Our Lady's Lamp

And no, I am not talking about some Femme Fatal. I'm talking about the ultimate Deceiver. I think we sometimes don't think of the Trial in the Garden properly, largely due to the limitations of English, largely because all the artwork is rather cheesy. We tend to think of Satan being this little garden snake that sits and talks to Eve, hissing in her ear that God was unjust and selfish. But Scripture does not tell us that he was like Sir Hiss, but rather much more like Maleficent. "The another sign appeared in the sky, it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. It's tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth.... The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down wi

This summer, I knew over 20 couples getting married, and I made it to several of the weddings. I liked many things about the weddings, and many things I would have changed, but having gone to so many weddings made me more aware of something that I had "known" but never really understood. The Mass is a wedding. "Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory. For the wedding day of the Lamb has come, His bride has made herself ready.... Then the angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These words are true; they come from God.'" (Revelation 19:7,9) When we go to Mass, Jesus starts out by having His friends read aloud the letters He penned to us across time that profess the greatness of His love for us. He speaks words of love to us publicly, yet intimately. He publicly declares His love for us, but He does not stop at words. No! Rather, He bares His heart for us.