He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

SISTER LUCY, THE CATECHIST OF OUR LADY

I: The calls of the Angel to make one’s way to God through prayer and the Sacraments.

II: The calls of Our Lady of the Rosary to offend God no longer.

Mgr Jean-Louis Papin, former superior of the Seminary of Nantes, today Bishop of Nancy, Vice-President of the French episcopate, is convinced of one thing: « The Gospel must be proclaimed in a radically new manner. » Nevertheless, the debate among the bishops at Lourdes was acrimonious, and their plenary meeting did not succeed in coming to an agreement. « I feel the brakes, explains Mgr Papin. Some are “scared to death” of losing what little remains and of frightening the catechism teachers. » (La Croix, 10-11 November 2004)

What an admission of bankruptcy, twenty-five years after Pierres vivantes of which our bishops forbade all criticism and ten years after the supposed Catechism of the Catholic Church (CEC)!

On the other hand, « as for the Bishops of Quebec, they came to an agreement » announces Brother Pierre in the Renaissance Catholique (n^o 124, January 2005). Under the title “Jesus Christ, a Path of Humanisation”, they published catechetical guidelines that are summarised in this directive: « Open up to the encounter with Christ, path of integral humanisation for persons and for the world. » Brother Pierre remarks that it diabolically perseveres in the error of the CCC, denounced by our Father as « a catechism of pride, a catechesis of deceit » in a Book of Accusation taken to the Vatican on 13 May 1993 by two hundred and fifty representatives of the Catholic Counter-Reformation in the Twentieth Century.

The error, « of a great simplicity » and « ingenious in its new synthesis of divine Revelation », consists in granting « to man, to every man, to every woman as well, without distinction, and to each of us, poor sinners », what God the Father wished to give to Jesus and Mary alone. Quite simply!

It is so flagrant that Mgr Sandri admitted to me that « if we began to examine, that in itself would mean you are right; we cannot do that » (infra, p. 19). Today we have the consequences of this dereliction of duty: it took only ten years for the supposed “catechism” to bear the venomous fruits that could be expected. The complaint of the Prophet Jeremiah resounds throughout the world: children are asking for bread and there is no one to give them any, to teach them catechism.

Nevertheless, the impasse in which our bishops have found themselves for four years now does have a solution. The book of Sister Lucy recapitulating the “Calls from the Message of Fatima”, which we translated and commented on during the past year and a half (He is Risen n^o 12, August 2003 - n^o 25, September 2004), offers them a doorway of light, which corresponds to the promise of Our Lady: « In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved » Assuredly, while it is being lost in Rome and at Lourdes, the dogma of the faith is shining at Coimbra in the ardent soul of Sister Lucy, the messenger of Our Lady of Fatima.

Her book is proof of this. It offers material for a complete catechism that we could entitle “The Immaculate Heart of Mary, a path of divinisation”

By mean of « questions and answers », it would use the answers of Sister Lucy to the questions of her correspondents, all of whom she considers to be « pilgrims », whether they have the Faith or whether they do not have « the happiness of possessing this gift of God ».

In the introduction, it would be easy to explain why such a catechism is based on the authority of Sister Lucy. We have remarked how she does not hesitate to exhort her readers with the terms and the authority of St. Peter himself in his first Epistle (1 Pt 2.11), saying that « we are all pilgrims who are advancing towards eternity, whether we are aware of it or not. The letters that you address to me are countless and they contain numerous requests and many questions. »

« I really would have liked to be able to reply to each one separately, but as it is impossible for me to do so, I am replying to all in a general way with the “Calls from the Message of Fatima”, which it has pleased God to entrust to me for all men. » By these last words, she claims to enjoy a universal magisterium, a claim that no one is able to contest because it is based on well established historical facts, recognised by the authority of the Church: the apparitions of the angel and of Our Lady of Fatima. This is why Sister Lucy can present herself most truly, like Abraham to whom she does not fear to compare herself, as « a benediction » for « all the families of the earth » (Gn 12.3), mediatrix of a renewed covenant, in favour of the souls « who are making their way to God » like Moses approaching the Burning Bush, according to the vision of the Third Secret.

Thus, she frees us from the modernist subjectivism of which our bishops remain prisoners, and brings us back to the objective purity of the Catholic faith, based on the historical facts related in the Gospels. The catechism of Sister Lucy reposes on the reality of Fatima, closer to us and even more verifiable than the Gospel, taught to children who are born and raised in a world given over to a « diabolical disorientation ».

The first lessons of this catechism, a path of divinisation, would have us hear the voice of the Angel of the Third Secret, recalling the ultimate goal of our existence. A single “question-answer” and all is said:

• WHAT IS THE AIM OF ALL OUR WORKS?

• THE AIM OF ALL OUR WORKS IS TO KNOW GOD AND TO MAKE OUR WAY TO HIM BY MEANS OF THE SACRAMENTS AND PRAYER.

From the outset, we must go back to the picture of the « families of the little shepherds » painted by Sister Lucy in her first chapter, in order to teach how « all homes must be the first schools where children learn to know God and to make their way to Him by means of the sacraments and prayer ».

This chapter of Sister Lucy alone offers a perfect « set of guidelines » capable of meeting with the approval of all our bishops desirous of making catechesis an « experience » of Christian life. Sister Lucy portrays restored creation, after the Fall, by the hand of God « covering the bodies that had stripped themselves, through sin, of the garment of grace ». Thus the Christian life already appears entirely expressed in the simple and poor way of life, in which clothing is not « an adornment in the service of human vanity and frivolity », but a gift from God to defend us against sin, « a sign of penance and of punishment for sin committed, as well as a reminder to us of the laws of God that we are all obliged to obey »

The first of these laws to which we are subject, « rich and poor, learned and ignorant, superiors and inferiors », is that of work carried out « in a spirit of reparation for our sins and charity for the salvation of our neighbour ».

It seems that this thought of the salvation of souls, the primary “orientation” of all catechesis, new or old, was absent from the preoccupations of our bishops at Lourdes. In any case, no communiqué divulged this concern, expressed in this exclamation of Sister Lucy laden with pathos, capable of touching the most hardened hearts:

« Dear pilgrims, if by the work we do, and the lives we lead, we can offer salutary penance to God; if we can by this means merit Heaven and win salvation, why would we want to be lost? »

In fact, what our pastors cruelly lack is to take seriously the cry of the Angel with a flaming sword of the Third Secret of Fatima, revealed on 26 June 2000, the very year that they decided to open their “workshop” on catechesis:

« The Angel, pointing to the earth with his right hand cried out in a loud voice:

“Penance, Penance, Penance!” »

It is indeed this cry that needs to be made heard at the moment of implementing this Marian catechesis of the third millennium! At the time that she was writing, before 1974, Sister Lucy was not authorised to speak of it. But she is unable to detach her thought from it. Therefore, she resorts to Holy Scripture, quoting the Angel Raphael approving the penance of Tobias:

« The Angel Raphael said to Tobias: “When you prayed, it was I who presented and read the record of your prayer before the Glory of the Lord; and I did the same thing when you used to bury the dead.” (Tb 12.12). »

It is the biblical illustration of the vision that continues the Third Secret, « of the Holy Father praying for the souls of the corpses he met on his way »

Throughout her book, Sister Lucy demonstrates a thorough knowledge of Holy Scripture. Therefore, the catechism that would take its inspiration from it would respond very exactly to one of the concerns of our pastors voiced at Lourdes, according to La Croix: « Some bishops asked that the Word of God contained in the Bible be given a greater role. »

They also wished « that the notion of “Christian community” might be clarified, a notion touched on » in the so-called guidelines entitled Going to the Heart of the Faith, published in 2003 « after an already painful labour ». The remainder of this first chapter of Sister Lucy specifically replies to this concern by a heavenly picture of the family atmosphere, the fruit of such “penance”.

After that, the catechism would respect the chronological order followed by Sister Lucy in The Calls from the Message of Fatima in order to expound and comment on them, from the first prayer of the Angel, revealed in the spring of 1916, to the last prayer of the beautiful Lady who finally said Her name on 13 October 1917:

« I am Our Lady of the Rosary », and She entreated: « Do not offend the Lord Our God any more for He is already too greatly offended! »

MARIAN CATECHETICS

The first nine “Calls” prepared the seers to receive the Virgin Mary. For us, they are a veritable apprenticeship of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that God wants established in this world in order to snatch souls from Hell in the other, and to obtain peace for them here below as well.

During his first apparition in the spring of 1916, the envoy of Heaven said to them: « Fear not! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me! » Then he taught them the prayer that obtains peace: « My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee. I beg pardon for those who do not believe, who do not adore, who do not hope, who do not love Thee ». War, therefore, is the retribution for impiety. This is the first lesson of this first “call”, and the second is that it is possible to make reparation capable of obtaining the end of the war, for the Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of our supplications.

I. THE CALLS OF THE ANGEL TO MAKE ONE’S WAY
TO GOD THROUGH PRAYER AND THE SACRAMENTS.

• WHAT IS THE CATHOLIC FAITH?

• THE CATHOLIC FAITH IS THE TRUTH OF GOD TAUGHT BY THE ONE CATHOLIC CHURCH, WITHOUT WHICH NO ONE CAN BE SAVED.

The first word of this « supplication » is: « I believe ». Where the Catholic faith does not yet exist or where it no longer does as a result of apostasy, there is no peace, but war of all against all, as we can see more and more from one day to the next.

Is there a lesson more firmly rooted in “everyday life”? This is why « the first Call that God addresses to us here through His Messenger is a call to faith: “My God, I believe!” »

Sister Lucy received the infused grace of this Catholic faith through the opened hands of the Virgin Mary that reflected « the Light of the immense Being who is God ». In order to awaken or re-awaken it in the hearts of our children, it would suffice to enlighten them with what Sister Lucy, a true glowing lamp in our present night, says.

This light, « penetrating into our hearts and even into the depths of our souls », reveals to us not only the existence of God, but also His will for the whole of creation of which He is the Master, and in which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit « in order to teach us, to guide our feet in the way of truth, justice, charity and life. Any way other than the one He has mapped out for us is a way that leads to eternal death »

In these few lines, Sister Lucy settles the question raised by the Jesuit Bernard Sesboüe in his latest book: “Outside the Church, No Salvation. History of a Formula and Problems of Interpretation”: 396 pages designed to convince us that the reform of the Second Vatican Council is not in contradiction with what the Catholic Church taught in an irreformable manner prior to it, because behind these contradictions that this Jesuit calls “historical ruptures”, is concealed, according to him, « the continuity of the intention of faith ». At the same time, he shows that he has lost, perhaps with the best « intention » in the world, the dogma of the Faith by attributing to Christ a mediation more universal than that of the Roman Catholic Church.

Sister Lucy forcefully protects us from this very error by recalling that « the Church of God is one: one and only, united by the bonds of forgiveness, love and faith. It is one and Catholic or universal, as Jesus taught us and commanded us: “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (Mk 16.15-16) »

That being the case, the « second call of the Message: I adore », the subject of the fourth chapter of Sister Lucy, brings to light the idolatry of which Pope John Paul II is guilty by inviting bonzes and Tibetan lamas to adore their solid gold Buddha enthroned on the tabernacle of the high altar of St. Peter’s Church, at Assisi, on 27 October 1986. This example was followed by Mgr Guerra, rector of the sanctuary of Fatima, who on 5 May 2004 welcomed sixty Hindus to the Capelinha in order to celebrate their gods and goddesses, and to pray for peace! In the light of this scandal, we understand the « offence » made to God by ecumenism and interfaith enterprises, fruits of a heretical and schismatic Council; we understand as well that an Angel of Heaven descended from Heaven in order to prepare the way for the universal mediation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the last remedy for this universal apostasy.

• WHAT IS THE CATHOLIC RELIGION?

• THE CATHOLIC RELIGION IS A LOVE.

From faith springs hope. The « third call from the Message: I hope », is illustrated by an example taken from the Old Testament, but this is done in order to turn our eyes towards the vision of the Third Secret: « If the Israelites who had been mortally wounded were healed by looking at the bronze serpent that Moses had nailed to a post, how much more we, if we can, with faith and confidence, lift up our eyes to Christ, raised up on the wood of His cross. » Here once again, the “Third Secret” is hinted at by depicting for our eyes « a large Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with its bark ».

From faith and hope spring the « fourth call from the Message: I love Thee ». Sister Lucy is a nun for whom the Catholic religion is a love. This is what must be taught today, but without forgetting that love is proved by sacrifice.

« Our love must be sincere, joyful and self-sacrificing, like the love of a good son who loves his father and does everything that he knows will please him. Even if he has to deny himself in doing so, he will do it with joy because his happiness is to see his father happy; on the other hand, his father’s pleasure will in turn benefit the son because the father, being pleased with his son, will take him in his arms, heap good things on him and do everything for him. »

Can a better way of teaching catechism be imagined? When reading Sister Lucy, everyone rediscovers the soul of a child. It is on this condition that the « fifth call from the Message: “I beg pardon” », will not find us deaf, « for we all need to obtain the pardon of God ». The first preparation for confession is linked to the forgiveness of injuries taught by Our Lord: « According to the “Our Father”, we cannot obtain pardon from God unless we ourselves first forgive our brothers. It follows that we must not harbour resentment, ill-will, dislike, and still less a desire for vengeance. Our forgiveness must be generous, complete and self-sacrificing. »

Precisely, « the sixth and sevenths calls from the Message » urge old and young, by the voice of the Guardian Angel, to offer constantly to the Most High « prayers and sacrifices » as proofs of true charity. This is the principle and foundation of the “new,” although very ancient, catechesis: « It is only today that I understand that in this way, God has brought our attention back to the path that He had decided on for His creatures from the beginning of creation. »

• HOW SHOULD WE PRAY?

• WE SHOULD PRAY CONSTANTLY, ADDING SACRIFICE TO PRAYER.

Sister Lucy then offers to catechism teachers a brief treatise on prayer that is a pure masterpiece, exhorting all souls not only to set aside a few moments in order to « make their way to God », but also to remain constantly in His presence

« We must consider that God and our Guardian Angel are close to us, and that they see what we do and with what intentions we act. We must, therefore, sanctify our work, our rest, our meals, our wholesome leisure activities, as though they were a continual prayer. Knowing that God is present, it is enough to call Him to mind and from time to time say a few words of love to Him: “I love You, Lord” »

Nevertheless, prayer that is not accompanied by sacrifice is ineffective. This is why the « seventh call from the Message », which concludes the commentary on the second apparition of the “Guardian Angel”, is a call to sacrifice: « Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. »

Learning to make sacrifices concerns adults as much as children studying catechism: « Making sacrifices enriches us with grace, strengthens us in faith and charity, makes us more worthy of the esteem of God and of our neighbour, and frees us from temptations to egoism, greed, envy and self-indulgence. »

This is how a catechism recopying Sister Lucy would reply to the great concern of our bishops, namely, assisting parents and catechism teachers.

• HOW SHOULD WE RECEIVE COMMUNION?

• WE SHOULD RECEIVE COMMUNION IN A SPIRIT OF REPARATION IN ORDER TO CONSOLE THE GOOD GOD.

It was during the third apparition of “the Guardian Angel” that the children heard the « eighth call from the Message »: “« Eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God. »”

Ever since this extraordinary event, without any precedent other than the encounter at the beginning of sacred history between Abraham and Melchizedek who « brought bread and wine » (Gn 14.18), « the Gospel must be proclaimed in a radically new manner », according to Mgr Papin. Sister Lucy explains why: « This call is quite explicit in the Gospel, but it is poorly understood, forgotten, brushed aside, and what is even sadder, outraged. » Examples are, alas, abundant!

Many profanations of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ could be mentioned; however, following the example of Sister Lucy, an incomparable catechism teacher, we will begin by instilling in children positive faith in the Holy Eucharist, in which Our Lord becomes « our spiritual food, our daily Bread that nourishes the supernatural life within us ». We could then make them weigh up the offensive indifference shown « by ungrateful men » towards this divine sacrament, and inspire a shiver of concern at the thought of the fate that awaits them:

« Christ truly shed His Blood for all humanity, for all, without excluding anyone. Nevertheless, it is also true that not all take an interest and strive to welcome Jesus Christ, the price of their redemption, and they exclude themselves from Redemption. How can we not think of so many people who do not know, or who do not want to nourish themselves with His Body and His Blood? What will become of them? »

Under a headline that is meant to be reassuring, “Christians in France, the adventure continues”, La Croix publishes overwhelming statistics, which belie this fake optimism, and which echo the anguished interrogation of Sister Lucy: « What has happened? wonders Jean-Luc Pouthier. In twenty years, the number of diocesan priests has diminished by half. » It has dropped from 34,000 to 17,000, of which only 12 % are less than fifty years old.

« Ordinations have stagnated at barely a hundred per year. Parishes have experienced the same fate: 19,000 compared to 38,000 and, for want of priests, the dioceses have undertaken their “reorganisation”. In 1995, the diocese of Sées (Orne) reduced its parishes from 517 to 37. Regular Sunday practice fell to 8 %, and even that was only church attendance at least once per month. »

One might well say that France « has changed more during these two decades than during the past two centuries ». By what revolution? By what “Reformation”… conciliar, to call it by its name?

« Yet in 1965, Catholicism seemed to be on the verge of succeeding in its so often delayed adaptation to the modern world. The Second Vatican Council had opened wide the doors to hope. » Well, it was a failure! Yet rather than acknowledging it, the author continues: « Too late? The following years were those of a collapse, of a burial of institutions, of the Catholic Crisis », according to the title of a book, the diagnosis of which is surprisingly exact: « Men are no longer “from God”, they are “gods” ».

This was also the judgement of Paul VI in his closing speech of the Council on 7 December 1965. Far from being offended by this autolatry, however, the Pope proclaimed that « we also, we more than anyone else, have the cult of man »! Forty years later, the result is there: « An essential chain has been broken, that of transmission. The low rate of catechised children, less than 30 % of the present generation, heralds almost automatically a period of indifference or of a religious void that leaves much room for Providence to manifest itself. » (La Croix, 6 December 2004)

This is a conclusion that leaves not the least « room » for soul-searching, for calling into question the catastrophic Conciliar Reformation. In view of such blindness, we would rather deserve that « Providence » abandon us to our erring ways!

God, however, is good! Nevertheless we must recognise the hand of His Providence where it acts, for example, by lending an ear to the “calls” that the Angel makes heard on earth through the “catechism” of Sister Lucy.

She begins by pointing out that, notwithstanding the abandonment in which « ungrateful men » leave Him, our Saviour, « enclosed within our tabernacles, offered on our altars, continues to offer Himself to the Father as a victim for the remission of the sins of humanity, in the hope that many generous people will wish to be united to Him, to become one with Him by sharing in His sacrifice, in order to offer themselves with Him to the Father as victims in expiation for the sins of the world. »

Like « the Bishop dressed in White » of the Third Secret, of whom Sister Lucy did not have the right to speak when she wrote her book, who « was killed by a group of soldiers », as well as « the Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people, men and women of different ranks and positions »

In them, « Christ offers Himself to the Father as a victim, in the members of His Mystical Body, which is the Church. This is really the meaning of this call from the Message that asks us to offer to the Most Holy Trinity the merits of Christ the Victim, in reparation for the sins by which He Himself is offended, as the Angel taught the three children to pray:

“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He Himself is offended. Through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I ask of You the conversion of poor sinners.” »

• WHY DO WE OBTAIN SALVATION BY MEANS OF THE MERITS OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY?

• WE OBTAIN SALVATION BY MEANS OF THE MERITS OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT GOD HAS ORDAINED.

The commentary on the first words of the prayer to the Holy Trinity is the « ninth call from the Message ». Before explaining it, however, Sister Lucy ask a question: « We know that the merits and prayer of Jesus Christ are sufficient to make reparation for and to save the world; why then does the Message invoke the merits of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and ask us to join to It our prayers, our sacrifices, and our reparation? »

– I have to say that I do not know! Nor do I know what explanation the theologians of the Church would give me if I were to ask them. »

The truth is that the good “pilgrims of Fatima” have never doubted the power of intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Those who raise objections are the « theologians » tagging along behind Fr. Dhanis, an exact counterpart of the “scribes” who confronted Jesus. So, « I meditated and thought » wrote Sister Lucy. The magnificent result corresponds precisely to the project of Mgr Papin, of « proclaiming the Gospel in a radically new manner. »

« I took the Gospel and I saw that from the very beginning Jesus Christ united to His redemptive work the Immaculate Heart of Her whom He chose to be His Mother. The work of our redemption began at the moment when the Word descended from Heaven in order to assume a human body in the womb of Mary. From that moment, and for the next nine months, the blood of Christ was the blood of Mary, since it issued forth from Her Immaculate Heart; the Heart of Christ beats in unison with the Heart of Mary.

« We can think, too, that the aspirations of the Heart of Mary were completely identified with the aspirations of the Heart of Christ; the ideal of Mary had become the same as that of Christ Himself, and the love in the Heart of Mary was the love in the Heart of Christ for the Father and for all men; from the beginning, the entire work of Redemption passed through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, thanks to the bonds of Her close and intimate union with the divine Word.

As St. Pius X said, « Could not God have given us, in another way than through Mary, the Redeemer of the human race and the Founder of the Faith? Since, however, it has pleased Eternal Providence that the God-Man should be given to us through the Virgin, and since She, having conceived Him by the productive power of the Holy Spirit, actually bore Him in Her womb, what remains except that we received Jesus from the hands of Mary » (Ad diem illum, 2 February 1904)

Mgr Papin remarked on the « fear » of certain bishops. Here there is no fear: we only have to follow Christ, our unique Saviour, Who decided, from the very womb of His Mother, to « unite Her to His redemptive work », after having chosen Her as Mother even before being conceived. For the normal course of affairs is totally upset: in this one case, it is the Child who chose His Mother!

He associates Her so closely to His redemptive work that all grace comes to poor sinners « through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary », both « victims for the salvation of men », wrote Sister Lucy: Jesus offering the Body and shedding the Blood received from Mary, in order to give them to eat and to drink « Under the appearances of consecrated bread and wine ».

The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are therefore inseparable even in the confection of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, as Sister Lucy saw it in the Eucharistic and Trinitarian theophany of Tuy:

« Beneath the right arm of the Cross, there stood Our Lady with Her Immaculate Heart in Her hand… It was Our Lady of Fatima with Her Immaculate Heart in Her left hand, without sword or roses, but with a crown of thorns and flames », that is to say, adorned with the emblems of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The explanation of this vision offers the occasion for an admirable catechesis on God, under the title of the « ninth call from the Message ».

• HOW SHOULD WE ADDRESS GOD?

• WE SHOULD ADDRESS GOD BY SAYING TO HIM: « MOST HOLY TRINITY, FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT. »

In order to expound on the difficult mystery of one God in three Persons, Sister Lucy does not begin with an abstract explanation of the words “Trinity” and “Person”. She brings us into the presence of God, as “the Guardian Angel” did with the three seers in 1916, by addressing this prayer to Him: « Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly. » It would be good if the catechism teacher would imitate the Angel by not hesitating to kneel on the ground, and bow down with his forehead touching the ground while repeating this prayer.

Then comes the catechism lesson: « We are dealing here with a mystery that has been revealed to us and that we will only be able to comprehend perfectly in Heaven, writes Sister Lucy. We believe it, because God revealed it, and we know that our limited understanding is very far from comprehending the power and the wisdom of God. »

After having taken examples drawn from creation and Holy Scripture, Sister Lucy describes what she knows from experience:

« The presence of the three divine Persons, Who will draw us ever further into the depths of the supernatural life if we always follow the path pointed out for us by the light of the word of God. »

The chapter ends as it began by a prayer of the holy nun, an ardent prayer bursting forth from the heart of the greatest saint of the twentieth century.

« O Holy Trinity, Whom I adore, Whom I love, Whose eternal praises I am to sing! In me You are light, You are grace, You are love! I enter into You and I am engulfed in the love of Your Being. Ave Maria! »

II. THE CALLS OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY
TO OFFEND THE GOOD GOD NO LONGER

The 13 May 1917 is a memorable date in the history of humanity. On that day « the three poor children from Aljustrel » heard for the first time the « call to the daily recitation of the Rosary » in order to obtain peace in the world and the end of the war, a call repeated month after month until 13 October by Our Lady in person, come down « from Heaven » where She resides in the flesh… For Heaven exists, and Purgatory also.

• HOW DO WE GO TO HEAVEN?

• WE GO TO HEAVEN BY RECITING MANY ROSARIES.

« The thought that I was talking to someone who had come from Heaven, Sister Lucy writes, prompted me to ask whether I, too, would have the joy of going to Heaven.

– Yes, you will. »

– And Jacinta?

– She, as well.

– And Francisco?

– He, as well, but he must say many Rosaries. »

Being a good catechism teacher, Sister Lucy hastens to extend this recommendation made to Francisco to all human beings. « It is not that saying many Rosaries, as such, is an indispensable condition for going to Heaven, but that it is essential to pray. » Now, the Rosary is the prayer that is the most accessible to all.

It is not less necessary to prepare ourselves for going to Heaven by means of purification, in this world by sacrifice and self-denial, or in the other world by a stay in Purgatory, a place of expiation. Sister Lucy heard Our Lady tell her that a girl that she knew who had recently died would remain there « until the end of the world ».

Here Sister Lucy points out that sacrifice is necessary for all men, « even for those who do not have the happiness of possessing the gift of faith. They, too, are confronted with sacrifice, because the whole of humanity is marked by the sign of the redeeming Cross of Christ, even the men who do not know it or do not wish to benefit from it.

In order to express it and make it understood, Sister Lucy, perhaps inspired by the vision of the Holy Father « praying for the souls of the corpses he met on his way », formulates very briefly the whole mystery of Redemption:

« Sin brings with it the weight of the cross »

Nevertheless, « for the Cross of Christ to be of benefit to us, each of us must take up his own cross with faith and love and carry it after Christ and in union with Christ »

This is why Our Lady asks us all, Sister Lucy insists, what She asked of Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta on 13 May 1917:

« Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners? »

If truly this « Message » is « for all », as Sister Lucy says, it is enough to revitalise a “new catechesis”, in the light of the words of Our Lady punctuating the « poor and humble “yes” of the children with a promise of the help of grace: “Then you will have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your consolation.” »

« Oh! how enlightening these words of Our Lady are, Sister Lucy exclaims. For us, they are a brilliant beacon! We are aware of our own weakness and we know that, of ourselves, we are not capable of producing the fruits of eternal life unless we are united to Christ, as He told us in the Gospel: “He who remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit. For without Me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15.5).

« This is why our Heavenly Mother promises us the consolation of the grace of God: that is to say strength to assist our weakness and a grace to console, encourage, help and protect us. This certainty engenders in our hearts an inspiration: we must place our trust in God.

« Bearing the sacrifices that come up daily transforms our life into a slow martyrdom that purifies us, elevates us in the supernatural life and prepares the encounter of our soul with God. This is where incomparable treasures of spiritual life are to be found! He who has understood these things is filled with Light. He lives in this Light, which is not that of the sun or of the stars, but which flashes out of the source from which all other light emanates and receives its being. It is a living Light, which sees and penetrates at the same time as it enlightens, and makes us see what it wishes to show us. Such is the living Light of God. »

I ask you, My Lord Bishops of France and Canada, could you imagine a more direct manner of « going to the heart of the Faith »?

• WHY DOES OUR LADY ASK FOR THE DAILY RECITATION OF THE ROSARY?

• OUR LADY ASKS FOR THE DAILY RECITATION OF THE ROSARY BECAUSE THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD.

It is significant that Sister Lucy did not think of posing this question to Our Lady, for the good reason that we explained last time, following the thought of the Abbé de Nantes: in the eyes of the seers, the requests of the beautiful Lady, so beautiful, so beautiful! were orders. The Blessed Virgin said: the Rosary must be said every day. Why? Because She said so. And that is all there is to it.

« Why did She not say to attend Mass? »

Lucy begins by admitting that she did not think of asking for explanations. She does not refuse, however, to give some, on her own responsibility:

« I realised that God is Father, and since He is our Father He adapts Himself to the needs and possibilities of His children. Now, if God, through Our Lady, had asked us to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion every day, a great many people could have said, quite rightly, that this was not possible for them to do: some, on account of the distance separating them from the nearest church where Mass is celebrated; others on account of their occupations, the duty of their state in life, their job, the state of their health, etc., which prevent them. »

These are altogether prosaic reasons:

« On the other hand, the Rosary is accessible to all, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, great and small […]. Since we all need to pray, God asks of us, as a kind of daily measure, a prayer that is within our reach: the prayer of the Rosary. We can recite it either in common or in private, either in Church in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament or at home, with the rest of the family or alone, when travelling or while walking quietly in the fields. A housewife can say the Rosary while she rocks her baby in the cradle or does the housework. Each day has twenty-four hours... It is not asking a great deal to set aside a quarter of an hour for the spiritual life, for our intimate and familiar converse with God! »

But here are more lofty considerations:

« On the other hand, I believe that, after the liturgical prayer of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the recitation of the Rosary or of the chaplet, in view of the origin and sublime nature of the prayers that compose it, and of the mysteries of the Redemption that we recall and on which we meditate, is the prayer the most pleasing to God, and the most advantageous to our souls. If such were not the case, Our Lady would not have asked for it so insistently.

This is so true that Sister Lucy adds this:

« Even those people who are able to attend Mass every day should not neglect to say their daily Rosary. »

Why? Because « such people can consider praying the Rosary as a way of preparing themselves to participate better in the Eucharist, or as an act of thanksgiving made during the day. »

• WHY DOES GOD WANT TO ESTABLISH IN THE WORLD DEVOTION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY?

• GOD WANTS TO ESTABLISH IN THE WORLD DEVOTION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY IN ORDER TO LEAD SOULS TO A TOTAL CONSECRATION.

« The eleventh Call from the Message: “Jesus wants to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart”.

« Establishing in the world the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Sister Lucy explains, means bringing people to a total consecration. »

And what is a « total consecration »? The reply to this question is the « radically new manner to proclaim the Gospel » sought by Mgr Papin:

« We all know what the heart of a mother represents in a family: it is love! It is truly love that causes mothers to give such care to their babies in the cradle, it is love that presses them to sacrifice themselves, to devote themselves to them, always to rush to their assistance. All children trust in their mother, and they all know that they have a place of special affection in her heart, which loves them deeply. It is the same with us and the Virgin Mary. »

Calling to mind the promise that Our Lady made to her: « My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God », Sister Lucy steps into the background in order to make this “private revelation” a Message of utmost urgency addressed to all men: « Hence, the Heart of Mary is for all Her children the refuge and the way that leads to God. »

In actual fact, there is nothing more traditional and more ancient than this novelty! « God proclaimed this refuge and this way to all humanity immediately after the fall of original sin. Thus the Lord said to the Devil, who had tempted the first human beings, and had induced them to disobey the divine order they had been given: “I will put enmity between you and the Woman, and between your offspring and Hers. He will crush your head while you will lie in wait for His heel.” (Gn 3.15). The new generation that would be born of this Woman foretold by God will triumph in the battle against the progeny of Satan, to the point of crushing its head. Mary is the Mother of this new generation, as if She were a new tree of life, planted by God in the garden of the world so that all Her children can be nourished by Her fruits. »

Thus, in the most innocent manner but also the most indisputable, is established the dogma of the universal Mediation of Mary, so disparaged and finally rejected by the Second Vatican Council! Here, therefore, is a « radically new » manner of proclaiming the Gospel, in comparison with forty years of conciliar “reform”. Contrary to all the “fears” of the bishops, here is the reform of the reform. This catechism will be a total catechism, which will not merely teach students the dogma of the Faith, but will also teach them how to live it. It involves a radical conversion, which is precisely what the « total consecration » to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is:

« Thus we see that devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary will be established in the world by means of a true consecration, which is conversion and total self-giving, as, in the Consecration, the bread and wine are converted into the Body and Blood of Christ, which He drew, along with His entire human being, from the Heart of Mary. Hence it is that this Immaculate Heart will be for us the refuge and the way that leads to God. »

The next three calls are the pure echo of the three parts of the great “Secret” entrusted by Our Lady to Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta on 13 July 1917. They literally form a “short path” as they say, allowing the person who takes it to follow this « way that leads to God », without veering to the right or to the left.

• DOES HELL EXIST?

• YES, HELL DOES EXIST AND I COULD FALL INTO IT.

Those who stray from the road that leads to God, that is to say, from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, fall into Hell. The children saw this with their very eyes… and heard, on 13 July 1917: « Cries and groans of pain and despair that were horrifying to hear and made us tremble with fright. » And everyone must say to himself: I could fall into it. Is there a task more urgent than to make this « Call to reflect on eternal life » heard throughout the entire world, in order that souls do not fall into Hell?

For this vision of Hell given to three children reminds our generation, forgetful of this eternal truth, that it is a bitter struggle, a battle between « two progenies that are at enmity with each other. Thus they are drawn up one opposite the other: the progeny of Satan and that of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Satan leads his own into the way of sin; Mary, as the Mother of the children of God, leads them in the way of truth, justice and love. Because God is Love, and all His children are characterised by love! And whereas the children of God ascend by the way of love to the possession of eternal happiness in the Kingdom of God, their Father, the sons of Satan, dragged down by their turpitudes, descend into the abyss of eternal punishment.

« There is no shortage of unbelievers in the world who deny these truths, but it is certain that they do not cease to exist because of the fact that they deny them! Their incredulity will not deliver them from the pains of Hell if their lives of sin should lead them to it. »

All of Holy Scripture teaches this, for two thousand years now, but « at Fatima God sent us His Message as further proof of these truths, bringing them to our minds so that we do not allow ourselves to be deceived by the false teaching of unbelievers who deny them, and of those who have left the true path, and who distort these truths. »

This final comment targets modernists in particular, distinguished from the « unbelievers » because they pretend to profess these truths in order to remain in the Church, but they distort the meaning of the Scriptures.

• ARE THERE SOULS IN HELL?

• YES, MANY SOULS GO TO HELL BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO ONE TO MAKE SACRIFICES AND TO PRAY FOR THEM.

Sister Lucy relates the « thirteenth call from the Message » to the apparition of 19 August at Valinhos. But this “Call to the apostolate” is already contained in the second part of the great “Secret” of 13 July, revealing that the only “apostolate” capable of snatching souls from Hell is the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

That is why this chapter is full of the sole concern for the conversion of sinners, without the slightest allusion to ecumenical or interfaith “dialogue”, or to Catholic Action. It is only a question of the « apostolate of prayer »:

« The essential condition for all apostolate, and the only way to make it bear fruit, is our union with Christ, which we will obtain through prayer. By both vocal prayer, which places us in the presence of Christ, and the prayer of sacrifice whereby we immolate ourselves with Christ in His sacrifice, and also the prayer of love, which is the gift of ourselves to the Father, with Christ, for the conversion of our brothers. »

For it is as a family that we will be saved:

« The true apostolate consists in this union of the children with their Father in Heaven. »

The supreme mark of this fraternal devotion is the forgiveness of injuries:

« Let us reflect that God has made the granting of His pardon to us precisely dependent on the degree to which we ourselves have forgiven those who have offended us. »

And devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary? Sister Lucy, who never ceases to think about it, comes back to it surreptitiously at the end of this chapter, as though to link to it all that she has just said: « 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 prefigured the litters used for the Pilgrim Virgin as she goes around the world, and the one used for the statue in the Chapel of the Apparitions.” »

This reflection had the gift of charming Sister Lucy. This is, she concludes, the new apostolate that Our Lady in person « came to bring to earth ». Travelling throughout the world, She Herself goes « to meet people in order to lead them to God », fulfilling in this manner the prophecy that came from Her lips when She sang Her Magnificat:

« 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). »

The “new evangelisation”, it is that or it is nothing.

• WHY DOES THE BLESSED VIRGIN ASK US TO CONTINUE TO RECITE THE ROSARY?

• THE BLESSED VIRGIN ASKS US TO CONTINUE TO RECITE THE ROSARY IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THE END OF THE WAR.

The « fourteenth call from the Message » is of 13 September 1917: « Clearly, at the time, Sister Lucy wrote, the Message was referring to the World War then afflicting humanity. »

And today? When the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is being shattered with Iranian ambitions, the Korean crisis and the Pakistani powder keg, it is urgent to teach children to have recourse to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by reciting the Rosary.

When she wrote her “Calls”, around 1970, Sister Lucy could not speak of the Third Secret, obstinately kept under a bushel basket by the Vatican authorities. We know, however, since its divulgation on 26 June 2000, that this third part of the Secret entrusted to the children during the third apparition on 13 July 1917 put the spectacle of war before their eyes: after the vision of Hell, and the will of God revealed by the Blessed Virgin relative to the devotion to Her Immaculate Heart, Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta saw « at the left of Our Lady and a little higher up an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; it flashed and gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire ».

The rest of the vision leaves no doubt that these flames are the symbol of war, with its « large city half in ruins », its « corpses » on the road, its « group of soldiers » killing the Holy Father, then all Christians, « one after another », from the top to the bottom of the hierarchy.

At the hour that we are writing, the situation of the Christians in Iraq places before the eyes of the entire world the literal fulfilment of this vision: « Christians are especially targeted, reveals the Iraqi Dominican Fr. Yussuf Thomas, to the special correspondent of the Canadian daily Le Devoir. There have been attacks on churches, assassinations and kidnappings. » Five churches were attacked in Baghdad on 16 October, to celebrate the Ramadan fast; two more at Mosul on 8 December. Since the 1 August, at least twenty-five churches and convents have been targeted by attacks. « People are so desperate that they are losing the Faith, Fr. Ghadir says. They ask us: and God, what is He doing? »

Fr. Thomas and Fr. Ghadir should have their flocks read the Calls from the Message of Fatima, so that they do not reverse the roles, but ask themselves rather what God expects from us in order to grant peace.

• WHAT DOES GOD WANT?

• GOD WANTS US TO OFFEND HIM NO LONGER, FOR HE IS ALREADY TOO GREATLY OFFENDED.

On 13 July, the Apparition had promised.

« In October, I will say who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle that all will see in order to believe. »

On 13 October, She kept Her word:

« What does Your Grace want of me? » asked Lucy.

– I want to tell you that a chapel is to be built here in My honour. I am Our Lady of the Rosary. Do not offend the Lord Our God any more for He is already too greatly offended! »

Having reached this point, our catechism teachers should not fear to explain what Sister Lucy had to omit in her commentary on the « fifteenth call from the Message », heard on 13 October 1917: how the Blessed Virgin stated Her name of « Our Lady of the Rosary »; in other words, Our Lady of Victory not only against Islam, as at Lepanto on 7 October 1571, but Our Lady of Victory against all impiety (Our Lady of the Rosary… excluded! He is Risen no 15, November 2003, p. 9).

For it is indeed She!

While the crowd witnessed the miracle of the sun zigzagging down upon it, then re-ascending to the zenith, the seers saw in the sky manifestations of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries of the Rosary, represented by three successive tableaux: the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, « Call to the sanctification of the family »: then a second tableau showing Our Lord, « the Perfect Man », and the Blessed Virgin, « Our Lady of Sorrows », (Call to perfection in the Christian life) ». Finally, a third tableau showed Our Lady of Mount Carmel, « Call to the Religious life », with its three vows of obedience, chastity and poverty, a call to holiness in all states of life in order to go to Heaven, « the only goal of all our works », as St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus used to say.

Sister Lucy does not say otherwise, since the original arrangement of her book ended on a twentieth and last « Call » that recapitulates all the others: « Call to follow the road to Heaven », in order to reach eternal life.

• WHAT MUST WE DO IN ORDER TO STOP OFFENDING GOD?

• IN ORDER TO STOP OFFENDING GOD, WE MUST IMITATE THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY, JOSEPH.

« In the Message of Fatima, the reason why God calls on us to turn our eyes to the Holy Family of Nazareth, into which He chose to be born, to grow and to sanctify Himself was in order to present to us a model to imitate, as our footsteps tread the path of our pilgrimage from earth to Heaven. »

To illustrate this assertion, Sister Lucy recalls the fifth joyful mystery of the Rosary: « After having related how Jesus Christ, already an adolescent, went up to the Temple of Jerusalem where He lost His parents, who found Him there three days later, the Evangelist St. Luke, adds: “And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them; and His Mother kept all these things in Her Heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in grace before God and man.” (Lk 2.51-52) »

The commentary of the messenger of Our Lady reduces to ashes the laborious inquiry conducted by the newspaper La Croix in its central pages entitled “Parents and children”, on the theme « Help teenagers by helping their parents ». An observation: « The teenager today, in fact, destabilises adults. In particular, their parents who sometimes cannot take it any longer » (15 December 2004). Here is the maternal response of Our Lady to be learned by heart for the salvation of souls and the future of our civilisation:

« Parents who do not instil a knowledge of God and of His commandments into their children from an early age, teaching them to keep them in mind and to observe them, are failing to fulfil the duties of the mission entrusted to them by God. It is a law that God has prescribed for His people:

« “These words which I command you this day shall be written upon your heart! You shall teach them diligently to your sons, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise.” (Dt 6.6-7)

« Parents who disregard this law of the Lord make themselves responsible for the ignorance of their children and for any disorders that may result from it. Very often, this is the cause of the disordered lives of those children who torment the declining years of their parents’ lives, and are themselves lost. »

• WHAT DOES THE APPARITION OF THE HOLY FAMILY AT FATIMA TEACH US?

• THE APPARITION OF THE HOLY FAMILY AT FATIMA TEACHES US UNION AND FIDELITY OF SPOUSES.

« Very often nowadays, the form in which God established the family is misunderstood and it is assailed by doctrines that are erroneous and contrary to the end for which the divine Creator instituted it. Did not God wish to remind us, by means of this apparition, of the purpose for which He established the family in the world?

« God entrusted to the family the sacred mission of co-operating with Him in the work of creation. This decision to associate His poor creatures with His creative work is a great demonstration of the fatherly goodness of God. It is as if He were making them sharers in His creative power; He wills to make use of His children in order to bring forth new lives, which will flower on earth and are destined for Heaven.

« Thus the divine Creator wished to entrust to the family a sacred mission, that makes two beings become one in a union so close that it does not admit of separation between them. It is from this union that God wills other beings to be born, as He generates flowers and fruit from plants.

« God established Matrimony as an indissoluble union. Once they have received the Sacrament of Matrimony, the union between the two spouses is definitive and does not admit of division. It is indissoluble as long as the two spouses remain alive. It was thus that God ordained it to be.

• WHAT DOES JESUS CHRIST TEACH US IN HIS PUBLIC LIFE?

• IN HIS PUBLIC LIFE, JESUS CHRIST TEACHES US THE HUMILITY OF A GOD MADE MAN.

Regarding the second apparition of 13 October in which « Our Lord appeared as the Perfect Man and Our Lady as Our Lady of Sorrows », Sister Lucy writes: « In my own humble opinion, this apparition is a call to the practice of the Christian life as Jesus and His Mother lived it here on earth and, by Their example and Their teaching, They teach us to follow in Their footsteps. »

That is why this « seventeenth call from the Message » is a « call to the perfection of the Christian life », of which « the first step consists of a life of faith; to believe in the Son and in the Father who sent Him, to believe in His word and follow it. »

Now, what does this « word » teach us?

« “Come to Me, all you 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) »

The remedy for the idolatry – for it is one! – of man who makes himself God is this humility of God made man, of a Son of God become Son of Mary.

Sister Lucy recalls how, during the Last Supper, « the Lord Himself, contrary to all the customs and norms of the time, took a basin of water and washed the feet of His disciples, wiping them with a towel which He had fastened round His waist. » It is in this way that He, the Master and Lord, became servant and slave, prefiguring the redemption that He would bring to us by being raised up on the Cross, after a life of obedience and work. Now Jesus accomplished all this in order to do the will of His Father. It is, therefore, by being perfectly a Son that Jesus offers us the model of the « Perfect Man ». Thus, He remedies the pride of all, parents and children, overthrowing the « cult of man » and restoring the cult of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• WHY MUST WE SUFFER?

• WE MUST SUFFER OUT OF LOVE.

Sister Lucy concludes the chapter dedicated to the « seventeenth call from the Message » by recalling that Our Lady appeared beside Our Lord as the Lady of Sorrows, in order to move us to compassion, « because She suffered in Her Heart the martyrdom of Christ, with Him and by His side. »

Since Jesus gave Her to us for our Mother before dying on the Cross, « we are the children of the suffering and bitterness of the Heart of Jesus Christ, and of the Heart of His Mother and ours. »

Thus, it is a need of our heart to unite our suffering to that of our Mother for the salvation of our brothers, of all our brothers, if such is possible:

« Love is the magnet which draws souls, and it is for them that we offer to God our sacrifices, our acts of self-denial, our infirmities, our difficulties, our sorrows, and our physical and moral sufferings. For them, we offer our entire consecration to God, and it is for them that our prayer is lifted up to Him at the foot of His altar. Thinking of them, we wish to be able, like Christ and with Christ, to say to the Father: “I have kept in Your Name those You have given Me […] and not one has been lost, except the son of perdition.” (Jn 17.12) This was because Judas withstood Your grace, was unfaithful to Your call and despised Your Fatherly Love. If it is still possible, Father, save him! »

• WHY DO BROTHERS AND SISTERS HAVE RELIGIOUS HABITS?

• BROTHERS AND SISTERS HAVE RELIGIOUS HABITS BECAUSE THEY ARE COMPLETELY CONSECRATED TO GOD.

The « eighteenth call » is unequivocal:

« In my view, the apparition of Our Lady of Mount Carmel signified total consecration to God. By showing Herself clothed in a religious habit, She wished to represent all the other religious habits by which those who are totally consecrated to God can be distinguished from ordinary secular Christians. »

A brother, a sister in a religious habit at school, in the street, in prisons or hospitals, is a light that attracts attention and brings hearts to the praise of the Glory of God, according to this word of Our Lord quoted by Sister Lucy:

« “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 5.14-16) »

The « good works » of religious are the fruit of the three vows of obedience, chastity and poverty practiced by the brothers and sisters.

• WHAT IS THE VOW OF OBEDIENCE?

• THE VOW OF OBEDIENCE IS THE PROMISE TO DO ALWAYS THE WILL OF GOD AND NOT OUR OWN.

« Jesus Christ gave us the most excellent example of this obedience when He said: “He who sent Me is with Me, and has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.” (Jn 8.29) Every consecrated person has also both accepted and promised, in imitation of the Saviour, to do always what is pleasing to our Father in Heaven, that is, to do the will of God as manifested to us by those who represent Him to us. »

• WHAT IS THE VOW OF CHASTITY?

• THE VOW OF CHASTITY IS THE PROMISE TO RENOUNCE THE RIGHT TO MARRY IN ORDER TO FOLLOW CHRIST.

« The fact that the Lord requires virginity and celibacy does not mean that marriage is a bad thing in itself. On the contrary, it is an institution created by God, which Jesus Christ raised to the level of a Sacrament. Likewise, it cannot be inferred from these requirements that it is less pleasing to God to have a wife or husband and children, since these are the fruit of the Sacrament and a blessing from God. It only means that, for those who are chosen and called to a life of total consecration to the service of God, the Lord has other requirements and other gifts, because He reserves for them a different destiny. »

The principal object of the vow of chastity is to « free us of earthly cares so that we may be able to consecrate ourselves more perfectly to the service of the Lord, and to love Him, and Him alone, in a more pure manner, with the purity of our hearts, our affections and our bodies, so that we may live more fully in intimate union with Christ. »

• WHAT IS THE VOW OF POVERTY?

• THE VOW OF POVERTY IS THE PROMISE NOT TO POSSESS PERSONAL PROPERTY.

« Those who wish to follow Jesus Christ more closely must be aware that He does not want people attached to worldly goods, because these goods blind them and prevent them from consecrating themselves to a life of the apostolate, and of total and exclusive dedication of themselves to God. »

• WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE VOWS OF OBEDIENCE, CHASTITY AND POVERTY?

• THE PURPOSE OF THE VOWS OF OBEDIENCE, CHASTITY AND POVERTY IS TO MAKE US HOLY.

Finally, the apparition of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is « a call to holiness » that is addressed to all men. Not that they all must become monks or nuns, no! All, however, must become saints, and men and women religious show them the way, by means of the grace of Our Lady of Mount Carmel:

« Our Lady sanctified Herself as a pure and Immaculate Virgin by corresponding to the graces that God granted to Her in that state. She sanctified Herself as a faithful and devoted wife by fulfilling all the duties of Her state in life. She sanctified Herself as a loving mother in caring for the Son that God entrusted to Her, rocking Him in Her arms, raising Him and educating Him, then by helping Him and following Him in the accomplishment of His mission. »

« With Him She travelled the narrow way of life, the steep road to Calvary. »

Since she contemplated this « steep mountain » in the vision of the Third Secret, Sister Lucy knows that we – « bishops, priests, men and women religious, and various lay people, men and women of different ranks and positions » – climb it, everyone at his own pace, some rapidly, others slowly, each according to his heart, but also according to the extent of the gift made to him within the mysterious divine predestination.

All begins with the submission of servants to the commandments of the divine Law, and all culminates in the ultimate filial adherence to the will and inspirations of God, Whom alone the perfect soul desires to please, especially in the religious state.

It is therefore well established that the goal of life, « for all men », is not the “construction of the world”, but holiness.

• WHY DID GOD CREATE US?

• GOD CREATED US IN ORDER TO LEAD US TO HEAVEN TO BE WITH HIM.

The twenty-first and last « call from the Message », which recapitulates all the others, is « a call to follow the road to Heaven, to walk in such a way as to succeed in attaining eternal life.

« In the times in which we live, there is no shortage of people who dare to deny the existence of Heaven. It might be that they do not have the Faith, or that they do not want to submit to following the narrow path that leads to Heaven. But they are mistaken. »

Sister Lucy proves the existence of Heaven by means of passages taken from not only the New Testament but even from the Old Testament. However, Jesus is the first to have spoken of it as an unimpeachable witness because He came from Heaven and He returned there, promising those who would suffer something for Him to bring them there:

« The Lord declares that we shall be blessed if we are persecuted for His sake, because the prophets before us were already persecuted thus. But why is it that those whom God has chosen for a special mission and with whom He is in more direct contact, are persecuted and oppressed? It is the continuation of the mystery of the Cross that carries us along the road to Heaven. »

In our times of apostasy, dominated by Modernism that distorts the interpretation of Scripture, the testimony of the Gospels no longer suffices. This is why Our Lady descended « from Heaven » where She lives in order to teach to all men, « pilgrims of Fatima », through the voice of Her messenger, a prayer to recite at the end of each decade of the Rosary, asking God to