Saturday, March 07, 2009

The Holy Spirit's sacred circle of Light (properly understood)

(From the cover of the March Magnificat Magazine)

J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R.*

The rainbow is a critically important reality pertaining to the World's Greatest Secret.

It is the first recorded covenant that God made with mankind.

It was a type (prefigurement) of the New and Everlasting Covenant that we see in the Fifth Mystery of Light, the Institution of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper.

An original symbol of Judaism, the menorah of the first and second temples (King Solomon's and King Herod's) bore witness to this seven-fold light.

The seven traditional colors of the rainbow stand for the Seven Sacraments, with the Holy Eucharist as the source, summit and center of the Church's liturgical life.

The diagram below (from 2005) attempts to bring to light the strategic battle for hearts and minds—the eternal struggle for the very soul of mankind.
        
(Double-click to enlarge diagram)

A few key points to ponder:

The Ark of the Covenant is a central reality in salvation history.  It was a sacred vessel that had both historic and spiritual dimensions and significance. Like Noah's Ark and Circumcision, this Old Testament sacramental is a sign that points to something greater.

The Ark prefigures the Blessed Virgin Mary who carries in her grace-filled womb the fulfillment of creation, the person of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  The OT Ark manifested purity and power, radiated light and was the touchstone for the shekinah cloud of the Holy Spirit and the Pillar of Light that guided the Israelites in the desert. It is still a mystery and I believe God intends it to stay that way.

1933 was quite literally a "crucial" year.  Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich came to power; the Holodomor Genocide occurred in the Ukraine; the Dust Bowl turned the American Prairie into the Grapes of Wrath; John Dewey's Humanist Manifesto was published; the Medjugorje Cross was set high atop the Cross Hill in Bosnia and Albert Einstein managed to escape Nazi Germany and eventually resettle in America.

Medjugorje Cross and Jesus' Passion and Death



The fact that the year was the 33rd in the most destructive century since Noah, should not go unnoticed.

The three successive breaks in the Clay colored Arrow that stands for man's destiny, his shaping of history are Protestantism, Rationalism and Relativism, coming to fruition in the 16th, 18th, 20th Centuries.  Each of these breaks begins in the realm of philosophy and then spills over into religion, politics and the socio-economic order.

16th Century Protestantism (Reformation) - When this first break occurred (Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, King Henry VIII) the one, holy, catholic and apostolic body of Christian truth was severed in two to reveal  faith and/or reason. This divorce spawned three basic alternative interpretations of God's relationship with man.  The Holy Eucharist became a key battleground:
A huge controversy exploded over the nature of Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper. Summoned to the castle in Marburg (1529) Luther and Zwingli squared off in a formidable debate that settled nothing. Luther foamed, "Before I drink mere wine with the Swiss I shall drink blood with the pope." Little did he know that Zwingli never advocated "mere wine". Luther feared having the living person of Jesus Christ disappear from the Lord's Supper. Zwingli feared the superstition of suggesting that Christ's people bite their Lord and chew on him during the communion service. Luther accused Zwingli of an empty celebration. Zwingli accused Luther of cannibalism. They simply talked past each other. In addition, Luther failed utterly to appreciate the ecclesial dimension of Zwingli's eucharistic understanding: the Lord's Supper bespeaks not only the presence and power of Jesus Christ but also the transformed fellowship of believers, a fellowship characterized by love, mutual concern and service.

18th Century Rationalism (Enlightenment) - The so-called enlightenment that flowed like a storm swollen river out of the sewers of Paris, the "City of Light, spawned more than just a false intellectualism based on reason alone. The major goal of Enlightenment thinkers was to give a foundation to philosophy that was independent of any particular religion, tradition or culture—one that any rational human being could accept (secular humanism). (Rene Decartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Voltare, etc.)   The French Revolution and the Reign of Terror were far and away the darkest pages in pre-20th Century history of the First Daughter of the Church.  Frederick Nietzsche, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in the next century carried on this aberrant philosophical tradition that inspired 20th Century totalitarian genocide.

20th Century Relativism (Modernism) - Tradition and absolute truth were assaulted on all fronts. (Sigmund Freud, Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein, John Dewey, etc.) As civilization lost sight of the God-given bedrock on which it rested, it pridefully attempted to build a better world on sand. Inevitably there followed one collapse after another, for this dialectic of failed human ideas could only lead to a value driven downward spiral into the abyss.

Godless Humanism (Post-Modernism)  This is the agenda of Social Democratic forces that are attempting to reshape America in this 21st Century. Under the cover of the term Christian, men like Barack Obama are zealous advocates of the Humanist Manifesto of 1933 as revised in 1973 and beyond:
THIRTEENTH: Religious humanism maintains that all associations and institutions exist for the fulfillment of human life. The intelligent evaluation, transformation, control, and direction of such associations and institutions with a view to the enhancement of human life is the purpose and program of humanism. Certainly religious institutions, their ritualistic forms, ecclesiastical methods, and communal activities must be reconstituted as rapidly as experience allows, in order to function effectively in the modern world.  
FOURTEENTH: The humanists are firmly convinced that existing acquisitive and profit-motivated society has shown itself to be inadequate and that a radical change in methods, controls, and motives must be instituted. A socialized and cooperative economic order must be established to the end that the equitable distribution of the means of life be possible. The goal of humanism is a free and universal society in which people voluntarily and intelligently cooperate for the common good. Humanists demand a shared life in a shared world.
http://www.americanhumanist.org/humanism/manifesto1.php
The next century can be and should be the humanistic century. Dramatic scientific, technological, and ever-accelerating social and political changes crowd our awareness.
http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/manifesto2.php
Please read these two Manifestos.  They are both eye opening and gut wrenching.

I will provide more keys to ponder in upcoming blog entries. 

Sincerely yours in Jesus and Mary,
Mike Rizzio, SOLT
Imitate Mary
Become like Jesus
Live for the Triune God

Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ
See you on the High Ground!
* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for: Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
O Beata Trinitas; St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael

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