It was the south western part of
France in a little town called Lourdes in 1858, the location of an extraordinary
event; a lady later described as ‘beautiful
beyond measure’ appeared to a young girl of 14 called Bernadette and during
one of their many correspondence the lady revealed her name as the ‘Immaculate Conception’.
Another occurrence started from
May of 1917, in a town called Fatima in Portugal; a lady later described by the
3 children who saw her, as ‘Brighter than
the sun’ announced that God wished to establish devotions to her ‘Immaculate Heart’.
Such verifiable encounters,
amongst many others things, may provide proofs to the existence of extra-terrestrial
planes, even as the question regarding whether we are alone grows within our
secular world. Science may at last discover what Faith has known all along; we
are not alone. Events like those in Lourdes and Fatima may well prove sceptics
wrong regarding life after death. Such events as these are filled with
undeniable signs for our age supporting the extra-terrestrial existence, for
instance, how is one to deny the numerous healing and miracles that still take
place at Lourdes, or the spinning and falling sun captured by photographers
during the Fatima event, or the incorruptibility of the seers’ bodies at death…
I am also sorry for a faith that does not realise that life is a continuum.
That is by the way; let’s go back
to the Purity subject which is the reason for narrating these stories in the
first instance. A word appears as a central to the message of these two
peculiar events. It is ‘Immaculate’. The English dictionary
describes the word Immaculate as ‘Pure’, ‘Free from spot or stain or fault or
flaw or blemish’, ‘Spotlessly clean’. As a result of the general reference by
this lady to her son and his redemptive work on humanity, it is almost
generally accepted that she is Mary the mother of Jesus Christ; and this is
also my stand.
Even more than the physical
verification of these events -some of which I have described above- is the
radical visible internal and spiritual change which occurred to these children
and every personage who has encountered this lady. They seemed to have a had a more
acute awareness of by far a more beautiful plane of existence (even in time) compared with our present habitat which seemed but dung in comparison; and they were not afraid
to go there, even at the cost of their lives. Their hearts became many times broadened
and they were not limited by any ideology in their care for humanity, and their
charity knew no bound. Virtually every one of them did seem to understand the
link between our doggedly flawed sexual behaviours and the corruption to which
our earthly plane is littered.
So, based on the topic
propounded, that is, Purity, of which this is its sequential 4th
part, I present Mary as a perfect path, model and teacher of the subject
against which our humanity is languishing within its corruption, languidness
and despair. Why her? Because she shared so very much the seemingly hopeless clause
our humanity is clawed and she tells us that –just like her- we can be redeemed
out from it.
Some people of faith often do not
like to picture Mary within the concept of a pure human struggle , we prefer a
personage whose life is filled with exquisite drafts, yet for the Virgin,
within the 3 frameworks of the topic which we have been discussing so far, that
is of ‘Sins of the flesh’, of the ‘humanly pure’ and of the ‘search for truth’,
the reality is that for her, her triumphant story was borne of a struggle, even
though it was backed by grace and mercy, and we are neither alienated from such
helping factors too which won her the triumph.
It is enough not to give up. No
denial, don’t justify, no retreat, don’t surrender, these are families of
rebellion to our doom no Goodwill is sufficient towards the struggle
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