Voice From the Womb
She is the Woman clothed with the Sun in Revelation Chapter 12.
Interesting fact: the first known apparition of Mary was to the Apostle James in Spain in the year 40 AD
'Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee' - Matthew 11:10, quote from Isaiah
'He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me' - Matthew 10:40
(conversely, he who does not receive you, does not receive me!)
The Woman is in mortal combat with Satan, the Great Red Dragon.
The Dragon tries to destroy her child.
She gives birth to the Son who is to rule all nations with an iron rod (Jesus).
The Dragon makes war on the rest of her offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.
Mary appeared with a crown of twelve stars, denoting the Apostles, in multiple apparitions.
Some erroneously believe that the Woman represents the state of Israel, or the Church. The Woman cannot be Israel, because the state of Israel, like the Dragon, tried to destroy Jesus as a child and as an adult. The Woman cannot be the Church because the Woman’s other offspring, the followers of Jesus in verse 17, are the Church!
Jesus gave to all of us (the other offspring) his mother when he said to John from the cross, “There is your mother”.
Like a mother she sees and fulfils our needs by bringing them to God (“They have no wine” John 2:3).
Jesus obeys his mother as a perfect Son. He initially balked at her request (“O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come”), and then fulfilled it abundantly (John 2:4-10, Mat 21:28-32)
She leads us to a more intimate relationship with the true Jesus (“Do whatever he tells you” John 2:5).
Countless devotees have been led to prayer, fasting, reading the Gospel, conversion, good works, especially a closer relationship to Jesus.
Some have said that the works or fruits of Mary are a trick of the devil. They said the same about Jesus in his day. He replied that a house divided against itself cannot stand, meaning that Satan would not bring about the conversion of sinners and other good fruits as a trick. So if the above fruits are not from Satan, then they must be from God.
It Behooves Us to Follow the Messengers that God Sends Us
Following Mary’s Directions Bears Great Fruit
Why Should I Listen to the Blessed Virgin Mary?
God has sent messengers or prophets throughout history to guide his children. When his children did not listen or obey, bad things happened (witness the mission of Jeremiah the prophet before the Babylonian captivity).
Strict punishments sent by God to move his children in the right direction can be mitigated or avoided by listening to and obeying the prophets (witness the book of Jonah)
The prophet John the Baptist arrived in order to prepare the people for the First Coming of Christ (Isa 40:3-8, Luke 1:5-25, 57-66, John 3:1-18). Multitudes came to him but not the prideful Pharisees who rejected him. So when Jesus did appear, their rejection of John fed into their rejection of Jesus, whom they eventually had killed. They read and talked about the Messiah all their lives and when he finally came, they rejected him. If one cannot be trusted in little things, can he be trusted in big things? Likewise, rejection of the plentiful apparitions and messages of Mary can lead one to miss out on greater things to come.
Perhaps the most amazing messages Mary gave the world were at Fatima, Portugal in 1917, near the end of World War I. She told us that if we did not return to God, a worse war, World War II, would come, with specific signs, and that also Russia would spread its errors around the world causing the destruction of nations and persecution of the Church. We did not listen and obey very well, and things did come to pass. We should learn by that lesson that we must take great care to listen and implement her wishes for the next grave warnings, which she has been giving us in recent years, if not collectively, then individually.