We customarily begin and end our novenas on important feasts of Our Lord, Our Blessed Mother or an important saint. We call to Our Lord, Our Lady under their title honored in the feast, or take the Saint as our patron. The novena that is ending today on the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, one of the great lights of the Counter-Reformation. To demonstrate his relevance to our time, we include the following story that is taken from the Saint of the Day feature in the Tradition In Action website. St. Charles Borromeo teaches something about true humility that is often lost in our present day.
A Cardinal, as you know, is supposed to dress with
pomp, grandeur, and solemnity to glorify Our Lord Jesus Christ before men. In
addition to being a Prince of the Church, St. Charles Borromeo was a temporal
Lord in Milan, born into a great and noble Italian family. In his 20s, he was
entrusted with the responsible post of Papal Secretary of State. Therefore, he
used to dress and appear in great style.
Once his carriage was on its way to one of his
appointments when a simple friar, who was walking on the road, approached it.
St. Charles Borromeo ordered the driver to stop the vehicle. The friar greeted
him and said:
“Your Eminence, how nice it must be to live the life
of a Cardinal, to wear such splendid clothes and travel in a magnificent
carriage! Surely it is much more agreeable than to be a simple friar like me,
and walk by foot.”
Cardinal Borromeo kindly invited the friar to
accompany him. The friar seated himself next to the Cardinal and the journey
re-commenced. Shortly the friar began to cry out in pain, because the beautiful
cushions of the benches were placed over a board of sharp iron nails of penance
that the Cardinal normally used to mortify himself. The pain became more acute
with every movement of the vehicle. The friar could not support such
mortification, and begged that the carriage stop for him to get out. Relieved,
he returned to his "walk by foot."
That is to say, the silks and crystals of the
luxurious carriage were meant to be seen by the people to glorify God and the
dignity of his post. Underneath the splendid appearance of a Cardinal, the
Saint continued to practice penance for his sins and those of his flock.
We can ask St. Charles Borromeo to intercede with Our
Lord and Our Lady for several things on his feast day:
for the reform of today’s Bishops who so often are
very different from the model he represented,
for the restoration of the seminaries, so immersed in
bad morals and false doctrine,
and finally, for the restoration of the entire Holy
Catholic Church today as he helped to restore her in his times.
For ourselves personally, we might ask him to give us
his vigilance against heresy and his heroic sense of sacrifice.
Empires
break; industrial conditions change; the suburbs will not last for ever. What
will remain? I will tell you. The Catholic Saint will remain."
~ GK Chesterton
from the Facebook page GK Chesterton
"WHO talked of such folly?" asked MacIan disdainfully.
"Do you suppose that the Catholic Church ever held that Christians were
the only good men? Why, the Catholics of the Catholic Middle Ages talked about
the virtues of all the virtuous Pagans until humanity was sick of the subject.
No, if you really want to know what we mean when we say
that Christianity has a special power of virtue, I will tell you. The Church is
the only thing on earth that can perpetuate a type of virtue and make it
something more than a fashion. The thing is so plain and historical that I
hardly think you will ever deny it. You cannot deny that it is perfectly
possible that tomorrow morning, in Ireland or in Italy, there might appear a man
not only as good but good in exactly the same way as St. Francis of Assisi. Very well, now take the other types of human virtue; many of them splendid. The
English gentleman of Elizabeth was chivalrous and idealistic. But can you stand
still here in this meadow and be an English gentleman of Elizabeth? The austere
republican of the eighteenth century, with his stern patriotism and his simple
life, was a fine fellow. But have you ever seen him? have you ever seen an
austere republican? Only a hundred years have passed and that volcano of
revolutionary truth and valour is as cold as the mountains of the moon. And so
it is and so it will be with the ethics which are buzzing down Fleet Street at
this instant as I speak. What phrase would inspire the London clerk or workman
just now? Perhaps that he is a son of the British Empire on which the sun never
sets; perhaps that he is a prop of his Trades Union, or a class-conscious
proletarian something or other; perhaps merely that he is a gentleman when he
obviously is not. Those names and notions are all honourable; but how long will
they last? Empires break; industrial conditions change; the suburbs will not
last for ever. What will remain? I will tell you. The Catholic Saint will
remain."
~G.K. Chesterton: from "The Ball and the Cross," Chap. VIII.─An
Interlude of Argument.
Artwork: St. Francis in Ecstasy, by Caravaggio. Oil on canvas, c. 1595;
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford.
Over all was poured the soft light of the paschal moon,
hanging low in the western heavens, as if it were the light escaped from Mary’s
heart which was making all the scene so deeply sad, so sadly beautiful! Slowly
they went, and in silence as soft as the foot of midnight itself. If they had
sung psalms, the restless city might have heard. But in truth what psalms were
there which they could sing? Not even the inspired harp of David could have
shed sweet sounds fit for a dirge for such a funeral. No one spoke in all that
company. What should they say? What words could have expressed their thoughts?
“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” But there are times when
the heart is over full, and then it cannot speak. So was it with that
procession. A deeper shadow of sorrow had never fallen upon men, than the gloom
which fell on those who now were wending from the top of Calvary to the garden
tomb.
There was grief enough to have darkened a whole world in
Mary’s singular heart. Human suffering is not infinite, but it is near upon it,
and she had come now to its very uttermost extremity. There was only one
sacrifice she could make now, and she was in the very act of making it. She was
going to put away from herself and out of her own power, to hide in a rocky
tomb and let Roman soldiers come and keep watch over it, that Body which though
it was dead, was more than life to her. Then, indeed, she would stand upon the
highest pinnacle of evangelical poverty, to which God had promised such mighty
things. She would only keep for herself that which she could not part with, and
would not have parted with if she could, a broken heart utterly submerged in
such waters of bitterness as had never flowed round any living creature
heretofore. There never would have been joy on this planet again, if her accumulated
woe had been divided into little parcels, and distributed to each child of Adam
as he comes into the world.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word!
Let us follow the example of Our Lady who in this very act of submission to the holy will of God, united with the Redemptive act of Christ Our Lord, repaired the sin of Eve.
“In Thy resurrection, O Lord,” sings the Church, “the
heavens and the earth rejoice.” Mary’s joy as she clasps Jesus again in her
arms is the first-fruits of the universal rejoicing of all creation in the
resurrection of God its Redeemer from the dead. “Behold, I create a new heavens
and a new earth, saith the Lord, and the former things shall not be in
remembrance” (Isa. lxv. 17).
The earth has been sprinkled with the blood of the
Just One, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. And Mary rejoices
to see in spirit the fulfilment of His promise, “If He shall lay down His life
for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be
prosperous in His hand” (Isa. liii. 10). In the glorified presence of her
Divine Son, she has an earnest of the fulfilment of these words, “For as the
new heavens and the new earth which I make to stand before Me,” saith the Lord,
"so shall your seed stand before Me, and your name” (Isa. lxvi. 22).
Mary’s joy as she clasps Jesus in her arms is a joy
that succeeds to an intensity of grief. A moment ago, and she was the Mother of
Sorrows, now the first-fruits of the rejoicing of all creation at its
restoration to justice are hers. Can she then fail to call to mind the words of
consolation addressed in a figure to the holy Job, “Thou shalt forget misery,
and remember it only as waters that are passed away, and brightness like that
of noonday shall arise to thee in the evening, and when thou shalt think
thyself consumed, thou shalt rise as the daystar” (Job xl. 16). “According to the multitude of the sorrows
that were in my heart,” exclaims holy David in a figure of Mary, “Thy comforts
have given joy to my soul” (Ps. xciii. 19). If only some such thoughts as these
may have passed through the mind of Mary on the morning of the resurrection,
can they fail to commend themselves to the heart of the pious Christian who
shall stop to contemplate mystery of His Faith— the Resurrection of Jesus from
the dead, the victory of creation over death!
“Death is swallowed up in victory,” each one who names
the name of Christ may now say. And he who had the power of death, to whom all
by reason of their fear of death were subject, that is the devil, is now
overcome by One stronger than himself. Can any thought be more full of
consolation for one who knows that it is appointed to him once to die? The
devil, who before this held men subject to him by the fear of death, has,
thanks be to God! had this power of the terror of death taken out of his hands.
Jesus, by submitting Himself to death, and by rising from the dead, has shown
us that death is no longer to be feared. “Glory be to God!” therefore is the
Christian’s cry: “The net is broken, and we are delivered” (Ps. cxxiii. 7).
The beginning ✠ of the holy Gospel according to John. R. Glory be to Thee, O Lord. Joann. 1, 1-14. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made: in Him was life, and the life was the Light of men; and the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to testify concerning the Light, that all might believe through Him. He was not the Light, but he was to testify concerning the Light. That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him to them He gave power to become sons of God, to them that believe in His Name, who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Here all kneel. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us: and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
19 *Now when it was late that same day, the first of the
week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together for
fear of the Jews: Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them; Peace be
to you.
20 And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands, and
his side. The disciples, therefore, were glad, when they saw the Lord.
21 He said therefore to them again; Peace be to you. As the
Father hath sent me, I also send you.
22 When he had said this, he breathed on them, and he said
to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23 *Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them:
and whose you shall retain, they are retained.
The
ministry fulfilled in our regard by the heavenly spirits is admirably set forth
in the graceful scenes depicted in the history of Tobias. Rehearsing the good
services of the guide and friend, whom he still called his brother Azarias, the
younger Tobias said to his father: ‘Father, what wages shall we give him? Or
what can be worthy of his benefits? He conducted me and brought me safe again,
he received the money of Gabelus, he caused me to have my wife, and he chased
from her the evil spirit, he gave joy to her parents, myself he delivered from
being devoured by the fish, thee also he hath made to see the light of heaven,
and we are filled with all good things through him. (l Tob. 2,3.)
And when
father and son endeavoured, after the“ fashion of men, to return thanks to him
who had rendered them such good service, the angel discovered himself to them,
in order to refer their gratitude to their supreme Benefactor. ‘Bless ye the
God of heaven, give glory to Him in the sight of all that live, because He hath
shewn His mercy to us. . . When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the
dead . . . I offered thy prayer to the Lord. And because thou wast acceptable
to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee. And now the Lord
hath sent me to heal thee, and to deliver Sara thy son’s wife from the devil.
For I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord. . .
Peace be to you, fear not; . . . bless ye Him and sing praises to Him.’ (1 Tob.
6-18.) We too will celebrate the blessings of heaven. For as surely as Tobias
beheld with his bodily eyes the Archangel Raphael, we know by faith that the
angel of the Lord accompanies us from the cradle to the tomb. Let us have the
same trustful confidence in him. Then, along the path of life, more beset with
perils than the road to the country of the Medea, we shall be in perfect
safety; all that happens to us will be for the best, because prepared by our
Lord; and, as though we were already in heaven, our angel will cause us to shed
blessings upon all around us.
Prayer
to St. Raphael
We will
borrow from the Ambrosian breviary a hymn in honour of the bright Archangel.
Make
straight for us the way of salvation, and forward our steps: lest at any time
we wander astray, and turn from the path to heaven.
Look down
upon us from on high; reflect into our souls the splendour shining from above,
from the Holy Father of lights.
Give
perfect health to the sick, dispel the darkness of the blind: and while driving
away diseases of the body, give spiritual strength to our souls.
Thou who
standest before the sovereign Judge, plead for the pardon of our crimes: and as
a trusty advocate appease the avenging wrath of the Most High.
Renewer of
the great battle, crush our proud enemy: against the rebel spirits give us
strength, and increase our grace.
To God the
Father be glory, and to his only Son, together with the Paraclete Spirit, now
and for evermore. Amen.
Heaven opened by the practice of the three Hail Marys
Our Lady
requested the daily recitation of three Hail Marys, revealing the following to
St. Melchtilde:
"The
first Hail Mary will be in honor of God the Father, Whose omnipotence raised my
soul so high above every other creature that, after God, I have the greatest
power in Heaven and on earth. In the hour of your death I will use that power
of God the Father to keep any hostile power from you.
"The
second Hail Mary will be in honor of God the Son, Who communicated His
inscrutable wisdom to me . . . In the hour of your death I will fill your soul
with the light of that wisdom so that all the darkness of ignorance and error
will be dispelled.
"The
third Hail Mary will be in honor of God the Holy Ghost, Who filled my soul with
the sweetness of His love and tenderness and mercy . . . In your last hour I
will then change the bitterness of death into Divine sweetness and
delight."
PROMISE:
During an
apparition to St. Gertrude, the Blessed Mother promised, "To any soul who
faithfully prays the Three Hail Marys I will appear at the hour of death in a
splendor of beauty so extraordinary that it will fill the soul with Heavenly
consolation."
ACT OF
CONSECRATION TO THE BLESSED TRINITY
With all
my heart I praise Thee, Most Holy Virgin
above all
Angels and Saints in Paradise, Daughter of
the
Eternal Father, and I consecrate to Thee
my soul
with all its faculties.
THE HAIL
MARY
Hail Mary,
full of grace, the Lord is with Thee!
Blessed
art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of
Thy womb,
Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us
sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
With all
my heart I praise Thee, Most Holy Virgin
above all
Angels and Saints in Paradise, beloved Mother
of the Son
of God, and I consecrate to Thee my body
with all
its senses.
Hail Mary,
etc.
With all
my heart I praise Thee, Most Holy Virgin
above all
Angels and Saints in Paradise, beloved Spouse
of the
Holy Ghost, and I consecrate to Thee my heart
with all
its affections, and beseech Thee to obtain for me from
the Most
Holy Trinity all the graces necessary for salvation.
Hail Mary,
etc.
PRACTICE:
Recite morning and evening the Consecration and Three Hail Marys in honor of
the three great privileges of Mary,
together
with this invocation at the end of each Hail Mary:
By thy
holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary,
make my
body pure and my soul holy;
preserve
me this day [this night] from mortal sin.
Second Sorrowful Mystery, Scourging of Our Lord at
the Pillar
St. Alphonsus de Liguori,
Passion of Christ
Having arrived at the Praetorium,
our loving Jesus, obedient to the executioners, strips himself of his garments,
embraces the column, and then lays on it his hands to have them bound. My God,
already is begun the cruel torture! O angels of heaven! Come and look on this
sorrowful spectacle, and if it be not permitted you to deliver your king from
this barbarous slaughter which men have prepared for him, at least come and
weep for compassion. And you, Christian souls, imagine yourselves to be present
at this horrible tearing of the flesh of your beloved Redeemer; look on him how
he stands, your afflicted Jesus with his head bowed, looking on the ground,
blushing all over for shame, he awaits this great torture. Behold these
barbarians, like so many ravenous dogs, are already with the scourges attacking
this innocent Lamb. See how one beats him on the breast, another strikes his
shoulders, another smites his loins and his legs; even his sacred head and
beautiful countenance cannot escape the blows. Ah me! Already flows that divine
blood from every part; already with that blood are saturated the scourges, the
hands of the executioners, the column and the ground. "He is
wounded," mourns St. Laurence Justinian, "over his whole body, torn
with the scourges; now they twine round his shoulders, now round his legs
streaks upon streaks, wounds added to fresh wounds."
Ah, cruel men, with whom are
you dealing thus? Stop, stop; know that you are making a mistake. This man whom
you are torturing is innocent and holy; it is we who are the culprits; to us,
to us, who have sinned, are these stripes and torments due. O eternal Father! How
can You behold Your beloved Son suffering thus, and not interfere in his
behalf? What is the crime that he has ever committed, to deserve so shameful
and so severe a punishment? For the
wickedness of My people have I struck Him. (Matt. 27:30) I well know, says
the eternal Father, that this My Son is innocent; but inasmuch as he has
offered himself as a satisfaction to My justice for all the sins of mankind, it
is fitting that I should abandon him to the rage of his most cruel enemies.
Living for Christ, Who Died for Us ~ St. Alphonsus de Liguori,
On the Passion of Christ
It was for this end, says St. Paul, that
Jesus Christ died, that each of us should no longer live to the world nor to
himself, but to Him alone who has given himself wholly to us. And Christ died for all, that they who live
may not now live for themselves, but for Him who died for them. (2 Cor.
5:15) He who lives for the world seeks to please the world; he who lives for
himself seeks to please himself; but he who lives for Jesus Christ seeks only
to please Jesus Christ, and fears only to displease him. His only joy is to see
him loved; his only sorrow, to see him despised. This is to live for Jesus
Christ; and this is what he claims from each one of us. I repeat, does he claim
too much from us, after having given us his blood and his life?
Why, then, O my God! do we employ our
affections in loving creatures, relatives, friends, the great ones of the
world, who have never suffered for us scourges, thorns, or nails, nor shed one
drop of blood for us; and not in loving a God, who for love of us came down
from heaven and was made man, and has shed all his blood for us in the midst of
torments, and finally died of grief upon a cross, in order to win to himself
our hearts! Moreover, in order to unite himself more closely to us, he has left
himself, after his death, upon our altars, where he makes himself one with us,
that we might understand how burning is the love with which he loves us?
"He has mingled himself with us," exclaims St. John Chrysostom,
"that we may be one and the same thing; for this is the desire of those
who ardently love." And St. Francis de Sales, speaking of Holy Communion,
adds: "There is no action in which we can think of our Savior as more
tender or more loving than this, in which he, as it were, annihilates himself,
and reduces himself to food, in order to unite himself to the hearts of his
faithful."
In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt
never sin. (Ecclesiastus 7:40)
Sister
Lucia of Fatima Describes the Vision of Hell
Our Lady said it was necessary for such people to pray
the Rosary in order to obtain these graces during the year. And she continued:
‘Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially whenever you
make some sacrifice: O my Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of
sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart
of Mary.’ “
As Our Lady spoke these last words, she opened her
hands once more, as she had done during the two previous months. The rays of light
seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in
this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers,
all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now
raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together
with great clouds of smoke now falling back on every side like sparks in huge
fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and
despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been
this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons
could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful
and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.
“Terrified and as if to plead for succor, we looked up
at Our Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly: ‘You have seen hell where
the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the
world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls
will be saved and there will be peace.
Fourth
Joyful Mysteries ~ Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple
Luke, Chapter Two
[22] And after the days of her purification, according
to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to
present him to the Lord: [23] As it is written in the law of the Lord: Every
male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord: [24] And to offer a
sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of
turtledoves, or two young pigeons: [25] And behold there was a man in Jerusalem
named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of
Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in him.
[26] And he had received an answer from the Holy
Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
[27] And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in
the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, [28] He also
took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: [29] Now thou dost dismiss
thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; [30] Because my eyes have
seen thy salvation,
[31] Which thou hast prepared before the face of all
peoples: [32] A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy
people Israel. [33] And his father and mother were wondering at those things
which were spoken concerning him. [34] And Simeon blessed them, and said to
Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the
resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted;
[35] And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts
may be revealed.
October 13, 2015: Ninety-Eighth Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun
Quite possibly the greatest visible miracle since Pentecost Sunday, this Miracle is a challenge to us all. God has deemed such a public miracle necessary, it is necessary for us to investigate and consider its message. As the title of the lecture proclaims, the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima is an indisputable historical fact. It is therefore, incumbent upon us to listen and take it seriously. The world must turn from selfishness, sin and turn back to God. Our Lady lovingly implores us to stop offending God. As Scripture has prophesied, because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many has grown cold. Yet, God, through His Holy Mother, and in His mercy, has thrown fallen man a lifeline - and we ignore it at our own eternal peril. He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved. But we must repent ... and persevere. (Matt. 24:12,13)
In commemoration of this great Miracle of the Sun and pleading for the Divine Mercy, we present the following video to consider. This Miracle had an estimated 70,000 witnesses, and is very well documented - including the witness of unbelievers. The secular newspaper of the day, run by Freemasons, who were (and are) the avowed enemy of the Catholic Church reported the miracle. Any objective consideration of the facts can lead to only ONE conclusion: The Holy Mother of God has spoken to the World. We must listen. The talk, a written account by a prominent scientist witness and an article on the significance of the Fatima message follow:
The Miracle of the Sun
An Eyewitness Account by Dr. José
Maria de Almeida Garrett, professor at the Faculty of Sciences of Coimbra,
Portugal from the website of the Fatima Center which is an excellent source of information on the message of Fatima and current news concerning Fatima.
"It must have been
1:30 p.m when there arose, at the exact spot where the children were, a column
of smoke, thin, fine and bluish, which extended up to perhaps two meters above
their heads, and evaporated at that height. This phenomenon, perfectly visible
to the naked eye, lasted for a few seconds. Not having noted how long it had
lasted, I cannot say whether it was more or less than a minute. The smoke
dissipated abruptly, and after some time, it came back to occur a second time,
then a third time
"The sky, which had
been overcast all day, suddenly cleared; the rain stopped and it looked as if
the sun were about to fill with light the countryside that the wintery morning
had made so gloomy. I was looking at the spot of the apparitions in a serene, if
cold, expectation of something happening and with diminishing curiosity because
a long time had passed without anything to excite my attention. The sun, a few
moments before, had broken through the thick layer of clouds which hid it and
now shone clearly and intensely.
"Suddenly I heard
the uproar of thousands of voices, and I saw the whole multitude spread out in
that vast space at my feet...turn their backs to that spot where, until then,
all their expectations had been focused, and look at the sun on the other side.
I turned around, too, toward the point commanding their gaze and I could see
the sun, like a very clear disc, with its sharp edge, which gleamed without
hurting the sight. It could not be confused with the sun seen through a fog
(there was no fog at that moment), for it was neither veiled nor dim. At
Fatima, it kept its light and heat, and stood out clearly in the sky, with a
sharp edge, like a large gaming table. The most astonishing thing was to be
able to stare at the solar disc for a long time, brilliant with light and heat,
without hurting the eyes or damaging the retina. [During this time], the sun's
disc did not remain immobile, it had a giddy motion, [but] not like the
twinkling of a star in all its brilliance for it spun round upon itself in a
mad whirl.
"During the solar
phenomenon, which I have just described, there were also changes of color in
the atmosphere. Looking at the sun, I noticed that everything was becoming
darkened. I looked first at the nearest objects and then extended my glance
further afield as far as the horizon. I saw everything had assumed an amethyst
color. Objects around me, the sky and the atmosphere, were of the same color.
Everything both near and far had changed, taking on the color of old yellow
damask. People looked as if they were suffering from jaundice and I recall a
sensation of amusement at seeing them look so ugly and unattractive. My own
hand was the same color.
"Then, suddenly, one
heard a clamor, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun,
whirling wildly, seemed all at once to loosen itself from the firmament and,
blood red, advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge
and fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was truly terrible.
"All the phenomena
which I have described were observed by me in a calm and serene state of mind
without any emotional disturbance. It is for others to interpret and explain
them. Finally, I must declare that never, before or after October 13 [1917],
have I observed similar atmospheric or solar phenomena."
Professor Almeida
Garrett's full account may be found in Novos Documentos de Fatima (Loyala
editions, San Paulo, 1984)
The general Message of
Fatima is not complicated. Its requests are for prayer, reparation, repentance,
and sacrifice, and the abandonment of sin. Before Our Lady appeared to the
three shepherd children, Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta, the Angel of Peace
visited them. The Angel prepared the children to receive the Blessed Virgin
Mary, and his instructions are an important aspect of the Message that is often
overlooked.
The Angel demonstrated to
the children the fervent, attentive, and composed manner in which we should all
pray, and the reverence we should show toward God in prayer. He also explained
to them the great importance of praying and making sacrifices in reparation for
the offenses committed against God. He told them: "Make of everything you
can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by
which He is offended, and in supplication, for the conversion of sinners."
In his third and final apparition to the children, the Angel gave them Holy
Communion, and demonstrated the proper way to receive Our Lord in the
Eucharist: all three children knelt to receive Communion; and Lucy was given
the Sacred Host on the tongue and the Angel shared the Blood of the Chalice
between Francisco and Jacinta.
Our Lady stressed the
importance of praying the Rosary in each of Her apparitions, asking the
children to pray the Rosary every day for peace. Another principal part of the
Message of Fatima is devotion to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart, which is terribly
outraged and offended by the sins of humanity, and we are lovingly urged to
console Her by making reparation. She showed Her Heart, surrounded by piercing
thorns (which represented the sins against Her Immaculate Heart), to the
children, who understood that their sacrifices could help to console Her.
The children also saw
that God is terribly offended by the sins of humanity, and that He desires each
of us and all mankind to abandon sin and make reparation for their crimes
through prayer and sacrifice. Our Lady sadly pleaded: "Do not offend the
Lord our God any more, for He is already too much offended!"
The children were also
told to pray and sacrifice themselves for sinners, in order to save them from
hell. The children were briefly shown a vision of hell, after which Our Lady
told them: "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save
them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If
what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be
peace."
She said that if people
did not stop offending God, He would punish the world severely by means of war,
famine, persecution of the Church, and persecution of the Holy Father. To
prevent these chastisements, Our Lady offered a remedy: She would return to ask
for the Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart and the Communion of
Reparation on the Five First Saturdays. If Her requests were heeded, there
would be peace. If not, Russia’s errors would spread throughout the world,
causing wars and persecutions against the Church, the Holy Father to suffer
much, martyrdom of the good and the annihilation of various nations.
Our Lady indicated to us
the specific root of all the troubles in the world, the one that causes world
wars and such terrible suffering: sin. She then gave a solution, first to
individual people, then to the Church’s leaders. God asks each one of us to
stop offending Him. We must pray, especially the Rosary. By this frequent
prayer of the Rosary, we will get the graces we need to overcome sin. God wants
us to have devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to work to spread this
devotion throughout the world. Our Lady said, "My Immaculate Heart will be
your refuge and the way that will lead you to God." If we wish to go to
God, we have a sure way to Him through true devotion to the Immaculate Heart of
His Mother.
When Sister Lucy
questioned Our Lord as to why He would not convert Russia without the solemn
public consecration of that nation specifically, Jesus answered:
Because I want My whole
Church to acknowledge that consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of
Mary, so that it may extend its homage later on, and put the devotion to This
Immaculate Heart beside the devotion to My Sacred Heart.
Thus, we see that the
conversion of Russia cannot take place unless and until the Pope and bishops
consecrate specifically Russia, because God has reserved this grace – this
special grace – to this special act of honor and reparation to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary. Jesus does this because He wants to establish throughout the
world, in the hearts and minds of the faithful, the importance of devotion to
His Mother’s Immaculate Heart.
Devotion to the
Immaculate Heart is central to the Fatima Message. God determined that the
Consecration of Russia and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays
be the means of implementing this devotion throughout the world, and gave this
task to His Pope and bishops and to individual souls to practice and promote
this devotion.
In order to move ever
closer to Her, and therefore to Her Son, Our Lady stressed
the importance of
praying at least five decades of the Rosary daily. She asked us to wear the
Brown Scapular. And we must make sacrifices, especially the sacrifice of doing
our daily duty, in reparation for the sins committed against Our Lord and Our
Lady. She also stressed the necessity of prayers and sacrifices to save poor
sinners from hell. The Message of Fatima, to individual souls, is summarized in
these things.
Besides these general
points, given in the Fatima Message over 6 months, Our Lady confided a Secret
to the three shepherd children on July 13, 1917. This Secret was meant for all
Catholics, but was to be given to them later (at the latest, in 1960) since no
one was prepared to understand it all in 1917.
In her Third and Fourth
Memoirs, which were both written in 1941, Sister Lucy revealed to a wider
audience the first two parts of the Secret. The third part of the Secret – or,
as it is called, the Third Secret – was written down for the first time between
January 2 and January 9, 1944.
Feast of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
To
commemorate in the liturgy of the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus
(held in 431), which vindicated the title of Theotokos or "Mother of
God" for the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Pius XI instructed this feast to be
observed by the whole Church in the year 1931. I include a segment of his Encyclical, Lux Veritatis commemorating this
great Council. It is a longer entry than usual, but contains many truths that
are sadly ignored today, and is more than worthwhile considering.
39. Now from this head of Catholic doctrine
upon which We have touched hitherto, there follows of necessity the dogma of
the divine maternity which We preach as belonging to the Blessed Virign Mary.
"Not that the nature of the Word or His Godhead"-as Cyril admonishes
us-"took the source of its origin from the holy Virgin; but because He
derived from her that sacred body, perfected by an intellectual soul, whereto
the Word of God was hypostatically united, and therefore is said to be born
according to the flesh." (Mansi, I.c. IV. 891.)
And, indeed, if the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary is God,
assuredly she who bore him is rightly and deservedly to be called the Mother of
God. If there is only one person in Christ, and this is Divine, without any
doubt Mary ought to be called, by all, not the mother of Christ the man only,
but Theotokos, or God-bearer. Let us all, therefore, venerate the tender Mother
of God, whom her cousin Elizabeth saluted as "the Mother of my Lord"
(Luke i. 43), who, in the words of Ignatius Martyr, brought forth God (Ad
Ephes. vii. 18-20); and from whom, as Tertullian professes, God was born; whom
the Eternal Godhead has gifted with the fullness of grace and endowed with such
great dignity.
40. Nor can anyone reject this truth, handed down from the first
age of the Church, on the pretext that the Blessed Virgin Mary did, indeed,
supply the body of Jesus Christ, but did not produce the Word of the Heavenly
Father; since, as Cyril already rightly and lucidly answered in his time (cf.
Mansi, I.c. IV. 599), even as those in whose womb our earthly nature, not our
soul is procreated, are rightly and truly called our mothers; so did she, from
the unity of her Son's person, attain to divine maternity.
41. Wherefore, the impious opinion of Nestorius, which the Roman
Pontiff, led by the Holy Spirit, had condemned in the preceding year, was
deservedly and solemnly condemned again by the Synod of Ephesus. And the
populace of Ephesus were drawn to the Virgin Mother of God with such great
piety, and burning with such ardent love, that when they understood the
judgment passed by the Fathers of the Council, they hailed them with
overflowing gladness of heart, and gathering round them in a body, bearing
lighted torches in their hands, accompanied them home. And assuredly, the same
great Mother of God looked down from heaven on this spectacle, and smiling
sweetly on these her children of Ephesus, and on all the faithful Christians
throughout the Catholic world, who had been disturbed by the snares of the
Nestorian heresy, embraced them with her most present aid and her motherly
affection.
42. From this dogma of the divine maternity, as from the
outpouring of a hidden spring, flow forth the singular grace of Mary and her
dignity, which is the highest after God. Nay more, as Aquinas says admirably:
"The Blessed Virgin, from this that she is the Mother of God, has a
certain infinite dignity, from the infinite good which is God." (Summ.
Theo., III. a.6.) Cornelius a Lapide unfolds this and explains it more fully,
in these words: "The Blessed Virgin is the Mother of God; therefore she is
far more excellent than all the Angels, even the Seraphim and Cherubim. She is
the Mother of God; therefore she is most pure and most holy, so that under God
no greater purity can be imagined. She is the Mother of God; therefore whatever
privilege (in the order of sanctifying grace) has been granted to any one of
the Saints, she obtains it more than all" (In Matt. i. 6).
43. Why, therefore, do the Reformers (Novatores) and not a few non-Catholics
bitterly condemn our piety towards the Virgin Mother of God, as though we were
withdrawing the worship due to God alone? Do they not know, or do they not
attentively consider that nothing can be more pleasing to Jesus Christ, who
certainly has an ardent love for his own Mother, than that we should venerate
her as she deserves, that we should return her love, and that imitating her
most holy example we should seek to gain her powerful patronage?
44. Here, however, We would not omit to mention a matter which has
given Us no little consolation, namely that in the present time, even among the
Reformers, some understand the dignity of the Virgin Mother of God better, and
are led and moved to reverence her duly, and hold her in honour. This, when it
comes from the inward and sincere conscience, and is not as sometimes happens
effected to conciliate the minds of Catholics, bids Us hope that by the prayers
and efforts of all the good, and by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, who
cherishes a mother's love for her erring children, they may at length be
brought back to the one true flock of Jesus Christ, and therefore to Us who,
though unworthily, hold His place and His authority on earth.
45. But there is another matter, Venerable
Brethren, which We think We should recall in regard to Mary's office of
Maternity, something which is sweeter and more pleasing; namely that she,
because she brought forth the Redeemer of mankind, is also in a manner the most
tender mother of us all, whom Christ our Lord deigned to have as His brothers
(Romans viii. 29). As Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, says:
"Such a one God has given as one to whom by the very fact that He chose
her as the Mother of His only begotten Son, He clearly gave the feelings of a
mother, breathing nothing but love and pardon-such did Jesus Christ show her to
be, by His own action, when He spontaneously chose to be under her, and submit
to her as a son to a mother; such did He declare her to be, when, from the
Cross, He committed all mankind, in the person of His disciple John, to her
care and protection; and as such, lastly, she gave herself, when embracing with
a great heart, this heritage of immense labour from her dying Son, she began at
once to fulfil all a mother's duties to us all." (Encyclical Letter
Octobri mense adveniente. September 21, 1892.) From this it comes that we are
all drawn to her by a powerful attraction, that we may confidently entrust to
her all things that are ours-namely our joys, if we are gladdened; our
troubles, if we are in anguish; our hopes, if we are striving to reach at
length to better things. From this it comes that if more difficult times fall
upon the Church; if faith fail, if charity have grown cold, if private and
public morals take a turn for the worse; if any danger be hanging over the
Catholic name and civil society, we all take refuge with her, imploring
heavenly aid. From this it comes lastly that in the supreme crisis of death,
when no other hope is given, no other help, we lift up to her our tearful eyes
and our trembling hands, praying through her for pardon from her Son, and for
eternal happiness in heaven.
46. Let all, therefore, with more ardent zeal in the present
necessities with which we are afflicted, go to her and beseech her with instant
supplication "that, through her prayers to her Son, the erring nations may
return to the Christian institutions and precepts, which are the firm support
of public safety, and from which arises an abundance of much desired peace and
of true happiness. Let them implore of her the more earnestly, what ought to be
desired above all things by all the good, namely that the Church our mother may
gain and tranquilly enjoy her liberty; which she always uses for the best
advantage of men, and from which individuals and states have never suffered any
losses, but have at all times experienced very many and very great
benefits." (From the aforesaid Encyclical Letter.)
47. But one thing in particular, and that indeed one of great
importance, We specially desire that all should implore, under the auspices of
the heavenly Queen. That is to say, that she who is loved and worshipped with
such ardent piety by the separated peoples of the East would not suffer them to
wander and be unhappily ever led away from the unity of the Church, and
therefore from her Son, whose Vicar on earth We are. May they return to the
common Father, whose judgment all the Fathers of the Synod of Ephesus most
dutifully received, and whom they all saluted, with concordant acclamations, as
"the guardian of the faith"; may they all turn to Us, who have indeed
a fatherly affection for them all, and who gladly make Our own those most
loving words which Cyril used, when he earnestly exhorted Nestorius that
"the peace of the Churches may be preserved, and that the bond of love and
of concord among the priests of God may remain indissoluble." (Mansi, I.c.
IV. 891.)
From The Passion of Jesus Christ, by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
The sorrowful Mother stood at the foot of the cross with some pious
women: There stood by the cross of Jesus
His mother. O God! Who would not pity a mother standing beside the cross on
which a son dies before her eyes? Consider Mary, standing beneath the cross,
contemplating the pains in the midst of which her well-beloved Son was
expiring: She desired to give him some alleviation, and she saw, on the other
hand, that her presence increased the grief of this same Son, who was full of
compassion for his tender Mother. This was a terrible affliction for Mary, a
torture that made her the Queen of Martyrs.
Seeing himself, then, abandoned by everyone, all men trying to
make his death more painful, Jesus raised his eyes to his eternal Father to
obtain some consolation. But seeing him laden with all our sins, for which he wished
to satisfy the divine justice, his Father also abandoned him. Then it was that
our Savior, crying out with a loud voice, said: My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
But our Savior, so full of love, is on the point of expiring.
Christians, look at the cross. Behold those dying eyes, that face so pale, the
sacred body which is abandoned to death. Before expiring, Jesus uttered these
words: It is finished. It is as if he
had said: O men, love me; I have done all that I can do in order to save your
souls and gain your love. See the painful life that I have led during
thirty-three years for love of you. I wished then on your account to be
scourged, to be crowned with thorns, to be struck, to be covered with wounds
from head to foot. What more was needed? Should I die for love of you? Well,
then! I wish to die. Come, O death! I permit you to come; take away my life, in
order that my sheep may live. And Jesus,
crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.
My Father, he then said, I die for Your glory and for the salvation of men; I
commend my soul into Your hands. Behold, then, Jesus dies. O angels of heaven,
come, come to be present at the death of your God. And you, O sorrowful Mother!
Approach nearer to the cross; look at him more steadfastly, for he is about to
expire.
And you Christians, behold him in his agony; see him amid the last
respirations of life. Behold his dying eyes, that face so pale, that feebly
palpitating heart, that body already wrapped in the arms of death, and that
beautiful soul now on the point of leaving that wounded body.
The sky shrouds itself in darkness; the earth quakes; the graves
open. Alas, what portentous signs are these! They are signs that the Maker of
the world is now dying.
Behold, in the last place, how our Lord, after having commended
his blessed soul to his eternal Father, first breathing forth from his
afflicted heart a deep sigh, and then bowing down his head in token of his
obedience, and offering up his death for the salvation of men, at last through
the violence of the pain expires, and delivers up his spirit into the hands of
his beloved Father: And crying out with a
loud voice, He said 'Father into Your hands I commend My spirit'; and saying this He gave up his spirit.
All those that were present looking at him with attention see him
expire, and observing that he is motionless, they exclaim, 'He is dead he is
dead!' Mary hears this from all the bystanders, and she also says, 'Ah, my Son,
You are dead!' He is dead! Ah, who is dead? It is the King of heaven; the
Creator of the world, a God, who wished to die for us poor sinners.
Act of Contrition
while showing the Crucifix
Come sinners; here is Jesus Christ who has stretched forth his
arms to embrace you. Can you fear that he will not pardon you, when he gave
himself up to death in order to pardon you?
Do you perhaps fear that you will not obtain pardon because you
find yourselves unable to perform the penance that your sins deserve? Console
yourselves; for you here see the penance that Jesus Christ has himself
performed for you on the cross; it is sufficient if you sincerely repent of
having offended him.
Look at him; see where you can find any one that has loved you
more than Jesus Christ has loved you. Love him then, since he died in order to
be loved by you. Say to him: Ah, my sweet Savior! Whom should I love if I do
not love a God who has died for me?
O sorrowful Mother! Through the sorrow that you did experience in
seeing your divine Son expire, obtain for me holy perseverance and a true love
of my divine Redeemer.
Prayer
My Jesus, by the pain You did endure when
Your left hand was pierced with the nail,
give me a true sorrow for my sins.
My Jesus, by the pain You did endure when
Your right hand was pierced with the nail,
give me perseverance in Your grace.
My Jesus, by the pain You did endure when
Your left foot was pierced with the nail,
deliver me from the pains of hell.
My Jesus, by the pain You did endure when
Your right foot was pierced with the nail,
give me the grace to love You eternally in heaven.
My Jesus, by the wound that was made in
Your Sacred Heart, give me the grace to love You always
NOTE: this is the last day of the prayer of PETITION. Tomorrow begins the prayer of THANKSGIVING.
The 54-Day Novena, as revealed by Our Lady herself, is a series of six, nine-day novenas: three novenas of PETITION and three novenas of THANKSGIVING. Thanksgiving is an essential element of our prayer, and Our Lady seeks to give us this lesson. While it is true that the Consecration of Russia seems very far away, we have complete confidence that Our Lady will hasten the Consecration (and thus, peace in the world and the triumph of her Immaculate Heart) by the prayers of her children faithfully praying the Rosary. Therefore, tomorrow we pray, JOYFULLY in thanksgiving to Our Lady, for she hears our prayer!
