Homily 27th Sun. Yr. A (Fatima & the Rosary)
Fr. Dwight P. Campbell, S.T.D.
In this first part of October we see a convergence, or coming together, of the anniversary of significant events. October 7 is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which marks the great victory of the Christian navy over the Muslim Turks on that date in 1571, which preserved Christianity in Europe. The Pope at that time – St. Pius V – asked people to pray the Rosary for a victory, and he instituted this feast afterwards in thanksgiving.(Originally the feast was called Our Lady of Victory; later the name of the feast was changed because of the victory was thought to have come through praying the Rosary.)
Next Friday, October 13, marks the 100th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady to the three children at Fatima, Portugal in 1917 when the great “miracle of the sun” took place – a heavenly confirmation that Mary had truly appeared there.
Just a brief history of the events leading up to October 13:The three children were: Jacinta and Francisco, sister and brother (6 & 7 years old); and their cousin, Lucia, who was 9.
This past May, Pope Francis canonized Jacinta and Francisco, who died shortly after the appearances by Mary; they are the youngest saints in the history of the Church who are not martyrs. (I prayed at their tombs just 2 weeks ago!)
Their cousin, Lucia, survived them and eventually became a Carmelite nun.Both Mary and Jesus appeared to her many times throughout her long life.She died in 2005 at the age of 97. Her cause for canonization is underway.
On May 13, 1917 the Blessed Mother appeared to them above a holm oak tree in a small cove outside the town of Fatima (called the Cova da Iria); she continued to appear once a month through October. At that time World War I was raging.
Each time Mary appeared she urged the children to pray the Rosary for world peace, and to make sacrifices to convert sinners.
On July 13, 1917, Our Lady showed the children a vision of Hell and said many sinners end up in Hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.
Mary warned them that if people did not stop offending God by their sins, another, more terrible war would come, and that Russia would spread her errors throughout the world.
Note: This was a few months before the Russian Revolution which ushered in the pernicious errors of atheistic Communism, which as we know Russia eventually spread throughout the world.We know that another, more terrible war did in fact come: World War II, in which 55 million people lost their lives (WWI: 18 million).
Our Lady said that to prevent these things from happening, she would appear later and ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart by the Pope, and for a Holy Communion of Reparation to her Immaculate Heart on First Saturdays.
She said that if these things were done, an era of peace would be granted in the world, and that in the end, her Immaculate Heart would triumph.
On July 13 Our Lady also revealed a secret to the children which was not revealed publicly until the year 2000: a prophetic vision:
The children saw a bishop dressed in white whom they understood to be the Pope (they did not know which Pope); he passed through a city in ruins and reached the top of mountain, then “he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him.” Others were killed with him.
It seems that this prophecy was fulfilled with the assassination attempt by Ali Acga on John Paul II which took place, significantly, on May 13, 1981. The bullet passed through the Pope’s chest and was traveling through soft tissue on a path directly toward his heart, when it changed its path. St. John Paul later said that “it was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path” and saved his life.
On September 13 Our Lady promised a miracle in October so that all might believe she was truly appearing. The children told people that Our Lady was going to perform a miracle.
On October 13, a crowd of about 70,000 people was present, which included many unbelievers, atheists, Freemasons and others who were ridiculing the children. But everyone present that day admitted that they saw the miracle: the clouds in the sky parted, and for 12 minutes everyone saw the sun dance, shoot forth colors, zig-zag across the sky and then plunge toward the earth, only to return to its normal place.
That morning, as photographs show, it had been raining; people’s clothing was soaked and there were puddles of water on the ground. After the miracle, everything was bone dry!
Recall that in July 13 apparition, Our Lady promised that she would later “come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.” This promise was fulfilled after Lucia had entered religious life, with two important apparitions:
The first, on December 10, 1925, Our Lady appeared to Lucia who at that time was a nun in Spain. She appeared with the Infant Jesus, and showed Sister Lucia her Immaculate Heart, covered with thorns, which she held in her hand, and asked for reparation for sins which afflict her Heart by way of a great promise:
Look, my daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.
With these words Our Lady promises that we will receive “all the graces necessary for salvation” if, on five consecutive First Saturdays of the month, we go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, pray the Rosary and then meditate additionally on its fifteen mysteries. If we do this, our salvation is assured!
On June 13, 1929, Sister Lucia had a vision while at prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the convent chapel. She saw Jesus on the Cross with blood dripping from His side into a chalice; the Blessed Mother was to the right with her Immaculate Heart visible in her chest. Our Lady spoke to Sister Lucia:
The moment has come in which God asks Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means.
Time does not permit me to explain why it took many decades for the consecration to occur; but on March 25, 1984, Pope John Paul II, in union with the bishops, consecrated the world, including Russia, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We know that within a decade of the Pope’s consecration, the Soviet Union broke up and along with it atheistic Communism. Persecution of Christians ceased and today Russians can practice their faith.
Here is another fact which shows the impact of Pope St. John Paul’s 1984 consecration of Russia, and the ongoing importance of the Fatima message:
In an interview on October 14, 1993 with a Portuguese journalist, Carlos Evaristo (with whom I spoke personally some years back, to confirm the story), Sister Lucia made this remarkable statement: “The Consecration of 1984 has prevented a nuclear war which would have occurred in 1985.”
How so? In the early 1980’s there was mounting tension between Russia and the West, prompted by President Reagan’s military buildup and culminating in the 1983 European missile crisis. At that time the Soviets were seriously contemplating a pre-emptive nuclear strike in Western Europe to forego the economic collapse of their empire.
What caused Moscow to abandon this plan? There was an unexplained explosion of the Soviet missile arsenal at Severomorsk, on the North Sea: “Without that missile facility, which was directed towards the Atlantic Ocean,” explained one expert, “the Soviet Union didn’t have any hope of victory. For this reason, the military option was cancelled.”
That event occurred only two months after the consecration made by the Pope, but above all it’s the date that’s important: It was May 13, 1984, the anniversary and Feast of Our Lady of Fatima and of the assassination attempt against the Pope.
Although atheistic communism has fallen in Russia, we have yet to see the full conversion of Russia to the Catholic Faith – for almost 1,000 years Russian Orthodox Christianity has been in schism; it does not recognize the Pope as head of the Church.
Why has Russia not fully converted? Because the full conversion of Russia depends not only on the consecration of Russia to the IHM by the Pope and bishops, but also on people fulfilling Our Lady’s request regarding receiving Holy Communion on First Saturdays in reparation for sins which offend her Immaculate Heart.
In an interview with Ricardo Cardinal Vidal of the Philippines on October 11, 1993, Sister Lucia said: “All the wars which have occurred could have been avoided through prayer and sacrifice. This is the reason Our Lady asked for the Communion of Reparation and the consecration.” She added:
The Fatima week has not ended.Fatima is still in its third day. We are now in the post-consecration period. The first day was the apparition period. The second was the post-apparition, pre-consecration period. The Rosary, which is the most important spiritual weapon we have in these times when the devil is so active, should be recited.”
On May 13, 2010Pope Benedict XVI,in his homily at Mass while in Brazil, stressed: “We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic message is complete.”
I’ll end with one more item – from a letter written to Cardinal Carlo Caffara, Archbishop of Bologna, by Sister Lucia before she died. When he was founding the Pope John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family, he wrote to Sister Lucia to ask for her prayers. She wrote back saying:
“The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid, because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be fought and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue. However, Our Lady has already crushed its head.”
Let us follow Our Lady’s peace plan from Heaven by praying the Rosary each day, making sacrifices for the conversion of sinners, and receiving Holy Communion on First Saturdays every month in reparation to Mary’s Immaculate Heart.
If we follow Our Lady’s requests, we are assured of victory – over sin and eternal death, and the triumph of her Immaculate Heart.