|
 |
The Other
Manuscript:
What To Do About It!
 Following is a transcript of an interview with
Father Nicholas Gruner by Coralie Graham, Editor of The Fatima Crusader.
For ease of reading, the interviewer’s questions are in italics.
Father Gruner’s responses are in regular type.
 [Fatima Crusader Editor] Have you read Andrew Cesanek’s
article Are There Two
Original Manuscripts on the Third Secret? proving that Sister Lucy wrote
two manuscripts that give the Third Secret of Fatima?
[Father Gruner]
Yes.
Would you suggest then that Cardinal Ratzinger and Archbishop
Bertone are lying when they tell us there is only one manuscript?
No. Not at all. If they tell us that there is only one manuscript, then indeed,
there must be only one. The operative word is “is”. As of June 26,
2000 there appears to exist only one original manuscript. The letter of one
page which has been kept meticulously, carefully and under special lock and key
for at least 40 years (the last time someone said they saw it was Cardinal
Ratzinger in 1984), could, in all the hustle and bustle in the Vatican after
that time, have been made to disappear by enemies of the Church.
We know that security
at the Vatican has had its problems. That is obvious with the shooting deaths
of the two Swiss guards on May 4, 1998. So I believe them when they tell us
today there is only one manuscript. Or otherwise they could be simply in error.
That is, they have both been told by someone who should know, that it is gone.
But perhaps the additional text really still exists and is hidden or lost
somewhere they have not thought to look yet.
How, then, does all the research into the 3rd Secret help the
world today if, in fact, there were two documents written by Sister Lucy in
January 1944 containing the Third Secret but now today there is only one
document remaining?
It first of all
helps everyone to understand that, although a document is missing, at least
hundreds of thousands of people all over the world can know that we are not all
collectively crazy when we conclude that there must be something more. It also
makes clear some very practical courses of action that can be taken to resolve
the issue much further.
What courses of action do you suggest?
Well the first
thing is not to react by blaming Cardinal Ratzinger, Archbishop Bertone or
anyone else, especially not Pope John Paul II. We must remember that it is only
due to Pope John Paul II’s persistence in the face of obvious bureaucratic
opposition that even this one document came to light after 40 years of being
buried.
“Pray, Pray for the Holy
Father”
What other course of action do you suggest?
We should
especially pray for Pope John Paul II at this difficult time because the
prophesy is very clear. It is clear, as Sister Lucy herself said in her 1982
letter to the Pope, the 3rd Secret is a prediction of future events
revealed by God Himself — events which had not yet come to pass as of
1982. This prediction has both a literal and an allegorical meaning, as does
apocalyptic literature in general. Here I must disagree with Cardinal
Ratzinger, who seems to place apocalyptic texts entirely in the realm of the
allegorical, while at the same time (and somewhat self-contradictorily)
asserting that the Third Secret vision does describe a literal historical
event, but one that has already happened. In the Third Secret vision, the
children could see a future tragedy for the Pope, the dramatic and
terrible ruin of the City of God, which is the Church, and ultimately the utter
tragedy of disaster for an unrepentant world as represented by the angel
inflicting the just punishment of God on unbelieving, unrepentant mankind,
which has ceased to pray or do penance.
Only Our Lady can prevent this disaster from
falling upon mankind by Her intercession. But if people do not know to invoke
Her help, or worse still, if they have a hatred or an aversion to Our Lady
because of the heresies they have been taught against Her, then these people
will be without help when they most need it, particularly if the enemy has
first of all killed the priests and men and women religious who can teach them
the importance, the beauty and the necessity of invoking Our Lady at this time
of great peril in human history, when all of humanity is threatened rightly by
Divine chastisements.
Danger Greater Today!
Why do you say that the peril is great, especially
now?
Because it is
clear to almost everyone I have talked to — not just people like Monsignor
Balducci or Marco Politi, but to nearly everyone who can read and think for
himself - that the prediction foretold in the vision of the Third Secret does
not fit the 1981 assassination attempt, but rather this prophesy has not yet
been realized. And that is also clear from Sister Lucy’s letter to the
Pope on May 12, 1982.
Sister Lucy clearly states that if mankind does not turn away from
the path of sin (it clearly has not), then in a short while we shall make large
strides towards seeing the fulfillment of that prophesy. In 1982, Sister Lucy
clearly said we would be making great strides towards the chastisement unless
mankind repented and went back to the laws of God. Today, 18 years later,
neither Russia, the West, nor anywhere else in the world has turned back to
God. With the rise of abortion, with the making of unnatural vice as a legal
right, with the increase of pornography and prostitution, etc., we all know
that sin in the world has only deepened dramatically in every way since 1982.
The path is downward, not upward.
Clearly, the danger is greater today than
ever. So we must listen to the Pope when he said on May 13, 1982, “the
Message of Fatima is more relevant and more urgent than when Our
Lady first appeared 65 years ago.” That the Message “imposes an
obligation on her (the Church)” and that the Message “is addressed to
every human being.”
Prayer, Sacrifice and Penance
What else do you suggest in the light of all
this?
Well before I go
on, I must make it explicitly clear that we all should pray the Rosary every
day. All of us Catholics especially, but even non-Catholics. It will protect us
from the threatened punishment the Angel of God menaces all mankind with
because there is so much sin today.
Also, we must wear the Brown Scapular of Our
Lady of Mount Carmel, as clearly shown to us on October 13, 1917 during the
Miracle of the Sun. We must use the means of obtaining grace so that we can
return to the laws of God if we are in the state of mortal sin, or so that we
can stay in the state of grace by avoiding sin that tempts mankind. Either way,
we need God’s grace - sanctifying grace and actual grace. We obtain this
by prayer, especially prayer to Our Lady and Our Lord Jesus Christ, and by
worthy reception of the Sacraments. For all those who are baptized, I would
urge them to make a good Sacramental Confession as soon as possible, if they
have not done so in the last eight days.
Besides these spiritual means which are so important, what else
do you suggest?
There is much we
can do but even what I am about to suggest can be spiritualized. That is, it
can be offered as penance.
Remember, the Angel said, “Penance, Penance,
Penance.”
The first penance, is to stop sinning and to avoid the
near occasions of sin and to do some - at least little - mortifications. The
second penance is to turn to God by prayer and the Sacraments as I explained
briefly above. It is especially important that we put aside some time every day
for prayer, particularly when this seems inconvenient or burdensome to us in
our modern, hectic lives. The third penance is to work for God.
In spelling out the
need to avoid sin, I have not elaborated on some necessary penance. The very
first is to do our daily duty — do whatever it takes, while breaking no
law of God, to meet the demands of whatever position God has placed us in life.
In other words, we must fulfill our obligations to our state in life. This
means to be a good mother, a good father, a good child at home, a good student,
a good employee, a good employer. It means being honest and just and kind and
charitable to those around us, our subjects, our superiors, our peers. And to
avoid persons (those who encourage us to sin), places (hangouts, bars, etc.,
where we meet people who encourage us to sin) or things (magazines, movies,
drugs, drinks, television programs) that will cause us to sin.
It is good to be reminded of these things that we tend to
forget, but you mentioned also working for God in a specific
way.
We can
work to bring about the triumph of Our Lady, and work to bring
about the avoidance of the chastisement seen in the Third Secret vision. All of
us, no matter who we are, no matter how much time or how little time we have,
can work for these great causes!
How is it possible for every man, woman, and
child, anywhere, under any circumstances to work for these two
goals?
Our work is an
act of penance. Work offered to God is pleasing to Him. He will certainly
consider it in judging us. But how can everyone work for this, you ask? It is
easy.
First of all, everyone can offer up to God and Our Lady, each day with their
“Morning Offering.” This would be as follows: “O God, through
the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass, I offer Thee all my prayers, works, joys and sorrows this day for the
triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the conversion of sinners, world peace
and the avoidance of the punishments which Thou justly threaten the
world.”
Some would say that doesn’t seem much of a
contribution.
There is much
more. But before I explain further, don’t underestimate the importance of
that Morning Offering, and especially of renewing it during the day. When we
make a sacrifice, we should say, as Our Lady taught us at Fatima:
“O my Jesus, it
is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins
against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer this sacrifice to Thee.”
“For Alms Delivereth from
Death”
Besides this, we can work more directly for the triumph of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary. Almost anyone can become a volunteer for promoting
the full Fatima Message. And then you can work and sacrifice by giving alms for
this cause. As St. Raphael the Archangel said:
“... for alms
delivereth from death, and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh
to find mercy and life everlasting.” (Tobias 12:9)
By giving alms, what
you are doing is taking part of the results of your daily work and giving them
to worthy organizations which promote the Message of Fatima and true devotion
to Our Lady and other good causes in the Church. Our Fatima apostolate turns
our alms into rosaries, scapulars, leaflets, books, magazines on the Fatima
message and are given to others to spiritually feed their minds and hearts.
By
giving alms, one contributes to the salvation of souls, helping to avoid the
punishment hanging over our heads and bringing about world peace, the
conversion of Russia and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Everyone, even a child, can give alms. Anyone who can’t, can at least
offer their prayers and sacrifices like the children of Fatima did so
heroically. They went without water and food; they wore a rope around their
waist which irritated their skin, as penance; they accepted in good spirit, the
unjust punishments and misunderstandings they suffered as a result of bearing
Our Lady’s message to the world. We don’t all have to be as heroic as
they were, but we can imitate them at least a little.
Some time back, you spoke of other things we
can do. What can be done to get to know the rest of the Secret so that all
mankind (or at least those who truly believe in Our Lady and who don’t
just pay lip service to Her) can guide themselves by Her words. How can we find
out actually what She said, especially since it appears the manuscript
containing Her words has been lost?
Well there is
much we can do besides our prayers, sacrifices, penances and almsgiving. There
is much more to do.
First of all, it is imperative that those people who are in
positions of influence — bishops, priests, media people, diplomats,
legislators, judges, and captains of commerce, industry, finance, etc. —
be informed about the Secret and what we know of it, which clearly seems to be
something more than the text of the Third Secret vision. Remember that we have
never been told what Our Lady said after “In Portugal, the dogma of the
Faith will always be preserved, etc.” People can obtain information about
the Secret from the books, pamphlets and leaflets that we publish, many of
which are given away for free. There are also other sources of information.
They can call the apostolate [1-800-263-8160], write us or e-mail us at
www.fatima.org. Tell us how much time you are willing to spend and what you are
willing to invest in a book, and we will send you literature to get you
started.
Let the Experts Speak
Besides all of this, is there anything else people can
do?
We can
respectfully suggest that if in fact the original manuscript of the Secret has
been lost — the one-page letter of 25 lines of text containing Our
Lady’s words written down on or before January 9, 1944 — that the
Pope should ask if a photo copy of the same has been preserved, and if such a
copy does exist, he must demand it be produced immediately and published.
At the
same time, Pope John Paul II should be asked to prepare, in the very near
future, a new mission to Sister Lucy, with the appropriate persons and
circumstances so as to get the full truth about the Secret from her before she
dies. She is, after all, 93 years old. If Sister Lucy is still being kept
behind a wall of silence, even though we are told that all has been revealed,
then that would not be a good sign.
What do you mean by the appropriate people and
circumstances?
Well it is clear
from the statements of Cardinal Ratzinger and Msgr. Bertone that they are not
Fatima experts. I explain this elsewhere. I think any Fatima scholar would not
disagree with me on this.
We need priests,
theologians and people who have a great grasp of the historical facts
surrounding Fatima to be able to ask Sister Lucy questions so as to draw out
the complete Secret. She still has it. But there is one more important
condition that must be addressed.
What is that?
It is clear that
Sister Lucy is not a theologian. She never claimed to be one. It is also clear
that she has, as she should, a great respect for priests and bishops and it is
also clear that out of respect for bishops and priests, especially those that
appear more directly to represent the Pope, that she suspends her judgment
— and if she clearly believes that holy obedience requires silence of her
— even to the point of remaining silent even when it is a question of the
certain truth being misrepresented in her presence. She may not know sometimes
how to reconcile all the obligations of respect, obedience, and even the pious
acts of religious nuns to the interior acceptance of other people’s
opinions as if they were the voice of God because of the position they hold.
Thus if
an Archbishop or Cardinal coming from the Vatican tells her that such and such
is an interpretation of the Fatima Secret, or other part of the message, or
tells her that it is the teaching of the Pope, then Sister Lucy may, in some
cases, believe that she must conform not only her exterior attitude, silence,
etc., but even her mind to that point of view.
It is crucial that
reputable, competent theologians explain to her the distinctions she needs to
make so that the opinions and prejudices of certain people around the Pope do
not enter her mind in such a way that we do not get from her the whole Third
Secret, unedited, complete, without spin, and exactly as Our Lady gave it.
From
recent studies on this question it becomes more and more clear that this
condition quite posssibly is essential if a team of knowledgeable experts is
going to get the whole Secret from Sister Lucy before she dies. Of course,
Sister Lucy may be showing reserve because the people sent to her are so
ignorant of the background on Fatima that she cannot explain the matter to them
in the limited time they have.
Also to be kept in mind is that people like Sister
Lucy, who have the charism of prophesy, are often equipped by God to be able to
read people well. So if someone is sent to her who does not believe in Fatima,
she may not bother to speak, since she would be bringing her pride of wisdom
before witnesses.
Pray for the Holy Father to send important, holy, learned priests
to interview Sister Lucy before she dies. Time is running out!
Return to
Table of Contents
|
|
 Printer friendly
|
|