quoting non-existent laws and declaring all public discussions unlawful.
The statement emphasized the fact that atheist extremists were often acting on behalf of local residents by creating grassroots groups, but the real masterminds preferred to remain in the dark.
The Moscow City authorities together with the Russian Orthodox Church are currently implementing the so called “Program-200” – a plan according to which 200 Orthodox churches must be erected throughout the capital in the next 10 to 15 years. Russian mass media estimated the overall budget of the program at about $1 billion and financing comes from a non-government fund. The authors of the program claimed that after it is implemented there will be a church for every 20,000 residents located 1 kilometer or less from residential areas.
http://rt.com/politics/atheist-extremism-russia-fight-789/