***In Defense of Holy Mother***

         Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary was bodily taken up into heaven, which explains why she doesn't have any relics left behind for us as many other saints do. Non-Catholic Christians erred in believing that we Catholics worship Mary. We don't; we worship God alone. But we love Mary, for he is our Lord's beloved mother whom he also gave to us to be our mother. We also venerate her as the greatest saint among all the saints, for she was conceived without sin. This is completely fitting for someone who's going to bear the Divine Lord. Praying to her simply means asking her to intercede on our behalf. Protestants tend to ignore her, for they didn't find her mentioned much in the Gospels. Well, the Gospels don't cover everything; they are to support, not replace, the tradition of the Church. I remember reading the private revelation of one Church-approved visionary and learned that Mary, out of humility, specifically asked the Apostles not to mention her because she wished that all our attention be on her Son. In Luke 1, we do find Mary prophesying before Elizabeth ". . . behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed." From today's reading 1 from Revelation 11, we heard read: "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth . . . She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne . . . Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: 'Now have salvation and power come, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed One.'" There's no question that Mary is the woman mentioned here. In more recent times, the Holy Mothers has appeared more and more frequently to us, giving us messages and warnings from heaven. It's quite clear that God is using her in a major way in his war against Satan. He has already promised her that she will triumph in the end. To understand more about the Assumption, you may wish to watch this Fr. Corapi video which came on YouTube today: