"The sacrifice required of every person is the fulfillment of his duties in life and the observance of my law!" Jesus to Sr. Lucia
The Pope calls all to be Redeemers in the Son with Mary. Repeating the Heart of the Fatima Message given by Our Lady's in her first visit on May 13 to the three shepherds. She asked them this question; "Will you offer yourselves to God, and bear all the sufferings He sends you? In atonement for all the sins that offend Him? And for the conversion of sinners?" The children replied; "Yes, we are willing." Our Lady continued; "Than you will suffer much but the grace of God will be your comfort." In this first question to the children Our Lady is also asking each of us through them the same question.
It was in this same spirit that the Angel spoke to the children in 1916 preparing them for this moment: "Offer up everything in your power as a sacrifice to the Lord in reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners . . . More than all else, accept and bear with resignation the sufferings that God may send you."
After the apparitions ended Sr. Lucia explained "Many persons feeling that the word penance implies great austerities, and not feeling that they have the strength for great sacrifices, become discouraged and continue a life of lukewarmness and sin." Then she said Our Lord explained to her: "The sacrifice required of every person is the fulfillment of his duties in life and the observance of My law. This is the penance that I now seek and require."
The pope's message to the sick teaches us all the ways that we can be Redeemers with the Redeemer and by doing so we are answering Our Lady's call at Fatima. This is the call of the Gospel message. To imitate St Paul and the Apostles, to fill up in our flesh with our individual afflictions what is left in the sufferings of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the church. Colossians 1:24
God will not go against the free will of man. He invites Our Lady asked the children if they were willing to suffer for poor sinners. She also asks us the same question through them. What is your answer to the Call of Fatima? The Call to penance and reparation.
The Pope Giving Benediction
Dear Brothers and Sisters
Who Are Sick
Before I walk among you carrying the monstrance containing Jesus present in the Eucharist, I would like to offer you a word of encouragement and hope, a word which I extend to all those following us on television and radio, and to those without even such means, but who are united to us by the deeper bonds of the Spirit, that is, in faith and prayer.Who Are Sick
Suffering which is lived
with Jesus assists in
The Salvation of Souls.
My dear brother and sister, in the eyes of God you are “worth so much to God that he himself became man in order to suffer with man in an utterly real way — in flesh and blood — as is revealed to us in the account of Jesus's Passion. Hence in all human suffering we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us; hence con-solatio is present in all suffering, the consolation of God's compassionate love — and so the star of hope rises” (Spe Salvi, 39). With such hope in your heart, you can leave behind the quicksand of illness and death and stand on the firm rock of divine love. In other words, you can overcome the feeling of the uselessness of suffering which consumes a person from within and makes him feel a burden to those around him when, in reality, suffering which is lived with Jesus assists in the salvation of your brethren.
As you embrace Your Cross
the Salvific Meaning of
Suffering will be Revealed
How is this possible? Because the spring of divine power rises in the midst of human weakness. This is the paradox of the Gospel. Therefore, the divine Master, instead of explaining the reasons for suffering, preferred to call everyone to follow him, saying: Take up your cross and follow me (cf. Mk 8:34). Come with me. With your suffering, take part in the work of salvation which is realized through my suffering, by means of my cross. As you gradually embrace your own cross, uniting yourself spiritually to my cross, the salvific meaning of suffering will be revealed to you. In suffering, you will discover an interior peace and even spiritual joy.
You will become redeemers
with the Redeemer
Dear friends who are sick, welcome the call of Jesus who will shortly pass among you in the Most Blessed Sacrament, and entrust to him every setback and pain that you face, so that they become - according to his design – a means of redemption for the whole world. You will be redeemers with the Redeemer, just as you are sons in the Son. At the cross… stands the mother of Jesus, our mother.
Greetings for English Pilgrims
I welcome the English-speaking pilgrims present today who have come from near and far. As we offer our fervent prayers to our Lady of Fátima, I encourage you to ask her to intercede for the needs of the Church throughout the world. I cordially invoke God’s blessing upon all of you, and in a particular way upon the young and those who are sick.
The Lord, our great hope, is with us. In his merciful love, he offers a future to his people: a future of communion with himself!...God seeks righteous men and women in order to save the city of man and he does the same here, in Fatima...Our Lady asks: “Do you want to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the sufferings which he will send you, in an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?” May the seven years which separate us from the centenary of the apparitions hasten the fulfilment of the prophecy of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.
Video Homily Mass at Porto
