Our Lady, the "God-Bearer"

It's another First Saturday, a day revered by countless Marian Devotees throughout the world.  Me included.  You'll usually find this blogger at St. John Vianney Church in Kailua on the mornings of First Saturdays because of what happens there each month: the Pastor, Fr. Vincent, celebrates morning Mass; he offers the Sacrament of Healing; an hour of Eucharistic Adoration immediately follows the Mass; and there's Confession during and after Adoration.  It's a Marian devotee's paradise and I get to enjoy it every First Saturday, including today.

Fr. Vincent leading us in the Divine Praises.

In this blog, I'd like to share another curious pic concerning the outdoor Marian Shrine at St. John Vianney Parish.  I snapped it before the Mass, as I waited for the church doors to open.  I was looking at the shrine and praying to Our Lady ... then felt prompted to take a few photos from where I stood near the entrance.  Later, I noticed that in one of the pics - if you zoom in at the statue - the light reflected on it seems to form the luminous profile of a pregnant woman (note the large "baby bump").  It definitely doesn't look anything like the statue and my immediate thought is that it reminds me of the Holy Virgin's sublime role as the THEOTOKOS or the "God-Bearer" ... and of all days and of all places, the image appeared on a First Saturday when Mother Mary is especially honored ... and in a shrine dedicated to her.  I'm not saying the figure is a miracle, but I don't believe in coincidences either.

       

The garden shrine (left) and the luminous figure of the

Blessed Virgin as a pregnant woman (circled)?

Regardless what the figure is, I feel incredibly blessed and grateful for this morning's events.  It's a comfort to think that Our Lady is always nearby but the Holy Mass and the other Sacraments I partook of, and time spent in Adoration, are actually the gifts from God that are of much greater value.  All Thanks and Praises be to Him!

Beneath your mercy, we take refuge,

O Virgin Theotokos.  Disdain not our

supplications in our distress, but

deliver us from perils, O only pure

and blessed one.

- from the Sub Tuum Praesidium

(ancient prayer to Mary, 250 AD)