Commenting on the Marian
apparition to Lucia (one of the Fatima seers of 1917) in Tuy, Spain, June 13,
1929, John Salza and Robert Sungenis noted that it:
. . . confirms many
doctrines of the Catholic Faith, including the Blessed Trinity, the Redemption,
the Eucharistic sacrifice and Real Presence, and Our Lady as Mediatrix of Grace and Mercy. In particular, the
Theophany presents the mystery of salvation in a single vision: Christ
crucified (1Cor 1:23; 2:2), our High Priest in Heaven, in the midst of the
altar throne (Apoc 7:17) which was covered with the water of life as clear as
crystal (Apoc 22:1), propitiating the Father by His sacrifice (Heb 2:17),
thereby obtaining grace and mercy for sinners (see Heb 4:14-16), in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
offering and suffering with Her Son for the redemption of the world (Lk 2:35).
(John Salza and Robert Sungenis, The
Consecration of Russia: How Seven Popes Failed to Heed Heaven’s Command and
Brought Turmoil to the Church and the World [Germantown, Wis.: Hometown
Publications, Inc., 2013], 67, emphasis in bold added)
As with Fatima itself and many of the approved apparitions, Tuy affirms
many of the errors of Roman Catholicism, including Marian mediation (as well as
the
dogmas relating to the Mass).
As for Luke 2:35, Salza and Sungenis are in error in attempting to tie
it back to Mary as co-mediatrix and co-redemptrix. Note the following from John
McHugh:
In
Is 49:2 the servant of Yahweh says: ‘he has made my mouth like a sharp sword.’
The Septuagint here translates μαχαρια,
not ρομφαια (the word used in Lk
2:35a), but the difference is not significant, for the image from Second Isaiah
is taken up in the Apocalypse with the word ρομφαια.
Thus ‘a sharp two-edged word’ comes from the mouth of the Son of Man (Apoc
1:16). John is ordered to write to the angel of the church at Pergamum a letter
beginning: ‘Thus says he who wields the sharp two-edged sword’ (2:12), and
ending: ‘Repent, then, or else I shall come quickly and make war on them with
the sword of my mouth’ (2:16). Again, at the end of the book, a Horseman rides
out from heaven to execute the final judgement, with a sharp sword issuing from
his mouth: his name is ‘the Word of God’ (19:11, 13, 15, 21). In all these
texts from the Apocalypse the sword is a symbol for the word of revelation
which comes from the Son of Man, and this sword becomes, by reason of men’s
reactions to it, an instrument of God’s judgement. One may add that in Eph 6:17
the word of God is called ‘a spiritual word’ (μαχαρια),
and that in Heb 4:12 it is called ‘a sharp two-edged sword’ (again, μαχαρια)
which penetrates into the furthest depths of the human soul, bringing to light
the sentiments and the thoughts of the character which is there. In the New
Testament, then, the sword can be a metaphor or divine revelation as an
instrument of judgment, whereby God compels men to reveal their true
characters.
The
preaching of Jesus is such a two-edged sword. His preaching allowed no one to
be neutral: ‘Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather
with me is scattering things around’ (Luke 11:23). It stirred up strife within
the family: ‘Do you think I came to bring peace in the country? No, I tell
you—only strife! There shall be strife between father and son . . . between
mother and daughter . . . (Luke 12:51-3). The parallel text in Matthew reads:
‘I did not come to bring peace, but a sword’ (Mt
10:34).
The
meaning of Simeon’s prophecy, therefore, is that the word of revelation brought
by Jesus will pass through Israel like a sword, and will compel men to reveal
their secret thoughts. Thus, just as Jesus will fulfil the prophecy of Is 49:6
by being ‘a light bringing revelation to the Gentiles’ (Lk 2:32), so he will
fulfil the role assigned to the Servant of Yahweh in Is 49:2, or his message
will be felt as a sharp sword. (John McHugh, The Mother of Jesus in the
New Testament [Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc.,
1975], 108-9; emphasis in original)
Interestingly, Salza and Sungenis reject Medjugorje
as a Satanic fraud(!):
Many faithful
Catholics believe the “apparitions” of Medjugorje are a counterfeit from Satan
who has created them to draw devotion away from Fatima. The Medjugorje “apparitions”
began in June 1981 after Jon Paul II’s May 1981 assassination attempt – the event
Satan has tried to convince the world was the fulfillment of Fatima. Hence, in
the timeline, Catholics see a double lie: The end of Fatima (May 1981) and the
beginning of Medjugorje (June 1981). At Medjugorje, “Our Lady” is said to have
been appearing every-day to six “seers” for over the past thirty years. Not
only is the claim of such extended daily “visits” unprecedented for any
apparition in Church history, but some of the “messages” have been doctrinally
compromising and the whole Medjugorje phenomenon has borne much evil fruit.
Both Bishop Pavao Zanic and his successor Bishop Dr. Ratko Peric of the diocese
of Mostar-Duvno and Trebinje Mrkanj have rejected the authenticity of these “apparitions”
as has the former Bishops Conference of Yugoslavia in 1991. Medjugorje is not
approved by the Catholic Church. (Ibid., 288 n. 586)
For more on Mariology, including a discussion of the theology of the
apparitions of Fatima (1917) itself, see:
Behold the Mother of
My Lord: Towards a Mormon Mariology
