by a Dominican father
taken from the official site of the Dominicans of Avrillé
This is a sermon given in the Dominican monastery la Haye-aux-Bonshommes in Avrillé (France).
The Fatima Message
Starting on May 13, the Most Holy Virgin appeared to three young shepherds on the 13th of every month in the presence of a growing number of pilgrims and the inquisitive. The children alone saw Our Lady.
It is not sufficient to say that the message was a call for prayer and penance, as the Vatican claims. Such a lack of precision allows the particular demands given by Our Lady for our times to be placed under the bushel. We must therefore state the exact nature and the aim of the prayer request. Therefore, it is more correct to say that the instructions given by Our Lady between May 13 and October 13 may be summed up in these words: the daily Rosary and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. That is the Fatima message in general.
To this general message were later added two particular requests that were in keeping with the promise made as early as July 13:
- in 1925, the request was made for the Five First Saturdays devotion in reparation for sins ;
- and in 1929, the request was made for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope in union with all the bishops in the world.
It would be an error to limit the Fatima message to these two particular requests and to forget the general request: the daily Rosary and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners.
The Miracle of the Sun: the Facts
Let us go back to the 13th day of October 1917, the day that we are commemorating today.
As early as July 13, the Virgin Mary announced a huge miracle that would take place on October 13 so that the entire world may believe in the reality of the apparitions and in the serious nature of Heaven’s warning.
The story is well known: a crowd of nearly 100,000 people gathered in the area; they were mostly Catholics, but also non-believers, militant atheists, and even the freemasonic government minister for national education. A torrential rain pouring from midnight on soaked everyone to the bones and rendered the Cova da Iria[1] into a muddy field: in order to give blessings, God wills that we first do penance. At midday, Lucy asked the people to fold their umbrellas. The entire crowd complied and magnificently displayed their faith and obedience. A few moments later, the sun broke through the clouds and Our Lady appeared above a small holm-oak. She asked for the conversion of sinners and, as in every apparition, she insisted on the daily recitation of the Rosary.
Then, suddenly, Lucy cried out: « Look at the sun! » In front of the stupefied crowd of people, the sun gyrated in on itself as if it were a fire wheel, turning various colors of the rainbow. This lasted nearly eight minutes but seemed like hours. This cannot be attributed to a collective hallucination, because the phenomenon was seen within a forty-kilometer radius by various individuals.
While the sun was spinning around, the three young shepherds, Lucy, Jacinta and Francisco alone saw a vision that symbolized the three sets of the mysteries of the Rosary:
- representing the Joyful Mysteries: St. Joseph appeared with the Child Jesus and Our Lady: St. Joseph and the Child Jesus were blessing the world;
- representing the Sorrowful Mysteries: Our Lord appeared with Our Lady of Sorrows;
- representing the Glorious Mysteries: the Virgin Mary in Heaven was seen holding the scapular of Mount Carmel.
The sun then turned blood red in color and seemed to fall from the sky and hurl itself towards the earth. Everyone believed that the end of the world had come. Then everything stopped – the sun returned to its normal place in the sky.
The people got up and noted another phenomenon: their soaked clothes were completely dry.
The non-believers had to acknowledge the reality of the facts. The following day, newspapers, including those most hostile towards the Church, all reported on the event.
What lessons may we draw today from this miracle?
The Miracle of the Sun: Lessons to be Drawn
The largest miracle in the entire history of the Church
Firstly let us observe the spectacular nature of this miracle. We must turn to the Old Testament to find similar prodigies that were performed in front of an immense crowd of people: such as the manifestation of God to Moses and to the Hebrew people on Mount Sinai (Ex 19); or when Joshua stopped the sun and the moon from advancing so that nightfall would not prevent the Jews from exterminating the enemies of Yahweh (Jos 10). The miracle of October 13, 1917 is assuredly the largest miracle in the entire history of the Church. Let us ask why.
The history of the Church is the history of the struggle between two cities: the city of God and the city of Satan:
"These two Cities are made by two loves: the heavenly City by love of God even to the contempt of self; the earthly City by love of oneself even to the contempt of God (St. Augustin, The City of God)."This magnificent synthesis of St. Augustine is nothing other than what is written in the Book of Genesis:
"I will put enmities between thee [the snake] and the Woman [the Virgin Mary], and between thy seed and her seed [Our Lord; the Church]: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel [the persecutions of the Church] (Gen 3, 15)."
We are now living in the times when "the devil is fighting the decisive battle, meaning the final battle ", says Our Lady[2]. This is the day when the general assault of all anti-Christian forces is launched against the Church.
"It is urgent that we realize the terrible reality that we are in. We do not wish to frighten people, but this is an urgent call to the reality of our situation, comments Sr. Lucy [3]."
And it is in order to draw our attention to this final phase of the history of the Church that Heaven produced the largest miracle of the past 2,000 years.
Paradoxically, the current Church authorities are totally silent on this event.
And so, in the year 2000, when Cardinal Ratzinger released to the public a questionable version of the third secret of Fatima, he made no allusion whatsoever to this miracle.
Why this silence?
The current Church authorities have not yet fulfilled the Virgin Mary’s request, and so it is understandable that they are embarassed by this miracle, which clearly proves the heavenly origin of this request. At the same time – could it be their guilty conscience? – these authorities feel obliged to talk from time to time about Fatima and to perform the consecrations of the world or of mankind. Pope Francis made one such consecration on October 13, 2013[4]. However, by not consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as Our Lady requested, the popes are unable to provide the world with the promised remedy, and the situation continues to get worse.
The Fatima apparitions are the key to understanding the entire history of our era
We will now move to the second important consideration: the Fatima apparitions are the key to understanding all the events of the 20th century and all that we are living through today, whether in the religious or political sphere. To be truly convinced of this, one only needs to read the authoritative work by French Br. Michel of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth about Fatima[5].
The troubles, the upheavals and the unprecedented decadence of our times are the direct consequences of the fact that churchmen have not yet wished to fulfill the request of Our Lady of Fatima:
"I will come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and for the Five First Saturdays in reparation for the sins, said Our Lady on July 13, 1917. If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If my requests are not granted, Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions against the Church."The October 1917 Revolution that took place immediately after the request of Our Lady of Fatima was not a simple coup d’état bringing about a regime change. The aim of the Revolution was especially « to spread throughout the world the institutions and the mores of atheism[6] », and the immorality that was to follow in its wake[7].
This Revolution occurred precisely during the huge conflagration of 1914 – 1918, which was the first Great War aiming to prepare for a one-world government. It is this that constitutes the errors of Russia: the creation of an atheistic society without Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the supreme assault against the Social Kingship of Our Lord. And we must admit that these errors have now spread throughout the entire world. No nation has been spared.
The only effective obstacle to this plan was the Church. In order to protect the Church and the world from this plot, the Virgin Mary requested Pope Pius XI in 1921, by the intermediary of Sr. Lucy, to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. The Pope did not believe the matter was worth pursuing. Ten years later Our Lord complained to Sr. Lucy:
"Tell My ministers: because they are following the example of the king of France in delaying the fulfillment of My request, they will share in his tragedy[8]."
It was indeed during those years that an organisation was put in place by Moscow in order to infiltrate seminaries and novitiates with agents who had false vocations. These agents later reached influencial positions and gradually worked to effect a new orientation in the Church. This has been proven by a good number of documents. (We have provided references in an article about Fatima[9] in our review le Sel de la Terre.) The Pope having ignored the protection that Heaven was offering, the Church became the plaything of her enemies.
At the time of the Second Vatican Council, Moscow doubled the budget they allocated to the Pax organization, which was one of the principal agents of Communist infiltration into the Church[10]. Among other things, this group contributed to the attacks directed at the Curia during the Council[11].
We should therefore not be surprised that the two major documents passed by the Council, and not without opposition, were:
- the document on Religious Liberty[12], which sanctions the secularization of States, that is to say their becoming atheistic States, preventing the Social Reign of Our Lord and forbidding the constitution of officially Catholic nations;
- and the document Nostra Aetate[13] which, along with the decree on Ecumenism[14], leads to what we see today: churchmen who abandon missionary activities in order to work towards uniting all religions for the service of the atheistic and anti-Christian world government. Last October 1st, in an interview with the chief editor of the newpaper Repubblica in Italy, an interview which made huge waves, Pope Francis declared: « Proselytism [that is, missionary activity] is a pompous absurdity ». But this Ecumenism, which refuses the conversion of non-Catholics, leads to Religious Indifferentism, and Religious Indifferentism leads to Apostasy and to Atheism. That is what we see today in the entire world.
Yes, the errors of Russia have penetrated inside the Church.
The means chosen by God to redress the current situation
So, what must we do? And can we do anything, we who are so few?
We need to understand that God alone can now redress the situation. There is no longer any solution on the purely human level. But that does not mean that there is nothing for us to do: God always wants the co-operation of His creatures, but the co-operation must be in accordance with His plan.
The Two Battles
Some years ago an eminent traditional Catholic thinker summed up the situation very well when he said that there are two battles that must be fought at the same time:
1) We must fight in order to preserve our last holdings. It is obvious that we must above all maintain our chapels, our monasteries, our schools, our publications, our associations[15], and, generally speaking, we must hold on to our hope of salvation and to the orthodoxy of our Doctrine. This is the lower battle. It is a defensive battle, a battle where we hold our own against the enemy.
2) But on a level higher than these countless battles of self-preservation, a battle of the greatest importance has begun and whose objective is the transfer of power[16]. « I will reign in spite of My enemies », said the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret-Mary in 1689[17]; a promise that was renewed in the 19th and 20th centuries to a large number of mystics, in particular to Madame Royer in France. […] We may rest assured that today Our Lord is working mysteriously, as He always does, towards the destruction of the Beast and towards the restoration of His own Reign. This mysterious battle which is led by Christ the King constitutes the higher battle, and that is the principal objective[18].
The Lower Battle
Concerning the lower battle, the battle fought by men, Fr. Calmel O.P. had these enlightening words to say:
"May each priest, each layman, each little group of priests and laymen, who have authority and influence over a small remnant of the Church and of Christendom go to the utmost of their possibilities and power. […] May the leaders of the small groups and their members know each other and communicate with each other. May each of these small groups thus protected, defended, led and guided in their prayer and chants by a true authority, become as much as possible a bastion of holiness: this is what will garantee the continuity of the true Church and what will efficaciously prepare for a revival, when the day chosen by God comes[19].Let us note what Fr. Calmel says: our bastions must be bastions of holiness.
What is worrisome at the moment is not so much the advancement of the forces of evil, but rather the softening of the good. Actually, there’s probably a link between the two tendencies. Those who knew the heroic beginnings of Tradition with Archbishop Lefebvre note that today the traditionalists have become quite lukewarm in comparison to those heroic days: the slovenly manner of dressing, sinful and imprudent use of the Internet, weakening of the convictions among the young, the faithful who no longer read in order to maintain their Faith and to oppose errors, fewer people going on spiritual retreats, a proportional decrease in vocations, etc.
If our principal focus in this lower battle is not on our sanctification, we will not preserve our bastions. We will be swept away in the general apostasy. Let us be watchful, let us wake up!
The Higher Battle
Above this battle of self-preservation lies the higher battle whose goal it is to completely defeat the forces of evil. This is where God’s battle lies. And where do we stand in this battle?
There is but one simple action that each one must take. Our Lady confided that action to Sr. Lucy of Fatima:
"Many times, while I was spending precious hours in her company, Our Lady insisted that we fulfill our daily duties according to our state in life and that we offer this effort for the reparation of our sins and for the conversion of sinners. This is the fundamental condition which will enable us to push back the forces of evil that threaten to submerge the world today and which will bring about the conversion of Russia and a period of peace to the world. But she also explained the importance of the Rosary because it is the one principal means given to us by Our Lady for the sanctification of our daily duties[20].This is how we can truly and efficaciously participate in the final battle which will definitively crush the enemies of the Church. This is within everyone’s reach and that is very encouraging!
Conclusion
Let us conclude with the words of Abp. Lefebvre which he gave in a sermon in his last Pontifical Mass on November 1, 1990 in Écône on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the SSPX. This is his testament:
"My dear Friends, you can easily see the importance of your role. […] You are a small remnant, but you carry the torch boldly. […] Ah! What a beautiful task, what a noble crusade lies ahead of you! The good God has placed you in a period of the history of mankind that is exciting for young people such as yourselves! It was just like this at the time of the Machabees when they left the corrupt Jewish society, and they too were very few. Judas Machabee with only eight hundred soldiers faced an army of twenty thousand – and he defeated them. And so, be confident, my dear Friends, God is with you. He will not abandon you, just as He has not abandoned us over the course of the last twenty years. Nor will He abandon you in the future because it is Himself that God wants. God does not want to disappear; He is God, He wants to remain God, not only in Heaven, but also here on earth. That is why He wants soldiers in His army.
footnotes
[1]It is the Portuguese word for the plot of land where the Fatima apparitions took place.
[2]Interview of Sr. Lucy with Fr. Fuentès on Dec. 26, 1957, reproduced in the
Messagero del Cuore di Maria, no. 8-9, Aug-Sept 1961.
[3]Interview of Sr. Lucy with Fr. Fuentès, (ibid.).
[4]With Pope Francis, we have descended even lower. On October 13, 2013, the Immaculate Heart of Mary was not even named in the consecration formula: the Pope consecrated « mankind » […] to « the Virgin of Fatima » (ORLF 42, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, p. 8-9).
[5]France, Saint-Parres-lès-Vaudes, CRC, published in English by : Immaculate Heart Publications, Box 1028, Buffalo, New York, USA 14205, and : 452 Kraft Road, Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada L2A 4M7 ; volume 1 : science and the facts (1989), volume 2 : the secret and the Church (1989), volume 3 : the third secret (1990). One cannot necessarily endorse all the pronouncements given in the works of the French Contre Réforme Catholique, but on the whole it is a most worthy collection of documents for historians.
[6]Fr. Calmel O.P., Le Cœur immaculé de Marie et la paix du monde », Itinéraires 38, Dec. 1959, p. 24.
[7]We must re-read the encyclical Divini Redemptoris of Pope Pius XI on the atheistic Communism, March 19, 1937.
[8]The words of Our Lord can be found in a letter of Sr. Lucy cited by Fr. Alonso and reproduced by Br. Michel of the Holy Trinity in The Whole Truth about Fatima, t. 2, p. 546.
[9]Fatima : notre espérance, Le Sel de la terre 53, summer 2005, p. 63. The article written by Dominicus, « Jean-Paul II a-t-il consacré la Russie ? » was published as a booklet by Editions du Sel under the title La Russie se convertira. The references to the Communist infiltration of the Church starting in the reign of Pope Pius XI may be found on page 13.
[10]See the publication Itinéraires 79, p. 55-57; see also L’affaire Pax en France, a supplement to Itinéraires 86.
[11]Itinéraires 88, p. 14-18.
[12]Dignitatis Humanae, Dec. 7, 1965.
[13]Declaration on the relations of the Church with non-Christian religions, Oct. 28, 1965.
[14]Unitatis Redintegratio, Nov. 21, 1964.
[15]Chapels, schools, etc., were founded by the heroic resistance of Abp Lefebvre towards the apostasy of the conciliar church. All this is endangered today by the policy of Bishop Fellay seeking an agreement with modernist Rome.
[16]Here it is a question of the occult powers which oppress us today. God will replace them with the Reign of Christ the King of all nations.
[17]This promise given by Our Lord is no doubt in keeping with the one given by Our Lady at Fatima on July 13, 1917: « In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph ».
[18]Jean Vaquie, La Bataille préliminaire, Paris, Action Familiale et Scolaire (31 rue Rennequin, 75017), p. 1-2. The entire booklet should be read. It is supplemented by Réflexions sur les ennemis et la manœuvre, by the same author, available from DPF (Diffusion de la Pensée Française).
[19]P. R-Th Calmel O.P., Brève apologie pour l’Église de toujours, Maule, Difralivre, 1987, p. 50.
[20]Remarks made by Sr. Lucy of Fatima and noted by Mr. John Haffert, one of the main founders of the Blue Army, collected in 1946 and published in his work Fatima, a Worldwide Apostolat, edited in France by Tequi in 1984, p. 17.
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