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The Shining Glory Cloud
(Kavod: כָּבוֹד)
by
Damien F.
Mackey
“It stopped” (Matthew
2:9).
Heavenly bodies do not
stop.
The Glory Cloud did (Numbers
9:17).
It
is commonly (though not biblically) known as the Shekinah.
One
might say that, wherever the Lamb went, the Glory Cloud was sure to be there.
It manifested itself in the Book of Exodus, as
Barry Setterfield said:
Barry Setterfield partly correct
about Christ’s Star in Matthew
(3)
Barry Setterfield partly correct about Christ’s Star in Matthew
as a: 'Pillar of cloud by day,
and a Pillar of fire by night' (see Ex.13:21.22 etc), and, in Matthew 2, as the
“Star” of the Magi.
Also,
as a Burning Bush (Exodus 3).
The
Magi called it “his Star” (Matthew 2:2) because they knew that it was
inseparable from Him.
“It
stopped” (2:9). Heavenly bodies do not stop. The Glory Cloud did (Numbers
9:17): “When the cloud moved from its place over the Tent, the Israelites
moved, and wherever the cloud stopped, the Israelites camped”.
The
Bible interprets itself.
The Magi
and the Star that Stopped
(3) The Magi and the Star that
Stopped
In far
more recent times, when the resplendent Christ Child accompanied his Mother,
Our Lady of the Rosary, to Pontevedra, Spain, on 10th December,
1925, He stood upon the same Glory Cloud.
Vatican grants a
Jubilee Year to the Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pontevedra for
the centenary of Our Lady’s Apparition to Sister Lucia.
The Vatican has
granted the Convent-Shrine of Pontevedra, in Spain, the privilege of
celebrating a Marian Jubilee Year from December 10, 2025 to December 10, 2026,
on the occasion of the centenary of the apparition of Our Lady and the Child
Jesus to Sister Lucia. It was during this apparition, on December 10, 1925,
that the devotion of the First Five Saturdays of the month was requested by Our
Lady. The devotion consists in going for Confessing, receiving Holy Communion,
reciting five decades of the rosary, and keep Our Lady’s company for 15 minutes
while meditating on the mysteries of the rosary, with the intention of making
reparation to Her Immaculate Heart.
The commemoration
will begin on December 10, 2025, date of the apparition and will be extended to
December 2026. In granting this Jubilee Year, the Holy See is offering a
special period of spiritual graces to all those who shall make a pilgrimage to
the Shrine of Pontevedra and fulfill the required precepts to obtain the
indulgences of the jubilee.
The World Apostolate
of Fatima has launched an International Congress in Fatima and a
pilgrimage to Pontevedra and Santiago of Compostela from December 5 to 12,
2025, with the purpose to grow in knowledge and devotion to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary and to join the solemn celebrations of the centenary of the
apparitions in Pontevedra, reinforcing the importance of the First Saturdays
request.
Registrations are
still open! If you have not registered yet, please rush to do it and do not
miss this unique opportunity. For more information and registration click
here: https://congress.worldfatima.com/#info
A
Helpful Guide to the First Saturday Devotion
In order to
obtain the promise of Our Lady, this devotion must be properly understood and
duly performed. The requirements stipulated by Our Lady are as follows:
(1)
Confession, (2) Communion, (3) five Decades of
the Rosary (4) meditation on one or more of the Rosary Mysteries for fifteen
minutes, (5) to do all of these things in the spirit of Reparation to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, and (6) to observe these practices on the First
Saturday of five consecutive months.
1.
Confession
A confession of
reparation means that the confession should not only be a worthy confession
(valid and licit), but also be offered in the spirit of reparation, in this
case, to Mary's Immaculate Heart. There is no need to formulate this offering
in words, nor is there any need to inform one's confessor; but the intention to
offer it in reparation must be made at least before receiving
absolution; it also may be made when going to confession or even when
deciding to go a few days earlier.
This confession
may be made on the First Saturday itself, or eight days before or after the
First Saturday, and it also may be associated with another devotion. Thus the
confession made in connection with First Friday devotion may likewise be
offered in reparation to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart in connection with the
First Saturday devotion. The doubts that had risen in Sister Lucia's mind on
this matter were resolved by the Child Jesus in His apparition to her of Feb.
15, 1926. She explained to Him the difficulties some experience in getting to
confession on Saturdays, and asked whether confession made within the preceding
eight days would suffice, the Child Jesus replied:
"Yes, the
confession could precede, even for a longer period of time,
provided when they receive Me, they be in the state of grace, and the
confession is made with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate
Heart of My Mother."
"But if
the person forgets to make the intention of reparation at that
confession?" asked Lucia. Our Lord told her, "Let him make the
intention in the next confession, taking the earliest possible
opportunity to confess."
2. Holy
Communion
The Communion
of reparation must be sacramental (actual reception of the sacred Species),
duly received with the intention of making reparation. This offering, like the
confession, is an interior act, and so no external action to
express the intention is needed. The communion must be made within twenty-four
hours of the First Saturday. For good reason, approved by our Pastor, we may
receive the Communion on the next day, the Sunday following the First Saturday
(a concession granted by the Child Jesus Himself).
3. The
Rosary
The Rosary
mentioned here was indicated by the Portuguese word "terzo", which is
commonly employed to denote a Rosary of five decades, since it forms a third of
the full Rosary of fifteen decades. This, too, must be recited in the spirit of
reparation. It is customary on Saturdays to meditate on the Glorious Mysteries,
but there is nothing to prevent one from meditating on either the Joyful or
Sorrowful Mysteries. In our apostolate it is customary (but not obligatory) to
arrange the meditations as follows:
|
Joyful
Mysteries: |
First
Saturdays of December, January, February, and July |
|
Sorrowful
Mysteries: |
First
Saturdays of March, April, and September |
|
Glorious
Mysteries: |
First
Saturdays of May, June, August, October, and November |
But the
important thing is to say the Rosary well by doing one's best
to be attentive and to meditate on the Mystery as we offer each decade. As in
the other cases, one should make the intention to offer the Rosary in
reparation to the Immaculate Heart at least at the beginning of the Rosary.
4.
Meditation for Fifteen Minutes
This meditation
on one or more Mysteries of the Rosary is to be made without simultaneous
recitation of the decade of Hail Mary's. As indicated above, the meditation may
be either on one Mystery alone for fifteen minutes; or on all fifteen
Mysteries, spending about one minute on each mystery; or again, meditation on
the Mysteries of a five decade Rosary, which can be made before each decade,
spending three minutes or more in considering the mystery of that particular
decade. This latter is the custom in our own apostolate.
This
meditation, likewise, has to be made in the spirit of reparation to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, and a mere intention suffices. But we should take
care to truly meditate. Meditation consists in thinking over
the events as if we were actually present at the scenes mentioned in the
Mystery, or in considering what we would have done had we been present.
Finally, meditation concludes with a determination or resolution of
some sort to amend our life, according to the lesson taught in the Mystery, in
our behavior at home, at work, in our dealings with others, etc.
Many find it
difficult to meditate because they have never made the attempt to do so. But a
start could be made by using holy pictures depicting the different Mysteries,
or by reading slowly and devoutly appropriate meditations prepared for our use,
or even by reading the Gospel narratives containing the Mysteries, with or
without commentaries. Those who are unable to read could be counseled to spend
fifteen minutes in recalling to mind all that they know about the Birth,
Infancy and Childhood of Jesus (Joyful Mysteries); about the sufferings of
Jesus represented in Lent, Holy Week, and the Stations of the Cross (Sorrowful
Mysteries); and about Easter, the Ascension, the Coming of the Holy Ghost and
its effects upon the Apostles and the world. Consider also the life of Our Lady
from Pentecost until her death and her glorious Assumption into Heaven, where
she exercises her privilege as the Mother of God in order to obtain from her
Divine Son graces for her children on earth, even coming down bodily to earth
at times, in order to warn us of the great dangers ahead and to give us timely
aid to combat them.
There have been
many apparitions of Our Lady, but those at Fatima are the first where
meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary is specifically requested. It is
obvious that this request is to teach us how to recite the Rosary properly,
and to derive many aids for the amendment of our lives and for our
sanctification. If many do not say the Rosary properly, or consider themselves
incapable of doing so, it is because they are unfamiliar with the events
connected with each of the Mysteries, and their immense significance to each of
us. This fifteen minute meditation, as requested by Our Lady, will help us to
concentrate on each of the Gospel scenes in the Mystery, and to recall to mind
the lessons they contain. What a beautiful, simple way to grow in our knowledge,
love, and service of God!
5. The
Spirit of Reparation
All these acts,
as said above, must be done with the intention of offering reparation to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary for the offenses committed against her. Every one who
offends her, commits, so to speak, a two-fold offense, for these sins also
offend her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and so endanger our salvation. They give
bad example to others and weaken the strength of society to withstand immoral
onslaughts. The acts of our devotions, therefore, force us to consider not only
the enormity of the offense against God, but also the effect of sins on human
society, as well as the critical need for undoing these social
evils, even if the offender repents and is converted. Further, this reparation
emphasizes our enormous responsibility towards sinners who, by themselves, will
not pray and make reparation for their sins. In the words of Our Lady so well
remembered by little Jacinta, "So many, many souls go to Hell, because
there is no one to pray and sacrifice for them!"
In short, this
devotion brings before us our obligations to our neighbor, and reminds us that
a true love of God overflows into a genuine love of our
neighbor, above all by endeavoring to help him save his soul. An excellent way
of doing this is through the example of our own spirit of reparation to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our living and effective devotion to
Our Lady leads us to elevate our moral and religious standards, and so works to
raise the standards of the family, community, and country in which we live.
