We reprint here from The Catholic Register an article written by Stan Koma, Associate Editor of the Register. Father Gruner was interviewed by Stan at the time Father was visiting churches and schools in Southern Ontario earlier this year.

       "People are hungry for devotion to the Blessed Virgin," says Father Nicholas Gruner, executive director of the National Committee for the National Pilgrim Virgin of Canada.

       During the past 18 months, he has distributed more than 50,000 scapulars, 25,000 Rosaries and a large quantity of Marian literature as he crossed the nation from the Northwest Territories to the Maritimes preaching the Message of Our Lady of Fatima.

       "People are paying attention to the Blessed Virgin's message," Father Gruner says, "not because of my oratory, but because the Blessed Virgin and the Holy Spirit accompany it."

       Father Gruner, a native of Montreal, is one of the few priests in the world who is devoting himself full time to promote devotion to Mary and the Message of Fatima.

Everywhere he travels throughout Canada he takes with him the beautiful statue of Mary which is displayed during the Mass or meetings he addresses.

Prayer

Father Nicholas Gruner with a Rosary of Pope John Paul II which was given to him last January. Father Gruner reminds us that Our Lady of Fatima asks us to pray the Rosary every day.

       He encourages Catholics to pray the Rosary, wear the Scapular of Mount Carmel and live every moment of life in union with Christ.

       "Devotion to Mary makes coming to Christ easier," Father Gruner says. "Every saint has had a devotion to Mary."

       In the message given to the world by Our Lady of Fatima in 1917, the Mother of God pleaded for prayer and penance ... a conversion of heart.

       Our Lady of Fatima said: "If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she (Russia) will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, several nations will be annihilated."

       The apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima have been approved by the Church.

       The "miracle of the sun," witnessed by more than 75,000 people at Fatima, Father Gruner adds, was God's way of saying His mother's message is authentic and must be taken seriously.

       "If we fulfill the request of the Blessed Virgin, we will have peace," Father Gruner says. "If not, there will be war. But in the end Her Immaculate Heart will triumph."

'Ultimatum'

       He says it was a kind of "ultimatum" from Heaven.

       If people pray and live the Christian life to the full, he explains, people will not only gain peace, but also eternal happiness.

       The Blessed Virgin had said at Fatima: "If people do what I tell them, many souls will be saved and there will be peace."

       Father Gruner believes the Message of Fatima is "extremely important" at this time.

       "We must listen or pay the consequences," he said.

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