"Modern times are dominated by Satan ...". St. Maximilian Kolbe.



....

 

"The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. Its victims are found not only among worldly people, but in our own ranks as well….And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. We finite creatures cannot ever give Him the boundless glory He deserves. Let us strive therefore to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers….

 

All that exists has value to the extent that it is related to Him, the Creator of the universe, the Savior of men. If our actions are directed to this God as our final good, He will give us His wisdom and prudence without limit. What a gift! That, dear brother, is the only way to realize our capacity of giving God the greatest glory.

 

"Life begins to make sense when we recognize and acknowledge God’s infinite goodness and our absolute dependence on Him. Our response will be praise and total love expressed in obedience."

 

Finally, after much prayer and consultation with his superiors, Kolbe worked out a precise strategy for his future army of militants of Mary. They would be totally consecrated to her to be used as instruments in her hands to win all souls present and to the very end of time. To the promise of victory in this total warfare between the serpent and the Woman as found in the first Book of the Bible – "I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the Woman, between your seed and hers [Jesus]. You will lie in wait for her heel and she will crush your head" (Genesis 3:15) – He would add a corollary to fit our modern age:

 

"Modern times are dominated by Satan and will be more so in the future. The conflict with Hell cannot be engaged by men, even the most clever. The Immaculata alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan."

 

....

 

Taken from: http://www.consecration.com/default.aspx?id=211

August 19, 1917 Our Lady of Fatima’s Visitation at Valinhos



 

Compiled by Catholic Family News

In a feeble effort to put an end to the supernatural happenings of Fatima, the anti-clerical Mayor of Ourem virtually kidnapped the children and placed them in jail. Thus the children could not be at the Cova da Iria for Our Lady’s visitation of August 13. The Mayor’s plan failed. He could not destroy the resolve of the children, could not make them deny the truth of Our Lady’s appearances despite threats of death, nor he could break their spirit. The children were soon released.

The following Sunday, August 19, Lucia was tending her flock with Francisco and his brother John on the property of one of Lucia’s uncles. Jacinta was not with them. She was receiving a treatment of lice she had picked up in the public jail. The property known as Valinhos was in the immediate vicinity of Aljustrel. Lucia recalled:“We felt something supernatural approaching and enveloping us. Suspecting that Our Lady was about to appear to us, and feeling sorry lest Jacinta might miss seeing Her, we asked her brother to go and call her. As he was unwilling to go, I offered him two small coins and off he ran.”

“Meanwhile, Francisco and I saw the flash of light, which we called lightening. Jacinta arrived, and a moment later we saw Our Lady on a holm oak tree.”
“What do you want of me?”

“I want you to to continue going to the Cova da Iria on the 13th, and to continue praying the Rosary every day. In the last month, I will perform a miracle so that all may believe. If you had not been taken away to the city [thrown in jail] the miracle would have been even greater. St. Joseph will come with the Child Jesus, to give peace to the world. Our Lord will come to bless the people. Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Sorrows will also come.”

“What do You want done with the money that the people leave in the Cov da Iria?”

“Have two litters made. One is to be carred by you and Jacinta and two other girls dressed in white; the other is to be carried by Francisco and three other boys. The money from the litters is for the festa of Our Lady of the Rosary, and what is left over will elp towards the construction of a hapel that is to be built here.

“I would like to ask You to cure some sick persons.”

“Yes I will cure some of the during the year.”

“Then, looking very sad, Our Lady said: ‘Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them.’

“And She began to ascend as usual toward the East.”
On this day, Jacinta cut from the tree the branch on which the Lady’s white mantle had touched. While the children were returning from Valhinos, they encountered Lucia’s mother and Maria dos Anjos. Jacinta, all excited, ran up to Lucia’s mother exclaiming they had seen Our Lady at Valhinos. Lucia’s mother, who at this point still did not believe in the visions, exclaimed, “Will these lies never end?”

Jacinta responded, “But we saw here”, and then held forth the branch she was holding in her hands. “Look, Ant, please – this is where the other foot was.”

Upon examining the branch, Lucia’s mother asked in surprise,, “What smell is this? It is very lovely. What could it be?”

The encounter with mysterious aroma turned out to be the beginning of Lucia’s mother changing her mind about the truth of the apparitions.

Years later, Lucia’s mother, speaking in the third person, said the following at a 1923 canonical inquiry: “The mother took the branch and noticed that it smelled very nice. The smell could not be compared with any other smell. She was an unbeliever [in Fatima] but was slightly shaken and became slightly more convinced.”

....

Taken from: http://www.cfnews.org/page10/page58/page58.html

Pope Francis: let yourself be transformed by the Eucharist



 

 

by Elise Harris

 

5

Vatican City, Aug 16, 2015 / 05:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis said that the Eucharist is no mere symbol, but is in fact the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, which has the ability to transform our hearts and minds to be more like him.

“The Eucharist is Jesus who gives himself entirely to us. To nourish ourselves with him and abide in him through Holy Communion, if we do it with faith, transforms our life into a gift to God and to our brothers,” the Pope said Aug. 16.

To let ourselves be nourished by the “Bread of Life,” he said, “means to be in tune with the heart of Christ, to assimilate his choices, thoughts, behaviors.”

It also means that we enter into “a dynamism of sacrificial love and become persons of peace, forgiveness, reconciliation and sharing in solidarity,” he added.

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims who gathered in a rainy St. Peter's Square for his Aug. 16 Sunday Angelus address.

In his speech the Pope turned to the day's Gospel reading from John Chapter 6, which recounted the last part of the “Bread of Life” discourse, and in which Jesus tells his disciples that “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”

Francis noted the shock and astonishment of the crowd when they heard Jesus say this, and explained that such a reaction is understandable given the provocative nature of the Lord's statement.

With a style mirroring that used by many of the prophets, Jesus gives the people a strong image in order to stir up questions, and ultimately a decision, within them and us, he said.

Above all arise the questions “what does to 'eat the flesh and drink the blood' of Jesus mean? Is it only an image, a symbol, or does he mean something real?” the Pope said.

In order to respond, Francis continued, we have to look at what happened in Jesus' own heart when he broke the loaves to feed the five thousand.

“Knowing that he will die on the the cross for us, Jesus identifies himself with that bread, broken and shared, and it becomes for him the sign of the sacrifice that awaits him.”

This process culminates in the Last Supper, when the bread and wine actually become Jesus' Body and Blood, the Pope said, explaining that when he gives us the Eucharist, Jesus does it with a purpose: “that we may become one with him.”

Communion, he said, “is assimilation: eating him, we become like him. But this requires our 'yes,' our adhesion of faith.”

Pope Francis then noted how some might question the purpose of attending Mass, going only when they feel like it with the excuse that they pray better alone.

In response, Francis stressed that the Eucharist “s not a private prayer or a beautiful spiritual experience, it's not simply a commemoration of what Jesus did in the Last Supper.”

Rather, it is a “memorial, namely, a gesture that actualizes and makes present the event of the death and resurrection of Jesus: the bread is truly his Body given, the wine is truly is Blood poured out.”

To live in concrete communion with Jesus through the Eucharist while on earth is already the beginning of our passing from death to life, he said.

By doing this “we close our eyes to this world in the certainty that on the last day we will hear the voice of Jesus Risen who will call us, and we will awaken to always be with him and with the great family of saints,” the Pope concluded.

He prayed for Mary's intercession in helping us to always be faithful to Jesus before leading attendees in the Angelus. Afterward, he greeted pilgrims present from around the world, and asked to be remembered in their prayers.

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Taken from: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-let-yourself-be-transformed-by-the-eucharist-61965/

For Pope Francis, Mary’s greatness comes down to this one virtue.

by Elise Harris

Vatican City, Aug 15, 2015 / 07:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On the feast of the Assumption of Mary, Pope Francis said that faith is the defining virture of her greatness and that the mysterious way she was taken into heaven is a foreshadowing of what awaits each of us.
“The Gospel also shows us the truest reason for Mary’s greatness and her blessedness: it is faith,” the Pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Aug. 15 Angelus address, marking the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary.
Faith, he said, “is the heart of Mary’s entire story; she knew – and she said it – that throughout history weighs the violence of the overbearing, the pride of the rich, the arrogance of the proud.”
Yet she still believed and proclaimed “that God does not leave his children alone, humble and poor, but sustains them with merciful care, casting down the mighty from their thrones, scattering the proud in the conceit of their hearts.”
Dogmatically defined in 1950, the assumption of the Virgin Mary’s body into heaven is celebrated Aug. 15 every year, and is one of the most important Marian feast days in the Catholic Church.
In his address, Pope Francis turned to the day’s Gospel reading from Luke, which recounts Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth shortly after conceiving Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
He recalled Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
“This is the faith of our mother, this is the faith of Mary!” he said.
Francis pointed to the famous canticle Mary uttered in response, called the “Magnificat,” in which she praises God for the marvelous deeds he has done both in her own life and throughout history.
In this prayer Mary expresses her joy, because she is fully aware of what all the great works in her life at that point mean, namely that through her the Lord will accomplish the salvation her people have long been waiting for, the Pope said.
The prayer also shows us the full meaning of Mary’s life, he added, explaining that “if the mercy of the Lord is the engine of her story (then) she who bore the Lord of life (could not be touched by) the corruption of the tomb.”
Francis continued, saying that the message of Mary’s assumption isn’t limited to just her life, but serves as a reminder for each person of what is to come.
“The great things done in (Mary) by the Omnipotent One touch us deeply, they speak to us of our journey in life, they remind us of the end that awaits us: the house of the Father.”
Because of Mary’s assumption into heaven, we see that life “is not a senseless wandering, but a pilgrimage which, with all of the sufferings and uncertainties, has a sure destination” where the Father awaits us with love, he said.
However, until that destination is reached, God has given his people a sign of consolation and hope for the journey, the Pope said.
And that sign “has a face and a name: the luminous face of the Mother of God, the holy name of Mary, full of grace, blessed because she believed in the word of the Lord.”
Each member of the Church is also destined to share in the glory of Mary, their mother, because we also believe in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and, through baptism, have entered into the mystery of salvation, Francis said.
The Pope concluded by asking for Mary’s intercession, so that “while winding our way on this earth, she turn her merciful eyes upon us.”
After leading pilgrims in the traditional Marian prayer, Pope Francis turned his thoughts to all those affected by Wednesday’s chemical explosions in Tianjin, China.
Tearing through an industrial area where toxic chemicals and gas had been stored, the Aug. 12 explosions were large enough to be picked up by space satellites, and have so far left 85 dead and more than 700 injured, according to reports.
“I assure my prayers for those who have lost their lives, and for all those suffering from this disaster; may the Lord give relief to them and support those committed to alleviating their suffering.”

….

Taken from: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/for-pope-francis-marys-magnanimity-comes-down-this-one-virtue-30607/

'With war one always loses:' Pope Francis calls for nuclear weapons ban



   

Published time: 9 Aug, 2015 19:26

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 70 year ago is ‘a permanent warning to humanity’ to to reject war and ban weapons of mass destruction, Pope Francis said. 

“Seventy years ago, on the sixth and the ninth of August 1945, the terrible atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place. Even after so many years, this tragic event still arouses horror and revulsion,” he told the faithful in his weekly Angelus address at St. Peter’s Square.

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Pope Francis © Tony Gentile / Reuters

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 70 year ago is ‘a permanent warning to humanity’ to to reject war and ban weapons of mass destruction, Pope Francis said. 

“Seventy years ago, on the sixth and the ninth of August 1945, the terrible atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place. Even after so many years, this tragic event still arouses horror and revulsion,” he told the faithful in his weekly Angelus address at St. Peter’s Square.

The pope said that the attacks are a symbol of the “enormous power of humanity” when people misuse scientific and technical progress.




“[This event] serves as a lasting warning to humanity so that it rejects forever war and bans nuclear weapons and all arms of mass destruction,” the pope said.




“May one cry rise up from every land, ‘No’ to war and violence and ‘Yes’ to dialogue and to peace. With war one always loses. The only way to win a war is never to wage it,” was his conclusion.




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Taken from: https://www.rt.com/news/312005-pope-francis-hiroshima-war/

Pope again stokes World War III fears

NEW YORK – At a time when Christians worldwide are facing persecutions of historic nature, Pope Francis, in his homily delivered Sunday at Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City, expressed concern that “World War II is upon us” and urged Christians to proclaim their faith fearlessly, without concern for the consequences.

“The path of the Church is openness, to speak frankly, with liberty,” Pope Francis said, reading from New Testament scriptures of the days after the Resurrection of Jesus, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and gave them the courage to go forth and proclaim their faith without fear.

Pope Francis based his homily from the Acts of the Apostles, recalling the words of Saint Peter and Saint John expressing the courage they felt after the Resurrection when the Holy Spirit had descended upon them, urging them to shed their fear of reprisals, going forth openly into the world to proclaim, “We can speak openly now of what we have seen and heard Jesus do.”

“Even today, the message of the Church is the message of the openness in the path of Christian courage,” the pope said. “These two apostles, Peter and John, as the Bible says, found they had the courage without having to be told what to do. The Bible conveys this in simple words, translated as ‘courage,’ ‘openness,’ ‘freedom to speak,’ and ‘to not be afraid” to say what they felt. Even in the original, the Bible has so much significance with the simple assurance that all our fears will pass when we find the courage to express our faith in Christ openly.”

The pope’s homily at the Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City followed a High Mass celebrated in the St. Peter’s Cathedral to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1915 massacre of the Armenians by the Turks, in which the pope caused uproar in Turkey by utilizing the Armenian genocide of a hundred years ago to explain that Christians once again are seeing “heinous crimes committed against Christians daily, in bloody massacres and the madness of destruction.”

“I fear we are already in World War III,” Pope Francis said, explaining that genocides such as happened to the Armenians in World War I and were repeated with the atrocities of Hitler and Stalin in World War II are being repeated today.

“I fear World War III is upon us when we hear daily the muffled cries of our brothers and sisters who are killed in unimaginable violence. These martyrs, simply because they believe in Jesus Christ or because of their ethnicity, are forced to abandon their land or be murdered horribly – decapitated, crucified, and burned alive.”

Now available from the WND Superstore: “The Last Pope?”

In reporting on the pope’s homily at Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City, the Vatican Radio noted the hero of the story is the Holy Spirit.

“The message is not that we should go forth proselytizing our faith as if we were engaged in advertising to get others to join with us in our spiritual society,” Pope Francis said. “No, this will not work, it is not truly Christian.

“What is Christian,” he distinguished, “is to have the courage to proclaim Jesus Christ, as Christ explained in ‘the mysterious dialogue’ with the Pharisee Nicodemus, the courage to be ‘born again,’ through the action of the Holy Spirit. The path of Christian courage is the path of proclaiming our astonishment at the word of Jesus Christ that keeps our faith alive and moving ahead.”

The pope explained that when Jesus speaks of being “born again,” Jesus means for us to understand the Holy Spirit brings upon us, as he did coming upon the Apostles after the Resurrection, the courage to proclaim our faith openly without fear of consequence.

“We hear his voice come upon us as he came upon the Apostles like the wind, descending upon them as they huddled in that room after Christ died, giving them the courage to turn to God and not flee, but instead face their fears squarely and proclaim His Word totally openly, boldly, without fear,” Pope Francis said.

“Only the Holy Spirit has the power to change the history of our lives, to place us in union with Jesus Christ,” he concluded. “That courage of our faith in Jesus Christ must come from the Holy Spirit, because only God has the power to transform without instruction simple men like Peter and John, removing their fear and imparting unto them even the courage to proclaim their final witness to Jesus Christ, even if it meant surrendering their lives in martyrdom.”

Pope Francis ended his homily reminding the faithful the mission of the Church after Easter is to prepare believers to receive the Holy Spirit “in the celebration of the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, recalling the history of salvation, being willing to ask for the grace to receive the Holy Spirit to give us too the courage to announce to the world Jesus Christ.”

The pope’s homily at the Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City followed a High Mass celebrated in the St. Peter’s Cathedral to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1915 massacre of the Armenians by the Turks, in which the pope caused uproar in Turkey by utilizing the Armenian genocide of a hundred years ago to explain that Christians once again are seeing “heinous crimes committed against Christians daily, in bloody massacres and the madness of destruction.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/pope-again-stokes-world-war-iii-fears/#ps0VhbBPUYhOWxLy.99

The Controversy Over the Third Secret: Objections and Responses.

The Controversy Over the Third Secret: Objections and Responses | Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R. | Appendix D from Fatima For Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope

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The Third Secret has been dealt with in two chapters in this book. Chapter 8 presented the content of the Third Secret as Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta saw it revealed to them. Chapter 16 presented how Sister Lucia wrote the Third Secret on a separate manuscript and then placed it in a sealed envelope. The chapter also traces what popes John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II did after reading it.

The Third Secret was first made public at the Beatification Mass of Francisco and Jacinta Marto on May 13, 2000, in the Cova da Iria where the secret was originally revealed to the three children on July 13, 1917. Unfortunately,

controversy created by certain objections surrounded the Third Secret almost from the moment it became public. We will look at each main objection separately, and offer a response to each.

Objection: The original Third Secret was written on one sheet of paper.Many clerics who were familiar with the original text, including bishops who worked with popes John XXIII and Paul VI, said that the Third Secret was written on a single sheet of paper (e.g., Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, who read the Third Secret with Pope John XXIII). [1]

The controversy came about when on June 26, 2000, the Vatican released a copy of Sister Lucia's handwritten text in a four-page format. [2] Though there are several possible ways a single sheet of paper can be turned into more than one page (written on both sides, folded and written on multiple sides, etc.) or copied onto more than one page, some critics said that the Vatican copy could not have been made from the authentic text and that some other document exists that contains the real Third Secret.

The Vatican copy of Sister Lucia's handwritten manuscript appears in the document The Message of Fatima prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In the introduction, the secretary of the Congregation at the time, Archbishop Bertone, stated: "There is only one manuscript, which is here reproduced photostatically." Sister Lucia herself confirmed the validity of the Vatican text. Archbishop Bertone and Bishop Seraphim de Sousa of Leiria met with Sister Lucia at her Carmelite convent in Coimbra, Portugal, on April 27, 2000. The Archbishop presented two envelopes to Sister Lucia. The first or outer envelope contained the second envelope, which held the Third Secret. Touching it with her fingers, Sister Lucia said, "This is my letter." Then, while reading it, she said, "This is my writing." [3] When asked if this document was the one and only Third Secret, Sister Lucia answered, "Yes, this is the Third Secret, and I never wrote any other." [4]

We have additional proof from Sister Lucia that the photocopy of the Third Secret was authentic. She met again with Archbishop Bertone on November 17, 2001. A communique about that meeting carried this most important point:

With reference to the third part of the secret of Fatima, [Sister Lucia] affirmed that she had attentively read and meditated upon the booklet published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [The Message of Fatima] and confirmed everything that was written there. To whoever imagines that some part of the secret has been hidden, she replied: "everything has been published; no secret remains." To those who speak and write of new revelations, she said: "There is no truth in this. If I had received new revelations, I would have told no one, but I would have communicated them directly to the Holy Father." [5]

Objection: The text of the Third Secret released by the Vatican contains no words attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The message of the Third Secret was not conveyed in words by our Lady, but in the various visions the children saw. Our Lady spoke simply by her actions, as when she prevented the fire from the flaming sword of the angel from touching the earth and consuming it. Archbishop Bertone explained:

The part of the text where the Virgin speaks in the first person wasn't censored, for the simple reason that it never existed. The text these people talk about just doesn't exist. I am not toeing some party line here. I'm basing my statement on Sister Lucia's own direct confirmation that the Third Secret is none other than the text that was published in the year 2000. [6]

Objection: The Vatican's copy of the Third Secret contains no information about a nuclear holocaust, a great apostasy, or the satanic infiltration of the Catholic Church.

This objection is largely the result of the disappointment that some people felt when the Third Secret was finally revealed. Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) predicted this disappointment. "A careful reading of the [Third Secret]", he wrote, "will probably prove disappointing or surprising after all the speculation it has stirred. No great mystery is revealed; nor is the future unveiled." [7]

The years of waiting for the revelation of the Third Secret combined with the discretion of the Vatican built up in many people's minds the idea that the Third Secret predicted some catastrophe, like a nuclear war, a world-wide natural disaster or a great tribulation within the Church. Some people even developed a "conspiracy mentality", in which they assumed the faithful were not being told the truth about what was going to happen in the Church and in the world. Some critics have accused Vatican officials of publishing a fraudulent Third Secret or of withholding important information. The problem here is that no one has ever seen any other Third Secret of Fatima than the one that has already been released to the public. The burden of proof lies with the critics. They must produce another document or at least reliable witnesses who have seen and read it. At this point none have come forward.

There is one final authority who should be quoted. He is Archbishop Loris Capovilla, who once served as private secretary to Pope John XXIII. He had read the Third Secret along with Pope John XXIII and actually held the manuscript in his hands. Certain people have claimed that he had said there were "two texts" of the Third Secret. However, Archbishop Capovilla made the following clear and definitive statement:

There are not two truths from Fatima, nor is there any fourth secret. The text which I read in 1959 is the same that was distributed by the Vatican. . . . I have had enough of these conspiracy theories. It just isn't true. I read it, I presented it to the Pope and we resealed the envelope. [8]

As for the doomsday predictions, we know that a terrible world-wide natural catastrophe or a nuclear war could happen, but that would be the result of our sins. This is why we must heed our Lady's message for prayer and penance. We also know that with the spread of secularism and religious indifference, many Catholics are no longer practicing their faith. But again, the remedy for this is prayer, penance and a fervent Christian life, as our Lady requested at Fatima. As for any triumph of Satan over the Church, this is impossible. Jesus himself said so when he told Saint Peter: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Mt 16: 18). It will not be Satan who will conquer, but Jesus with his Immaculate Mother who will crush the head of the serpent.

Objection: The text released by the Vatican is not written in the form of a letter.

Some of the clerics who lived at the time the Third Secret was written mentioned it in terms of a letter, but this was not an emphatic point they were making. The photocopy of the original manuscript released by the Holy See does not have a formal address to the Bishop, however it does have a certain likeness to a letter. The document begins with a title like those in Lucia's memoirs and has a kind of introduction that makes reference to the Bishop:

[title] The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fatima, on 13 July 1917.
[introduction] I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine. [9]<

Archbishop Bertone said that the point about the document being written in the form of a signed letter is not very important. He said of some of his critics that "they look at everything through the magnifying glass of their own biases. As a result they latch on to the most unbelievable things." [10]

As a final plea, let us set aside our doubts and support our Holy Father in the present struggle with our prayers, our fidelity, our service and our love! This would be very pleasing to the Immaculate Heart of Mary! I am absolutely confident that the Holy Father has fully conveyed Our Lady of Fatima's message to us!

ENDNOTES:

[1] The Last Secret, p. 63.
[2] A copy of the 4-page format of the text of the Third Secret can be found in From the Beginning, pp. 251-54, as well as on the Vatican website.
[3] Message of Fatima.
[4] The Last Secret, p. 64.
[5] "Sister Lucy: Secret of Fatima Contains No More Mysteries", Vatican Information Service, Dec. 20, 2001.
[6] The Last Secret, p. 66.
[7] " Theological Commentary" .
[8] "Last Surviving Witness Says Third Fatima Is Fully Revealed", Catholic News Agency, September 12, 2007.
[9] Message of Fatima.
[10] The Last Secret, p. 66.

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Fatima For Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope

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• Fatima For Today -- Electronic Book Download
• Fatima For Today -- Downloadable Audio File

Though the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima took place almost a hundred years ago, Our Lady's call to prayer and penance for the salvation of souls and peace in the world is as relevant now as when first delivered to three Portuguese peasant children in 1917.

At the peak of the First World War, our Lady warned of another worldwide conflict, the rise and spread of Communism, and a terrible persecution of the Church unless people repented of their sins and returned to God. She also requested devotion to her Immaculate Heart and a special consecration of Russia.

Much of what Our Lady of Fatima said was revealed soon after her appearances, but the third and final "secret", which was not a message but a prophetic vision seen by the children, was not unveiled by the Vatican until 2000. Pope John Paul II, who read the third secret while recovering from the attempt upon his life in 1981, believed the vision signified the sufferings the Church had endured in the twentieth century.

Because of the prophetic nature of her messages, Our Lady of Fatima has been the subject of much controversy and speculation. In this book, Father Andrew Apostoli carefully analyzes the events that took place in Fatima and clears up lingering questions and doubts about their meaning. He also challenges the reader to hear anew the call of Our Lady to prayer and sacrifice, for the world is ever in need of generous hearts willing to make reparation for those in danger of losing their way to God.

"In a manner that is most accessible and, at the same time, complete and accurate, Father Apostoli helps us to know the maternal instruction of Our Lady of Fatima and, following it, to know and 'savor', in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, the mystery of divine love in our lives." -- Cardinal Raymond Burke

"As was so dramatically obvious during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Fatima in May, 2010, Our Lady's apparitions in 1917 remain powerfully compelling for us today. There she was an evangelist, calling us to prayer, conversion of heart, and penance, pointing to Jesus and repeating her words at Cana, 'Do whatever He tells you.' This book brings it all home." -- Most Reverend Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York

"For us, Fatima is a sign of the presence of faith, of the fact that it is precisely from the little ones that faith gains new strength, one which is not limited to the little ones but has a message for the entire world and touches history here and now, and sheds light on this history . . . Even now there is tribulation, in every conceivable form, and power threatens to trample down faith. Even now, then, there is a need for the answer about which the Mother of God spoke to the children at Fatima." -- Pope Benedict XVI

"Learn, live, and spread the message of Fatima! This is the express desire of Pope Benedict XVI. And Pope John Paul II once stated that the message of Fatima was more important now than in 1917! That is why this wonderful book on Fatima is so important. Fr. Apostoli has recaptured this heavenly message of urgency and hope for a new generation. Our world needs the message of Fatima more than ever, and I pray that many people are brought back to Jesus, Mary, and the Church through these pages." -- Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, Author, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy

"Fr. Apostoli's book tells you all you need to know about Our Lady's apparitions to the three children in Portugal in 1917. His brief and objective presentation of the facts surrounding the divine revelation not only informs the mind, but also moves the will to embrace and carry out the message of Fatima-prayer and penance-for the salvation of souls and world peace. The message is clear-pray the Rosary every day and offer up some sacrifices for the salvation of sinners and in reparation for sins against God and the Immaculate Heart of Mary." -- Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., Author, Inside the Bible

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Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R., a founding member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, has been teaching and preaching retreats and parish missions for several decades. He is considered one of the world's foremost experts on the apparitions at Fatima. He is the author of numerous books, including Following Mary to Jesus and Walk Humbly With Your God. Fr. Apostoli is the vice-postulator for the cause for the canonization of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. A frequent host on EWTN television, he hosted the TV special "Our Lady of Fatima and the First Saturday Devotion".

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Taken from: http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2011/aapostoli_thirdsecret_jan2011.asp