This photo was taking while the fire consumed a church in the Valley of Punilla, in Córdoba, Argentina. In the center, notice the Image of Our Lady that remained 100% unscathed by the raging flames. In the image Our Lady seems to be walking through the flames.

Hearing them sing, and amazed at seeing them alive, King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counsellors, ‘Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?’ They answered the king, ‘True, O king.’  He replied, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.’ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!’ So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counsellors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them. Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. (Daniel 3:91-96)

The photographs of the Punilla fire taken by Mr. Ariel Luna speak by themselves and are a powerful testimony of faith. The events are miraculous, no doubt in my mind. Now the question remains: Is this a sign? Is God talking to us and warning us of an impending disastrous event?

The fires of Punilla were damaging enough. If this conflagrations is the sign of things to come; how big must be the fire they are announcing! The symbol representing that reality cannot be bigger than the reality itself.

God has protected His servants in the past. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego survived the fiery furnace just like the image of Our Lady survived the fires of Punilla. Not a trace of sooth, not the slightest fire damage affected the perfectly white statue of Mary Most Holy. Tota pulchra es Maria our beautiful mother, protected by legions of God’s angels.

And the message is …

The most obvious message of this miraculous event is “fear not” —Meshach, Sadrach and Abednego had no fear! Think of them as one of us. Their nation was no more. They had been taken from all they loved and were familiar with. They had no freedom of movement and had to serve foreigners who had absolute power over them. In spite of all of that they held on to their faith. No one can take one’s faith if one is not willing to let them take it.

In the end, Meshach, Sadrach, and Abednego faced the fiery furnace armed only with their trust in their God. The same God that had done nothing to prevent the loss of their country. Now their new master, the king of the conquerors was going for their last possession: their obedience to the Law of God. They were able to know that they were only defeated in appearance. They went into the flames tied up but once inside the fire they met their Savior.

Think of it. Our enemies seem to be everywhere. They can —they really can— knock at our door at night and take us who knows where to be interrogated, tortured, shot like if there was no Constitution, no human rights, no law.

Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness  is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. (2Thessalonians 2:3-4)

From the midst of that fire in Punilla Our Blessed mother is telling us not to fear. Nothing will harm us but woe to those who threw us into the fire: the same fire will devour them while we will walk away unscathed and in white vestments just like Our Blessed Mother.

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’  I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation  7: 13-14)

Yes. The ordeal we are going through is terrible but the same fire that purifies our souls is used by God to make our enemies perish.