Our Lady’s Birth and the Triumph of Her Reign
By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Everything
the Church does is wise. In Her wisdom, She classifies the different levels of
honour to be paid to God, Our Lady and the saints. The first level,
called latria or adoration, is only for God and Our Lord Jesus
Christ, Who is the Incarnate Word.
The
cult of dulia is veneration or mediation, which the Church
pays to the saints. However, there is a special category of honour that the
Church only pays to Our Lady, called hyperdulia. Our Lady ranks so
high above all other saints that the Church had to create a special cult to
describe devotion to her. This demonstrates the unique position of Our Lady in
all creation.
The
Church teaches this in a number of ways. For example: Besides that of Our Lord
and Saint John the Baptist, no other birthday is celebrated; no other saint has
more than one feast day per year; and while the Church does not allow the same
saint to be represented multiple times on the same altar, She permits any
number of images of Our Lady to be placed anywhere in a church. Also, the
Church celebrates dozens of calendar feasts, liturgical ceremonies and pious
practices in Our Lady’s honour.
Among
these, Our Lady’s Holy Nativity has a special significance, since it marked a
new era in the history of the chosen people.
Since the Old Testament is no more than the account of the wait
for the Messiahs, it can be divided into two phases: The first would be the
4,000-5,000 years before Our Lady’s birth. The second is after that blessed
moment in which Providence resolved to bring forth she, whose prayer would bring
the Messiahs.
Her birth was the arrival of that perfect creature who was full
of grace before God. Without her, the prayers and sufferings of all humanity
would have failed to bring the Incarnation. However with her, the trajectory of
history was forever changed. All prayers became more effective and a new manner
of blessings and graces began producing sanctity like never before.
Our Lady served as the “Doorway to Heaven” that the hope of the
Messiahs’ coming passed through. Her presence on earth was the occasion for
signal graces. The height of her contemplation gave her a force of presence. It
made her a fountain of so many and such high graces, that her very existence
was an annunciation of Our Lord’s coming.
Thus, the feast of Our Lady’s nativity is very dear. It is the
beginning of the Redemption that would eventually defeat the evil powers of
paganism and the Gentiles.
There is a profound relationship between Our Lady’s coming and
what is occurring in modern society. Once again, Our Lady has taken a pivotal
role in history, by raising up souls that burn with the desire for her reign
amid the darkness of neo-paganism. They clamour for it and fight for its
implantation on earth.
These souls are like Our Lady of the Old Testament. The light
has not yet come; neither has the redemption, victory nor liberation from the
devil. However, these souls spread graces of hope and determination, in such a
way, that they herald the coming victory.
Thus, Our Lady’s nativity is symbolically repeated to prepare
the coming of Her reign, prophesied by Saint Louis de Montfort and the
apparitions of Fatima.
For those who desire Our Lady’s victory, this feast day is
especially important. These should pray fervently, for the immediate coming of
Her reign, when the long dark night of sin will be eclipsed by her triumph.
The proceeding text has been taken from an
informal lecture Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira gave on September 8,
1966.
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