Christians of every age have wondered whether they were living in the End Times. Each of these ages had their own reasons to believe that Our Lord’s return was imminent. In that regard our own age is no different. But our times are unique in a very specific way, one that is not often spoken of. The Second Coming of Christ will be like a negative photographic image of the first. He came in weakness, He will come in power. He came in silence, He will come with trumpet blasts. He came as Redeemer, He will come as Judge. He came as Lamb, He will return as Lion. Just as this principle of photographic negative applies to the New Adam, it also applies to the role the New Eve will play as well. And in this, we find signs that the end is near.
Mary’s First Coming
The future Queen of Heaven and Earth was the Queen of the Hidden Life during her earthly sojourn. She “kept all these things in her heart” rather than shouting them to the housetops. The only time she “let loose” of both her mission and her Son’s was in the privacy of her cousin Elizabeth’s home. And even after the Resurrection she remained in prayer, preferring not to speak and to avoid any chance that a cult were to rise up around the Mother of God. She who was a true wonder of the world, lived in the temple of her heart in ancient Ephesus while the pagans streamed to the Temple of the virgin goddess Diana in that same city. She was not only humble, but silent with only a single spiritual counsel—“do whatever He tells you.”
As Queen and Universal Mother she has not abandoned her children. Throughout the ages she has left her throne in Heaven and appeared to her children to give them an urgent message. These apparitions have been a regular part of the life of the Church over the past millennium. In the last few centuries however, they have grown in both frequency and publicity. She is no longer the silent maiden, but the regal Mother voicing her concern for her children. When we view this in light of the “photographic negative” principle, this makes sense. If she played a primary, albeit silent, role in the First Coming, we should only expect that she play a more visible and vocal role in the Second Coming. And the messages of her apparitions seem to suggest that the time is short. We may not know how short is short, but it is safe to say that she is clearing the way for His second Advent.
Reading the signs of the times and seeing the Marian apparitions in this light means we should treat the messages, especially at Fatima where the most visible public miracle ever occurred, with the utmost seriousness. But there is another sign that is related to this that ought to give us pause.
The Spirit of the Anti-Mary
We know that one of the signs of the Second Coming is the reign of the Antichrist. We aren’t told when but we are told how long he will reign (42 months). Throughout history there have been types of the Antichrist that gave us a glimpse of just how dark those days will be. But they have all passed. Eventually the true antichrist will rise and I would like to suggest that this eventuality is closer than we may think.
The Devil is the great ape of God, trying to “be like god” and mimic what He does. The Antichrist will be his greatest facsimile of the true Christ, for he will dupe many people into thinking he is the real thing. But being the great counterfeiter, we should expect that he will try to replicate the life of the true Christ is every way, but especially in a specific way—by having the anti-Mary precede him.
Who can doubt that the spirit of the anti-Mary is already rearing its ugly head among us under the guise of feminism? But only Mary is the true feminist, receptive in everything God has to give. Feminists reject femininity as receptivity and try to seize everything for themselves, including masculinity. The “handmaiden of the Lord” was the most liberated woman who ever lived, finding freedom in living out her feminine calling. The anti-Mary must liberate herself from even her own feminine nature, ending in absolute slavery. Mary modestly hid her beauty behind a mantle and veil, anti-Mary wears little except a pink cat hat on her head. Mary humbly “ate the bread of dependence” provided by Joseph at Nazareth and was filled, anti-Mary is gluten free and looks out only for number one. Mary loved God and submitted to Him in her Jewish religion, anti-Mary hates God for making them a woman and sees religion only as a weapon in the hands of oppressors. Mary prophetically whispered, “this is my body given for You,” anti-Mary shouts “my body, my choice.” They speak only of women’s rights, but Mary speaks of a woman’s unique duties.
The diabolical fraud has been perpetrated, clearing the way for the reign of the anti-Mary. And this is what makes our times utterly unparalleled. Other times may have had their shadows of the Antichrist, only our age is animated by the spirit of the anti-Mary. It is this uniqueness that suggests we may be entering into the time of the final battle. There is a great battle being waged between Mary and the anti-Mary and we must fly to the foxhole of her mantle. It was with this in mind that St. Louis de Montfort spoke of the Apostles of the End Times as having a particularly Marian spirit and devotion. It is also why Our Lady has reminded us that even though the anti-Mary is seemingly everywhere, that, in the end her Immaculate Heart will triumph.
