December 12, 2008
Returning from evening Mass on The Feast of the Immaculate Conception this year, the full moon in the clouds captured our attention. The children were entranced by the way the moon seemed to race through the waves of clouds, like a ship in the sea. A few minutes later, my husband called me back outside.“Come see this, halo lady!”
Wondering what he meant, I went out on the porch, and he pointed to the moon. I was going to explain to him the children and I had already enjoyed this sight, when I looked and was amazed. The sky was a thick blanket of clouds everywhere except for a large, perfectly circular area around the moon. Within the circle it was cloudless night sky, the brilliant moon at the very center. The sea of clouds everywhere else formed the border of the cloudless circle. If you can imagine what it would look like if you were to take a circular cookie cutter, and punch a hole in a white wool blanket, that’s what we saw. The halo was not formed by light as is somewhat common, but by clouds! Our son put it perfectly: “It’s like the eye of God looking down on us!”
We admired it for about 5 minutes, when gradually, the clouds began to disperse, and the defined edge of the circle faded away and all returned to normal.
So what does this mean?
Earlier this year, on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, October 13th, something similar happened. After a public rosary at Immaculate Heart of Mary School which is nearby, in which 600+ school children and teachers participated, a brilliant circular rainbow appeared around the sun. Joining it, were two or three other perfectly white circles composed of clouds, huge, overlapping one another, covering the sky. We all stared in awe, wondering. A friend of mine, Mother Seraphina, took a picture with her cellphone camera, and exclaimed “Look, isn’t that Mary?” It did appear to be the outline of Our Lady, from the waist up, before the sun.
So what do these circles mean I wonder? Are they the signs in the sun, and the moon and the stars that tell us the Kingdom of God is at hand?
When I think about what a circle represents, my mind goes back to my early Catechism days, and the study of the Holy Trinity. It seems maybe a circle is a symbol of God, as it has neither beginning nor end? I am very ignorant of such things, and will confess I’ve never paid much attention to all of the talk of signs and wonders, things people see or imagine they see in the woodgrain, clouds, sandwiches... I just pray it draws them closer to God in the end, as all things God has made ought to do for us. I am always rather sad when the thing representing a holy image gets more attention than who they represent. Especially Our Lord ever present and waiting for us in the Blessed Sacrament… The greatest miracle amongst us… you know? You know. Writing this on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, holy images and signs come strongly to mind, remembering Her Beautiful Image left on the tilma for us... I am not sure what to make of it all, but it does give food for meditation, doesn't it?
All I can say is we were greatly comforted, seeing this image in the sky. My husband and I have both been dealing with great uncertainty in our futures, and had just prayed that we might find contentment and certainty in the Will and Providence of God alone. It seemed a sort of nod from God Himself, from Our Lady, saying “We are here. We are with you, We are watching over you. Do not fear.”