Having asked my Catholic husband on many an occasion what the Grotto not far from our nearest village represents and getting a shrug of the shoulders I now feel fully in possession of the facts. Having grown up in England these Marian apparition Grottos hold a strange kind of magic and I like observing the one in our parish. Thanks Paul.
I enjoyed rereading your presentation of your well journey this morning, Paul, as I had forgotten much that appeared in it.
I am sure that the apparitions of Mary are a trial, and an embarrassment to the official representatives of a Church which suffers from the same problems inherent in bureaucracy that plague all of our formal institutions right now, religious or political. The Catholic Church would like the apparitions to go away, to be able to conduct business as usual INSIDE THE CHURCHES, and under a roof.
How much tends to get lost under the imperative to organize our spiritual experience...
But how to keep it alive, and pass it on without organisation (to the extent that any spiritual experience can be passed on...) ?
Right now I am going through Euripides' "The Bacchae" with a fine toothed comb, as we say. It is about non believers, water miraculously appearing in the mountains when the women claw at the ground, crazy women hunting, and tearing animals and people to pieces sometimes, with no roof over their heads. An untamed approach to an untamed religious experience with Dionysos who is not a sympathetic figure at all, contrary to Jesus, who is kind and forgiving (but... not always, I seem to remember). "The Bacchae" explores what happens to people who can't seem to muster belief, and it is not pretty.
Mary is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Bacchae. Refreshing, and comforting.
Economically speaking, is the overrepresentation of young women among witnesses of apparitions driven by supply (young women being more susceptible) or by demand (we like our apparitions being delivered by young women)?
I have to say, Our Lady had a powerful role in bringing me to the faith from atheism. One I never expected or could have predicted. Quite strange how it all shakes out, isn't it?
While you're in Donegal, have you checked out Doon Well and the well associated with St Patrick beside Grianan Fort? There are many more, as I'm sure you know.
Today is the feast day of St. Gobnata of Ballyvourney, thought there may be a chance that her well would be featured today but hopefully you had the chance to visit there as well - she is my wife’s patron Saint and the visit we had to it was pretty meaningful for both of us. Thank you for these writings Paul, Saint Gobnata pray for us!
Hello from across the pond! I had to sign up as a paid member after reading today’s holy well and the Marian talk. Today is the feast of Saint Bernadette, my confirmation name. I only became a huge fan of Mary in my later years. She became a stronger woman as I became a stronger woman. Love these Sunday journeys
I grew up in Conyers GA and back in the 90's a lady named Nancy Fowler claimed to have visions of Mary and was told about future events and so forth. It was a huge deal here. Different times of the year our town would have 10's of thousands people coming to their farm to hear what she had to say. Alot of money was made off of it. It was eventually stopped but I dont the details. Their was a saying we had " come to Conyers, Eat Drink and See Mary ".
It is my understanding that Catholics (like me) and Orthodox agree that the best way to discern whether an apparition, or any phenomenon at all, is from God or the Father of All Lies is to look at the fruits. I take it that the devil has proved to be rather good at the long con now and then, but still, I find it very hard to believe that demonic delusions would incite people to pray and crank up their devotion, as has been the case with the apparitions recognised by the Church. After all, there's no shortage of hoaxes and 'enlightened ones' that have been properly discredited.
I believe the Marian apparitions to be true, is what I'm saying. Of course, I'd much rather use them as an inspiration for my own faith than to try to bash other denominations over the head with them or to convince myself that Catholics are more righteous.
The Vatican’s skepticism is understandable as frauds of course use religion for their own purposes. That said, I think you would benefit from a deeper study of Lourdes. It is a place of love in action. I am grateful God sent Mary to Bernadette, “ the little broom.”
A lesser-known Marian apparition occurred in Zeitoun, Egypt in the late 1960's, at the site of a Coptic Orthodox church. The apparitions lasted three years and were witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people, Christian, Muslim and atheists alike. There are even pictures of it, although I'm not sure they have been authenticated. The hierarchy of the Coptic church did an investigation and declared the apparitions authentic. It is a really fascinating case, because apparitions are not usually associated with Muslim countries. I think the definitive study of the Zeitoun apparitions is yet to be written.
I recently heard it suggested from a well known former Anglican bishop now Catholic convert that the Protestants should return the Cathedrals, land, art, they took over from the Catholic church during the reformation and Henry the 8th. Reparations to the Catholics(what a notion!) that built these beautiful places....worth multi- billions. He claims the Protestants don't remotely fill these spaces or know how to be in them( could it be the lack of Mary?) and are turning them into museums , cafes, cultural centers.. even golf courses! for the revenue. Maybe Theotokis is what is needed. I love hearing the Irish ,despite the crushing secularization everywhere hold on to her even in a folk kitsch way. Maybe that way it seems less threatening to the elite establishment who don't remotely understand her power?..
Well done, Paul! Today Feb 11 is the feast of the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes.
I recommend reading Franz Werfel’s book, “The Song of Bernadette”. Werfel was stuck in Lourdes with his wife, Alma Mahler (widow of Gustav Mahler), during WWII while waiting to cross into Spain and then Portugal. Werfel was a famous Jewish playwright, poet, and novelist. His name was high up on the Nazis’ death list. He vowed to write about the apparitions in Lourdes if he and his wife would make it safely to America. This promise he fulfilled when he arrived in the US.
The book was made into an award-winning move in 1943. I am surprised at how Catholic this book is, given that Werfel is Jewish. I found out later in another Werfel book called “Between Heaven and Earth” that Werfel’s nanny, a Czech woman named Barbara, took him to Sunday Mass when he was young, and taught him a lot about the Catholic faith. He had also gone to a Catholic school for boys in Prague.
Great reading. I was chuckling throughout. So nice that faith can be fun too.
Having asked my Catholic husband on many an occasion what the Grotto not far from our nearest village represents and getting a shrug of the shoulders I now feel fully in possession of the facts. Having grown up in England these Marian apparition Grottos hold a strange kind of magic and I like observing the one in our parish. Thanks Paul.
I enjoyed rereading your presentation of your well journey this morning, Paul, as I had forgotten much that appeared in it.
I am sure that the apparitions of Mary are a trial, and an embarrassment to the official representatives of a Church which suffers from the same problems inherent in bureaucracy that plague all of our formal institutions right now, religious or political. The Catholic Church would like the apparitions to go away, to be able to conduct business as usual INSIDE THE CHURCHES, and under a roof.
How much tends to get lost under the imperative to organize our spiritual experience...
But how to keep it alive, and pass it on without organisation (to the extent that any spiritual experience can be passed on...) ?
Right now I am going through Euripides' "The Bacchae" with a fine toothed comb, as we say. It is about non believers, water miraculously appearing in the mountains when the women claw at the ground, crazy women hunting, and tearing animals and people to pieces sometimes, with no roof over their heads. An untamed approach to an untamed religious experience with Dionysos who is not a sympathetic figure at all, contrary to Jesus, who is kind and forgiving (but... not always, I seem to remember). "The Bacchae" explores what happens to people who can't seem to muster belief, and it is not pretty.
Mary is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Bacchae. Refreshing, and comforting.
Economically speaking, is the overrepresentation of young women among witnesses of apparitions driven by supply (young women being more susceptible) or by demand (we like our apparitions being delivered by young women)?
A lovely post and particularly lovely photos.
I have to say, Our Lady had a powerful role in bringing me to the faith from atheism. One I never expected or could have predicted. Quite strange how it all shakes out, isn't it?
While you're in Donegal, have you checked out Doon Well and the well associated with St Patrick beside Grianan Fort? There are many more, as I'm sure you know.
Today is the feast day of St. Gobnata of Ballyvourney, thought there may be a chance that her well would be featured today but hopefully you had the chance to visit there as well - she is my wife’s patron Saint and the visit we had to it was pretty meaningful for both of us. Thank you for these writings Paul, Saint Gobnata pray for us!
Hello from across the pond! I had to sign up as a paid member after reading today’s holy well and the Marian talk. Today is the feast of Saint Bernadette, my confirmation name. I only became a huge fan of Mary in my later years. She became a stronger woman as I became a stronger woman. Love these Sunday journeys
I grew up in Conyers GA and back in the 90's a lady named Nancy Fowler claimed to have visions of Mary and was told about future events and so forth. It was a huge deal here. Different times of the year our town would have 10's of thousands people coming to their farm to hear what she had to say. Alot of money was made off of it. It was eventually stopped but I dont the details. Their was a saying we had " come to Conyers, Eat Drink and See Mary ".
It is my understanding that Catholics (like me) and Orthodox agree that the best way to discern whether an apparition, or any phenomenon at all, is from God or the Father of All Lies is to look at the fruits. I take it that the devil has proved to be rather good at the long con now and then, but still, I find it very hard to believe that demonic delusions would incite people to pray and crank up their devotion, as has been the case with the apparitions recognised by the Church. After all, there's no shortage of hoaxes and 'enlightened ones' that have been properly discredited.
I believe the Marian apparitions to be true, is what I'm saying. Of course, I'd much rather use them as an inspiration for my own faith than to try to bash other denominations over the head with them or to convince myself that Catholics are more righteous.
Glory to God.
And I hope you all hiked slieve league afterwards! What a beautiful beautiful place
The Vatican’s skepticism is understandable as frauds of course use religion for their own purposes. That said, I think you would benefit from a deeper study of Lourdes. It is a place of love in action. I am grateful God sent Mary to Bernadette, “ the little broom.”
A lesser-known Marian apparition occurred in Zeitoun, Egypt in the late 1960's, at the site of a Coptic Orthodox church. The apparitions lasted three years and were witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people, Christian, Muslim and atheists alike. There are even pictures of it, although I'm not sure they have been authenticated. The hierarchy of the Coptic church did an investigation and declared the apparitions authentic. It is a really fascinating case, because apparitions are not usually associated with Muslim countries. I think the definitive study of the Zeitoun apparitions is yet to be written.
I recently heard it suggested from a well known former Anglican bishop now Catholic convert that the Protestants should return the Cathedrals, land, art, they took over from the Catholic church during the reformation and Henry the 8th. Reparations to the Catholics(what a notion!) that built these beautiful places....worth multi- billions. He claims the Protestants don't remotely fill these spaces or know how to be in them( could it be the lack of Mary?) and are turning them into museums , cafes, cultural centers.. even golf courses! for the revenue. Maybe Theotokis is what is needed. I love hearing the Irish ,despite the crushing secularization everywhere hold on to her even in a folk kitsch way. Maybe that way it seems less threatening to the elite establishment who don't remotely understand her power?..
Well done, Paul! Today Feb 11 is the feast of the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes.
I recommend reading Franz Werfel’s book, “The Song of Bernadette”. Werfel was stuck in Lourdes with his wife, Alma Mahler (widow of Gustav Mahler), during WWII while waiting to cross into Spain and then Portugal. Werfel was a famous Jewish playwright, poet, and novelist. His name was high up on the Nazis’ death list. He vowed to write about the apparitions in Lourdes if he and his wife would make it safely to America. This promise he fulfilled when he arrived in the US.
The book was made into an award-winning move in 1943. I am surprised at how Catholic this book is, given that Werfel is Jewish. I found out later in another Werfel book called “Between Heaven and Earth” that Werfel’s nanny, a Czech woman named Barbara, took him to Sunday Mass when he was young, and taught him a lot about the Catholic faith. He had also gone to a Catholic school for boys in Prague.