Mary, the Eclipse of the Apocalypse, a Commentary of Revelation 12

Of recent my eldest daughter beautifully colored an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It made me ponder about this particular apparition of our Lady. Our Lady of Guadalupe is perhaps the most biblical and apocalyptic apparition of all Marian apparitions - perhaps even more than Fatima in form as it best conveys the image of Apocalypse 12. 

As a family we had the gift of traveling North for a day to see the Eclipse. It was a worthy sight. My Bride and I have made the journey to witness this marvelous Sign now twice. Once in 2017 and now with our whole family in 2024. The Woman with twelve stars on her head as a crown (corona) crying out in pain in the wilderness giving birth which the Dragon was out to devour (cf. Rev 12). John’s apocalyptic image of a Woman in suffering birth pains  is an image of both Mary and the Church - first Mary, without whom we would be without a Church.

"12 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule[a] all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days." (Revelation 12: 1-6 ESV). 

Our Faith points to this Vale of Tears wherein the most delicate creature, a baby in utero, is at risk of being devoured - something common in today’s Abortion/Culture of Death. Totkultur. Yet the Baby lives. 

Point One: The Christian Faith is naturally a Faith of Hope. Evil does not win. “Be of Good Cheer, I have conquered the World” (John 16:33). Jesus Christ is victor before his own Birth. 

Inside this paradigm of Hope we discover a Woman in suffering and agony - Fruits of the Fall of Eve (and Adam): “You will bear fruit in suffering”(Cf. Genesis 3). 

Point Two: We exist in Hope while Suffering. There is no Hope without Suffering yet we can suffer without Hope. Only because of suffering do we Hope. We hope because of the Eternal Father and because of His Son who is Victor. 

“And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Rev 12:1). This is a very enigmatic moment and poignant of the Eclipse we just witnessed. What would have driven John to write about Mary as such? Tradition (and History) teaches that John accompanied Mary into her old age in Ephesus in present day Turkey. No one knows for sure where Mary was assumed into Heaven via an earthly Dormition but we are certain that she went in grace - body and soul. Mary is the Eclipse of Revelation 12. She is "clothed with the sun" and around her is the crown of the celestial bodies, the planets in our case which were visible during "Totality". 

During Totality, 8 April 2024 - Undisclosed location, Ohio

Point Three and Four: John sees in Mary the perfect image of the Church in transitu between Earth and heaven and in Hope-filled Suffering there is Glory because Hope-filled Suffering is called LOVE. Her LOVE is Total and the Totality of her Being is given to God as God has given himself to Her. 

The anomaly of an Immaculate Virgin who Believes and Hopes. Why did God create an Immaculate person in so many ways similar to Eve yet without the preternatural gifts? I am sure Mary had particular gifts and mystical experiences but it is fairly certain that she was not gifted with perfect knowledge. Her curious mind would have “pondered in Her Immaculate Heart” (cf. Lk 2) Her existential questions. Why did Mary have to suffer? If God had the choice to create a Mother why would He have allowed Her to suffer? Why did she have to be ignorant? Suffer the mundane vicissitudes of life?

Point Five: Through suffering there is greater glory. Per crucem ad lucem...Through the Cross towards the Light!

I can hear my master, Aquinas, saying dicendum est “it must be said…as a practical conclusion to the ruminations of our finite minds…” that Hope-filled Suffering lends itself to great Love and Love is Fruitful with the Fruits of the Spirit and through the Fruits of the Spirit. GLORIA. "Love is patient and kind...Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (1 COR 13:4-7). Love is rugged and relentless. 

    

Moon as Totality

Point Six: Glory is the culmination of the Fruits of the Spirit lived in Hope-filled Suffering and God wanted that Glory for Mary. The Glorious Soul not only reflects the rays of the Sun and is “moved by the Sun” (“il Sole che move le altre stelle…” Dante, Paradiso, 33 Conclusion) but glows from the Sun. The Woman of Apocalypse 12 is the woman who is covered by the Sun and emits a Corona as the Moon does during a Solar Eclipse but going beyond an Eclipse She glows and emits the Glory of God in Her own Body and Soul. 

Mary is charged with the Glory of God and emits the rays of the Divine light as she is “deified” to use a word commonly used by the Eastern Fathers as we will be “deified” “in the (celestial) Fatherland” (“in patria” as Aquinas would commonly say). Mary is the Brightest orb of the Celestial orbs that dot the beautiful night sky - or in the case of a Solar Eclipse - the Moon. Mary is glowing 

Point Seven and Eight: Mary, Loves you. The Mother who is the Eclipse of the Apocalypse is radiating Love for Her Children.  She is relentless and She will help you reach Paradise and the Sun. She will not give up on Her Children. She is the Mother of Mothers and the Mother of the Motherless. She is the Queen of Heaven. Before her the Six-winged Seraphim and the Cherubim bow and stand at attention. The Celestial choirs anoint her as Theotokos. She will not give up on your salvation today. Turn your attention to Her as within Her womb you will encounter Her Son, Jesus, the Christ. “Take Heart, be not Afraid”. The Church can learn from Her own Mother, Mary, and do the same.