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THE LIGHT IN THE NIGHT “Calls from the Message of Fatima” |
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LUCY SPEAKS TO SAVE SOULS
On 13 August, the children, illegally confined by the “Tinsmith”, were not at the celestial rendezvous. But Our Lady unexpectedly appeared to the seers at Valinhos on 19 August, and made known to them the « thirteenth call of the Message » that Sister Lucy entitles « The Call to the Apostolate » « “Pray, pray hard and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to make sacrifices and to pray for them.” (Our Lady, Fatima, 19 August 1917) « In this passage, the Message asks us to undertake an apostolate on behalf of our brothers and sisters. The apostolate is a continuation of the mission of Christ on earth; we must be co-workers with Christ in His work of Redemption, in the salvation of souls. There is the apostolate of prayer which must be the basis of every other apostolate, if it is to be effective and fruitful; there is the apostolate of self-denial: undertaken by those who make sacrifices, denying themselves for the good of their brothers and sisters; and there is the apostolate of charity, which is the life of Christ reproduced in us by our dedication of ourselves to God in the service of others. « Thus, to begin with, we have the apostolate of prayer, praying in union with Christ for the salvation of our brothers and sisters. Jesus Christ continues to pray on earth in the Sacrament of the altar, where He offers Himself continuously to the Father in propitiation for the salvation of all. » Sister Lucy is truly the best of catechists, the most reliable, the most exact, because she speaks as an eye witness of what she teaches. On 13 July 1929, while praying in the chapel of the Dorothean sisters of Tuy, she saw the Father, under the appearance of « the face of a man and His body to the waist », and the Son « nailed to the luminous Cross », in the Sacrament of the altar: « a little below the waist (of the man nailed to the Cross), suspended in the air, one could see a chalice with a large Host onto which were falling a few drops of blood that were flowing down from the cheeks of the Crucified and from a wound in the chest. These drops ran down over the Host and fell into the Chalice » This is a very exact representation, of extraordinary realism, of the Holy Sacrifice, such as it actually takes place during the Mass. Catholic theology does not teach otherwise, whether Protestants like it or not: « It is by our union with Christ in the Eucharist, Sister Lucy continues, that our prayer is raised to God for the salvation of our brothers and sisters. » Outside of this, there is no salvation. Sister Lucy leaves no place for ecumenical or interreligious “dialogue”, nor Catholic Action, nor the « new evangelisation ». The aim of all apostolate is to snatch souls from the flames of Hell. And here is the only means of succeeding : « Shortly before He gave Himself up to death, Jesus Christ said to His disciples: “Remain in Me, as I in you (...); For apart from Me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15.4; 5). These words mean that it is by our prayer that our apostolate is to bear fruit. Without prayer, we can do nothing! In His priestly prayer to the Father, Jesus said: “I pray not only for these but also for those who through their teaching will come to believe in Me, that they may all be one. Just as, Father, You are in Me and I am in You, so that they also may be one in Us… So that the world may believe it was You who sent Me.” (Jn 17.20-21). The Lord insists on our union with Him, so that our apostolate may bear fruit and the world may believe that He was sent by the Father. This insistence is the expression of the yearning for our salvation that wells up from His divine heart: He beseeches His Father for our salvation, for us to remain united amongst ourselves and with Him so that His redemptive work may bear fruit for all: “I pray (...) for those who through their teaching will come to believe in Me.” « And Jesus concluded His priestly prayer by asking the Father that we might share in His own life: “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am (...) I have made Your Name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.” (Jn 17.24; 26). Love is the link binding us to Christ; it is love that gives value to our prayer and makes it fruitful for the salvation of our brothers and sisters. » « The first step in our apostolate, and the necessary condition for it to bear fruit, is thus our union with Christ through prayer. Both vocal prayer, which places us in the presence of Christ, and the prayer of sacrifice when we unite ourselves with Christ in His sacrifice, and also the prayer of love whereby we abandon ourselves with Christ to the Father for the conversion of all. » The word « conversion » never appears in the ecumenical speeches of our pastors since the Second Vatican Council. In Sister Lucy’s writings and in her heart, it obviously refers in a special way to Russia. But she is forbidden to speak of this. So she continues: « Jesus Christ has given us the example. Before beginning His own apostolate in His public life, He withdrew to the desert in order to pray and do penance there, and fast for forty days: “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness. (...) And He ate nothing in those days.” (Lk 4.1-2). Moreover, the Evangelists frequently record that He would escape from the bustle of the crowds who were following Him and withdraw to pray in solitude. « On one of these occasions, when He rejoined His disciples, He found them unable to cast a devil out of a boy who was possessed. » « When, later on, they wanted to know why they had been unable to expel that demon, the Lord replied: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting” (Mk 9.29). This kind of persistent demon makes me think of temptations to pride, which are the most serious and difficult to overcome, both in ourselves and in others, because they blind us and prevent us from seeing the precipice down which we are slipping. As the Lord said, in such circumstances both prayer and penance are needed because only through them can we rediscover the virtue of humility which prompts us to ask God for His strength and grace. « In the Book of Exodus, we read that when the sentence of extermination was hanging over the People of Israel for having offended God by the sin of idolatry, Moses went up the mountain to meet God and implore Him to pardon His people. God heard Moses’ prayer and spared his people, punishing only those who had been guilty: “Whoever has sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book. But now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you; behold, My angel shall go before you.” (Ex 32.33-34). Here we see the Lord, who is ever good and merciful, co-operating with those who work together with Him; it is a model of the apostolate which is based on prayer, and which springs from direct contact with God. Moses is the apostle of the People of Israel, but before giving instructions to the people, he speaks with God and receives from God what he is to communicate to the people. Hence, God helps him, promising to send an Angel to go before him. » Since censorship prevents her from presenting her personal testimony, Sister Lucy has no difficulty substituting Sacred Scripture for it, as in the person of Moses… And, indeed, she could not put it better! It makes a strong impression to see her play the role of Moses, as God’s messenger to a proud and idolatrous people, even in Portugal! For « before giving instructions to the people, [she] spoke with [the Mother of] God and, received from [the Mother of] God, what [she] was to communicate to the people » It could even be said about her that « God helped [her], promising to send an Angel to go before [her] » She saw this angelic forerunner on 13 July 1917 « at the left of Our Lady and a little higher up », and he cried out in a loud voice: « Penance, Penance, Penance! » « Without this life of prayer and contact with God, every apostolate is fruitless, because it is God who must make effective what we do, what we say, and the efforts we make. » Failing to have heard the triple call of the Angel preceding the Message of Our Lady, one hundred two voyages to visit one hundred thirty-six countries, the equivalent of twenty-eight times round the world only succeeded in making people more arrogant and idolatrous. « Hence, the Message tells us: “Pray and make sacrifices.” so that, through your prayers, your words, your example, your acts of self-denial, your work and your charity, you will be able to help your brothers and sisters to get up again if they have fallen, to return to the right path if they have strayed away from it, and to make their way again to God if they are estranged from Him. » The last vision of the Third Secret dominates entirely Sister Lucy’s meditation on the aims of the true apostolate: to have souls « make their way to God ». The blood of the martyrs will do the rest, winning Heaven for them, not individually, but as families: « You will also be able to help them to overcome the difficulties, dangers and temptations that surround, seduce and pull them down. Very often, people are overcome and fall because they have no one at their side willing to pray and to make sacrifices for them, stretching out a hand to them, and helping them to follow a better path. « In this field of the apostolate, we all have a mission to accomplish which has been entrusted to us by God. We are all responsible for our neighbour. By Baptism we share in the priesthood of Christ our Saviour, and we are also incorporated into His Mystical Body, with a specific place and specific duties to perform. Human beings were not created to be strangers to one another, to ignore one another eternally, but rather to be companions to one another, brothers and sisters who love and help one another, and gather together around their Father who provides for their daily needs for food and clothing; from Him each one receives the same blessing and all are heading for the same destination, their Father’s House. « The true apostolate consists in this union of the children with their Father in Heaven. » However, we must expect to see that certain souls will persist in straying from the “family”, despite all our efforts: « It is this union which is the grace and the gate of salvation; if not, let us see what Christ’s priestly prayer says to us: “Holy Father, keep those You have given Me true to Your name, so that they may be one, as We are. While I was with them, I kept those You had given Me true to Your Name. I have watched over them and not one is lost, except the son of perdition.” (Jn 17.11-12). These words of Jesus should help us not to grow discouraged when we encounter in our path those sons of perdition who resist grace, the tenacity of our charity, of our efforts and sacrifices and prayers. They are the children of that other progeny whom Satan turns aside into the ways of perdition. » A mystery of predestination which casts a light on the mercy of our God towards us, and which invites us to imitate Him so as to win our brothers through « the apostolate of forgiveness » « This is in accordance with what God said to Moses: “Whoever has sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book. But now you go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you; behold, My angel shall go before you.” (Ex 32.33-34). Because some persist in their evil ways, the Lord, who is ever merciful, does not cause the rest to perish, but orders Moses to continue his apostolate and to lead his people in the ways of the Lord. Each one is responsible for his own acts, so that the one who sinned and persists in his sin, is to be blotted out from the Book of Life, but not his brother who repented and chose to be led by the Lord. « Yes, our God is truly merciful! And we, too, must be merciful, created as we have been in His image and likeness. This is why Jesus Christ said: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Mt 12.7), quoting the words of the prophet Hosea, who describes the feelings of the Heart of God as follows: “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.” (Hos 6.6). Here we have the apostolate of forgiveness, whereby we are to bring our brothers to the knowledge of God. Let them find in us sentiments of forgiveness which will be for them a reflection of the mercy of God! « Let us reflect that God has made the granting of His pardon to us dependent on the degree to which we ourselves forgive those who have wronged us in some way: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Mt 6.14-15). This obligation on us to forgive others requires us to overcome temptations of pride which lead to revenge. This law had already been proclaimed by God in the Old Testament: “You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself. I am Yahweh.” (Lv 19.18). As God here ordains, we have to resist the temptation to revenge, contempt or indifference, by the apostolate of charity which will lead us to forgive, to pay back evil with good, and to pray for those who persecute us. We have to imitate Jesus Christ who, on the cross, asked His Father to forgive those who had insulted, maltreated and crucified Him: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23.34) « And the Lord’s own words leave no room for doubt: “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one, so that your Father also who is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mk 11.25-26). In another place the Lord says to us: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Lk 6.27-28). This pardon is the fruit of the charity which burns in the heart of Christ and which must animate our apostolate to our brothers and sisters: “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!” (Lk 12.49) FOLLOW THE MUSIC! Suddenly, Sister Lucy seems to change the subject totally by reporting another word of Our Lady that she heard at Valinhos on 19 August. And yet she added it onto the same chapter on « the call to apostolate »: « However, this call of the Message includes another characteristic which should also mark our apostolate. When Our Lady was asked what was to be done with the offerings that the people had begun to leave at the place of the Apparitions in fulfilment of their promises, She replied: “Have two litters made. One is to be carried by you and Jacinta and two other girls dressed in white; the other one is to be carried by Francisco and three other boys vested in white albs. The money from the litters is for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and what is left over will help towards the construction of a chapel that is to be built here.” (Our Lady, 19 August, 1917) « The litters that the Message refers to here are not litters for carrying images but those used for carrying in procession the offerings made by the people to the Lord. In fact, the people were accustomed to thank God for His gifts by offering Him some of the fruits of their harvest, in accordance with each one’s means. These offerings were collected by stewards who placed them in litters which were carried processionally on important feast days. After the High Mass, they were carried in procession and offered to God in thanksgiving for the grace received and as a contribution to church expenses. « Our Lady clearly revealed, by Her answer, how pleasing to God this simple act of thanksgiving was, since we must show our gratitude to God and we also have a duty to take part in, and contribute to, the cost of the public honour that is paid to Him. A word, now, about the gesture that the Message asks us to make, that of joining with our brothers in bringing to Him our offerings, our thanksgiving, our prayers and our sacrifices: this constitutes an act of collaboration which animates and gives life to the apostolate, making us apostles of one another. « Some of the customs that the people of Fatima had at that time were reminiscent of those described in the Bible. I think that the people of that time, most of whom could neither read nor write, knew little or nothing about Bible history, apart from a few facts which a few people in the area, who did know how to read, were able to read about in summaries of Sacred History. At least, that is how it was with me. Only many years later was I able to read the Holy Bible, and only then did I discover the most intimate meaning of the Message and its connection with the Word of God. » These words are precious pearls. Here is at last the true “return to the Bible”, after one hundred years of modernist wanderings! After the death of Pius X, who had condemned it without really crushing the head of the serpent, Our Lady came down from Heaven to make an ignorant young girl Her messenger. Eighty years later, she writes a book which reveals the continuity of this Message with the Word of God and, in doing so, overcomes the heresies, for which modernism is the sewer in which they gather throughout the entire world. « Continuing our examination of this particular aspect of the apostolate, and making use of the similarities between incidents in Bible history and the customs of the people of Fatima at that time, let us recall the following instructions given by God to His people: “And Yahweh said to Moses: On the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present an offering by fire to Yahweh. And you shall do no work on this same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God. For whoever is not afflicted on this same day shall be cut off from his people. And whoever does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no work: it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.” (Lv 23.26-31) « It is not difficult to see in this “tenth day of the seventh month” Sundays and Holydays which the Church requires us to consecrate to God. On these days we are obliged to observe that law of the Lord; they are days on which we are to worship God, offering Him our prayers and our sacrifices. « On another occasion, God said to Moses: “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel (...) An altar of earth you shall make for Me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My Name to be remembered I will come to bless you » (Ex 20.22; 24). I do not know what interpretation the Church’s theologians give to this passage from Sacred Scripture. I myself find it enchanting because it shows us the tenderness of the fatherly love of God. And since we ourselves are, in Christ, descended from the Chosen People, to us too, today, these words of the Lord are addressed: “Where I cause My Name to be remembered I will come to bless you” God seems to deal with us like a father who listens to the prattling of his baby son and, as soon as the baby pronounces his name, he runs towards him, picks him up in his arms, fondling and caressing him. » The way Sister Lucy discovered the continuity between the unique revelation of the Old and New Testament with the « Message » of Fatima shows and confirms the conclusion to which a detailed study had already lead Father Alonso: « The history of redemption continues, he noted, and at Fatima it takes the particular form of a charismatic grace granted to the latest times of the Church. At Fatima, as at Pontevedra, new holy places are established as though the covenant between the persecuted sons of God and the Lord was being renewed. God offers a new pact of reconciliation and mercy, based on the most reliable guarantees: His love for the Holy Virgin, so privileged after His most loved Son, whom He makes the custodian of His treasures. And the great promise of the Heart of Mary is nothing other than the continuation and almost the fulfillment of all the previous promises which God bestowed on His people in the Old and New Testament: “These souls shall be dear to God, as flowers placed by Me to adorn His throne.” (13 June 1917). “I promise to assist them at the hour of their death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls” (10 December 1925). » But Sister Lucy is not permitted to talk about this universal mediation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary nor about the first Saturday reparatory devotion. So she continues: « In this passage, God also shows us how pleasing to Him are our offerings and sacrifices, when they are offered in thanksgiving for His benefits and in reparation for our own sins and those of others. God is the same today as then, hence what He asked of His people then, He asks of us today, even though the object and the form of the offering may have changed with the passage of time. » And this is how Our Lady’s requests for devotion to Her Immaculate Heart, and for reparation, made at Fatima, at Pontevedra, and at Tuy are nothing other than the prolongation of the demands from Yahweh to the Hebrews in the Old Testament! Therefore, how can Cardinal Ratzinger describe them as « private revelations » and censor them? They are intended for the entire world: « A few years ago, the Archbishop of Cizico said to me in conversation: “Do you know, Sister, the meaning of those litters which Our Lady told you to have made with the gifts that the people used to leave in the Cova da Iria? They were a prophecy of the litters used for the Pilgrim Virgin as she goes around the world, and the litter for the statue in the Chapel of the Apparitions.” I entirely agree with this interpretation because, in the mind of God, the same fact can have various meanings, and these journeys of Our Lady’s statue are yet another facet of the apostolate of the Message which She came to earth to bring, and which is travelling all over the world in search of people to bring them to God. « Thus is fulfilled Her prophecy: “For behold, henceforth all generations will call Me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for Me, and holy is His Name. And His Mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.” (Lk 1.48-50) « Ave Maria! » Taken from He is Risen no 14, October 2003, p. 5-9 |
