Isn’t there a message from Aparecida to the world? When the face of the Church seems to be hidden from human eyes, a glorious restoration is about to be wrought by the Holy Spirit.
Photo: Sergio Miyazaki
Newsroom (29/11/2024 18:24, Gaudium Press) Days after the vile attack that reduced the image of Our Lady of Aparecida to shards in May 1978, Folha de São Paulo published an article by Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, entitled: A imagem que se partiu. Considering the horrible crime and certain events with national repercussions, Dr. Plinio analyzed the world situation then.
A crime of such dimensions, he said, perpetrated in the heart of one of the largest Catholic nations on earth, was a sign of the enormous decadence in which humanity was immersed, increasingly atheistic and materialistic. What’s more, it was a real warning. He then pointed out the link between Our Lady’s prophetic message at Fatima and the attack on the Patroness of Brazil: “It is impossible not to wonder if there is a connection between this tragic and maternal prediction, which has gone unheeded by the world over the last sixty years, and the equally tragic event at Aparecida. […] Many will say that the link between Fatima and Aparecida cannot be affirmed, for lack of complete proof. I won’t go into the question here. I’m asking if some feel they have a basis for denying it…”
In the wake of Dr. Plinio’s considerations, we can ask ourselves another question: wouldn’t it be reasonable, especially for our times, to also speak of a “message from Aparecida”? If the episode of the breaking of the image can be considered a supernatural warning, why couldn’t its entire history be?
Mary and the Mystical Body of Christ
When we reflect on the prodigious journey of the image of the patron saint of Brazil, from its encounter in the waters of the Paraíba River to the present day, we can see how it seems to constitute an admirable parable, bearing a profound and very topical message. But a parable of what? Of the glorious trajectory of Catholicism in its two millennia of existence.
It’s also very appropriate that Providence wanted to use an image of Our Lady for this purpose because, as the Catechism teaches us, the Holy Church finds in Mary the ideal model of her virtues and the most perfect image of her holiness. Therefore, much of what is said about the one can also be said, with the necessary caveats, about the other.
For a moment, let’s look at the Queen of Brazil and discern in her history some chapters of the glorious life of the Mystical Bride of Christ.
Failure of diabolical plans
The fact that the image was pulled out of the water is eloquent. Let’s remember those words from St. John’s Apocalypse: “The serpent spewed out a river of water against the Woman, to make her submerge” (12:15). In the figure of this mysterious Woman, Catholic tradition sees both Mary Most Holy and the Holy Church. Thus, the immersion of the image may well represent Satan’s plans to conceal and annihilate the action of the Mystical Body of the Lord.
In the first centuries of Christianity, this diabolical objective manifested itself above all through heresies, which aimed to create internal divisions among the faithful and separate them from their Divine Founder. For this reason, the state in which the image was found in Paraíba is also emblematic: with the body and head separated.
Furthermore, in the same way, that the small image of Our Lady of Aparecida was rescued from the waters and entrusted to the protection of humble fishermen, the Redeemer wanted to entrust his Church to men of a similar condition, who, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, knew how to fight for the integrity of his doctrine and adorn it with the witness of their fidelity. The infernal plots therefore failed, because “the earth came to the aid of the Woman” (Rev 12:16).
Symbiology of miracles
The hundreds of graces achieved in Aparecida have always strengthened the faith of the devotees and helped convert many non-believers. It is interesting to note how some of the miracles performed there bear a close resemblance to the Church’s work throughout history.
The chains of a slave that were broken and he was freed symbolize Baptism, the source of true freedom for the children of God, and the end of servitude to the devil. The candles that were re-lit without any human help can represent the action of grace in bringing back to so many souls the fire of charity, extinguished by sin; a supernatural and invisible prodigy produced by the Sacraments. In turn, the miraculous stopping of the sacrilegious knight at the gates of the basilica seems to be an image of God’s action about his enemies, whose fury has so often threatened Christendom with ruin: no matter how violent the attacks, he has never allowed his inheritance to be handed over to pillage and the gates of hell to prevail against it (cf. Mt 16:18).
Promise of a glorious restoration
So what can we say about the disastrous attack we discussed at the beginning of this article? Is it not a symbol of what is happening to the Church today?
Unfortunately, it’s hard to deny that the evil one, seeing his plans to destroy God’s work thwarted, dared to enter the sacred precinct and take possession of what is most holy in it. “Through some crevice,” Pope Paul VI said, ‘the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God’. However, this was only allowed to a certain extent. And in this regard, Our Lady of Aparecida has yet another symbolism to show us.
When the miraculous statue was shattered, her hands remained intact. Similarly, the Holy Church, which can be disfigured in its human part, but never destroyed, always has in its bosom the principle of restoration: holy, praying, and sacrificing souls – represented by the image’s folded hands – which are the infallible pledge of its victory. The prayers and silent sufferings of these souls obtain from God that the virginal face of the Church will once again shine with all its splendor, even in the darkest periods of history.
Let us therefore trust in the “message” that Our Lady of Aparecida conveys to us: when this sublime countenance seems to be hidden from human eyes, a mysterious and most glorious restoration is about to be brought about by the Divine Holy Spirit!
May the triumph of Mary and the Church be hastened!
An echo of the warning given in the apparitions of Fatima, the history of the patron saint of Brazil is also an echo of the promise of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
May the Blessed Virgin fulfill it as soon as possible, shortening the days of humiliation of the Holy Church and granting her a splendor never before seen in history. This is the wish that, in filial prayer, we lay at the feet of our Mother and Queen today.
Text taken from the Heralds of the Gospel Magazine no. 274, October 2024. By Gabriel Lopes dos Anjos Silva.
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
