What could be more timely than another strong reminder about our Blessed Mother’s direction on how to save our souls?
After all, our times seem to be marked by more wars, uprisings, natural disasters and relentless attacks on morality, the family and life itself.
Fatima for Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope provides that reminder, The author, Father Andrew Apostoli, is a foremost authority on the Fatima apparitions and message.
“No doubt Our Lady is protecting us from many spiritual assaults that are not as obvious as the atomic bomb, but nevertheless real,” writes Father Apostoli. “She is likewise preparing her spiritual sons and daughters for the struggles that will ultimately lead to the triumph of her Immaculate Heart. In earthly warfare, the general of the army is in charge. In spiritual warfare, Jesus is in charge. But he has chosen to direct some of us through his mother. … The general decides what will work to accomplish a victory, and what will not. The general must also determine which weapons will be most effective. Hasn’t Our Lady done something like this for us at Fatima? ... She told us that the most effective weapon, after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is the Rosary.”
This book takes us through the apparitions to the three little seers of the Angel of Peace that preceded our Blessed Mother’s appearances, Our Lady’s apparitions from May to October, then her appearances again to Sister Lucia in Spain from 1925-30. More importantly, it explains their significance then and their urgency for us today, since so many have still not honored Our Lady’s requests.
Praying the Rosary for peace, offering prayers and sacrifices, linking Eucharistic and Marian devotion, describing what the evils of communism have wrought, looking at the lives of the three children — all take on a new urgency for our times.
Father Apostoli addresses the controversy about the consecration of Russia that Our Lady requested of the Pope — and questions about the Third Secret of Fatima. No other source I know of answers every possible objection so thoroughly and so clearly with no detail or fact ignored or unexplained. It’s likely you’ve never encountered some of these facts elsewhere, like the role in the consecration played by the 20th-century mystic Blessed Alexandrina de Costa.
Finally, to help us respond to the message easily, Father Apostoli includes an appendix with the five simple Fatima prayers and another explaining the reasons, necessity and way to fulfill the so sorely neglected request of Our Lady and her Son for the Five First Saturdays devotion.
If ever there was a flawless work on Fatima, this is it. Read and re-read, this book should propel us to pick up our rosaries, make even the tiniest sacrifices in our lives an offering and heed the requests of Our Lady of Fatima to hasten her promise: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
Register staff writer Joseph Pronechen is based in Trumbull, Connecticut.
FATIMA FOR TODAY
The Urgent Marian Message of Hope
By Father Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R.
Ignatius, 2010
300 pages, $19.95
To order: ignatius.com
(800) 651-1531
Jimmy Akin: How can Jesus’ death save people who died before his time?
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What I would like is a picture book on Fatima that is suitable for young children.
There is a line from the private revelations of Fatima that I cannot reconcile with my understanding of Catholicism. The Church teaches that God gives all people sufficient grace to overcome sin and so enter Heaven. Now Our Lady of Fatima is said to have said “Pray, pray very much; and make sacrifices for sinners. Many souls are lost, because there are none to make sacrifices for them.” This seems to suggest that a person’s soul can be lost because (that is, as a ‘cause’ of) another person failing to pray/sacrifice for them. Surely it can’t mean this; how can one human person’s salvation depend on the (in)action of another human?
One wonders if it will silence the Conspiracy theorists who claim the Vatican is still hiding the truth about the Third Secret.
“More importantly, it explains their significance then and their urgency for us today, since so many have still not honored Our Lady’s requests.”
There is no urgency. The revelation at Fatima has come and gone. Revelations are only temporary. Stick with Public Revelation.
Antoine,
God, not of necessity, but by His choice, has made grace dependant on others. He gives his gifts to others (the Saints), so that they may dispense them as they please. He also makes the giving of grace contingent on our intercession. Think of Abraham interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah. Their safety depended on the holiness of just 10 men! What the Church does not teach, is that God makes it almost impossible for one to fall into sin. However, if there were a multitude of holy people praying and sacrificing for a person, it would be very difficult for that person to fall. Catholicism is not a He and me and to Hell with thee religion. We are saved (brought to holiness) in a community.
Hi Antoine,
Prayer of intercession is known to save sinners. There are many examples in the Scriptures where had the righteous failed to act in a certain way (prayer, offer sacrifice, or do penance), other people would’ve perished. Let me cite some examples for you.
“The (A)LORD spoke further to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a (B)stubborn people.
14’(C)Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and (D)blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’
15”(E)So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
16"And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD had commanded you.
17"I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your eyes.
18”(F)I fell down before the LORD, (G)as at the first, forty days and nights; (H)I neither ate bread nor drank water, (I)because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger. (Deuteronomy 9:13-18).
Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, (N)do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned.
12"Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!”
13Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “O God, (O)heal her, I pray!”
14But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but (P)spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days (Q)outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” (Numbers 12:11-14).
In both of these incidents, people were saved from God’s wrath through the prayer of intercession or sacrifices offered by Moses. In fact, 1 Timothy 2:1 says that we must offer prayers of intercession for everyone. James 5:14 commands us that we must seek out our Elders to pray for us. Job 42:8 states that if Job does not offer sacrifices for his friends, God’s wrath and anger would unleash on them.
Likewise, Our Holy Mother, instructs us that we must pray and offer sacrifices for lost souls. If we don’t, then the result may just be that these souls will end up in Hell. I hope this helps!
http://www.viewcatholic.blogspot.com
Nick, thanks for your reply. But even if we were to consider the private revelation at the time it was made, its apparent conflict with public revelation would still be there. Can you reconcile reconcile them? I have thought of one way, but I would rather hear what others have to say.
antoine:
Please know that this private revelation—Our Lady of Fatima—is fully accepted and endorsed by the Holy See and, of course, confirmed in its importance by Blessed John Paul II in his visits there and his words nad recommendations about Our Lady’s Messages (remember, she identified herseld there not as Our Lady of Fatima but as Our Lady of the Rosary, a title already knowand celebrated in the Church, plus those of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI and his own visit there.
I was a Catholic college senior in 1960, the year that the Third Secret was to be released “no later than”. I have a very simple request of the Holy Father: forget the books, fire Cdl. Bertone after that 2000 episode and merely release the Third Secret IN ITS ENTIRETY. After the last fifty years, who could possibly be scandalized?
I have always been of two minds about the revelations that Our Lady gave to the children at Fatima. It seems as if almost the whole Church believes in the messages, but some of them are so disturbing that I become afraid every time I read of them. I don’t understand why we have to be frightened so that we will do good. Some of the messages of Fatima frighten me so much that I would rather not think of it at all. Are we obliged to believe everything in the messages? If so, I feel as if I am lost.
“Nick, thanks for your reply. But even if we were to consider the private revelation at the time it was made, its apparent conflict with public revelation would still be there. Can you reconcile reconcile them? I have thought of one way, but I would rather hear what others have to say.”
If a supernatural message conflicts with Public Revelation, it is not a private revelation. That’s a seldom known fact among most Catholics. A private revelation is only a genuine message from God, “genuine” meaning it is both really from God and it does not conflict with Public Revelation - never one without the other, especially since Public Revelation is God the Son made Son of Man and God cannot contradict God.
Everyone, thanks for your replies. I understand the effectiveness of and need for intercessory prayer.
But what I am struggling with is this consequence of that line from Fatima: I die and go before the judgment seat of God. He says to me, ‘If you had interceeded for your friend Harry just once, Harry would have turned away from his adulteours life and entered Heaven through repentence.’ My reply would be, ‘Lord, I am a sinner, and I did fail in this instance, but why did not Mary make up for this particular failure of mine? If Mary had said that one prayer which I failed to say, then Harry would have entered Heaven!’ What would God say, when He wills all people to be saved? This is the crux of my dilemma.
I do not doubt the Church’s Magersterial authority, but I am struggling to understand what was taught at Fatima in this line. (‘Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt’ Bld Newman). My faith says to me: in a mysterious way, our intecessory prayers make a real difference, but at the same time, God makes up for our failures through e.g. the intessory prayers of the Saints. I know He is not contridicting Himself, but He is a sign of contradiction (i.e. a paradox). And my faith seeks understanding (St Augustine/Anselm).
I would also like to make one last comment regarding private revelation, since I often hear the question “Who do I obey, the Church or a private revelation, because I know Christ is one with the Church and I know Christ is speaking through the private revelation?”
It’s easy to answer when you know Public Revelation. Public Revelation is Jesus Christ, the Son of God made Son of Man, Who completed Divine Revelation when He came. Divine Revelation is the Revelation of God, better known as the Word of God - which includes Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition - and since it is completed, there can be no new Public Revelation, which means that Public Revelation cannot be corrected, surpassed, replaced, or substituted. After all, nothing can correct, surpass, replace or substitute God.
Christ, Who is Public Revelation, teaches us that we must obey the Church and beware of false prophets. That means we must obey the Church before we obey any messages from visionaries, seers, messengers, or otherwise prophets and that means we must be prudent about alleged revelations. Some clever false prophets can fake holiness and spiritual fruits and gifts, as attested in the Scriptures with the so-called “superapostles” and as attested in the Church document Tribus Circiter with the Mariavites.
My apologies- the previous post, without the spelling mistakes..
Everyone, thanks for your replies. I understand the effectiveness of and need for intercessory prayer.
But what I am struggling with is this consequence of that line from Fatima: I die and go before the judgment seat of God. He says to me, ‘If you had interceded for your friend Harry just once, Harry would have turned away from his adulterous life and entered Heaven through repentance.’ My reply would be, ‘Lord, I am a sinner, and I did fail in this instance, but why did not Mary make up for this particular failure of mine? If Mary had said that one prayer which I failed to say, then Harry would have entered Heaven!’ What would God say, when He wills all people to be saved? This is the crux of my dilemma.
I do not doubt the Church’s Magisterial authority, but I am struggling to understand what was taught at Fatima in this line. (‘Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt’ Bld Newman). My faith says to me: in a mysterious way, our intercessory prayers make a real difference, but at the same time, God makes up for our failures through e.g. the intercessory prayers of the Saints. I know He is not contradicting Himself, but He is a sign of contradiction (i.e. a paradox). And my faith seeks understanding (St Augustine/Anselm).
Here in 2011, there are abortions being legally performed in Italy, US, Spain, Brazil, canada, Australia, UK…...... With the exception of the Islamic world, all women dress immodestly….. Nudism, or partial nudism at beaches…... Massage ‘therapies’ abound ... very popular here in Ireland…... and yet there are posters here who think the Immaculate Heart has already triumphed! No, the Message of Fatima is not yet complete and the annihilation of nations is yet to come about.
Antoine,
Heed the Church before you heed private revelation. Study the Faith. Do not bother with revelations if they hurt your faith.
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