by
Damien F. Mackey
Fatima
1917-2017
“What always
surprises me about this great miracle, perhaps the greatest miracle since the
Resurrection, is how little it is known in the world at large. It should shake
the very world itself. It should shake our governments; it should shake our
media; it should shake our own souls”.
It befell the
prophets of Israel to continue to remind the people of the great things that
God the Almighty had done in the past on behalf of their ancestors, such as
their miraculous deliverance from Egyptian bondage (the Exodus) - wonders that
had become obscure, and even completely forgotten, with the passing of time.
And so to praise God for them and to pass on that knowledge to their children.
Therefore we
read in Psalm 77:3-8:
How great things have we heard
and known, and our fathers have told us. They have not been hidden from their
children, in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his
powers, and his wonders which he hath done. And he set up a testimony in Jacob:
and made a law in Israel. How great things he commanded our fathers, that they
should make the same known to their children. That another generation might
know them. The children that should be born and should rise up, and declare
them to their children. That they may put their hope in God and may not forget
the works of God: and may seek his commandments. That they may not become like
their fathers, a perverse and exasperating generation. A generation that set
not their heart aright: and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
Undoubtedly,
the ‘Exodus’ event of our own modern era - about which we, too, risk becoming
blasé and forgetful - was Fatima, whose
centenary we celebrate this year. Thankfully, however, we also have prophets to
keep before our minds the wondrous works of the Lord - they are the popes, with
Francis being no exception. He intends to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of the
Rosary this May of 2017, to commemorate the Fatima anniversary.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The
Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis will visit Portugal in 2017 to mark the
100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions of Fatima.
The pope, who accepted the
invitation made by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the bishops of
Portugal, "will go on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima
from May 12-13," the Vatican announced Dec. 17.
The pilgrimage will mark the
anniversary of the Marian apparitions, which first began on May 13, 1917, when
three shepherd children reported seeing the Virgin Mary.
The apparitions continued once
a month until Oct. 13, 1917, and later were declared worthy of belief by the
Catholic Church.
Following the announcement,
Father Carlos Cabecinhas, rector of the Fatima shrine told Agencia Ecclesia,
the news agency of the Portuguese bishops' conference, that the visit was a
"cause for joy" for the shrine.
"For the shrine of
Fatima, it is a great joy to receive this confirmation of Pope Francis'
visit," he said. "We know that those days will be a pilgrimage marked
by this festivity that, on the one hand is for the centennial of the
apparitions and, on the other hand, marks the presence of the pope in our midst
and a pope as beloved as Pope Francis," Father Cabecinhas said.
While the Vatican confirmed
the dates of the visit, the pope had already said that he intended to go.
"Certainly, as things
presently stand, I will go to Portugal, and only to Fatima," he told
journalists during his return flight to Rome from Azerbaijan Oct. 2.
Pope Francis will be the
fourth pontiff to visit the Marian shrine, following the footsteps of Blessed
Paul VI, Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who each paid homage
different years to Mary on the anniversary of the first apparition May 13.
----
“Now is the time
of God’s favour”
Sadly,
despite many notable exceptions, the vast majority of the world’s Catholics
have - just like the ungrateful Israelites of old - failed to embed into their
memories this unprecedented visitation from Heaven. Dr. Peter Chojnowski, in
his August speech at the
“Fatima: Only Way to World Peace” conference in Brazil, in 2007, thus marvelled
regarding the October 13 Miracle of the
Sun:
What
always surprises me about this great miracle, perhaps the greatest miracle
since the Resurrection, is how little it is known in the world at large. It
should shake the very world itself. It should shake our governments; it should
shake our media; it should shake our own souls.
And,
yet, for how many does it have this profound effect? To quote the famous French
rationalist and skeptic Renan, “Miracles do not take place where they ought to.
A miracle in Paris before so many of the learned would put an end to so many
doubts. But, alas, that never happens. No miracle ever took place before those
who could discuss and make critical judgments on it.” To this challenge and
doubt, we can offer the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima on October 13, 1917.
[End of quote]
This auspicious
centenary year of 2017 affords us the perfect opportunity to make a new start.
“I tell you, now is the time
of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). We must begin to, as in the words of Dr.
Chojnowski, “shake our
governments … shake our media … shake our own souls”. This last one ought, at
least, to be within range of possibility. What do we intend to do personally in
2017 so as the better to imbibe the Fatima message? We yet have plenty of
months left to do what Our Lady of the Rosary actually requested - sufficient
enough motivation - the Communion of
Reparation (Five First Saturdays), first announced in the July 13th
apparition immediately following the horrific vision of Hell, of which the
Exodus deliverance from the iron-smelting furnace (Deut. 4:20) was a metaphor.
Then Our Lady opened
Her hands, as during the previous apparitions, and the light that was God
streamed forth. In this light they were given, on this occasion, a vision of
Hell so horrible and gruesome that the children shrieked aloud with fear. After
showing them Hell Our Lady said to the children: "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; if people do
not cease offending God, a worse one will beak out during the pontificate of
Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, 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.
That
promise (Her coming) was realised less than a decade later, in 1925
The promise made by
Our Lady to Lucia on July 13th, 1917, that there would be a future
manifestation concerning the practice of the Five First Saturdays, was
fulfilled on December 10th, 1925. Lucia was then a Postulant Sister in the
Dorothean Convent at Tuy, Spain. On this occasion Our Lady appeared together
with the Child Jesus, Who spoke first to Lucia:
“Have compassion on
the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns which ungrateful men
place therein at every moment, while there is no one who does an act of
reparation to withdraw them for her”.
Our Lady then addressed
Lucia as follows:
”Behold, my daughter, my Heart encircled
with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce It at every moment by their
blasphemies and ingratitude. Give me consolation, you, at least; and make known
on my behalf that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces
necessary for salvation, all who on the First Saturday of five consecutive
months confess their sins, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the
Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes meditating on the mysteries of
the Rosary, with the purpose of making reparation to my Immaculate Heart”.
Also, to
honour Fatima, one might like to join a sound Marian organisation or prayer
crusade of reparation, such as this one whose purpose is to gather “one
million” rosaries this year http://www.fatima2017.world/
Our Lady said at Fatima:
“Pray the rosary every day to obtain
peace
for the world and the end of the war.”
* * *
