In John 19 the "beloved disciple" is given Mary as his Mother. In Marian devotion and in Marian appearances throughout history we see this portrait come to life. The fundamental theme of Marian devotion is of going "to Jesus through Mary". "Do whatever he tells you" is her constant encouragement.
Of course, anyone could try to "go" to Jesus alone - but how much easier and how much safer it is to have the guidance of someone who is experienced and who loves him with a mother's tenderness. This is all that is involved in going to Jesus through Mary. Apostles, missionaries, preachers, theologians, writers, parents, and the Church brought us to Jesus. God chose to act through human beings. These human beings were pathways to Him not obstacles. So it is with Mary. With Mary as our model, teacher and guide Mary we become more and more like Jesus. She is acting as our Mother trying to make us more like her divine Son.
Many can help us know about Mary. But knowing about Mary is only a stepping-stone to knowing Mary. And knowing Mary is immeasurably more important than knowing about Mary since she takes us right to Jesus. So it is time to take the plunge.
She loves us like she loves Jesus and we should love her like Jesus loves her. She is the only human person who did not give in to the greatest Adversary of God ("our tainted race's solitary boast" said the poet William Wordsworth).
Christianity is based on Epiphany (manifestation of God): the partial and visual disclosure of the Trinity in Jesus Christ, the Spirit and the Church. In apparitions God makes himself visible to us in a mediated way, as for example in Mary. Apparitions are private revelations. As recognized by the Church, they offer support and encouragement for our spiritual life. We do not have to believe in apparitions. They do not have a binding character.
"The increase in reports of apparitions may suggest that there is a spiritual hunger that goes beyond institutional churches. There's a need for the mystery to be put back in people's lives. Apparitions may be one of God's many answers to these needs." Apparitions remind us that Christianity is a religious tradition based on mediation.
There is no recorded literature about apparitions for the early centuries of the Church. The first attestations of Marian apparitions are from the fourth century. Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century recorded that Gregory the Wonder worker (213-270 A.D.) as the first beneficiary of a Marian apparition. The two most interesting cases from the middle Ages are the seers at the Cistercian Monastery of Helfta (13th century) and the visions of St. Bridget of Sweden (who lived 1303-1373). During the sixteenth century, apparitions had a public character and were intended to "re-animate faith" and to "surmount the world's crises" (Laurentin 88). The most significant case is Guadalupe (1531) which gave "birth to a new church on a new continent" (Laurentin 88).
We have also have apparitions at Lourdes: Immaculate Conception; at La Salette: Our Lady of Sorrows; at Fatima: Our Lady of the Rosary and in Velankanni, India.: Our Lady of Good Health. The later has also found a place in the National Shrine at Washington. VAILANKANNI the home of the Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health is situated on the East Coast of India, some 350 kms to the South of Chennai [Madras].
Three apparitions took place intermittently since the 16th Century at Vailankanni. The foremost incident is the Apparition of Our Lady, to a shepherd boy, carrying milk to his master at Nagapattinam. Overcome by fatigue, the boy fell into an unusual slumber, only to be startled by the sweet vision of a most graceful Lady of exquisite beauty, holding her most charming child of divine appearance. The Lady asked of him some milk for her child. Filled with reverence and awe, the boy offered milk. The heavenly smile of the Child and Mother was the only message. To the surprise of the impatient master and all present, the milk began to surge over the pot and flow out. And on reaching the place of apparition, the gentleman and others began to believe in the heavenly Lady. This place began to be called, "OurLady'sTank".
There lived at Vailankanni a poor widow with her son, lame by birth. Sitting under a banyan tree the boy sold butter-milk to the thirsty wayfarers. On a certain day, a very bright light appeared and from amidst the light, a Lady of peerless grace with a divine Child in her arms, asked the boy for a cup of butter-milk. Then she directed him to inform a catholic gentleman at Nagapattinam to put up a Chapel in her honor on the spot of her apparition. The boy realized that his lame legs have become normal upon the word from the Lady. With great joy, he ran to carry out the errand. Having been already directed in a vision he, with the support of the people, built a Chapel where now stands the present
Shrine Basilica. The Lady was called, 'Our Lady of Good Health'.
In the 17th century, a Portuguese merchant vessel, sailing from Macao in China to Colombo in Ceylon was caught in a tempest in the Bay of Bengal. The helpless sailors besought Mary the Star of the Sea to save them. They vowed to build a Church in her honor, wherever they could land on. The stormy sea became calm. Their ship landed near the shore of Vailankanni on the 8th September, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady. They transformed the existing thatched Chapel into a beautiful stone-built one. On their next visit, they decorated the Altar with porcelain plates, illustrating biblical themes. These plates are seen even today around the throne of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Health, over the main altar of the Shrine Basilica. From that time the Feast of Our Lady of Good Health is celebrated every year preceded by hoisting of the flag on 29th August. During these eleven days of the Feast, about 15 to 20 lakhs of people visit the Shrine Basilica.
[This is an article written for Our Lady of Good Health Velankanni Devotees Website and placed here on 29.01.2008]
Of course, anyone could try to "go" to Jesus alone - but how much easier and how much safer it is to have the guidance of someone who is experienced and who loves him with a mother's tenderness. This is all that is involved in going to Jesus through Mary. Apostles, missionaries, preachers, theologians, writers, parents, and the Church brought us to Jesus. God chose to act through human beings. These human beings were pathways to Him not obstacles. So it is with Mary. With Mary as our model, teacher and guide Mary we become more and more like Jesus. She is acting as our Mother trying to make us more like her divine Son.
Many can help us know about Mary. But knowing about Mary is only a stepping-stone to knowing Mary. And knowing Mary is immeasurably more important than knowing about Mary since she takes us right to Jesus. So it is time to take the plunge.
She loves us like she loves Jesus and we should love her like Jesus loves her. She is the only human person who did not give in to the greatest Adversary of God ("our tainted race's solitary boast" said the poet William Wordsworth).
Christianity is based on Epiphany (manifestation of God): the partial and visual disclosure of the Trinity in Jesus Christ, the Spirit and the Church. In apparitions God makes himself visible to us in a mediated way, as for example in Mary. Apparitions are private revelations. As recognized by the Church, they offer support and encouragement for our spiritual life. We do not have to believe in apparitions. They do not have a binding character.
"The increase in reports of apparitions may suggest that there is a spiritual hunger that goes beyond institutional churches. There's a need for the mystery to be put back in people's lives. Apparitions may be one of God's many answers to these needs." Apparitions remind us that Christianity is a religious tradition based on mediation.
There is no recorded literature about apparitions for the early centuries of the Church. The first attestations of Marian apparitions are from the fourth century. Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century recorded that Gregory the Wonder worker (213-270 A.D.) as the first beneficiary of a Marian apparition. The two most interesting cases from the middle Ages are the seers at the Cistercian Monastery of Helfta (13th century) and the visions of St. Bridget of Sweden (who lived 1303-1373). During the sixteenth century, apparitions had a public character and were intended to "re-animate faith" and to "surmount the world's crises" (Laurentin 88). The most significant case is Guadalupe (1531) which gave "birth to a new church on a new continent" (Laurentin 88).
We have also have apparitions at Lourdes: Immaculate Conception; at La Salette: Our Lady of Sorrows; at Fatima: Our Lady of the Rosary and in Velankanni, India.: Our Lady of Good Health. The later has also found a place in the National Shrine at Washington. VAILANKANNI the home of the Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health is situated on the East Coast of India, some 350 kms to the South of Chennai [Madras].
Three apparitions took place intermittently since the 16th Century at Vailankanni. The foremost incident is the Apparition of Our Lady, to a shepherd boy, carrying milk to his master at Nagapattinam. Overcome by fatigue, the boy fell into an unusual slumber, only to be startled by the sweet vision of a most graceful Lady of exquisite beauty, holding her most charming child of divine appearance. The Lady asked of him some milk for her child. Filled with reverence and awe, the boy offered milk. The heavenly smile of the Child and Mother was the only message. To the surprise of the impatient master and all present, the milk began to surge over the pot and flow out. And on reaching the place of apparition, the gentleman and others began to believe in the heavenly Lady. This place began to be called, "OurLady'sTank".
There lived at Vailankanni a poor widow with her son, lame by birth. Sitting under a banyan tree the boy sold butter-milk to the thirsty wayfarers. On a certain day, a very bright light appeared and from amidst the light, a Lady of peerless grace with a divine Child in her arms, asked the boy for a cup of butter-milk. Then she directed him to inform a catholic gentleman at Nagapattinam to put up a Chapel in her honor on the spot of her apparition. The boy realized that his lame legs have become normal upon the word from the Lady. With great joy, he ran to carry out the errand. Having been already directed in a vision he, with the support of the people, built a Chapel where now stands the present
Shrine Basilica. The Lady was called, 'Our Lady of Good Health'.
In the 17th century, a Portuguese merchant vessel, sailing from Macao in China to Colombo in Ceylon was caught in a tempest in the Bay of Bengal. The helpless sailors besought Mary the Star of the Sea to save them. They vowed to build a Church in her honor, wherever they could land on. The stormy sea became calm. Their ship landed near the shore of Vailankanni on the 8th September, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady. They transformed the existing thatched Chapel into a beautiful stone-built one. On their next visit, they decorated the Altar with porcelain plates, illustrating biblical themes. These plates are seen even today around the throne of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Health, over the main altar of the Shrine Basilica. From that time the Feast of Our Lady of Good Health is celebrated every year preceded by hoisting of the flag on 29th August. During these eleven days of the Feast, about 15 to 20 lakhs of people visit the Shrine Basilica.
[This is an article written for Our Lady of Good Health Velankanni Devotees Website and placed here on 29.01.2008]
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