Our Lady's Lamp

Remember that typology stuff I was talking about? I already mentioned there that Jesus is the new Adam. But if Jesus is the new Adam, as Paul tells us, then who is the new Eve? Mary, of course! No other woman was with Him at the beginning and stayed with Him until the end. But do we  need  a New Eve, you may ask? Well, here is what some of the Early Church Fathers and more modern theologians have said. "Christ was born of a woman so that just as death came through a woman, so through Mary, life might return." ~St. Peter Chrysologus "Jesus became man by the Virgin so that the course of which was taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent might be also the very course by which it could be put down. Eve...conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the...

If I were to ask what the biggest dividing factor between Catholics and Protestants is, I guarantee you at least half would say "Mary." A few might say "The Pope," one or two may bring up the sex scandals, some may bring up Tradition and Scripture vs Solo Scriptura, and a few who were familiar with Catholic doctrine might say the Eucharist. But the bulk of people would say Mary and the Saints.  Why is that? Some people will claim that it is because we shouldn't talk to the dead, but Jesus told us that God is not God of the dead, but of the living , so many will leave the topic of the saints alone - regardless of their acceptance of it. But few will leave Mary alone. I was listening to a talk by a convert, and he was certain that "Mary would keep him Protestant." Mary was one of my mother's largest hurdles to pass as well, though that wasn't something I had an issue with . But for many of my friends, it is.  So, first, let me clarify a ...

“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament … There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon earth.”  ~J.R.R Tolkien  "Recognize in this bread what hung on the cross, and in this chalice what flowed from His side... whatever was in many and varied ways announced beforehand in the sacrifices of the Old Testament pertains to this one sacrifice which is revealed in the New Testament." ~St. Augustine  “All love craves unity. As the highest peak of love in the human order is the unity of husband and wife in the flesh, so the highest unity in the Divine order is the unity of the soul and Christ in communion.”  ~Ven. Fulton Sheen “The liturgy of the Eucharist is best understood as a journey or procession. It is the journey of the Church into the dimension of the Kingdom. We use the word 'dimension' because it seems the best way to indi...