The Feminine Face of God
By Kristen Fairchild

Kristen Fairchild: Your book Praying with Mary is a collection of ancient and contemporary prayers to the Virgin Mary from around the world. Your inspiration to research and gather these prayers together came, in part, from quite an unusual encounter with Mother Theresa.

Janice Connell: Yes. I was at a house in Washington, D.C. that was donated to Mother Theresa. I was standing there in a huge crowd and Mother Teresa was the guest of honor. I never expected to have anymore than a glimpse of her in the huge crowd. And yet she came through the crowd right over to me. I was standing there with my husband and she came over and put her hand on my heart. Normally, I don't let strangers touch me but this was Mother Theresa! I was stunned - stunned is too gentle a word! I think I was frozen in shock. And I remember-I'll never forget this-this little human being, her head didn't come any higher than my shoulder with her rough hand pressing on my heart. And then she looked up in my eyes and I saw such an immense love in those eyes, and she said, "The Blessed Mother wants me to write a prayer for your next book." Then she said, "Wherever it is placed, it will break the power of Satan."

You have done a lot of research on the historical Mary and documented appearances of Her around the world. Why is Mary such a powerful icon for people?

She represents the feminine face of God. Mary is the clearest, most transparent human being, because only God lives in Her. And the fallen nature that all the rest of us are stuck with She never had. God carved out an exception to the human condition with Mary so that He would have a Mother worthy of His son. And that's why Mary was conceived immaculately, so that She could bear God in human form. If Jesus had not had an immaculately-conceived human mother, as a human - because He was fully human as well as fully divine - He would have died of loneliness because there would have been no species like Him. He was totally pure. This infant needed a totally pure mother. She's a very great gift from God for us. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the perfect mother, and anyone who asks anything of Her, She draws near, and She brings Her Son in a very intimate and familial way.

Do you believe that Mary is an intercessor and helps us reach God through Her?

Yes. Intercessory prayer is something any of us can do and I think Mary is probably the most profound and the most beloved intercessor in Creation, in my opinion. I think that would be backed up by the doctrines of the Christian faith and probably the Moslem faith as well. I don't know if you're aware that Mohammad said that Mary is the highest-ranking woman in Heaven.

Mary is recognized in the Islamic faith?

Oh my, yes! She's mentioned over 150 times in the Koran.

: What about the figure of Quan Yin in the Buddhist faith? Is she similar to Mary?

. In Asia, they revere the Mother of God as Quan Yin . I have a dear friend in Washington who was from Thailand, and she told me this wonderful story about her daughter who had a child who got very sick after she was born. Her daughter got down on her knees, prayed to Quan Yin asking her to go to God and spare her daughter. Everyone, including the doctor, was shocked when her daughter got well immediately. She says she owes it all to Quan Yin. So I said, "Tell me how you pray to Quan Yin." She said, "I have a statue of her that my husband bought me. Every morning, I get up and I have tea. I bring tea - this is a cultural thing - and I place it front of her statue, and I light the incense. I sit there, and I drink my tea, and I meditate." So I asked her to bring me a photograph of her statue, and her prayer, and she complied. And she had a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes! I said, "This is the Blessed Virgin Mary." She said, "Well, you might call her that, but this is Quan Yin, the Mother of God."

Are there documented appearances of Quan Yin around the world?

When my book, Queen of the Cosmos, came out which documents the sightings of Mary at Medjugorje, Bosnia, I got a call from a man who worked as a translator for the US Government on sensitive documents from mainland China. He said, "I've read your book and the woman you speak of that is appearing to those children in Yugoslavia is not the Mother of Jesus Christ." And I said, "Well, who is it?" He said, "Oh, that woman's been appearing in mainland China for thousands of years. That's the Virgin Mother of God. "No," I insisted, "That is the Mother of Jesus Christ." He said, "No, no, no. You don't understand. Jesus Christ is a Jewish prophet. The woman you're writing about who's appearing to the children in Yugoslavia is the Virgin Mother of God, and She's been appearing in mainland China for at least 5000 years. She appears with the baby God (a male) in Her arms." And I said, "Well, what do you call her?" And he said, "Well, some people call her the Mother of Divine Mercy, but she's the Virgin Mother of God." And I asked, "Well, what kind of people does she appear to? Does she appear to intellectuals?" He said, "No, it's usually people in remote provinces who are very spiritual and who pray a lot, and who have hard times. She comes when times are difficult." "What does she come for?" I asked him. And he said, "To console."

That is very similar to the Virgen de Guadalupe. .

Exactly. I asked him, "Do you know anything about the Blessed Virgin Mary?" He said, "Yes, She's the Mother of Jesus." I said, "You don't understand, sir. This is the same person." Then I realized that She (Mary) is appearing all over the world and not necessarily only to Catholics or Christians. [For example], She appeared in the 1960s in Egypt at St. Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church for over 4 or 5 months. Most of the people She appeared to there were Muslims, but they all knew who She was.

Why do you think the image of Mary appeals to different faiths?

Because I think that truth is written on the human heart and that when people encounter her, they know who she is.

Do you think the real power of Mary has been hidden by the Church?

In the old catholic church (with a little "c"), before the Reformation, She was in every cathedral, the churches, the art, the music, the architecture. She was revered and venerated. Everything changed in the Age of Reason. The dignity of the feminine was taken away.

What kind of prayers have you assembled in this book?

I chose prayers from all over the world. Most of them were not even translated into English yet. These are prayers that are known throughout the centuries for their miraculous effect.

Can some of these prayers help people who are not familiar with Mary?

Anyone - Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist - absolutely. Because she's alive!

Do you have a favorite one in here?

One I really love is the Memorare. This is the miracle prayer. My children, who are now all married and grown, would tell you that this is their "emergency prayer" used only when they really need a miracle. They've tested it and it has never failed. People all over the world know the Memorare. It probably was said during the lifetime of the Blessed Virgin. St. Bernard of Clairveaux later memorialized it and made it very famous.

You have documented sightings of the Virgin Mary around the world, including the most famous one in Medjugorje, Bosnia. What happened there?

In 1981, two girls were walking along in their village of Medjugorje in the former Yugoslavia. One was 16 and one was 15. Both of them saw a vision of the Virgin on the mountain. Later, they told some of their friends. That evening, a group of them went back to the very spot, so the girls could show them what they saw, and six of them saw the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the Christ child. The distance from the vision was three soccer fields away - I measured it. Yet they saw her as if Our Lady was right in front of them. And if you look at the history of apparitions, you can see that this same phenomenon has occurred at all the major apparitions. For example, the children of Fatima : Our Lady was up above a hemlock tree and yet the witnesses thought She was right in front of them. And the same thing occurred with St. Bernadette at Lourdes. Mary appeared high in a grotto and Bernadette saw her as if she were right in front of her. On the third night of Mary's appearance in Medjugorje, the whole village including the mayor walked up the mountain with the Communist officials. And again that night the Blessed Virgin appeared. This time, She did not have the Christ child, but everyone on the mountain saw these miraculous lights, like strobe lights. I've interviewed the village people and they all believed they had seen a miracle. She is still appearing at the same site today.

Are miracles performed at the sight?

People's rosaries turn gold. There are also healings that been documented at the site. I have been in Medjugorje when a lawyer from New York with Multiple Sclerosis was there. She came in her wheelchair and she was blind. She was taken out onto the balcony from which the apparition canbe seen. The balcony was filled with sick and dying people on stretchers. Later, one of the men offered to take her up the mountain. As they were going up the mountain, somebody gave her the stations of cross book to read because the stations were being performed on the mountain. And she was able to read them!

And she had been legally blind?

Yes, and I have her affidavit. When she got to the top of the mountain, she could see everything - the village, everything below! She began to cry, she said, because she didn't realize how much she had lost. And she kept praying and asking Our Lady to ask Jesus to please let her see her children again. That was her one wish. Well, when she got down the mountain, she could still see. At the airport, she could still see, and on the plane she could still see. And when she got off of the plane in New York, she could still see. The next day, when she went to her doctor, he said, "You can't see - you're blind! It's impossible for you to see!" But he did all the tests, and she was no longer blind!

So what do you say to people in mainstream science or the media who still cast a very skeptical eye on something like this?

I say, "Bless them. That's all they know." Anyone who still thinks as we go into the year 2000 that the five senses are the only means of input of information, I feel sorry for them.

Do you think these sightings are going to increase as we approach the Millennium? In fact, just recently there was a sighting here in a cemetery outside San Francisco.

I wouldn't want to limit it to the Millennium. According to the accounts of the visionaries at Medjugorje, She has given them ten secrets that foretell the end of the world. She told them that this is her last apparition on earth, and after the secrets are realized, She will not need to come again. I have spoken to the young lady who has all 10 secrets on several occasions. I know her well. She told me that the first secret will unmask Satan. The second secret she wouldn't disclose at all. The third secret is the appearance of a permanent sign at Medjugorje. The fourth, fifth, and sixth secrets she wouldn't discuss at all. She said the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth are global events that will happen in rapid succession and will involve global catastrophe.

Do you think Mary presents herself only in the places where she knows she'll be received with love?

Well, that's a beautiful question. Here's what I think: I used to live in Pittsburgh, and one day as I was rushing into a meeting at the U.S. Steel Building, thousands were coming out at lunch hour - thousands. And I thought, "Gosh, if Our Lady appeared here, they'd say, 'Pardon me, ma'am, I'm too busy - I've only got an hour for lunch.'" One of the underlying themes of the Gospel is: "Woe to those who miss the time of their visitation." We can master peace. Truly, that is the theme of the Gospel. The Pharisees thought they had it all figured out who the Messiah was and when He was coming. And there He was among them, and they didn't even recognize Him! And then there was old Simeon and Anna. Anna was 80 years old but it was said she had given her life to prayer and fasting. She recognized Him. And old Simeon had prayed to the Holy Spirit that he wouldn't die before he saw the Master. And he was granted that gift.

Can Mary help us reclaim our divinity?

Yes. But what I've learned about her is that She is too humble to interfere unless we invite Her. In other words, She's the Good Mother. Unless you invite Her, She will not come.

Janice T. Connell, an attorney, advises and speaks frequently at conferences and conventions throughout the world. She is also the author of bestsellers Meetings with Mary, Visions of the Children, Queen of the Cosmos, Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, and Angel Power.

Related Links