Mary of the Eighth Day
Mary is the world of the Third Day, the day of the Resurrection, or better still of the Eighth Day. The day of the Resurrection being Sunday, the eighth day is the day that has no end, Eternity. For us, this is inaugurated on Resurrection Sunday. Mary is an immense space capable of encompassing all the elect; and for ever! She is “the Heavenly Jerusalem” (See this article). She has already begun. She already exists in Heaven. On earth, all the elect are hidden in her and formed. In Heaven, they dwell in her definitively. She is the eternal dwelling! If one “enters into Mary”, if she lives in us and grows, after union, or at the moment of death, we are not called to leave her, or to go out of her! Quite the contrary.
In addition to being our final destination, she is also the path that leads to it. She is that narrow passage which introduces us into the world that has no end, the Day without Decline! One enters it by a narrow gate.
Already in this earthly life we have the possibility of accessing this “future” world, of being there, of dwelling there!—and that, for ever!
Mary is, from the very first instant of her conception, daughter and Mother of the “Day without end of God”, of the “eternal Day”, for she is saved by anticipation: this is her nature, a nature preserved intact thereafter. “Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854: The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”(Catechism 491)
God is Light. The “light of men” (Jn 1). Eternal, uncreated, endless Light. He is Light. He “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6:16). Mary is this world. She belongs to it from the very first instant of her conception. Indeed, since it is “by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ” that saved, we can say that she is conceived by Christ on the Cross. God draws her forth from the side of Christ -New Adam- asleep on the Cross. From a rib, God builds himself an eternal Dwelling, Mary. He rejoices in Her; in Her he takes his delight.
When, on Mount Tabor, Christ revealed to the three apostles his Being as he is, it was on the eighth day, as St Luke underlines in his account of the Transfiguration. “About eight days after he said this, Jesus took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray.” (Luke 9:28) They were able to see him as he is because they had been admitted into the light/the world of the Resurrection. They were able to enter it. We can say that in this sense they entered into Mary, Mary’s world. They came to know the world of Mary!
Note: Let us remember that there is a profound link between the Transfiguration and the Resurrection. Coming down from the mountain, Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not tell this vision to anyone, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” (Matthew 17:9) Likewise, see Mark 9:9. In their commentaries on the account of the Transfiguration, the Church Fathers noted this connection.
Our faith becomes the Faith of Mary, the reality of Mary!
There is a “narrow gate”. One enters it. A narrow conduit. One passes through it. One comes out on the other side: one then finds oneself in the Last Day! THE Day. The Day without End. One takes up one’s dwelling in Her.
When I invoke Mary “Conceived without sin”, it is as though describing her as already having arrived, already belonging (from the very first instant of her conception) to the future world! to another sphere, and yet she is to live in time through normal sufferings. What a Mystery!—to be already “of the Future world”, already of the Eternal Day, for she is saved by anticipation, and at the same time to be on earth!
And behold, for us too, we can access this final, eternal world… already in this earthly life.
This is how Peter will evoke that eternal light, of that eternal world. He will not speak of a day, a day exterior to ourselves! He will rather turn towards a star: the Morning Star (Jesus). And where will it be found? In our heart!: “And so we have the prophetic word made more sure. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.” (2 Pet 1:19)
One cannot see the “Morning Star” shining in one’s heart, radiating in all its splendour, unless we have Mary’s capacity, her eyes and her heart, developed in all “their stature”.
Jesus is the light of the world, he is the Eternal Day, the day without decline!
Note: “Word equal to the Most High, our only hope, Eternal Day of earth and heaven,” (Cantique of Jean Racine) 6 Disc. VIII in the Easter octave, 4: PL 46, 841. Passage cited in the beautiful letter of John Paul II on Sunday, Dies Domini.
This day without decline already exists, it is inaugurated on Easter morning! It will remain. Indeed, the Sunday of the Resurrection follows the Jewish Sabbath which is the seventh day! Sunday is the eighth day! “That is why also the Lord impressed his seal upon his day, which is the third after the passion. But, in the weekly cycle, it is the eighth after the seventh, that is, after the Sabbath, and the first of the week”, says St Augustine.
The eighth day is the figure of eternity. “Moreover, the fact that the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week makes one consider the Lord’s Day in the light of a complementary symbolism, dear to the Fathers: Sunday is the first day and also the ‘eighth day’, that is, placed, in relation to the succession of seven days, in a unique and transcendent position, which evokes not only the beginning of time, but also its end, in the ‘age to come’.”[ John Paul II, Dies Domini, 26.]
“St Basil explains that Sunday represents the truly unique day which will follow the present time, the infinite day which will know neither evening nor morning, the imperishable age which cannot grow old; Sunday is the constant announcement of life without end, which rekindles the hope of Christians and encourages them on their way.”
Note: Cf. St Basil, On the Holy Spirit, 27,66: SC 17, pp. 484–485. Cf. also Epistle of Barnabas 15,8–9: SC 172, pp. 186–189; St Justin, Dialogue with Tryphon, 24 and 138: PG 6, 528 and 793; Origen, Commentaries on the Psalms, Psalm 118 (119), 1: PG 12, 1588.
From the perspective of the last day, which will fully realise the anticipatory symbolism of the Sabbath, St Augustine concludes the Confessions by speaking of the eschaton as “peace of rest, peace of the Sabbath, peace without evening” [“Domine, præstitisti nobis pacem quietis, pacem sabbati, pacem sine vespera”: Confessions, XIII, 50: CCL 27, p. 272. “Lord, You have granted us the peace of rest, the peace of the Sabbath, the peace without evening.”]. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of Eternal Peace, the peace or rest of the eternal Sabbath, and invites us to enter it: “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest” (Heb 4:11).
Being in Mary, let us open our eyes and contemplate in her the world of God, the world of the Eternal Day.
To whom are we going? To Mary. Who is Mary? She is “Mount Zion”, that is, “the New Jerusalem”, the one of whom God and the Lamb are the only lights (see Rev 21–22). There is no Sun. Mary, mother of all, who bears all, who introduces each one into her immense womb! luminous… Eternal… final… “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more powerfully than the blood of Abel.” (Heb 12:22–24)
Let us then dwell on Mount Zion, let us then dwell in Mary, the New Jerusalem; from now on let us enjoy her light which will never end.
The Eighth Day
“Yahweh, who shall lodge under your Tent, who shall dwell on your holy Mountain?” (Ps 15:1)
The one and only Tent is the Son himself, the Tent that the Father offers us. This is why, when Peter said that he would make a tent for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah, “he did not know what he was saying”, he did not understand that there is only one Tent: Christ. And that is why the end of the Transfiguration is marked by this transformation brought about by the Cloud (the true Tent) which takes everyone under its shadow: they saw no one except Christ! Christ alone remains, for everything has entered “in Him”.
“Yahweh, who shall lodge under your Tent, who shall dwell on your holy Mountain?” (Ps 15:1)
The goal of our life is to dwell “under the Tent of God”, for ever! The Transfiguration (the Mass every Sunday) is our programme of life and of growth until we “enter under the Tent” that the Father gives us: the Son full of Grace.
“Yahweh, who shall lodge under your Tent, who shall dwell on your holy Mountain?” (Ps 15:1)
The Mass is truly the weekly moment of Transfiguration offered to us! A moment normally rich in Glory. During the Mass, many things tell us that we are in reality “on the holy Mountain” of God, Christ, the mountain of the Transfiguration, the Height of Christ.
We do indeed say: “Glory to God” (we sing the Gloria). Now, to say “Glory” is to stand before the Glory of God! Otherwise, why say “Glory”? If we are not “in the Glory”, how could we say: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to men on earth”? The Glory of God is on earth! Whoever reads the Gloria attentively finds that it underlines the existence of Glory also on earth! And this grand and astonishing affirmation that the Transfiguration takes place during the Mass is taken up again in the Sanctus: “Heaven and Earth are Full of Your Glory”! What power! And what an astonishing affirmation: the Earth, where we are, in the act of saying the Gloria, the Mass, the Church where we are, the very place where we stand, this Place is “Full of Your Glory”!
The Church is the place where we gather every Sunday, the Church is this unique place where the Transfiguration takes place, where we are invited to Encounter the Risen One, behind closed doors! The walls of this Church, at their consecration, are anointed with the holy and blessed Oil, to shelter this unique experience: the weekly Transfiguration!
Moreover, each time the Priest says: “Peace be with you” or “The Lord be with you”, he reminds us that the Risen Christ is among us! What Greatness fills these Sacred moments in which we can see, with the eyes of the Heart, the Risen Christ, present among us!
For this we rely on the Eyes and the Heart of Mary: “look not upon our sins (every act we might perform, every means other than Mary we might seek in order to meet You, to see You and to enter under your Tent, O Christ) but upon the faith of your Church”, that is to say, Mary herself! “The Faith of Mary becomes our faith”! She is the sacred Ladder (“Jacob’s Ladder”) who lifts us up towards the Son, towards his dizzying Height! She is the one who shows us the Risen One (“Hodiguitria”). Without her eyes, without her heart, how could we bear the dazzling intensity of the Risen One? Without the eyes of Mary’s heart, how could we remain Standing before Christ?
And here we are, standing during the Procession of the Gospel, because Christ IS present among us, he walks among us as he did 2000 years ago. He is really present, and he is going to open his Mouth and speak to us! “Stand up”, the Deacon calls us, because “It is Christ” who is there and who is going to speak! We are also standing during the Proclamation of the Gospel, and the Priest (or the Deacon) says to us: “let us listen attentively”: because it is Christ who is going to speak!
The Priest sings the Gospel, for to “sing” is to go slowly, to savour each word, and to be carried by the contemplation of the Words which are Holy Spirit and Divine Life given to us, and to give them the time to penetrate into our heart and our intelligence, to give time to the Sacrament of Proclamation to act, that is, to the Holy Spirit to bring into us the Words which are Spirit and Life! And here we are STANDING before Christ! How were we able to stand before the King of Glory? What a mystery!!
Let us give thanks to God who offers us each week to enter into the Light of the Eighth Day, this final Day, the Day of the Resurrection, “the Day that the Lord has made”, the Day of the Lord, this Universe all of Light where there is no shadow at all.
Let us strive to receive with attentiveness, and all together, the very special Grace given to all to participate fruitfully in the Holy Mysteries, a grace which allows our weakness, our lack of concentration, to be gathered in, attentive, with the mouth of our heart and our intelligence open, the eyes of the heart open, a grace which lifts us up and makes us worthy to take part in the Contemplation of the Words which are Spirit and Life, to see Christ, to Listen to him and to digest his Words, to take part in his Kiss (Communion), to be eaten by Him, to enter under His Tent. Who is like us, race of Saints?!!
“Yahweh, who shall lodge under your Tent, who shall dwell on your holy Mountain?” (Ps 15:1)
Observation
What matters above all is this: to try to live in this way. For this, let us note that the text mentions the existence of a specific grace given to all (but one must ask for it, desire it, receive it) for recollection (to reach the surface of the water), a grace of general help which brings one to the threshold of God’s Action… which means that the Mass lived in this way (at least progressively until union) is given to all! This point is important.
This is a vast point to be deepened and developed, for if, through the Eighth Day, God invites us weekly to a mystical experience (to participate in the Holy Mysteries), He gives us the means!! There are no privileged ones! However, if we do not prepare ourselves for this Grace, we are there as strangers; we do not enter into Christ, and our heart—contrary to what is often repeated—will not be “in the Lord”!! (“– lift up your hearts”, “– we turn them to the Lord”).
Mary, the Prophet and the Prophecy
Traditionally, a prophet is understood as one who speaks about the future, revealing events yet to come. This is the common Old Testament understanding of prophecy. Yet, if we delve deeper, a prophet is more fundamentally a person in personal, direct communion with God—a person to whom God speaks, and who can discern God’s will in a unique way (Jer 1:4–10; Amos 3:7).
The Object of Prophecy
In the Old Testament, the major prophecies point ultimately to the Messiah (Isa 7:14; Mic 5:2). While prophets addressed the circumstances of their own times, their words also contained a deeper, Christological significance. There are, therefore, two layers to prophecy: the immediate, historical meaning, and the ultimate, transcendent meaning fulfilled in Christ (Mt 5:17; Lk 24:44–45). All prophecy finds its consummation in Jesus, who is the fulfillment of God’s promises: “It is finished” (Jn 19:30).
Prophecy and Time after Christ
Does prophecy have relevance today? In a sense, Jesus transforms the very nature of time. Salvation history, which unfolded in preparation for Christ, now finds its culmination in Him. Time after Christ becomes a space of grace—alive, present, and available. Through Him, the door to God is open; divine life is at hand, offered freely (Jn 10:9; Eph 2:18; Heb 10:19–22).
Yet a future remains. We await the resurrection of the dead and the final coming of Christ in glory (1 Cor 15:51–52; Rev 21:1–4). After the final judgment, the faithful enter eternal life—a reality described as the “Eighth Day,” the Eternal Day, where light never ceases, and God’s presence is fully manifest (Rev 22:5; 2 Pet 3:13). In Christ, we already experience a foretaste of this eternal day, for He is the eternal Temple, the dwelling place of God among us (Rev 21:22).
Some may argue that prophecy still speaks to the unfolding history of the Church, as in interpretations of the Book of Revelation (Rev 1:1–3; 22:6–7). Others maintain that in Christ, all things are already accomplished, and no future revelation is needed. Both perspectives are valid: one emphasises the unfolding of history, the other the inner spiritual transformation in Christ. Ultimately, faith and hope find their object in Jesus, and the prophetic vision, even of future events, is meant to guide us toward transformation in Him (Eph 4:13; Phil 3:20–21).
Jesus: Faith, Way, and Model
Jesus is not only the object of our faith but also the Way itself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6). He embodies the fullness of what we are called to believe, and simultaneously, He is the model for our discipleship. In following Him, we trace the path He has walked, learning to live and be transformed according to His example (Mt 16:24; Lk 9:23).
Mary: The Perfect Prophecy
Vatican II made a striking affirmation about Mary in Lumen Gentium: she is the perfect realisation of the Church (Lumen Gentium, 8). Mary is not merely a figure within the Church; she is its eschatological form, the fulfillment of what the Church is called to be (Lumen Gentium, 8).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church echoes this insight: Mary is the archetype of the disciple, the supreme realisation of following Christ (CCC 967–970). In Mary, the Church already sees the fullness of what it hopes to become. She embodies the future toward which all disciples are called. In this sense, Mary herself is the prophecy of our destiny in Christ: she is the model of what we are meant to be (Jn 19:26–27; Mt 5:48).
St. Louis de Montfort describes Mary as “God’s world,” a paradise, a garden in which God delights (Prov 8:31; Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, nn. 6–8, 24). If she is God’s dwelling, she is immense, capable of containing Christ. As such, she remains a mystery, reflecting the inexhaustible depths of the God she bears (Montfort, True Devotion, nn. 24–26). Mary is not only God’s prophecy but also our future, prefigured in her salvation and conformity to Christ (Lk 1:28–30; CCC 484–487).
Mother and Queen
She is “Queen” means that she is at the “level” of the King, at his height, capable of dealing directly and fully with the King! She belongs to the hypostatic order of things (Hopostase / Person of the Son). She relates directly and totally to Christ, she is the Mother of God (“God” here is Jesus). She knows and loves her Son and God, perfectly. He finds in her the perfection of the reflection of his love.
She is “Mother” means that she is carrying each one of us and since she is placed at Jesus’ Level, this opens the way for us to know and love Jesus her way.
Conclusion
Mary stands as the living prophecy of the Church and the disciple: the perfection toward which we are called, the image of Christ’s faithful follower, and the model of hope already realised. She is the future made present, a reminder that the eschatological fulfillment promised by God is already at work in Him, and in her, we see the life to which we are invited (1 Cor 15:22–23; Rev 21:3–4).
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