To be honest, I didn't closely follow the Synod with a magnifying glass. Here and there I read a thing or two, but mostly things were held in prayer. I'm not sharing this post to make any critiques because for one, I have not read the final synod document and nor am I in a position of some type of authority to critique it and make suggestions to it...for who am I? And two, I trust that the Holy Spirit is working through Pope Francis and that the Church will weather all storms. The Church will always remain and Her teachings will always be the same, even on marriage and family. This is the promise of Christ. I believe this. What we have seen happening (in my worthless opinion really, however, I know this is shared by others) is a way being paved for a clearer sifting of the filfth that has marred the beauty, truth, and motherliness of the Catholic Church. We must pray for our souls and the souls of others, for our bishops and priests that through this they will cling to the Church as she really is...not the false church of political correctness, false mercy, and the media which has played a huge role in distorting what's happening and is misleading souls. We need this sifting of the weeds from the wheat.
Anyways, my purpose in writing this is to do nothing but point us to our Lady.
We are in a time where more souls are being deceived by the lies of Satan than ever before. Our Blessed Mother in our Lady of Fatima (almost 100 years ago) warned us in her motherly love about how souls are falling into hell at an unprecedented rate (and this was 100 years ago!). ...Now look where we are today and the immoral and depraved culture we live in. Look at the confusion and sad division within the Catholic Church, the true Body and Bride of Christ. How grieved our Lord and our Lady are in these times!
I would like to share with you something I was given in prayer after last year's Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on matters pretaining to marriage and the family because in the end, all that we see before us should move us towards an ever deeper devotion to Jesus through Mary. This is something that has deeply impressed me and stuck with me since. It is something I refer to as a reminder of my duty as a Christian, even amidst the chaos and darkness of the world as it falls apart around us. This is something I shared with my spiritual director and he did confirm it that it was in line with the Church.
The image came to my head of me holding up the dead Body of Christ, who was just taken down from the Cross. I was holding our Lord in my arms, His dead, lifeless Body. It was bloody and bruised from all the scourges and abuses He endured from His Passion and death. His Sacred Head was resting in the crook of my right arm, and it was tilted back; His mouth was slightly open as if it had finally relaxed after a long, agonizing cry. I sat there and held His dead, lifeless Body, experiencing deep sadness. This is what I had realized what the Lord was speaking:
That in the dark times of the Church, those who will "hold up" the Body of Christ - the Church - will be those who are the most devoted and faithful servants of our Lady. It will be those who are fashioned in her image who will hold up the Church, the Body of Christ - by God's grace - in the trying times ahead. For who was it that first beheld and embraced the dead Body of our Lord in her arms? Who "held Him up"? Who was there? It was our Blessed Mother. She was Jesus' most faithful and perfect disciple - with Him to the end of His Passion, death, and burial - and present in His most perfect glory and joy. And did our Lady scream outrages during her Son's Passion and after His death and defame those who hurt him? Did she "seek out" those who had crucified Him? Does she do so even now, in her prophetic messages that are approved by the Church? No. There are times where our Blessed Mother, in her apparitions, has come to give humanity a stern warning if we do not repent of our ways. Yet she comes as a Mother, weeping in tears sometimes, calling for the conversion of her children - each of us. At our Lord's Passion, she wept at the scourges and abuse of her Son, remaining submissive to God's Will, and suffering out of love for her Son. She does the same for the Church, who is her Son’s Body, who is made up of her children. We should look to our Lady to model her actions: There were no outrages, no slanders spoken from her mouth at the crucifixion and death of her most Perfect and innocent Son. Yet she had every reason to speak thus. She did not criticize and over-analyze, yet she was perfectly aware of all she had seen unfolding before Her eyes. Are we arrogant to assume that we love Christ more than she does, thereby trying to justify our slanders, detraction, or gossip against those whom Christ has allowed a place of authority? What did the Blessed Mother do? Our Lady wept because she loved her Son so much and couldn't bear to see Him wounded, even more so when He came down from the Cross, dead. Our Lady brought all her pain directly to God.
When we see what has been happening in the Church, we need to realize this is not happening to some kind of static institution, but to Christ. The Catholic Church is the living Body of Christ. When the Church is persecuted, divided, and afflicted from within, it is being done to our Blessed Lord. Do we model our Lady in her ways, in dealing with the current conflict in the Church? Do we not realize that our own tears of sadness and compassionate suffering over the scourging of Christ's Body, the Church, will be a greatly meritorious penance in the eyes of God because it is done out of pure love and compassionate suffering? Or do we prefer to slander, speak ill, and accuse one "side" or the other? Would our dear Lady act like this?
It was our Lady who remained by Christ's Body after He was taken down from the Cross; it was our Lady who stood by He who is the Truth; it was our Lady whose true strength and valiant courage was found not in any outward aggression, but in her ability to "take within herself" all the sufferings of her Son as if she had endured them herself. We must strive to model this fidelity and this compassionate suffering for the sake of Christ's Body, the Church, as St. Paul invites us, and we must strive to stand firm by the Truth, offering tears of penance like our Blessed Mother.
Be Completely Given Over to Mary
It is becoming more clear that it is ever more important in these times to be the "slaves of Jesus through Mary," as St. Louis de Montfort said. We need to be completed devoted and faithful to Her. This is nothing new of course; it is only the same thing the saints through the ages and our Lady have been saying, with a particular emphasis in the latter times. But it is evermore important to give ourselves totally over to her because it is they, in the Church's darkest and most seemingly-despairing times we are in now and moreso ahead, who will hold up the Body of Christ.
In fact, St. Louis de Montfort has some very bold words to say about those who will be devoted to our Lady, especially towards the time of the great tribulation and trial of the Church and towards the end of the world. His words in his treatise True Devotion to Mary amaze me (I will quote from this throughout the post):
"..the greatest saints, those richest in grace and virtue will be the most assiduous in praying to the most Blessed Virgin, looking up to her as the perfect model to imitate and as a powerful helper to assist them.
I said that this will happen especially towards the end of the world, and indeed soon, because Almighty God and his holy Mother are to raise up great saints who will surpass in holiness most other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs. This has been revealed to a holy soul whose life has been written by M. de Renty.
These great souls filled with grace and zeal will be chosen to oppose the enemies of God who are raging on all sides. They will be exceptionally devoted to the Blessed Virgin. Illumined by her light, strengthened by her food, guided by her spirit, supported by her arm, sheltered under her protection, they will fight with one hand and build with the other. With one hand they will give battle, overthrowing and crushing heretics and their heresies, schismatics and their schisms, idolaters and their idolatries, sinners and their wickedness. With the other hand they will build the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God, namely, the Blessed Virgin, who is called by the Fathers of the Church the Temple of Solomon and the City of God . By word and example they will draw all men to a true devotion to her and though this will make many enemies, it will also bring about many victories and much glory to God alone. This is what God revealed to St. Vincent Ferrer, that outstanding apostle of his day, as he has amply shown in one of his works." (paragraphs #46-48)
Furthermore, during the times of tribulation and trial of the Church, where Holy Mother Church will be tested and purified (we see this in our times now) and toward the end times, all people will come to know our Lady's role in our salvation. The Lord desires that She will have a prominent role in confusing and deceitful times; he has revealed this over and over again to His saints of previous centuries. Although the sources I could draw from concerning this are vast, I will focus only on St. Louis de Montfort who is a saint known for his championed devotion to our Lady.
"The salvation of the world began through Mary and through her it must be accomplished..." (paragraph #49)
Then St. Louis de Montfort gives us 7 reasons why the Lord will exalt His Mother in this way:
1) God wishes to make Mary better known in the latter times.
God wishes therefore to reveal Mary, his masterpiece, and make her more known in these latter times:
(1) Because she kept herself hidden in this world and in her great humility considered herself lower than dust, having obtained from God, his apostles and evangelists the favour of being made known.
(2) Because, as Mary is not only God's masterpiece of glory in heaven, but also his masterpiece of grace on earth, he wishes to be glorified and praised because of her by those living upon earth.
(3) Since she is the dawn which precedes and discloses the Sun of Justice Jesus Christ, she must be known and acknowledged so that Jesus may be known and acknowledged.
(4) As she was the way by which Jesus first came to us, she will again be the way by which he will come to us the second time though not in the same manner.
(5) Since she is the sure means, the direct and immaculate way to Jesus and the perfect guide to him, it is through her that souls who are to shine forth in sanctity must find him. He who finds Mary finds life, that is, Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. But no one can find Mary who does not look for her. No one can look for her who does not know her, for no one seeks or desires something unknown. Mary then must be better known than ever for the deeper understanding and the greater glory of the Blessed Trinity.
(6) In these latter times Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, power and grace; in mercy, to bring back and welcome lovingly the poor sinners and wanderers who are to be converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power, to combat the enemies of God who will rise up menacingly to seduce and crush by promises and threats all those who oppose them; finally, she must shine forth in grace to inspire and support the valiant soldiers and loyal servants of Jesus Christ who are fighting for his cause.
(7) Lastly, Mary must become as terrible as an army in battle array to the devil and his followers, especially in these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little time - even less now than ever - to destroy souls, intensifies his efforts and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate to stir up savage persecutions and set treacherous snares for Mary's faithful servants and children whom he finds more difficult to overcome than others.
(Paragraphs #49-50)
Another reason that our Lady will be lifted up during these times is because She is the model for the Church. As then Cardinal Ratzinger said,
"In Mary, as figure and archetype, the Church again finds her own visage as Mother and cannot degenerate into the complexity of a party, an organization or a pressure group in the service of human interests, even the noblest. If Mary no longer finds a place in many theologies and ecclesiologies, the reason is obvious: they have reduced faith to an abstraction. And an abstraction does not need a Mother."
Mary is motherly model that the Church must look to and Mary is the model that those who make up the Church must look to.
Why Satan hates our Blessed Mother
St. Louis de Montfort tells us why this hatred toward the Blessed Mother is so strong:
God has established only one enmity - but it is an irreconcilable one - which will last and even go on increasing to the end of time. That enmity is between Mary, his worthy Mother, and the devil, between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and followers of Lucifer.
Thus the most fearful enemy that God has set up against the devil is Mary, his holy Mother. From the time of the earthly paradise, although she existed then only in his mind, he gave her such a hatred for his accursed enemy, such ingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the ancient serpent and such power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud rebel, that Satan fears her not only more than angels and men but in a certain sense more than God himself. This does not mean that the anger, hatred and power of God are not infinitely greater than the Blessed Virgin's, since her attributes are limited. It simply means that Satan, being so proud, suffers infinitely more in being vanquished and punished by a lowly and humble servant of God, for her humility humiliates him more than the power of God. Moreover, God has given Mary such great power over the evil spirits that, as they have often been forced unwillingly to admit through the lips of possessed persons, they fear one of her pleadings for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats more than all their other torments.
What Lucifer lost by pride Mary won by humility. What Eve ruined and lost by disobedience Mary saved by obedience. By obeying the serpent, Eve ruined her children as well as herself and delivered them up to him. Mary by her perfect fidelity to God saved her children with herself and consecrated them to his divine majesty.
(Paragraphs #51-53)
Of the saints Mary will raise up for the glory of God
These words are incredible to meditate on. Our Lady will do wondrous things through those most devoted to Her, especially in the latter times. They will appear as nothing special, but God's graces will be abudantly present in them.
But Mary's power over the evil spirits will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and her poor children whom she will rouse to fight against him. In the eyes of the world they will be little and poor and, like the heel, lowly in the eyes of all, down-trodden and crushed as is the heel by the other parts of the body. But in compensation for this they will be rich in God's graces, which will be abundantly bestowed on them by Mary. They will be great and exalted before God in holiness. They will be superior to all creatures by their great zeal and so strongly will they be supported by divine assistance that, in union with Mary, they will crush the head of Satan with their heel, that is, their humility, and bring victory to Jesus Christ.
(Paragraph #54)
Yes, let us be slaves of Jesus through Mary for the glorification of Holy Mother Church and our Lord Jesus Christ.