On May 13, 1917, our Blessed Mother appeared to three shepherd children (Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta) in Fatima. She appeared to them again on June 13, July 13, August 19, September 13 and October 13.

 

After twelve years of investigation, the Bishop of Fatima, on October 13, 1930, declared the Apparitions to be “supernatural”.

 

During the course of her apparitions, Our Lady delivered very important messages to the children to announce to the world. The most essential messages are the Daily Recitation of the Rosary which was requested during each of the six Apparitions. It was in the July 13 Apparition that She made her most prominent request: She requested for the Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation to Her Immaculate Heart on the First Saturdays of five consecutive months.

She indicated that if Her requests were carried out, Russia would be converted and there would be peace. But should Her requests be ignored, Russia would spread her errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecuting the Church.

The good people would be martyred, the Holy Father would have much to suffer and various nations would be annihilated, but in the end, Her Immaculate Heart would triumph because the Holy Father would eventually consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart; the country would be converted and a time of peace would be conceded to the world…”

 

In reality, what Our Lady is telling us is that the peace of the world has been conceded to Her and has enumerated the conditions for world peace. Let us look at each of the messages: Stop offending God

 

Our Lady told the children that people must stop offending God, “because He is already so much offended”. Look at the world today. We are having the greatest upsurge in the following abominable and pernicious sins against the Divine Majesty viz — abortion, homosexuality, pornography, rape, adultery, terrorism, kidnapping, euthanasia, torture, bribery and corruption, consumerism. All these sins are thorns piercing the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

 

Pray the Rosary every day

 

Now more than ever, we need the rosary.

 

Our Lady repeated the command “Pray the Rosary” with each and every one of her appearances at Fatima.

She promised the Rosary would bring peace to the world…

Today do we have peace?

 

No, sadly, not in the world, not in our cities and towns, not even in our individual lives.

When all seems lost humanly speaking, when events in our lives take a turn for the worst, we must not give in to the temptation that Our Blessed Mother’s promises are empty. 

Instead, let’s take a firmer hold on our Rosaries and unite our hearts with hers — today and every day until the triumph of her Immaculate Heart. 

The Rosary is the most powerful weapon in the spiritual battle that is raging today between the forces of God led by the Powerful Valiant Woman of the Revelation, and the forces of Satan.

 

Do Penance and Offer Sacrifices for the Salvation of Souls

The Virgin told the three shepherd children that many souls go to Hell because no one offers sacrifices to Jesus for their salvation. In 1943, Sr. Lucia disclosed that on a Thursday midnight, when she was in the Chapel with her Superior’s permission, Our Lord said to her: “The sacrifice required of every person is the fulfilment of his duties in life and the observance of My law.

This is the penance I now seek and require”. Sacrifice not only saves souls from eternal damnation but shows Jesus how much we love Him. By it, we remove the thorns that pierce the Heart of Mary. 

 

Practice Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 

In the second apparition of Our Lady to the three shepherd children on July 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary said, “Jesus wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.

I promise salvation to all those who embrace it and these souls will be loved by God like flowers placed to adorn His throne”. We should practice devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and try to get others to do so.

 

Practice the Five First Saturdays Devotion of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 

Our Lady told Sr. Lucia, “I promise to help at the hour of death with the graces needed for salvation those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries, with the intention of making reparation to my Immaculate Heart”.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary is pierced with thorns because of the five major blasphemies and offences committed against it. These are:

The blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception;

Blasphemies against Her Virginity;

Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity and for the offences of those who refuse to recognise Her as the Mother of all mankind;

Blasphemies of those who try publicly to implant in the children’s hearts indifference, contempt and even hatred against this Immaculate Mother;

The offences of those who insult Her directly in Her sacred statues.

By practising the First Saturday Devotion, we are removing the thorns.

 

On September 14, 2017, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines in a circular letter (signed by Rev. Fr. Marvin S. Mejia – Secretary General of the Bishops’ Conference) addressed to all the Cardinals, Bishops and Reverend Diocesan Administrators requested them to initiate the Diocesan promotion and implementation of the First Saturday Devotion which they described as “the forgotten message of Fatima” in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

 

Consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The Virgin Mary requested that the Holy Father in union with the BISHOPS OF THE WORLD SHOULD CONSECRATE RUSSIA TO HER IMMACULATE HEART.

“If this Consecration is not done, Russia will spread her errors throughout the world promoting wars and persecutions of the Church, the good will be martyred. The Holy Father will have much to suffer and various nations will be annihilated”.

 

Practice Purity and Modesty in Dress and let Marriages be in Accordance with the Will of God

Our Lady communicated this message to Jacinta before her death, in the following words:

“The sins that lead most souls to hell are the sins of the flesh” (that is, sins of impurity). “Certain fashions will be introduced which will offend Our Lord very much”. 

“Priests must be pure, very pure. They should not busy themselves with anything except what concerns the Church and souls. The disobedience of priests to their Superiors and the Holy Father is very displeasing to Our Lord”.

“Many Marriages are not good; they do not please Our Lord and are not of God”.

 

World Peace

 

“Tell everybody that God gives His graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask graces from her, and that the heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the Lord has confided the peace of the world to her...”

 

Relevance of the Fatima Message for Today

According to St. Pope John Paul II, the Evangelical Message at Fatima, a Message of Conversion, Prayer and Penance, consecration to God through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Eucharistic Reparation and Sanctification of our Daily Duties is more urgent and more needed now than in 1917 when Our Lady announced the need to practice them for peace in the world and salvation of souls. 

As Sr. Mary Doreen Okolie (IHM), the first Nigerian Mariologist remarked, “The message of Fatima is not only relevant in our world today but compulsory”.

Terrorist attacks are reported all over the world on a daily basis. Some terrorist groups are fighting in the name of religion. These include AL QUEDA, ISIS, BOKO HARAM, TALIBAN, TAMIL TIGERS, ISIL, AL SHABA ETC. Several countries in the world today have become theatres of blazing furnaces of intractable wars and terrorist bombings. 

With the outbreak of wars and terrorist bombings and attacks in several countries of the world, Pope Francis was constrained some time ago to declare that the Third World War was on.

He appealed for restraint on the part of the warring combatants and pleaded for peace. On the threat by the former President of the U.S. (President Trump) to use force to bring North Korea down to her knees, the Pope pleaded for caution because a Nuclear War will be catastrophic for the whole human race. But the former U.S. President said that America’s patience was running out.

Let us recall that in the TWO WORLD WARS, millions of people were sacrificed to build an “elusive paradise on earth without God”. 

 

The whole world must return to God.

We must choose “Civilisation of Love” instead of “Civilisation of Hatred” and “Culture of Life” rather than “Culture of Death”.

We must enthrone God as First in our lives and speak about His Rights as Creator and Redeemer of the Human Race.

This is the Great Call of the Message of Fatima — the Evangelical call to conversion which echoes around the world more powerfully now than at any other time! “Return to My Son, Jesus Christ!” is the anguished call of Our Lady of Fatima, Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces!

Our world today is in dire need of peace, individual peace, peace in our families and communal peace. The peace promised to us by Our Lady of Fatima can be achieved through daily meditative recitation of the Rosary, calling on the mother of Jesus, who is ever ready to come to our assistance, performing our daily duties well and treating our fellow human beings with justice and dignity.

 

Author: Prof. Michael Ogunu

International President of the World Apostolate of Fatima