First let me tell you about a little known miracle of an icon of Our Blessed Lady that occurred in Russia during the dark days of Communism.
“Every time we turned off the light, the icon appeared” (Mr Polsky)
“Just before WWII, St Seraphim Church, located on Gaïlovskala Street in Rostov-on-Don (Russia) was deconsecrated and turned into a cinema. There was a beautiful icon of Our Lady hanging on the wall to the right.
When the church became a cinema, this icon was covered with a thick layer of lime but … every time the light was turned off in the “room,” the icon appeared so brightly that the screen darkened.
A commission came to see what was happening. At each show, the committee saw the phenomenon. But despite many new layers of paint, the icon always lit up, attracting the audience’s attention. As word of the miracle taking place in the cinema began to spread, they closed it down.
During WWII, when the Germans occupied the city of Rostov, the church was opened again and it has remained open. Soviet authorities deemed it best that people visit a miraculous icon in a church rather than giving “dark minds” the opportunity to claim a miracle.”
Taken from The New Russian Martyrs (Les nouveaux martyrs russes, Le sourire de Marie) Collection of Marian Stories (Recueil marial 1978).
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Mary is the Light that reflects the Light of Christ. The one True Light. The Light that shines in a world darkened by sin and evil forces.
I AM the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)
Mary lightens the way as she points us towards the Light of her Divine Son. Without this light illuminating our route along our pilgrimage through life we could so easily lose our way. Does not a mother desire only good things for her beloved children? And Mary is surely the most loving of mothers. If we obey the words of our Heavenly Mother to: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5), though we may stumble, and sometimes even fall, over and again, the Light will be there to guide us back on the right path, the only path, for all other paths will not lead us home to our destination, Heaven.
We are witnessing some terrible things in our world today. The war against God and against His Holy Church on Earth is gathering momentum. Satan’s successes in obliterating the Light of Christ in the world are multiple and growing in intensity and viciousness as he spreads the darkness of evil into every crack and corner of life on Earth. He appears to have even infiltrated the Bride of Christ, as countless betrayals and scandals perpetrated by those who once swore to defend the Truth of Christ, we have been experiencing more acutely than ever in recent decades. And while we struggle in our fight against the enemies of Christ within the Church, our enemies without (those of false religions and those who deny the very existence of God) are stepping up their persecution of Christendom.
We could easily be led to despair, but that would be the ultimate victory for Satan. We must fight the temptation towards apathy and resignation. Instead, with joy in the certain knowledge that we are loved and accompanied by God, Our Lady and all the angels and saints of Heaven, and by living our lives in faithfulness to the teachings of our Faith (even when the darkness is oppressive, threatening and appears impenetrable) we too may become bearers of the Light of Christ. With the help of the shining light of Our Blessed Mother, we must lift our own small lights to help illuminate the way for others, out of the darkness of the lies of the world, and into the “Light of the world” (John 9:5).
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Like many, I was deeply distressed by the news of the murder of a holy old priest yesterday in Normandy, France, who was beheaded by evil men, men who know only how to hate, as he celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There, at the foot of the altar of God, as he through the Consecration of the bread and wine into the Most Sacred Body and Blood of Christ Our Lord and Saviour, Fr Jacques Hamel united his own life to that of the Sacrifice of the Beloved. May he forever be known as a holy martyr of the Church.
I saw a moving post from Fr Hugh on his blog Dominus mihi adjutor commenting in the wake of this tragedy. He exhorted us to:
“light a candle or three, hallowing each one with a brief prayer. Let’s fill our churches with light, that the world might know that the darkness might win a battle but it cannot win the war.
Let there be light: fiat lux — lumen Christi, lumen fidei, lumen veritatis, lumen caritatis, lumen spei.”
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
While we cannot lose hope, we have to admit that the situation is grave, more than most people understand. In an article (https://goo.gl/vFJudW), Father Mark A. Pilon writing about the Islamization of Europe, states:
“The dramatic loss of Christian faith in Europe is historically unprecedented. While some countries are slightly better off than others, the continent as a whole can no longer be described as a Christian civilization. The causes of this loss of faith are numerous – and somewhat mysterious. The consequences are self-destructive and perilous….Sadly, it may be too late for Europe since such religious blindness and demographic trends are not quickly remedied.”
To save Europe and America from the blindness of their leaders, their elites, and most of their people, we may indeed need Our Lady to perform another miracle.
Dear Mother of God, pray for us.
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John Paul II
“..Fulda, Germany, in November 1980, spoke differently to those who asked about the “Third Secret” of Fatima.
He said: «… as on other occasions, the Church was reborn in blood, it will not be different this time (…).»
Then, on the contents of the “Third Secret,” the Pope added, «it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: “when you read that the oceans will flood entire continents, that from one moment to the next millions of people will suddenly perish,” if you know this, it is not truly needed to ask for the publication of this “Secret”
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RJB @ 12:08
That is an excellent article you link to, Robert, worthy of making into a re-blog here for everyone to read in full.
However, it is somewhat fatalistic in its conclusion. No matter how great the odds appear against the survival of Christendom in Europe, we must not knuckle under and cede victory to Satan under any of his disguises: Islam, Secularism, Militant Atheism, or any other enemy of the Faith. We have not been beaten yet! If we really believed we were already a totally lost cause we would lose hope (a sin) and our trust that Christ can conquer all the evils that assail us.
That is not to say that the Light of the Faith may not become dim, or even visibly extinguished altogether for a time, as the Enemy takes over this “cradle of Christianity”. Tragically, that may well be the case. But in the same way as in the early years of the Church, when Paganism reigned triumphant, and the persecution of Christians was brutal and implacable, the Faith, whether it was spread openly (often leading to torture and martyrdom), or hidden underground in the catacombs, grew and grew, with continual new converts pouring in to swell her ranks.
What a paradox! To many it would not make any sense. How can such a thing be explained?
It was the true WITNESS of the Christians that drew so many to want to embrace the Faith. That is the lesson for us more ‘comfortable’ Western members of Christ’s One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church today. We must live every day as though it were our last. We must embrace the Cross in our lives, love our enemies – oh, this is soooo hard – and never miss an opportunity to help others discover the shining light of Christ’s message of Salvation. Christ must be the Sovereign King of our whole lives once more.
Sadly, for many of us, that is not the case, and in the same way as the ‘Church of Laodicea’ was bound to disappear, so then will we in the West too.
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