When has it not been turbulent in our world? And why do we insist that we can create a Utopia on our own strength, when clearly the evidence of previous efforts is that we fail explosively? That failure usually means the deaths of millions of innocent souls, and yet, the insistence on being our own gods persists. It began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve, who had everything, gave it all away with the "No" of disobedience to the Creator. Yes, it was a test of free will. Just one thing God asked you not to do. Eve did it first, Adam did not stop her, and worse, he followed her to pain and suffering. "I don't believe in a Creator!" you might retort. That's ok, He doesn't need my or your belief. He asks for it for our good and happiness, not His. He wants for us to share in His freely given gift, to share in His Divinity, not for us to seize it from Him and push Him out. Then why do we all suffer? Love cannot be given, nor reciprocated, in the absence of free will. Free will means that we can fail to give and reject love as well. The hard answer is that human disobedience unleashed it all, and its randomness, from natural disasters to the death of children. What did the Apostles and others say to Jesus? "Lord, your sayings are hard." Then why doesn't God intervene? He did. The fallen angels did not get that second chance because they had perfect knowledge of the truth. But as to us, He uttered His Son, Jesus Christ, who in two natures, Divine and human, atoned for our sins by allowing His creatures to crucify Him, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sent His Holy Spirit, thereby extending a Divine Second Chance, expressed in the Catholic Church from and after 33 A.D. The first bad choice of Adam and Eve had consequences and those consequences cannot be reversed, BUT, each one of us can exercise our free will to say the "Yes" that the New Eve, Mary, the Mother of God said, follow Him through the door of death and be with God eternally. He reminds us of that offer all the time. He provided us the Sacraments, the visible signs of His continued Presence in the World, Sacramentals to dispose our hearts and minds to Him, Miracles, Saints, to help us accept the offer, because He knows how weakened we were as a result of the Original Sin, the disobedience of the creature to the Perfect Will of God.
May to October, 1917 was an extended occasion of one of those reminders. The Mother of God appeared to three shepherd children, Lucia dos Santos and Francisco and Jacinta Marto, in Fatima, Portugal. These innocents, simple shepherd children, were chosen to send her messsage, on her Son's behalf, and as the mother He had given to us on the day of His crucifixion. The message was of the urgency of repentance and conversion to a world embroiled in World War I, a warning against an even worse conflagration (World War II) a rabid atheism and anti-Catholicism and Revolution in Russia that presaged Communism in many countries and has assiduously and violently sought to spread its errors everywhere. The weapons she offered were prayer, especially the Rosary, for peace and to convert hard hearts and wake up humanity to its acts of self-destruction, but mostly the ultimate horror, the eternal separation from God, from Love itself.
Mary encouraged devotions especially of First Saturdays:
“All those who during five months, on the first Saturday, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say a rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes, meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the rosary for the intention of making reparation to me, I promise to assist them at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls” (Documents on Fatima & the Memoirs of Sister Lucia, 279-280).
Hard to believe? Yes. But did it happen? It is disputed mostly by modern atheists, while others, even Catholics, fail to commit to the idea that the God they say they believe in, existing outside of time snd space can orchestrate a mysterious, loving warning to His creatures to use their free will wisely in this second and final chance. The atheists of the day in Fatima certainly disputed that it could happen. They derided the stupid peasants, as now those who believe 109 years later it happened are derided as stupid. The mayor, a Freemason, did. A journalist of the paper O Seculo, Avelina de Almeida, a committed atheist did. But on the day of the last appearance of Mary, October 13, in which she urged again the recitation of the Rosary, something happened that is not merely a matter of belief, but documented in photographs and in the surprised and surprising reportage of the unbeliever himself. De Alameida brought a photographer who was no friend of the faith. What they captured was a massive reaction to an otherwise inexplicable action of nature, of the Sun itself, literally spinning in the sky, drying a rain drenched, mud stuck crowd all at once and the ground on which they stood amazingly not blinded by staring into the sun.
https://www.bluearmy.com/astounding-things-how-the-midday-sun-danced-at-fatima/
https://theotokos.org.uk/article-fatima-october-1917-1/
Was the atheist a victim of the mass hysteria claimed to be the reality of the matter? Were the people miles away affected by the alleged mass hysteria? As in all things related to God and the Catholic Church or miracles, we have a choice to believe or not to believe, and to pray for ourselves and the world which always seems to be spinning out of control because, if we really are honest, of our own persistent sins.
I am a little surprised at how ecstatic I am at being able to participate in a week of listening to Our Lady of Fatima's message and to thank her for being a model of the "Yes" to the Plan of God the Father to get us back to where He intended us to be, in a divine union with Him, that which is Heaven.
A little band of parishioner believers and their pastor at St. Victor will be hosting the Los Angeles Archdiocese Division's Blue Army replica of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, in whose crown the bullet (related by many to the Third Secret of Fatima) once lodged in St. John Paul II, now reposes in Portugal. The replica is one of several special such statues which make pilgrimages to various locations to spread the message of Fatima to all. It was carved by an apprentice of the sculptor of the original statue (that was in 1947) and blessed by Archbishop Jose Gomez on the 100th anniversary of the appearance of Mary at Fatima.
From the afternoon of June 6 (3 p.m.) to the morning of June 13 (the 109th year after the second apparation of Mary), there will be prayer, Procession and Adoration of the Eucharist, Confession and devotion inspired by this visit, especially the recitation of the Rosary. There will be an opportunity for the attendees to join the Blue Army
The tentative schedule:
Saturday, June 6, 3-5 p.m., The Divine Mercy Chaplet, Message of Fatima delivered by a member of the Blue Army, Los Angeles Division, Questions and Answers. Hear the story. Hear the urgency. Hear about conversion, reversion and reparation for our sins and those of the whole world!
Saturday, June 6, 4:30 p.m., The Rosary
Saturday, June 6, 5 p.m. Vigil Mass
Sunday, June 7, after the 10:30 Mass: Procession of the Eucharist around the block of St. Victor Church
Monday, June 8 to Friday, June 12:
Daily Rosary at 8:00 a.m.
Confessions daily from 8:00 a.m. to 8:25 a.m.
Daily Mass at 8:30 a.m.
Eucharistic Addoration Daily from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. with confession from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 13 at 8:00 a.m. Rosary
Saturday, June 13, at 8:30 a.m. Farewell Mass
Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for us, for the conversion of souls and the reparation for sin.
Ever so slowly, so slowly are the words I was taught as a child finally coalescing in my heart and mind. Some absorb it without resistance, in trust, as did the three children at Fatima. I am late to a slow burning realization that comes from too much thought and not enough faith.
Today was Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the fearful and made them all brave and holy.
Now I look forward to a week of hearing the critical message of making the right choice in order to save souls, including my own.
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