Today is the 100th anniversary of Our Lady’s appearance at Fatima to the three seers on 13 July.
What happened?
The father of Jacinta and Francisco said that when the 13 July apparition began, a small grayish cloud hovered over the holm oak tree, the sunlight diminished, and a cool breeze came up even though it was summer. He heard something like flies inside a jug. The seers saw a glare of light. and then saw Mary over the tree.
The dialogue of Mary and Lucia went:
Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?
Our Lady: I want you to come here on the thirteenth of next month and to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, for she alone can be of any avail.
Lucia: I would like to ask you to tell us who you are and to perform a miracle so everyone will believe that Your Grace appears to us.
Our Lady: Continue to come here every month. In October, I will tell you who I am and what I wish, and I will perform a miracle that everyone shall see so as to believe.
Lucia then made a number of requests for conversions, cures, and other graces. Our Lady recommended the constant recitation of the rosary; thus they would obtain those graces during the year.
Then she went on: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially when you make a sacrifice, ‘O Jesus, this is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’“
This is the apparition in which Mary showed the children a vision of Hell:
Lucia wrote:
“Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.”
After that Mary said to them, according to Lucia:
“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. [WWII] When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, [In January 1938 there was a massive Aurora Borealis] know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. [1st Saturday Devotion!] If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc. …”
Consider your sins committed and sins of omission.
Consider the state of the Church and nation.
Consider what YOUR role is according to your state of life.
Consider making some changes in your prayer life and works of mercy.
GO TO CONFESSION!
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Since this centennial year has commenced, I have read certain things on certain sites regarding the validity of previous consecrations of Russia, opinions as to what should be done, etc. Last month, in reading the passage Fr. Z cites in this post, I was struck! Our Lady’s request is two-fold. The Pope is asked to organize the consecration of Russia. WE are asked to make the Five Saturdays. Wait! It suddenly seems to me that OUR role is just as important in accomplishing the Will of Our Lord, express by Our Lady. Have I done MY part? Honestly, no. I am a sinner who is terrible at even accomplishing a daily rosary. So perhaps we should concentrate on our assignment, the Rosary and the Five Saturdays, praying extra fervent prayers for our Holy Father, and leave the accomplishment of the Consecration of Russia (and I am not opining on whether or not it has ever been validly done) to the Pope and his bishops.
That is an extremely important point, philothea. We must do our part: daily rosary, First Saturday devotion, prayers for the Holy Father, sacrifices for sinners. And hopefully help to spread devotion and piety among our fellow Catholics. When the news around the Church has me discouraged I try to remind myself, “Yes, but are you praying for priests, bishops, cardinals, the pope?” and I usually find I can probably do better on that count!
Our family prays the rosary every day, and hubby and I made the first five Saturdays last year. We’re going to a procession and rosary at our parish this evening in honor of the apparition anniversary.
I pray the Rosary everyday, sometimes twice or thrice a day and I pray for our priests and all Catholics – practicing and lapsed.
Go deeper. I’m a member of a team in my parish that is spreading the news of the importance of St. Louis deMontfort’s method of consecration to the Blessed Mother. Daily Rosary is good. Placing yourself in Mary’s hands by consecrating YOURSELF so She can lead you to Her Son is even better.
Yes, it takes time. It takes devotion. It takes a mighty act of will and humility.
But, the spiritual benefits never stop. Something to consider. Like going to the gym every day has no downsides to the physical realm…devotion to His Mother does not go without notice by Her Son.
Can we have “reasonable hope everyone will be saved”? Ehhhh No!, Bishop Barron we can’t.
I held a street rosary and gave out Blessed Medals and crucifix’s with fatima booklets.
I have spent the last six weeks in France (Dordogne, Gers, Burgundy, Paris). I visited many beautiful churches and abbeys. What strikes me is the presence of stunning works of art depicting the Last Judgement. The Last Judgement fresco in Albi Cathedral is gigantic and truly impressive, with its depictions of people being dragged into Hell, particularly horrific. In the Hotel Dieu in Beaune, the Last Judgement polyptych by Rogier van der Weyden also depicts the absolute terror of people sent down into Hell. The expression on their faces is enough to make you want to repent immediately. The Hotel Dieu is a former hospital built by a wealthy man in the 1440s, for the poor. The Last Judgement polyptych hangs in a large hall where hospital beds were placed, giving the sick and dying a full view of the Last Judgement. It is obvious that the purpose is to make people repent before they die.
Nobody talks about Hell these days because very few believe in it. People today think that we live in the Age of Progress and that Hell is a myth and only stupid superstitious people, or medievals, believe in its existence. I think that people refuse to believe in Hell because they don’t want to be held accountable for their wicked actions on earth. They want to get away with everything.
My gift for our Mother in heaven:
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary
Beads of sweat and blood upon His brow,
all the world’s weight He bore somehow.
Each bead frozen on this iron chain.
Each turned to a prayer there to remain.
As I hold these beads within my hand,
I travel back to that sacred land.
History told a decade at a time,
God’s story puts rhythm to my rhyme.
I can feel the heart beat in each bead,
moving fingers now follow His lead.
Each bead moves me closer to my king,
one note at a time for me to sing.
Beads of tears run down my mother’s cheek.
Humble mother, strong but mild and meek.
As her tears do mingle with her Son’s,
beads of love, gifts from this holy one.
Queen above all creatures living here.
Queen and mother of my Savior dear.
Queen of wonders others never see.
Queen of the most holy rosary.
(From “Poems on the Litany of Loretta” unpublished DanS)