Fatima in Our Daily Life

Pray and Repent

By Arnaud de Lassus

       What Mary’s Immaculate Heart has in store for the world:

       Fatima speaks not only to Portugal but to the whole world. We believe that the apparitions of Fatima are the opening of a new era, that of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

       What has happened in Portugal can hardly be seen as other than a miracle, and one that is a harbinger of what Mary’s Immaculate Heart has in store for the world.

       We shall not go into details on this question, but merely reproduce some characteristic texts of Sister Lucy that bring out the main points. For a fuller treatment, readers may refer to the titles listed in the bibliography at the end of this article.

Focus Everything on the Salvation of Souls:

"... it is not my mission to warn the world of the material punishments which will certainly take place if it does not first pray and repent. No. My mission is to point out to everyone the imminent danger we run of losing our souls forever if we remain obstinate in sin.

"Father, we should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call to penance to come from our bishops in our diocese, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already very often used these means and the world has not paid attention. That is why now, it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform himself spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also the souls that God has placed on our path.

"The devil does all in his power to distract us and to take away from us the love for prayer; we shall be saved together or we shall be damned together."

... Taken from Lucy’s conversation with Father Fuentes, Dec. 26, 1957

Penance Through Fulfilling the Duties of Our State

"God’s heart can and will be softened, but He complains bitterly and sadly at the limited number of souls in a state of grace, ready to renounce self so as to observe His law.

"This is the penance God calls for today: it is the sacrifice which we must each impose on ourselves so as to live a holy life in the observance of His law.

"And He wants us to explain this way clearly to souls, for many understand the word ‘penance’ only in the sense of dramatic austerities, and as they do not feel strong or courageous enough for those, they become discouraged and slip back into a life of lukewarm faith and sin.

"When I was in the chapel with the permission of my superiors at midnight between a Thursday and Friday, Our Lord said to me, ‘The sacrifice that demands that each person carry out his own duties and observe My law, this is the penance I ask for and demand now.’"

... Sister Lucy in a letter to Father A.M. Martins, on Feb. 28, 1943

Two Remedies:
Rosary and Devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart

       Let us remember that the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary involves:

• The reparatory devotion of the Five First Saturdays;
• Consecration on a personal level of the faithful, families, groups and societies to Mary’s Immaculate Heart.

"The Most Holy Virgin said, to my cousins as well as to me, that God was giving two last remedies to the world: the holy Rosary and the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and, these being the two last remedies, that means that there will not be any other (...).

"The Most Holy Virgin, in these last days in which we are living, has given a new efficacity to the recitation of the Rosary. So much so that there is no problem, however difficult, temporal or above all spiritual, connected with the personal life of each of us, of our families, of the families of the world, of religious communities, or indeed with the life of peoples and nations — there is no problem, I say, however difficult, which we cannot resolve through the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console our Savior and obtain the salvation of many souls."

... Lucy in conversation with Father Fuentes, Dec. 26, 1957.

We Must Pray that the Catholic Hierarchy
will Comply with Our Lady’s Requests:

       In our prayers for the Pope and the hierarchy, our particular intention must be for them to comply with the requests made to them at Fatima: their consecration of Russia and their support and encouragement for the Reparatory Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

       Prayer for the Holy Father was a constant preoccupation of the three children of Fatima:

"From that time on, there was not a prayer or sacrifice that we offered to God which did not include an invocation for His Holiness."

... Lucy in her Second Memoir

       We should follow the children’s example, and understand its implications.

       The Church is hierarchical in Her structure. In it the Pope and bishops have their specific functions, of particular importance, and which no one else can carry out in their place. Hence, our duty to pray for the Pope and bishops, and especially during periods when their failure to give adequate leadership afflicts us all so distressingly.

       On this very point, the Virgin Mary gives us a further lesson. On June 13, 1929, in the apparition at Tuy, She declared:

"The moment has come when God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the bishops in the world, to consecrate Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to save it (i.e. Russia) by this means."

... Whole Truth About Fatima, (WTAF) Vol. II, p. 464

       We know that this urgent request, expressed in those words 74 years ago, has not been complied with. And we have seen the dire consequences predicted by the Virgin, if Her requests were not listened to, actually taking place: worldwide war, immense disorders, Russian errors spread throughout the world, the massacre of millions of Christians.

       Faced with these misfortunes, what does the Virgin do? She waits, waits for the responsible authorities (the Pope and the bishops) to do what is asked of them. It is Her will that the necessary action should be taken by the hierarchy of the Church instituted by Her Son. Whatever the inadequacies of the legitimate hierarchy, the Virgin does not call for its replacement by a parallel hierarchy. As Father Joseph de Sainte-Marie explains in his booklet Fatima: 20^th Century Prophecy:

"Mary does not in any way suppress the ecclesial mediating of the Pope, bishops, hierarchy (...) Nor does She pretend to replace the Church and its institutions."

       The lesson is one that we should bear in mind; it is of universal validity.

       In conclusion, Fatima is the bulwark and the salvation of Christendom. We can see that our political hope for a return to a Christian peace, for a society based on truly Christian principles is based on Fatima, on the fulfillment of the requests of Fatima.

       This hope is not a fanciful one. Our Lady Herself has said:

"The Pope will consecrate Russia to Me, it will be converted, and the world will be granted a certain period of peace."

       We are therefore sure that this will in fact come about. We do not know the date, but we can hasten its coming by our responsibilities as Christians and members of society. This is the chief political significance of Fatima. The prospect is a magnificent one. We should be doing our utmost to make it known and understood around us.

Bibliography
Works Quoted in the Text:

Saint Margaret-Mary, Her Autobiography, Tan Books, available from The Fatima Crusader.

Sainte Marie, Fr. Joseph de, "Fatima: 20^th Century Prophecy", supplement to Approaches No. 77.

Sainte Trinité, Frère Michel de la, The Whole Truth About Fatima, 3 volumes, published by Immaculate Heart Publications, Buffalo, New York, 14205, available from The Fatima Crusader.

"Fatima: The Mystery of the Third Secret," supplement to Approaches No. 93.

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