THE VIRGIN - the Whore of Babylon.
We must do all in our
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) began
the period of Romanticism in English poetry.
The publication of Lyrical Ballads by
Wordsworth and Coleridge in 1798 was the
most dramatic event in English literature since
John Milton's Paradise Lost. Wordsworth's
Tintern Abbey defined the nature of romantic
poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings," which "takes its origin
from emotion recollected in tranquillity." The
following poem from his Ecclesiastical
Sonnets is a tribute to the Blessed Virgin Mary,
"tainted nature's solitary boast."
The Virgin
Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
With the least shade of thought to sin
allied;
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature's solitary boast;
Purer than foam on central ocean tost;
Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak
strewn
With fancied roses, than the unblemished
moon
Before her wane begins on heaven's blue
coast;
Thy Image falls to earth. Yet some, I
ween,
Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might
bend,
As to a visible Power, in which did blend
All that was mixed and reconciled in
Thee
Of mother's love with maiden purity,
Of high with low, celestial with terrene!
"Our tainted nature's solitary boast"
There is one Woman we must cling to
without compromise. That is the Immaculate
Virgin Mother of God. Sadly many who follow
the worldly doctrines of the Vatican II church
are being lured by another woman of Scripture
power to alert those poor misguided souls of
this fatal flaw before they are totally seduced
by the despairing reality of evil.
Editor's Note: In Father Louis
Campbell's sermon for the Double of the First
Class Feast of the Immaculate Conception, he
extends great hope to the faithful few to hang
in there - for in the end Mary's Immaculate
Heart will triumph! We have the Almighty's
Word on this as Father documents from Sacred
Scripture and Our Lady's promise at Fatima.
Though we must go through the chastising
purification as needs be - just as she cautioned
at La Salette and Fatima - so in future
generations the fruits of the efforts of the
faithful remnant devoted to Jesus, His Blessed,
Immaculate Mother, and His Mystical Bride -
Holy Mother Church will yield a harvest no
human mind can perceive. As finite beings our
efforts may not be realized on this fleeting
earth, but our legacy of loyalty will be forever
remembered and saluted in eternity. That
should be enough to motivate every soul to
restore the purity of the spotless Bride of
Christ.
Today the Feast of the Immaculate
Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
displaces the Second Sunday of Advent
according to the Traditional Liturgical
Calendar. This is right and just, since Mary
under the title of the Immaculate Conception is
the holy Patroness of the United States of
America.
What God revealed to the Blessed
Virgin Mary spiritually, without words or
concepts, at her Immaculate Conception, is
unimaginable. Mary advanced in grace from
the moment of her conception through gifts
lavishly bestowed upon her by her Creator.
Mary herself testifies, "He Who is mighty has
done great things for me" (Lk.1:49).
To the worldly mind, which has no
understanding of spiritual things, this is
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nonsense. St. Paul says, "Wisdom… we speak
among those who are mature, yet not a
wisdom of this world nor of the rulers of this
world, who are passing away… But the
sensual man does not perceive the things that
are of the Spirit of God, for it is foolishness to
him and he cannot understand, because it is
examined spiritually" (1Cor.6,14). Still, one of
the great English Romantic poets, William
Wordsworth, referred to Mary as "Our tainted
nature's solitary boast."
This great feast challenges us to reject
sin and strive for holiness, since Mary is the
image of the Church, which is to become the
holy and spotless Bride of Christ. The Church
will be purified through these present trials,
which are special graces given to renew the
Church in the image of the Immaculate Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Church.
We must strive to live without sin,
keeping ourselves "unspotted from this world"
(Jas.1:27). The Church's purification is our
purification. And the instrument of that
purification, without his intending it, is the
devil himself. "Woe to the earth," says the
Apocalypse, "because the devil has gone down
to you in great wrath, knowing that he has but
a short time" (Apoc.12:12). His consort on
earth is the Great Harlot, the Scarlet Woman of
the Apocalypse, of whom it is said: "…the
inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with
the wine of her immorality" (Apoc.17:2). The
harlot, called the great city of Babylon, we
may understand as the unbelieving world and
the apostate church, which loves the world
more than the Lord Jesus Christ. She is the
evil counterpart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and of the purified Church, the Bride of Christ.
We are warned against her by a voice from
Heaven: "Go out from her, my people, that you
may not share in her sins, and that you may
not receive of her plagues. For her sins have
reached even to heaven, and the Lord has
remembered her iniquities" (Apoc.8:4,5).
St. Paul admonishes us to accept our
sufferings with courage: "For you have not yet
resisted unto blood in the struggle with sin.
And you have forgotten the exhortation that is
addressed to you as sons, saying, 'My son,
neglect not the discipline of the Lord, neither
be thou weary when thou art rebuked by Him.
For whom the Lord loves, He chastises; and
He scourges every son whom He receives'…"
(Heb.12:4-6).
We must say to that harlot: "I will not
drink of your wine!" As guests at the Marriage
Feast of the Lamb we have something far
better - the Holy Eucharist. "O Sacrum
Convivium in quo Christus sumitur…," says
St. Thomas Aquinas, "O Holy Banquet in
which Christ is received, the memory of His
Passion is recalled, the mind is filled with
grace, and there is given to us a pledge of
future glory."
The Lord has given us an incomparable
teacher and model of holiness in Mary. Her
Immaculate Heart, like a new ark, will carry us
above the deluge of impurity Our Lady spoke
of at Fatima. Better times lie ahead for the
Church through Mary's intercession. The
Venerable Mary of Agreda in her Mystical
City of God speaks of Mary's power in the last
times:
"It was revealed to me that through
the intercession of the Mother of God, all
heresies will disappear. This victory over
heresies has been reserved by Christ for His
Blessed Mother. In the last times the Lord will
especially spread the renown of His Mother:
Mary began salvation and by Her intercession
it will be concluded. Before the Second
Coming of Christ, Mary must, more than ever,
shine in mercy, might and grace in order to
bring unbelievers into the Catholic faith. The
powers of Mary in the last times over the
demons will be very conspicuous. Mary will
extend the Reign of Christ over the heathens
and Mohammedans, and it will be a time of
great joy when Mary, as Mistress and Queen
of Hearts, is enthroned."
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 How about that! Those who are
planning "Gulf War II" and boasting of
military might are not to be the victors. The
victory over the Muslim world will take place
through the awesome spiritual power of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. Not for nothing did she
choose to appear in the tiny Portuguese village
of Fatima in 1917. The present interest of the
Muslims in the Fatima Shrine is without doubt
a part of her brilliant plan for their conversion,
seeing that the daughter of Mohammed was
named Fatima.
"Who is this that comes forth like the
dawn, as beautiful as the moon, as resplendent
as the sun, as awe-inspiring as bannered
troops?" (Cant.6:10). It is indeed the Holy and
Immaculate Virgin Mary. Strengthened by her
powerful prayers and motherly assistance, we
will one day see what we may call the
Immaculate Conception of the Church. With
the poet we address her:
Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
With the least shade of thought
to sin allied;
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature's solitary boast…
William Wordsworth
Father Louis J. Campbell
The Immaculate Conception of Mary
by Dr. Robert Schihl
The constant faith (tradition: paradosis)
of the Church attests to the belief in the special
preparation of the holiness of the person of
Mary to bear in her body the most holy person
of the Son of God.
Church Fathers:
* implicitly found in the Fathers of the
Church in the parallelism between Eve and
Mary (Irenaeus, Lyons, 140? - 202?);
* Found in the more general terms
about Mary: "holy", "innocent", "most pure",
"intact", "immaculate" (Irenaeus, Lyons, 140?-
202?; Ephraem, Syria, 306-373; Ambrose,
Milan, 373-397);
* Explicit language: Mary - free from
original sin (Augustine, Hippo, 395-430 to
Anselm, Normandy, 1033-1109);
Eastern Church:
* celebrated a Feast of the Conception
of Mary in the 8th to the 9th Century;
Western Church:
* celebrated a Feast of the Conception
of Mary in the 12th Century;
* A record of the feast in the 11th
Century in Great Britain; in the 12th Century
in Normandy;
* Record in many churches of a Feast
of the Conception of Mary in France,
Germany, Italy and Spain in the 12th Century
(Bernard, Clairvaux, 1090-1153);
14th Century:
* was noted for the opposition to the
Immaculate Conception from some of the
great doctors of scholasticism. The celebration
of the feast was not denied though. The
difficulty arose from the meaning of the
universal redemption through Christ.
15th Century:
* Franciscan theologians solved the
difficulty--Christ, the most perfect mediator,
preserved Mary from original sin by an
equally perfect act of healing. Duns Scotus
(Scotland, 1266-1308) explained that the
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Immaculate Conception came through God's
application of the grace of Christ beforehand.

From 15th Century:

* the Feast was universally celebrated;

and Christian piety introduced an oath to
defend the belief in the Immaculate
Conception to be taken not only by Religious,
but also by non-Religious and at the
Universities (e.g., Paris, 1497; Cologne, 1499;
Vienna, 1501, etc.)

1854, Pope Pius IX, infallibly defined, ex

cathedra:

* "The Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first

instant of her conception, by a singular grace
and privilege of Almighty God, and in view of
the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the saviour
of the human race, was preserved free from all
stain of original sin."

Excerpted and abridged from Chap. 7 of

A Biblical Apologetic of the Catholic Faith, by
Dr. Robert Schihl, Professor at Regent
University. It appears here for personal use
only and may not be reproduced for any other
use without permission of the author. The
complete text may be downloaded from
EWTN's Apologetics library as
APOLOGIA.ZIP.

If you find this Biblical Apologetic of use

please send your thanks to:

Dr. Robert J. Schihl

Regent University
Professor, School of Radio, Television
and Film
College of Communications and the Arts
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23464-9800