Saint Sighting

Published on by D. G. Hart

While some Roman Catholics follow news of the Virgin Mary’s sightings, I was recently reminded by the apostle named Matthew (no need for apostolic succession on this source) that Jesus’ mother posts here at Old Life and even at the Gospel Coalition:

47 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12)

Calvin doesn’t read this passage in quite as favorable a manner for Old Life or blogging as this post suggests:

These words were unquestionably intended to reprove Mary’s eagerness, and she certainly acted improperly in attempting to interrupt the progress of his discourse. At the same time, by disparaging the relationship of flesh and blood, our Lord teaches a very useful doctrine; for he admits all his disciples and all believers to the same honorable rank, as if they were his nearest relatives, or rather he places them in the room of his mother and brethren Now this statement is closely connected with the office of Christ; for he tells us that he has been given, not to a small number of individuals, but to all the godly, who are united in one body with him by faith. He tells us also, that there is no tie of relationship more sacred than spiritual relationship, because we ought not to think of him according to the flesh, but according to the power of his Spirit which he has received from the Father to renew men, so that those who are by nature the polluted and accursed seed of Abraham begin to be by grace the holy and heavenly sons of God. In like manner, Paul affirms that to know Christ after the flesh is not to know him properly, (2 Corinthians 5:16,) because we ought rather to consider that renovation of the world, which far exceeds human power, and which takes place when he forms us anew by his Spirit to the image of God. To sum up the whole, this passage, first, teaches us to behold Christ with the eyes of faith; and, secondly, it informs us, that every one who is regenerated by the Spirit, and gives himself up entirely to God for true justification, is thus admitted to the closest union with Christ, and becomes one with him.

But Calvin’s point, not to mention or Lord’s, sure would seem to take the wind out of the veneration of Mary sails.

25 thoughts on “Saint Sighting”

  1. To sum up the whole, this passage, first, teaches us to behold Christ with the eyes of faith; and, secondly, it informs us, that every one who is regenerated by the Spirit, and gives himself up entirely to God for true justification, is thus admitted to the closest union with Christ, and becomes one with him.

    Interesante!

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  2. Catholic apologist/Apostate Tim Staples on Catholic Answers Live said the reason why Mary looks different in the many apparitions is because she takes on the ethnicity of those she appears to. How convenient, I say. So which one is Mary? Answer: None of them. We don’t know what she looks like.

    These apparitions are demonic because the words they bring contradict the Gospel. 2 Cor. 11:4

    All of the statues of Mary are images provided by demons.

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  3. Our Lady also has taken on the image of the White Buffalo in Native American folklore – at least according to my rad-trad Romanist friends. Of course, that’s almost as unbelievable as their claim that Vatican II was the creation of Lutherans, Calvinists, and, of course, the ubiquitous (at least in rad-trad theories) Jews.

    Apparently they don’t only see Marian apparitions but Lutheran, Calvinist, and Jewish apparitions as well.

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  5. Good observation by both you and Calvin.

    This is why Paul says, “10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

    Want to be a Christian with a good name and high standing? You achieve it by loving and serving others well.

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  7. The legend of the White Buffalo as a Mary manifestation was propagated by the RC missionaries among the Lakota Sioux. White Buffalo Calf Woman is what they called her if I remember right. Apparently in some legends she became a buffalo of other colors representing the races of man. This legend has worked it’s way into other tribal folklore, including the Eastern Shoshone (Chief Washakie’s tribe). Links are hard to come by as most of this is oral tradition among tribal elders. The only writings I’ve seen on these things is handwritten journals by early missionaries. I doubt much of it is on the ‘net. Some Protestant missionaries I know have linked the White Buffalo coming from the east with Jesus. These are all things I’ve heard in 40 years of living next to (on, depending on the Fed’s perspective) one of the largest reservations in the US.

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  9. That was an homage to the corrupt Native American casino operator trope that has recently been seen in Season 1-2 of “The Killing” and Season 2 of “House of Cards”…

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  11. Provide for me the name of this “radtrad” friend that thinks Mary transformed into a water buffalo. I want him to send me a selfie or else he doesn’t exist. lol indian oral tradition? Please tell me your joking and I am to dull to realize it

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  12. Kenneth,

    True or not, the point is that Mary apparitions are bogus. It’s not Mary in those apparitions/visions. Thank God that He has kept her from knowing about the innumerable blasphemies of people praying to her, claiming visions of her, words from her and the elevation of Co-Redemptrix and so on.

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  13. I just thought of something.

    The whole idea of Mary taking on the form of whatever people she is appearing to kind of destroys her humanity, doesn’t it? I mean, basically what is being said by this is that her identity as a first-century Middle Eastern Jew is entirely irrelevant. Seems rather gnostic or docetic to me.

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  15. I think there’s also a Neil Young song that touches on this, but this is all I could find… Of course, if we held Rome to everything her missionaries ever taught, heck, we’d all be downing Homer’s magical chili pepper in church each Sunday.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Buffalo_Calf_Woman

    “When Roman Catholic missionaries first came among the Lakota, their stories of the Virgin Mary and Jesus became associated with the legend of White Buffalo Calf Woman. The syncretic practice of identifying Mary with PtesanWi and Jesus with the chanunpa continues among Lakota Christians to this day.”

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  17. Sorry D. Hart, I was away from the interwebs for a while. But Sdech and Brian summed it up pretty well. Honestly I didn’t investigate it too much, mostly because I was so taken aback by the outlandishness of it.

    Kenneth, seriously? Pics or it didn’t happen? Well, I can’t do that, but I can divulge that they are members of the Society of St. Pius X, otherwise known as The Society of Those Embarrassing Guys Who Actually Read and Adhere to the Council of Trent. They’re fun. They’ll actually admit to me that Martin Luther is burning in hell right this minute, instead of this namby-pamby “Conviction of heresy did not necessarily imply damnation in the 1500s” B.S.

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  22. Pingback: Canonization Fall Out | Old Life Theological Society

  23. The alter ego of the Virgin Mary’s devotion:

    Enter La Befana, the Italian Christmas Witch. A rough summary of her story goes this way: According to Southern Italian folklore, La Befana is an old woman—her witch status, to be fair, is disputed—whose home the Magi swung by on their way to visit Baby Jesus (here’s a short write-up from ItalyHeritage.com). The Three Kings apparently asked her for directions and stayed over at her house for the night. The next morning, they invited her to come along on their journey, but she declined, saying she had too much housework to do. After they left, though, she changed her mind, and decided to try to join them in their search. But it was too late. She couldn’t find them, and she never found her way to baby Jesus.

    So now La Befana flies her broom around on the night before the Jan. 6 Feast of Epiphany, which commemorates the Magi’s meeting with baby Jesus. She leaves candies and small toys in good children’s shoes or stockings, and coal in bad ones’. The general consensus on the Internet seems to be that her name is an abbreviation or regional variation of the word epiphany. Families often leave her a glass of wine and a plate of sausage and broccoli (see Italian-Link), which sounds vastly superior to Santa’s typical fare.

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  24. This was hilarious, Darryl. So glad I have feedly to come back and read this after it feel off the top ten. Readers, check out the post above, The alter ego of the Virgin Mary’s devotion.

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  25. Except that John Paul II put the wind right back in with a mighty gust:

    Throughout his pontificate, the Pope did what he could to spread devotion to the Blessed Virgin, by means of his encyclicals, pastoral letters, general audiences, and homilies, realizing that an understanding of her role was vital if the New Evangelization he was promoting was to be a success.
    He was also very keen to promote the rosary, and issued his own apostolic letter on it, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, in 2002. In this, amongst other things, he acknowledged how devoted he was to the rosary, and noted how many of his Predecessors had attributed great importance to it.
    He also wrote: “The Rosary, reclaimed in its full meaning, goes to the very heart of Christian life; it offers a familiar yet fruitful spiritual and educational opportunity for personal contemplation, the formation of the People of God, and the new evangelization” (RVM, n. 3). He proclaimed the year from October 2002 to October 2003 the “Year of the Rosary,” and instituted the new “Mysteries of Light.”
    Following the failed assassination attempt on May 13, 1981, the anniversary day of the first apparition at Fatima on May 13, 1917, and his subsequent recovery, in thanksgiving he visited Fatima in 1982. Later on, the Pope credited our Lady with saving his life, saying, “One hand fired the shot, another guided it.”
    It is worth pondering what would have happened if he had died in May 1981: In essence, we would have been deprived of over two decades more of his inspired teaching and example, which would have been a great loss to the Church.
    All the Popes since Pius XII have strongly approved of Fatima, but it was actually Pope St. John Paul II who fulfilled our Lady’s request for the collegial consecration, when, on March 25, 1984, he carried out the consecration in Rome. Following this consecration, Sr. Lucia was visited by the apostolic nuncio at her Carmelite convent at Coimbra, Portugal, and she confirmed that the consecration of Russia had indeed been accomplished, and that God had accepted it.

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