Our Lady of Knock

21st August, is the Feast of Our Lady of Knock.

Heaven chose, in 1879, to present a vision to the Catholic world which relates very much to our modern times.

At a parish church in Knock, Ireland, appeared a Heavenly vision of an altar with The Sacrificial Lamb atop, and Our Lady accompanied by St. Joseph, Patron and Protector of the Universal Church, head bowed in prayer on one side, and Our Lord's beloved apostle St. John the Evangelist on the other, Holy Scripture in hand, preaching from The Apocalypse.

No words were audible to the throngs of villagers who saw the vision, and interpretation of the Heavenly vision remained a mystery for generations.

In hindsight it is now easily understood that the vision at Knock was a prophetic warning from Heaven of what was to befall the Church Militant.

Instead of this vision, centred upon the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, appearing inside the church, or even inside the sanctuary as would befit this particular vision, Heaven chose for it to appear on the outside of the church, on an outside gable wall.

In hindsight, it is easy for faithful Catholics to see today that Heaven was showing us a time when the Holy Sacrifice would no longer typically be found inside official church buildings but pushed to the outside. A time when the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass would no longer be found inside the typical structure of the Church; to all appearances cast out - yet still mysteriously and integrally attached to the Church.. For where the True Mass is found, will be found what remains of the True Church, not only because of the Holy Sacrifice itself, but because the traditional Catholic liturgy contains and reflects the essential doctrinal belief of the Church.

"Liturgy and faith are interdependent. That is why a new rite was created, a rite that in many ways reflects the bias of the new (Modernist) theology. The traditional liturgy simply could not be allowed to exist in its established form because it was permeated with the truths of the traditional Faith and the ancient forms of piety. For this reason alone, much was abolished and new rites, prayers and hymns were introduced ... [Mgr. Klaus Gamber, The Reform of the Roman Liturgy, Its Problems and Background].

Lex orandi, lex credendi ..... the law of praying is the law of believing.

When one is changed, so does the other. When the God-centred and sacrificial liturgy of the Church is 'officially' abolished and replaced by a man-centred celebration permeated with the seeds of 'integral humanism' and 'universal salvation', so do they believe - in contradiction and opposition to the Catholic Faith.