I would recommend that you get “Calls from the Message of Fatima” which is Sr. Lucia’s last book, published shortly before she died. She was asked the same questions over and over about the messages she received and wrote this book to try to answer them.
From the preface:
" It goes without saying that the tone of the entire book, evoking as it does the message of the Lady of Fatima, is predominantly Marian. However, the Marian spirituality that comes to the fore is
entirely subordinate to Christ, from the very first pages where Jesus’ words in the Gospel of St. John are quoted; “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6) Mary is a living image of her Son. Lucia has thus coined a happy expression in speaking of “Mary’s commandment”, with reference to the words she spoke in Cana: “Do whatever He tells you” (Cf Jn 2, 1-10) Naturally, the seer of Fatima insists on the special nature of the new and renewed devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the pure heart of a Mother watching over this tragic century, which is also a providential time in the history of the Church, a time both of sorrow and of hope, a century entrusted to the heart of a Mother, in order to negotiate the transition to the new millennium with confidence and hope. A heart which helps us to understand the essential Marian nature of the Church."
"The devotion to Our Lady that is practised in Fatima is intimately linked with the life of the Church, the faith of the Church, the morality of the Church, fidelity to the Magisterium, the sacramental life of the Church, especially to the sacraments of Christan initiation and penance. Once again, Mary is coupled with the Church, an idea that we could perhaps express as follows: no Mary without the Church and no Church without Mary.
One cannot conceive of a presence of Mary that does not point to Christ and his Church, nor can one conceive of an authentic ecclesiality which does not include the presence of the Mother of Christ and of the Church. Fatima is the synthesis of this indissoluble link between Mary and the Church, so dear to the Magisterium of Vatican II and to the post-Conciliar Popes such as Paul VI and John Paul II. This explains how it is that Lucia does not hesitate to speak of Mary as Mother and Mistress of the Apostles in the early Church.
The entire message of Fatima is a great call to holiness for the Church of our time."
P. Jesus Castellano Cervera ocd
Consultor of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith
16 July, 2000
(emphasis mine)
The events at Fatima and the messages Mary brought were instrumental in my conversion. They were a catalyst, so to speak, to my enquiring more deeply into the Church and to reforming my life and turning it over to Christ through his Blessed Mother. Coming from a completely secular background, I did not find myself led only to Mary and stop there. No, I was led through Mary to Jesus.
My personal take on “only she can help you” is that it is a reference to Mary’s position as Mediatrix of all Graces. I do not see it as negating the role of Jesus or making Him subordinate in any way. The capitalisation is something done by the editor.
from the CCC
969 “This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.”
As I said before, I trust those who investigated Fatima, Sr. Lucia and the messages. They have looked into these matters with due diligence and found nothing that is contrary to the deposit of faith. I hope this helps.
ps - I’ve had some trouble understanding redemptive suffering of the ‘do it to yourself’ type rather than just offering what comes our way too. I suppose you also have to take into account their youth and their culture. Francisco, 9 years old, in particular, was told to back off on his self-inflicted suffering. Remember, they were given a vision of hell and were moved to do as much as they could to prevent people from going there. Both Francisco and Jacinta have been Beatified so they must have done something right.
Here’s another link:
ewtn.com/fatima/children/index.htm
