THE SOUTHERN CROSS
Written and illustrated by Frank Pranas Grybaitis
Acknowledgements
I dedicate this project to the Holy Spirit and his spouse, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
I confess that this project is the hardest project and undertaking I have ever had to do. It has taken me nearly 40 years to bring this project to completion. It would have taken much longer had it not been for my good and loving wife, and my good and kind sister, Rosemary. My wife taught me computer skills and Rosemary taught me the basics in letter writing. I also wish to mention my dear friend Olive. Olive was angelically kind to me; she is no longer with us on this earth. She went to receive her reward, the reward that only loving souls receive. She impressed on me the importance of this finding and encouraged me to complete it and make it known. For that I thank her.
Celestial perfume
By Frank Pranas Grybaitis, written 1970–1980
THIS POEM IS DEDICATED IN HONOUR OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
I seek the Spirit’s oh celestial perfume
I seek Her in the mountains and the valleys far below
I seek Her behind the oak trees and the streams that flow
I seek Her in a bird’s nest and the bosom of man
Can’t wait for summer, can’t wait for summer
The breath of God like a springtime breeze
She is richer than silver and purer than gold
She is whiter than a snowflake and brighter than the sun
Solomon and Socrates Her beauty had won.
Origin
My name is Frank Grybaitis. I am writing this to explain to you how I came to see what I believe is the true meaning, the hidden mystery, behind the Southern Cross; that is the pattern of stars over our region of the world in Australia. On 28 December 1981, I was in a health clinic in Chatswood, Sydney, undergoing a therapeutic fast. About two in the morning, unable to sleep, I went outside to the garden in the backyard to get some fresh air. Whilst praying quietly, I heard above me a little to my left a jumbo jet flying quite low in full flight with its lights blinking. As it flew by overhead I felt compelled to look and gaze up in the sky. A little further to my left I saw the Southern Cross.
As I continued to look, some of the stars of the Southern Cross began to pulsate. By pulsating I mean they were blinking off and on – they actually became larger and then receded back to their normal sizes, each one at a different sequence. This was happening rather quickly, but only the stars of the Southern Cross were pulsating. This went on for some time, perhaps a minute or so.
‘This is strange,’ I thought. As I continued looking at the phenomenon, I clearly realized that it was Jesus, yes, it was the Lord Jesus crucified on the cross of the Southern Cross; stars hanging suspended in the Galaxy.
It is a common belief that there are five stars which make up the Southern Cross, which is on the Australian flag. In fact, there are seven stars in all, including the two little stars at the foot of the cross. Those are the ones that everyone overlooks which make up the complete cross. The smaller of the two is called Zeta2 Muscae and the other one is called Epsilon Muscae.
In the seven stars I realized that five of the stars were the wounds that were inflicted in Jesus’ hands, side, and feet. All of which took place on Calvary some 2020 years ago. Yes, it was Jesus, Jesus on the cross hanging suspended by the invisible nails; the nails which were, in actuality, the stars of the Southern Cross.
As I continued looking, to my amazement I realized that there was yet another person visible, only this one was nailed upside down, suspended by four stars above Our Lord a little to His right with his arms and legs outstretched.
‘Surely this has to be the apostle, Saint Peter!’ I thought. Legend has it that Peter was nailed to the cross upside down, because he felt unworthy to die like his master died. I became frightened and a fear seemed to cover me like a mantle, by the reality of having been exposed to this awesome secret. Not knowing what all this meant, I went back inside to my room. Somewhat bewildered with a feeling of fear, yet highly excited, I managed to fall asleep.
I did nothing about this until February 1982. One evening that month, I was working in my studio, engrossed with my work, when suddenly I felt moved and guided by a gentle force to sit down and place on paper this secret and mystery that I had witnessed in December the previous year. Three hours later I had most of it on paper. Much of it was still missing, but nevertheless it was a start. By looking at what I had on paper I was excited, a little apprehensive, but at the same time confused because I did not have it completed yet. Not knowing what to do with it, I put it away for further and future reference. I forgot about it for a long time. During the next 20 years a gentle but quite persistent voice, almost inaudible, kept urging me to complete the discovery and make it known. I actually resented this beckoning; in a sense I was goaded by the intermittent reminder to bring it to completion. However, little by little I added to the discovery until one day I showed what I had written up to that point to a Catholic priest whom I had known for about 20 years. He was deeply impressed by the concept and wanted two copies, a copy for himself and one to use for teaching to the children in his parish school. He requested two samples of the Cross that I had made so he could use them for teaching Catechism. However, I became very ill and was unable to make the samples for him at that time. He left the Parish and I lost contact with him, and for years I couldn’t do anything.
The seven stars of the Southern Cross
Scripture says, ‘In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God’ (John 1:1). Before anything existed God brought the machinery of the universe into being with the authority and simplicity of a spoken fiat. Billions upon billions of stars filled the empty vastness of space, including the stars in our region of the Milky Way to which we belong. Out of His infinite love and wisdom, He ordered the seven stars which make up the Southern Cross to come into being and they are now visible for the naked eye to see. These not only reflect the creative power of God, but also the glory of our perfect God and His infinite wisdom. In these seven stars lays a complex and hidden puzzle and a complex mystery of an inestimable treasure.
With the passing of time names were given to stars, including the seven stars of the Southern Cross – our subject at hand. The star Alpha Crucis is precisely in the area of our Lord’s heart.
Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. God tells us in scripture ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ (Revelation 22:13). Omega is the last letter in their alphabet. So, God tells us ‘I am the first and the last’. Is it not true that God took the first initiative to love us? Out of love, the Father sent his Son; out of love the Son gave himself on the cross; out of love the Holy Spirit came to dwell in us.
The first commandment speaks to us of love, and is it not ironic that the location of the heart of Jesus on the cross is the star which is named Alpha Crucis. What else is the symbol of the heart if not love? Our triune God who is always the first and will be the last to love us, and is not that love generated from the heart? Is this not precisely where the Roman spear entered the heart of Jesus on the cross in the location where the star named Alpha Crucis is?
The emphasis in the Bible is placed on the heart of Jesus from which flowed out blood and water. The lance penetrated the right side of Jesus releasing a fountain of divine mercy on the world. The purpose of the crucifixion, suffering and death of Jesus was to bring about the forgiveness of sin. We know this, but this fact also will remain the incomprehensible mystery for the created mind to absorb, and to try to comprehend throughout eternity.
The revelation
Darkness is progressively spreading its tentacles throughout the world in which we live, endeavouring to obscure the truths of our Christian heritage and bringing about confusion in our world. I feel when the darkness finally reaches its climax and has reached its peak, not just in the churches but also in society at large, then the Antichrist will appear in person who will possibly deny that Jesus Christ is the son of God; that the Blessed Virgin Mary was His mother; she was truly a Virgin in the fullest sense of the word, remaining in her virginal state after giving birth to Jesus.
The Antichrist will discredit the Holy Bible as being divinely given to us by God through the prophets and the Apostles. He will deny the true presence of Jesus Christ’s body, blood, soul, and divinity present in the Eucharistic bread consecrated during mass by a Roman Catholic priest. In a sense he has already succeeded in this by the fact that many Christian denominations no longer believe in his real presence; as a matter of fact, some openly deny this fact! The denial of the real presence is already happening in many parts of the world including the Catholic Church.
The Antichrist’s aim will be to rule and govern humanity. To accomplish this, he will need to destroy the Holy Catholic Church because she is one of the churches standing up for the truth; the truth that God gave to humanity for its salvation. This process he started at the beginning of 20th century, with the plan to set himself up to be adored as God; God of humanity and the creator of the universe. The Southern Cross is beyond his grasp – for he cannot destroy it. It is the property of God.
It will be there for us as a constant reminder of the truths that the Father of Jesus Christ has revealed to us and defending these truths, ‘many will be martyred’ scripture tells us this. Blessed be God forever. Amen.
The Antichrist
Possibly too, the Antichrist will declare that Jesus was and is an impostor, that he was just a man, and only human. What a great sign and gift God the Father has given us in the sign of the Southern Cross hanging suspended in the galaxy as proof that Jesus Christ did die on the cross of Calvary! (See John 19:17–18, Luke 23:32–33, Mark 15:24 and Matthew 27:35.)
Conclusively, I wish to affirm that the gospel is true in claiming that Jesus is the son of God, that the Blessed Virgin Mary is his real mother, that He is truly present in the consecrated Eucharistic bread: body, blood, soul, and divinity. Our Lord Himself stated this when He said, ‘this is my body and this is my blood’. This is the mystery and the miracle of Transubstantiation. This is where faith comes in on our part; where he changed the bread into His body, and the wine into His blood.
We should be determined to assist at celebrating the holy sacrifice of the Mass even at the cost of shedding our own blood. It is so precious. The Mass where humanity meets God and is divinised progressively by this divine being, namely Jesus Christ, in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist; the true food for our souls, our souls’ lifeline.
The Blessed Virgin Mary plays a key role in the mystery of redemption and I’ll go as far as to say that perhaps the cornerstone would not have been laid in its place without her cooperation? It would appear that many in the Catholic church today have forgotten this truth, that without her cooperation Jesus could not have come to redeem us as He did. The Catholic Church honors Mary as the Mother of the church. Pope Saint John Paul II has entrusted the church and his Pontificate to the Virgin Mary.
This is true Catholicism, to exclude her is Protestantism. To put it plainly God in His infinite wisdom gave us a mother to make His paternity for us complete. God did not leave us orphaned: A child needs a mother’s and a father’s love, to be well adjusted, to be able to fulfil his or her role in life’s destiny. I do believe this is one of the reasons why the Blessed Virgin Mary has been given this great honour, so that each child may fulfill his or her role, in the overall plan of God’s salvation.
Imagery
| The wounds of Jesus and PeterThere are ten stars and ten wounds between Jesus and Peter, one for each commandment (Figure A). The commandments are based on love and so are their wounds. Connecting these stars forms thirteen lines and seven triangles. |
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The seven trianglesThe Hebrew scriptures tell us that the number seven is a complete number, a perfect number. The seven triangles (Figure B) tell us that he is not just God, but he is perfect in every way. The seven triangles represent the seven days of creation and the three sides of the triangles represent the Trinitarian Godhead. | 
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The thirteen linesThe thirteen lines connect and show the Apostles including St Paul (Figure C). |
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The Virgin MaryThe image of the Virgin Mary’s face and mantle (Figure D) overlap the thirteen lines – the lines of Jesus and Peter on the cross, and the twelve apostles including St Paul. |
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The stars in the top half of the cross form a clear letter M (Figure E). M for Mary, the mother of mankind. The letter M turned upside down becomes the letter W for woman. ‘Woman, this is your son’ said Jesus from the cross to Mary, His mother (John 19:26). |
Land of the Southern Cross
I see Australia as a grand cathedral with the rock, Uluru (previously called Ayers Rock) as the altar and centerpiece of the building. The Milky Way above her is her roof, sheltering the faithful. And the Southern Cross above is the Cross, the Crucifix adorning the wall of the cathedral; the church of true believers.
The glittering and shining stars of the Southern Cross are spaced out in the vastness of space with many light years between them. The nearest star is about 71 light years away from earth and the last star is approximately 510 light years away, giving us the formation of the seven stars of the Southern Cross in our region of the Milky Way galaxy.
The Way, the Truth, the Life
‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the father but through me.’John 14:6
The Way
The Southern Cross is a fixed celestial reminder for the faithful people not to lose their way because Jesus said ‘I am the WAY’.
The Truth
Jesus lived and died proclaiming the truth. The Southern Cross suspended in our galaxy looking down on us is a heavenly reminder that He is the TRUTH.
The Life
He opened the celestial gates restoring the LIFE of grace, giving us LIFE in its fullest measure.
The gate
By Frank Pranas Grybaitis, written 1975–1979
THIS POEM IS DEDICATED IN HONOUR OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Early in the morning when the sun is dawning
At the gate, your gate, She sitteth on.
For he who begeteth Her early, and he who begeteth Her late,
Is he who open that gate.
The constellation Crux
The astronomer Vince Ford is largely responsible for gathering all the star data contained in this booklet, and to him I am deeply indebted, and I thank him very much. Because of him, we are able to enjoy this data.
Alpha Crucis
The star we know as Alpha Crucis is actually a triple star system composed of two bright blue B class stars about 4.5 seconds of arc apart and a smaller sixth-magnitude star at a distance of 90 seconds of arc. The two bright stars form a beautiful double star system visible to the naked eye, while the smaller star can be seen through a small telescope. These are the three stars in the area of the heart of Jesus crucified. Vince and others believe that the third smaller star becomes visible only every thousand years as it goes around its orbit.
Could these stars be the three hearts of the Triune God, symbolising the three divine persons of God; God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit; who are one God? We know quite a lot about the first two persons of God. Could this be the reason why the third star becomes visible only every thousand years – symbolic of how little we know of the third person of God, the Holy Spirit? Referring to the three stars mentioned above – Pope Saint John Paul II released a statement from the Vatican stating that ‘in the new millennium we will enter into a new and divine holiness’. Could this be the era of the Holy Spirit?
Crux in history
Owing to the effects of precession, Crux is now much more south than it was formerly. For instance, it was seen on the horizon at Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion, and about 5000 years ago it was seen in quite high latitudes in the northern hemisphere. Dante, who could not have seen it in Italy in his time, but who doubtless heard of it from learned travellers, mentions the group of stars in his Divine Comedy. Columbus must have seen it at Haiti and Cuba, although it would be low down at the latitude of these places. The celebrated navigator, Vasco da Gama, mentions it as a striking object seen during his journey around the Cape in 1493.
The Jewel Box
One of the most beautiful of all star clusters lies within the boundaries of Crux. This is known as the Jewel Box and was named by John Herschel comparing this stellar group to a piece of multi-coloured jewellery.