September 2: OUR LADY OF GOOD HOPE
Ten years went into the making of the statue; finally it stood complete, 151 feet high; it was time for America to do her part, to build the pedestal that would shoulder it. America was strangely indifferent; France sent the statue across the ocean; but its arrival brought it no glory. The statue was put into a warehouse, until America was roused, and the LIBERTY was dedicated on Bedloe’s Island, October 28, 1886. There she stands today, more brightly than ever, nimbus of flood lights glowing in the night, thousands of admirers yearly climbing up through her to look out upon the world through the windows set in her crown.
For all her beauty and massiveness, this Lady of Liberty is no match for the LADY given by God to the world, a Lady who would forever symbolize the unity of God with the world He created, and the mutual love of both for liberty, liberty to do good. Before time began, God's plans were made. From the limitless resources of the Blessed Trinity came all the wealth needed in preparing her. She would be a gift worthy of God, a Lady of Good Hope to all people, a woman formed of innumerable virtues, fixed in place by grace, conceived to stand in the gateway of a world redeemed, and hover protectingly over that world's traffic. Only a brief wisp of God's wishing went into the making of OUR Lady; but it was an omnipotent wisp that magnificently fashioned in Flesh the love of the Blessed Trinity for liberty of all souls.
And the world did its part in accepting Our Lady, built a pedestal of devotion to exalt her, set her up for all to see and marvel at, learn to love her beauty and her significance to all. Yet to this day the world is strangely indifferent to its privilege. God sent Mary to earth with an entourage of angels; but her arrival brought no glory—for a time she was left in a stable, afterwards insulted and sometimes dishonored; her pedestal of devotion is not complete. All signs, however, indicate that there is still room for hope. Little by little the efforts of Mary's crusading champions are waking the world and bidding it work earnestly to enthrone her as she deserves—with the Incarnate Flame of God's love blazing in her arms—and the nimbus of her sanctity glowing in our darkness as a symbol of Hope.
Through Our Lady of Hope, millions climb up yearly to look in upon and to enter Heaven. The verse, written at the base of America's statue of Liberty, a beacon of hope to those of foreign shores, can be indelibly engraved at Mary's feet:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to be free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shores,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me,
I lift my lamp besides these golden doors.”
Thirty-nine years prior to the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, the bishops of The United States had officially recognized the Mother of God as our patroness and dedicated this country to Mary's Immaculate Conception in 1847; she has been the hope of our nation from the very beginning when explorers and settlers sought refuge here. She brought hope to despairing souls and hearts and we have always accepted Mary as our life, our sweetness and our HOPE.
On Wednesday, December 8, 2010, which is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the Most Reverend David Ricken, Bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, decreed with "moral certainty" that the events, apparitions and locutions given to Adele Brise in October of 1859 near Champion, Wisconsin, do exhibit the substance of supernatural character, and approved these apparitions as worthy of belief (although not obligatory) by the Christian faithful.
This historic decree concerning the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help is a first for the United States, where no other appearances have been validated. Two alleged apparitions in the US that were examined by the Church and formally declared to be false are Necedah, Wisconsin and Bayside, New York.
From the Woman in Orbit - A Timeless Marian Treasure Compiled By Sr. Manetta Lamberty, S.C.C.
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