We are at the anniversary of the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917. We know of the Pope’s profound love of the Blessed Virgin Mary (a common trait of the last Popes).
Here is a booklet on Our Lady of Fatima.
Yesterday and today in Rome the Church and the world were consecrated to the maternal protection of the great Mother of God, Our Lady of Fatima.
The homily for today’s Mass the Pope hits on some well known themes: gratitude, remembrance, God surprises, our reliance on God, openness to the Divine initiative and trust. Put together we have a vision of what our life ought to be like: a Yes to the Lord in ALL things. Mercy is available. Do we ask for mercy?
In the Psalm we said: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things” (Ps 98:1). Today we consider one of the marvellous things which the Lord has done: Mary! A lowly and weak creature like ourselves, she was chosen to be the Mother of God, the Mother of her Creator.
Considering Mary in the light of the readings we have just heard, I would like to reflect with you on three things: first, God surprises us, second, God asks us to be faithful, and third, God is our strength.
First: God surprises us. The story of Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, is remarkable. In order to be healed of leprosy, he turns to the prophet of God, Elisha, who does not perform magic or demand anything unusual of him, but asks him simply to trust in God and to wash in the waters of the river. Not, however, in one of the great rivers of Damascus, but in the little stream of the Jordan. Naaman is left surprised, even taken aback. What kind of God is this who asks for something so simple? He wants to turn back, but then he goes ahead, he immerses himself in the Jordan and is immediately healed (cf. 2 Kg 5:1-4). There it is: God surprises us. It is precisely in poverty, in weakness and in humility that he reveals himself and grants us his love, which saves us, heals us and gives us strength. He asks us only to obey his word and to trust in him.
This was the experience of the Virgin Mary. At the message of the angel, she does not hide her surprise. It is the astonishment of realizing that God, to become man, had chosen her, a simple maid of Nazareth. Not someone who lived in a palace amid power and riches, or one who had done extraordinary things, but simply someone who was open to God and put her trust in him, even without understanding everything: “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). That was her answer. God constantly surprises us, he bursts our categories, he wreaks havoc with our plans. And he tells us: trust me, do not be afraid, let yourself be surprised, leave yourself behind and follow me!
Today let us all ask ourselves whether we are afraid of what God might ask, or of what he does ask. Do I let myself be surprised by God, as Mary was, or do I remain caught up in my own safety zone: in forms of material, intellectual or ideological security, taking refuge in my own projects and plans? Do I truly let God into my life? How do I answer him?
In the passage from Saint Paul which we have heard, the Apostle tells his disciple Timothy: remember Jesus Christ. If we persevere with him, we will also reign with him (cf. 2 Tim 2:8-13). This is the second thing: to remember Christ always – to be mindful of Jesus Christ – and thus to persevere in faith. God surprises us with his love, but he demands that we be faithful in following him. We can be unfaithful, but he cannot: he is “the faithful one” and he demands of us that same fidelity. Think of all the times when we were excited about something or other, some initiative, some task, but afterwards, at the first sign of difficulty, we threw in the towel. Sadly, this also happens in the case of fundamental decisions, such as marriage. It is the difficulty of remaining steadfast, faithful to decisions we have made and to commitments we have made. Often it is easy enough to say “yes”, but then we fail to repeat this “yes” each and every day. We fail to be faithful.
Mary said her “yes” to God: a “yes” which threw her simple life in Nazareth into turmoil, and not only once. Any number of times she had to utter a heartfelt “yes” at moments of joy and sorrow, culminating in the “yes” she spoke at the foot of the Cross. Here today there are many mothers present; think of the full extent of Mary’s faithfulness to God: seeing her only Son hanging on the Cross. The faithful woman, still standing, utterly heartbroken, yet faithful and strong.
And I ask myself: am I a Christian by fits and starts, or am I a Christian full-time? Our culture of the ephemeral, the relative, also takes its toll on the way we live our faith. God asks us to be faithful to him, daily, in our everyday life. He goes on to say that, even if we are sometimes unfaithful to him, he remains faithful. In his mercy, he never tires of stretching out his hand to lift us up, to encourage us to continue our journey, to come back and tell him of our weakness, so that he can grant us his strength. This is the real journey: to walk with the Lord always, even at moments of weakness, even in our sins. Never to prefer a makeshift path of our own. That kills us. Faith is ultimate fidelity, like that of Mary.
The last thing: God is our strength. I think of the ten lepers in the Gospel who were healed by Jesus. They approach him and, keeping their distance, they call out: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (Lk 17:13). They are sick, they need love and strength, and they are looking for someone to heal them. Jesus responds by freeing them from their disease. Strikingly, however, only one of them comes back, praising God and thanking him in a loud voice. Jesus notes this: ten asked to be healed and only one returned to praise God in a loud voice and to acknowledge that he is our strength. Knowing how to give thanks, to give praise for everything that the Lord has done for us.
Take Mary. After the Annunciation, her first act is one of charity towards her elderly kinswoman Elizabeth. Her first words are: “My soul magnifies the Lord”, in other words, a song of praise and thanksgiving to God not only for what he did for her, but for what he had done throughout the history of salvation. Everything is his gift. If we can realise that everything is God’s gift, how happy will our hearts be! Everything is his gift. He is our strength! Saying “thank you” is such an easy thing, and yet so hard! How often do we say “thank you” to one another in our families? These are essential words for our life in common. “Excuse me”, “sorry”, “thank you”. If families can say these three things, they will be fine. “Excuse me”, “sorry”, “thank you”. How often do we say “thank you” in our families? How often do we say “thank you” to those who help us, those close to us, those at our side throughout life? All too often we take everything for granted! This happens with God too. It is easy to approach the Lord to ask for something, but to go and thank him: “Well, I don’t need to”.
As we continue our celebration of the Eucharist, let us invoke Mary’s intercession. May she help us to be open to God’s surprises, to be faithful to him each and every day, and to praise and thank him, for he is our strength. Amen.
Once again, we have a substitution for what Our Lady specifically asked for at Fatima, and thus we will continue to get “substituted” results instead of the full and lasting result that She promised us, simply because the Popes and Bishops of the Church are scared to death to publicly utter the word “Russia” (and ONLY Russia) in a Consecration prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary exactly the way She asked for it. Our Lord told St. Margaret Mary to tell King Louis XIV to publicly consecrate France to His Sacred Heart, because the forerunner of today’s version of communism was about to strike France (and thus the Church and the rest of the world), but the King was afraid of doing so because he didn’t want to “offend” the heretics and secularists of his day…Then his son, King Louis XV refused to do it too, as well as his grandson, King Louis XVI. Our Lord had enough of this, so on exactly the 100th anniversary of His original request to St. Margaret Mary, the common people (called the Third Estate) deposed the King from his throne and implemented the secular catastrophe that has come to be known as the French Revolution and the “Age of Enlightenment.” Catholics were persecuted and murdered, churches closed, destroyed, or repurposed for secular aims, and all Catholic property became the property of the state. King Louis XVI, realizing what he had done (or rather failed to do) made a consecration of France in his prison cell, but of course this didn’t fulfill the simple, but very specific request of Our Lord, and the King was finally beheaded. And France has never had another king since then. THIS IS ALL A HISTORICAL FACT. The effects of this catastrophe still infect the church and the world today, although under the banners of socialism, fascism, Marxism, and communism. In His apparition to Sister Lucy in Rianjo in 1944, Our Lord said to her that if the Pope did not follow the instructions this time, that he would ” follow the King of France into misfortune”. Eventually, Our Lord said the consecration will be done, but the hour will be “late.” So far this hour still hasn’t come, so God only knows how late it’s going to be. Why does the Church and the world have to fall into almost complete ruin before we will wake up and do what Heaven tells us to do in the very first place, when all of this could be completely avoided? Russia, use the word “Russia” already, for Heaven’s sake! Be more afraid of what God will do if you continue to disobey and make substitutes for His program than what Russia or any heretic could possibly do for just saying “Russia” in a five-minute public prayer!
I am not so sure you are correct, Marc. Father Andrew Apostoli makes the historical claim that the consecration of Russia was indeed done. True, it is difficult to get away from what the Lord and His Mother ask.
Hi Paul. Thanks for your reply. Let’s take a look at the facts as they have been published. I will use capitals where the texts have words in italics. On page 221 of Our Lady of Fatima by William Thomas Walsh, (first published in 1947) the author, writes that during his visit with Sister Lucy, “…we came to the important subject of the second July secret, of which so many different and conflicting versions have been published. Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of THE WORLD to her Immaculate Heart. What she demanded specifically was the consecration of RUSSIA. She did not comment, of course, on the fact that Pope Pius XII had consecrated the world, not Russia, to the Immaculate Heart in 1942. But she said more than once, and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia, and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’ ” In a footnote on page 222 Sister Lucy is quoted as saying: “The Holy Father has already consecrated Russia, including it in the consecration of the world, but it has not been done in the form indicated by Our Lady; I do not know whether Our Lady accepts it, done this way, as complying with her promises.” On page 80 of the book “Vision of Fatima” by Father McGlynn published in 1949, Sister Lucy is quoted as emphatically saying: “No, not the world! RUSSIA! RUSSIA!” As recounted in the Italian Book “Il Pellegrinaggio della Meraviglie”, page 440, published through the Italian Episcopate in Rome in 1960, we read that Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucy in May of 1952 and said “Make it known to the Holy Father that I am always awaiting the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart. Without the Consecration, Russia will not be able to convert, nor will the world have peace.” (That’s finally a definite “NO” to the world being substituted for Russia; Heaven obviously DIDN’T accept the Papal consecration of the world in 1942 as a substitute for specifically naming “Russia”) After numerous correspondences with Lucy either in person or by letter, with this particularly subject being a focal point many times, Father Umberto Maria Pasquale S.D.B. published in L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO on May 12, 1982 an article in which he wrote that Our Lady only asked for the consecration of RUSSIA, not THE WORLD. March 19, 1983, at the request of the Holy Father, Sister Lucy met with the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Portalupi, Dr. Lacerda, and Father Messias Coelho. During this meeting, Sister Lucy confirmed that Pope John Paul’s Consecration of the world 1982 did not fulfill the requests of Our Lady. “In the act of offering of May 13, 1982, Russia did not appear as being the object of the consecration. And each bishop did not organize in his own diocese a public and solemn ceremony of reparation and Consecration of Russia. Pope John Paul II simply renewed the consecration of the world executed by Pius XII on October 31, 1942. From this consecration we can expect some benefits, but not the conversion of Russia.” This was quoted by Father Pierre Caillon of Centre Saint Jean 61500 Sees, (Orne) France in an article published by the monthly periodical Fidelite Catholique. In the September 1985 issue of Sol de Fatima, the official magazine of Portugal’s chapter of the Blue Army, regarding Pope John Paul II’s consecration of the WORLD in 1984, we read the following: “Sister Lucy was asked if the Pope fulfilled the request of Our Lady when he consecrated the world in 1984. Sister Lucy replied: ‘There was no participation of all the bishops, and there was no mention of Russia.’ She was then asked, ‘So the consecration was not done as requested by Our Lady?’ to which she replied: ‘No. Many bishops attached no importance to this act.’ ” Father Rene Laurentin, wrote in Chrètiens-Magazine, March 1987: “Sister Lucy remains unsatisfied… Lucy seems to think that the Consecration has ‘not been made’ as Our Lady wanted it.” So after all these DOCUMENTED PROOFS, we now come to Father Andrew Apostoli. In his book “Fatima For Today”, we are told on page 251 that after Pius XII’s veiled reference of including Russia (without naming her) in his consecration of the world in 1942, Sister Lucy “never raised an objection…” I think we have just proved him incorrect on that point. On page 198, Father Apostoli quotes a statement attributed to Sister Lucy by Cardinal Bertone whom Bertone says he interviewed for two hours on November 17, 2001, although no audio or video recording exists of this, and thus we are left to take Bertone’s word for it that Lucy supposedly said: “I’ve already said that the consecration Our Lady wished for was performed in 1984, and that it was accepted by Heaven.” So either Cardinal Bertone was not aware of all the above documented statements of Sister Lucia TO THE CONTRARY and deliberately LIED to us here, or Sister Lucia either had amnesia in her old age (she would have been 93 at the time of the alleged interview), or it was SHE who flat out LIED. I prefer to go with the more certain likelihood that Cardinal Bertone MADE THE QUOTE UP HIMSELF. On page 251 of Father Apostoli’s book we read Bishop Paul Josef Cordes saying: “I recall that (Pope John Paul II) thought, some time before (the Consecration), of mentioning Russia in the prayer of benediction. BUT AT THE SUGGESTION OF HIS COLLABORATORS HE ABANDONED THE IDEA. He could not risk such a direct provocation of the Soviet leader. The Pope also decided not to mention Russia directly OUT OF SENSITIVITY TO THE ORTHODOX BISHOPS he had invited to join in the consecration prayer. So for good reasons, he followed the discreet approach of Pope Pius XII and of the bishops at the Second Vatican Council, where he himself was very prominent.” Ok, so, unfortunately for Father Apostoli who published this quote, we find out that Pope John Paul II’s collaborators had him abandon the idea of saying “Russia.” (I say unfortunately, because Father Apostoli demolishes his argument simply by printing it.) We also already found out above that Our Lady, in May 1952, did not accept “the discreet approach of Pope Pius XII”, and thus would likewise not accept “the discreet approach” of ANY Pope after him, because God is God, and what He says goes: ( “I am the Lord God, and I do not change.” Malachi 3:6). So once again, we come back down to semantics. The Popes and the Bishops are afraid of saying the word “Russia” in any public consecrations because they will undoubtedly offend the heretical, schismatic Orthodox bishops. SO WHAT? Who’s the real Pope here? And again I ask the legitimate question: “Are you (Pope and Bishops) more afraid of offending heretics because of what they might say or do as a consequence, than you are afraid of God for not doing exactly what He commanded you to do through His Holy Mother?” How foolish! We already KNOW what the consequences will be for the Church and the world either way if WE DO, OR DO NOT, make this Consecration PROPERLY, because Our Lady made it perfectly clear when She delivered the mandate in the first place! And during the Consecration John Paul II is quoted as saying “Enlighten especially the peoples whose consecration and entrustment by us you are awaiting..” If consecrating the world covers EVERYBODY, why would there still be “peoples whose consecration by us you are awaiting” ? Are there peoples and countries that don’t belong to our “world”? Of course not. But according to Father Apostoli, we are supposed to believe that a mere change of regime in Russia (pp. 255-258) and not the conversion of Russia and its entire population to the One True Catholic Faith was all that Our Lady promised at Fatima, and as a seal of this promise of a mere change of regime and not full religious conversion She performed the Miracle of Sun in front of more than 70,000 witnesses. If this is all we can expect from Heaven, according to Father Apostoli, then where is the second part of Our Lady’s promise for the “conversion” of Russia: WORLD PEACE? Well, according to Father Apostoli all of this takes time, “gradual changes” (p. 254.) In the 30 YEARS since “Russia” was consecrated following “the discreet approach of Pope Pius XII” that Our Lady flatly rejected in Her apparition to Sister Lucy in 1952, the entire world has worsened exponentially spiritually and morally, America is rapidly becoming Socialist under Barack Obama (with tyranny being his ultimate objective as the present-day government shutdown he has unconstitutionally inflicted on us because he cannot have his way) and Russia has been doubling its military and weaponry (while Obama drastically reduces ours) and at least since 2005 has been involved in joint military exercises with its greatest ally COMMUNIST CHINA, along with COMMUNIST VENEZUELA, and COMMUNIST CUBA. Obama is determined to sack the Middle East, while Russia and her COMMUNIST ALLIES are just waiting for that moment so that World War III can break loose. How “gradual” does Father Apostoli want to go here? And now we have Francis’ “discreet approach” two days ago, so what does that mean now, another 30 YEARS of “gradual changes” before the world gets its peace? I can continue with another boatload of documented facts on all aspects of this subject, but I hope I have sufficiently made Our Lady of Fatima’s point for Her. Any Catholic who truly knows and loves Our Lady and is truly informed on Fatima can see through all the ecclesiastically-imposed obfuscation here. The bottom line is (and always has been) this: THERE ARE MEMBERS OF THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY WHO WANT TO PREVENT THE PROPER CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA AT ANY COST PRECISELY BECAUSE IT IS IN THEIR OWN INTEREST THAT RUSSIA DOES NOT CONVERT IN THE FULL SENSE OF THE TERM AS OUR LADY MEANT IT AT FATIMA. And those clergy are the very ones who are COMMUNIST THEMSELVES. Communist clergy?? How could that be?? Well, a good part of THAT story is revealed at great length and with extensive documentation in the secular books (available at or through any public library in the United States) “The Sword and the Shield” and “The Venona Secrets”, to name just TWO of the most recent and most important. The facts are out there, people. Take the time to research them for yourselves, because YOUR FUTURE, both in this world and in the next, is VERY MUCH AT STAKE.