THE LIGHT IN THE NIGHT

“Calls from the Message of Fatima”

THE MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY

CONTEMPLATION OF THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

(Ch. 35, pp. 273-280)

« Having seen that the prayer of the Rosary is the one that God has recommended most to all of us without exception, both by the Magisterium of the Church and through the Message that He sent to us by Our Lady, let us now look at the mysteries of our Redemption that this prayer leads us to recall and contemplate in each decade.

« For the majority of Christians who live in the corrupt atmosphere of the world, it is almost pointless to talk about mental prayer. Here is why vocal prayer – the liturgical prayer of the Holy Mass and the recitation of the Rosary – in common or in private, is recommended to them. »

The person who follows Sister Lucy’s example, however, will quickly see his « vocal prayer » change into « mental prayer », then into contemplation, both during Holy Mass and during the Rosary, which Sister Lucy, let us take note, never misses an opportunity to associate closely one with the other. She never ceases to repeat, « the prayer of the Rosary is, after the Sacred Liturgy of the Eucharist, the one that best introduces us to the inner mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Eucharist ».

« In the holy Rosary, we find all the riches of God’s truths, or rather, the revelation of God to men: from the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity that God revealed to us in the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, to the mystery of the Word made man, and to His life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension into Heaven. He remains living in Heaven at the right hand of the Father, and amongst us in His Church, in the Sacraments, in the tabernacle where He is present in the consecrated Hosts, as well as in our brothers who form, with us, His Mystical Body, of which we are all living and functioning members.

« This is the faith that we imbibe in prayer, and it is prayer that sustains and increases faith within us. As we go through the mysteries of the Rosary, we receive the light of truth and the strength of grace in order to accept willingly, and co-operate in, the redemptive work of Christ. »

The fruit of the mysteries of the Rosary is not only « the light of truth » to be contemplated, but also « the strength of grace », of which the Virgin Mary is the universal Mediatrix for accomplishing good works.

THE FIRST MYSTERY: THE ANNUNCIATION.

« In the first decade, we recall the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary: “The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, to a Virgin (...) and the Virgin’s name was Mary. Entering in, the Angel said to Her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with You! She was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to Her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for You have found favour with God. Behold, You shall conceive in Your womb and bear a Son, and You shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will rule over the House of Jacob forever, and of His Kingdom there will be no end. Mary said to the angel: How can this be, since I have no knowledge of man? The angel said to Her in reply: The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You; therefore the Holy One Who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Lk 1.26-35)

« In this holy passage, God reveals to us how the Incarnation of the Eternal Word took place; He makes known to us the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, that is, one God in three distinct Persons: The Holy Spirit will come upon You, the Most High will overshadow You; therefore the Child to be born will be called the Son of God. »

With sovereign authority, Sister Lucy brushes aside all the modernist negations: the dogma of the Holy Trinity is not a subsequent theological elaboration. The three Divine Persons are present in the words of the angel Gabriel, from the first moment of the announcement made to Mary. It must be said that Sister Lucy speaks from experience since in 1916 she saw « the Guardian Angel », Our Lady’s precursor, and heard him teach her a prayer to the Holy Trinity, namely: « Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly… »

« God also reveals to us the virginity and immaculate purity of Mary. God did not choose just any woman to be the Mother of His Son because His Son could not assume a nature stained by sin. This is why God made Mary immaculate from the first instant of Her life, from the moment of Her conception; and She remained always a virgin, because the Son of God could not be confused with any other, according to His human nature, which could have happened if another son had been born of the same Mother. »

In a few lines, Sister Lucy destroys the ignominies that we heard uttered during a Holy Week broadcast on the Arte television network, and that we read in Fr. Cerbelaud’s book quoted above in the editorial, which Jacques Duquesne merely copied.

« The Angel told Mary that She was full of grace: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with You. If Mary had not been full of grace and all holy, the Angel could not have said to Her that she was full of grace, because she would have had the stain of sin.

« “The Lord is with You”, the Angel said to Her, because Mary is entirely of God and for God. »

If Mary « is entirely of God », then the Abbé de Nantes is not wrong in speaking of the pre-existence of Mary’s soul! Sister Lucy is even less likely to object since the first words that came from the lips of the Apparition of 13 May 1917 were: « I am of Heaven »

« To think that Jesus shared His Mother with us! God gave us Mary to be our Mother in the spiritual order of grace. What a great gift He has given us!

« Then the Angel continued: “Mary, do not be afraid, for You have found favour in the sight of God”. Yes, She had attracted the attention of God because She was a Virgin, pure and immaculate, and, this is why She was chosen to be the first human temple inhabited by the Most Holy Trinity. Through the merits of the Word made man, from Whom we receive pardon and grace, we also, if we are fortunate enough to possess the gift of faith and to live without sin, are living temples of the adorable Trinity Who dwells in us, according to the sacred texts: « If you love Me, Jesus says, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Consoler to be with you always, the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees nor knows Him; but you know Him, because He dwells with you, and He is in you. » (Jn 14.15-17) St. Paul draws our attention to the same truth: « Do you not know that you are the temples of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy. Let no one deceive himself! » (1 Co 3.16-18)

« Jesus Christ and the Apostle tell us here that we are living temples of God and that we must keep our temple pure, because we are God’s dwelling-place, and also in order that God’s life may dwell in us and may give us immortality.

« Ave Maria!

SECOND MYSTERY: THE VISIT OF OUR LADY TO ST. ELIZABETH

« In the second decade of the Rosary, we recall Our Lady’s visit to Her cousin, St. Elizabeth. In the first mystery, we left the Angel speaking to Mary and adding afterwards: “Behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing is impossible for God. Mary said: Behold,the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to Me according to your word. Then the angel departed from Her.

« In those days Mary set out and travelled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where She entered the house of Zachary and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped with joy in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said: Blessed are You among women, and blessed is the fruit of Your womb. How have I deserved, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? (…) Blessed is She Who has believed that what was spoken to Her by the Lord will be fulfilled. » (Lk 1.36-45)

« This meeting of Our Lady and Her cousin St. Elizabeth shows us Mary’s great faith and deep humility. This is obvious at once in Her answer to the Angel, when he told Her that She had been chosen to be the Mother of God. She does not feel herself exalted or raised to a higher level. She believes the Angel’s words; She recognises her lowliness before God and offers Herself to serve Him as a handmaid: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to Me according to your word.”

« Thinking always of the Lord’s mercy, Mary answers her cousin: « My soul glorifies the Lord; My spirit rejoices in God My Saviour. For He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid. » (Lk 1.46-48)

« The Virgin Mary and St. Elizabeth intoned here the most beautiful canticle of praise to God. »

This is how Sister Lucy pithily refutes Alfred Loisy’s thesis, which Fr. Boismard recently made his own, claiming that « it was not Mary, but Elizabeth who pronounced the canticle » of the Magnificat (L’Évangile de l’Enfance, 1997, p. 68). Let us say that they sang it together, both moved by the same inspiration!

« Their lips were inspired by the Holy Spirit. After all, was not Mary the living temple of the adorable Trinity! »

Sister Lucy would have much to say about this since the vision of Tuy, in which she received insights concerning this mystery that she is not permitted to reveal.

« Ave Maria!

THIRD MYSTERY: THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST.

« In the third decade of the Rosary, we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, God made man. It is the masterpiece of love! God comes down from Heaven to earth, to save His poor creatures.

« He would say later, in the synagogue at Capernaum: “I am the living bread that came down from Heaven.” (Jn 6.51) »

In a single bound, Sister Lucy leaps to the ultimate point of the mystery of the Incarnation, which is the mystery of the Eucharist, already suggested by the name of Bethlehem, in Hebrew: « House of bread ».

« Yes, He came from Heaven; He became man, assuming the humble condition of a creature! He who is God, co-eternal with the Father, equal to the Father in power, wisdom and love! He is born as man, but He is eternal as God! A mystery that the Apostle St. John describes thus: « In the beginning the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (…). And the Word became man and dwelt amongst us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and of truth. (Jn 1.1; 14)

« He came into the world by becoming man and manifested Himself as Light. Light, which shines in the darkness: He is present among us, today as then, but now His humanity is veiled. He is present in His word and in His works, in the Eucharist and in the Sacraments, through the Church and in the person of each of our brothers. He says: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (Jn 8.12) Those who follow Christ will find in Him light and life.

« This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place:

« In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus for a census to be taken be of the whole world. This census was the first that took place while Cyrinus was governor of Syria. So all went to be registered, each to his own town. Joseph too, leaving the town of Nazareth in Galilee, went up to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his espoused wife, Who was with child. While they were there, the days were accomplished in which She should give birth. She gave birth to Her firstborn Son, wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

« “Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them: Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a Saviour has been born for you Who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find an Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.

« “When the angels went away from them to Heaven, the shepherds said to one another: Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us. So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them concerning this Child. All who heard it were amazed at what was told them by the shepherds. As for Mary, She treasured all these things, reflecting on them in Her Heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. (Lk 2.1-20)

« As St. Luke says in these lines, the shepherds saw and understood what was said to them, they believed and praised God. In the same way, we, too, must renew our faith in the Revelation that God gives us here; we must believe and say: “O my God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee! I ask of Thee pardon for those who do not believe, who do not adore, who do not hope, who do not love Thee!” Like Our Lady, we must keep all these truths in our hearts, with faith, hope and love.

« Ave Maria!

FOURTH MYSTERY: THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE.

« In the fourth decade of the Rosary, we call to mind the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. »

Take note that Sister Lucy does not use the term « Purification of the Virgin Mary », and rightly so: to speak of « Purification » when talking about « the Immaculate » is a contradiction in terms. If She is « Immaculate », She does not need to be “purified”. Sister Lucy instinctively agrees with the conclusions arrived at by a thorough exegesis: « When the days were completed for their purification », writes Saint Luke. Whose purification? That of the Jews, obviously, and not that of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This is so obvious that Saint Luke felt no need to be specific about it. Besides, according to the Law of Moses, the “purification” concerns the mother alone: « Then she shall spend thirty-three days more in becoming purified of her blood. She shall not touch anything sacred nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled. » (Lv 12.4) No such thing for the Immaculate, who had remained a Virgin, before, during and after the Divine Childbirth, which produced no shedding of Her blood. So, Mary immediately went to the Temple, a sanctuary served by the sons of Levi, not to undergo purification for Herself, but for « their purification », according to the prophecy of Malachi: « Suddenly the Lord Whom you seek will come to His Temple […]. He will purify the sons of Levi. » (Ml 3.1 and 3)

« St. Luke describes this episode in the life of Christ in the following terms:

« “When eight days were completed after which the Child was to be circumcised, He was named Jesus, the name given Him by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

« When the days were completed for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they took Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, just as it is written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male shall be consecrated to the Lord.” (Lk 2.21-23)

« Circumcision, prescribed by God in the Old Law, has been replaced by Baptism, of which it was the figure And which Jesus Christ intended to institute later on as a Sacrament, to efface the stain of original sin in us, to make us members of His Mystical Body and sharers in the graces of His redemptive work.

« The example of fidelity in the observance of the Law of God that Our Lady gives us in the passage quoted should incite us to follow the same road of fidelity to God and to His Church.

« In fulfilling this commandment to present Her first-born in the Temple, to be offered to the Lord, Mary is, at the same time, carrying out the mission entrusted to Her by God, that of co-Redemptrix of the human race. Mary knows the Sacred Scriptures and, through them, She knows that Her Son is destined to be a victim for the expiation of the sins of men and a sacrifice of praise offered to God. »

The revelation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the Cova da Iria on 13 June 1917, at Pontevedra on 10 December 1925 and at Tuy on 13 June 1929, has taught Sister Lucy about the close link between the joyful mysteries and the sorrowful mysteries.

« Reflect on what Isaiah prophesied about this: “Who has believed what we have proclaimed? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up like a sapling before Him, like a root in arid ground, unrecognisable and without beauty; there was in Him no appearance that would attract us to Him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a Man of sorrows, accustomed to suffering, one of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held Him in no esteem. Yet ours were the sufferings He was bearing, ours the sorrows with which He was loaded. We thought of Him as a leper and struck with affliction by God. Yet He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins. The chastisement that brings us peace has fallen upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon Him the guilt of us all. He was treated frightfully and humbled Himself, and opened not His mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house or a sheep dumb before the shearers. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. Who pays any attention to His cause? He has been cut off from the land of the living and put to death for the sin of His people. A grave was assigned Him among the wicked and a tomb with evildoers, though He had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood. It was the Lord’s good pleasure to crush Him with pain, if He gives His life as an expiatory sacrifice.” (Is 53.1-10)

« Mary knows that this prophecy is to be fulfilled in the person of Her Son; She knows that He has been sent by God to carry out the work of our Redemption. And far from wanting to save Him from such pain and suffering, she takes Him in Her pure, immaculate arms, brings Him to the Temple in Her virginal hands and places Him on the altar, so that the priest may offer Him to the eternal Father as an expiatory victim and a sacrifice of praise. »

A magnificent contemplation of the mystery of the Presentation in the light of the vision of Tuy, in which Sister Lucy saw the Virgin Mary officiating, so to speak, under the right hand of the Cross, offering Her Son with all Her Immaculate Heart, which She shows in Her hand. Notice the theological exactness of Sister Lucy’s meditation: Mary puts Her Jesus on the altar so that the priest may offer Him to the Eternal Father as an expiatory victim and a sacrifice of praise. She is very careful not to confer the priesthood to the Virgin Mary, contrary to some theologians who demand it for women!

If Mary, though, is not a priest, She is a victim with Jesus. Sister Lucy continues:

« Here, Mary does not only offer Her Son, She offers Herself with Christ, because Jesus had received His Body and Blood from Her; thus She offers Herself in and with Christ to God as being, with Christ, co-Redemptrix of humanity. »

Pace the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, who were unwilling to acknowledge Her right to this title. In each Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Blessed Virgin is inseparable from Her Son, forming, together with Him, but a single Victim on the altar.

« In this mystery of the Presentation of Jesus, the pure hands of Mary are the first paten on which God placed the first Host; and, from this paten, the priest on duty in the Temple of Jerusalem took It, to place It on the altar and offer It to the Father as something that was owed to Him and an offering with which He was well pleased. Here, in this mystery, we have a figure of what later on the real Mass will be, when the sacrifice of expiation will be consummated on Calvary; Jesus, by His own hands, will offer Himself to the Father for men, under the consecrated species of bread and wine, saying to the priests of the new Covenant: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Lk 22.19), that is, offer My sacrifice to the Father so that it will be renewed on the altar for the salvation of the world. Because “This is My Body, which will be given for you (...); this chalice is the new Covenant in My Blood, which will be shed for you.” (Lk 22.19-20)

« Ave Maria! »

Sister Lucy does not content herself with having established, in the introduction to this meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary, that reciting the Rosary is a Biblical and liturgical prayer (cf. He is Risen, n°24, August 2004, pp. 3-6). She makes every effort to make us savour the Eucharistic flavour of each of the mysteries, so that the Rosary becomes, under her pen, « the Mass of the Blessed Virgin », in the words of the Abbé de Nantes.

In a “Small Treatise on the Rosary”, an unpublished work for use in our communities, our Father reminds us that « the Blessed Virgin Mary attends each of our Masses ».

The incomparable theophany of Tuy has given Sister Lucy an experimental knowledge of this truth. Consequently, « the elderly woman who attends Mass with her rosary stands very close to the Blessed Virgin’s side, explains the Abbé de Nantes, as does the child who does not have a clear understanding of what is taking place, but who watches his mother praying. The focus is on what the Virgin Mary does with Jesus. Thus the Rosary introduces us into the action of Jesus, our Saviour, by means of this memorial of the compassion of the Virgin Mary, because she stood at the foot of the Cross. She remembers. The Mass is therefore the memorial of the Passion of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When we recite our Rosary during that time, it is our participation in the Passion of Jesus Christ in the heart of Mary. »

FIFTH MYSTERY: THE PRAYER OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM..

« In the fifth decade of the Rosary, we recall that Jesus Christ went to the Temple in Jerusalem, to take part in the communal prayer of the people of God. St. Luke describes this episode in the life of Our Lord thus:

« Each year His parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when He was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the feast. After they had completed the days of its observance, as they were returning, the Child remained behind in Jerusalem, but His parents did not know it. Thinking that He was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and then looked for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. Not finding Him, they returned to Jerusalem in search of Him. After three days they found Him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions (…), and His Mother said to Him: Son, why have You done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for You with great anxiety. He said to them: Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in house of My Father?” (Lk 2.41-49)

« The Holy Family here gives us a great example of Christian life. Neither distance nor lack of transportation deterred them from journeying to the Temple of Jerusalem to join their prayer to that which the people of God offered to the Lord. The Temple of Jerusalem reminds us of those places of worship that for us, today, are our churches. We too should go, all together, to offer to God our prayers and praise. »

So, this is how the fruit of this fifth joyful mystery is yet another invitation to attend Mass!

« In the answer He gave His Mother, Jesus Christ tells us that the Temple is the house of God: “Did you not know that I must be in the house of My Father?” Thus, churches are the house of our Father and so we must enter them with faith, with respect and with love.

« Let us go to our Father’s house so that there, united around the same table, we can be fed by the same Bread: the Bread of the Eucharist, the bread of the word of God. Like Jesus Christ, we must listen there to the word of God, which is transmitted to us by His ministers, as it was formerly imparted to the people of God by the doctors of the law.

« Today, we are the successors of that people; we who have the good fortune of having received Baptism and, through it, the gift of faith, we have become members of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church.

« Ave Maria!

*

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CONTEMPLATION OF THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

(Ch. 36, pp. 281-285)

« Having looked at the events in the life of Jesus, which are recalled in the first part of the Rosary, and which we call the first “Chaplet”, we are now going to look at the second part, that is the second Chaplet of the Rosary.

SIXTH MYSTERY: THE PRAYER OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN OF OLIVES.

« In the sixth mystery of the Rosary, we recall the prayer of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Olives.

« The Evangelists tell us that the Lord spoke several times during His public life of the way He was to die and thus accomplish the work of our redemption. »

Following Sister Lucy’s line of thought, the fifteen mysteries of our Rosary become “luminous”, and their brilliance is Biblical and liturgical because it is Eucharistic. They encompass the entire life of Christ so well that it is useless to add any others. Indeed, the announcements of the Passion that Jesus made several times during His public life were in every instance the expression of an agony, as can be seen in the Gospel according to Saint John, when some Greeks ask to see Jesus. The latter answers with an announcement of His Passion that is already a “prayer of Jesus” similar to the one He said in the “Garden of Olives”: « Father, save Me from this hour! But it was for this that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your name! » (Jn 12.27-28)

« When the time came, after He had shared the Last Supper with His disciples, during which He instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist to perpetuate His real presence among us, and to prepare Himself for His imminent Passion and Death, He went with them to a place called “Gethsemane” and there He said to them: “Sit here while I go over there and pray. He took along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to feel sorrow and distress. Then He said to them: My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with Me. He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying: My Father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass from Me; yet, not as I will, but as You will. When He returned to His disciples, He found them asleep. He said to Peter: So you could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation (…). Withdrawing a second time, He prayed again: My Father, if it is not possible that this chalice pass without My drinking it, Your will be done!” (Mt 26.36-42)

« Here, as in the other events of His life, Jesus Christ is for us a model Whom we must follow and seek to imitate. Although He was God and had, therefore, all grace and strength, He was also truly man; and He wanted to prepare Himself by prayer to submit His human will to that of His Father, Who needed Him as an expiatory victim for the sins of humanity.

« Suffering, humiliation and death were repugnant to the human nature of Jesus Christ as they are to us all, because they are the punishment for sin. »

Is there any truth more “luminous” than this truth to enlighten our dark night, and yet is there any truth that is more neglected?

« He had not committed sin, but He chose to make satisfaction on our behalf. Therefore He spent a long time in prayer, repeating: “Father, if You are willing, take this chalice away from Me; yet not My will but Yours be done! (…) In His anguish He prayed even more earnestly, and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling on the ground.” (Lk 22.42-44)

« When suffering and anguish oppress us, let us remember Jesus Christ in the Garden of Olives and, like Him, let us say to God: “If it is possible, O Lord, take this chalice away from me; still, if You wish that I drink it, may Your will be done and not mine.” Even if our distress is great, let us reflect that the anguish of Jesus was greater, because His face was covered with great drops of blood, which fell to the ground. »

At this thought, Sister Lucy is moved with tender compassion and becomes absorbed in the recollection of the tears and Blood of Jesus with a realism that was renewed by the Eucharistic vision of Tuy, a “luminous mystery” if ever there was one, as shown in the account that she herself gave of the event:

« Suddenly, the whole chapel was lit up with a supernatural light, and on the altar there appeared a cross of light which reached to the ceiling. In an even brighter light, there was visible, on the upper part of the cross, the face of a man and His body to the waist. On His breast there was a dove of more intense light, and, nailed to the cross, the body of another man. A little below the waist (of this man), suspended in the air, one could see a chalice and a large Host onto which were falling drops of blood, flowing over the cheeks of the Crucified and from a wound in His chest. These drops ran down over the Host and fell into the Chalice. Beneath the right arm of the Cross, there stood Our Lady with Her Immaculate Heart in Her hand… »

It is surely the recollection of this vision that dictated this “liturgical” and Eucharistic conclusion, in a surge of love, fruit of an exquisite charity:

« Oh! If only I could have been there beside the Lord at that moment, to wipe His Face with a soft cloth and then to keep such a relic of the Blood of my God! Still, what I did not do then, I want to do today, because, every day, from His bruised face, from His pierced hands and feet, from His open Heart, flows the Blood of our Redemption, present in the consecrated Host and Wine on the altar of sacrifice; and I have the happiness of being nourished on that Body and that Blood.

« Ave Maria!

The scourging and the crowning with thorns will be meditated together by Sister Lucy in the third sorrowful mystery. The second one is entirely dominated by the thought of Jesus’ arrest as a result of treason.

SEVENTH MYSTERY: JESUS PUT UNDER ARREST.

« In this seventh decade of the Rosary, we recall the arrest of Jesus Christ. The Gospel tells us that Judas, one of the Twelve whom the Lord had chosen to be with Him, undertook, in return for thirty wretched coins, at the Devil’s instigation and through the love of money, to deliver the Master into the hands of His enemies who wanted to get hold of Him in order to put Him to death.

« Judas, knowing that Jesus used to go to the Garden of Olives to pray, left Him in the supper room with the other disciples and went to the chief priests to tell them that the opportune moment to seize the Master had come. Then, accompanied by the escort that the high priest had prepared for the occasion, the traitor went to find the Lord in Gethsemane.

« In the meantime “Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to Him”, arose from His prayer and went to meet His enemies. When He came near them, Judas advanced to greet the Master with a treacherous kiss. It was the sign he had given the soldiers so that they would recognise Him. “The man I kiss is the one. Seize Him, and hold Him fast!”

« Then Jesus “said to them: Whom do you seek? They answered Him: Jesus of Nazareth. – He said to them: I am He. (…). When Jesus said to them: I am He, they moved back and fell to the ground. So He again asked them: Whom do you seek? They said: Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered: I told you that I am He. If you are looking for Me, let these others go. (He was referring to His Apostles who were with Him.) This was to fulfil what He had said: I have not lost any of those whom You have given to Me (…). So the cohort, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and bound Him. They brought Him to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiphas, who was high priest that year. (Jn 18.4-13) Then “Annas sent Him bound to Caiphas the high priest” (Jn.18, 24). »

That Jesus was arrested as a result of treason does not prevent Him from remaining in control of the events:

« The sacred text tells us that Jesus knew everything that was going to happen to Him. He had already spoken of it several times! He could have taken advantage of that long period of prayer to hide Himself, but He did not. He allowed Himself to be given up to martyrdom and to death, since that was the Father’s will. »

The conclusion is biblical and liturgical:

« He had assumed our human nature in order to be able, in this way, to bring about our Redemption; by allowing Himself to be immolated on the Cross, He was able to offer to the Father a worthy reparation for our sins. Those pure animals that were sacrificed in the Old Law, as expiatory victims for the sins of the people of God, were merely figures of Christ, the only victim of infinite merit, capable of offering worthy reparation and thus of making satisfaction for our iniquities.

« Ave Maria!

EIGHTH MYSTERY: JESUS IS SCOURGED AND CROWNED WITH THORNS.

« In the eighth decade of the Rosary, we recall Christ scourged and crowned with thorns. After Jesus Christ had given Himself into the hands of His enemies to be a victim immolated for our sins, He was condemned by the Sanhedrin, presided over by the high priest, Caiphas, and brought to the Praetorium of the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate. Jesus was insulted, mocked, acclaimed king in jest, crowned with thorns and scourged. The Gospel tells us that Pilate, having recognised that Jesus was innocent, gave Him over to be scourged: “Then Pilate had Jesus taken away and scourged. Afterwards, the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns, placed it on His head, and clothed Him in a purple cloak, and they came to Him and said: Hail, King of the Jews! And they struck Him.” (Jn 19.1-3)

« Before having Him scourged, Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king. Jesus answered: “My Kingdom is not of this world (…). I am a king! For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to My voice.” (Jn 18.36-37) It was this answer of Jesus that gave the soldiers a pretext for mocking Him as king.

« The soldiers left Him in a pitiable state. Pilate, seeing Him like this and still wanting to save Him, brought Him out once more to the people, declaring that Jesus was innocent: “Look, I am bringing Him out to you, so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him (...). They cried out: Away with Him, Away with Him! Crucify Him! Pilate said to them: Shall I crucify Your King? The chief priests answered: We have no king but Caesar! Then he handed Him over to them to be crucified.” (Jn 19.4; 15-16)

« If someday God allows us to be victims of the injustices of men, let us look at Jesus and follow Him with faith!

« Ave Maria!

The constant contemplation of the third sorrowful mystery is certainly the source of Sister Lucy’s proverbial “patience” in the face of the prevarications of the bishops and the Holy Father, who pay no attention to the demands of Our Lady because they unjustly suspect Sister Lucy of fabrication.

NINTH MYSTERY: JESUS CARRIES HIS CROSS TO CALVARY.

« In the ninth decade of the Rosary, we think of Jesus Christ bearing His Cross on the way to Calvary.

« After Pilate had delivered Jesus to be crucified, the soldiers obliged Him to walk the road to Calvary amid the insults and taunts of the raging mob, carrying on His shoulders the Cross to which He was to be nailed. St. John describes the scene in these terms: “They then took charge of Jesus. He went out bearing the Cross for Himself and He came to the Place of the Skull or, as it is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him.” (Jn 19.17-18)

« Following the example of Jesus Christ, who bore the Cross of suffering on our behalf, let us tread in His footsteps, carrying our daily cross with faith, hope and love.

« Ave Maria!

TENTH MYSTERY: JESUS DIES NAILED TO THE CROSS.

« In the tenth decade of the Rosary, we recall the death of Jesus Christ, nailed to the Cross. When He arrived at the summit of Mount Calvary, led by the army rabble who ill-treated Him, He was nailed to the Cross where He suffered and agonised for several hours until He died. It was three o’clock in the afternoon.

« St. John describes the last moments of the Lord’s earthly life in these words: “Near the Cross of Jesus stood His Mother (…). Seeing His Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing near Her, Jesus said to His Mother: Woman, behold, Your son. Then He said to the disciple: Behold, your Mother. From that hour the disciple took Her into his home. After this, knowing that everything had now been completed and in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said: I thirst. A jar full of vinegar stood there; so putting a sponge soaked in the vinegar on a hyssop stick, the soldiers held it up to His mouth. After Jesus had taken the vinegar, He said: It is consummated. And bowing His head, He gave up the spirit.” (Jn 19.25-30)

« The death of Jesus Christ is our life, because He died to give us eternal life. Some time earlier, He had said: “I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This commandment I have received from My Father.” (Jn 10.17-18)

« In His passion and death, what the Prophet Isaiah had said about Him so many years before was fulfilled to the letter: “He was treated frightfully and humbled Himself, and opened not His mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house or a sheep dumb before the shearers. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. Who pays any attention to His cause? He has been cut off from the land of the living and put to death for the sin of His people (...). Because He surrendered Himself to death and was counted among the wicked; whereas He took upon Himself the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Is 53.7-8; 12)

« Therefore, on the Cross, Jesus Christ asked His Father to pardon His enemies: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23.34)

« Ave Maria!

*

*   *

CONTEMPLATION OF THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

(Ch. 37, pp. 286-297)

« We have followed the various stages of the life of Jesus and we have evoked them in the first two parts of the Rosary; now let us look at those in the third part, that is, those of the third Chaplet.

ELEVENTH MYSTERY: THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.

« In the eleventh decade of the Rosary, we recall the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

« At the end of the tenth decade, we ended with these words of Jesus: “I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from My Father.” (Jn 10.17-18) The various announcements made by Jesus during His public life to the effect that He was going to die as the prophets had foretold, but that He would rise from the dead on the third day are so many expressions of this same commandment and of this same power that He had received to lay down His life and take it up again. Jesus made the first of these predictions immediately after having heard from the lips of Peter his confession of faith whereby he recognised Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”. The Evangelist says: “From that time on, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be put to death and rise again on the third day.” (Mt 16.21) »

In his study on the “Mystery of the Resurrection”, the Abbé de Nantes recalled, while arguing against Fr. Xavier Léon-Dufour, a modernist exegete, that the Resurrection of Christ appears as a continuation of His Passion and His Death on the Cross: « There is no Resurrection of Christ except by virtue of His death on the Cross. This is not a statement of the obvious. It is the infinite holiness, perfection and merit of this death that, so to speak, compel the Father to raise up and glorify His Son. » (CRC n^o 71, August 1973, p. 3)

Sister Lucy presents the Resurrection of Christ in the same causal sequence, and her meditation takes the same course, with the same concern for showing, first, the Resurrection of the Lord as a human, visible, historical fact of the objective order of empirical observation and scientific reasoning. She continues:

« In the Upper Room, He had celebrated with the Apostles the Passover of the Old Covenant and afterwards instituted the sacred rite that was to perpetuate the New Covenant. Then “after the psalms had been sung, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus said to them: All of you will be scandalised, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I have risen I shall go before you to Galilee.” (Mk 14.26-28)

« The truth of the Lord’s Resurrection rests on historical signs and proofs of the most authentic veracity. First, the fact that Jesus had foreseen and announced it was the reason put forward by the Jews themselves for placing a guard at the tomb where His Body lay. When the Resurrection took place, the empty tomb attested the fact and, in particular, the many witnesses who saw Him after He had been raised from the dead. They ate at table with Him, touched the wounds on His hands and His side, lived with Him for forty days, during which the Risen Jesus instructed them and gave them the powers necessary for the Church. The Apostles and a great number of disciples were so sure of this that they gave their lives in defence of the truth they proclaimed. »

Matching « gentleness to the violence, simplicity to the calculation » of the modernist Jesuit, the Abbé de Nantes wrote likewise:

« Peter, on the day of Pentecost, according to the Book of Acts, attests that Jesus had risen: His Body had come out of the tomb alive. All the Apostles had seen Him. St. Peter provides as a justification for this event the prophetic text of Psalm 16 in the Greek version of the Septuagint, because it emphasises the materiality of the physical fact: God’s Holy One was not to experience “corruption”.

« Without any rationalist or idealistic bias, we understand straight away what Peter attests unequivocally: they saw Jesus corporeally risen from the tomb, having escaped the corruption of the flesh. The reference made to the Scriptures proves that the contemporary milieu was culturally prepared to hear this new language in its full truth.

« So much for Xavier Léon-Dufour’s hermeneutics » (ibid., p. 10-11)

Sister Lucy continues:

« The first announcement that the Resurrection had taken place was made to women who, unable to anoint the Lord’s Body properly two days before, came early on Sunday morning to pay Him this last homage. The announcement was made to them by angel who had rolled back the stone from the tomb. St. Matthew tells us this fact as follows: “After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to visit the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his garments were white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. Then the angel spoke and said to the women: Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus Who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen as he said He would. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: He has risen from the dead, and He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, that is my message to you. Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to His disciples.

« “And behold, Jesus met them on their way and said to them: All hail. They approached, embraced His feet, and worshipped Him. Then Jesus said to them: Do not be afraid. Go, tell My brethren that they must leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me” (Mt 28.1-10)

« In the Gospel of St. Mark, we have the narration of the same fact: “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus. Very early, on the first day of the week, at sunrise, they came to the tomb (…). On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were dismayed. He said to them: There is no need to be dismayed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified. He is risen; He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go and tell His disciples and Peter: He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him, as He told you. (Mk 16.1-7)

« We also have the same announcement of the Resurrection to the women from the pen of St. Luke, with some details of his own: “The women who had come from Galilee with Him (Jesus) accompanied Joseph (of Arimathea), and when they had seen the tomb and the way in which His Body was laid in it, they returned and prepared spices and perfumed oils (…). But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the Body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in shining garments appeared to them (…) and said to them: "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here; He is risen! Remember what He said to you while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day. They remembered these words. When they returned from the tomb, they related all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. The other women who accompanied them also told this to the Apostles, but their story seemed like madness and they did not believe them. Nevertheless, Peter rose and ran to the tomb. Bending down, he saw only the burial cloths, and he went home amazed at what had happened. (Lk 23.55-56; 24.1-12)

« When we compare these three Gospels, we see the different details proper to each one. There is nothing surprising in that! The same thing happens when a number of people witness the same event. The account that they give of it afterward, contains the details which most struck each one; moreover, even when the same person relates the same fact on different occasions, he does so with different details, because we do not have everything present in our memory at the same time, sometimes recalling some details, sometimes others. The Gospels originated in the accounts of the actual witnesses, which were narrated by them when founding or visiting Christian communities. After these witnesses had departed, the accounts were preserved in the memory of each community, whence the Evangelist collected them, naturally with whatever details they contained. This is a further proof of the truth of the Resurrection: it was not something fabricated, to be told in a mathematical fashion, always with the same words, full stops and commas, but rather an event that had been witnessed. »

The Abbé de Nantes wrote:

« The eye-witness accounts are indisputably based on that which was the cause of their faith: the discovery of the empty tomb. This observation from the realm of physical evidence remains the point of departure of a proof that is still conclusive today. The most exacting reasoning can be applied to it. His Body is no longer there. No one stole it. It is impossible that they mistook the tomb. It is unconceivable that this Body vaporised within thirty-six hours, for the absurd does not exist! One therefore must believe that it came back to life. The demonstration is solid and gives historical certainty to the “apparitions”.

« So much for idealism!

« Reason, interpreting these facts, comes to the conclusion that it is possible for man to experience, beyond death, a corporeal and individual life, of a nature yet unknown.

« It is not a simple “survival”, nor the “reanimating of a cadaver”, but a new life of a more perfect nature, transfigured. We know and understand little about it, lacking any experience other than this one, already significant, of the risen Jesus showing Himself to His own in His new mode of life. After all, that is sufficient! There is the experience of a miracle

« So much for rationalism! » (ibid., p. 11)

Sister Lucy carefully gathers from the Gospel accounts these manifestations of the new life of the risen Jesus:

« St. John describes for us the appearance of Jesus to the Apostles, who were gathered together in the Upper Room with the doors firmly closed.

« The Lord “came and stood in their midst and said to them: Peace be to you! When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord. He said to them again: Peace be to you! As the Father has sent Me, so I also send you. When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain are retained.” (Jn 20.19-23)

« However, St. Thomas, the apostle, was absent on that day, and he stubbornly refused to believe what the other Apostles told him. Eight days afterwards, Jesus came back to visit them, “He came and stood in their midst and said to them: Peace be to you! Then He said to Thomas: Put your finger here and see My hands, and bring your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing. Thomas answered and said to him: My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20.26-28)

« Some days later, in the very early morning, the disciples, who had spent the night fishing without having caught anything, saw Jesus who, from the shore, asked them: “Children, have you caught any fish? They answered Him: No! So He said to them: Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something. So they cast it, and were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish (…). As soon as they came ashore, they saw that there was some bread there and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus said to them: Bring some of the fish you have just caught (…). Come, have breakfast (…). Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish.” (Jn 21.5-13)

« Let us return, though, to the day of the Resurrection and look at the case of the two disciples of Emmaus who, disheartened and saddened by the events of the passion and death of the Master, had decided to go back home. They were on their way when a traveller, Christ Himself though they did not recognise Him, overtook them and joined their conversation, asking them what had happened in Jerusalem that seemed to concern them. “What things? He said to them. They replied to Him: The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth, Who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death and had Him crucified (…). Then Jesus said to them: (…) Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and so enter into His glory? Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the Scriptures. As they drew near to the village to which they were going, He made as if to go on further. They pressed Him saying: Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over. So He went in to stay with them. While He was with them at table, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognised Him.” (Lk 24.19-31)

« With these facts and many others that are related in the Scriptures, the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus is superabundantly proven. It is not a matter of a figment of the imagination, still less of a collective suggestion, because these incidents took place with different people, in various circumstances, and were made up of quite dissimilar events. »

Once the scientific proof has been established, « faith in turn is set in motion, our Father wrote, and it is in order to understand, beyond this historical message of the “Resurrection” of Jesus Christ, the dogmatic message of His “exaltation”, of His glorification and of His enthroning at the right hand of the Father. Far from excluding the corporeal fact, the total human fact of the miracle of the Resurrection, the mystery of the exaltation of Christ to the rank of Lord of the universe and First-Born of all creatures presupposes it. The fact establishes the dogma, the scientific conclusion leads to the faith, the miracle opens the path to mystery.

« It is useless to oppose the idea to the reality when true faith holds them to be inextricably linked.

« So much for modernism! » (ibid., p. 11)

Sister Lucy gives the same slap in the face to modernism:

« In the course of these events, Jesus Christ presented Himself as He is, as a man Who is truly God: the disciples touch Him and can thus verify that He is the same Jesus who was crucified, since He had them see and touch the scars of the wounds in His hands caused by the nails, and the wound caused by the lance that pierced His side. The Lord thus invited them to convince themselves of His reality, seeing for themselves that He had flesh and bones and that He still bore the marks of His martyrdom. Thus, He said to Thomas, in the presence of the other disciples: “Put your finger here and see My hands, and bring your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing. Thomas answered and said to Him: My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20.27-28)

« On the shore by the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus showed Himself to the disciples as a companion Who comes to meet them and offers His help, pointing out where they will find the best catch. In the meantime, on the shore, He prepares a meal for them: fish cooked on a charcoal fire and bread, which He Himself serves, distributing it to them, like a father who prepares and serves food to his children.

« Jesus appeared to the disciples of Emmaus as an ordinary traveller following the same road as they. He took part in their conversation and enlightened them about the destiny of the Messiah, which He patiently revealed to them and showed them in the prophecies of Scripture. He accepted the invitation to spend the night, and share their meal. At table, He used gestures that allowed the two disciples to recognise Him, so often had they seen the Master make them: He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them. It was this gesture that made them realise that their companion on the road had been the Lord Himself.

« So, Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and His Resurrection is the reason for ours: “Whoever believes has eternal life (…) and I will raise him up on the last day.” (Jn 6.47; 54)

« Ave Maria!

TWELFTH MYSTERY: THE ASCENSION OF JESUS INTO HEAVEN.

« In the twelfth mystery, we recall the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven. »

One day, the Abbé de Nantes asked the Abbé Grelot, an exegete and professor of Aramaic at the Institut catholique de Paris, our former professor, the following question:

« Did the Apostles see, with their own eyes, Jesus in His Body, His true Body that had risen on Easter morning, rise into the air, ascend into Heaven, or is this “an image to express that”? » This last expression was a quotation from Pierres Vivantes the catechetical collection recommended by the « Bishops of France to children in the upper primary grades ». Instead of replying to the simple question concerning the faith with “yes” or “no,” the Abbé Grelot sidestepped the issue, as do modernists whose usual means of defence is dissimulation, by asking « preliminary questions »:

« If a photographer had been there at the moment when Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after His resurrection, would he have been able to take a picture of the living Christ, to provide newspapers with indisputable proof? Yes or no? You must choose between these two answers. »

« Likewise, would a cameraman have been able to film the Ascension of Jesus, until His disappearance behind the clouds, in such a way as to contradict the abominable Gargarin (a Soviet cosmonaut, the first man to travel in space) who declared not long ago that, in the sky he had encountered neither God nor angels? Yes or no?

« I am prepared to reply to the questions of M. de Nantes, when he will have published the present questions with his answers. For I do not doubt that his universal knowledge, which allows him to discover heresies wherever a suspicion of one can be perceived, will permit him to resolve a few problems that bother my mind. Pierre Grelot. » (CRC n^o 208, February 1985, p. 2)

In this way, the Abbé Grelot avoided replying to the question that was asked: Yes or no, did Jesus ascend into Heaven with His Body in the sight of His Apostles? The adherence of the intelligence to this article of faith cannot be strengthened or weakened by the opinions that we might supply in response to odd, not to say pointless questions, formulated moreover in a cheeky and misplaced tone with the unique intention of placing the Catholic Faith in a ridiculous position in the eyes of unbelievers, liberals and rationalists. Why not just simply reply: I believe in the Ascension of Jesus, as it is told us by St. Luke, in His actual risen Body, in the sight of His disciples, rising into Heaven? Why not? Because he does not believe it. The trick question concerning photography proves this. It shows that there is no middle ground between two antagonistic positions.

The first is that of a theological faith that goes so far as to believe what surpasses imagination and natural reason: that a true human body ascends into Heaven in the sight of dazzled spectators, for such has never been seen. The second is that of modernist incredulity that submits the expression of the faith to the requirements of natural reason and imprisons it within the limits of ordinary imagination.

Let us see what stand Sister Lucy takes:

« After His Resurrection, Jesus Christ stayed with His Apostles and disciples for forty days, during which He lived and talked with them familiarly and announced to them His approaching Ascension into Heaven. The Lord also appeared to Mary Magdalene, one of the women who went to the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection. When she threw herself at His feet as if to detain Him, Jesus said to her: “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brethren and tell them that I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.” (Jn 20.17)

« The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven is related by St. Mark in these words: “After having spoken to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God.“ (Mk 16.19)

« In the Gospel of St. Luke, the Ascension of Jesus is described in these terms: “Then (after having given them His last instructions), He led them out as far as Bethany, raised His hands, and blessed them. As He blessed them He parted from them and was taken up to Heaven. They worshiped Him and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” (Lk 24.50-52) It is also St Luke who, in the Acts of the Apostles, in a sense, fills out the details of the account: “While at table, during a meal that He shared with them, He (Jesus) enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father “about which you have heard Me speak (…). You will receive a power, that of the Holy Spirit Who will come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When He had said this, He was lifted up before their eyes, and a cloud took Him from their sight. While they were looking intently up to heaven as He was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said: Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking up to heaven? This Jesus Who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen Him going into heaven.” (Ac 1.4-11)

« St. Peter, speaking to the multitude after the coming of the Holy Spirit, said: “Men of Judea, and all you who are living in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words (...). The patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day. Yet since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that He would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he spoke with foreknowledge about the resurrection of Christ in these words: You will not abandon Him to Hades nor will You allow his His flesh to see corruption. It is this Jesus Whom God has raised up; of this we are all witnesses. Now exalted at the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, Who was promised and poured Him forth, as you both see and hear. For David did not go up into heaven, but he himself said: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool. Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus Whom you crucified.” (Ac 2.14; 29-36)

« It emerges from these texts that the truth of the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven is well demonstrated, and allows no doubt. Therefore, we believe it and, with the Church, we confess our faith, saying: “On the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead” (The Apostles’ Creed)

« Ave Maria!

THIRTEENTH MYSTERY: THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

« In the thirteenth decade of the Rosary, we recall the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. »

The Holy Spirit is only known to us by the risen Christ, He is sent to us only through Him, He only comes close to us through Him, with Him and in Him! This is what Sister Lucy reminds us, contrary to all “inter-religious” illuminism.

« The Book of the Acts of the Apostles relates the sequence of events. After the Lord’s Ascension into Heaven, the disciples and Apostles descended the Mount of Olives and returned to Jerusalem. “When they entered the city they went to the Upper Room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James. With one heart all of these devoted themselves to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus (...). When the day of Pentecost came round, they were all in one place together, when suddenly there came from Heaven a sound like that of a strong gust of wind, which filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit inspired them to express themselves.” (Ac 1.13-14; 2.1-4)

« During the Last Supper, Jesus Christ spoke several times about the Holy Spirit, Whom He would send from the Father when He had returned to Him, to teach them the whole truth. For the moment they were not yet sufficiently prepared to understand it fully. He said to them: “It is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you (…). I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you to the complete truth, for He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He will have heard, and will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me, because He will receive of what is Mine and will proclaim it to you. Everything that the Father has is Mine; for this reason I have told you that He will receive of what is Mine and will declare it to you.” (Jn 16.7-15)

« As we see by the use of the word “Mine”, there is full communion and mutual exchange among the Father, Jesus Christ and the Paraclete. »

At Tuy, in 1929, Sister Lucy received insights into the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity that she is not permitted to reveal. What she does say about it, though, is sufficient to prove the Abbé de Nantes right in the remonstrance he made to Pope John Paul II for having removed from the Creed of Nicea-Constantinople, which Sister Lucy quotes here, the Filioque, by virtue of which the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and from the Son Who is consubstantial with Him.

At Pentecost 1981, under the pretext of commemorating the sixteenth centenary of the first Council of Constantinople, a homily was broadcast of Pope