Mary appeared to the children at Fatima, this day, Aug. 19 - 100 years ago!

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our parish is having a special Rosary this morning at 10:30 am, in honor of Mary’s fourth apparition to the three little shepherd children at Fatima. Our Priest in residence who is a Franciscan of Mary Immaculate will give a reflection, and confession will be available afterwards.

Our Bishop declared this 100th Anniversary Year of the Apparitions in Fatima to be a “Marian Year” for our Diocese, and so from May to October this year on the date/day of each apparition we try to gather for a special Devotion. I am mindful especially of these words of our Lady to the children, at the end of this fourth apparition:

(looking sadly at them) Pray, pray very much. Make sacrifices for sinners. Many souls go to hell, because no one is willing to help them with sacrifice.

May we continue to pray and make sacrifices as Mary our Mother asked.
For more on the Fatima Apparitions, see HERE

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’ll be saying 4 rosaries as I had a bad prayer week and got behind on the Novena for our Nation. I pray that dear Mother Mary and her adorable Son please help me get it together. And I ask for the intercession of Sts. Francisco and Jacinta and St. Joseph too please.

May all who love Mary have a blessed day and may she protect and bless all her children.

 

[dallas_r]

I will be praying a rosary tonight for conversion of sinners. Thank you for your reminder, it is much appreciated.

God Bless!

 

[abinjoy]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our parish is having a special Rosary this morning at 10:30 am, in honor of Mary’s fourth apparition to the three little shepherd children at Fatima. Our Priest in residence who is a Franciscan of Mary Immaculate will give a reflection, and confession will be available afterwards.

Our Bishop declared this 100th Anniversary Year of the Apparitions in Fatima to be a “Marian Year” for our Diocese, and so from May to October this year on the date/day of each apparition we try to gather for a special Devotion. I am mindful especially of these words of our Lady to the children, at the end of this fourth apparition:

May we continue to pray and make sacrifices as Mary our Mother asked.
For more on the Fatima Apparitions, see HERE

Wonderful bishop. Who is he?
I wonder why the other bishops in the world did not declare this as a Marian year

 

[MariaChristi]

Wonderful bishop. Who is he?
I wonder why the other bishops in the world did not declare this as a Marian year

Dear abinjoy,

The Most Rev. Robert E. Guglielmone declared the Marian year for his Diocese. There may be other Bishops who have done the same thing this year or in other years for their Dioceses. I haven’t researched the question, but the reality is all of us need to consider our own devotion to Mary. For instance, how many of us are praying the Rosary daily as Mary asked? How many have read anything concerning her Apparitions in this 100th Anniversary Year? Have we prayed more for sinners or made sacrifices as she asked?

The Marian Year hasn’t been as well promoted as I had hoped in our parish. The attendance at our special devotions has been less than I hoped. It seems to me there has been and continues to be a serious decline in devotion to Mary in the Universal Church. When I first learned of our Bishop’s declaring this to be a Marian Year, I sent him a “Thank You” note, I was so happy and hopeful there might be a visible increase in Marian devotion.

Thanks for your reply, but it takes more than a “Declaration” by any Bishop. As St. Therese said: “Everything is Grace!” Pope Francis has warned the Church often about “worldliness” and I wonder if many are too busy about things in the world to think about the things of God. I commend our Bishop for his effort to honor Mary and thus help his Diocese to honor Jesus. May there be good soil and good fruit which God sees in secret.

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your Faithful. Kindle in us, the Fire of Your Love.
Jesus, we trust in You.

 

[patricius79]

We miss out on so much if we don’t know the sweetness of our Mother in the order of grace.

As St. Louis says in True Devotion:

"154. I reply that it is quite true that the most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being her greatest favourites, receive from her the best graces and favours from heaven, which are crosses. But I maintain too that these servants of Mary bear their crosses with greater ease and gain more merit and glory. What could check another’s progress a thousand times over, or possibly bring about his downfall, does not balk them at all, but even helps them on their way. For this good Mother, filled with the grace and unction of the Holy Spirit, dips all the crosses she prepares for them in the honey of her maternal sweetness and the unction of pure love. They then readily swallow them as they would sugared almonds, though the crosses may be very bitter. I believe that anyone who wishes to be devout and live piously in Jesus will suffer persecution and will have a daily cross to carry. But he will never manage to carry a heavy cross, or carry it joyfully and perseveringly, without a trusting devotion to our Lady, who is the very sweetness of the cross. It is obvious that a person could not keep on eating without great effort unripe fruit which has not been sweetened.
ewtn.com/library/Montfort/TRUEDEVO.HTM

 

[MariaChristi]

We miss out on so much if we don’t know the sweetness of our Mother in the order of grace.

As St. Louis says in True Devotion:

"154. I reply that it is quite true that the most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being her greatest favourites, receive from her the best graces and favours from heaven, which are crosses. But I maintain too that these servants of Mary bear their crosses with greater ease and gain more merit and glory. What could check another’s progress a thousand times over, or possibly bring about his downfall, does not balk them at all, but even helps them on their way. For this good Mother, filled with the grace and unction of the Holy Spirit, dips all the crosses she prepares for them in the honey of her maternal sweetness and the unction of pure love. They then readily swallow them as they would sugared almonds, though the crosses may be very bitter. I believe that anyone who wishes to be devout and live piously in Jesus will suffer persecution and will have a daily cross to carry. But he will never manage to carry a heavy cross, or carry it joyfully and perseveringly, without a trusting devotion to our Lady, who is the very sweetness of the cross. It is obvious that a person could not keep on eating without great effort unripe fruit which has not been sweetened.
ewtn.com/library/Montfort/TRUEDEVO.HTM

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks so much fro your reply and this beautiful quote from St. Louis de Montfort. His words ring so True because his writing is so steeped in Scripture. We simply cannot say we are disciples if we do not take up our cross daily and follow Him, and we cannot do anything without His Grace which comes to us through Mary.

My heart rejoiced in reading this passage. May Our tender Mother hold us, using her words to St. Juan Diego:

Am I not your Mother? Are you not in the crossing of my arms?

Just as Mary enabled those three children to be faithful and brave, so she will help us to receive God’s Grace to persevere in any trial He permits in our lives.

 

[patricius79]

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks so much fro your reply and this beautiful quote from St. Louis de Montfort. His words ring so True because his writing is so steeped in Scripture. We simply cannot say we are disciples if we do not take up our cross daily and follow Him, and we cannot do anything without His Grace which comes to us through Mary.

My heart rejoiced in reading this passage. May Our tender Mother hold us, using her words to St. Juan Diego:

Just as Mary enabled those three children to be faithful and brave, so she will help us to receive God’s Grace to persevere in any trial He permits in our lives.

Yes, dear sister, and may God allow us to endure anything, with Our Lady’s help, rather than that any soul should lose grace or go to hell.

Yes, she is so present to us. She is here who is our Mother.

 

[MariaChristi]

Yes, dear sister, and may God allow us to endure anything, with Our Lady’s help, rather than that any soul should lose grace or go to hell.

Yes, she is so present to us. She is here who is our Mother.

Thanks again for your reply, brother Pat,

How important it is for us not to waste the sufferings which God permits in our lives! So many times I have more often sought relief – rather than seek His Grace to endure and unite my sufferings with His sufferings as Mary did.

This Anniversary Year of Mary’s Apparitions at Fatima have been a blessing to me – especially in paying attention to each apparition and reading Sister Lucia’s final bbok before she died: “Calls” from the Message of Fatima. We are ALL called to holiness but do ALL respond? As Mary requested, we need to pray, pray much and offer sacrifices for poor sinners who may go to hell because they have no one to pray for them.

 

[patricius79]

Thanks again for your reply, brother Pat,

How important it is for us not to waste the sufferings which God permits in our lives! So many times I have more often sought relief – rather than seek His Grace to endure and unite my sufferings with His sufferings as Mary did.
.

That’s a good point, sister MariaChristi. Good to keep in mind. I know St. Faustina said that if the angels could envy they would envy us two things: Holy Communion and suffering. And as she also said, through love suffering ceases to be suffering.

 

[MariaChristi]

That’s a good point, sister MariaChristi. Good to keep in mind. I know St. Faustina said that if the angels could envy they would envy us two things: Holy Communion and suffering. And as she also said, through love suffering ceases to be suffering.

Dear Brother Pat,

If we seek God’s Grace, suffering can help us to be conformed to Christ. Jesus told us that unless we take up our cross, we cannot be His Disciples. If we are to be like Him we need to be one with Him in His suffering – uniting our sufferings with His. This can only come about by faith working through Love. By His Grace we receive the gifts of faith, hope and above all Charity. We believe in His Love for us and seek to love Him and others as He has loved us.

The fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace…( Galatians 5:22 -23) but these fruits are not the same as “worldly love” which seeks merely pleasure at little or no cost, or “worldly joy” that is a happiness of having its own way without having to sacrifice for anyone else, and a “worldly peace” that is never disturbed by the needs of others because it seeks only self. Loving God as He loved us is a fruit of the supernatural life in the Spirit, and so St. Faustina encourages us. Suffering will pass, but love of God endures forever.