Sunday, May 13, 2007

Sermon for 5th Sunday after Easter 13.5.07


5th Sunday after Easter 13.5.07 Fatima
On the thirteenth of May 1917, after Sunday morning Mass, three children (Lucy, Francisco, and Jacinta) chose to lead their sheep to a property called Cova da Iria. After eating their meal at noon and praying the Rosary, the children began to play. Suddenly they saw a kind of lightning, making them believe that a storm was approaching, and they began to descend the hill to make for home.
When about halfway down the slope there was another flash of light, and a Lady appeared above a holm-oak tree. Lucy says that the Lady was "all dressed in white, more brilliant than the sun, radiating a light clearer and more intense than a crystal glass filled with clear water pierced by the most burning rays of the sun." The children stopped and found themselves in the light that emanated from Her. Lucy describes the apparition in this way:
Then Our Lady said to us: ‘Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm.’ ‘Where is Your Grace from?’ I asked Her. ‘I am of Heaven.’ ‘What does Your Grace want of me?’ ‘I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterwards, I will return here yet a seventh time.’
…Are you willing to offer yourselves to God to bear all the sufferings He wants to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and for the conversion of sinners?’ ‘Yes, we are willing.’ ‘You are then going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your
comfort.’
So began a great story, which still affects us, and is today 90 years old.
Fatima was a special message for a new century, in which new technology combined with ancient evil would make possible a scale of destruction never before seen.
It was an age of blocs. Which bloc would you belong to? Not so much east or west, as Heaven or Hell.
Our Lady was warning that, as bad as things were in 1917, they would get a lot worse if men did not repent. If the requests of Our Lady of Fatima for the Consecration of Russia and the First Saturday devotion are not honored, the Church will be persecuted, there will be other major wars, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and various nations will be annihilated. Many nations will be enslaved by Russian militant atheists. Most important, many souls will be lost.
Well, things have got a lot worse, but Fatima was also a message of hope – springing from the fact that God is greater than the devil; good is greater than evil.
There is a remedy provided for all this evil. It is the remedy of mercy. Mercy can be obtained from heaven. Sins can be forgiven; the hearts of sinners can convert; bad people can become good.
If the requests of Our Lady of Fatima are carried out "My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will Consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to mankind."
If we repent, if we make sacrifices, if we pray – then there will be peace and a time of great progress for the Church.
So we find ourselves between warnings of destruction and promises of deliverance. It is in our power to make things better by doing what Our Lady asked us.
We can be so discouraged by things going wrong that we lose heart in our prayer and no longer dare to ask for these good things.

Not everyone has ignored the message of Fatima. There are always a faithful number praying away and making reparation, and we are among that number.

Who knows what disasters we have helped to avert by the prayer and the sacrifices we have already made. We might have had World War 3, 4 and 5 by now, but for the faithful response of at least some percentage of the world to Mary’s warnings.

So much comes down to just how many people are doing these things. The more join in the better it gets. The urgency is just to get YOU to join in.

Sin is still with us, bigger than ever, but so is Mercy and the grace of conversion. It needs every hand on deck, every shoulder to the wheel to bring off this great change – the conversion of the whole world, the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.