He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

THE IMMACULATE WILL TRIUMPH

	Father Salvatore M. Perrella

From the beginning of the world to the end, from Genesis to the Apocalypse, the history of humanity is that of the combat of the Woman against the Serpent: « I will put enmity between you and the Woman, and between your seed and Her seed; She will crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for Her heel. »

This oracle thus does not oppose “man” (The Jerusalem Bible) but « the Woman » to the Devil and his brood; by beginning the last sentence with a masculine pronoun, autos, the Greek translation does not promise victory to the “progeny” of the Woman in general, but to the Son of the Woman, to « Her Seed » (sperma autès). Thus, before the sentence that condemns Adam and Eve and sets forth their punishment, the announcement of the virginal maternity of Mary shines forth, an announcement contained in this cursing of the Serpent that opposes him to the “seed” of the Woman, an expression that we will find only one other time in the Bible, during the last confrontations between the Dragon and the « rest » of the children of Mary (tou spermatos autès ; Ap 12.17).

INSULT TO THE IMMACULATE

O Virgin ever virgin, this third millennium had to come, after the great disorder and crazy pride within the Church. These men of Belial had to rule over us, « the rest of Your children », the partisans of this great Apostasy and revolution that You foretold at Fatima as the punishment to which the world was doomed if it did not repent. All the insane politics and false religion were necessary so that at Rome herself, mother and teacher of all the Churches, someone might, with an air of devotion, bite Your heel and spread his blasphemy in Ossarvatore Romano, an organ of the Holy See in which millions of the trusting and defenceless faithful have read it under the pen of Fr. Salvatore M. Perrella, O.S.M, theology professor at the pontifical university Marianum.

Attentive readers will have recognised in the preceding lines the terms in which the Abbé de Nantes proclaimed his indignation against Georges Hourdin, who wrote in Vie catholique for Christmas 1971, that « Jesus of Nazareth is born of the Virgin Mary and of Joseph the carpenter » (CCR no 24, February 1072, p. 1).

This time, the article that we attack, dated 2 and 3 June 2008, is entitled “An Ecumenical Gift to be Received and Understood: the Immaculate, Patrimony of Christianity”. The author is very pleased at the « progress realised by the theologians of the different Christian denominations concerning the Immaculate Conception ». After quoting the declaration of the Ecumenical Group of Dombes on “Mary in the plan of God and in the Communion of Saints” (1998), he writes that this document « opportunely remarks that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is very close to the typical Lutheran vision. He interprets this doctrine as a free and absolute gift of the grace of God. In fact, if it is a question of the free, gratuitous, and radical intervention of God the Saviour creating a human life, and thus, before Mary was capable of a movement towards Him, then the event of the Immaculate Conception relates, affirms, and bears witness to the “great things” that God accomplished for Her whom He predestined to be the Mother of His Son. »

All of this is truly talking for the sake of talking because « the Immaculate Conception » is not an « event », but a proper and personal Name: « I am the Immaculate Conception ».

« This is why, he continues, considering this dogma of the Church, even before speaking of the “full of grace”, we will prefer to speak of God and of His extraordinary and absolute benevolence. »

Ah! the hypocrite! This “theocentrism” that turns us away from Mary is not that of the archangel Gabriel. He begins by « speaking » of the « full of grace » even before speaking about God: « Entering in, the Angel said to Her, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with You”. »First « the full of grace », and then “the Lord”… It is the order of Holy Scripture, sola Scriptura…

Here is the blasphemy that this professor of theology writes with his pen:

« Believers are invited not to forget an important fact, namely that even the Mother of the Saviour “had been marked by original sin” (è stata segnata dal peccato originale). »

Anathema sit!

If such a doctrine prevails in Rome, under the authority of the Holy Father, we would be able to say what a futuristic film, (based on “Catholics” a novel published by Brian Moore in 1972), announced ten years after the Council, in 1973: « the closing of Lourdes »! where Mary deigned to state Her name: « I am the Immaculate Conception ». The very pilgrimage of Benedict XVI in September will contribute to laying it aside once and for all, as did the pilgrimage of Paul VI to Fatima in 1967, unless the Pope deigns to exercise his magisterium by condemning Fr. Perrella and the document of the Group of Dombes. This is the miracle that we expect of the Immaculate, who is capable of converting the heretics themselves!

Fr. Perrella dedicated four articles published in May and June to the Immaculate. The first, under the title “In the End, Duns Scotus Brings Everyone to Agreement” (Osservatore romano, Sunday, 4 May 2008), is emblematic of the false devotion of a mind steeped in what he calls « the Marian palingenesis of the Second Vatican Council ».

The author constantly invokes the Tuttasanta, the Panaghia, stressing Her « sublime holiness », even Her « very close and definitive union with Christ the Redeemer », but taking care to confining Her on our side, that of sinful men, under the pretext that « Christ the Redeemer of men » is thus also that « della Madre »

For nothing in the world does he want to see and venerate Her on the side of Her Son as His « Socia », His « helpmate similar to Him » His co-redeeming Spouse, according to the teaching of St. John Eudes, St. Louise de Marillac, and St. Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort, who said that She was more divine than human, a teaching that was confirmed by the manifestations in the chapel of the Miraculous Medal, Rue du Bac, in Paris, and the apparitions of Lourdes, Fatima, Pontevedra and Tuy.

Fr. Perrella will not rest until he shows us that Pius IX only had a « negative » view of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, considering « solely Her immunity with regard to original sin ». This Roman Mariologist, professor of dogmatic theology at the Marianum, seems to be unaware of what the holy Pope confided to a nun of the Good Shepherd of Angers, showing that he went much further. (below)

According to Fr. Perrella, the text of the bull Ineffabilis Deus, in which Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, does not state that it is a « unique and exclusive privilege, for the adjective “singular” has an indeterminate, vague meaning ».

What does he mean? He means this: « According to the irreformable teaching of the Church, from the first instant of her earthly life, the Blessed Virgin was not only preserved from original sin – negative holiness – but She was also filled with sanctifying grace – positive holiness. This is why the Immaculate Conception, while it expresses the choice and vocation of Mary for an intense and original participation in the mystery of the Incarnate and Redeeming Word, appears also as an event of beauty, splendour and personal grace the reflections of which – as Von Balthasar († 1988) already taught – are cast with brilliance into the life of every believer and into the life of the Church. »

We are in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council and its Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes. The fourth article of Fr. Perrella is nothing less than a practical application of chapter 22, paragraph 2, to the Immaculate, under the title “The Dogma of 1854, an Occasion to Rediscover the Dignity of Man at the School of the Beauty of the Immaculate” (Oss. Rom., 4 June 2008). It is the world turned upside down! While it is the prayer of the Virgin Mary, through the merits of Jesus Christ, that gives men fallen through original sin the power to become children of God, by faith, according to Fr. Perrella Jesus and Mary are only personifications of the eminent, inherently transcendent, dignity of man and woman.

THE VICTORY OF THE IMMACULATE

The only remedy for the monstrous idolatry of the « cult of man », behind which Satan hides, is devotion to the Immaculate. Thus is borne out what is said about Her: « The Woman will crush the head of the Serpent » and also: « You alone shall conquer heresies throughout the whole world. »

In the bull Ineffabilis, Pius IX paints the picture of the grandeur of Mary with a theological penetration that equals his “devotion”, pace Fr. Perrella. The Pope begins by saying that God « chose and prepared Her » from the very beginning in order to give Her as Mother to His only-begotten Son, when He would take flesh in Her virginal womb in order to save us:

« Therefore, far above all angelic Spirits and all Saints, so wondrously did God endow Her with the abundance of heavenly gifts poured from the treasury of His divinity that She, ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and all perfect, was adorned with that fullness of innocence and sanctity, than which, under God, no greater can be conceived, and which, outside of God, no mind can comprehend. »

This is what the archangel Gabriel came to say to Her on the day of the Annunciation: « Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with You. »

« This singular and solemn salutation, never heard before, showed that the Mother of God is the seat of all divine graces and is adorned with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Mary is an almost infinite treasury, an inexhaustible abyss of these gifts, to such an extent that She never incurred any curse, but was, together with Her Son, the partaker of perpetual benediction. Hence She was worthy to hear Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, exclaim:

« “Blessed are You among women, and blessed is the fruit of Your womb.” »

Since then, the Church has always believed that She is Immaculate:

« This original innocence of the august Virgin that is so closely united with Her admirable sanctity and pre-eminent dignity as Mother of God, the Catholic Church which, always taught by the Holy Spirit, is the pillar and base of truth, has never ceased to explain, to foster and to instil more and more each day in many ways and by solemn acts, as a doctrine received from God and contained in the deposit of heavenly revelation. »

In fact, the Pope sees « this magnificent triumph of the Blessed Virgin, unique to Her » already at work before the Flood: the ark of Noah, built by divine command, alone escaped the common shipwreck of the whole world… it is She! Or at least, as St. Pius X said, « She occupied the thoughts of Noah inside the ark of safety ».

May She occupy the thought of our Holy Father the Pope today, in the universal flood of apostasy!

Pope Pius IX also compares Her to the ladder of Jacob: « By the rungs of this ladder the angels of God ascended and descended, and the Lord God leaned upon it… » Thus, not only is She our ladder that raises us to God, but God Himself « leans » on Her in order to descend to us. One cannot better express the fact that She is truly the essential, universal Mediatrix, outside of whom there is no communication between Heaven and earth.

The Burning Bush from which Yahweh revealed His Name to Moses is nothing other than the figure of Her virginal womb burning with love that would give its Fruit on the day of the Nativity of Our Saviour Jesus.

« That impregnable tower from which hung a thousand bucklers and all the armour of the strong », “tower of David”, the conqueror of Goliath and the Philistines, it is She!

David conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital. The Immaculate is « that resplendent City of God, which has its foundations on the holy mountains ». Solomon, the son of David, built the Temple there. The virginal womb of the Immaculate is « that most august Temple, which, radiant with divine splendours, is full of the glory of the Lord… »

This is how « in fine » St. Pius X, taking these figures as his own, would say, « after Christ, we find in Mary the end of the Law and the fulfillment of the figures and oracles. »

« The end of the Law », because the commandments of God, like the prophecies, have one single aim: to lead us to this Blessed Virgin outside of whom there is no salvation.

WHO ARE YOU, IMMACULATE?

What the Pope said in confidence to the superior of the Good Shepherd dates from 1857. The following year, St. Bernadette was favoured with the ecstasy, the vision, from which the Pope specified that he had not benefited, at Lourdes. It was on 25 March 1858, on the feast of the Annunciation, three weeks after the fifteen apparitions of our Lady who had still not said Her name, although Bernadette had asked Her for it many times, which caused her to say: « Our Lady likes to be coaxed. »

Thus, on this 25 March, « I feared being bothersome by repeating a request that had always remained unanswered, and yet something inside of me pressed me to speak; so by a movement that I was unable to contain, I said to Her: “Madam, would You be so good as to tell me who You are?” Like the other times, however, when I had asked Her this, She bowed Her head, smiled with great kindness and did not answer. I do not know why I felt more audacious and I asked Her again: “Madam, would You be so good as to tell me who You are?” She repeated Her smile and gracious greeting, but continued to remain silent. A third time, with joined hands and acknowledging myself to be totally unworthy of the favour that I was beseeching, I repeated my request: “Madam, would You be so good as to tell me who You are?” »

« At my third request, the Lady, standing above the rosebush, stretched Her arms towards the earth, as can be seen on the Miraculous Medal, put on a grave expression and seemed to humble Herself; She raised Her eyes towards Heaven and at the same time, lifting Her hands and joining them at the level of Her bosom, said: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

When she uttered these words, Bernadette used to lower her head and re-enact the gesture of the Lady in a way that was so genuine, simple and heavenly that she once converted an unbeliever by imitating the Blessed Virgin in this fashion.

« How kind the Virgin is! Sr. Marie-Bernard wrote to the Pope a few years later from Nevers. You would think she came to confirm the word of our Holy Father. » Indeed, those who oppose the infallible teaching of the Pope, and they are numerous today, oppose the Blessed Virgin in Person.

She does not say « I am Immaculate », nor « I have been conceived without sin », but « I am the Immaculate Conception. » She does not state a quality of Her being, but She says Her Name, the expression of this very being and of Her specific vocation to divine Motherhood, which is constitutive of Her Person as beloved Daughter of the Father, Mother-Spouse of the Word, and Temple of the Holy Spirit.

MARIAN ORTHODROMY

Our Father, the Abbé de Nantes, observes that « the apparitions of the Most Blessed Virgin support each other. Devotion to Our Lady of La Salette, far from dimming before Our Lady of Lourdes, shines even more. »

Rue du Bac reminds us with infinite tact that we are marked with original sin by the very terms of the invocation that She taught us: « O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee. » It is implied that we poor children of Eve are marked by original sin.

At La Salette, in 1846, She takes the place of Yahweh in the Old Testament: « I gave you six days to work; I kept the seventh for Myself, and no one wishes to grant it to Me. » This sin, and that of cart drivers who « take » His most holy Name « in vain », contrary to the commandments of God (Ex 20.7-10), weigh down the arm of God Her Son on this rebellious people.

At Lourdes, She speaks once again like Yahweh in the Old Testament when She says Her Name: « I am ».

Before Adam and Eve, before the succession of generations, before the Old and the New Testament, before the Incarnation of the Word, Her Son, Himself an eternal “Conception” of the Father from whom He proceeds, She is, by vocation to the divine Maternity. She is the first project of God, Father and Son, in Their Holy Spirit and from all eternity:

« I am the Immaculate Conception. »

In order to enter into this mystery, it is not enough to say that the Virgin Mary is a creature taken from the human lineage, but preserved from original sin. She is a creature whom God conceived in His Holiness at the beginning of time. This holiness is the secret of Her power that makes Her stronger than the Devil, and makes Her reject even the shadow of sin. We see the corruption that leads to death, to speak like St. Paul, at work in man on his body, and in his soul that sin also leads to death.

The Lord, however, has placed the remedy next to the malady or, more precisely, he first created the remedy, the Immaculate: a human person whose holiness is a source of energy in direct contact with God Himself, as the Word is always turned « towards God » (Jn 1.1-2).

One day, the Abbé de Nantes was transfixed by a homily of Bede the Venerable, (673-735), Doctor of the Church, declaring « the Son of man consubstantial with His Mother ». What audacity, our Father said, amazed.

No one understands that the Virgin is God, contrary to the affirmations of the Protestants who accuse the Church of “Mariolatry”. Nevertheless, Bede the Venerable applies to the Virgin this word “consubstantial” by which Osius of Cordova confounded the Arians who denied the divinity of Christ! Does this mean that we are going to divinise the Virgin Mary? No, but there is a very intimate exchange between the Mother and the Son: She gives Him His humanity and, in return, the Son gives Her the gift of His divinity. Jesus draws His whole being from the Heavenly Father and He receives from Him the Virgin for Mother. He sees Her entirely united to the Father in this work of the Incarnation. There are only three divine Persons, but there is a Woman, more divine than human, created by God and introduced into the mystery of the Holy Trinity to the point of being completely divinised by it.

Thus, on the day of Her Assumption, at the hour that God had chosen, She fell “asleep”, but this “dormition” was not at all decrepitude because there is no degradation of energy in Mary. She does not experience corruption and death. She is at the source of life. She is the Immaculate Conception.

Not only did She not experience senescence, but She was transfigured by the force of Her innermost life, by Her very soul. After Her mysterious dormition, by which She gave her “offering” to death, She was awakened by Her Bridegroom, and She was assumed into Heaven by Her own force. The mystery of Her Assumption flows from Her Immaculate Conception. Now, where She is, She reigns, working to bring forth Her Kingdom unto eternal life, as St. John described it in the Apocalypse. The life that is born from Her womb created in the history of the world a counter-current, conqueror of the current that leads to death:

« I am the Immaculate Conception. I am the first Conception. It is through Me and for Me that God created all the rest of the world and each one of you. »

– O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee. »

Brother Bruno of Jesus