Wednesday, February 22, 2023

The Fatima Seers Help You Have the Best Lent Ever

 

 


Written by: Dr. Jose Maria Alcasid

Lent, that time of the liturgical year when Holy Mother Church calls on Catholics to fast and abstain from meat in the spirit of penance and self-denial, also encourages the faithful to meditate on the dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this penitential exercise, Our Lord Jesus Christ serves as our supreme model- He led the way of mortification by denying Himself sustenance for forty days and forty nights in preparation for the commencement of His public ministry.

He, who has most tender compassion for humble and repentant sinners, assures us, "I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance." Luke 5:32

And in a supreme act of immolation, Our Lord offered Himself in sacrifice for our salvation and accepted His suffering humanity for the redemption of the world.


Lenten Practices

In light of the above, how are we to model our Lenten practices in the spirit of the Fatima message?


1. During Lent

During Lent, Fatima’s constant theme of prayer, penance and amendment of life becomes ever more relevant in our daily lives.

Nowadays, many are accustomed to the conveniences that technological progress provides. Fast food, TV dinners, cell phones, ATM’s, express delivery, Internet, email, on-line shopping, etc – modern inventions that fuel that frenetic desire to get things done quickly and easily. Everything comes at one’s fingertips at one’s beckoning. And voila! The recurring mantra jumps out, “I want it and I want it NOW.” In short, no fuss, no delay; period!

The appeal of the Seven Capital Sins

In a fast paced world as such, instant gratification is the rule. Sadly, it also opens the door wide to sin and vice. The myriad of ads that one watches or reads these days appeal in more ways than one to the seven capital sins. A new facial anti-wrinkle cream flatters a 50-year-old’s vanity; a luscious and tantalizing food product feeds one’s gluttonous tendencies; the Jones’ new car spur’s one envy; an exotic perfume wakes up ones passion and lust; a sales pitch for faster delivery service mitigates one’s anger over a previously botched job; and so it goes down the line.

Our Ruling Passions

From another vantage view, each individual suffers from a ruling passion or vice that dominates all others and, frequently causes one to fall from grace. Be it pride or sensuality, intemperance, a loose tongue or what not, we know, more or less, our own weaknesses. Thankfully by the grace of God, Lent offers the opportunity for one to tackle this or that defect through serious reflection, prayer and the practice of mortification.Would it burden us much if we cease to be creatures of comfort starting this Lenten season and mortify our senses for the good of our souls? Let us turn to the children of Fatima for inspiration and courage.


2. Exemplary models of penance and sacrifice

The Angel of Portugal taught the children the virtue of asking pardon for evildoers through prayer and offering sacrifices.

He impressed upon them the compelling need to make reparation for the insults, sacrileges and indifference committed against the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Our Lady of Fatima consistently asked the children for prayers of reparation and sacrifice for poor sinners which culminated in the vision of hell that had a profound and lasting effect on them. Having seen the horrors and torments of everlasting infernal fire, the seers were transformed into heroes of mortification and penance.

A belt of rope as self torment

The children devised innovative ways as they see them fit to observe mortified lives. Lucia found a rope one day and suggested it to be cut into three pieces so each of the seers could wear them continuously around their waists. This they practiced with such zeal that it bothered them in their sleep. Pleasing at it was to God, Our Lady had to intervene later and asked them to remove them at night.

Suffering Hunger

Francisco thought it a good sacrifice to give their lunches to the sheep and in later days to poor children they met along the way. Thus they fasted much like in the spirit of austere monks. They thrived admirably on acorns from holm oak and oak trees, pine nuts, roots, berries, mushrooms and other things harvested from the roots of pine trees.

Suffering Thirst

On one occasion, Lucia and the other two children, while suffering from severe thirst, decided to forego drinking from a jar of water that Lucia fetched from a nearby house and poured it instead into a hollow in a stone for the sheep to drink.

Self-Inflicted pain

On other occasions, they would hit their own legs with nettles, "so as to offer to God yet another sacrifice."

Such were the edifying examples of mortification the child seers practiced because of their deep understanding of the urgent necessity of acts of reparation and sacrifices to appease Divine Justice and to mitigate the injuries perpetrated against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Let us take all these to heart and apply them to our own situation keeping in mind the widespread decadence corroding the moral well-being of our contemporary times. It is undeniable that much penance and prayers are needed to atone for all these transgressions. One needs just to open the newspaper or watch the nightly news to find proofs.


3. Realistic Resolutions

Adopting realistic resolutions appropriate for our condition and times.

The messages revealed in the apparitions to the three Portuguese children by the Angel of Portugal and the Queen of Heaven and Earth all speak of the gravity of the sins and crimes of mankind - a tragedy that begs for serious and resolute atonement and conversion to appease the wrath of God. To avert a terrible chastisement, Our Lady asks men to pray ardently for the conversion of sinners and to offer many expiatory sacrifices.

A sense of urgency and a call to action

We must take this warning with utmost seriousness and immediacy. It is a standing message for our times directed to all men. The seers of Fatima responded to this call by making heroic acts of penance and reparation for they fully grasped the meaning of appeasing Divine wrath. Let us follow their lead and reconcile the Fatima message with the real moral crisis staring at us blankly.

No easy way out

What has been written here so far would be put to waste if our intellect fails to change our mentality and move our will to make steadfast resolutions. If the service of God consisted only in fulfilling certain obligations, devotional practices and prescribed prayers compatible to a life of ease and comfort, then the Church would be flooded with new-found saints. But such is not the case. Sadly, it is our human nature to shun sufferings, to avoid pain and to be self-satisfied with whatever little progress we gain in the spiritual life. Let us shed our false optimism. Let us cast our tepidity and lukewarm spirit. With a changed mentality, let us replace our misconceptions with a sincere abiding sorrow for our sins.

Carrying the Cross

Take heart in the Divine counsel, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23

The cross is the embodiment of the Gospel and the glorious standard of a true Christian. And by carrying our cross, we must humble ourselves and look at ourselves as our greatest enemy; with whom we ought to wage a continual war for the rest of our lives.

Crucifix

Penitential Spirit

The current situation and the message of Fatima place the above reflections in a different perspective. Whatever self denial or sacrifice we choose to practice, we must perform with humility and prudence. Lent or otherwise, we must imbue ourselves with a lasting penitential spirit in face of the unabated moral chaos besetting mankind for, indeed, we are in extraordinary times!

And lastly, let us turn Our Lady for inspiration, strength and fortitude, always hoping in Her promise at Fatima,

"Finally, my Immaculate Heart will triumph."



Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto

Feast February 20

Francisco and Jacinta Marto, brother and sister, were born in the tiny town of Aljustrel, Portugal, two years apart. Their parents, Manuel Marto and Olimpia de Jesus, had altogether ten children, of which the little seers were the eighth and ninth.

Francisco was a handsome boy with light hair and dark eyes and calm, retiring disposition.

Jacinta was a pretty girl, with a spritely temperament, and just a bit spoiled.

At the time of the apparitions they were nine and seven years old, respectively. With their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, brother and sister pastured their families’ sheep. Their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, was ten years old.

The family home of Jacinta and Francisco Marto.
The family home of Jacinta and Francisco Marto.

In 1916 their calm, rural life was changed forever by the apparition of an angel in a field near Aljustrel. The angel, calling himself “The Angel of Portugal,” prepared them spiritually for a series of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On May 13, 1917 the Mother of God appeared to the three children atop of a holm oak near the village of Fatima. The Virgin asked the children to return another five times and promised to work a miracle at the last apparition so that all would believe, which she did by making the sun “dance” before 70,000 in October of 1917.

At that time she also called herself, “Lady of the Rosary.”

During the second apparition of June 13, when the children asked about going to heaven, Our Lady told them that Francisco and Jacinta would be going soon, while Lucia was to stay on earth a while. She added that Francisco would have to say many rosaries.

Between this information, and Our Lady’s insistence on reparation to Our Lord for so much offense, and prayer and sacrifices to help save the souls of poor sinners, the two youngest seers embarked on a rare program of holiness, culminating in their beatification in 2000.

Francisco and Jacinta, convinced that they were not long for this world, and interiorly transformed by great mystical graces as well as a terrifying vision of hell, accepted a type of “spiritual victimhood” for the sake of offering reparation to God and saving the souls of sinners.

Indeed, brother and sister were not beatified for having seen Our Lady, albeit the greatness of such a grace, but because, taking the heavenly invitation seriously, they attained heroic sanctity.


Francisco (1908-1919)

Francisco Marto
Francisco Marto

Francisco, though good and simple, obviously had some significant fault or faults for which to atone.

On hearing from Lucia that Our Lady had said that he would have to say many rosaries to go to heaven, without the least trace of resentment he exclaimed:

“O, my dear Our Lady, I will say as many rosaries as you want!”

He was often seen with his rosary in hand, seeking solitude or spending long hours before the Blessed Sacrament. His loving, innocent heart felt the special calling to “console Our Lord” for the sins of mankind.

After suffering without complaint the ravages of the Influenza of 1918, Francisco died on April 4, 1919 peacefully at home, with a smile on his lips. He was eleven years old.


Jacinta (1910-1920)

Jacinta Marto
Jacinta Marto

Jacinta was riveted by the apparition of July 13 in which they were given a glimpse of Hell.

After this vision, her every thought was of helping to save the souls of “poor sinners,” and she spared no prayer or sacrifice for that end.

Also contracting the Influenza of 1918, Jacinta suffered heroically.

In a private apparition, Our Lady asked her if she would be willing to remain on earth a little longer to help save more sinners. The nine-year-old girl generously accepted, enduring a trip to Lisbon where she was admitted to two hospitals, and finally dying alone far from her family, as Our Lady had foretold to her.

Still, the Blessed Mother herself supported her, appearing to her frequently, instructing and counseling her as well as showing her many things to come.


Tomb Stones of Francisco and Jacinta Marto in Fatima
Tomb Stones of Francisco and Jacinta Marto in Fatima
Brother and sister were beatified in Fatima on May 13, 2000 and canonized in May 2017.