Volume IV, Issue 21, October 6, 2007

Between Condemned Army of Mary and Authentic Lady of All Nations: An Ocean of Separation by Mark Miravalle

Recently, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued its official declaration of excommunication for various members of the "Army of Mary," a schismatic movement in Canada. The Congregation declaration comes in confirmation of the previous rulings concerning the schismatic declaration of Cardinal Marc Ouelett, Archbishop of Quebec and Pontifical Commissioner, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., of Ottawa. It is precisely at times such as these that we must renew our appreciation for the Church’s hierarchy and its God-given charism of authority in service.

The Army of Mary, tragically, had accepted a number of heretical positions introduced by its foundress, Marie-Paule Giguère, as if they were allegedly supernatural messages from Our Lady. The obvious nature of these gravely erroneous teachings make clear the absence of any conceivable supernatural origin of these messages, for example, that the foundress is the reincarnation of Our Lady, and that the alleged seer and Our Lady make up the fourth person of the Trinity.

As is often the case in the history and precedence of private revelation, this false seer attempted to gain credibility by associating herself with an authentic private revelation, in this case, the apparitions of the Lady of All Nations to Ida Peerdeman in Amsterdam (1945-1958). In 1996, Bishop Bomers of Amsterdam gave permission for the personal acceptance of the devotion to the Lady of All Nation). In 2002, Bishop Punt of Amsterdam gave official recognition to the apparitions and its devotion. There are many bishops throughout the world who publicly support devotion to the Lady of All Nations.

At one point, Marie-Paule Giguère of Canada traveled to Amsterdam to meet Ida Peerdeman before knowledge and the ill-fruits of Mme. Giguère’s erroneous messages were known or promulgated. As Ida did not understand French, two translators were present for the one-time encounter. Primacy source testimonies from these two translators make clear that Ida sought to distance herself completely from the false seer from the event of this one meeting.

There is no evidence of any correspondence from the Dutch visionary Peerdeman to Giguère or concerning Giguère in the archives of the Diocese of Harlaam, the Foundation of the Lady of All Nations, nor in any of her own personal memoirs or correspondence. Any alleged reference to any correspondence from Ida Peerdeman to or concerning the false seer Giguère must be considered false.

.Bishop Punt of Amsterdam, who rightly applauds the recent Vatican Congregation’s and Canadian bishops’ identification of the severe errors of the Army of Mary Association, has recently released an official statement from the Diocese of Harlaam/Amsterdam that reaffirms the following:

Please find below the official text of the letter of Bishop Punt of Amsterdam, in his authoritative clarification of the complete separation of the Lady of All Nations apparitions and devotion from the erroneous Army of Mary movement.

http://motherofallpeoples.com/070918_Army_of_Mary.pdf

Let us pray for the conversion and final reconciliation of all those involved in this schismatic movement; in thanksgiving for the inspired clarity that only the Church’s hierarchy can authoritatively bring to these cases; and for the fulfillment of the authentic message of the Lady of all Nations and the fifth Marian dogma, from which true peace and the definitive triumph of our Mother’s Immaculate Heart will come.

http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1151

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Reflections on the Priesthood by "Anne," a Lay Apostle

A priest makes a decision to enter into the relationship of knowing God, of seeking Him. Through this decision, Jesus is able to possess the priest as an outpost, a dwelling place for the Godhead on earth.

With God’s grace, I can see Christ in the priest on his ordination day and I can see Christ in the priest on the day of his death. I have also seen Christ in priests in heaven. They all look the same to me in that Christ is Christ on the ordination day, the day of death, and into and for eternity. So while the priest moves through his life in humanity, with doubts and imperfections, Jesus has no doubts and imperfections. Jesus serves humanity through the priest in His perfect divinity. I am as delighted by Christ in the priesthood as I am by Christ in the words He sends or Christ in the Eucharist or Christ in the heavenly experiences of Him that I have been allowed to have. It is for this reason, I believe, I feel such love for priests, regardless of their condition.

Given this, the Lord’s mystical presence in the soul of the priest, it is clear that we must honor Christ’s presence in every priest. It is easier to do so when a priest is willingly connected to that divine presence. It is more difficult, but more compelling I believe, to love the priests who are struggling.

http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1152

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Review of "Private Revelation: Discerning with the Church" by Michael O'Brien

It would be hard to find a book as timely and as helpful to our understanding of the spiritual phenomena occurring in our midst as this new work by Dr. Mark Miravalle, professor of Marian Theology at Franciscan University. As he points out in his introduction, there have been more reported private revelations during the past 200 years that have received some form of ecclesiastical approval than in any other period of the Church’s history. Sober reflection on the nature and purpose of private revelation, and on the criteria used by the Church in the discernment of authenticity, has become increasingly relevant for all those who seek to follow Christ. The issue needs close attention in an era that has seen a voluminous increase in truly Christian prophetic gifts, and at the same time seen increasing manifestations of occult activities, the "New Age" movements and the preternatural phenomena associated with them, as well as other forms of false prophecy. Contrary to what one might expect in an Age of Materialism, Miravalle points out, "mysticism" in general has increased, rather than decreased. And there is nothing more in need of careful discernment than mysticism.

At a time of history when the struggle for the future of mankind on this earth has entered a period of unique dangers and intensity, when the assaults upon the eternal value of the human person and upon the fundamental moral principles of civilization are increasing daily, God has chosen to pour out for us extraordinary graces of illuminating words, images, and entire messages of exhortation and warning, for the purpose of strengthening His people and for the conversion of all mankind. It is of utmost importance, therefore, that those who know, love, and serve Him be equipped to discern rightly between His authentic communications and those originating from naïve questionable sources or from less innocent, more willfully deceptive sources.

http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1150

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Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Part I by Pope John Paul II

1. The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to "set out into the deep" (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, "the way, and the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6), "the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn" (1).

The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium (2). It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer.

http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1149

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The Sufferings of Mary as Co-redemptrix by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.

How did Mary make Satisfaction for Us?

The purpose of satisfaction is to repair the offence offered to God and to make Him once more favorable to the sinner. The offence offered by mortal sin has about it a certain infinity, since offence is measured by the dignity of the person offended. Mortal sin, by turning the sinner away from God, his final end, denies in practice to God His infinite rights as the Supreme Good and destroys His reign in souls.

It follows from this that only the Incarnate Word could offer to the Father perfect and adequate satisfaction for the offence of mortal sin (1). For satisfaction to be perfect, it must proceed from a love and oblation which are as pleasing to God as, or more pleasing than, all sins united are displeasing to Him (2). But every act of charity elicited by Jesus had these qualities for His Divine Person gave them infinite satisfactory and meritorious value. A meritorious work becomes satisfactory (or one of reparation and expiation) when there is something painful about it. Hence, in offering His life in the midst of the greatest physical and moral sufferings, Jesus offered satisfaction of an infinite and superabundant value to His Father. He alone could make satisfaction in strict justice since the value of satisfaction like that of merit comes from the person, and the Person of Jesus, being divine, was of infinite dignity.

It was, however, possible to associate a satisfaction of becomingness (de congruo) to Jesus’ satisfaction, just as a merit of becomingness was associated to His merit. In explaining this point, we shall show all the more clearly the depth and extent of Mary’s sufferings.

http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1148

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The Family Rosary: Practicality in Family Prayer by Christopher Padgett

How can we practically involve our children in family prayer? What are ways that we can teach them the beauty of communing with Jesus in prayer, even though homework needs to be completed, dishes washed, pajamas put on little ones, and we may even want to reserve a few moments of peace and quiet for ourselves after a busy day? In my last article dealing with the Family Rosary (see article "The Family Rosary" in the Marian Devotion section) I identified the need for parents to make the call of the family Rosary heard, knowing the result will at times be met with resistance and indifference. For the encouragement of parents, I reminded the reader that the suffering encountered in family prayer is redemptive, and that its application in the home ensures that spiritual goods soak into the little hearts and minds of their children, even if parents feel their efforts are not making a great deal of difference.

In this article I want to offer a variety of ideas to parents of a practical nature for engaging our children in prayer, so that they approach prayer with a sense of expectancy. This is not to say that I am imparting approaches that are always a success with my family; rather, it is advice and insight I too am trying to implement daily within our home. The success is found at the finish line, not during the race itself.

http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1147