#35 – Jacob: Wrestling with God

When it comes to Islam, you see no bridge between Muslims and Christians? The bridge is obvious, you are just not open to it! Mary…. I know Protestants distance themselves from they deem as Goddess worship… A great Jesuit Priest once told me, “Look for the similarities not the differences!”.
Mary! Both Islam and Catholicism believe in not only the misunderstood immaculate conception, which I’m sure you know has to do with Mary being born without Original Sin, Again something both Islam and Catholicism have in common. St. Augustine’s statement: “the deliberate sin of the first man is the cause of original sin” (De nupt. et concup., II, xxvi, 43). It is the hereditary stain that is dealt with here. As to the sin of Adam we have not to examine the circumstances in which it was committed nor make the exegesis of the third chapter of Genesis. In AA they say we are flawed, genetically or somehow and we must overcome this flaw. Muslims believe we are all “touched by evil(or Satan) at Birth… Same! (BTW Jordan the 12 steps come directly from the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, which I at 1st thought you must be familiar with; you talk of putting meditations of yourself in the place of a Concentration Camp Guard) Curiously the Koran and Catholic Church Teachings believe she was born in this state of Grace unblemished by Sin, Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with you Blessed are you among all women” (btw a literal translation from the Bible as I originally did not know you were a Literalist/Fundamentalist in College Professor’s clothes) The Koran goes on even further to venerate Mary! There is a whole Chapter about Mary in the Koran, The Quran refers to Mary more often than the New Testament! According to the Qur’an, or Koran… divine grace surrounded Mary from birth, and, as a young woman, she received a message from God through the archangel Gabriel that God had chosen her, purified her, and had preferred her above all “the women of the worlds.” Muslims and Catholic both believe that, almost 1/2 the Planet! Still Protestants will not concede and insist it is “Goddess Worship”. Ever ponder what the world would be like had Mary said,”No!” at the Fiat? Yes, in fact Mary is the Mother of humanity, Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate for the human race! So before you bust out the feeble 1 Timothy 2:5, listen further as I have you and we both agree more than we disagree.
But Mary is “a Big Deal a really, I mean really big thing” as Trump our least spiritual or religious ever president would say. Don’t start me talking about Catholic Presidents, as you would say it has become self evident that America is Anti-Catholic and yes like Harvard Historian, Arthur Schlesinger says is, “The Last Acceptable Prejudice”. Ok Back to the key to the lock…. Mary (Maryam – مريم) is the only woman mentioned in the Qur’an by name. The other women in the Quran are represented as either the mothers or wives of certain leaders and prophets.
Also Muslims believe in the Virgin Birth ( I so hope you know the difference as many mix it up with the aforementioned conception) Though most Protestants believe in the Virgin Birth as well they differ at the point of Perpetual Virginity. Point of fact: Luther (and Zwingli) believed in Perpetual Virginity; Calvin was agnostic on the issue.
Now I happen to believe God talks to us through coincidences on occasion. The founder of Islam, Mohammed (Ironically called by you an unredeemable Warlord, while you interpret the Torah, the handbook for warlords… JK!)Well Mo had a daughter, a daughter he proclaimed was second only to the Virgin Mary, her name was Fatima “the shining one”, when the Muslims occupied Spain they named at city there after her.
You may have heard of our Catholic “superstitious belief” in Marian apparitions like, Our Lady of Fatima. But as for Fatima, with all the emphasis on the magnificent teaching and prophetic fulfillment of that apparition, something that has always intrigued me is that she would appear of all places in a town called Fatima. Why Fatima, a town that recalls the daughter of Mohammed? I first learned this from the great Archbishop, Fulton Sheen in his book, The World’s First Love. In the chapter entitled “Mary and the Moslems”], Please note that the book was written in 1952 and therefore some of the spellings are not the modern ones. Here are the excerpts:
“The Koran, which is the Bible of the Moslems, has many passages concerning the Blessed Virgin. First of all, the Koran believes in her Immaculate Conception, and also, in her Virgin Birth…..The Koran also has verses on the Annunciation, Visitation, and Nativity. Angels are pictured as accompanying the Blessed Mother and saying, Oh Mary, God has chosen you and purified you, and elected you above all the women of the earth. In the 19th chapter of the Koran there are 41 verses on Jesus and Mary. There is such a strong defense of the virginity of Mary here that the Koran in the fourth book, attributes the condemnation of the Jews to their monstrous calumny against the Virgin Mary.

Mary, then, is for the Moslems the true Sayyida, or Lady. The only possible serious rival to her in their creed would be Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed himself. But after the death of Fatima, Mohammed wrote: Thou shalt be the most blessed of women in Paradise, after Mary. In a variant of the text Fatima is made to say; I surpass all the women, except Mary.

This brings us to our second point; namely, why the Blessed Mother, in this 20th Century should have revealed herself in the significant little village of Fatima, so that to all future generations she would be known as “Our Lady of Fatima.” Since nothing ever happens out of Heaven except with a finesse of all details, I believe that the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as “Our Lady of Fatima” as pledge and a sign of hope to the Moslem people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her divine Son too.”

A town called “Fatima.” Surely this is no mere coincidence and, as Sheen aptly points out, heaven does nothing without purpose. That we are not to merely pass over this detail, is very clear to me. “Our Lady of Fatima,” has a different ring when we think that Fatima is more that a place, Fatima is the Daughter of Muhammad, and the greatest woman in Islam. “Our Lady of Fatima” sounds and feels so different when it is heard in this context of person not place. It is hugely significant. Perhaps, as Sheen notes, she will be the bridge that connects two vastly different cultures, the common mother who keeps her children talking. Mary is the Key! It took Mary to bridge all these similar gaps between the Aztecs and the Christian Missionaries. Might Mary also be that bridge today when similar gaps divide? Time will tell, but one of her greatest Modern titles is Our Lady of Fatima. And then, there is the crescent moon upon which Mary stands in the image of Guadalupe. In modern times the crescent moon is the symbol of Islam. Mother Mary of Guadalupe, by God’s grace, was victorious and overcame the false religion of the Aztecs with love and humility. Might this crescent moon on which Our Lady of Guadalupe stands also point to our times, and the crescent moon of Islam? Might it indicate that her victories, by God’s grace, are not at an end. Perhaps we can hope that what our Lady of Guadalupe was to the Aztec people of Mexico, Our Lady of Fatima will be to the Muslim people of the world.
It sometimes seems that Catholics and Muslims have more in common then we do with the Protestant Fundamentalist….
Also why are you so uncomfortable when or refusing to read encyclicals from Joseph Ratzinger a man, you must even admit has a far superior intellect then yours, but I agree the message must come from the same college professors who caused this muddle, as no one with a collar will be listened to anymore, not even a Jesuit! You may have made a good Jesuit with the exception of your Karamazov blood, “Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” follow your heart, cross the Rubicon already!
Pax,
MM