1. PENANCE
In the Gospels the word penance means a conversion
of one's life, a turning away from sin, and a turning back to God. As
Our Lady insisted at Fatima: "Men must amend their lives, and ask
pardon for their sins. . . . They must no longer offend Our Lord, Who is
already so much offended." The Fatima message is a call for men to
give up sinful practices which grieve God and draw down His
chastisements on the world, and to make reparation for them. Commenting
on Our Lady's request for penance, Sr. Lucia wrote: "The part of the
last apparition which has remained most deeply imprinted on my heart is
the prayer of our heavenly Mother begging us not to offend any more
Almighty God, Who is already so much offended."
Jacinta, too, shortly before her death remarked: "If
men only knew what eternity is, how they would make all possible
efforts to amend their lives . . . mortification and sacrifice give
great pleasure to Our Divine Lord."
In August of 1917 Our Lady told the children, "pray much and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to make sacrifices for them." As to the kinds of sacrifices Our Lady was asking, she revealed to Sr. Lucia on one occasion: "The
good Lord is allowing Himself to be appeased . . . but He Himself
complains most bitterly and sorrowfully about the small number of souls
in His grace who are willing to renounce whatever the observance of His
laws requires of them."
"Many persons," Sr. Lucia explained, "feeling
that the word penance implies great austerities, and not feeling that
they have the strength for great sacrifices, become discouraged and
continue a life of lukewarmness and sin." Then she said Our Lord explained to her: "The
sacrifice required of every person is the fulfillment of his duties in
life and the observance of My law. This is the penance that I now seek
and require."
In this materialistic culture in which we live,
almost heroic virtue is required to be faithful to the duties of the
Christian life. Yet, over and above those sacrifices "required of every person,"
the children of Fatima practiced many little acts of mortification and
renunciation on their own initiative. It is hoped that many devotees
of Our Lady will not be content with the minimum required and will not
pass up opportunities of voluntary mortification, placing in the hands
of Our Lady the fruits of the little trials, frustrations and
irritations of each day accepted with patience and resignation.
It was in this same spirit that the Angel spoke to the children in 1916:
"Offer
up everything in your power as a sacrifice to the Lord in reparation
for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the
conversion of sinners . . . More than all else, accept and bear with
resignation the sufferings that God may send you."
2. PRAYER
Besides a call to penance Fatima is in a special way a
call for the Rosary. So central is the Rosary to the Fatima message
that Our Lady chose to identify herself as "The Lady of the Rosary."
In each of the six apparitions she asked for the daily Rosary, and
especially as an instrument of world peace. As she revealed in the
third apparition: "You must recite the Rosary every day in honor of
Our Lady of the Rosary to obtain peace for the world and the end of the
war for only she can obtain this." In this Our Lady renewed her
request for the prayer she gave to the Church centuries before, a prayer
that has proven a powerful weapon against the enemies of Christianity
as history testifies.
When asked about the importance of the Rosary, Sr. Lucia responded: "My
impression is that the Rosary is of greatest value not only according
to the words of Our Lady at Fatima, but according to the effects of the
Rosary one sees throughout history. My impression is that Our Lady
wanted to give ordinary people, who might not know how to pray, this
simple method of getting closer to God."
The Rosary is basically a gospel prayer, and for those who pray it properly, it is, as Sr. Lucia said, "a simple method of getting closer to God."
But to pray it properly requires that each decade be a reflection on
some aspect of the joyful, sorrowful or glorious mysteries of our
redemption. Without that meditation, the Rosary would become monotonous
repetition. As Pope Paul VI wrote in MARIALIS CULTUS:
"Without this
(contemplation) the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation
is in danger of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas." In praying the Rosary we can well take Our Lady as a model, for as the Scriptures tell us, "Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her Heart."
The Rosary is a simple form of prayer that can be
prayed by the young or old, the learned or the uneducated, the saint or
the sinner. Each can adapt it to his or her own capacity. It is so
pleasing to Our Lady, because it brings us to review again and again the
life of Christ, the mysteries of our redemption. As Pope Paul VI
pointed out, it not only recalls to mind these mysteries, but stimulates
the will to draw from them the norms of living. That is, it not only
points out the way, but helps us to obtain the graces needed to follow
in that way.
After repeatedly asking for the daily Rosary, and identifying herself as "The Lady of the Rosary,"
the Blessed Mother terminated the final apparition by showing the
children three separate tableaux symbolizing the entire message of the
Rosary. The first was a vision of the Holy family - representing the
joyful mysteries; the second a vision of Our Lady of Sorrows -
representing the sorrowful mysteries; and the third a vision of Our Lady
of Mt. Carmel - representing the glorious mysteries.
The Rosary may seem like an insignificant thing
in the light of the magnitude of the evils of today's world, but it is
the weapon given to us by Our Lady. She merely asks our cooperation,
and she will do the rest. It is like the slingshot of David that killed
the mighty enemy because the power of God was behind it. Thus, as the
saying goes, he who prays the Rosary has the power of God in his hand.
In 1916, a year before the apparitions of Our Lady,
the Angel of Peace appeared to the children to prepare them for things
to come. "The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy for you," he said. "Offer unceasingly to the Most High prayer and sacrifices."
In the second apparition the following year (June 13) Our Lady let the children know that "Jesus wishes to establish throughout the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart."
Several times in the June and July apparitions Our Lady spoke of this
devotion, as we shall see; and soon there began to burn in their hearts
(especially Jacinta's) a deep love for the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Shortly before Jacinta went to the hospital where she was to die, she said to Lucia: "In
a short time now I am going to heaven. You are to stay here and say
that God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary. . . . Tell everybody that God grants graces through the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, and that they must ask them from her. Tell
them that the Heart of Jesus wishes that by His side should be venerated
the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask peace through the
Immaculate Heart of Mary; God has placed it in her hands. Oh that I
could put into the heart of everybody the flame that I feel burning
within my breast and which makes me love so much the Heart of Jesus and
the Heart of Mary."
June 13, 1917
Lucia asked Our Lady if she would take them to heaven. Our Lady answered: "Yes,
I will take Jacinta and Francisco soon. You, however, are to stay here
a longer time. Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He
wants to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. I
promise salvation to those who embrace it, and their souls will be loved
by God as flowers placed by me before His throne."
When Lucia asked if she were going to be left alone, Our Lady responded: "No,
my daughter. Does this cause you to suffer a great deal? I will never
leave you, my Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will
lead you to God."
As the Blessed Mother uttered these words she
extended her hands and in the rays of light that shone from them, the
children saw themselves as if submerged in the Divine presence. Jacinta
and Francisco were on the side of the light that was ascending to
Heaven, while Lucia was in the light that seemed diffused over all the
earth. In the palm of her right hand was a Heart pierced with thorns;
and the children understood that it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so
offended by the sins of mankind and pleading for reparation.
July 13, 1917
"Sacrifice yourselves for sinners; and say often
when you make some sacrifice, 'My Jesus, it is for love of You, for the
conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins committed against the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.'"
After showing the children a vision of hell, Our Lady said to them: "You
have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God
wishes to establish throughout the world devotion to my Immaculate
Heart. If people do as I shall ask many souls will be saved, and there
will be peace.... But if people do not cease offending God... another
and more terrible war will begin. When you see a night illumined by an
unknown light, know that this is the great sign that God gives that the
chastisement of the world for its many transgressions is at hand through
war, famine, persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father."
"To prevent this, I shall come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and Communions of reparation on the first Saturdays.
If my requests are heard, Russia will be converted and there will be
peace. If not, she will spread her errors throughout the world,
fomenting wars and persecution of the Church. The good will suffer
martyrdom; the Holy Father will suffer much; different nations will be
annihilated. But in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy
Father will consecrate Russia to me, which will be converted, and some
time of peace will be granted to humanity."
- NOTE: From the above, we must not think of the Five First
Saturdays merely in terms of personal salvation, of receiving "at the
hour of death the graces necessary for salvation;" but also in terms of
world peace, of avoiding the terrible social consequences mentioned
above by Our Lady.
December 10, 1925
The visits of Our Lady to Lucia did not end with
those in 1917. In fact it was only through later apparitions that Lucia
received permission to make known some of the messages revealed in 1917.
While Lucia was in her room at the convent of the
Sisters of St. Dorothy, Our Lady and the Child Jesus appeared to her.
Resting her right hand on Lucia's shoulder, the Blessed Mother held in
her other hand a Heart surrounded by sharp thorns. The Divine Child was
the first to speak to Lucia: "Have pity on the Heart of your most
Holy Mother. It is covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce
it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of
reparation."
Then Our Lady made known her request for Communions of reparation:
"My daughter, look at my Heart encircled with the thorns with which
ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and
ingratitude. Do you at least try to console me and announce in my name
that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary
for salvation all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months,
go to Confession and receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep
me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the
Rosary with the intention of making reparation to me."
From Rosary Center on the Message of Fatima. You may also Heaven's Peace Plan at Fatima Network Essentials.
