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BLESSED VIRGIN MARY- “WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN”‘

 

Invoke Mary’s help

 Locutions.Org

 Feb 20,2014

5. Come and Do Not Delay

The Prerogatives of the Woman  

 

Mary

All can see it clearly.  Revolutions and violence breaking out where formerly there was peace.  The problems are never solved.  No country is secure because Satan knows the weakness of each country.  He touches the raw nerve and the Achilles heel.  Unrest, protest, violence, deaths and destruction of a nation’s life follow.  The causes lie hidden until the violence breaks forth.  Only when it is too late do people see and understand.

Others say, “It cannot happen here.  Our country is safe.”  You only see the surface of reality.  Your foundations have long ago been weakened.  The hidden evil flows freely in the sewers beneath your streets, only waiting for the right moment to flow over.

By these words, I bring to light the evil that flows everywhere – in your banking systems, in your political life, in your schools, in your homes and in your hearts.  No natural answer exists for these evils.

The world needs a supernatural power which understands and can defeat these evils.  Yet, how many will turn to the supernatural?  The stakes are high and mounting.  I say this clearly.  The whole world is at stake.  Yes, all of earth is ready to be thrust into Satan’s fire.  He will not wait.  He sees that a complete and total victory is soon to be in his grasp.  Once that happens, he will not wait one moment.

For now, he rejoices in his partial victories (and they are everywhere).  However, soon partial victories will be as no victory at all to him, when he will be able to pull everything into his hell on earth.

I wait and I wait.  Only the Woman is a match for him.  I will fight him everywhere, even in hand to hand combat and I will always win.  He knows that and does all he can to delay my coming onto the world stage.  My entrance will be late and will happen through my beloved priest son.  Until then, all must invoke me.  Do not wait.  “O Woman clothed with the sun, come and do not delay”.  Say that often and I will come into your heart and into every situation.

Comment:  Our Lady’s warning and her promise are universal.  Everything will either be captured by Satan or by the Woman.

 

 

Our Lady of GuadalupeOUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

“Clothed With The Sun”

by James Leon Holmes

For our Protestant brothers and sisters who stand outside the flow of the great stream of Catholic devotion, no aspect of our faith is less understood and more criticized than our love for and devotion toward the Blessed Virgin. Speaking as one who has taken the plunge from the pier of Protestant piety into the great Catholic stream, I can say from personal experience that the Catholic devotion to Mary is the last aspect of Catholicism to be comprehended by the outsider, yet, to the Catholic, it is as natural and normal as the love of a child for his mother.

The desire which gives impulse to this little essay is that some vessel be constructed which can by God’s grace transport the genuine seeker toward a greater appreciation of Our Lady’s role in God’s plan of redemption.

A Great And Wondrous Sign

The genuine seeker wishing to comprehend Mary’s place in the plan of salvation can begin at no better place than the Twelfth Chapter of the book of Revelation, which describes a woman, an unnamed woman, but one whose place in the Divine Economy is described in the magnificent manner of the disciple whom Jesus loved writing under the inspiration of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.

The woman, we are told, is a semeion mega, a “great wonder” according to the King James translators, a “great sign” according to the NASB, or a “great and wondrous sign” according to the New International Version. She is signal, a miraculous signal, pointing beyond herself to something or someone else.

The Holy Scriptures are full of references to signs, from the opening chapter of the first book of the Bible, where it is reported that God created the lights in the heavens for signs, to the final book, where we are told again of signs. God gave Moses signs of his Divine commission (Ex. 4), as he gave signs to the apostles to authenticate their authority at the inception of the new dispensation (Acts 2:43). God gave to Moses and the apostles the capacity to perform miracles, and these miracles were tokens or marks by which their contemporaries could see that God authorized them to speak for him.

The woman, however, is a sign of a different nature and a different magnitude. We are not told that she performed a sign. Unlike Moses and the apostles who performed signs, she, herself, is a sign. Not only is she, in her person, a sign, she is a “great sign,” a “great and wondrous” sign.

If the Mosaic and Apostolic signs are inadequate to be true parallels to the woman who is a sign, we come closer to the mark when we recall the sign of God’s covenant with Noah and through him all flesh. God signified his promise to never again purge the earth of living creatures with a flood by setting his bow “in the cloud” (Gen. 9:13). The cloud, which once had been an instrument by which God had poured out his wrath on the earth, now is marked with the beautiful rainbow, a sign of God’s loving plan to preserve his unworthy creatures.

We are reminded that a woman had once been an instrument, not of God but of the serpent, by which destruction had been brought to all mankind. As the cloud was transformed from an instrument of death to a sign of God’s grace, so is the woman.

Clothed With The Sun

In every culture clothing is used not merely as a protective covering but, more importantly, as a means of expressing the personality, character, dignity and station in life of the wearer. This is especially true in the Scriptures, which mention clothing with an astonishing frequency. Joseph was distinguished from his brothers by his coat of many colors (Gen. 37). The Judaic priests were distinguished by their particular clothing (Lev. 8:7). Royal dignity is signified by the finest clothing (Ps. 45:13). John the Baptist, in contrast, wears the most uncomfortable clothing to symbolize his role as the one who proclaimed repentance for forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:6), and his so doing is in keeping with the age-old biblical tradition of tearing one’s clothes to express mortification.

God’s attributes are described as his clothing (Ps. 93:1; 104:1). Similarly, Christians are admonished to be clothed with humility (1 Pet. 5:5) and to put on Christ (Rom. 13:14). In a parable of the kingdom of God that seems quite odd to our modern mentality, Our Lord tells us that the person who attends the royal wedding without the proper attire will be summarily ejected (Matt. 22:11-13).

We must make another observation here. The woman of Rev. 12 appears near the close of God’s public revelation. She is described, as we will see in more detail later, against the backdrop of the biblical description of another woman, one who is described near the commencement of God’s word.

The Book of Genesis tells of the first woman. She was created innocent, and in her innocence she was naked but not ashamed. She lost her innocence through deliberate disobedience of God’s command. Her disobedience and that of her husband brought death to the world. God clothed her, but he clothed her in such a way as to signify her place as the authoress of death. God clothed her with the skin of dead animals.

The contrast between the two women is striking. One is innocent and therefore naked, then sinful and therefore clothed with death. The other is clothed with the sun. We may conclude that she transcends both sinfulness and innocence.

The sun was widely worshipped by pagans in the ancient world. In fact, Sunday was the day for worshipping the sun. Hence, first century Christians with a pagan background would have understood that the woman of Rev. 12 had somehow been clothed with attributes of divinity.

Indeed, Jewish Christians, steeped in the Old Testament, would have understood it the same way. One person in all of Scripture is described in a similar manner, God himself. Psalm 104 describes God as clothing himself “with light as a cloak.” In another place the Psalmist says that “the Lord God is a sun and a shield” (Ps. 84:11).

All Christians, when they read Rev. 12, should recall that when Our Lord was transfigured, his face shone like the sun (Matt. 17:2). When God revealed himself to St. Paul, he did so as a light brighter than the sun (Acts 26:13). In the last day, God’s righteous ones, those who have put on Christ and are admitted into the Father’s kingdom, will “shine forth as the sun” (Matt. 13:43).

We may conclude from all this, not that Our Lady is divine, but that she has in a remarkable way been given some divine attributes, that she has been made a partaker in the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). She has already been given the great gift that will be awarded to all the saints in the last day (Matt. 13:43).

The Queen Of Heaven

Our Lady is not only “clothed with the sun,” she has “the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Clearly, we are in the presence of a queen, a queen who is “in heaven” (Rev. 12:1). We are reminded of Joseph, whose dream that the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed to him foreshadowed the authority that was to be his (Gen. 37:9).

The moon “is frequently noticed as presaging events of the greatest importance, such as the Second Coming of Christ, through the temporary or permanent withdrawal of its light. (Isa. 13:10; Joel 2:31; Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24)” (Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Moody Press, 1966, p. 757). Scripture uses the phrase “under his feet” elsewhere to signify the ruler/ruled relationship, usually as a description of the authority of the Risen and Ascended Christ over his enemy and all things (Ps. 8:6; Ps. 110:1; 1 Cor. 15:27; Eph. 1:22). It may be stretching a bit, but one possible inference is that the woman in Rev. 12 has authority over the Second Coming of Christ. If that seems farfetched, recall that Our Lord’s first advent required her “be it done unto me”; his first miracle was at her initiative; and the coming of the Paraclete was linked to her intercession.

We note also that Scripture assigns to the sun the authority to rule over the day and to the moon the authority to rule over the night (Gen. 1:16). So, the woman “clothed with the sun” and with “the moon under her feet” may be one to whom God has given authority during both the day and the night.

She also has “on her head a crown of twelve stars.” The twelve stars may have reference to the twelve signs of the zodiac, but more likely the reference is to the twelve tribes of Israel and to the twelve apostles. The woman here is not only Queen of Heaven; she is the Queen of the Church in both the old and new dispensations. One woman comes to mind here: the one who was born under the old dispensation and gave birth to the son whose appearance marked the commencement of the new.

The Queen, The King And The Dragon

We come now to the heart of the passage, a great cosmic drama. The Queen is with child, she is in labor, and she cries out in pain. The hour of her travail precipitates a response. Another sign appears in heaven, this time an ominous one. A great red dragon appears. He stands before the woman, intending to devour her child when it is born. The passage does not tell us why. But we know.

We are seeing here the fulfillment of an age-old prophecy, first made when our parents thrust us all under a death sentence by choosing to follow the serpent rather than God. The vision here is from the perspective of eternity.

The serpent of old, who is identical to the dragon of Rev. 12, had deceived Eve. As a consequence, God told the serpent:

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
and you shall bruise him on the heel.
(Gen. 3:15)

Eve, of course, died without his prophecy being fulfilled in her person. There must needs be a second Eve, another woman who would have enmity with the serpent, and whose seed would bruise him on the head while being bruised on the heel.

The extraordinary part of the prophecy is the reference to “her seed.” In biblical physiology, it is man, not woman, who has “seed.” “Her seed” is a prediction of a child to be born without a father. The prophecy is reiterated by Isaiah: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel (God with us)” (Isa. 7:14). The virgin who bears a son is a sign from the Lord himself, a sign “in heaven.” Her child is “God with us.”

The fulfillment of the prophecy is recorded from the standpoint of time in the Gospels, and from the standpoint of heaven in Rev. 12. When Rev. 12 reports that the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that he might devour her child, we understand that this is the fulfillment of the prophecy of enmity between the woman and her seed, on the one hand, and the serpent on the other. The Scripture is explicit that the dragon is identical to the serpent of old, who is called the devil and satan, and who deceives the whole world (Rev. 12:9).

The child whom the dragon sought to devour is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron (Rev. 12:5). Unquestionably, the child is Jesus. We recall that Herod sought to murder Jesus at his birth; Satan sought to tempt him to sin in the wilderness; and the authorities executed Jesus at the age of thirty-three. These events constitute the dragon’s attempts to devour the child.

If Jesus is the child whom the dragon sought to devour in Rev. 12, it follows unavoidably that the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars, the great and wondrous sign, is the virgin mother of Jesus, Mary.

The Defeat Of The Dragon

We have seen that after the serpent had deceived Eve, God told the serpent that he would put enmity between “you and the woman” and between “your seed and her seed.” We have also seen how Rev. 12 describes the fulfillment of that prophecy.

The prophecy does not end with the foretelling of the enmity, nor does Rev. 12 conclude with the description of its fulfillment. “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” The serpent will not prevail in his enmity against the woman and her seed.

In the Gospels we see that the efforts to destroy Jesus by death and by temptation failed. Herod was unsuccessful in his effort to murder the infant Jesus. Satan could not induce Jesus to sin. Although the authorities executed Jesus, he rose again and ascended into heaven where he sat down at the Father’s right hand, which is the place of authority.

So, we are not surprised to read in Rev. 12 that “her child was caught up to God and his throne.” God protected the child so that the dragon was unable to devour him.

There is more. A war is fought in heaven. Michael and his angels overcome Satan and his angels, who are cast out of heaven and down to the earth.

Having been cast down to the earth, the dragon turns his attention to the woman who gave birth to the male child, and he persecutes her, in fulfillment of the prediction of enmity between “you and the woman.” Again, as with “her seed,” the dragon is unsuccessful.

And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth (Rev. 12:14-16).

The two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, so that she might fly into the wilderness to her place. The eagles’ wings signify the special help of God. When God freed the Israelites from Egypt and miraculously placed them beyond Egyptian power, he described his deliverance in similar language: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself” (Exod. 19:5). As God intervened on behalf of the Israelites to place them beyond the power of the Egyptians, so he intervenes on behalf of the woman to place her beyond Satan’s power.

We have seen before how Rev. 12 parallels the Gospels, and it does so again here. When Gabriel announced to Mary her special role in God’s place of redemption, he greeted her saying, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). When Mary was troubled, Gabriel reassured her, “You have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). The words translated “favored one” and “favor” are derived from the Greek word for grace, which is why the earliest Christian scholars translated these passages “Hail, full of grace,” and “You have found grace with God.”

Either way, the meaning is the same. Those whom God favors are the recipients of his grace. A “favored one” of God will be full of grace. Regardless of the translation, the angel greeted Mary with a unique title, a title given no other person in Scripture. When God established his Covenant with Abram, he gave him a new name, Abraham; when he established his covenant with Jacob, he gave him a new name, Israel; and when Jesus called Simon to be the head of the apostles, he gave him a new name, Peter or Rock. Just so, at the inception of the New Covenant, God gave Mary a unique title, “You who are highly favored” in the NIV rendition, or “full of grace.”

Rev. 12 reveals to us the meaning of this title. Not only is Mary the Mother of God, she is placed by God’s special protection beyond the power of Satan. As Jesus was beyond Satan’s power, so is his Mother.

The two wings of the great eagle take her “into the wilderness to her place.” “Her place” is the place in the wilderness “prepared by God” (Rev. 12:6). The woman is in heaven; she is taken into the wilderness; and she goes to a place prepared for her by God. The wilderness is the place to which God took the Israelites when he brought them out of Egypt but before he admitted them to the promised land. Though they were in the wilderness and not the promised land, still God had brought them to Himself (Exod. 19:4).

The wilderness is also the place where Jesus went to be tempted by Satan. As the angels ministered to Jesus following the temptations, so the woman is nourished in the wilderness.

Not only is she in the wilderness, the woman is in a place prepared for her by God. We are reminded that on the eve of his death, Jesus promised his disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).

It is a puzzling array of places. The woman is in heaven. She is also in the wilderness, the place of temptation; yet, she is in a place prepared for her by God. She is beyond Satan’s power. Her occupancy of this unique place lasts for one thousand two hundred and sixty days (Rev. 12:6) or “a time and times and half a time” (Rev. 12:14). During this period of time she is nourished and kept from the face of the serpent. “A time and times and half a time” signifies the duration of Satan’s war against God’s people (Dan. 7:25; Dan. 12:7; Rev. 13:5). Hence, the woman is protected from the power of Satan throughout the duration of his war on earth.

Satan’s power brings two things: sin and death. That Jesus was beyond Satan’s power is demonstrated by his sinlessness and his victory over death. If the woman is protected from Satan for “a time and times and half a time,” then she, too, is free from sin and is victorious over death. She is, indeed, highly favored or full of grace.

The woman’s place, however, is more anomalous than that of her child, who “was caught up to God and to his throne.” Though she is in heaven and in a place prepared by Gad, still she is in the wilderness, the place of temptation. She is in the place of temptation, yet beyond temptation.

Not only does God favor her with his special protection, so does the earth. The serpent attempted to destroy the woman with a flood, but the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river that poured from the dragon’s mouth (Rev. 12:15,16). The earth is on the woman’s side.

This represents a reversal of the curse that resulted from the sin of Adam and Eve. God had said to Adam:

Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you,
And you shall eat of the plants of the field;
By the sweat of your face
You shall eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return
(Gen. 1:17-20).

Eve had been in a garden prepared by God. A fallen angel spoke to her, she believed that fallen angel, and she ate forbidden fruit, along with her husband. As a result the ground was cursed and would no longer cooperate in providing food. The angel Gabriel spoke to Mary. Mary believed Gabriel’s message and gave birth to the Savior. As a result she goes to a place prepared for her by God in the wilderness where she is nourished by God. The earth cooperates with her, protects her. “And the dragon was enraged with the woman” (Rev. 12:17).

Our Mother

Because he was enraged with the woman, the dragon went off “to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 12:17). “Her offspring” is, in the Greek, ton spermatos autas, “her sperm” or “her seed.” “The rest of her seed” refers to those in addition to the male child, Jesus, and they are identified as those “who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” The author takes pains to remind us again that the woman of Rev. 12 is the second Eve, the one in whom the prophecies of Gen. 3 are fulfilled.

The author is also providing a gloss on the famous comment of Jesus regarding his mother and brothers and sisters in Matt. 12:46-50. While speaking to the multitudes, Jesus was told that his mother and brothers were outside.

But he answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward his disciples, He said, “Behold, my mother and My brothers! For whoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

The family of Jesus consists of those who do the will of Jesus’s Father. It follows logically that the mother of Jesus is also the mother of his brothers and sisters. Our author does not leave it to us to draw that conclusion. He tells us explicitly, those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus have the mother of Jesus as their mother.

It is worth noting here that the Book of Revelation was written by St. John the Apostle, the one whom Jesus loved, the last person to whom Jesus spoke before he died on the cross. Jesus saw his mother “and the disciple whom he loved.” He said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” To John he said, “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26-27). From that hour John took her into his home.

The directives of Jesus to his disciples are commonly accepted as being directions to Christians in all ages. When, for example, he said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” and to his disciples, “Go into all the world and make disciples . . . ,” we understand that his statements have universal application and are not limited to the particular individuals before Jesus at the time and place the remarks were made. So, too, as John makes clear in Rev. 12:17, when Jesus said to John, “Behold, your mother,” he was speaking to all Christians in all ages. All who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus should imitate John and take her into their homes.

Eve was the mother of all the living (Gen. 3:20). Mary, the second Eve, is the mother of all who have eternal life.

Hail Mary

The premise of this little collection of reflections is a very simple one. Since the male child in Rev. 12 is Jesus, the mother of the male child in Rev. 12 is the mother of Jesus, Mary. The great Catholic devotion to Mary is rooted in a straightforward acceptance of this beautiful passage of Scripture at face value.

While this observation may be surprising to some, it should not be. Most of the Catholic distinctives that are criticized by our Evangelical brothers are rooted in taking Scripture at face value. “Unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:5). “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves” (John 6:53). “This is my body which is given for you” (Luke 22:19). “All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death” (Rom. 6:3). “Baptism now saves you” (1 Pet. 3:21). “You are Peter (the rock) and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not overpower it” (Matt. 16:18). “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained” (John 20:23).

As we believe that these passages mean just what they say, so also we believe that the Mother of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke is also the Mother of Jesus in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation.

She is protected from the power of Satan for the entire duration of his war against humanity, and so she is free from sin and the corruption of death. We recognize her authority, because she is clothed with the sun, the moon is under her feet, and she wears on her head a crown of twelve stars. She is the Queen of Heaven. She is the mother of those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Though she is beyond the power of Satan, still she is with us in the wilderness, the place of temptation, the place between the slavery of Egypt and the promised land. So, like a good mother, she can come to our aid. Though she is Queen of Heaven, she is still with us, and she can speak to us. She is a sign, a great and wondrous sign, pointing to her Son, telling us to do whatever he says.

As God has honored her and continues to honor her, so do we. We, like all generations, call her blessed. Hail, Mary!

Dr. James Leon Holmes is a lawyer in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has a Ph.D. in political science from Duke University and formerly was a tutor at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif. He, his wife and his five children were received into the Church in 1989. This is his first article in HPR.

 

 

 

 

 

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FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

 Divine Mercy #1

The Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday is prominent worldwide.

On This Feast of Divine Mercy, April 27, The Canonization of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII lend special significance in 2014

 

pOPE jOHN pAUL II AND pOPE jOHN XXIII

This year the devotion will get more international attention as the canonization Mass for Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. April 27. Pilgrims are expected to begin filling St. Peter’s Square early in the morning and will have an opportunity to participate in the recitation of the Divine Mercy chaplet, a series of prayers focusing on the gifts of God’s mercy, especially shown through the passion of Christ. Pope John Paul decided in 2000 to put the devotion on the Church’s universal calendar the Sunday after Easter. Presiding over the first universal observance of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2001, Pope John Paul quoted from his 1980 encyclical “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”): The cross and resurrection of Christ speak and never cease “to speak of God the Father, who is absolutely faithful to his eternal love for man … believing in this love means believing in mercy.” Meeting in March with priests from the Diocese of Rome, Pope Francis said one of the greatest inspirations of Pope John Paul was his intuition that “this was a time for mercy.” St. Faustina Kowalska is the Polish nun who promoted the Divine Mercy devotion and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000. The devotion began in the late 1930s by St. Faustina, who had a vision of Jesus where he asked for devotions to divine mercy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://luisapiccarreta.com/feast-of-divine-mercy/

ADRIANA PALLOTTI FOUNDER OF THE “HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR THE KINGDOM OF THE DIVINE WILL”

 

Adriana Pallotti

 ADRIANA PALLOTTI

 Adriana Pallotti is a wonderful lady who lives in San Giovanni Rotondo (Foggia – Italy), where she founded the “House of Prayer for the Kingdom of the Divine Will”. She is originally from Modena (Northern Italy), but she moved to San Giovanni Rotondo many years ago, “..to live close to Padre Pio..”, as she says. Padre Pio, then, became her Confessor and Spiritual Director.

In San Giovanni Rotondo, she attended the Cenacles of Federico Abresch on the Divine Will, when Luisa was still alive.

During the 40’s, Federico Abresch became a close friend and disciple of Luisa. He used to visit her house and learn,

directly from her and from her manuscripts, of the Sublime Truths of Living in the Divine Will. He also exchanged

frequent correspondence with Luisa. Federico Abresch, a Franciscan Tertiary. Complying with wishes of Padre Pio of

Pietrelcina, he was the first apostle of the Divine Will in S. Giovanni Rotondo and did much to spread Luisa Piccarreta’s

In the following interview, made in 1994 on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Transit into Heaven of Luisa

Piccarreta, Miss Adriana Pallotti gives clear testimony on the fact that Padre Pio knew and loved Luisa and her Writings.

She also gives wonderful testimony on the conversion of Federico Abresch through Padre Pio, on the First “Divine Will”

Cenacle in the San Giovanni Rotondo, and on direct and specific comments of Padre Pio regarding the spreading of the

writings of Luisa.

In San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy with Padre Bucci

  

Andriana Pallotti with Fr. Bucci

Interview with Andriana Pallotti at San Giovanni Rotondo – Foggia – Italy

Legenda:

Interviewer = I Adriana Pallotti = AP 

I – Well. Adriana, we are very happy to have you with us today, to witness to the world, which is getting to know Luisa.

We know that you are very important in this process, since you have been one of the first and most persevering persons to

spread this message, so important for the world. We would like to hear from you a little bit about your story. Let’s start

from the beginning, when you came here to San Giovanni Rotondo. How did you begin your growth under the guidance

of Padre Pio, and then, your first meetings with Federico Abresch?

AP – I came to live here, in San Giovanni Rotondo in 1945, when I heard from some friends that here there was a saint, so

great, so holy, and with the stigmata. I decided to leave the house of my father and all my things to come here, to live in

poverty close to Padre Pio. After a few years, I met Federico Abresch, who was a German man, converted by Padre Pio.

He had come to live in San Giovanni.

2

I – Wasn’t Federico a doctor, from Bologna?

AP – No. Federico was a photographer, who had established his laboratory in Bologna.

I – …And how did he arrive here?

AP – He was here because a friend of his invited him to come and visit this great saint. He didn’t know him, but he came

out of curiosity. As soon as his eyes met the eyes of Padre Pio, his heart was touched and he felt the desire to kneel at

Padre Pio’s feet. And Padre Pio told him: ‘What are you doing here after so many years without going to Confession?!’

He said: ‘Father, please help me!’

And Padre Pio: ‘Start from your last Confession!… No, I don’t mean this confession now… I mean from your last

Confession before you got married!’ So he started his new Confession and then, touched by the words of Padre Pio, he

was converted. After his conversion, he started to go around in search for spiritual things and beautiful souls. He heard

that there was a saint in Corato, bedridden for 70 years, so he went to visit this soul, who began to talk to him about

beautiful spiritual things on the Divine Will. He was very touched, and continued to visit Luisa with the permission of

Padre Pio. Luisa continued to talk to him about living in the Divine Will, and he wrote notes.

Sometimes, he saw her when she received the stigmata. One day, he was visiting Luisa and saw her bed shaking. He

asked: ‘What’s happening?’ And Luisa said: ‘I suffer, I suffer! – but gladly!’ She was suffering the Passion of Jesus.

Abresch went to her very often, also with his little son Pio, who was three years old. He asked: ‘So, what are we going to

do with this little boy… a Priest?’ And Luisa said: ‘Eh, eh, let’s pray.’ In fact, Pio became a priest and now he is in the

Vatican. Abresch always continued to go to her. He learned from her diaries, which she wrote at night. He would copy

them and then return them to Luisa. We learned this spirituality from him, since he always continued to keep these

I – So he started his first little cenacles…

AP – Yes, at night we used to go and listen to his talks about Luisa. We were enthusiastic! I couldn’t wait to go there,

every Saturday night. We were about 5 or 6. He spoke every week for one hour and a half, but we never wanted him to

stop, so much we loved this spirituality! It was about to give our human will to God, and to receive His Will in exchange,

so as to become divinized… In hearing this, we felt that we had found Paradise on earth! We were enthusiastic, and Padre

Pio was happy too.

Once I asked Padre Pio: ‘Father, is it good for me to listen, write and print the writings of Luisa Piccarreta? And he said:

‘Yes! Repeat it!’ So, I asked again: ‘Father, can I give some money to Andrea Magnifico to buy the equipment to print the

books of Luisa? And he again: ‘Yes!!!’ So I understood that it was really the Will of God to have the writings

printed…and we did it.

I – In which year did Federico start these conferences?

AP – Before I came, in 1945, he had already started with another group.

I – So, Luisa was still alive…

AP – ….yes, Luisa was still living.

I – …so, you started during the 50’s…

AP – …Yes, I started from the 50’s to talk about Luisa in my home to my guests. All were enthusiastic about this

spirituality of the Divine Will…

I – Who were some of the other souls?…You and who else?..

3

AP – There was a certain Giulietta Marchi from Bologna…She was very happy… Jesus spoke to this beautiful soul… She

died all of a sudden, after many years in which we were going together to Abresch. Before dying she told me: ‘Adriana,

you must get some tapes and record all that Abresch says, because in the future you will have to talk about this

spirituality…. The Lord wants this, because He wants to free us from the misery of the human will, in order for us to live

in a divine manner!…

I – Tell us about Andrea. When did you meet him?

AP – Andrea Magnifico from Milan came to my home to “change air.” I told him that we were going to listen to Abresch

who spoke about the spirituality of a certain Luisa from Corato, who lived in bed for many years…. and that the

spirituality that Jesus taught to Luisa was so sublime and so great that we felt that were living in Heaven,.. no longer on

earth! He said: ‘I want to come and listen’ And after he came he said: ‘Oh Finally! I had asked St. Joseph to let me know

if there was something, in the spiritual life, much greater than the things I knew…. And here it is! St. Joseph is now letting

me discover this great novelty….much greater than anything else

I – …So he started to make copies of the books…

AP – Yes, he started with photocopies, which we gave to many people… and we started to distribute them also to Priests

and others. Many souls followed them and were very happy about these spiritual lessons which Jesus had given to Luisa,

and which – through Luisa – we were able to know.

I – Are there other things that – as you remember – Padre Pio said about the DivineWill? Did you talk with Padre Pio

about Luisa?

AP – Yes, I asked him if it was a good thing to get a recorder in order to tape the writings of Luisa….and I went to Milan

to buy a recorder, because here I couldn’t find a good one… I asked him and he said: ‘Yes!!!’ After this other positive

answer…I went to Milan to get it.

I – …So he was aware of this…

AP – Yes, yes, yes, very much… Even more, among the young people who came to Abresch to listen to the lessons on the

Divine Will, one of them told us that he went to Confession to Padre Pio, asking him: ‘Father, is it true that the Blessed

Mother is Great not because She has been the Mother of God,.. for her virginity…her being Immaculate, but because – as

Luisa says in the writings – She never did Her human will, but only and exclusively the Will of God?’ Padre Pio

answered: ‘Yes, my son, this is the truth! This is the truth!’ And he continued: ‘Father, allow me to ask you one more

thing. Is it true that Jesus would have remained on the Cross even till the end of the world in order to save the humanity?…

And that His Cross is long as much as the centuries, and large as much as humanity?’ And Padre Pio: ‘Yes, my son, this is

the truth! This is the truth!’ And he said: ‘Father, please, can we hug each other?’ And they hugged.

I – Adriana, you have been reading about this spirituality, teaching it to many people, for years. What does this spirituality

of Luisa mean to you?

AP – It means that as we give to the Lord our own will, and we no longer use it, receiving His Will in exchange, we feel

such an interior peace that we are able to bear things that, humanly speaking, we were not able to suffer. But with His

Divine Will, the Lord gives us His Power, His Divine Power…His Creative Power.

I – He says that these writings will renew the face of the earth…

AP – …we will live on earth as the Blessed in Heaven…. It is the fulfillment of the Our Father!

I – …so, in you opinion, this is the future of the Church…

AP – Yes, in the writings of Luisa it is said that when the Church will possess them, there will be a fire within the

Church… It will be that same fire which the Gospel talks about: ‘They came to bring the fire on earth. Oh, how I wish that

it could be already burning…’ This is the fire of the Divine Will!!!

4

I – …and do you think that Luisa herself is important in this? I mean, is it possible for people to know the Divine Will

without knowing Luisa?

AP – The two things go together!

I – Is Luisa a saint?

AP – … remaining in bed for all those years, writing all these things…Of course!! We know from Abresch, who knew

Luisa personally, that Jesus Himself called her “My Divine Luisa… I exalted her up to the highest Seraphim”

I – Will she be Canonized, in your opinion?

AP – It might be that the Lord does not need this, since He is already glorified if we live this spirituality. If we do it, this is

His Glory! But it is up to us to live this spirituality…so that It may open its ways. In this way Luisa is “ipso facto” (by

fact) a Saint!

I – Well. Is there anything else you would like to tell us? What would be your advice to someone who has just heard about

the Divine Will for the first time?

AP – If these souls have sufferings, problems and many other things, they can say the Lord: ‘Lord, I can do nothing, but I

know that You can do everything. Take my will, and come to act in me,…to work, to walk, to breathe, to suffer in me…’

As we empty ourselves and let Him do, our lives become more simple,… and perfect. It will be easier to proceed along

the path of this life.

I – Are you happy to have known this spirituality?

AP – It has been the greatest grace I have received on this earth. Even greater than knowing Padre Pio, who has been a

great Confessor and Spiritual Director,… But with this spirituality we become divinized. We find this also in the Gospel,

but Jesus teaches this to Luisa with many examples, which make it easy and attractive. This is the greatest grace for us,

which allows us to bear and suffer things that we could not bear before; but with the suffering of Jesus within us,

everything becomes easy!

I – Very well Adriana. May God bless you always. Thank you.

AP – Thank you.

I – Adriana, do you know whether Padre Pio did ever read any of the writings of Luisa?

AP – One lady who went to Confession to Padre Pio told him that she had read the Hours of the Passion. Padre Pio said: ‘I

read it four times! Oh, how beautiful! And now, another one is about to come out – about the Blessed Virgin in the

Kingdom. Oh, how beautiful that one too!’ So, Padre Pio was aware of everything that came from Luisa’s hands.

I – Is it possible that he was reading the Hour of the Passion when he received the stigmata?

AP – It is possible. It is said that they found a “pool of his tears” on the floor of the Chapel, when he meditated on the

I – Adriana, do you know whether any vocations matured from the conferences of Federico Abresch?

P – Yes, many vocations! For example there was a young lady, who left her boyfriend to become a cloistered nun. When

Padre Pio told her that those things were the truth, she said: ‘So, what am I doing here in the world? I want to be in a

Convent and lead a cloistered life.’ So she went and died in the Convent. Also, other young people, when they heard

Abresch talking about this spirituality – which is living on earth as the Saints and the Blessed live in Heaven – decided to

become priests or monks…. Yes, listening to Abresch… saying that, as we exchange our miserable human will, which is

only capable of evil, with the Divine Will, we start living in a divine way, and our acts become like shining suns…like

stars…divine things! So they said: ‘What are doing in the world? We’d rather spend our lives thinking about these

things!!’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THOMAS VANDERWOUDE’S STORY OF A FATHER’S SELF SACRIFICING LOVE

This Priest Was Called To Comfort A Family That Lost Their Father. It Was His Own Dad.

April 17, 2014

Thomas VanderWoude sacrificed his life to save his son, the priest’s youngest brother, who has Down syndrome, after he fell into a septic tank on the family’s farm.

But what his children have to say about their dad, and how he lived his life every single day, will leave you with tears in your eyes, and a desire to live more like him. According to them, the way he died was just in keeping with the way he lived: for others, and not himself. 

Let’s honor Thomas Vanderwoude by spreading his story far and wide. 

Father of priest behind Down syndrome adoption story died while saving Down syndrome son

by John Stonestreet

  • Tue Jul 23, 2013 11:20 ESTEarlier this month, Fr. Vander Woude got wind of a young couple in another state whose unborn child had been diagnosed with Down syndrome. The couple made the decision close to ninety percent of parents in their shoes make—to abort their special needs baby. Because the pregnancy was almost six months along, they had just days before the legal cutoff for abortions in their state. But Father Vander Woude had other ideas.The next morning, the calls and emails began—over 900, in fact—some from as far away as England and The Netherlands, ready to make the life-changing decision to adopt a special needs child. As the torrent subsided, three of the families were placed in contact with the expectant parents and an adoption agency for interviews.You would think this outpouring of love and acceptance for a child nine out of ten American couples consider unworthy of life would impress pro-choicers—especially those who repeat the tired accusation that pro-lifers care only about children in the womb, not after they’re born.“[A]nti-abortion folks,” she cedes, “care more about fetuses with fairytale narratives than actual babies.”But this particular accusation that Father Vander Woude and his Twitter followers care nothing about older children with Down syndrome rings especially hollow. You see, this priest isn’t the first person in his own family to snatch a victim of Down syndrome from certain death.It seems Fr. Vander Woude, who officiated his dad’s funeral, inherited a pro-life view that is not just intellectually true, but one of action. His father would be proud.This story also reveals how we might hope to return what Pope Benedict called a “culture of death” to a “culture of life.” It requires doing and saying. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote to his former seminarians, “Not in the flight of ideas, but only in action is freedom. Make up your mind and come out into the tempest of the living.” by LifeSiteNews.com

  • Man Drowns Saving Son with Down Syndrome

  • Fr. Vander Woude and his father have both given some of those with “fairy tale narratives” a chance at a real happy ending.

  • The groundswell of families who responded to this plea for adoption are putting feet to their pro-life views, while at the same time showing how wildly out-of-touch with reality abortion apologists have become.

  • His father, Thomas, Sr., died in 2008 after leaping into a septic tank to save his youngest son, Joseph, who had fallen in. According to sources at the time, Thomas, 66, allowed himself to sink beneath the sewage while holding 20-year-old Joseph above his head until rescuers arrived. Joseph has Down syndrome. His father died so that his special needs son would live.

  • Folks, these charges are simply ridiculous, especially now that pregnancy care centers designed to offer help and create options for women and children in crisis outnumber abortion clinics in the United States almost 2-to-1, and with so many families lining up to adopt.

  • Well, I’m sad to say pro-abortion activists at the blog Jezebel wasted no time in heaping scorn on Father Vander Woude and the hundreds who responded to his call. One Jezebel blogger accused him of pressuring this woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy by “crowdsourcing an adoptive family.”

  • Tom Vander Woude Sr. died while saving his son, who has Down syndrome.

  • He contacted the parents and convinced them to hold off just a little longer, while he and a volunteer sent messages via the church’s social network accounts, pleading for a family willing to adopt the baby and save its life.

  • July 23, 2013 (Breakpoint) – Fr. Thomas Vander Woude, pastor at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville, Virginia, has a special place in his heart for children born with Down syndrome. His recent parish campaign to save one such life grabbed headlines. But to understand this story, and why these children are so special to Fr. Vander Woude, you need to know another story. This one blew me away.

  • Fri Sep 12, 2008 11:15 EST

  • By Kathleen Gilbert

  • 66-year-old Thomas VanderWoude and his 20-year-old son Joseph, who has Down syndrome and who is the youngest of seven sons, were working in their yard in Nokesville, VA when Joseph fell through a septic tank cover that had suddenly collapsed.  VanderWoude immediately jumped in after his son and managed to hold his son’s head above the surface, saving his life. VanderWoude’s son Joseph was in critical condition at Prince William hospital as he fought infection for several days, but recently began to improve.A retired Navy pilot and Vietnam veteran who was still “in great shape,” VanderWoude coached basketball and soccer at Seton School in Manassas and, until recently, when one of his sons took over the job, served as athletic director at Christendom College in Front Royal.  Anne Carroll, Director of Seton School and longtime friend of the VanderWoudes, said the sacrifice Tom made for his son matched his reputation for generosity.  President of Christendom College Dr. Timothy O’Donnell attributed the bravery of VanderWoude, a Catholic who attended Mass daily, in part to his intense faith.  In an interview with LifeSiteNews O’Donnell recalled the gospel reading of the day following the incident to explain how VanderWoude’s extraordinary sacrifice was entirely of a piece with his vibrant faith.  The gospel recounted the names of the twelve Apostles whom, O’Donnell says, the world remembers today precisely “because they gave their life for Jesus Christ.”Friends say that father and son had always been very close.  “They really were inseparable,” noted O’Donnell.”Oftentimes I would see these two, walking and talking as if there were nothing else in the world. I noticed his face was lit up each time his son was rattling about his thoughts. He loved his son dearly.”

  • To donate to Thomas VanderWoude’s memorial fund to help wife Mrs. Mary Ellen VanderWoude and son Joseph, send checks made out to the “VanderWoude Trust Fund” to:

  • Holy Trinity Parish

  • 8213 Linton Hall Raod

  • Gainesville, VA 20155

 

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FEAST OF EASTER

Feast of Easter

  TRANSFIGUARATION

 

 From the Writings ofThe Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta

The Little Daughter of the Divine Will

 

 The Resurrection is the Confirmation of the Fiat Voluntas Tua on earth as It is in Heaven.

 

 From :  The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will

 Day Twenty-nine

The Queen of Heaven in the Kingdom of the Divine Will. The Hour of the Triumph. Apparitions of Jesus. The Fugitives cling to the Virgin as the Ark of Salvation and of Forgiveness. Jesus departs for Heaven.

 

The soul to her Mother Queen:

Admirable Mother, here I come to You again, on your maternal knees, to unite myself with You in the feast and triumph of the Resurrection of our dear Jesus. How beautiful is your appearance today! – all loveliness, all sweetness, all joy. I seem to see You risen together with Jesus. O please! O holy Mama, in so much joy and triumph, do not forget your child! Rather, enclose the seed of the Resurrection of Jesus in my soul, so that, by virtue of It, I may rise again fully in the Divine Will, and live always united with You and with my sweet Jesus.

Lesson of the Queen of Heaven:

Blessed child of my Maternal Heart, great was my joy and my triumph in the Resurrection of my Son; I felt reborn and risen again in Him. All of my sorrows changed into joys and into seas of graces, of light, of love, of forgiveness for creatures, and laid my Maternity over all my children, given to Me by Jesus, with the seal of my sorrows.

Now, listen to Me, dear child. You must know that after the death of my Son I withdrew in the cenacle, together with beloved John and Magdalene. But my Heart was pierced because only John was near Me, and in my sorrow I said: “And the other apostles…where are they?”

But as they heard that Jesus had died, touched by special graces, all moved and weeping, the fugitives drew around Me, one by one, surrounding Me like a crown; and with tears and sighs, they asked for my forgiveness for having so cravenly abandoned their Master, and having run away from Him. I welcomed them maternally in the ark of refuge and salvation of my Heart; I assured them of the forgiveness of my Son, and I encouraged them not to fear. I said to them that their destiny was in my hands, because He had given them all to Me as my children, and I recognized them as such.

Blessed child, you know that I was present at the Resurrection of my Son. But I did not say a word to anyone, waiting for Jesus Himself to manifest Himself as risen, gloriously and triumphantly. The first one to see Him risen was the fortunate Magdalene; then the pious women. All came to Me telling Me that they had seen Jesus risen, and that the sepulcher was empty; and I listened to all, and with an air of triumph I confirmed all in the faith in the Resurrection. By evening, almost all of the apostles had seen Him, and all felt as though triumphant at having been the apostles of Jesus. What change of scene, dear child! – symbol of those who have first let themselves be dominated by the human will, represented by the apostles who run away, abandoning their Master; and their fear and fright is such that they hide, and Peter reaches the point of denying Him. Oh, if they had been dominated by the Divine Will, they would never have run away from their Master, but, courageous and triumphant, would never have departed from His side, and would have felt honored to lay down their lives to defend Him.

Now, dear child, my beloved Son Jesus remained forty days, risen, on earth. Very often He appeared to His apostles and disciples to confirm them in the faith and certainty of His Resurrection; and when He was not with the apostles, He was with His Mama in the cenacle, surrounded by the souls who had come out of Limbo. But as the forty days ended, Jesus instructed the apostles, and leaving His Mama as their guide and Teacher, He promised us the descent of the Holy Spirit. Then, blessing us all, He departed, taking flight for the vault of the heavens, together with that great crowd of people who had come out of Limbo. All those who were there, and they were a great number, saw Him ascend; but as He went up high, a cloud of light removed Him from their sight.

Now, my child, your Mama followed Him into Heaven, and was present at the great feast of the Ascension. More so, since the Celestial Fatherland was not foreign to Me; and then, the feast of my Son, ascended into Heaven, would not have been complete without Me.

Now a little word to you, dearest child. Everything you have heard and admired has been nothing other than the power of the Divine Will operating in Me and in my Son. This is why I so much love to enclose in you the life of the Divine Will – and operating life – because everyone has It, but the majority of them keep It suffocated and in their service. And while It could operate prodigies of sanctity, of grace, and works worthy of Its power, It is forced by the creatures to remain with folded arms, unable to carry out Its power. Therefore, be attentive, and let the Heaven of the Divine Will extend within you and operate, with Its power, whatever It wants and however It wants.

The soul:

Most holy Mama, your beautiful lessons enrapture me, and – oh, how I wish and sigh for the operating life of the Divine Will in my soul! I too want to be inseparable from my Jesus and from You, my Mama. But to be sure of this, You must take on the commitment to keep my will enclosed in your maternal Heart; and even if You should see that it costs me much, You must never give it to me. Only then will I be certain; otherwise, it will always be words, but I will never do facts. Therefore, your child commends herself to You, and hopes for everything from You.

Little Sacrifice:

Today, to honor Me, you will make three genuflections in the act in which my Son ascended into Heaven, and you will pray Him to make you ascend in the Divine Will.

Ejaculatory Prayer:

My Mama, with your power, triumph in my soul, and make me be reborn in the Will of God.

 

 

 

 

 

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