THREE DAYS FOR
MARY AT ST. LOUIS CHURCH GALLIPOLIS, OHIO
Today
our country is full of problems, most with a moral component.......wars in two
countries, rampant crime, unsafe streets after dark, over 8% unemployment, a
depressed economy, out-of-control government deficits and debt, broken
families, promiscuity, endemic sexually transmitted diseases, cohabitation,
abortion, attempts to redefine marriage, a breakdown of traditional values,
inroads and threats to religious freedom, etc. They seem to be
intractable. Our best brains cannot
solve many of these problems and we sometimes feel helpless. Where will it end? Clearly, we need divine help.
Every
one of us has a cross to bear. Each one
of us has personal problems to confront…..in the family, on the job, in school,
health issues, addictions, legal problems, personal finance, turning our lives
around, etc. We cannot do it by
ourselves; we cannot go on this journey to eternity alone; we all need God’s
help. We all need prayer; we all need
conversion. We all need Mary to pray for
us, to nurture our faith, and to become closer to God.
For all of
these reasons we will have three days of prayer at St. Louis Church as we adore
Christ and honor His mother. The
highlight will be the Visit of the International Pilgrim Virgin
Statue from 12 pm Sunday to 6 pm Monday October 14-15 with 30 continuous
hours of Eucharistic adoration in the presence of the statue of the Pilgrim
Virgin which has traveled all over the world (see http://www.pilgrimvirginstatue.com/).
Throughout her travels all over the
world, participants in the visit have received great blessings, favors,
healings, conversion, change of hearts, and even an occasional miracle.
As a
supplement and preparation for the visit of the Pilgrim Virgin statue, St.
Louis Church will have a Public Square Rosary Prayer Rally on
Saturday, October 13 at 12 p.m. noon in the Gallipolis City Park on 2nd Street
in solidarity with thousands of people in similar rallies all over the Country.
The purpose is to pray for world peace and to beg God to save our country from
immorality and secularism, both of which put our country in grave danger.
There is great power in public prayer because of its
witness of faith and appeal for repentance. For example, the withdrawal of Soviet forces
from Austria in 1955, stopping the Turkish near conquest of Europe three times
in (1456, 1571, & 1683), and the peaceful overthrow of the dictator
Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines in 1986 are all attributed by many to
public prayer. In the latter, people
praying with rosary in hand stopped a tank attempting to disperse a
demonstration of thousands. In that
spirit and faith, St. Louis Church is sponsoring this tridium of devotion to
Mary and adoration of her son.
People
of all faiths in an ecumenical spirit are invited to participate and join
thousands of faithful all over the country to answer an appeal made at
Fatima, Portugal in 1917 for prayer, repentance, and sacrifice in
reparation. She particularly asked
people to pray the rosary. It would be a
new and beautiful experience for many.
All Christians can be comfortable with the rosary because it is very
biblical (Luke 1:28, 42 & Mat 6:9-13).
It includes asking Mary, our model of virtue and holiness, to pray for
us, the same as we sometimes ask friends to pray for us. For almost 2000 years her mission has been to
bring souls to her son and nurture the faith in us. The rosary is a litany of repetitive prayer,
which acts like background music, while the focus is to meditate upon five of
20 different mysteries of the life of Christ and His mother, grouped according
to the joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious events portrayed or alluded to
in the Bible. See www.americaneedsfatima.org.
Families
with children are also invited for the three days of devotion to Mary and
Adoration of her Son because their prayers are particularly effective. Furthermore, “The family that prays
together, stays together.”
Prayer has healed millions, ended wars, overthrown dictators, stopped
the advance of militant Islam into Europe at Belgrade in 1456, Lepanto in 1571
and again in Vienna in 1683. The War on
Terror today is simply another chapter in a 1300 year old war between radical
Islam and Western Civilization and again we appeal to Mary for her intercession. This certainly gives credence to two quotes
by Alfred Lord Tennyson: “A world at prayer is a world at peace” and “More things are wrought by prayer
than this world dreams of.” These were the themes promoted by
Father Patrick Peyton in his Family Rosary Crusade and other programs. His cause for canonization is advancing. His films are often on EWTN today.
In the above photos, Fr. Peyton is pictured with Bing Crosby, Jack Benny & Lucille Ball, and Gregory Peck.
To
promote family prayer the Rosary Priest recruited Hollywood's top stars for his
radio and later, television programs, “Family Theater”, which ran from 1947 to
1969, one of the longest running programs ever. The many stars, who volunteered
to play in his productions, constitute a Hall of Fame of Hollywood's Golden Age
of Film.......Bing Crosby, Loretta Young, James Dean, Frank Sinatra, Don
Ameche, Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, Lucille
Ball, Jane Wyatt, Henry Fonda, Jack Benny, Rosalind Russell, Shirley Temple,
Margaret O’Brien, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Durante, Natalie Wood, Charlton Heston,
Helen Hayes, Bob Hope, James Cagney, Natalie Wood, even a young actor by the name of Ronald Reagan,
and often Grace Kelly until she died.
Today, many others collaborate such as James Caviezel, Maria Canals,
Sean Astin, etc. Who would be able to
organize something like that today? See www.familytheater.org. For a great video on Fr. Peyton, click on http://www.familytheater.org/TelevisionandFilm/AMostUnusualMan.aspx. The point of every Marian devotion is “To
Jesus through Mary”.
Fatima: Inspiration for the Rally and the Visit of the Pilgrim Virgin. Many Catholics have an optional devotion and belief in the five appearances of Mary to three shepherd children below (in the town of Fatima (originally named by the conquering Moors (North African Muslims) after Fatimah, the favorite daughter of Mohammed) in Portugal in 1917. There she asked the world to repent, do penance, and pray the rosary for peace. Mary warned that if the world does not repent, there would be a second world war preceded by a “a night illumined by an unknown light” (see clipping below) and even a third as Communism would continue its errors.
The unknown light, also known as the "Fatima Storm" occurred on January 25, 1938 and is well documented and described in detail at http://www.solarstorms.org/SS1938.html and http://www.pdtsigns.com/1938aurora.html. A collection of newspaper clippings from the London Times during late January 1938 can be found at http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/65561-the-skys-on-fire-the-great-aurora-of-january-1938/. On February 4 Hitler made himself military chief.. Germany then invaded and annexed Austria on March 12, 1938, followed on October 1 by the Sudetenland, the western region of Czechoslovakia, mainly comprised of ethnic Germans. The invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 is considered as the official start of World War II.
Fatima: Inspiration for the Rally and the Visit of the Pilgrim Virgin. Many Catholics have an optional devotion and belief in the five appearances of Mary to three shepherd children below (in the town of Fatima (originally named by the conquering Moors (North African Muslims) after Fatimah, the favorite daughter of Mohammed) in Portugal in 1917. There she asked the world to repent, do penance, and pray the rosary for peace. Mary warned that if the world does not repent, there would be a second world war preceded by a “a night illumined by an unknown light” (see clipping below) and even a third as Communism would continue its errors.
The unknown light, also known as the "Fatima Storm" occurred on January 25, 1938 and is well documented and described in detail at http://www.solarstorms.org/SS1938.html and http://www.pdtsigns.com/1938aurora.html. A collection of newspaper clippings from the London Times during late January 1938 can be found at http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/65561-the-skys-on-fire-the-great-aurora-of-january-1938/. On February 4 Hitler made himself military chief.. Germany then invaded and annexed Austria on March 12, 1938, followed on October 1 by the Sudetenland, the western region of Czechoslovakia, mainly comprised of ethnic Germans. The invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 is considered as the official start of World War II.
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| From left to right, Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta |
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This clipping documents the light. It was orange, seeming like a forest fire nearby, but it was seen all over Europe. The official start of World War II was September 1, 1939 when Germany attacked Poland, but the decision was made much earlier. Furthermore, the Nazis attacked Austria and the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in 1938.
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| Sr. Lucia and Pope Paul VI |
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| Pope John Paul II with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. He visited Fatima three times in 1982, 1991, and 2000. |
Pope John Paul II invited the Bishops of the world to the Vatican for the end of the Year of the Redemption and the beginning of the Year of the Family on March 25, 1984. In union with the Bishops of every nation consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary with special reference to Russia as she requested at Fatima. See
http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/consecra.htm#John%20Paul%20II,%201984.
Five years later on November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall came tumbling down like the walls of Jericho. Then on December 25, 1991 the Presidents of Russia, the Ukraine, and Byelorussia announced the formal dissolution of the feared Soviet Union. A week later on January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Russia emerges as an independent state, open to religious freedom and the new Community of Independent States recognizes the independence and sovereignty of the former Soviet republics. Thus in Russia and Eastern Europe Communism was thrown onto the ash heap of History. See Blog #96 for more detail on the Consecration and history.
In
her final appearance on October 13, 1917 there was a great sign as she
previously promised. According to 70,000
eye witnesses, including atheists, socialists, and communists, the sun appeared
to spin in the sky, projecting different colors of light and then fall in a zigzag
path towards earth over a period of several minutes (See the photos below and
the first hand testimony of a college professor and others at http://www.fatima.org/essentials/facts/miracle.asp)
and http://v-forvictory.blogspot.com/2010/10/october-13-1917-miracle-of-sun.html. It was visible over an area of 32 X 20 miles
as much as 32 miles away. The people
thoroughly drenched and the ground in a sea of mud as a result of a steady torrential
rain for several hours suddenly was dry.
The Portuguese newspapers dutifully recorded it as their reporters on
the scene described it. Thus our
nation-wide public square rosary prayer rally is on the first Saturday after
that date. We hope that you can
participate as able during these three days of devotion to Mary and adoration
of her son.
Appendix
 |
| An eye witness account of the Miracle of the Sun in a Portuguese newspaper people actually seeing it. |
Appendix
The
Message of Fatima
The following is a
brief consideration of Our Lady's three requests: penance, prayer and devotion
to her Immaculate Heart.
PENANCE
In the Gospels the word penance means a
conversion of one's life, a turning away from sin, and a turning back to God.
As Our Lady insisted at Fatima: "Men must amend their lives, and ask
pardon for their sins. . . . They must no longer offend Our Lord, Who is
already so much offended." The Fatima message is a call for men to give up
sinful practices which grieve God and draw down His chastisements on the world,
and to make reparation for them. Commenting on Our Lady’s request for penance,
Sr. Lucia wrote: "The part of the last apparition which has remained most
deeply imprinted on my heart is the prayer of our heavenly Mother begging us
not to offend any more Almighty God, Who is already so much offended."
Jacinta, too, shortly before her death
remarked: "If men only knew what eternity is, how they would make all
possible efforts to amend their lives . . . mortification and sacrifice give
great pleasure to Our Divine Lord."
In August of 1917 Our Lady told the
children, "pray much and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to
hell because there is no one to make sacrifices for them." As to the kinds
of sacrifices Our Lady was asking, she revealed to Sr. Lucia on one occasion:
"The good Lord is allowing Himself to be appeased . . . but He Himself
complains most bitterly and sorrowfully about the small number of souls in His
grace who are willing to renounce whatever the observance of His laws requires
of them."
"Many persons," Sr. Lucia
explained, "feeling that the word penance implies great austerities, and
not feeling that they have the strength for great sacrifices, become
discouraged and continue a life of lukewarmness and sin." Then she said
Our Lord explained to her: "The sacrifice required of every person is the
fulfillment of his duties in life and the observance of My law. This is the
penance that I now seek and require."
In this materialistic culture in which we
live, almost heroic virtue is required to be faithful to the duties of the
Christian life. Yet, over and above those sacrifices "required of every
person," the children of Fatima practiced many little acts of
mortification and renunciation on their own initiative. It is hoped that many
devotees of Our Lady will not be content with the minimum required and will not
pass up opportunities of voluntary mortification, placing in the hands of Our
Lady the fruits of the little trials, frustrations and irritations of each day
accepted with patience and resignation.
It was in this same spirit that the Angel
spoke to the children in 1916: "Offer up everything in your power as a
sacrifice to the Lord in reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and
in supplication for the conversion of sinners . . . More than all else, accept
and bear with resignation the sufferings that God may send you."
PRAYER
Besides a call to penance Fatima is in a
special way a call for the Rosary. So central is the Rosary to the Fatima
message that Our Lady chose to identify herself as "The Lady of the
Rosary." In each of the six apparitions she asked for the daily Rosary,
and especially as an instrument of world peace. As she revealed in the third
apparition: "You must recite the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of
the Rosary to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war for only she
can obtain this." In this Our Lady renewed her request for the prayer she
gave to the Church centuries before, a prayer that has proven a powerful weapon
against the enemies of Christianity as history testifies.
When asked about the importance of the
Rosary, Sr. Lucia responded: "My impression is that the Rosary is of
greatest value not only according to the words of Our Lady at Fatima, but
according to the effects of the Rosary one sees throughout history. My
impression is that Our Lady wanted to give ordinary people, who might not know
how to pray, this simple method of getting closer to God."
The Rosary is basically a gospel prayer,
and for those who pray it properly, it is, as Sr. Lucia said, "a simple
method of getting closer to God." But to pray it properly requires that
each decade be a reflection on some aspect of the joyful, sorrowful or glorious
mysteries of our redemption. Without that meditation, the Rosary would become
monotonous repetition. As Pope Paul VI wrote in MARIALIS CULTUS: "Without
this (contemplation) the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation is
in danger of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas." In praying the
Rosary we can well take Our Lady as a model, for as the Scriptures tell us,
"Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her Heart."
The Rosary is a simple form of prayer that
can be prayed by the young or old, the learned or the uneducated, the saint or
the sinner. Each can adapt it to his or her own capacity. It is so pleasing to
Our Lady, because it brings us to review again and again the life of Christ,
the mysteries of our redemption. As Pope Paul VI pointed out, it not only
recalls to mind these mysteries, but stimulates the will to draw from them the
norms of living. That is, it not only points out the way, but helps us to
obtain the graces needed to follow in that way.
After repeatedly asking for the daily
Rosary, and identifying herself as "The Lady of the Rosary," the
Blessed Mother terminated the final apparition by showing the children three
separate tableaux symbolizing the entire message of the Rosary. The first was a
vision of the Holy family - representing the joyful mysteries; the second a vision
of Our Lady of Sorrows - representing the sorrowful mysteries; and the third a
vision of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel - representing the glorious mysteries.
The Rosary may seem like an insignificant
thing in the light of the magnitude of the evils of today’s world, but it is
the weapon given to us by Our Lady. She merely asks our cooperation, and she
will do the rest. It is like the slingshot of David that killed the mighty
enemy because the power of God was behind it. Thus, as the saying goes, he who
prays the Rosary has the power of God in his hand.
DEVOTION
TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
In 1916, a year before the apparitions of
Our Lady, the Angel of Peace appeared to the children to prepare them for
things to come. "The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy for
you," he said. "Offer unceasingly to the Most High prayer and
sacrifices."
In the second apparition the following year
(June 13) Our Lady let the children know that "Jesus wishes to establish
throughout the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart." Several times in
the June and July apparitions Our Lady spoke of this devotion, as we shall see;
and soon there began to burn in their hearts (especially Jacinta’s) a deep love
for the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Shortly before Jacinta went to the hospital
where she was to die, she said to Lucia: "In a short time now I am going
to heaven. You are to stay here and say that God wishes to establish in the
world the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. . . . Tell everybody that
God grants graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and that they must ask
them from her. Tell them that the Heart of Jesus wishes that by His side should
be venerated the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask peace through the
Immaculate Heart of Mary; God has placed it in her hands. Oh that I could put
into the heart of everybody the flame that I feel burning within my breast and
which makes me love so much the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary."
June
13, 1917
Lucia asked Our Lady if she would take them
to heaven. Our Lady answered: "Yes, I will take Jacinta and Francisco
soon. You, however, are to stay here a longer time. Jesus wants to use you to
make me known and loved. He wants to establish the devotion to my Immaculate
Heart in the world. I promise salvation to those who embrace it, and their
souls will be loved by God as flowers placed by me before His throne."
When Lucia asked if she were going to be
left alone, Our Lady responded: "No, my daughter. Does this cause you to
suffer a great deal? I will never leave you, my Immaculate Heart will be your
refuge and the way that will lead you to God."
As the Blessed Mother uttered these words
she extended her hands and in the rays of light that shone from them, the
children saw themselves as if submerged in the Divine presence. Jacinta and
Francisco were on the side of the light that was ascending to Heaven, while
Lucia was in the light that seemed diffused over all the earth. In the palm of
her right hand was a Heart pierced with thorns; and the children understood
that it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so offended by the sins of mankind
and pleading for reparation.
July
13, 1917
"Sacrifice yourselves for sinners; and
say often when you make some sacrifice, 'My Jesus, it is for love of You, for
the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins committed against the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.'"
After showing the children a vision of
hell, Our Lady said to them: "You have seen hell where the souls of poor
sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish throughout the world devotion
to my Immaculate Heart. If people do as I shall ask many souls will be saved,
and there will be peace.... But if people do not cease offending God... another
and more terrible war will begin. When you see a night illumined by an unknown
light, know that this is the great sign that God gives that the chastisement of
the world for its many transgressions is at hand through war, famine,
persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father."
"To prevent this, I shall come to ask
the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and Communions of reparation
on the first Saturdays. If my requests are heard, Russia will be converted and
there will be peace. If not, she will spread her errors throughout the world,
fomenting wars and persecution of the Church. The good will suffer martyrdom;
the Holy Father will suffer much; different nations will be annihilated. But in
the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate
Russia to me, which will be converted, and some time of peace will be granted
to humanity."
NOTE: From the above, we must not think
of the Five First Saturdays merely in terms of personal salvation, of receiving
"at the hour of death the graces necessary for salvation;" but also
in terms of world peace, of avoiding the terrible social consequences mentioned
above by Our Lady.
December
10, 1925
The
visits of Our Lady to Lucia did not end with those in 1917. In fact it was only
through later apparitions that Lucia received permission to make known some of
the messages revealed in 1917.
While Lucia was in her room at the convent
of the Sisters of St. Dorothy, Our Lady and the Child Jesus appeared to her.
Resting her right hand on Lucia’s shoulder, the Blessed Mother held in her
other hand a Heart surrounded by sharp thorns. The Divine Child was the first
to speak to Lucia: "Have pity on the Heart of your most Holy Mother. It is
covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and
there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation."
Then Our Lady made known her request for
Communions of reparation: "My daughter, look at my Heart encircled with
the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their
blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you at least try to console me and announce in
my name that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary
for salvation all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months,
go to Confession and receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep me
company for 15 minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary with the
intention of making reparation to me."
Every sin, great and small, is an offense
against God for which reparation must be made. Yet, so dear is the Heart of
Mary to her Divine Son, and so much is He pained at the offenses and
blasphemies against her Immaculate Heart that, as Fr. Thomas McGlynn, O.P.
expresses in his book VISION OF FATIMA:
"God
has told us now, through Fatima, that we can make reparation to Him if we
repair the sufferings we have caused her. The Heart that received the fullness
of participation in the divine life, that knew the affections of a mother for
Jesus Christ during the years at Nazareth, that went through the agony of
seeing Him die, that honors Him in heaven more than all the rest of creation,
is now gloriously proclaimed by Him through Fatima."
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