|
THE LIGHT IN THE NIGHT “Calls from the Message of Fatima” 3. THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES: THE CALL TO RELIGIOUS LIFE On 13 October 1917, during the ten minutes that the crowd could contemplate the imposing miracle of the sun falling towards them, then regaining its position, the three seers saw, « next to the sun, relates Lucy in her Memoirs, St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, tracing the sign of the cross with their hands. These are the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary: « I am Our-Lady of the Rosary », she had just said to Lucy. « Shortly afterwards, this apparition [of the Holy Family] having disappeared, relates Sister Lucy in her Memoirs, I saw Our Lord, and Our Lady who I had the impression was Our Lady of Sorrows. Our Lord seemed to bless the world in the same manner that Saint Joseph had. » Sorrowful Mysteries. « This Apparition disappeared, and it seemed to me that I saw Our Lady once again under the appearance of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, because She had something which was hanging from her hand. » This « something which was hanging from her hand » was the Scapular of Mount Carmel, religious clothing which belongs to the Order of Carmel, and to which the Blessed Virgin promised that « whoever wears this habit will be saved ». It is therefore the Glorious Mysteries of Our Lady of the Rosary which are meant by this dress, guarantee of the promised glory to those who wear it. In volume 4 of The Whole Truth about Fatima, Brother François recalls these words of Sister Lucy, in 1950: « Our Lady held the Scapular in Her hands because She wants us all to wear it. » (JPI, p. 489) When a Carmelite Father having pointed out to the seer that in many books on Fatima, the authors do not speak about the Scapular, she exclaimed: « Ah! How wrong they are!. The Scapular is the sign of our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. » And she replied to someone who asked her which was the most important, the Scapular or the Rosary: « The scapular and the Rosary are inseparable. » Well! Sister Lucy speaks about the Rosary in her book Apelos da mensagem de Fatima, but not about the Scapular! « Ah! How wrong she is! » This omission can only be explained by the obligation made to the seer by higher Authority not to mention anything in the “Calls from the Message of Fatima” other than what Holy Scripture already expresses. However, Brother Francis observes that this excessive obedience of the nun to her superiors turns against them: « It is noteworthy that, paradoxically, her submission to their directives guarantees the authenticity of the divine messages that she had to communicate to them, and which she actually did. » St. Margaret Mary did not act differently, following the advice of Our Lord: « I am happy that you prefer the will of your superiors to Mine, whenever they prevent you from doing what I have ordered you to do. Let them do all that they wish with you, I will be able to find the means of making a success of My designs, even by means which seem opposed and contrary. » (JPI, p. 492) « This does not mean that we should believe, adds Brother Francis, that Sister Lucy has failed in her mission. » In fact, one only has to read the twenty pages that she devotes to the apparition of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the sky of Fatima on 13 October 1917, in order to be convinced of this. Chapter 20 THE CALL TO A LIFE OF TOTAL CONSECRATION TO GOD EIGHTEENTH CALL OF THE MESSAGE « In my view, the apparition of Our Lady of Mount Carmel means total consecration to God. By showing Herself clothed in a religious habit, She wished to represent all the other habits by which those who are totally consecrated to God can be distinguished from ordinary secular Christians. » Sister Lucy is not unaware that, since the Reform of the Vatican II Council, those belonging to religious orders have laid aside their habit en masse. This does not prevent her from vigorously defending it, certain that, in doing so she is conforming to the design of the Immaculate Heart of Mary! « Habits are the hallmark of a consecration, a protection of Christian decorum and modesty, a means of defence for the consecrated person. Those who are consecrated value them in the same way as soldiers value their uniforms and officers their stripes: the habit marks them out and indicates what they are and the place they occupy, while at the same time obliging them to behave in a way that is appropriate to their status. Hence, to lay aside the habit is to demean oneself; it is to disappear into the ranks of those who have not been called or chosen for something higher; it is to strip oneself of a mark of distinction that singles a person out and raises that person up; it is to descend to a lower level, in order to live like those who have not been called to the higher one. » « To be a secular person like the others, to work in a factory, join a Party, get married », such were the demands of the priests who requested and obtained from the bishops of France permission to take off the cassock at the beginning of the Council in 1962. At that time, the Abbé de Nantes reacted against this demand in the same terms as Sister Lucy uses today. It is as though she had knowledge of the Letters to my Friends! (Letter no 123, 8 November 1962; printed in full as an insert at the end of this page). So, we can begin to understand why the Blessed Virgin appeared on 13 October 1917, « under the appearance of Our Lady of Mount Carmel », with the Scapular in her hand: it was in anticipation of this rejection of religious attire which marked the beginning of the ruin of the Church through her Reform. This Scapular is an insignia of Counter-Reformation: « Those who, one day, heard the voice of God and decided to follow His call in a life of total consecration thereby raised themselves to a higher plane that sets them apart from the rest of their brothers. This distinction must be interiorly visible in the eyes of God, and also be reflected exteriorly in the sight of others. It is a witness that we must give of the presence of Christ in us, according to the state that we embraced and the place that we occupy. « Jesus Christ knew that He was being criticised for mixing with publicans and sinners and eating with them, but this did not cause Him to conceal in any way what He was doing. » Suggesting that the monk who takes off his religious garb conceals himself. He endured the criticism in order to accomplish the mission that the Father had entrusted to Him, and also to reveal who He was. « We have His example, let us look at His words: “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would saves his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and lose his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this generation (...), of him will the Son of man also be ashamed.” (Mk 8.34-38) In another place, He says: “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men. You are the light of the world (...). Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven.” (Mt 5.13-16) » There is no better way of implying that a religious who sets aside his habit is like a man who refuses to carry the Cross behind Jesus; he loses his soul, being ashamed of Jesus before men. He is also comparable to a condiment which has lost its savour. On the contrary, a man wearing a religious habit, in school, in the street, in prisons or hospitals, blazes like a torch. He attracts attention and inclines hearts to praise the Glory of God. There follows a short treatise on consecrated life, which Our Lady Herself linked to this sartorial question by appearing in the sky of Fatima with the Scapular of Mount Carmel. The habit does not make the monk, it is true, but it helps him to bear fruit. « It was for this that we were called and chosen by Christ: to follow Him, turning our backs on ourselves and all earthly things, in order to bear witness to Christ and confess Him to the ends of the earth; proclaiming and teaching His doctrine by word and by example in order to be light for men so that they can see in us the image of Christ. « Let us reflect on these words of Jesus: “You did not choose Me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last.” (Jn 15.16). We have been chosen in order to bear fruit, and our fruit remains, by our persevering fidelity to the gift that we have received from God and the promise we made when we accepted this gift. « In the Gospel, Jesus says to everyone, but in particular to souls of those He has chosen: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Mt 7.13-14). » THE OBEDIENCE OF THE FAITH The fidelity of the monk is very dependent on the virtue of obedience, itself subordinated to faith. « Only a few, the Lord says, follow the narrow path that leads to life, while many choose the broad path that leads to perdition. If we want to follow the wide paths, the paths of an exaggerated freedom that sets aside due submission to authority in the practice of the virtue of obedience, we have gone astray because Jesus Christ has called us to follow Him, and He was obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross as St. Paul the Apostle says (Ph 2.8). « The divine Master says to those He chose to go and preach to the people in His Name: “He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” (Lk 10.16). What the Lord says to us here requires the virtue of faith. All of us, but more especially consecrated souls, need to live by faith: that faith which sees God in others, in authority, and in everything that happens; that faith which assures us that authority represents God and that, by obeying, we are doing the will of God. « The most outstanding example of this obedience was given to us by Jesus Christ Himself when He said: “He who sent Me is with Me, and has not left Me to Myself, for I always do what pleases Him.” (Jn 8.29) Every consecrated person both accepted, and promised, in imitation of the Saviour, to do always what is pleasing to our Father in Heaven, or, to put it another way, to do the will of God as manifested to us by those who represent Him to us. » Such obedience is a veritable “martyrdom”: « Renouncing our own will in order to do always the will of God is our holocaust, by which we unite ourselves with Christ’s Passion for the sake of His Mystical Body, strengthening ourselves as members of that Body. We become part of it by the Sacrament of Baptism, but in order to remain in it we must be living members [and not “corpses”, like those that Lucy saw in the scenes of the Third Secret], both giving life and causing it to grow, remembering the words of Jesus: « Every branch in Me that bears no fruit, the Father cuts away » (Jn 15.2). « By renouncing our own will in order to accomplish God’s, we become shoots of His stock, members of His Body and His family: “Whoever does the will of God is My brother, and sister and mother.” (Mk 3.35) It is by uniting our own will with God’s that we become God’s family. « It is faith that will lead our steps along this path of self-denial, and help us to accept the other renunciations that Jesus Christ requires of us if we are to follow Him in the choice that He has deigned to make of us: “If any one comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple (...). So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill; men throw it away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Lk 14.26-27; 33-35) « These words of Jesus Christ that I have just quoted do not mean that God requires us to hate and despise our families. This could not be the meaning because, in other places, He orders us to love them. What He requires of those who have consecrated their lives to Him, is that they should sacrifice the joys of living with their families, give up the good things of this life, the right to marry and have children, because those who are married and have children can certainly not either despise them or desert them. Otherwise, Our Lord says, they cannot be My disciples! Now, if they cannot be His disciples, how can they be His priests and teachers of His people? How can they be people entirely dedicated to His love and His service? « One day, St. Peter asked Our Lord what would be the reward for those who had left everything in order to follow Him. This was Jesus’ reply: “Every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for My name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19.29) Jesus promises eternal life to those who give up everything for love of Him, including the right to marry and have children. His words show clearly the need for the virtues of poverty and chastity, and specifically for the state of celibacy. A VIRGINAL LOVE « One of the people whom the Lord had called to follow Him asked to be allowed to go first and bury his father, but Jesus replied: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” (Lk 9.60) Another person asked only to be allowed to go home and say goodbye to his family, but Jesus advised against it: “No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Lk 9.62) A scribe who went to meet Jesus and was ready to follow Him, saying: “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go” received this reply: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Mt 8.19-20) « These Gospel passages show us the demands that Jesus makes of those who are entirely dedicated to Him. They must leave everything, give up all that is material and earthly, renounce the right to marry and have children, in order to follow Christ, dedicating themselves to Him with all their hearts for the salvation of souls. « The requirement of virginity and celibacy does not mean that marriage itself is not good. On the contrary, it is an institution created by God and one which Jesus Christ raised to the level of a Sacrament. Nor does it mean that it is less pleasing to God to be married and have children, since these are the fruit of the Sacrament and a blessing from God. It only means that, for those who are called and chosen for a life of total consecration to the service of God, the Lord has other requirements and other gifts, because their ultimate destiny is different. « The evangelical counsels which we embrace are the sacrifice which we offer to God, the renunciation of all things, and of ourselves, in order to follow Him with a pure heart, generously and joyfully. And once we have made our offering to God, we cannot turn back. As it says in Sacred Scripture: “This is whatYahvey has commanded: When a man vows a vow to Yahweh or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” (Nb 30.2-3) And in another place we read: “When you make a vow to Yahweh your God, you shall not be slack to pay it; for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin in you. But if you refrain from vowing, it shall be no sin in you. You shall be careful to perform what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to Yahweh your God what you have promised with your mouth.” (Dt 23.22-24). Interpreting these orders from the Lord, Qoheleth says: “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?” (Qo 5.3-6) « We have chosen God as our inheritance, so we cannot turn back, nor exchange Him for any earthly thing, or for ourselves, poor creatures that we are. In such an exchange we would become even poorer, and lose ourselves into the bargain. We are the children of a Father who is God; let us not leave our Father’s house for the poverty-stricken hovel of sinners. » THE SPOUSE OF VIRGINS « We were chosen to follow Christ, Himself a virgin and the Spouse of virgins, humble, obedient, chaste and poor. » « Christ, Himself a virgin and the Spouse of virgins: Christ is a virgin; He chose a virgin for His Mother; and like a pure lily, He is to be found and takes His delight in virgins. That is how the author of the Apocalypse presents Him to us: “Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with Him a hundred and forty four thousand who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from Heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, the voice I heard was like the sound of harpers playing on their harps, and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who (…) are chaste. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever He goes; these have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are spotless.” (Ap 14.1-5) This passage of the Apocalypse follows the terrifying rise of « Beasts » described in Chapter 13. And it precedes the announcement of God’s judgements and combats. The passage is admirably chosen. Standing opposite the Beast who is mortally wounded and yet lives, and the one which resembles a lamb and which speaks like a dragon, is the truly risen Lamb, the one who takes away the sin of the world, surrounded by the hundred and forty four thousand « who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads » as opposed to those who have the name of the Beast, in Chapter 13. The Lamb is on the mountain, on Mount Zion, figure of the Church on the earth, with the hundred and forty four thousands, whereas the Dragon is on the sand: « “They are spotless.” The Lamb is Christ, and those who accompany Him everywhere are the virgins. « Virginity is the fruit of the pure love with which people consecrate themselves completely to Christ: they give themselves unreservedly, dedicating themselves wholeheartedly and for ever. It was to them that Christ was referring when He said: “Not all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom it is given.” (Mt 19.11) » The passage of the Apocalypse quoted by Sister Lucy refers to « a voice from Heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder ». This loud thunder from Heaven, was heard by those who witnessed the missed appointment of 13 August 1917! Since Fatima, the Apocalypse has become extraordinarily topical. Finally, the hundred and forty four thousands, a symbol of those who have the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, are the crowds of pilgrims, the five hundred thousand at Fatima on the thirteenth day of each month, from May to October, since 1917. But in the Apocalypse, the number 144,000 can also refer to consecrated souls in a special way, as Sister Lucy says : « Virginity is the gift of pure love, which is given entirely and solely to God; it is the bond of closest possible union with God; it is that language of pure love which it was not given to everyone to understand, as Jesus said: “Not all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom it is given.” (Mt 19.11) « Virginity is the secret of love, the echo of the divine Voice which penetrates the soul with the choice made of it by the Spouse of consecrated virgins: “You did not choose Me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last.” (Jn 15.16) Once again, Sister Lucy speaks from experience after having heard the voice of the angel say, in 1916: « The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. » « Christ has chosen us so that we may bear fruit more abundantly and that this fruit may remain; He has called us by our name and incorporated us in the retinue of virgins; He has led us to drink from the fountain of living water and fed us with the fruit from the tree of life, in accordance with the Lord’s promise: “To the thirsty I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life. He who conquers shall have his heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be My son (...). Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the City by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practises falsehood.” (Ap 21.6-7; 22.14-15). So, the « virgins » are those who are pure, in contrast with the pagan corruption that prevailed in the Roman world at the time when St. John wrote the Apocalypse, and that also prevails today in the modern world given over to the idolatrous cult of man, at the moment Sister Lucy wrote her book. Those who take care to remain pure of this idolatry are like « first fruits for God and the Lamb ». Being consecrated to God and to His service, the hundred and forty thousand are « first fruits » compared with the universal harvest of the Elect. « Those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes » as though they were His Body guard. « they are spotless », and fight actively against the cult of man. The simple view of that troop that hurries up on the mountain, like a stronghold phalanx, is a sign of unity in the immense crowd of the faithful. « In their mouth no lie was found »: truth, fidelity to their commitments is the distinctive characteristic of Christians, and chastity is its most perfect expression, in contrast with the pagan world. HUMILITY It is not the wearing of a habit that makes a monk of someone, but it does help him to remain faithful to the three vows of obedience, chastity and poverty. Sister Lucy presents these three vows as stemming from humility, which is a treasure, the very basis of the imitation of Jesus Christ: « Jesus Christ has chosen us to follow Him, He who is Himself virgin, humble, obedient, chaste and poor. « Humility is one of the main virtues that we need in order to follow Christ faithfully. This is how He presents Himself to us: “Come to Me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am meek and humble of Heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is sweet, and My burden light.” (Mt 11.28-30) « Humility of heart, the recognition of our own nothingness, of our faults and failings, of our weakness, of our inexperience and incapacity; all these things will keep us in an attitude of absolute confidence in the love and mercy of God. This is what Our Lady tells us in Her lovely canticle: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and My spirit rejoices in God My Saviour, for He has regarded the humility of His handmaiden (...). He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the humble.” (Lk 1.46-48, 52) And Jesus Christ ends the parable illustrating God’s diametrically opposed reactions to the prayer of the Pharisee and that of the publican in the Temple by saying: “For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lk 18.14) « And when the two disciples wanted to be given the first places in the Kingdom of Heaven, the Lord gave them the following lesson in humility: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise their authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20.25-28) « It is with sentiments such as these that our souls become pleasing in the eyes of God and draw down upon us the predilection of His love: “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.” (Lk 1.53). We must sing the mercies of the Lord together with the Psalmist: “O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures for ever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way, till they reached a city to dwell in. Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wonderful works to the sons of men! For He satisfies him who is thirsty, and the hungry He fills with good things. Some sat in darkness and in gloom, prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. Their hearts were bowed down with hard labour; they fell down, with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress; He brought them out of darkness and gloom, and broke their bonds asunder. Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wonderful works to the sons of men! For He shatters the doors of bronze, and cuts in two the bars of iron.” (Ps 107 / 106.1-15) This psalm reveals to us how God grants His favour and help to those with contrite and humble hearts. » Once again, this quotation is particularly appropriate. The psalmist meditates on the lessons of Sacred History, after the return from exile of « the redeemed of the Lord », made humble and contrite by adversity. This lesson can be literally applied to the survivors of the gulags of the twentieth century. « St. Teresa of Jesus says that to be humble is to live in the truth with God, with one’s own conscience, and with one’s neighbour; it is to recognise sincerely what we are, and admit to it without evasion, hypocrisy or pretence, above all before God and our own conscience; not to want to deceive ourselves or our neighbour by pretending to be, or to be worth, something that we are not; not putting ourselves forward, or wanting to occupy the seats of honour, or to be honoured in the world’s eyes, because all these things are false, untrue and deceitful. It was this that led the demons to perdition, and they have deceived and dragged many people after them. Pride is the denial of humility, and the most serious and subtle of all sins. » Sister Lucy identifies precisely the root of the evils of our time, which is dominated by the gospel of Human Rights. « For this reason, Jesus Christ wished to leave us a lesson and example of humility almost at the end of His earthly life. While He was at table with His disciples, He got up, took a towel and a basin of water and washed their feet. Then, when He had sat down again at the table, He said to them: “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call Me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you must wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done for you. Amen, Amen, I say to you, no servant is greater than his master; no messenger is greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know this, blessed are you if you behave accordingly.” (Jn 13.12-17). What the divine Master wants to teach us here is not so much the ceremony of washing, or not washing, one another’s feet, but the charity and humility with which we must treat one another. » This remark is sagacious, and well capable of curing us of the hypocrisy that is often concealed behind the liturgical staging of the washing of feet. Sister Lucy then deals with the three vows of obedience, chastity and poverty. OBEDIENCE Donning the holy habit commits us firstly to following Christ along the way of obedience, the source of all virtues for members of religious orders. This is why Sister Lucy, although she dealt with it at the beginning of this chapter, does not hesitate to come back to this matter: « We were chosen to follow Christ obedient to His Father. Every incident in His life is for us an example of obedience. « When He was twelve years old, Jesus went with His parents to the Temple in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. When the feast was over, His parents lost Him, and it was three whole days before they found Him. Afterwards, St. Luke tells us, Jesus “went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them” (Lk 2.51). He obeyed those who represented for Him the authority of God, His Father. Later, He was to say: “For I have come down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (Jn 6.38) This is the kind of obedience required of consecrated souls, who have been chosen, and have acknowledged the fact of having been chosen, by pronouncing before God a vow or an oath promising to follow Him. One should not appeal to revolutionary dogmas, even less to “religious freedom”! « There is no justification at all for believing that the modern mentality provides an excuse for dispensing ourselves from the obligation that we took upon ourselves to obey. Obedience should not be looked upon as a yoke or an imposition. Religious obedience rests on a will that is free, the will of the person who pronounced the vow or the oath, and willed thereby to submit himself to the will of God. Such obedience is the free expression of a choice: the person chose God as guide and opted to be led by Him. Neither is obedience a diminution. Quite the contrary, it is a value which uplifts those who have not, in themselves, the generosity to achieve this. » Nevertheless, Sister Lucy does not place obedience above all else. How can we not admire the nobility of her views? It must be said that she speaks from experience! This gives her even greater authority: « There are, however, personal rights that the vow does not eliminate, and that we are all obliged to respect, including Superiors. The latter cannot abuse the authority that God has entrusted to them. If they were to do so, they would be responsible for the disorientation of their subjects and of their failure to make progress. They must not overburden them with more obligations than those envisaged in their rule, especially if such obligations indicate in some way a lack of trust or some form of pharisaism, by imposing on others – as Christ says in His Gospel – heavy burdens that they themselves do not carry. They should not use force in order to compel or subjugate their subjects, as if they were prisoners in gaol: this achieves nothing but only causes exasperation. St. Paul perceived this danger and, after urging the children among his disciples to obey their parents, he urges the parents not to exasperate their children: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” (Col 3.20-21) « Jesus Christ is our model of obedience as a young labourer, working in His father’s humble workshop in the obscure village of Nazareth, subject to the dictates and requirements of the customers who came to Him with their orders. With all, He behaved humbly, modestly and obligingly towards everyone. He submitted Himself to the burden of toil and to the discomforts of a poor home, in order to do the will of the Father. « Hence, He is able to say: « He who sent Me is with Me, and has not left Me to Myself, for I always do what pleases Him.” (Jn 8.29) We, too, ought to be able to say to Christ: “You are always with me because I always do what pleases You.” The primary end of our total dedication to the Lord is this: to do God’s will, to please God, and to live a life of intimate union with God – a union of affection, a union of will, a union of deeds done in faith. « In Jesus Christ we also have the model for the obedience of the apostle. When the time pre-ordained by the Father came, obedient as always to His will, Jesus left everything and went off in search of souls in order to bring them the word of God and guide them in the paths of salvation. « It was with this end in view that he went to the house of Zacchaeus and that of Simon the Pharisee; that He waited by the well for the Samaritan woman and her fellow citizens, in order to give them the living water of grace, forgiveness of their sins and the light of the knowledge of the Father. With this end in view, too, He never shirked toil, or weariness, or self-sacrifice, intensifying his life of prayer and penance. To accomplish the work that the Father had given Him to do was, for Him, as important as the food He ate: “I have food to eat which you know not (...). My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me; that I may perfect His work.” (Jn 4.32-34) This is also the mission entrusted to consecrated souls: to carry out the will of God in order to accomplish the work that He has entrusted to them, in other words, their own sanctification and the salvation of souls. « Jesus Christ is also our model as victim, sacrificed in obedience to the will of the Father for the redemption of the world. « We see this obedience in the prayer which He addressed to His Father in the Garden of Olives: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Mt 26.39). As in our own case, Jesus’ human nature, too, abhorred suffering, humiliation and death, but He put obedience to His Father’s will before the repugnance of His own nature: Not as I will, but as You will. « The prospect of suffering caused Jesus fear and anguish, so much so that He said to His Apostles: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Mk 14.34), but it did not induce Him to disobey: “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, Your will be done!” (Mt 26.42). If obedience were not costly, what merit should we have in obeying? It is when it demands a sacrifice of us that we prove our love for God. » CHASTITY « The vow of chastity requires of consecrated souls purity of heart and of the affections, thoughts, words and deeds. In this, too, Jesus Christ is our model: He was chaste, pure and holy. « He loved God His Father with the pure love of a virginal Heart; He loved souls and cleansed them from the stains of sin in His own Blood. In the Apocalypse, St. John tells us that he saw in Heaven “a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!” (...). Then one of the elders addressed me, saying: “(...) These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night within His Temple; and He who sits upon the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Ap 7.9-17) Although this multitude can be taken as standing for all those who have been redeemed, in a special way it represents those who have followed Christ as virgins, because it is these who are available, free from entanglements with earthly things, and ready to serve the Lord day and night in His Temple. » Unlike the « hundred and forty four thousand », the « multitude », here, is uncountable. The white robe in which these members of the Elect are clothed is interpreted by Sister Lucy as the symbol of their chastity. As for the « palms », they are the emblem of martyrdom. These believers attribute to God and the Lamb, indivisibly, their salvation. The explanation of the « Elder » refers to the vision which closes the Third Secret of Fatima: « those who have come out of the great tribulation » are the martyrs, whose victory is attributed to the Blood of the Lamb, because the death of Jesus is the cause of their constancy as well as of any other act of supernatural virtue. That is why Sister Lucy extends this grace to all consecrated souls, like the Third Secret extends to all those who are « making their way to God » the fruit of the martyrs’ blood. The bliss of this crowd takes on the liturgical form of an unending prayer here below where there is still the succession of « night » and « day », but in view of the life of bliss which the Elect will reach, led by « the Lamb », who has become the “Shepherd”. « St. John then goes on to narrate how he saw an Angel with a thurible in his hand come and stand by the altar of God: “he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar (...). And the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God.” (Ap 8.3-4) I do not really know, but I believe this Angel must stand for the priest, pure and chaste, who goes up to the altar and offers to God the prayers, offerings and virtues of the people. » Is this Angel Michael, or « the Angel of peace », wonder the exegetes? St. John leaves the question unresolved, but Sister Lucy is able to answer it, because she knows this Angel… personally! She calls him « the Guardian Angel » at the beginning of her book. And it is true that he played the role of a priest with the three young seers, in 1916, teaching them to unite with the Holy Sacrifice by reciting this prayer: « Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly, and I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for all the insults, sacrileges and indifferences whereby He Himself is offended. Through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I ask of Thee the conversion of poor sinners. » « Purity of heart, purity of affection, and purity of intention are, as it were, the fruit of chastity and its safeguard. In one of his letters, St. Paul writes: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, not in the passion of lust like heathen who do not know God,; that no man transgress, and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we solemnly forewarned you. For God has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” (1 Th 4.3-8) « And somewhere else St. Paul tells us: “Every one should remain in the state in which he was called. Were you a slave when called? Never mind. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity. For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, there let him remain with God (...). The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord, but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.” (1 Co 7.20-24; 32-35) « The primary object of our vow of chastity is this: to be free of earthly cares in order to dedicate ourselves more completely to the service of the Lord, and to love Him, and Him alone, more purely, with the purity of our hearts, our affections and our body, so that we may live more fully in intimate union with Christ. « “Do you not know – again it is the Apostle St. Paul speaking to us – that your bodies are members of Christ? (...) He who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. Shun immorality (...). Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Co 3.16-23) « By the vow of chastity we are doubly consecrated to God: He is our temple and we are the place where He dwells. St. John tells us this in the Apocalypse: “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb (...). Its gates shall never be shut by day – and there shall be no night there; they shall bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practises abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Ap 21.22-27) « What a wonderful thing this total gift of ourselves to the Lord is! By it our names are inscribed in the Lamb’s Book of Life. As the Lord says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Mt 5.8) « But already, in this life, pure souls enjoy a special intimacy and knowledge of God, who communicates and manifests Himself to them in Christ: “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” (Mt 11.26-27) And to whom should God reveal Himself if not to pure souls? They are those who have been chosen – in St. Paul’s words – « for the praise of His glory. (Ep 1.14) » POVERTY « The vow of poverty unites us to Christ who is poor, deprived of the goods of this world so that He could be free to dedicate Himself completely to the work entrusted to Him by the Father. And, as we learn from the words that He addressed to the Father, He succeeded: “I have glorified You on earth by finishing the work that You gave Me to do.” (Jn 17.4) And this is the object of our own vow of poverty: so that, freed from earthly things and the preoccupations they bring with them, we may be able, in union with Christ, to accomplish the mission which the Father has entrusted to us. « A rich young man went up to Jesus saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life? And Jesus said to him: (...) If you would enter life, keep the commandments. He said to him: Which? And Jesus said: You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honour your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbour as yourself. The young man said to him: All these I have observed; what do I still lack? Jesus said to Him: If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come follow Me.” (Mt 19.16-21) Those who wish to follow Jesus Christ more closely must not be absorbed in this world’s goods, as these will make them blind, impede the life of the apostolate, and prevent their full and exclusive dedication to God. « To those who give up everything in order to follow Him, the Lord gives, in exchange, in this life, the necessities of life, while inviting them to abandon themselves to divine Providence who cares for all; and in the life to come: a treasure in Heaven. « This is how Jesus Christ urges us to abandon ourselves with complete confidence to our heavenly Father, who is ever mindful of us: “Therefore I will tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying: What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Mt 6.25-33) « But Jesus also urges us to keep our treasures in a safe place - in Heaven: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steak For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Mt 6.19-21). « This is the purpose of our vow of poverty: so that our hearts may rest only in God. Then God will take care of us, and anything else we may need will be given to us. I myself can bear wonderful testimony to this truth. I left home at thirteen years of age, without worrying about what I was to wear or to eat; I abandoned myself completely to divine Providence in order to follow God’s will and until today, though I have never had any privileges, which I did not want, I have never lacked anything I needed. « God’s generosity is manifest in the reply Jesus gave to St. Peter when he asked what would be the reward for those who had left everything in order to follow Him: “Amen I say to you: (...) every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for My Name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19.27-29) « The phrase – will receive a hundredfold – shows us that what Jesus Christ requires of those who have given up the right to own material things for love of Him is not that they should be deprived of the necessities of life; otherwise He would not have promised them the hundredfold: “You will receive a hundredfold now in this time.” (Mk 10.30) What Jesus Christ asks of us, and what the vow of poverty signifies, is that we should renounce the right to possess things as if they were our own; also that we make use of everything that we need, but look upon it as if it were an alms, and use it as if it were on loan to us. In this way our heart remains free from earthly goods and can aspire to those of Heaven: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Mt 5.3) « The mission of consecrated persons is to work and sanctify themselves in union with Christ for the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus each consecrated soul is another Christ on earth, another lamb sent by God to take away the sins of the world. The way to accomplish this mission is to give our lives: “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.” (Jn 12.24) It is by death that we attain to life, and it is by means of the life that we thus attain that we save ourselves from death. It is in this sense that Our Lord goes on to say: “Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves Me must follow Me, and My servant will be with Me wherever I am. If anyone serves Me, My Father will honour him.” (Jn 12.25-26) « This is the glory of consecrated souls, the glory that they hope for from God and that raises them up to God. In a way, they can say like, and with, Jesus: “For this purpose I have come to this hour.” (Jn 12.27) « It was for this reason that, there in the heavens, close to the Sun which had gone pale in the presence of the Light of God, the Message wished to give us a taste of the glory enjoyed by those who have already reached the Kingdom of God, but who, here on earth, by the example of their lives and the light of their teaching have marked out for us the way to Heaven: Jesus, Mary and Joseph! « Ave Maria! »
Taken from He is Risen no 17, January 2004 |