Elias as a Type of Our Savior

From St. Augustine:

Brethren dearly beloved, in the Lessons which are now being read to us day by day, I have warned you that we must not follow the letter which kills, and thereby abandon the quickening spirit.  For it is thus that the Apostle says: “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”  If we desire to understand only what is in the letter, we shall get little or no edification from our readings in the sacred Scriptures.  All those things whereof we hear were types and images of things to come; and those things which were foreshadowed in the history of the Jews are, by the gift of God, fulfilled in us.

The blessed Elias, for instance, was a type of the Saviour.  Just as Elias was rejected by Jewry, so was the true Elias, even our Lord, rejected and despised by Jewry.  Elias went away out of his own country, and Christ must needs leave the synagogue.  Elias went into the desert, and Christ has come into the world.  Elias, when he was in the desert, was fed by ravens, and Christ in the desert of this world is comforted by the faith of the Gentiles.

For the ravens which, at the command of the Lord, ministered to Elias, may be understood as a type of the flock of the Gentiles.  Wherefore also it is said for the Gentile Church: “I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.”  Why is the Church black but comely?  She is black in the natural order but comely by grace.  Because she must own this truth: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”  Why is she comely by grace?  Because she can go on and say: “Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Read more.)

Our Lady of America

Here is the story of the approved apparitions:

 It was on the eve of the feast of the North American martyrs, September 25, 1956, that Our Lady appeared to Sr. Mildred Mary Neuzil during a private Holy Hour in the chapel at Kneipp Springs in Rome City, Indiana. In 1938, Sr. Mildred began to have spiritual experiences. She thought little of them, presuming all religious have them. With their increase over the next ten years, she decided to bring them to her confessor who warned her of a possible over-active imagination. As these visits took on the nature of a specific program of devotion to Mary which Sr. Mildred was asked to propagate, she then turned to her bishop, Paul F. Leibold, as Our Lady had directed. Bishop Leibold, later Archbishop of the Cincinnati, Ohio archdiocese, would be her spiritual director from 1940 to 1972 when he died an untimely death due to an aneurysm. Archbishop Leibold had become so convinced of the authenticity of this message that he approved Sr. Mildred's Diary and placed his imprimatur on the sketch of the medal Our Lady had asked Sr. Mildred to have struck, a medal that would bear the image of Our Lady of America on the front and the symbol of the Christian Family and the Blessed Trinity on the back.

Our Lady promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be granted here in America, the United States in particular, if we do as she desires. Sr. Mildred Mildred stated that Our Lady called herself Our Lady of America in response to the love and desire that reached out for this special title in the hearts of her children in America. This title is a sign of Our Lady's pleasure in the devotion of her children of America towards her, and this visit is a response to the longing, conscious or unconscious, in the hearts of her children in America.

"It is the United States that is to lead the world to peace, the peace of Christ, the peace that He brought with Him from heaven," Sr. Mildred Mildred quoted the Virgin as saying. "Dear children, unless the United States accepts and carries out faithfully the mandate given to it by heaven to lead the world to peace, there will come upon it and all nations a great havoc of war and incredible suffering. If, however, the United States is faithful to this mandate from heaven and yet fails in the pursuit of peace because the rest of the world will not accept or cooperate, then the United States will not be burdened with the punishment about to fall." "Weep, then, dear children, weep with your mother over the sins of men," said Mary. "Intercede with me before the throne of mercy, for sin is overwhelming the world and punishment is not far away." "It is the darkest hour, but if men will come to me, my Immaculate heart will make it bright again with the mercy which my Son will rain down through my hands. Help me save those who will not save themselves. Help me bring once again the sunshine of God's peace upon the world."

"If my desires are not fulfilled much suffering will come to this land. My faithful one, if my warnings are taken seriously and enough of my children strive constantly and faithfully to renew and reform themselves in their inward and outward lives, then there will be no nuclear war. What happens to the world depends upon those who live in it. There must be much more good than evil prevailing in order to prevent the holocaust that is so near approaching. Yet I tell you, my daughter, even should such a destruction happen because there were not enough souls who took my warning seriously, there will remain a remnant, untouched by the chaos who, having been faithful in following me and spreading my warnings, will gradually inhabit the earth again with their dedicated and holy lives."

On October 13, 1956, Our Lady again appeared as Our Lady of America, but instead of a lily in her hand, she held, with both hands, a small replica of the finished Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. "This is my shrine, my daughter. I am very pleased with it. Tell my children I thank them. Let them finish it quickly and make it a place of pilgrimage. It will be a place of wonders. I promise this. I will bless all those who, either by prayers, labor, or material aid, help to erect this shrine." According to Sr. Mildred Mildred, Our Lady often emphasized her desire that the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., be made a place of special pilgrimage and that she be honored there under this image and this title "Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin."

Strong warnings were repeated by Our Lady throughout 1957 and 1958, and there-after, indicating that the hour grows late and Sr. Mildred must tell the Bishops of the United States of Our Lady's desires and how she wishes them to be carried out. Our Lady spoke: "Unless my children reform their lives, they will suffer great persecution. If man himself will not take upon himself the penance necessary to atone for his sins and those of others, God in His justice will have to send upon him the punishment necessary to atone for his transgressions." (Read more.)

More HERE.

Here are some more of the messages of Our Lady of America (from a 2008 article):

 Now, at last, we come to the prophesies of Our Lady of America. Here is a several-paragraph excerpt describing one apparition. The emphasis is mine.

On the evening of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, October 7, 1957, Our Lady again appeared. Her hands were clasped in an attitude of prayer. Her look was serious, though her countenance retained its usual deep serenity. Hanging from her right hand was a blue rosary of a glass-like quality. I was conscious of the fact that what she was about to say to me was not only very grave but of the utmost importance. Our Lady reiterated in a similar manner her first warnings:

“My beloved daughter, what I am about to tell you concerns in a particular way my children in America. Unless they do penance by mortification and self-denial and thus reform their lives, God will visit them with punishments hitherto unknown to them.

“My child, there will be peace, as has been promised, but not until my children are purified and cleansed from defilement, and clothed thus with the white garment of grace, are made ready to receive this peace, so long promised and so long held back because of the sins of men.

“My dear children, either you will do as I desire and reform your lives, or God Himself will need to cleanse you in the fires of untold punishment. You must be prepared to receive His great gift of peace. If you will not prepare yourselves, God will Himself be forced to do so in His justice and mercy.

“Making the rosary a family prayer is very pleasing to me. I ask that all families strive to do so. But be careful to say it with great devotion, meditating on each mystery and striving to imitate in your daily lives the virtues depicted therein. Live the mysteries of the rosary as I lived them, and it will become a chain binding you to me forever. They who are found in the circle of my rosary will never be lost. I myself will lead them at death to the throne of my Son, to be eternally united to Him.

‘”Write these words upon your hearts, my dear children, because of the compassion I have for you in my Immaculate Heart. Oh, if you knew the punishments I am holding back from you by my pleading and intercession on your behalf!

“Will you do as I wish at last, my children?” (Read more.)

There is a movement to petition His Holiness Pope Francis to enthrone the statue of Our Lady of America at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in September of 2015.

Statement of the local Ordinary on the apparitions of Our Lady of America.