With great happiness Jacinta and Francisco Marto were looking forward to meeting Mary on July 13 at the Cova de Iria as she requested. Lucia, however, filled with gloom and despair, resolved not to go, fearing that her pastor was right…….”the apparitions are the work of the devil”. Believing the pastor, Lucia’s mother incessantly nagged her daughter and even thrashed her for lying. On the contrary Ti Marto believed.in the authenticity of the apparitions.
On the morning of the 13th, Lucia still had the same confusion and doubt. But when it was time to leave for the Cova, Lucia felt a strange prodding and her fears and doubts suddenly disappeared. Joyfully, she went to the house of Jacinta and Francisco to see if they had left yet. She found them in tears because they would not go without Lucia. Their tears were transformed into joy, when Lucia said: “LET’S Go!” and off they went happily moving through the crowds of people that jammed the way to the Cova. It was slow since so many asked them to ask Mary for special personal favors.
Lucia, the leader, led the rosary. Then she cried out: “Close the umbrellas (against the sun); Our
Lady is coming!” The sun turned hazy and
there was a refreshing breeze on that hot day.
The crowd was silent. Ti Marto
testified that he saw a greyish cloud over the holm oak. He heard a hum, but did not hear a word. With the abounded love of a mother bending
over her sick child, the beautiful lady engulfed the three children in her immense
light and rested her loving eyes on Lucia, who could not speak for joy.
Mary instructed them:
“Continue to say the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary
to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war; for only she can help
you. Continue to come here every
month. In October, I will say who I am
and what I desire and I will perform a miracle for all to see, so that they
believe.” Lucia told her of the
case of a sick person who wished to be taken to Heaven soon. “He should not try to hurry things. I know well when I shall come for him.” Apparently, Our Lord wanted him to be better
prepared to die as Mary implicitly condemned euthanasia and doctor assisted
suicide. Mary reiterated the need to
offer up suffering, misfortune, irritations, prayers, rosaries, weekday Masses,
etc. “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners;
and say often, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O my Jesus, it is for
love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins
committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary I offer this sacrifice to Thee.”’
Then came a terrifying
experience for the three children.
Mary let them see hell. Lucia
described “a sea of fire, and immersed in that fire were horrendous looking creatures (devils) and souls with human form, as if they were transparent black or bronze embers
floating in the fire……amidst wailing and cries of pain and despair that
horrified and shook us with terror.” As Mother
Angelica, the spunky founder of EWTN once told the hell deniers: “you’ll believe it when you get there.”
Satan worshipers don’t know what awaits them. May we have a healthy fear of hell,
especially when we drift away from God and are lax in following Church teaching
as our Sunday obligation.
Our
Lady then explained: “You have seen hell ---where the souls of
poor sinners go. To save them God wills
to establish throughout the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If people will do what I tell you, many souls
will be saved, and there will be peace.
The war is going to end. But if
they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will break out in the
reign of Pius XI. When you see a night
illumined by an unknown light (January 25-26, 1938 – Google Fatima Storm) ,
know that it is the great sign that God gives you, that He is going to punish
the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and
of the Holy Father. To forestall this, I
shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the
Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.
If they heed my requests, Russia will be converted, and there will be
peace. If not, she shall spread her
errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecutions of the Church; the
good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various
nations will be annihilated; in the end, my Immaculate Heart shall triumph……and
some time of peace will be given to the world.......Do not tell this to anyone.”
After this third apparition, the
three children had a greater resolve to pray a great deal to save souls
from hell. They yearned more and more to be left alone
to say their prayers and make sacrifices for Our Lady, but whenever they would
go out in the town, crowds of people would gather to ask them all kinds of
questions, many of them of the stupid variety.
Some were devout, but many were curious and anxious to pump them for the
secret with gifts to find the sensational. Some even came to laugh and make fun
of the children.
Even
relatives and neighbors ridiculed them, called them names, and even smacked
them. Lucia’s family was the worst of
all, especially after crowds would trample on the family vegetable garden:
“When you want to eat, go and ask that lady.”
Newspapers reported the apparitions with scorn and distortions, accusing
the priests of setting up a “factory of miracles”. The children pitied them all for their lack
of faith. Thus they would take back
roads to avoid the crowds. When people
came knocking on their doors, the children would hide. Clearly, the apparitions were a great joy,
but also a great cross to bear. The
children had a lot to offer up for the conversion of sinners and they did it
joyfully.
Jacinta’s
father. Ti Marto kept an open mind as he mulled over the facts to find the
truth while protecting his children. He was
thinking and praying, waiting for God to direct his course of thought and
action.
The
children learned some short prayers that gave them consolation: “My God, I love
you” and Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation”.
Jacinta said: “I want to tell Jesus that I love Him so much! When I say this to Him, it seems that I have a
fire in my heart. I love Our Lord and
Our Lady so much that I never get tired of telling Them that I love Them.” If we can develop only a fraction of their
intense love for Jesus and Mary! We
shall see that in August, the situation will begin to build up to a climax as
the unbelieving authorities get involved.
Throughout this centennial year of Our Lady of Fatima, EWTN television (cable,
satellite & internet at ewtn.com) is showing many documentaries on Fatima,
especially around the 13th of the month.
APPENDIX
QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR LADY OF FATIMA
* It is often asked why the Blessed Mother
would reveal horrifying images to innocent children such as the visions of
Hell? To many people this seems incongruent with a pure, loving, gentle Mother
who loves us and is in Heaven. It would almost seem like child abuse?
Secondly,
during the miracle of the sun, which the Blessed Mother orchestrated to help
prove to people that indeed it was her that the children were seeing, why again
would part of that miracle be the horrifying moment when the sun seem to come charging
toward the earth? The accounts of the
eye witnesses all say they were terrified and thought the sun was going to
crash on top of them and that this was the end of the world.
I've never heard that interesting and valid question. To anybody who
would ask me, I would say this. I don't think Mary's showing Hell to the
children and the horrifying aspects of the Miracle of the Sun are incongruent
with her as a pure, loving, gentle, mother.
Is tough love incongruent?
First of all, Mary, as the ultimate missionary and messenger of God, does not
go off on her own to bring souls to her Son. She is completely
subservient to the will of her Son. Since the Immaculate Heart and the
Sacred Heart are united as one, Mary knows exactly what her Son wills.
I'm sure that Our Lord sends Mary on every mission the same as He sends each
one of us on a special mission. Mary would not do anything that does not
conform to the will of her Son. In any event she has no power of her own,
only that given to her by God to be used as He wills. All of Mary's
actions are from the perspective of eternity for our good and to get us to
Heaven. That's what it is all about.
We can only speculate why Mary, following the will of her Son, would show the children Hell and permit the horrifying aspects of the Miracle of the Sun. There is no way that we can get into the mind of God. He knows what He is doing; His ways are not our ways. His mind is beyond our comprehension and the greatest human brain.
As to show innocent children hell, the Angel of Peace prepared Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta for their great mission in three apparitions in 1916. Mary continued that spiritual formation. Thus the children had an amazing amount of spiritual maturity and holiness, more than we can develop in a lifetime. They could handle seeing Hell, especially through actual grace. Mary is acting not only as mother of the three children, but also as mother of all humanity. The apparitions and message are directed not only to the three children, but also to all humanity. Any mother would or should vividly show the consequences and dangers to her children of their deeds........both to body and soul. An example might be the danger of running onto the street and its consequences. Mary wanted to show all mankind the reality of hell (not theoretically) and that Our Lord is not only a God of mercy, but also of justice. As a loving mother, she had to tell it like it is. Mother Mary continues trying through the Fatima message to mobilize us to pray (the rosary especially), make sacrifices, and offer up crosses for the conversion of sinners. Showing Hell, vividly demonstrates the urgency in a very convincing way not easily forgotten.
As for the horrifying aspects of the Miracle of the Sun, it's a wake up call to straighten out our lives. It demonstrates the power of God. It took 9/11 to wake us up at least for a while. The Miracle of the Sun must have had a deep and lasting impression on the 70,000 plus people, not to mention all of Portugal (it got little newspaper coverage outside of the country) and millions in the generations that followed to the present. I wonder how many of the 70,000+ made it to Heaven because of the Miracle of the Sun. Without the horrifying aspect, the Miracle of the Sun would have been more like a glorified fireworks display. Of course the sudden drying of the drenched people and their ability to see the sun were miraculous. What people remember today from the Fatima story is the horrifying aspect, not the beautiful aspects.
I hope that during this centennial year the Fatima Message gets through.
I fear that the way the world is going this is our last chance to live the
Fatima Message and thus avoid a loving chastisement.
* Did
World War II start during the reign of Pius XI as Mary prophesized or during
the reign of Pius XII?
The official start of
World War II is considered to be September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded
Poland. Pope Pius XI died on February
10, 1939. Since Hitler annexed Austria
on March 13, 1938, it can be said that World War II really started on that
date. Furthermore, during the might of
the great unknown light of January 25-26, 1938, leaders of the Soviet Union
were plotting a deal to make with Germany to divide up Poland, ceding western Poland
to Germany and taking eastern Poland for the Soviet Union. Both sides probably saw it as the 4th
Partition. From 1795 to 1918, Germany,
Austria, and Russia each took a third of Poland, wiping the country off the map
for 123 years. The Soviets craftily believed
that Germany would be blamed and the allies would retaliate against Germany. From the perspective of Heaven World War II
did indeed start during the reign of Pius XI.
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