Mary, the New Rachel

S01EP14_Mary-new-Rachel

[00:00:00] Welcome, everybody. Welcome to the Catholic Experience recorded on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, in the year of our Lord, 2023. I’m very happy that you’re joining me. It’s chilly day today. I don’t know where you are. I mean, you might live on the sun. I don’t know. You might live on another star.

[00:00:27] I really don’t know, but it’s, it’s cold where I’m at. Um, very, uh, very appropriate though. Very appropriately. And again, thank you for joining me. You’re catching me live on X. It’s at for the Queen BVM and you’re catching me live on YouTube and Facebook at Catholic adventurer. So today we’re talking about why Mary is the new Rachel.

[00:00:52] I wanted to do a little something special for the Blessed Mother today. So we’re going with Mary is the new Rachel. I’m going to talk a little bit about the consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary or a consecration to Jesus through Mary or a consecration to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Immaculate Heart of Mary.

[00:01:09] It all depends on your perspective. And I was going to talk about a few news items I haven’t decided against that. I’m not feeling doing the news because there’s, there’s really nothing in the news that isn’t at least a little bit distressing. Um, there were one or two things that I kind of wanted to talk about, but, eh, I’m gonna skip it.

[00:01:29] What I may do later is, I may do, I may offer some commentary on Bishop Strickland’s current situation and What I’m going to be talking about there may actually surprise you. It might, it probably will not be what you’re expecting. Um, but what I’m going to do is I’m going to do that exclusively over my website and I may actually, I’m thinking of just doing it exclusively on my discord, uh, my discord server.

[00:02:02] If you’re not familiar, you can join my discord server. There is an invite link in my bio all over social media. Uh, also at the top of my website, catholicadventurer. com, just beneath the logo at the top of the website, you’re going to see, um, I’ve got an invite link in there, so you can do that. Um, probably, probably I will, probably I will just do this over Discord and on my website.

[00:02:29] Uh, I hope you follow me, or I hope you join my Discord server because I’ve got a lot of plans, uh, things that I’m going to be, uh, doing on Discord. All right, let’s get into it. First, I don’t ordinarily open the show with a public prayer, uh, but I’m going to today, usually I pray before every episode, uh, just privately today.

[00:02:53] I will do so publicly. So here we go. We fly to thy patronage or Holy virgin mother of God despise, not our petitions and our necessities, but defend us from all danger. O ever glorious and blessed Virgin Mary, make us worthy to praise Thee, O Holy Virgin. Strengthen us against Thine enemies. Blessed be God and His saints, forever and ever.

[00:03:21] Amen. O Mary, Immaculate Conception, pray for us. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. In the name of the Father, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us. Let’s get on with it. Why Mary is the new Rachel. So I’m going to, first let me tell you about, about consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[00:03:48] I’m really not going to be advertising it or anything. I just want to tell you my story real quick because it might inspire you. I think the Holy Virgin. Uh, wanted me to include that in, in the show. Uh, that’s, that’s why I’m putting it in this episode, and I’m gonna say it now, and then we’ll get into the topic of, of the episode.

[00:04:07] So, a few years ago, I started reading a book by Fulton Sheen called The World’s First Love. It’s a book about the Blessed Virgin Mary. Just looking it up real quick, because the subtitle, I think, was important. The World’s First Love, Sheen. And Now, if you don’t know, Fulton Sheen is my spiritual father. Um, I’ve read almost all of his books.

[00:04:33] Uh, some of them more than once. A couple of them more than twice. The World’s First Love, the subtitle is Mary, Mother of God. I read at least three times, cover to cover, and then I’ve revisited it a few times, certain chapters. And my I didn’t have much of a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary before I read that book.

[00:04:57] I prayed the rosary, not really every [00:05:00] day. I still don’t quite get it every day, to be honest. But I prayed the rosary regularly, sometimes every day for stretches of weeks or a month or two, and then, you know, I’d miss one here or there, you know. So I had sort of a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it wasn’t very strong.

[00:05:20] It, it just wasn’t just, just, just because it wasn’t. And then I read this book. This was, I guess, the next book on the list of, of Sheen’s books that I wanted to read and I read it cover to cover and my, my ritual, my ritual at the time, it still kind of is, is I would get up early and take my shower, make the coffee, and then I would sit outside and smoke my pipe.

[00:05:52] And sip my coffee, my delicious, beautiful coffee, and read this book in peace and quiet early in the morning. And so this was my ritual every day as I was reading this book. And page after page, chapter after chapter, first of all, it’s hard not to love every paragraph written by Fulton Sheen. It’s, he’s probably one of the most quoted, um, Catholic people.

[00:06:20] Saints, priests, or bishops, or otherwise. He’s probably one of the most quoted Catholic people on the internet. It’s hard not to love everything you’re reading, everything that he writes. Because he writes so beautifully, so eloquently, with such poetry, with such profound theology and insight. But this book, now, I was several books into my Fulton Sheen journey, I guess you might say.

[00:06:46] But this book really took me to another place. Right, as I’m sitting there doing my morning routine, and I really, really got, got into it. Not just the writing, but what he was telling about the Blessed Virgin Mary, what we can learn from it, yadda, yadda. I very, very strongly suggest you pick up a copy of this book, The World’s First Love.

[00:07:08] The World’s First Love, Mary, Mother of God, by Fulton Sheen. By the time I got to the end of that book My heart was on fire for the Blessed Virgin Mary. For a few years before this, for a few years before reading that book, I was flirting with the idea of doing the consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[00:07:34] But I had heard some horror stories from people who did it. Horror stories involving the, the, the spiritual difficulties they had to face. encountered or endured during the 33 days of preparation. If you don’t know, it’s a 33 day preparation process. Prayers and readings that you do, reflection that you do, every day for 33 days, leading up to the consecration, which you’re supposed to do on a major Marian feast day.

[00:08:05] I had heard horror stories of, as I said, difficult, spiritual difficulties and challenges. Incredible temptations, uh, and, you know, I was just at a place where I was like, I, I don’t, I don’t need any more spiritual difficulty. Thank you. Thanks, but no thanks. Don’t need any more spiritual trial. I don’t need any more temptation than I already deal with.

[00:08:33] No thanks. This was going on for maybe two, three years. Um, and I had encountered it or, or met. or befriended, um, I think three or four people who had done the consecration. And I got the same story from, and they didn’t know each other. And I got the same story from each of them. Each of these, like, four, four people.

[00:08:54] From each of them, with no connection to each other, I got the same story. Of spiritual difficulty, like, like, like heavy spiritual difficulty. Um, from at least, at least two of them, if not all of them. They reported, um, difficult temptations and things like this and I was like, Oh man, no way. Oh no way. Not for me.

[00:09:17] I’ll pass. Now, now here it is a couple years later. I’m, I’ve read The World’s First Love by Fulton Sheen. And, I was just blown away. I was just blown away. And then. And at this point, I wasn’t, I wasn’t reconsidering doing the consecration. Not quite yet. Not quite yet. But that, that’s about to happen. Then, I mean, this must have been providence.

[00:09:48] This, this must have been providence because I’m, I can’t recall, um, what led to this next step. I wasn’t searching for anything Blessed Virgin Mary related [00:10:00] or anything like that. But I found a video online. I think it was just algorithmically, it was presented to me. And you’re not going to believe this.

[00:10:10] If you frequent my website, CatholicAdventurer. com, uh, you’ll, you’ll be familiar with this. But I, I had presented to me, or I encountered, oh no, no, no, no, no. It was on a, it was on a news site. It was on a Catholic news site. That’s what it was. That’s what it was. I found a video by Sting, Performing the song, There Is No Rose of Such Virtue, which is a Marian hymn from the, I guess, medieval period.

[00:10:40] If you don’t know it, visit my website, catholicadventurer. com and do a search. There is no rose of such I’m just doing a search for it myself. Okay, so what I’m going to do is, I will put a link to this post on my website on, um On this episode’s show notes wherever you’re finding this episode on demand look in the description look for show notes I’ll put it.

[00:11:07] I’ll put the link there Or if you’re catching it on my website catholicadventurer. com, I will embed the video I will embed it on this episode’s on demand page I’d play it for you, but YouTube will definitely punch me in the mouth if I do that over content rights and stuff So I’m not gonna I’m not gonna play it for you, but you just have to trust me.

[00:11:25] It was unbelievable And I’m listening to this song, and I just cannot put words to what this song did to me. Not for me, to me. It just put me under a spell. This song, coupled with having just finished, like within a day or two, just finished The World’s First Love, and the decision To begin the preparation for consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary just simply happened, without any effort whatsoever.

[00:12:04] It just simply happened. I was just going to do it. I was just going to do it. Now, you’re supposed to start it, I guess, 33 days before a Marian feast day. And I think For me, that was, that first day of preparation was something like a week from that day that I decided I was going to do it. So it was pretty close proximity.

[00:12:29] It was something like a week. Um, I ordered the, I ordered two books, uh, for the process. One was 33 Days to Morning Glory. Which I thought, you know, in reviewing it, I actually started the preparation process using that book. But I thought, this is a little too easy. This, this is not, this is too easy for me.

[00:12:51] I’m already pretty spiritually mature. I’m not going to say advanced or use a word like that. But pretty spiritually mature. The 33 days to morning glory was a little, a little too easy for me. And I wanted, I wanted something that was going to challenge me a little bit more. Or so I bought. Uh, St. Louis de Montfort’s book on the preparation for consecration.

[00:13:13] And in that book, St. Louis de Montfort became my Mr. Miyagi. Um, and I was just, I was just laser focused on every word, on every thought that he was conveying. And again, this is, you know, springboarding off of what Fulton Sheen’s book had done for me.

[00:13:40] Now, I’ll tell you about the spiritual trials. Well, I won’t go into great detail, but I will tell you this. It was different from what those other four people had reported to me, or had shared with me. It was different, but it was spiritual trials. I mean, it’s, it’s unbelievable. You cannot possibly ever tell me that God does not exist.

[00:14:00] And that the Blessed Virgin Mary doesn’t exist, or that the Blessed Virgin Mary doesn’t have as prominent a place in the order of, in the economy of grace that the church teaches. There’s no way you could tell me none of that is true, because I surely experienced it during those 33 days. Week after week, it was a new set of trials, spiritual trials.

[00:14:24] that, that were thematic. And every week it was like it was a new theme. That the spiritual trials I was experiencing in that week fit a common theme. Week, after week, after week, after week. And by God’s grace, I made it through, and, you know, again, not going into detail, and the details aren’t really juicy, but they’re, but they’re mine, and I, I just don’t want to share them, that’s all, they’re not juicy, but they’re mine.

[00:14:57] Um, but I can tell you that I was [00:15:00] taken through a process, I would almost call it a process of, of purification, that each week, Now, the Lord is not going to purify you of a vice or a problem or, because some things aren’t necessarily vices, but they’re sticking points or stumbling blocks or obstacles, right?

[00:15:19] So each week, the Lord is not going to purge you of those in a week, but for each week, I was brought through a couple of those thematically, you know, that these are definitely, definitely my sticking points. What I was being brought to and made to face and made to endure and it was challenging you I mean look look I’m I’m really not that tough I’m really not that tough But I’m tenacious if nothing else I’m tenacious if nothing else and it was and it was a challenge for me and when I say I’m not that tough What I mean is I’m not like, you know, the Arnold Schwarzenegger of you know, Catholic spirituality I might be the ninja of Catholic spirituality, the Samurai Warrior maybe of Catholic spirituality.

[00:16:14] I’m not untuck, but I’m not too tough. I’m not Arnold Schwartzenegger. And it, it was, but it was difficult. And then I got through it and, uh, I remember to, I think like two days before, so I was, I, I did the consecration on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Today’s the anniversary, and I reconsecrated myself today.

[00:16:34] So I think it was like December 5th or sixth. I was considering giving up.

[00:16:42] I was considering giving up. Um, I was having a bit of a, you know, rough time. And, I was looking, I don’t, I don’t remember all of these details, but I was looking through the book, like, how much time have I got left, and it was like two days. I was like, wow. Two days? I’m almost done? It seemed like such a long night.

[00:17:06] Two days? Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, I’ll stick with it. Thanks be to God. Only two more days of this. And then I did the consecration. I didn’t experience like some overwhelming flood of, you know, good vibrations or anything. And I, I, that’s not what I was doing it for, you know, so it’s not like I was doing it because I wanted to receive something.

[00:17:26] And I told this to the Holy Virgin. I said, Mama, I’m not asking for anything. Just please make life okay. That’s it. Just please make life okay. Make everything okay. That was literally my prayer.

[00:17:47] And then, after the consecration, there was a period of strange quiet. Not the absence of, of, Not the absence of anything, just a strange quiet, a stillness, for a couple of weeks after the consecration. Um, not like an eerie silence, just a peaceful silence, a quiet, you know? And I, I, I, I just can’t, I can’t, I can’t describe it any more than that.

[00:18:23] And then, I wanted to do something for the Holy Virgin. Because I was on fire, you know, it’s interesting a lot of things that I had heard about people who did the consecration One of the things that they they all of them have said people I know personally or people who I’ve heard or read talking about It they all report a gradual intense love for the Blessed Virgin Mary Right two of the people I knew who did it Both reported just feeling her presence in a way they can’t describe.

[00:18:57] Just feeling her presence. And I experienced that, you know? I experienced everything that they were saying, um, in that regard. Anyway, so, after the consecration, I wanted to do something for the Holy Virgin. You know, I was excited about the Blessed Mother and her role, and Her virtues, and I was just, forget it, mesmerized.

[00:19:20] In fact, I don’t even think I’m out of that zone today. To this day, years later, I look to the Holy Virgin, and I’m like, Wow. Wow. Whether I look at her, an image of her, a statue of her, I look to her in my heart, in my thoughts. When I look to the Holy Virgin, I’m like, wow. And sometimes I say this, I looked to the Holy Virgin and I say to God, my God, what you have made here, just wow.

[00:19:54] That never ended. I’ll tell you the truth. So I wanted to do something for the Holy [00:20:00] Virgin because I was so excited about her. And that’s when I got the idea to do my online apostolate here, CatholicAdventurer. com, which at the time was just a blog. And it has morphed, only recently morphed into a podcasting apostolate.

[00:20:22] With the intent to share my Catholic adventure with others, which is what I’m doing in this very episode, to share my adventure with others, to share my experience with others, so that I can help them along the way of their own adventure in this thing we call Catholic. Help them along the way in their own Catholic adventure.

[00:20:47] Not because I think I’m an expert, not because I think I’m so holy, but because I just have a lot of, of knowledge and experience and I just want to pass it on to others to help them along the way. And how that’s kind of progressed, it was always a mission to help form saints, but I wasn’t cognizant of it.

[00:21:14] I became more aware that that’s really at the heart of my intent and and ambitions here is to form saints. Not that I’m forming them, but I’m helping God to form them.

[00:21:29] So, what you’re listening to is the fruit of the Consecration to Jesus through the Blessed Virgin Mary, which I did a few years ago on this day, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th. I encourage you to give it a try, or rather I should say to consider it, and to pray on it. At the very, very least, I really, really strongly encourage you And by, by the way, if you have any Mariology questions, do throw them at me, because I have read so much Mariology and studied so much Mariology since the, the consecration, you have no idea.

[00:22:08] I’m not saying I’m the expert, you know, but I have a lot of knowledge. I, I mean, I have a whole shelf, so that’s about two and a half, three feet wide, maybe three, a little over three feet wide, that whole shelf. Is Mariology. All of it I’ve read. So if you have any questions about Mary, Don’t be shy. Throw them my way.

[00:22:32] Um, Oh shoot, I lost my point. So anyway, so what you, oh, I strongly suggest you pick up that book by Fulton Sheen, um, The World’s First Love, Mary, Mother of God. If that’s all you do and you decide, and you don’t decide to do the consecration, if that book is the only one you read, believe me, that is going to take you far.

[00:22:51] If that’s all that you do, that is going to take you very, very, very far in, I guess, your pursuit of holiness. Do read that book. That I strongly recommend. I also recommend you consider doing the consecration yourselves. Because, um, I’ll tell you, the consecration, I will say this, that really is, and I don’t say this pridefully, that is for the elite.

[00:23:18] That is for the elite. If you want to be one of the elite, do the consecration. Trust me. It’s trying, and if God knows you can’t handle the trials, because He’s only going to send you the trials that you need, if He knows you cannot handle the trials, He will make them very, very light. So don’t be afraid.

[00:23:39] Don’t be afraid. I’m not saying, you know, you’re going to do the consecration and you’re going to be a god among men. I’m not. I’m not saying that and I don’t believe that of myself, but In the journey to holiness, to sainthood, there are going to be periods in your faith life where you level up, and that’s, that involves trial, that involves trial.

[00:24:04] Now, let me briefly tell you my least favorite part. Of the mass. Now let me take just a quick break from the action. As I share with you my least favorite part of the mass, it goes like this. And now some announcements, the announcements in the mass is just a pet peeve of mine, and this is my opportunity to bring you into my pain.

[00:24:25] And now we’re going to take a break from the action real quick, just to share some announcements about the podcast and about my website. These literally are kind of important. So stick with me. Um, I encourage you to please sign up for my newsletter because it puts me in direct contact with you without social media interference.

[00:24:46] On Tuesday, I’m going to be doing a show on gender. I will be joined by Father Peter Dugancic of the Diocese of Rockville Center. He’s a very good priest and he’s an unbelievable moral theologian. And we’re going to be talking about gender and [00:25:00] personhood, or person ship, and I’m sure he’ll correct me on my language.

[00:25:04] That’s going to be on Tuesday. I’m sorry. At 1 30 PM Eastern Standard Time. If you’re getting my newsletter, you already know that if you’re not getting my newsletter and you’re relying on social media to get the message out to you, I’m sorry to say you’re living in a dream. Two thirds, two thirds of you don’t see most of what I post it.

[00:25:26] It’s, it’s all up to the algorithm. So I strongly encourage you to sign up for my newsletter. Uh, you’ll find the link in my bio. on, on social media, or just go to my website. There’s a form field, it’s one line form field at the top of my website catholicadventurer. com. You just throw your email in there and you’re signed up.

[00:25:46] I don’t do anything with your information, I don’t sell it, share it, trade it, nothing. It stays with me and it’s just my newsletter. Last, last thing, please sign up and join my discord channel. Because I’m going to be doing some cool things with that, trivia shows, game shows, live chat sessions, extended episodes, extended interviews with guests, things like that.

[00:26:11] I’m trying to build community and Discord provides a lot of tools to do that really very effectively. I’m very impressed with it. Um, you’ll find that link in my bio as well. Okay, moving right along. Let’s talk, so that’s the consecration. I hope you consider it. Now, let’s move on to the subject. That took, that consecration bit took a whole lot longer than I thought it was going to take.

[00:26:33] I’m trying to, trying to keep this moving forward. So here we go. Why is Rachel, I’m sorry, why is the Blessed Virgin Mary the new Rachel? First, let’s take you to the Mass readings today. And really, I’m only going to read one tiny part of the Mass readings, I think. Let me see. The first reading at Mass today was Genesis, in the fall of man, after the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the Lord called to him, called to the man and asked him, where are you?

[00:27:13] He answered, I heard you in the garden, but I was afraid because I was naked. So God asked him, how did you know you were naked? You must have eaten from the tree that I told you not to eat from. Why? Why did you do that? And Adam replied. It’s funny in the scripture it refers to him as the man, the man, the man.

[00:27:32] The man replied, the man replied, the man replied. Adama is the, is the, I think it’s Hebrew for man. So it’s interesting in the translations how It drops Adam, it drops the word Adam at a point and just says the man. The man replied, The woman whom you put with me, she gave me the fruit from the tree, so I ate it.

[00:27:57] The funny thing is, so it’s very much like a man, right? To blame, to blame the woman. To blame the woman involved. Very much like a man. Um, but God does not reject that excuse. Well, it’s not an excuse, but it’s a reason. And God doesn’t reject the reason. God turns to Eve and says, Why did you do that? And so Eve said, after being asked, Why did you do that?

[00:28:22] Eve said, The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it. And so God turns to the serpent, and He says, Because you’ve done this, you’ll be banned from all the animals, and from all the wild creatures, and you’ll crawl on your belly. All the days of your life, all the days of your life, that’s very important because this implies that there will be an end to the serpent’s quote unquote life.

[00:28:51] There will be an end. That’s what that implies to me. Everything in scripture is, is purposeful. Deliberate all. There’s no reason to say all the days of your life, right? Like the text doesn’t say forever. It says all the days of your life. And we know that life is finite. I wonder if not just the reign, but the existence of the devil will be finite.

[00:29:15] I wonder. I I don’t know. It’s just how it, how I, I, I read it. I’ll put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers, and he will strike at your head while you strike at his heel. This is why Mary is depicted in, in classical Catholic art as crushing the head of the devil. Because it is Jesus doing it at the end of the day, but traditionally we also believe it’s, it’s Mary who does it.

[00:29:46] She does it through Jesus, or Jesus does it through her. One or the other, or both. But this is where that comes from. And then, here’s the key. The man called his wife Eve. Because she became mother of [00:30:00] all the living. Eve, I think, is, comes from Eva’e, which I believe is also ancient Hebrew for woman. But don’t quote me on that.

[00:30:11] So the man called his wife Eve because she became the mother of all the living.

[00:30:24] You know, just something that, that jumps out at me here is before So after the man, Adam, had eaten the, the, of the tree, Right, that’s how it starts. It looks like that’s the last time he’s referred to as Adam in this narrative. I wonder if, if because now the sin is apparent, or it’s admitted to, there’s like a change of name.

[00:30:48] Or a change in, in reference. I don’t know, it’s interesting that that part at the beginning is the last time, looks like the last time he’s referred to as Adam in this narrative. Interesting. The man called his wife Eve because she became the mother of all the living. We already know, if you don’t, you’re about to, you’re about to learn.

[00:31:08] The Holy Virgin Mary is traditionally referred to as the new Eve. Because by Eve’s disobedience, man fell from grace. It is by the Holy Virgin’s, the Holy Virgin’s obedience that man is saved. And then Jesus is the new Adam. By Adam’s failure, man was doomed and condemned. For By Jesus obedience, man is redeemed, saved.

[00:31:40] But I’m going to take this a step further for you. The Holy Virgin is the new Eve, but in a sense, she’s also the new Rachel. I’m going to tell you in a second who Rachel was, if you don’t know. I say in a sense because it’s not one of her official titles, the new Rachel, but Rachel in the Old Testament is a prefigurement of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[00:32:11] So who was Rachel? What’s the story there?

[00:32:17] Rachel was the mother of Israel. She’s traditionally, she continues to be, um, held as the mother of, of the Jewish people. Still today, the Jews revere her very, very highly. She, the, Rachel for the Jews is like the Holy Virgin Mary for us. They even, Not all of them, it’s not universal, but it is an old custom, a very old custom, that many Jews continue to do.

[00:32:42] They visit the tomb of Rachel, which still exists in the same place today, in Bethlehem, or near Bethlehem. And they pray for her intercession. It’s not universal amongst all Jews, but it is a very, very, very old custom that many Jews still follow.

[00:33:04] So, Rachel was the mother of, of, of The, the nation that is Israel, but she didn’t give birth to all 12 sons, um, by Jacob. Sorry, I just had to clear my throat. Jacob is the father of Israel, right? He’s the first patriarch. He’s the father of the 12 sons who become the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob fathered them all, right?

[00:33:31] But, Rachel only gave birth to two of them. Jacob had two wives, Right, so when Jacob met Rachel, he, I know he fell in love with her, but I, if I recall, it was mutual. They, they both had an instant connection to each other. And Jacob wanted to marry her, so he goes to, to Rachel’s father, right, Laban. And Laban says, you can have my daughter’s hand in marriage, but you have to work for me for seven years.

[00:34:06] Wanting very much to marry Rachel. Jacob agrees to this deal. He says, okay, I will work for you for seven years and then I will marry your daughter. But Laban tricked him. Laban tricked him. And he had, Laban only allowed him to marry his other daughter, Leah. And Laban is like, if you still want to marry Rachel, you’ll have to work for me for a few more years.

[00:34:36] Jacob agreed to this. Worked a few more years. Don’t remember how many. Really doesn’t matter. And then he married Rachel. The reason I go through all that detail is this. Rachel was the one that Jacob wanted. Rachel was the one he fell in love with. And Rachel was his favorite of his two wives. Rachel was his favorite.

[00:34:59] I [00:35:00] wonder if, if, so for the Jews Rachel and Leah are two of the matriarchs of the Jewish people. Um, but I believe only Rachel is, is, is referred to as the mother of all Israel. Maybe because she was the one that Jacob wanted to begin with. Maybe because she was Jacob’s favorite. Or maybe because of where the story goes from here.

[00:35:26] Maybe this is why she’s referred, she is referred to as the mother of all Israel.

[00:35:34] Rachel was barren. She couldn’t have children. Leia gave Jacob 10 sons and they became the heads of the 10 tr of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel in time. In time. By God’s grace, Rachel conceived a son. Okay. Her, the, the, uh, Jacob’s first child with Rachel, who was, um, Joseph, and Joseph is the next significant patriarch.

[00:36:11] Right? Um, if you’re not familiar, go back in the, in, into the scriptures in the Old Testament and read that story. It’s, it’s unbelievable, the story of, of, uh, Joseph and the history of the Jewish people going from, from that period. First son was Jo, was Joseph. The next son she later gave birth to, uh, well, before I get to the name, let me go through the story.

[00:36:37] Later in life. She conceives and bears a son. Sounds familiar? It should also be familiar that, at first, she did not have children. She was barren. The Blessed Virgin Mary wasn’t barren, but she was married to Saint Joseph, and did not have children with him. Right? So we’re seeing some overlap already.

[00:37:02] Different characters, but similar. Right? Because if the Blessed Virgin Mary wasn’t barren, she was just a consecrated virgin. It’s different, but it’s similar. There’s overlap. So later in life, Rachel conceives and gives birth to a second son, Benjamin. Giving birth, she went into hard labor near, um, it was near Bethlehem in a place called Ephrath.

[00:37:39] And she died from childbirth. Before she was, before she died, as she’s giving birth, as I said, it was, it was a hard labor. And her midwife told her that she was going to deliver a son. And so Rachel named this son Benoni, which means son of my mourning. M O U R N I N G, not mourning like it’s daytime.

[00:38:08] Mourning, like sadness, sorrow, suffering. Son of my morning. Jacob later changes the kid’s name to Ben Yamin or Benjamin. Now Benjamin is understood one of two ways traditionally. It’s either son of my days because uh, Jacob was very old.

[00:38:30] So it’s either son of my days or son of the south. Like the direction, south. Because he was, because um, Benjamin was the first son, the first of his sons born in Canaan.

[00:38:46] So now we have the south. Jacob covered, Rachel covered, and then we have Benjamin and, uh, Joseph. Joseph becomes a prefigurement to Jesus Christ.

[00:39:04] For reasons I can’t get into right now, it’s, it, they’re just too many and varied. Maybe I’ll do another show on that. Joseph becomes a prefigurement to Jesus Christ, of Jesus Christ, and Benjamin becomes a prefigurement of John the Apostle. It’s interesting, John refers to himself in, in the Gospel as the beloved, the beloved disciple, and Benjamin is referred to as the beloved in his story.

[00:39:35] Rachel gives birth to Benjamin through suffering. The Blessed Mother brings children into the world, starting with John, behold your mother, brings children into the world through her suffering at the foot of the cross. Rachel, to this day, is known as the Sorrowful Mother. The Holy [00:40:00]Virgin Mary is, sometimes she is also called the Sorrowful Mother, or Our Lady of Sorrows, or Our Lady of Dollars.

[00:40:08] So again, we’re seeing overlap. Uh, let me just, there was a scripture reference that I wanted to include, I might have deleted it by accident. Oh, Jeremiah chapter 30. And 31 says that Rachel, Rachel is weeping for her children because they were no more. Now Jeremiah is writing this hundreds of years after the death of Rachel.

[00:40:37] Rachel is weeping for her children because they are no more. So clearly from the perspective of Jeremiah, and I guess the culture of his time, the dead are not gone. The dead are still alive, they’re just not alive on earth. Otherwise, why would he say something so silly? It’s understood that this was a, um, I guess a, uh, a foreshadow, I guess you might say, of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents in, in the time of Jesus birth.

[00:41:09] Rachel is weeping for her children because they were no more. In a similar way, the Holy Virgin weeps for her children and she obsesses over her children. Just as Rachel gave birth To all of Israel, through her suffering, she suffered because she was barren and then she suffered because she was dying.

[00:41:34] The Blessed Virgin Mary is mother of all the faithful. Eve, the mother of all the living, Rachel, the mother of all the Jews, or the mother of Israel, and Mary, the mother of all the faithful, because it is through her suffering and sacrifice. She gives birth to all the faithful because Jesus wielded. So Jesus turned to John and said, behold your mother.

[00:42:03] And she turned, he turned to his mother and he said, behold your son. And he hands human. He, he hands all of humanity for all time. To the blessed Virgin Mary, just as you know when, when a baby is born, the doctor or the nurse hands the baby over to its mother for the first time Jesus handed. All of humanity over to his mother and said, behold your children.

[00:42:28] And it is through suffering that she becomes the mother of all the faithful. It is through suffering that she, she raised her son, Jesus. And it is with suffering, I’m sure, that she raises us now. Now, why would she be suffering now? Well, I’m, and I’m not saying that she only suffers and I’m not saying her suffering in heaven is like what our suffer, what a person’s suffering on earth might be, but you have to imagine there’s gotta be a measure of suffering in mothering us today, even today, because she’s fully a human and she’s fully alive and she mothers us through our failures, through our sins.

[00:43:11] And through our own pains and hardships, she feels them with us. Not as completely as Jesus does, but she feels them with us.

[00:43:24] Sometimes I get very frustrated with the saints. I mean really frustrated. Sometimes in my heart I shout at them and I ask, what is, what is your problem? Why aren’t you coming through for me on this? And on this, and on this, and on this, and on this. It’s a long list.

[00:43:51] And sometimes I look to the Holy Virgin, who is my first, my first intercessor. But I don’t shout at her because she’s the Queen of Heaven and Earth. She’s the Queen of Angels and the Queen of Saints. She’s my Queen and she’s my Mother and I show respect.

[00:44:11] And in my heart I want to say Mama, what is your problem? Why aren’t you rushing to my aid? But I never say that. I never say it. Even if in my heart I feel it, I squash it immediately, not just out of respect, but out of this thought, this reality. If my own human mother would rush to my aid whenever I was in need, surely the Blessed Virgin Mary does the same, in fact, does better.

[00:44:45] I know that she’s rushing to my aid in my needs, and believe me, I have them. Believe me, I have needs. And, until those needs are met, [00:45:00] and several of them are fairly urgent, until those needs are met, I suffer in waiting, just as Rachel suffered, I guess, waiting, you know, without children. I suffer in waiting, but I know she, the Blessed Virgin Mary suffers with me, and she suffers with you.

[00:45:18] And she mothers you anyway. She mothers you through your trials,

[00:45:25] and she, she, she provides the help that is needed in accord with God’s will.

[00:45:36] Mary, the new Rachel. Eve was the mother of all the living, Rachel is the mother of all Israel, and Mary is the mother of all the faithful. And I mean, really, that’s almost metaphor, metaphoric because she’s really the mother of, of all humanity, not just the faithful, right? Like if there’s a, if there are Muslims or not Muslims, let’s say Jews, for instance, because Muslims kind of like the Virgin Mary, and Jews Don’t give her a second thought.

[00:46:08] She’s still their mother. Because she’s the mother, Jesus gave her all humanity, but she’s particularly the mother of all the faithful. Right? She’s always imploring us to follow her son, follow her son, grow closer to her son. Always, always, always, that’s her message. Always, that’s her message. So she’s particularly the mother of all the faithful.

[00:46:29] Or you might also say it this way. Eve was the mother of all the living. Mary is the mother of all who have eternal life, who were born again. I hate that term. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a slippery slope term, but who were born again, who were reborn of water and the spirit. She’s the mother of all those with new life in her son, Jesus Christ.

[00:46:59] So she’s still in a, in a way, the mother of all the living. I’ll tell you the truth, I intended for this episode to be about that. About the, you know, why Mary is the new Rachel. And I feel like it became an episode about, uh, about the consecration. That’s okay. It’s an episode about, about the Blessed Mother, and that’s really what I wanted.

[00:47:23] And on that note, it’s time to get out of here. Yes, it is. It’s time to get out of here. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining me. This has been the Catholic experience by me the Catholic adventurer Follow me on X at for the Queen BVM Follow me on the dreaded Facebook and YouTube at CatholicAdventurer.

[00:47:48] If you’re finding my podcast on Spotify and YouTube and everywhere else, please consider giving it a 5 star rating. It really helps my distribution. I appreciate it. Have a great weekend. I’ll see you on Tuesday. Tuesday, 1. 30 p. m. Eastern Time. Doing a show on gender with Father Peter Duganjic. Moral Theologian Extraordinary.

[00:48:27] Thank you, mama.

[00:48:08] I hope to see you there. We’ll be taking your calls. There will be live chat. It’ll be super interactive, but kind of pointless if you’re not there to interact. See you on Tuesday at 1 30 p. m. Eastern Time, show on gender. God bless you. God be with you all. Bye bye. And Hail Mary, faithful virgin, mother of the word incarnate.