Help our Lady Convert Poor Sinners. Pray the nine day Novena to Our Lady of Fatima

Dear Spera Rose;
Leaning on a reflection from Cardinal Burke it is helpful where he depicts the relationship between Our Lord and Our Lady when Jesus performed His first miracle at the Wedding at Cana. Let’s recall Our Lady’s words, “Do whatever he tells you.” These insightful syllables communicate not only her maternal care for her children in need, but they also intimate her sublime intercessory power. She is unmistakably the mediator between God and man, the channel of graces which gush forth from Our Lord’s Just, yet Merciful Heart

To see the the continuity of instruction and intercessory prayer from our Heavenly Mother, fast forward to 1917 where she came to earth with an urgent message for us. With the supplication to “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners…”, Our Lady asked us to make reparation for outrages, sacrileges, and indifference which greatly offend the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, and to pray for peace in the world.

Our Lady gently but gravely reminds us of the truth that as the world cracks beneath the weight of secularism and impurity, so many souls fall like snowflakes into the eternal depths of hell because no one is praying and no one is making sacrifices for them.

And so here we are in the year 2019. I ask you to join me in a Novena of prayer (which will also involve sacrifice!) to Our Lady of Fatima to begin on May 5th and end on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th.

Over these nine days, we will plead for the conversion of sinners and peace in the world while grasping at the essence of Our Lady’s requests during her apparitions. As we come together in our pleading, we will unveil the mystery of the Three Secrets of Fatima so that we and our loved ones can successfully overcome and defeat Satan along with our vices in this spiritually decrepit culture.

The Message of Fatima was not intended only for the people of 1917. It is still pressingly relevant for you and me today. Along with storming Heaven during our daily Rosary, let’s rise up and fly to the patronage of Our Lady of Fatima.

Your friend in Jesus and Mary,

Thomas J. McKenna
Founder and President
Catholic Action For Faith And Family
http://www.catholicaction.org/

1st Day Novena to OL Fatima

CONVERSION OF SINNERS

Let us petition Our Lady of Fatima on this first day to hear our prayers for the conversion of sinners and for peace in the world and in our families.

May 6th  2nd Day Novena OL Fatima
THE DAILY ROSARY
On the second day of our Novena to Our Lady of Fatima, let’s take a moment to firmly recommit ourselves to the practice of the daily Rosary, a heavenly solution to our modern day crisis. Our Lady fervently asks us to use this most powerful weapon to contend with spiritual threats to holiness.
May 7th 3rd Day Novena to OL Fatima
PENANCE FOR THE FAITHFUL
At Fatima, Our Lady asked for penance. In particular, she asked the Faithful (you and me) to do penance for the conversion of sinners. Let’s pray the third day of our Novena to Our Lady of Fatima with this in mind. Penance remains another stalwart defense against the hedonism which we, the Church Militant, encounter in our daily lives.

May 8th Day 4 Novena to Our Lady of Fatima
“Before the grave situation of the world today, we are, Pope Saint John Paul II reminded us, like the first disciples who, after hearing Saint Peter’s Pentecost discourse, and asked him: ‘What must we do?’ Even as the first disciples faced a pagan world which had not even heard of our Lord Jesus Christ, so, too, we face a culture which is forgetful of God and hostile to His Law written upon every human heart.” -Cardinal Raymond. Burke
Let us petition Our Lady of Fatima to hear our prayers for the conversion of sinners and for peace in the world and in our families.

May 9th Day 5 of Novena to OL Fatima

On Day 5 of our Novena, let’s look at the importance of establishing devotion to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart in the recesses of our hearts and homes as we pray for peace and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart! We struggle daily to keep from being enmeshed in our confused culture. In our preparation for Heaven, we cannot remain neutral in this spiritual warfare. Thankfully, within Our Lady’s heart is a treasure trove of graces. We need only ask for them.

May 10th Day 6 of Our Lady of Fatima Novena
As you and I pray the sixth day of our Novena, we recognize our duty as Catholics to heed Our Lady of Fatima’s request for a Communion of Reparation. Confession, Holy Communion, and praying of the Holy Rosary on five consecutive first Saturdays will aid in healing the wounds inflicted by men which encircle her heart. Through these practices, we also fortify ourselves as soldiers of Christ against the turbulent winds of indifference present in our culture. In return, Our Lady promised to assist us at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for our salvation. In return, Our Lady promised to assist us at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for our salvation.

May 11th Day 7 of Our Lady of Fatima Novena
As you and I have witnessed, the persecution of Christians is real and ensuing around our very eyes. Around the world, most recently in Sri Lanka, those faithful to Our Lord endure suffering and even martyrdom on account of their Faith. And it is no wonder. We have been clued in by the Third Secret of Fatima that the forces of evil would contend with the forces for good. In this continuous struggle and amidst the bloodshed, Our Lady’s mantle is a sturdy shelter. We must hearken to her urgent requests for prayer and penance!

May 12th 8th Day of Fatima Novena
Under the guidance of Our Lady of Fatima, you and I continue day 8 of our Novena with special regard for the dignity of the priesthood. Priests heal our spiritual wounds in the Sacrament of Confession and nourish our hungry souls with the Holy Eucharist. But they desperately need our prayers if they are to remain faithful. Satan cunningly desires to destroy the Church from within and his plan of attack rests on the clergy. This is evident to us in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis. It is clear that the clergy need our prayers and sacrifices now more than ever!

May 13 Ninth day Novena to Our Lady of Fatima.
Happy Feast of Our Lady of Fatima!
On the final day of our Novena, you and I can reflect on Our Lady’s message as one of hopefulness, for she promises that in the end her Immaculate Heart will triumph!
Like an earthly mother who counsels her child before he makes a harmful mistake, Our Heavenly Mother guides us, her children, back into the ranks of virtue and holiness. So that through penance and the recitation of the Holy Rosary, we may escape the embers of eternal punishment.

http://www.catholicaction.org/
Catholic Action For Faith And Family · PO Box 910308, San Diego, CA 92191-0308, United Sta

http://www.catholicaction.org/
Catholic Action For Faith And Family · PO Box 910308, San Diego, CA 92191-0308, United

Season of Advent time for Penance and Spiritual Conversion

Fatima and the Four Last Things

DEATH, JUDGEMENT - HEAVEN OR HELL 

Season of Advent A Time for

Repentance & Spiritual Conversion

Advent is given to us by the church to remind us of our need for repentance and for spiritual conversion a perfect time to read and meditate on the 4 last things.  Advent is not just to prepare us for the anniversary of the birth of Jesus (Christmas) when God entered the world as man. More importantly Advent is a time for reflection on the coming of the Lord at the end of our lives and his final coming at the end of time! Modern man is frantically running from the reality of his own death. Poor simple man is tempted to believe he is something that he is not before his peers and even before God! Advent is time to stop and take stock of who God is and who we are as we stand before him.

Michelangelo's- The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel

One of the best meditations on Death is the Dies Irae hymn a meditation on the Last Judgment, when Christ will come again in glory, no longer granting mercy, but as the Just Judge who will separate the just from the wicked, casting the latter into eternal fire, and welcoming the former to eternal bliss. The hymn closes with a supplication for mercy before the coming of that terrible day.

The video below is Mozart's Rendition of Dies Irea and it is a powerful piece making one tremble at the coming Judgment. the Day of Wrath.  The Gregorian Chant of Dies Irea   on the other hand, is more somber and reflective giving one hope in God's Mercy at that final hour of our own death or his second coming.  This is chanted during Funeral Masses in the Extraordinary form in the Tridentine Mass! Makes one hope to be buried with that Mass and those prayers to follow you into eternity.

Day of wrath, day that will dissolve the world into burning coals, as David bore witness with the Sibyl. How great a tremor is to be, when the judge is to come briskly shattering every grave. A trumpet sounding an astonishing sound through the tombs of the region drives all men before the throne. Death will be stunned and so will Nature, when arises  man the creature responding to the One judging. The written book will be brought forth, in which the record of evidence is contained whence the world is to be judged. Therefore when the Judge shall sit, whatever lay hidden will appear; nothing unavenged will remain.

 O Thou, God of Majesty, nourishing brilliance of the Trinity,  join us with the Blessed.  What am I the wretch then to say? what patron I to beseech? when scarcely the just man be secure. King of tremendous Majesty, who saves those-to-be-saved free, save me, Fount of piety.

Remember, faithful Jesus, because I am the cause of your journey: do not lose me on that day.

Thou has sat down as one wearied seeking me, Thou has redeemed me having suffered the Cross: so much labor let it not be lost. Just judge of the avenging-punishment, work the gift of the remission of sins before the Day of the Reckoning. I groan, as the accused: my face grows red from my fault: spare this supplicant, O God.O Thou, God of Majesty, nourishing brilliance of the Trinity, join us with the Blessed.Thou who forgave Mary the sinful woman, and favorably heard the good thief, hast also given me hope.  My prayers are not worthy, but do Thou, Good God, deal kindly lest I burn in perennial fire.

Among the sheep offer me a place and from the goats sequester me, placing me at Thy right hand. After the accursed have been silenced, given up to the bitter flames, call me with the blest. Kneeling and bowed down I pray, My heart contrite as ashes: Do Thou  care for my end

That sorrowful day, on which will arise from the burning coals Man accused to be judged therefore, O God, do Thou spare him. Faithful Lord Jesus, grant them rest. Amen. O Thou, God of Majesty, nourishing brilliance of the Trinity, join us with the Blessed. Amen

The Message of Fatima & the 4 last things

A Catechesis of Faith & Reaffirmation of Gospel

Mary is the Model Catechist

Our LAdy of Fatima did not ask the permission of the parents of Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia before showing them the vision of hell. Remember that Jacinta was barely six years old!  This reminds us that children do not belong to their parents they are only entrusted to them by God. God expects parents to instruct and form them in His ways; to know love and serve Him so that they will have the opportunity to be happy with Him forever in Heaven!  Thus the outrage of abortion. Destroying God's creation in your child that was given to you in order to reflect His image in the world.

The reality of Hell should be taught to children using the same methods our Lady used at Fatima the Model Catechist.  Appealing to their generous hearts by teaching them to help save others from going there. Having this knowledge they will be able tomake the right choices to save themselves from going there as well. Our Lady in showing young children a vision of Hell lead us to understand that children can also go there! Children can and do commit grave sins, even murder. They  have the natural law impressed on their souls so they know right from wrong.  However, we should never under estimate a childs capacity to do good and for self sacrifice. Our Lady at Fatima also showed us how great the heart of a child can become when properly formed! Even to heights of heroic sanctity.

             A Vision of Hell

The Ultimate Justice of God

For Unrepentant Sinners



The children saw countless numbers of people who were endlessly falling into the fiery flames.  Our Lady sadly looked upon them as she said "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.” And then she told them the secrets of Fatima that are connected with this vision. Material for another post someday.

The Vision of Hell

In the third apparition of July the children were given a vision of hell the ultimate Justice of God for unrepentant sinners. Our Lady pointed to the earth and the light from her hands the light from her hands penetrated the earth and opened the ground so that the children could peer into the depths and could see hell. Lucia describes  it for us: "As our Lady spoke she opened Her hands once more, as She had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were an ocean of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me.) The demons could be distinguished (from the souls of the damned) by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent.This vision lasted only a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother who,  at the first apparition, had promised to take us to Heaven. Without this promise, I think we would have died of fright.

The reality eternity was already impressed on this young mind and the possibility of some souls spending an eternity in hell! This thought impressed Jacinta the most. She often called Lucia and Francisco she would ask: "Are you praying with me? It is necessary to pray much to save souls from hell! How sorry I am for sinners who go there and burn forever like wood in a fire! If I could only show them hell so they would not go there!"  Even after she was taken sick, she would get out of bed to bow her head to the floor, and pray as the Angel had taught for the glory of God, and in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended in the tabernacles throughout the world and for the conversion of poor sinners.

Photo taken after the Vision of Hell note the anxious expressions

Many years later Lucia said she believed that most people go to Hell because of sins of the flesh. If souls can be condemned to hell because of one unrepentant mortal sin for all eternity is it not to be understood that other souls could be detained for long years in purgatory who have committed countless deliberate venial sins for which they have had little sorrow and had done little or no penance. The guilt that has been remitted by absolution, but the temporal punishment will have to be paid in purgatory.

Modern Man is Frantically 

Running From The Ultimate 

Reality of His Own Death.

Hieronymus Bosch  “Death of a sinner”, angel and devil weigh a mans soul

                

Today we are so busy, so frantically busy trying to control our own personal destiny and good fortune and in the process we unwittingly make today's technological advances our God.  In extreme cases the computer screen has become his tabernacle and window into solving his thirst for knowledge. Knowledge for finite things because that is all the computer can give us. We are deceived into believing from all the information available to us up to the computer. All the images (visions) that can be brought before him, from the outer reaches of the universe and the depths of the ocean that we can finally solve and ultimately control the mysteries of the universe. The mysteries  of life and death without the reality of God!  A deception of the devil for this time the ultimate deception the ultimate lie!  Poor simple man is tempted to believe he is something that he is not before his peers and even before God!

 Someday God Will Send 

A Strong Delusion

I feel it is here in our day!

I wonder if the scriptures of 2Thessalonians2:9-12 is in the beginnings if not already being actualized! 9The coming of the lawless one with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

We are spending  more and more time involved in this technology to do what we think are great things! What was supposed to save time for human relationships has become a time consumer. Often we no longer have time for true prayer.  A prayer that enables an openness of soul to God a readiness and receptivity in order to be always praying, (Luke 18:1) and always listening to hear his voice when he whispers to our souls in the silence.  We have lost this form of prayer because there is no longer silence for modern man our ears are plugged into something all day! 

Another victory of the devil that technology has brought us! We can no longer hear the voice of conscience with all the noise and distractions around us. Without conscience we longer hear the truth about ourselves and the truth about God. I fear if we persist down this slippery slope God will allow us to have faith in whatever it is we put faith in.  If we don't turn back to  God in prayer, he may (if he has not already) send the strong delusion described in, Thessalonians 2:11. And in other words a time may come that God will not permit the deluded to repent. Hence this little catechesis on the 4 last things: Death, Judgment, Heaven or Hell and reality of purgatory as mentioned by the events of Fatima.  

The Message of Fatima confirmed  

the Reality of Purgatory

God’s Mercy vs. God’s Perfect Justice

Why not say the 5 last things 

and include Purgatory?

Purgatory is only temporary end before the final end in Heaven so it is not considered to be one of the last things. However Purgatory is such an important dogma of the church. Incredibly so many Catholics are ignorant of Purgatory so do nothing to avoid it themselves and little or nothing to help the Poor Souls who are there, suffering intensely, as they wait for Masses and prayers to be offered for them. That is why Our Lady brought up the reality of Heaven and Purgatory in her first appearance to the children. Only after strengthening them with the graces given in both the May and June apparitions did the children experience another reality of a place called hell. 

The painting below of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, the 'Throne of Mercy' and 'Queen of the Angels', who takes great delight in sending her Angels to release those Souls mercifully pardoned by her Son Jesus through the prayers and supplications of the church!

 Lucia recognized that it was Our Lady of Mt. Carmel 
wh appeared during the Miracle of the Sun in October because she recognized her as the same image in her parish church.

During Our Lady's First Visit to Fatima in May Lucia–the oldest of the three, after being reassured by Our Lady that they would all one day go to Heaven. Jacinta and Francisco would go soon and she would go but not right away because it was the will of God that she help promote the devotion to her Immaculate Heart to save poor sinners. Lucia found the courage and asked Our Lady about two of her friends who recently died: "Is Maria das Neves is in Heaven?" "Yes" answered Our Lady, "she is in Heaven."  She also asked about another friend, Amelia. Our Lady answered: "She will be in Purgatory until the end of the world."

Amelia's Fate is a 

Warning for All of Us!

Amelia was eighteen years old when she died. She is in Purgatory and will, on the testimony of Our Blessed Mother, stay there until the end of time.  Let us take to heart and make certain that her fate will not be our own. What could she have done to merit such purgation in those days and what about us and the sins committed in our era?

Why such a lengthy expiation?

The malice of sin is great. What we think are small faults are in reality serious offenses against the infinite goodness of God. Look how the saints wept over their smallest faults. We are weak we say and it is true but God is always there for us offering us graces to strengthen us and giving us lights to see the gravity of our sins. We do not use the lights and graces he so generously offers us, and we do not receive the sacraments as we should.

The saints committed few and slight sins they sorrowed much over them and did severe penances. We commit many and grave sins and we sorrow little and do little or no penance. For the majority of us who do make the positive decision to serve God and are not yet properly prepared (humble enough) to enter Heaven, the only choice is to make the transition to goodness in Purgatory. Our Lord tells us that we shall have to render an account for each and every idle word we say (Matthew12:36 ) and that we may not leave our prison until we shall have paid the last farthing. (Matthew 5:26).

All Venial Sins

Must also be Atoned for!

All sins mortal and venial accumulated for 20, 40, or 60 years of life. Each one has to be atoned for after death. Is it a wonder that souls have to remain so long in purgatory? It cannot be calculated the immense number of venial sins we commit on a daily basis. Faults of self love, selfishness; in thoughts words and deeds.  Acts of sensuality, faults of charity; laziness, vanity, jealousy, tepidity.  Then the sins of omission that we give no credence too. Do we ever thank God as we should for all his blessings given to us?  He waits for our visits day and night in the tabernacle; do we go? He dies for us every morning at Mass and gives innumerable graces to those who participate longing to come into our hearts in Holy Communion. We are too lazy to attend this Calvary. We have luxurious homes, food, clothing while many in the world live in hunger and misery.  Life is given to serve God and save our souls but we are satisfied if we give God five minutes of prayer in the morning and evening and the rest of the 24 hour day is given to work, rest and pleasures.  

And Mortal Sins?

Unfortunately, Most of us have committed mortal sins in our lives and if we confess them we do not make satisfaction for them. Do we return what we have stolen or make charitable contributions to the poor if we cannot. Did we restore the good name of the other who we maligned with our slander or calumny? The tongue can murder another as well as a gun or knife and change the direction of the life of someone for good or ill! St. Gertrude in her revelations indicated that those who have committed many grave sins and have not done due penance, may not share in the ordinary suffrage's of the church for a very considerable time! The venerable Bede also indicated that the justice of God may demand that those who pass a great part of their lives in repeated and unrepentant mortal sins and confess them on their death bed, may be detained in purgatory until even the last day.

We would do well to remember that the best means of lessening our term in Purgatory -- or of avoiding it altogether -- is to have clear ideas of it, to think well and often on it and to adopt the means God offers for avoiding it.   Not to think of it is FATAL. It is nothing else than preparing for ourselves a long and rigorous Purgatory!

The servant of God Fr. John Anthony Hardon, S.J. said many times: “Only the very chaste and very humble shall enter Heaven; No one else! No one else! No one else!”

    Jesus Meek and Humble of Heart
    Make Our Hearts Like Unto Thine!

Fr. Hardon and the Catholic Dogma of Purgatory                     

                 

 Miracle of Holy Mass 
and Purgatory in 1657    

Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat

Montserrat - the site of a Marian shrine - is a Benedictine monastery with nearly 1000 years of history. The shrine is set on the ledge of the mountains where a Basilica and Benedictine monastery are also built. The Basilica was constructed in the neo-Gothic and Renaissance style and was consecrated in 1592, 100 years after the discovery of America.  According to legend, the statue of Our Lady of Montserrat was discovered by young shepherds who had been attracted by lights that came from a cave where the statute was hidden. Our Lady of Montserrat is the Patroness of Catalonia, and because of the color of her skin, she is known as "La Moreneta" ("The Little Black Madonna").

The Most Reverend Father Bernardo de Ontevieros, General of the Benedictine Order in Spain, along with the Abbot Father Millán de Mirando, were present at the monstery of Our Lady of Montserrat to take part in several conferences when a woman with her young daughter came to the monastery, and the little girl began to implore Abbot Millán to celebrate three Masses in memory of her deceased father, deeply convinced that by the merits of these Masses, the soul of her father would be freed from the pains of Purgatory. The good Abbot, moved by the tears of the young girl, began to celebrate the first of these Masses for the dead on the following day, and the little girl, who was present at the Mass with her mother, during the consecration began to declare that she saw her father kneeling at the foot of the main altar, surrounded by dreadful flames. The Father General, who was skeptical, wishing to determine whether the little girl’s account was true, told her to bring a handkerchief close to the flames that surrounded her father. The little girl, following his directive, placed the handkerchief in that mysterious fire which only she was able to see, and at once all the monks saw the handkerchief catch fire with a living flame. .....Read More

Further Meditations on the Four Last things

 Divine Providence brought a little booklet titled READ ME or RUE IT  by Fr. Paul O'Sullivn,O.P.  The cover promised that the pamphlet would be a Revelation for many who would read it and it was for me.  I paraphrased portions from this booklet within this post. I also want to mention the Classic Meditations on the Four Last things: DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN by Fr. Martin Von Cochem O.S.F.C.  whose quote is one of the titles of this post and will be an valuable source for further meditations. Links for both booklets can be found at the end of this post.

READ ME or RUE IT  by Fr. Paul O'Sullivn,O.P.

Classic Meditations on the Four Last things:

DEATH, JUDGMENT, HELL and HEAVEN by Fr. Martin Von Cochem O.S.F.C.

This post registered on Catholic Blogger linkup for Decemberr, 2013

St. John Paul II You Live On! "Be Not Afraid Open your Hearts to the Love and Light that is Christ!"

St. John Paul's Witness -His Life and Death

A Cry for the Mercy of God!

Eighteen years ago, on April 2, 2005, St. John Paul II passed away. Millions of people mourned his death the world over, and the bells of St. Peter's Square somberly tolled continuously over and over again for hours to mourn his passing .

"Unceasingly the Church implores from God mercy for everyone. At no time and in no historical period -- especially at a moment as critical as our own -- can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God amid the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it. "The more the human conscience succumbs to secularization, loses its sense of the very meaning of the word "mercy," moves away from God, and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy with loud cries!  Bl. John Paul II June 7, 1977  Divine Mercy Shrine in Lagiewniki, Poland.(Dives in Misericordia, n. 15).

 On the seventh anniversary of his death  a documentary was compiled from ROME REPORTS'  "John Paul The Great: A Pope Who Made History" 

 St. John Paul II and Feast of Divine Mercy 

 

The beatifications of Jacinta and Francisco at Fatima on May 13, 2000 and the canonization of St Faustina with the Institution of the Feast of Divine Mercy on April 30, 2000, undoubtedly will be considered one of the most momentous events in the history of the Church in the new millennium. They both took place during the Great Jubilee year a little over a week apart from each other.  

 

I was blessed by God in his providence to be present at both these historic events in the the Church. A religious community obtained tickets for our small group in Rome and we were seated near St Faustina's Community, the Sisters of Mercy. 

  

I recall all my joy at being there standing on my chair when the Holy Father arrived and waving madly for him to see me. Finally his eyes met mine and he smiled at me! He was probably laughing inside at the crazy lady standing on her chair among all the dignitaries present. Very undignified of me but I didn't care!  I will never forget that moment and his smile as long as I live.God gave me the gift of that moment with the pope during the Great Jubilee. The gift of his smile I will always cherish.  😊🙏

 I was a long time devote of St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy Message and well acquainted with her diary. I  used it for some time for my spiritual reading. On the institution of the Feast of Mercy. (1044 - 1049) St. Faustina  recorded in her diary the vision as she saw the Institution of the Feast of Divine Mercy taking place simultaneously in her community and in Rome. She did not understand how but the people were able to experience the institution of the Feast at the same time whether they were in Rome or in Cracow.  

As you read St. Faustina's account description you will note that God also kept from her that she was seeing her own canonization on that day without knowing it. We also did not know either that the pope was going to institute the Feast of Divine Mercy when we attended her canonization, although there was speculation that he would do so. As the pope made the announcement I did not understand the language but noted the air was electrified with suspense and I knew something momentous was being said as the pope made the announcement. Later, overwhelmed at the Mercy God bestowed on me, recalling this grace to be present at this time it has served as a source encouragement to persevere in hope in the trials and afflictions that followed.

April 30, 2000- St Faustina's Canonization

St. Faustina described the ceremony in her diary on the March 23, 1937, that would take place on  April 30, 2000 in Rome and in Cracow simultaneously via internet web TV.  St. Faustina wrote: “Suddenly, God’s presence took hold of me, and at once I saw myself in Rome, in the Holy Father’s chapel and at the same time I was in our chapel. and the celebration of the Holy Father and the entire Church was closely connected with our chapel and, in a very special way, with our Congregation. And I took part in the solemn celebration simultaneously here and in Rome, for the celebration was so closely connected with Rome that, even as I write, I cannot distinguish the two but I am writing it down as I saw it. Everyone was participating in the celebrations with great joy, and many of them obtained what they desired. The same celebration was held in Rome, in a beautiful church, and the Holy Father, with all the clergy, was celebrating this Feast, and then suddenly I saw Saint Peter, who stood between the altar and the Holy Father.   I then looked at the immense crowd worshiping the Divine Mercy and I said to the Lord: Jesus, bless all those who are gathered to give glory to You and to venerate Your infinite mercy. Jesus made a sign of the cross with His hand, and this blessing was reflected in the souls like a flash of light." 

Rome St. Faustina's Canonization

During the ceremonies I wondered in the back of my head if the new saint saw me present, did she see me waving to the Pope back then in 1937?  What a thought the Communion of Saints. After the Canonization in Rome our group we went off to Lourdes and then to Fatima to meet the pope once again on May 13th for the Beatification of Jacinta and Francesco. Another historic event in the church for the Fatima Message. Linking Fatima with the Message of Divine Mercy. 

 The Graces received from these events have sustained me in the sufferings God allowed me live through in the years that followed. When I recall the great gifts God bestowed on me and the whole world during the Great Jubilee I am filled with gratitude and hope.  If only souls myself included avail themselves to them. 

  

There is much fruit to be gleaned in meditation if we take the time to do this letting God speak to us on these mysteries in Providence and on the legacy that  Bl.John Paul II left us. What will we do with it? If we really love him as he loved humanity we will follow his footsteps the way he pointed out to us!

Jesus I trust in you! My life is wrapped in the Mercy of God and in the mantle of the Fatima Message. In a 1977 speech at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Poland Bl. John Paul II  said  "And if a person responds with a sincere heart: "Jesus, I trust in you," he will find comfort in all his anxieties and fears. In this dialogue of abandonment, there is established between man and Christ a special bond that sets love free there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" (1 Jn 4:18)  Pope John Paul II June 7, 1977  at Shrine of Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, Poland.
  

Divine Mercy and the Fatima Message!   

Our Lord used St. John Paul II in the Great Jubilee Year and Linked in Divine Providence the Message of Divine Mercy with the Fatima Message. There is so much for meditation on this. Maybe in a future post we can delve deeper into this mystery. 

May 13, 2000 Beatifications at Fatima

St. John Paul II  is also  known as the Fatima Pope as he was imaged in the 3rd secret. When he beatified the Jacinta and Francisco on May 13, 2000, he also revealed at the same time the complete text of the 3rd Secret to the world.  The assassination attempt on his life took place on a Fatima day May 13th,1981.

The bullet that shot the pope
is in the center pointing down

                                                                                                       

One year later after his attempted assassination,he made a pilgrimage to Fatima to Thank Our Lady for her intercession sparing his life and to leave the bullet removed from his body that was later placed in her crown.  John Paul II's assessment, "It was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path"  She permitted the dying pope to stop on the threshold of death

The Canonization of St. John Paul II

Was a Joyful Event for the Church 

and All Who Loved Him!

St.  John Paul II  the Fatima Pope was Beatified on May 1, 2011 which also was the first Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday.  Benedict XVI explained that the date was chosen for the beatification because it was on the eve of Mercy Sunday that his earthly life ended. "Those who knew him, those who esteemed and loved him, cannot but rejoice with the Church for this event."  


John Paul II. was finally canonized with Pope John XXIII on April 27,2014 by Pope Francis in an unprecedented ceremony witnessed by huge crowds gathered in Vatican City.

Pope Benedict XVI Remembers  
World Youth Day & Bl. John Paul II

On April 2, 2012  the seventh anniversary of the death of Blessed John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI paid homage to one of his predecessor's undertakings: World Youth Day. While he Greeted an estimated 5,000 cheering young people from Spain on April 2, Pope Benedict said they were "the protagonists and principal recipients of this pastoral initiative promoted by my beloved predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, whose passage to heaven we remember today. "Each and every person has a vocation, a call from God that is the key to each person's holiness and happiness, as well as being a call to create a better world," the pope told the youth.  Read more.....

BE NOT AFRAID to

Open Wide Your HeartsTo the Love and Light that is Christ!

John Paul II--You Live On! You Live On!

                     

I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming"  (Diary, 1732).

John Paul II  Patron of World Youth Day 

Ora pro nobis!

Official Web Site for WYD11