Today, Friday 13 May 2016, is the 99th anniversary of the Our Lady’s first appearance to the three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal. Next year: 100. Portentous, given what’s going on in the Church these days.
I, for one, am not entirely convinced that we have seen every part of the so-called Third Secret. It’s controversial, I know. Antonio Socci’s book on the so-called “Fourth Secret of Fatima” is in English now (UK HERE). Alas, I don’t think that Tossati’s book (which is better) is in English.
You might want to check 1 Peter 5 today, for an entry about Sr. Lucia’s statements that speaks of the “final battle”.
‘The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid, because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be contended and opposed in every way, for this is the decisive issue.’ And then she concluded: ‘however, Our Lady has already crushed its head.’”
Whether or not what we see swirling about “the family”, tearing at it, transmogrifying it, there is a “battle” going on. The final? Who knows. But one thing is sure. If the Enemy succeeds in destroying the core concept of family as intended by God in the minds and hearts of enough people, it’s game over over for an orderly, sane society. TEOTWAWKI.
Renew your own lives with the Sacrament of Penance: examine your consciences and GO TO CONFESSION.
Find strength in your daily recitation of the Most Holy Rosary.
Consciously join your cares to those of the Sacrifice of the Altar.
Make good Communions.
How appropriate that Obama would issue his transgender bathroom decree on this day of all days. The battle is going on in the spiritual realms, and we are just seeing the material manifestations of that battle. The Rosary is our path to victory…
I have been suspicious of the Vatican’s claim that the third secret had been revealed and its interpretation that the third secret referred to assassination attempt of John Paul II. It may well be that that is a component of the interpretation but it just doesn’t seem to add up. This interpretation seems too literal, insufficiently insightful, too prosaic and, well, just too anticlimactic. It leaves one thinking “Really? That’s what all the fuss was about? After the events of the 20th century, the Russian revolution, the second world war, the upheavals of the second Vatican council, it boils down to a failed assassination attempt on the Pope?”
I don’t want to minimize the importance of an assassination attempt on the Pope I have to wonder if it really compares to the Russian revolution and WWII and if it would it really merit all the fuss and all the secrecy? The Italian’s have a saying. “When a Pope dies, they get a new one”. To be sure, an assassination attempt on the Pope would be a grave and serious matter – but hardly the kind of cataclysmic development that it would seem we may justifiably expect.
No, the assassination attempt may be an element of the full and correct interpretation of the secret but it is not the essence of it. It may be a correct interpretation but it is an incomplete interpretation. I believe the principal events towards which the third secret points have yet to occur and the assassination attempt on John Paull II is itself simply another sign pointing to those events. but it is not the entire fulfillment of the third secret. There may well be more that has not yet been revealed.
Surely 1917 was the year of the apparitions of Our Lady? In 1916 the Angel came (three times, I think) and gave the children the Blessed Eucharist. So in that sense we are 100 years on from the Fatima apparitions; but the sun danced in October 1917. Just at the same time as Communism squashed Russia …
Of course it is also possible that the events predicted have been averted, by the Pope’s 1984 consecration of the world and Russia for instance, and won’t happen at all. How anticlimactic would that be?! But I am doubtful that that is the case.
It was also on this date in 1986 that the assassination attempt on John Paul II was made.
Are there Old Rite propers for Our Lady of Fatima?
Do we use the propers for the Immaculate Heart of Mary?
@TopSully,
The assassination attempt was in 1981.
I like Socci’s book. Very well written. It’s obvious we are living though something terrible, and probably have not reached the high point of the enemies attack. Only a direct intervention from above can turn the rudder at this point.
Logging in not to make any comment on the secrets, but simply to share my joy on this day, the anniversary of my confirmation 9 years ago. Oh how I love our Church and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Teresa
Of course it isn’t done. No pope has done specifically what Mary asked re: Russia. Russia has not converted to Catholicism. We are fast running towards great chastisement, but eventually a pope will fulfill Mary’s simple request.
Look around, the degeneracy grows, now they are asking 5 year old children if they want to be a boy or a girl. The perversion is running amok, and the devil has convinced the former Christendom that he does not exist. Mohammedanism appears to be the tool that the Lord will use to punish the world, certainly one of those tools.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
JMJ
rtjl ..
Mary did not ask for the world to be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart, she asked that Russia be so consecrated. And publicly done, with all the bishops present. Pius XII did a private one, again, not what Mary asked for.
One of the things mentioned is that the bishop in white was seen stumbling*. Well, Francis was seen to stumble several times. It comes upon us ever more quickly as we approach the 100th anniversary. Recall the request to the King of France re: the Sacred Heart. Never done, and 100 years later came the French Revolution.
I do not accept that Fatima was about an assassination / assassination attempt of a Pope. Not at all.
*And this stumbling may mean both physical and spiritual stumbling.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
JMJ
Amen
I am not a conspiracy theorist, and it saddens me that the message of Our Lady of Fatima has been hijacked by such nonsense. I will believe Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and the Servant of God M. Lúcia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart.
Is the “Third Secret” open to interpretation? Certainly. But to say that something is being withheld or that the consecration to Russia has yet to happen is a waste of time. The “Third Secret” was a subject of much debate for decades until it was revealed. Perhaps some consider it a bit anti-climatic and refuse to move on?
I have no interest in getting into a back and forth. I highly recommend reading “Fatima for Today” by EWTN’s Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR.
You know… it took a looong time… for me to realise… that Teotwawki is not… the first Native American saint.
I can only wonder what waits for us during the coming year – up to the 100th anniversary… and I wonder what waits us during the days AFTER the 100th anniversary…
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
The papal consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary is what the late Fr. Nicholas Gruner dedicated his life’s work to. I pray for Our Lady’s intercession for the Holy Catholic Church, as the bride of Christ is in dire need. All that is talked about from Rome is innovation after innovation, when the emphasis should be on the state of our souls. I too cannot believe that we have been told the complete story on the 3 secrets. We have not come close to experiencing the conversion of Russia from her errors, nor the period of peace Our Lady promised. May the consecration happen soon. I shudder to think what will happen if Our Blessed Mother is ignored. +JMJ+
TopSully… The assassination attempt on Pope St. John Paul II was on 5/13/1981
http://ucatholic.com/video/video-assassination-attempt-pope-saint-john-paul-ii/
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Can somebody please show me that this is really what Sr Lucia said regarding the final battle. When I research this, I see a lot of hits from 2015, all around the same time. This is pretty coincidental. Can somebody show me documentation from before 2015 that she actually said this? Seems to be an unknown Internet propagation that those with watching ears want to believe.
AttiaDS, do check out the article on onepeterfive, as Fr. Z. said. I’m pretty sure that is the article that includes some information from Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, who shared some interesting information about the secret as well. I must admit, it’s the most hopeful thing I’ve read lately and certainly is consoling in these dire days. Our Lady of Fatima, help us.
It is a good day to bust out the DVD of The Miracle of Fatima and give it a watch. Actually, you may be able to watch in on YouTube for free.
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “The 1960’s happened”, this is the epicenter and genesis of it. Let it be said that the Fatima Apparition of Our Lady can no longer be considered simply “private” revelation. It is most certainly and definitively public and not just “worthy for our belief”, but NECESSARY for our belief. The failure to read the Third Secret, as requested by Our Lady (which really means commanded by God, since Her will is perfectly united to His), by John XXIII in 1960, UNLEASHED the prophecy and all Hell on the Church and the world. Even Vatican II, which in my opinion was an egoist’s attempt to do an end-run on God’s command. Vatican II was not only unnecessary but has failed because of it. As St. John Paul II was quoted, “Only Our Lady can help us now”!
Geoffrey, I loved Fr. Apostoli’s book on Fatima for today. I have it on my Kindle and re-read it parts of it sometimes.
Fatima is one reason that I can’t for the life of me Trust in God’s goodness. The idea that God would allow the devil so much power just because the Pope’s haven’t done the consecration ‘in the correct fashion’ just beggars belief. This isn’t a case of ‘proud stiff necked’ Pope’s wilfully disobeying God, its a case of the Popes (especially Pius XII) intending to consecrate Russia but perhaps not doing it exactly in the manner intended, Like a Priest whose been poorly formed validly consecrating the Eucharist because he intends to do what the Church does.
And before people go ‘this too is in God’s plan’, well call me cynical but I just can’t believe that. As Dr Shaw of the LMS noted a few years ago, there was a point in the early 60’s when (had the trends continued the way they were going) in terms of demographics England looked as if it was on the point of returning to the ancient faith. If that had happened then divorce would be a ‘bad memory’ or at the worst still a severe social stigma…… and my dad might not have walked out on his family.
I’ll go to confession tomorrow, but not because I Love God, hell just sound a lot worse than heaven
Before you go to far afield John Grammaticus, listen to these Spiritual Warfare videos by Father Chad Ripperger. As an experienced exorcist, he explains well the role of the demonic in God’s plan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiLDxPf0vBg
John Grammaticus says: Fatima is one reason that I can’t for the life of me Trust in God’s goodness. The idea that God would allow the devil so much power just because the Pope’s haven’t done the consecration ‘in the correct fashion’ just beggars belief.
May I suggest an alternative way to look at it. A tsunami of disaster was bearing down on the world because of its sins, and especially the errors of Russia. God gave the world very simple, very easy means of escaping it. All we had to do to was to avail ourselves of these means when and how we were asked. For whatever reason — neglect, wilfulness, thinking we knew better, whatever — we exercised our free will — poorly — and didn’t do it. The rest is history. If God throws you a life preserver and you refuse to grab onto it, it’s hardly His fault if you drown.
In this context, it is worth noting Dr. Orlandi’s attention today to the ‘Family Articles’today:
https://c-fam.org/friday_fax/two-catholic-countries-bow-homosexual-lobby/
“Antonio Socci’s book on the so-called “Fourth Secret of Fatima” is in English now”
I read Socci’s book and found a lot of problems with it. He often makes the mistake of posing questions and then presuming an answer to build his case. It’s sensational and, quite frankly, terrible journalism (He’s a journalist). Much of his case is build around the assertion that there are two texts to the Third Secret. One of his major arguments for this is that people who saw the Secret saw a single piece of paper while the published Secret is actually four pieces of paper (as shown on the Vatican website). False! What the Vatican published was a what Lucia wrote and it’s actually four sides of a folded single piece of paper! All of this, of course, ignores the actual message of Fatima of prayer and repentance.
Fr. Andrew Apostoli’s “Fatima For Today”, by contrast, is simply excellent. This is a man who truly appreciates the message of Fatima rather than looking for intrigue under every rock.
One fact cannot be denied. Russia has never been publicly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary with all bishops present. That is what Mary said needed to be done.
@excalibur,
Sister Lúcia stated that the Consecration done by Pope St. John Paul II on March 25,1984 was accepted by God as fulfilling the request.
There is a biography published by Sr. Lucia’s convent that contains excerpts of her writing regarding this. The title is “A Path under the Gazette of Mary.” I look forward to the publication of all Sr. Lucia’s writings