Celebrations

In Madrid, Spain, Our Lady of Almudena: there are numerous traditions regarding the origins of this statue. Some say that it was brought by a certain Calocerus, a disciple of Saint James the Greater, around the year 38. Others say that Nicodemus of Jesus’ burial fame carved it, others that Saint Luke painted it, and still others that Saint James himself brought it from Jerusalem. In any event, why the name? A thousand years later, King Alfonso VI re-captured Toledo from the Moors and ordered that there be a nine-day novena ending with a candlelight procession. As the procession neared the Moorish citadel (al-mudaina in Arabic) on that last night, November 9th, 1085, a piece of the wall fell, revealing a hidden image of Our Lady with the Child Jesus. Whether this is the original statue or not is beside the point; it’s for this reason that the feast of Our Lady Almudena is celebrated on November 9th.


Meditation:

A meditation from Fulton Sheen’s The World’s First Love: “It is our firm belief that the fears some entertain concerning the Moslems are not to be realized, but that Muslimism, instead, will eventually be converted to Christianity and in a way that even some of our missionaries never suspect. It is our belief that this will happen not through the direct teaching of Christianity, but through a summoning of the Moslems to a veneration of the Mother of God. This is the line of argument: The Koran, which is the Bible of the Moslems, has many verses concerning the Blessed Virgin. First of all, the Koran believes in her Immaculate Conception and, also, in her Virgin Birth. . . .  The Koran has also verses on the Annunciation, Visitation, and Nativity. . . . In the nineteenth chapter of the Koran there are forty-one verses on Jesus and Mary. There is such a strong defense of the virginity of Mary here that the Koran, in the fourth book, attributes the condemnation of the Jews to their monstrous calumny against the Virgin Mary. . . . Mary, then, is for the Moslems the true Sayyida, or Lady. The only possible serious rival to her in their creed would be Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed himself. But after the death of Fatima, Mohammed wrote: "Thou shalt be the most blessed of all the women in Paradise, after Mary.”' In a variant of the text, Fatima is made to say: "I surpass all the women, except Mary." This brings us to our second point, namely, why the Blessed Mother, in this twentieth century, should have revealed herself in the insignificant little village of Fatima, so that to all future generations she would be known as "Our Lady of Fatima.” Since nothing ever happens out of heaven except with a finesse of all details, I believe that the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as "Our Lady of Fatima" as a pledge and a sign of hope to the Moslem people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her Divine Son, too. Evidence to support these views is found in the historical fact that the Moslems occupied Portugal for centuries. At the time when they were finally driven out, the last Moslem chief had a beautiful daughter by the name of Fatima. A Catholic boy fell in love with her, and for him she not only stayed behind when the Moslems left, but even embraced the faith. The young husband was so much in love with her that he changed the name of the town where he lived to Fatima. Thus, the very place where Our Lady appeared in 1917 bears a historical connection to Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed.” Here, Sheen makes a number of points: first, Our Lady is the instrument by which God works the salvation of souls. Do we really believe that? Second, Sheen mentions God’s attention to details, and what a beautiful attention that is! Do we remember that God knows and plans everything? Thirdly, God wants all men to be saved. Do we believe that He can accomplish that, and desires us to be His instruments, alongside our Lady, for that work?

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