FT Chapter 18 (Fatima is Good News)
We are constantly being told all the bad things that are happening out there. There are many evil things happening. There are all the nature disasters that are happening: earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, famine, drought, and wild fires. But these are nothing compared to the problems we see in the world today. The family is being attacked. People don’t believe in Jesus’ message any more. I could go on and on, but that is not the point of this blog message today.
There is HOPE!!! That is what the message of Fatima is about!!! There is hope, we can change things. Look at what Saint John Paul II and Saint Mother Teresa did! They did their part and we just need to do the same, that is, our little part. God is not calling us to huge things; rather He is calling us to do the little things with great love. Fatima gives us a road map of what we need to do. Thanks to Fr. Andrew Apostoli for taking the time to share this great message.
As Pope Benedict XVI says, “’Learn the message of Fatima! Live the message of Fatima! Spread the message of Fatima’” (Fatima for Today, 202)! That is what you and I are called to do!!!
Father Apostoli lays out how to do this:
“1. Strive to live good Christian lives” (Fatima for Today, 202). Receive the Sacraments of Confession and Eucharist on a frequent basis. Live out the Commandments from our hearts. Follow the Lord’s promptings and be faithful to Him.
“2. Pray daily, especially the Rosary” (Fatima for Today, 202). Our Lady always brings us to her son. Praying the Rosary helps us to grow in intimacy with the Lord and Our Lady asks us to pray the Rosary, so shouldn’t we do what our Mama is calling us to do?
“3. Observe the Five First Saturdays” (Fatima for Today, 202). Russia has been consecrated to the Immaculate Heart, (Thanks St. John Paul II for responding to this) but now we need to do our part. It is time for us to work on observing the five first Saturdays. How do we do this: On First Saturdays, we pray five decades of the Rosary, we mediate on fifteen (or twenty) mysteries of the Rosary for fifteen minutes (this should be separate from the praying of the Rosary and we can just meditate on one mystery for the time or any number), participate in Mass and receive Holy Communion in honor of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart and in reparation for the blasphemies and ingratitude against her Immaculate Heart and get to confession within a week of first Saturday. This is the second part for the conversion of Russia. We should work on doing our part in the conversion of Russia because it is really about conversion of ourselves first.
“4. Make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and accept suffering patiently in reparation for our sins and those of others” (Fatima for Today, 202). Enough said!!!
Thanks for reading the blog, I will be taking some time off at this point and don’t when I will be writing again, it will probably happen with our Christmas book.