The 100th Anniversary of Fatima and the
Jubilee Year of Mercy
In the 1940’s Servant of God Sister Lucia’s memoirs were published and for the first time more was known about the apparitions of the Angel to the three little children – Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco in Spring, Summer and Autumn of 1916 and the visitation of the Most Holy Trinity to Lucia in 1929. Let us remind you what took place in 1916 in Fatima.
The Angels Visit 1916
The Angel’s first words to the three children in Spring 1916 were: “Do not be afraid! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.” He then taught them the following prayer: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You! I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love you.”
While the children were playing at the well in Lucia’s parents garden during the summer of 1916, the Angel came a second time. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray, pray very much! The most holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High.” Lucia then asked how they were to make sacrifices.
“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. You will thus draw down peace upon your country. I am its Angel Guardian, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission, the suffering which the Lord will send you.”
On the third visit of the Angel in Autumn 1916, he was holding a chalice in his left hand, with the Host suspended above it, from which some drops of blood fell into the chalice. Leaving the Chalice suspended in the air, the Angel knelt down beside the children and made them repeat three times the following prayer:
“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of you the conversion of poor sinners.”
Then, rising, he took the Chalice and the Host in his hands. He gave the Sacred Host to Lucia, and shared the Blood from the chalice between Jacinta and Francisco, saying as he did “Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus, horribly outraged by ungrateful men! Make reparation for their crimes and console your God.”
That prayer to the Most Holy Trinity is certainly very beautiful and powerful. We could say now that it would seem to have been taught for our times, when the tabernacle in some churches are surrounded today by emptiness and indifference and many carry on as if Jesus were not present with all the chatter taking place in front of the tabernacle. The Angel teaches us through the three children to go grow in the spiritual life of our soul, so that we too can live a life of faith, hope and love.
We observe many communions are received with no regard for confession and one wonders how many sacrileges are perpetrated! How great this wound which has surely contaminated the whole Church and paralyses it, halts it, and makes it impure and so very sick!
The great battle for souls to be saved
One hundred years after the Angels visit in Fatima, humanity in 2016 is mounting a greater denial and rebellion against God. The tolerance of Catholics to disobey the Ten Commandments and choosing to sin is driving many Catholics away from the church including some religious. The Sacrament of Confession and the neglect of family prayer (The family Rosary) are replaced for the quest for pleasures. Television has now replaced the Family Rosary for most Catholic countries. The pride of the social media gloat about their successful relentless campaign to create the environment for mortal sin to flourish under the so called ‘new freedoms and rights’ such as divorce, abortion and homosexuality, made into law around the world.
Year of Mercy 2016
As a young family we have warmly welcomed The Jubilee Year of Mercy by Pope Francis which began on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8th December) and will run until the Solemnity of Christ the King (20th November 2016). A jubilee refers to a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. The last jubilee was held in the year 2000. Pope Francis opened the door of mercy for the whole church to enter into to seek forgiveness from God, who always forgives and we as sinners must be open to receive God’s grace and mercy.
In Ireland, The Most Holy Trinity is the supreme authority in the Irish Constitution. The Irish people honour The Trinity by obeying His laws. The Irish people revile The Trinity when we turn our back on Him by creating laws against the Ten Commandments. The Servant of God Sr Lucia explains for us in her memoirs “Fatima in Lucia’s own words” the vision of the Most Holy Trinity that she saw on the 13th June 1929.
“ Suddenly the whole chapel was illumined by a supernatural light, and above the altar appeared a cross of light, reaching to the ceiling. In a brighter light on the upper part of the cross, could be seen the face of a man and his body as far as the waist, upon his breast was a dove also of light and nailed to the cross was the body of another man. A little below the waist, I could see a chalice and a large host suspended in the air, on to which drops of blood were falling from the face of Jesus Crucified and from the wound in His side. These drops ran down on to the host and fell into the chalice. Beneath the right arm of the cross was Our Lady and in her hand was her Immaculate Heart. (It was Our Lady of Fatima, with her Immaculate Heart in her left hand, without sword or roses, but with a crown of thorns and flames). Under the left arm of the cross, large letters, as if of crystal clear water which ran down upon the altar, formed these words: ‘Graces, Mercy.’
This is surely a great mystery which Sr Lucia ponders for many years in her cell in Coimbra, Portugal. In her last book “Calls from the Message of Fatima,” she refers to the Most Holy Trinity as the ninth call of the Fatima message. “We are dealing with a mystery that only in Heaven will we be able to comprehend perfectly” she states
Wherever the Son is, there too the Father and the Holy Spirit are always present. Just as, in the glory of heaven, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, in intimate union with the Holy Spirit, so also when, at the bidding of the priest, He becomes present in the Eucharist and is placed in the safekeeping of the tabernacle, surrounded by Mary’s motherly Heart; close to the Son there is always the real presence of the Father and the real presence of the Holy Spirit; there is always present the Divine and Most Holy Trinity. Mary’s Immaculate Heart is for her Son, a living, beating, motherly tabernacle of love, of adoration, of thanksgiving and of unceasing reparation. In fact this is the very thing that the Irish Constitution is set out to do – to keep our vision in line with the preamble of an everlasting family union with the Most Holy Trinity. The Irish people have truly offended the Most Holy Trinity by introducing laws against the Ten Commandments.
A time for the Irish Nation to seek forgiveness
Sr Lucia reminds us again in the book ‘Calls’. “Yes, because it was out of love that God sent us this pressing call from His mercy, in order to help us along the way of our salvation”. In order to understand forgiveness, the Irish people must understand clearly how as a Nation we offend God and one another?
Sr Lucia addresses this question very well for us in her writings, “It may possibly occur to someone to ask me: What have the Ten Commandments got to do with the message of Fatima? I answer that they have a great deal to do with it: they are among the chief aims of the Message”. Our Lady ended the series of her apparition’s in Fatima in 1917 with these words: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended”. There can be no doubt that what offends God the most is the breaking of his law”.
Is it any wonder why Servant of God Sr Lucia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart placed the Ten Commandments as one of the chief messages of Fatima in her book “Calls”. In fact Sr Lucia allocates forty six pages to explaining the Ten Commandments, thirty two pages on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary and one hundred and forty two pages covering such aspects as faith, hope, love, forgiveness, prayer, sacrifice, Eucharist, Most Holy Trinity, Heaven, holiness, family life, and adoration. Some practising Catholics would call these the basics of our faith and yet somehow, Satan has removed the basic teaching of the Catholic Church from our conscience. Jesus Christ states very clearly in scripture “If you love me, you will keep my Commandments” and one offends God when breaking His laws of love.
The constant attack built up against the Ten Commandments brought with it the evil vices of impurity, divorce, abortion, abusive drugs, drink, embryo research, same sex marriage, child pornography, prostitution, teen sex, crime, suicide and innocent people losing their lives and destroying families and society in general. The Irish people need to seek forgiveness.
Five First Saturday and the Year of Mercy
In parallel to the breaking of the Ten Commandments, the poor attendance of weekly Sunday Mass combined with confession has all but disappeared. Our Lady of Fatima asked Sr Lucia to spread the Five First Saturday devotion which required Catholics to confess and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and to spend fifteen minutes meditating on the mysteries with the intention making reparation to Our Lady. Servant of God Sr Lucia wanted more Bishops and Priests to encourage the faithful to practice the Five First Saturday devotion for special graces. In fact the Child Jesus visited Sr Lucia to remind us to do what Our Lady requested. See full page ad for Sr Lucia account of this story.
Our Lady in Fatima has asked us to multiply the devotion to the Five First Saturdays everywhere. The Irish Nation must be humble enough to seek the protection of the Her Immaculate Heart by reciting the daily Rosary and carry out the Five First Saturday devotion during this Jubilee Year of Mercy and through the Holy Spirit will bring us closer to the second Pentecost as foretold in Gospel.
The Call to Fatima Invitation for 2016
The Call to Fatima invite all lay Catholic groups to display the Five First Saturday ad in the parish church during the Jubilee Year of Mercy.and invite Bishops and Priests to support this devotion. Many groups like Precious Life who continue to protect human life need many graces from Heaven to succeed in their work. Similarly, those fighting to protect the 8 amendment in the Irish Constitution also need great graces to protect the family. The Five First Saturday devotion is a further reminder during the Year of Mercy to encourage you to “lead all souls to Heaven”,
The Call to Fatima is available to give parish presentation on Fatima in 2016 and we can be reached by email: srluciacalltofatima@gmail.com or by phone + 353-87-2229135 Blog www.thecalltofatima.wordpress.com
THE CALL TO FATIMA 