12 October 2012 Our Lady of the Pillar Christians everywhere have long rendered homage to Our Lady under this invocation. According to pious tradition the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in Saragossa above a pillar. On the site a church was built and later a basilica. Pius XII extended the feast from Spain to South American nations. The shrine is among the pilgrimage centres of the Ibero-American world. (Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 7:209-14) Devotion to the Virgin of the Pillar An ancient and venerated tradition is, the Virgin Mary appeared in the company of angels to the Apostle James in Saragossa. The celestial host brought a pillar as a symbol of Our Lady’s presence. The Blessed Mother comforted the Apostle of Spain during the apparition by promising her maternal assistance amidst his difficulties in evangelizing the country entrusted to him. Our Lady of the Pillar is honoured as “the symbol of firm faith” throughout the world. (John Paul II, “Address”, 6 November 1982) Furthermore, we go “ad Iesum per Mariam”, to Jesus through Mary for our firm support in all our apostolic endeavours. “Countless Christians grow in faith in Christ, the Son of God, through devotion to Mary, the Mother of the Son. They are sustained through the one who is our sure guide to salvation since she conserves and strengthens our faith.” (John Paul II, “Address”, 6 November 1982) Today is an excellent occasion to petition her for an increase of faith. The greater the difficulties in our daily effort to improve and do apostolate, the more graces we will receive from Our Lady so our example will be stronger and even more efficacious. Beside her our victory is always assured. We ask her to make us firm pillars of faith so that our family and friends may lean on us for support. “Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, you grant heavenly aid to those who call on her with the invocation ‘Pillar’. Through her intercession grant us fortitude in faith, security in hope, and constancy in love.” (‘Entrance Antiphon’) Each one of us may have experienced Our Lady’s powerful help. “Yes, our guide is a strong column. She accompanies the New Israel, the Church, in its pilgrimage towards the Promised Land through Christ Our Lord. In this way, Our Lady of the Pillar is a ‘flaming torch’ and the ‘throne of glory’. She affirms the faith of a people who never tire of asking her in the Hail, Holy Queen: ‘Show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus’.” (John Paul II, “Address”, 15 November 1987) Mary is our Model in the evangelization we are called to carry out with naturalness and simplicity. Let us contemplate her very normal life on earth: her friendly charity, the spirit of service she shows in Cana, and her ‘haste’ to help her cousin St Elizabeth. Her habitual smile made her ordinary social relations so attractive. Through the intercession of Our Lady of the Pillar, we ask the Lord to make us strong in faith and generous in love. ‘Faith’ is our greatest gift. We must protect it from anything harmful including materials or television programmes detrimental to a Christian outlook. As the column that guided and sustained the Chosen People in their desert journey, the Blessed Mother leads us along the sure path to Jesus, our Promised Land: “She always does so, as many of her images depict. There she appears with her Son in her arms like Our Lady of the Pillar. She never ceases to point out to us Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (John Paul II, “Address”, 6 November 1982) St Josemaria Escrivá described his own love for the Blessed Virgin of Saragossa: “God wants us to draw close to Our Lady of the Pillar so that we may be comforted by her understanding, her affection and her power. She will increase our faith, assure our hope and help us to be more fervent in our loving concern to serve all souls. May we dedicate ourselves to others with renewed energy as we sanctify our work and everyday activities. In a word, may we convert every aspect of our life into an occasion for dealing with God.” (“Memories of Our Lady of the Pillar”, 47) Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 7:209-14 [In 1635 at what is now Zamboanga City, Fr Melchor de Vera, SJ built a fort for the King of Spain and named it “The Fort of Our Lady del Pilar”. “By the name of the Mother of God shall the Moros know it”, he informed the Spanish captain who scanned the blue horizons of the southern sea for the sails of Tagal, that indomitable Moro buccaneer. “It will be a stout little fort when it is done”, he continued. “See that you keep it with honour.” (In Horacio de la Costa, SJ, “Light Cavalry”, 1997 p106) This fort stands to this day.] Mary Our Mother “Admiration for Mary and imitation of her can not be separated from her cult which must be just and holy in accordance with the Church’s desire, a devotion both internal and external, private and public, leading to a profound veneration for her, absolute confidence in her, and filial love of her. “This veneration is founded on her dignity as the Mother of God and on the consequences inherent to it. Thus, it does not mislead us to glorify God in her for the privileges with which he has endowed her, and for her role as Dispensatrix of all graces. Indeed, what veneration is there that is not to be rendered to her whom the Son reveres as His Mother, whom the Father lovingly contemplates as His beloved daughter, and whom the Holy Spirit considers the temple in which he delights to dwell.” Ref: Rev James Alberione, SSP, STD, “Pauline Calendar”, 1974, 1:1. In “The Vatican II Weekday Missal”, 1975, p1429 Meditations on the Litany of Loreto ‘Virgin most powerful’ -- Who among the saints is as powerful with God as his holy Mother? She obtains all that she pleases. ‘Thou willest’, St Bernard says, ‘and all is done’. St Peter Damian adds, ‘when Mary asks graces from God, she does not ask, but, so to say, commands, for her Son honors her by refusing her nothing’. Thus does the Son honor his beloved Mother by granting whatever she asks, even in favor of sinners. Hence St Germanus says, ‘Thou, O Mother of God, art omnipotent to save sinners, and needs no other recommendation with God, for thou art the Mother of true life’. O Mary, you can make me a saint; I rely on you. Ref: “The Glories of Mary.” In “Documentation Service”, V:321-2 • Our Lady of Faith, in the county of Liege. This image was found by a carpenter named Gilles de Wanlin, in the year 1609, who, as he was cutting down an oak with the intention of making a boat found in it, enclosed in an iron grating, an image of Our Lady, made of white clay a foot high, which was placed in another oak, and afterwards in a church which was built on the very place of the oak which had borne this fair fruit. — Triple Couronne, n. 60. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Our Lady of Faith. Liege, Belgium. 1609. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html) • Our Lady of Faith district of Liege, Belgium. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html) • Our Lady of the Pillar / “Notre Dame dal Pilla”. Saragossa, Spain. 36. Church and cathedral with a miraculous image of Mary. Catholic scholars disagree about authenticity of the tradition that the shrine was originally built by St James the Apostle after she appeared to him while praying by the Ebro River. Appearance was said to have taken place while Mary was still living in Israel; a phenomenon of "bilocation". (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm) • Our Lady of the Pillar. Saragossa, Spain. 36. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (http://www/mariedenazareth.com) • Our Lady of Pilar Saragossa, Spain; also celebrated in Zamboanga, PHL. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html) • “Notre Dame dal Pilla”. (Spain) (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html) • Our Lady of Zapopan, Mexico (1541). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html) • “Nuestra Señora de Zapopan”. Mexico. 1541. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); • Our Lady of Jerusalem. Moscow, Russia. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html) • Our Lady of Aparecida – Queen of Brazil. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)