[LoveUSA]

After Mass last evening I was meditating on the Virgin Mary's appearances in Medjugorje and considering why she graces us with her appearances and messages of hope. I thought of how Christ elevated women and treated them as equals to men in so many ways. I considered the legends of how He traveled as a young man with his uncle, Joseph, on the trading caravans to the Far East and while traveling would stop and speak at the Jewish temples along the way. I remember specifically that these legends spoke of documentation of Jesus's teachings that outlined His respect for women as vessels of life.

And so it is with some clarity that I understand why Mary, whether sent by God or of her own Sacred volition, would warn us of the "great lie". I believe that Islam is the "great lie" and that its abuse of women is an abomination in the eyes of God and a source of anguish in the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In my own simple mind I have constructed the reason why Mary, a human yet connected to the Heart of God Himself, would in her unique and graceful way would be the one to a final stand between mankind and anything anti Christ...because Mary is the ultimate servant of God and represents the Sacred role that women, as child-bearers and nurturers, have been given in the propagation of God's Love.

[Melian]

I had not thought of it in quite that way; I think you are really on to something there. I always tell people there is a reason Christ came during that era: it was a message about how women are to participate in the Church. We are to be Marys and Marthas for God, not priests. When they splutter that that’s not enough of a role for women in the Church, I remind them of how much joy all the Marys and Martha brought to Christ’s life here on Earth. Who could ask for more!?!

I would love to read a collection of all the legends about the Holy Family and the early Church. Do you know of any books that have compiled the anecdotes and legends from from the saints’ visions and other historical writings?