Zeitoun Egypt
one
Zeitoun Egypt and the Apparition of Our Lady of Light
In 1924 Kahlil Abraham was about to build a hotel in Zeitoun Egypt, near Cairo, on the site where more than 1900 years earlier the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph stayed during their flight into Egypt.
One night as he slept Abraham was visited in a dream by the Virgin Mary.
“Build a church in my name” she said, “and a miracle will take place in the future.”
He built the Church of St. Mary rather than a hotel
Then from April 2, 1968 to May 29, 1971, the miracle took place.
Two Muslim garage attendants noticed a woman on the top of the Church of St. Mary kneeling next to the big Cross located on the dome of the church. They thought she was about to commit suicide. One of the attendants, Farouk Mohammed Atwa, yelled up to her “Lady, don’t jump!”
Soon, a crowd gathered, and the Christians realized this was no ordinary woman but the Blessed Virgin Mary. The apparitions continued for the next three years. By some accounts, 250,000 would come nightly. Before the apparition ended three years later, millions had seen it.
two
Mary appeared as Our Lady of Light
Mary appeared with a dazzling crown on her head with a halo of bright light
Sometimes the witnesses saw her with the infant Jesus,
Sometimes with the twelve-year old Jesus,
Other times with St. Joseph.
Still other times, she was seen
· carrying a cross,
· or an olive branch - a symbol of peace.
One Coptic priest noted that,
“there were rays of light coming down from her hands,”
· like depicted in the miraculous medal.
More than 1 million people witnessed the apparitions in person.
It was broadcast on Egyptian T.V.
The apparitions were captured on film and video
· These can be seen today on You Tube.
The Egyptian Government searched a 15 mile radius
· in the effort to find who was projecting these images on the Church.
· Nothing was found.
· No natural explanations were ever given.
The Blessed Virgin Mary was witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people, including Coptic, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and even secular Marxists, like the former Egyptian President Nasser.
At this time Islamic Fundamentalism was growing as well as a plan to to exterminate the Christians in Egypt.
· Red crosses were painted on the doors of their houses to mark them.
· But when President Nasser saw the apparition,
· he put a stop the attacks on Christians and protected them. .
The Local bishop affirmed – this was truly a supernatural experience.
three
A Silent Witness
The Blessed Virgin delivered no verbal messages.
· She maintained an attitude of silence and prayer
If someone important and unexpected shows up
· and stands there silent
· it is natural to wonder – what is she trying to say?
Silence can communicate something very good
The Coptic Bishop Marcos said
When Mary looked at the crowd,
it seemed as though she concentrated her eyes on each person.”
Despite the huge crowds of people, it felt personal and individual.
The fact that Mary came to the people, looked intently into their eyes and souls, smiled at them, blessed them, and seemed to shower grace upon them communicated her love for them as their spiritual mother.
Her presence in connection with Christ communicated the presence of God, that we are not alone, that we are loved.
The silent witness was an invitation to a relationship.
Do you desire a deeper relationship with this Woman and her Son?
four
A Silent figure can also make us ask - Is something wrong?
We begin to look around to see what is wrong in the world and what might be wrong in us. Is something wrong? Yes
Much of the world has forgotten God. When we forget God - we begin to destroy one-another, the world we live in, and ourselves. The most tragic consequence of forgetting God is our self-exclusion from God and each other forever in hell. By her silence Mary is calling us to reflect on our lives: Are we perfectly happy? We were designed for a deep friendship with God. We cannot be happy without this. Mary comes from Heaven to call us to return to a relationship with God.
The most immediate way to return to God is by prayer. Prayer is just having a conversation with God, talking with him, straight from the heart. Tell God your skepticism, Anger and Fear, Resentment, and Confusion. Ask him to reveal himself to you.
Mary has given us a simple and powerful way to draw close to God, through the Rosary. The Rosary is a powerful prayer that helps us learn and think about the Life of Jesus while Mary teaches us about Her Son.
Our Lady’s appeared outside of Cairo Egypt to Catholics, Coptics, Protestants, Muslims and non-believers alike to show us She is the Mother of All people and the Rosary is for everyone!
The beauty of the Rosary is that you don’t need to be Catholic or even Christian; you don’t need to go to confession or receive an annulment or go to RCIA first. A person needs those things to receive the Sacraments but anyone can pray.
Make the daily habit of the Rosary and invite people in.
The Rosary Podcast takes 25 minutes – 1.7% of your day to transform your life.
five
I was thinking, why doesn’t Mary appear to everyone so that they will know God is real and start a relationship with God?
Then Our Lady reminded me, “That is why I have you Michael and all of my other children who love me and want to help me.”
Oh, yeah that’s right. We are supposed to be the Donkeys who carry Mary and Jesus to others. In fact that is what the Movement of the Holy Family is all about and its why I want you to become a Member of the Movement – so that you can be a good Donkey of Mary.
As Donkeys we need small simple steps:
Pray the Rosary Podcast every day
Share it with others
Look around you and see who you normally share life with.
Invite others to share life with you. Invite them to pray the Rosary with you. And invite them to talk about it when you are finished. Then say “Hey, that was great, we should do that more often.” And invite them to be your team!
The Mission of the Movement of the Holy Family is that everyone has a group of family and friends with whom you share life and integrate your faith so that you can enrich one another by your gifts and stretch each other by your differences. And this is the very place where you invite those who have lost sight of God so that they too may share in your joy.