Just like icons, such images should not be worshipped, but if they point the person onward to Mary and through her to Christ, neither should they be condemned. At best, such natural designs of sacred images are natural icons open to interpretation by others who may see other, non-sacred designs in them. Getting back to the original point: In short, yes, designs that appear to resemble Mary should not be mistaken for "apparitions" around which followings presumably develop. It would take deeper reflection to realize that there is nothing wrong with saying that Christ’s earthly father taught him some of what it means to be a man, just as human fathers do for human sons. The repulsion would be the first instinct, the pious Christian reaction that it is impossible for man to teach God anything, even, to a certain extent, how to be a man. What it means that he chose to enter humanity as a baby rather than as a man full-grown. It’s not because they would disagree that Joseph was entrusted by God to raise and rear Jesus Christ it’s because they have not deeply pondered, as Catholics have over many centuries, what it means for God to have chosen to become a man. When I first read that, I loved the idea but realized that this was a deeply Catholic sentiment that might well repulse Protestant Fundamentalists. Joseph which quoted a Catholic saying that he especially loved St. "Our Lady of the Underpass" is one example.Īs another example, I once read a book on St. Thus, Catholics can draw connections that might otherwise horrify non-sacramental Christians. That sacramental experience of God enables Catholics to draw more deeply from the reality of the Incarnation than might non-sacramental Christians who only experience God cerebrally. Because Catholics experience God spiritually through the physical reality of the sacraments, it is natural for them to instinctively see God’s hand at work in the physical order of things. The Catholic worldview is an inherently sacramental and incarnational worldview. If such shapes are indeed placed within creation, then God does it something Relapsed Catholic’s commenter states whimsically by attributing the deed to the Child Jesus scribbling pictures of Mommy. The distinction the person I quoted was trying to make, a distinction with which I agreed, is that it is in line with a genuinely Catholic piety to consider shapes vaguely similar to Mary to be images - icons, if you will - of Mary placed within creation. It was an image given as a sign to verify the reality of the apparitions given to St. Juan Diego’s tilma, is just that: An image. (As a quick side note, even the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, miraculously impressed on St. Don’t these people know ANYTHING about verified Marian appearances? Rant over. I am really sick of these stories, they really get my goat. Our Lady NEVER appears IN something, IN some medium. They are nothing, just shadows, oil slicks, water stains. In all true apparitions, it’s really Mary, not an image in toast, oil, or any other material thing: As one reader of my post pointed out, when Mary actually appears, she simply appears. The commenter I cited, a reader of Relapsed Catholic, implicitly agreed that the stains on the wall in question are just that, stains. Since the post has garnered a bit of controversy, even within the comments section of my post itself, I decided that a bit of clarification would be helpful: But maybe Armstrong will comment on this amazing comment cited by Jimmy Akin about the same ‘stains.’" Or, how about cleaning the stain off the wall while explaining that? Yes, that would be interesting. Now, if you could be so kind as to go down to Chicago and try that out in front of all those folks lighting candles, I’d like to see their reaction. "And finally, Dave Armstrong saw my note on Mary stains, and has fulfilled my wildest dreams by telling his fellow Catholics to get a grip (a little paraphrase there). James White of Alpha & Omega Ministries writes: However, not all readers of this blog have yet picked up on the distinction that is currently a group blog, so my post was mistakenly attributed to Jimmy. Kewly enough, I noticed that my humble post on "Our Lady of the Underpass" has been picked up elsewhere.
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