“Calls from the Message of Fatima” 

TO introduce her work, Calls from the Message of Fatima, Sister Lucy declares to “the pilgrims of Fatima”, her readers: « It is not an interpretation of the Message; this pertains to God’s Church. Neither is it an historical account of the Apparitions, as this is already known to you. »

However, in the twelfth chapter entitled, “The Call to the daily recitation of the Rosary”, she gives a new account of the apparition of 13 May 1917, full of charm, supporting it with a most authoritative « interpretation »:

« The three little children from Aljustrel heard this call for the first time on 13 May 1917, when they were pasturing their sheep in the field known as the “Cova da Iria”.

« As was their custom, the three children ate their lunch shortly after noon, and then prayed. Then, to amuse themselves, they began to build a small wall of loose stones around a bush known as a “moita” from which people were accustomed to make sweeping brushes, hence the children’s desire to protect it so that the animals would not gnaw at it. They did this because, when they found such bushes in good condition, they liked to let them grow in order to make brushes from them later on, and these they would bring to their mother when they returned home at night.

« When they did this, it was a joy to see their parents’ delight with their gift and with their caresses, so that each one did his best to find whatever would give him the greatest joy and pleasure. Poor, yes! But happy, because happiness comes not from riches nor from what can often be dangerous entertainments but from love. In truth, to love and to deny oneself for the sake of love is what brings happiness, joy, peace and well-being to families.

« Well, as I was saying, the children were playing and amusing themselves in total insouciance when they were suddenly surprised to see a flash of light, which they thought must be lightning. It was a fine clear spring day, and the sun was shining, but the children were so small that they did not know how to interpret the look of the sky. Accustomed as they were to seeing flashes of lightning during thunderstorms, their only thought was to urge on the flock in order to return home before they got caught in a storm.

« When they had gone a few steps down the slope they saw another flash of light, which they took to be a second flash of lightning, and this made them hurry even faster and urge the flock on even more. A few steps further on, about half way down the slope, they stopped in surprise when they saw a lovely Lady of light on a small holm oak. They were not afraid, because the supernatural does not arouse fear; causing instead a pleasant surprise of absorbing fascination.

« The lovely Lady opened Her lips as if about to speak and said to the children: “Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm.”

« I think that these words of Our Lady, “Do not be afraid”, did not refer to any actual fear we might have had of Her, because She knew well we were not frightened of Her. The words must have referred to the fear that had caused us to hurry away from the supposed thunderstorm in which we thought we were going to get caught.

« It has also been said that Francisco picked up a few stones to throw at the Apparition. I do not think this can be true. There must have been some confusion or misunderstanding about the stones that shepherds often throw around the flock when they want to get the sheep to come together and move faster. »

HEAVEN EXISTS

« Once the silence had been broken, and encouraged by the trust that the lovely Lady inspired in us, I asked: “Where are you from?” “I am from Heaven”, She replied. “And what do you want of me?” I asked. She replied: “I have come to ask you to come here on the 13th day of the month for six months in succession, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterwards, I will return here yet a seventh time.”

« When I heard this reply, the thought that I was talking to someone who had come from Heaven gave me courage and I asked whether I, too, would have the good fortune to go to Heaven, whereupon the Lady replied: “Yes, you will.” – “And Jacinta?” I asked. – “She will go too”, She replied. – “And Francisco?” I persisted. – She replied: “He will go too, but he must say many Rosaries”.

« I think that this special injunction to Francisco is for all of us. It is not that saying many Rosaries, as such, is an indispensable condition for going to Heaven, but that we must pray much. Naturally, to say the Rosary every day was the most accessible form of prayer for those children, as it is today for the great majority of people, and there is no doubt that it will be difficult for someone to be saved if they never pray.

« We know how weak we are, that we slip back and fall. Without the help of grace, we shall not be able to pick ourselves up or overcome temptations. We can only acquire the strength we need, the strength that comes to us from grace when our soul meets with God in prayer. It was Jesus Christ Himself who told us this and urged it on His Apostles shortly before He gave Himself up to death for us: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mt 26.41). And He gave us an example, preparing Himself by His prayer in Gethsemane for His sacrifice and His death. In addition to this, among other things in the Our Father, He taught us to pray: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Mt 6.13) »

PURGATORY EXISTS

« Now to return to the Apparition of Our Lady. I remember that I then asked her about a girl I knew who had died shortly before that; the reply Our Lady gave confirms that there is a Purgatory, and is at the same time yet another proof of the need we have to pray. »

Before repeating to us Our Lady’s reply to the question that had been asked, Sister Lucy makes a survey in Holy Scripture on the existence of Purgatory. The parable of the unforgiving debtor asking for “more time” (Mt 18.23-35), the requirement of forgiving our debts that Our Lord taught us in the “Our Father” (Mt 6.12), but already in the Old Testament, the prayer for the deceased that Judas Maccabaeus requested, all « help us to understand better this truth of our faith concerning Purgatory as a place of expiation where the souls of those who die in grace are purified of all stain of sin before being admitted to eternal happiness with God.

 « Hence, Our Lady’s reply to the question I asked her about that girl, Amelia, was as follows: “She will be in Purgatory until the end of the world.” This may seem a lot to us, but the mercy of God is always great. »

Here Sister Lucy gives the most profound reason which we have to believe in the existence of the Purgatory: that the saints are like gods at God’s table, face to Face with Him like a spouse looking deep into the eyes of her Husband is something we can understand. But as for me, as for us... « Fortunately, for us Purgatory exists, where this life opens onto the next. And no belief has ever appeared more necessary, has ever been easier than this belief. It is easier to believe in Your infinite mercy because it is accompanied by a perfect justice. I am able to believe that many, forgiven in extremis like the good thief and relieved of the very heavy weight of a life of sins, are called to celestial bliss, obviously perfect and of divine nature, but I understand it better when I learn from the Church that a space and a time of expiation, of purification, of intense correction, will prepare so many thieves who were not as good as the one of Calvary…

« Purgatory, I would plunge myself in it of my own accord! I would desire with all my force the necessary flames! I would have no merit, obeying your Judgement which would plunge me into it, so much would I be convinced of the justice and of the indispensable benefit of this punishment! There we will suffer joyfully, and in this fire, we will loudly acknowledge that it would have been so much more preferable and better and more beautiful to have done our Purgatory here below, out of love! But since we failed to do so on earth, we will give thanks for being permitted to do it in these torments so as to prepare us for the glorious Wedding. » (Georges de Nantes, Mystical Pages, Vol. II, pp. 151-152 – in French only)

« We have to understand that by our sins we have gravely offended God and have deserved Hell! In spite of this, He forgives us and grants us time to pay for them and, by means of reparation and purification, to be saved. Moreover, He accepts the prayers and sacrifices that others offer to Him for the benefit of those who are in this place of expiation.

« Our Lady then asked the three children the following question: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?” To which I replied in the name of all three: “Yes, we are willing!”

« At the time, this reply was given spontaneously and in ignorance, because I had not the remotest idea what it really meant nor what its full implications were. But I never regretted it; on the contrary I renew it every day, asking God for the grace and strength that I need to keep it faithfully until the end.

« This question of Our Lady’s reminds me of the one Jesus put to the two sons of Zebedee, when they asked Him to grant them the two first seats in the Kingdom of Heaven: «But Jesus answered:

You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?

-  They said to him, "We are able." (Mt 20.22).

« In order to attain salvation, we all have to drink of the chalice of self-sacrifice, renouncing our own illicit desires, our evil inclinations, our own exaggerated desire for comfort; while at the same time we must embrace whatever sacrifices life asks of us, whether material and physical, or moral, social and spiritual.

« This kind of self-denial comes to everyone, even to those who do not have the happiness of possessing the gift of faith. They, too, are confronted by the need to make sacrifices, because the whole of humanity is marked by the sign of the redeeming cross of Christ, even when they are not aware of it, or do not wish to take advantage of it.

« We all have to carry that part of the cross of Christ which falls to us in the work of Redemption, because the cross weighs on account of sin, or rather, sin brings with it the weight of the cross.

« In fact, it was in order to cleanse us from the stain of sin that Jesus Christ took upon Himself the weight of the Cross. But if this act of Christ is to be of benefit to us, each of us must take up his or her own cross with faith and love and carry it after Christ and in union with Christ; in other words, there is a need for sacrifice, accepted and offered to God with Christ for our own sins and for those of our brothers and sisters. It is in this sense that the Message asks us all, because it is addressed to all:

“Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”

« But, for a fragile nature, weakened by sin as ours is, the constant, generous and meritorious bearing of self-sacrifice is not possible without the special help of the grace of God, who upholds and strengthens us. This is why Our Lady replied to the children’s humble little “Yes” with a promise of the help of grace: “Then you will have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your consolation.”

« What a beacon of light these words of Our Lady are for us! In fact, we know our own weakness and we know that, of ourselves, we are not capable of producing the fruits of eternal life but only when united to Christ, as He tells us in the Gospel: “He who remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit. For outside Me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15.5). This is why our Mother in Heaven promises the consolation of God’s grace: consolation, in the sense of strength to assist our weakness; consolation, in the sense of grace which comes to console us, animate, help and support us. And it is this certainty that generates the confidence which we must have in God.

« Putting up with any sacrifices that are asked of us in our day-to-day lives becomes a slow martyrdom which purifies us and raises us up to the level of the supernatural, through the encounter of our soul with God, in the atmosphere of the presence of the Most Holy Trinity within us. We have here an incomparable spiritual richness! Anyone who has understood this lives in Light; in this Light, which is not from the sun nor from the stars, but comes to us from the source from which every other light springs and receives its being. It is a living Light, which both sees and penetrates as it enlightens, and causes us to see what it wishes to show to us. It is the living Light of God.

Sister Lucy puts her status of a seer so much into the background that we could almost forget her! But then she brings it back to our mind, inadvertently, with such simplicity that it is impossible to call it into question! We must therefore be very attentive to what she writes then, not of her own accord, but in her capacity of confidante of Our Lady!

« Hence, when the three little children saw themselves bathed in this Light, without understanding quite what they were saying, they were led to repeat: “O most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love Thee in the most Blessed Sacrament!” It was a supernatural impulse that accomplished in them what of themselves they were incapable of doing. It led them to believe in the real presence of God in the Eucharist. It is the gift of faith that God grants to our soul with the Sacrament of Baptism.

« And Our Lady ended her Message on that 13 May 1917 with the words: “Say the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.” » (Calls, pp. 125-131)

THE BLESSED VIRGIN’S MASS

« Why did Our Lady order us to recite the Rosary every day instead of telling us to attend Mass every day?

« This is a question that I have been asked many times, and I would like to answer it here. I cannot be absolutely certain of the answer, as Our Lady did not explain, and it never occurred to me to ask.

« Hence, I say only what seems to me to be true, and what I have come to understand about the matter. In fact, I leave all interpretation of the meaning of the Message to the Holy Church, because it pertains to the Church to do so and it has the competence for that; hence, I humbly and willingly submit myself to whatever it may wish to say or to correct, amend or declare.

« As regards the question referred to above, I think that God is Father; and as Father He adapts Himself to the needs and possibilities of His children. Now, if God, through Our Lady, had asked us to go to Mass and receive Holy Communion every day, there would undoubtedly have been a great many people who would have said, quite rightly, that this was not possible. Some, on account of the distance separating them from the nearest church where Mass was celebrated; others on account of the circumstances of their lives, their state in life, their job, the state of their health, etc.

Nowadays this impossibility has become quite tangible, even in Christendom, even within the diocese of Troyes…

« On the other hand, to pray the Rosary is something everybody can do, rich and poor, wise and ignorant, great and small.

« All people of good will can, and must, say the Rosary every day. Why? In order to get into contact with God, to thank Him for His blessings and ask Him for the graces we need. It is prayer which places us in familiar contact with God, like the son who goes to his father to thank him for the gifts he has received, to talk to him about his special concerns, to receive his guidance, his help, his support and his blessing.

« Since we all need to pray, God asks of us, as a kind of daily act, a prayer which is within our reach: the Rosary, which can be recited either in common or in private, either in Church in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament or at home, either with the rest of the family or alone, either when travelling or while walking quietly in the fields. A housewife can say the Rosary while she rocks her baby’s cradle or does the housework. Our day has twenty four hours in it. It is not asking a great deal to set aside a quarter of an hour for the spiritual life, for our intimate and familiar converse with God.

Even if we did not suffer from this dreadful scarcity of the Eucharist, the Rosary would remain the best preparation for the Holy Sacrifice and the best thanksgiving, even for those who have the grace of attending Mass daily:

« On the other hand, I believe that, after the liturgical prayer of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the praying of the Rosary, in view of the origin and sublime nature of the prayers used in it, and of the mysteries of the Redemption which we recall and on which we meditate during each decade, is the most pleasing prayer that we can offer to God, and one which is most advantageous to our own souls. If such were not the case, Our Lady would not have asked for it so insistently.

« When I speak of saying the five or fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, I do not want to give the impression that God requires us to count the number of times that we address our supplications, our praise or our thanksgiving to Him. God certainly does not expect this of us: in Him everything is present! But we need to count, in order to have a clear and vivid idea of what we are doing, and to know positively whether or not we have completed what we had planned to offer to God each day, in order to preserve and enhance our relationship of intimacy with God and, by this means, preserve and enhance in ourselves our faith, hope and charity.

« I would add that even those people who are able to attend  Mass every day should not, for this reason, neglect to say their daily Rosary. Obviously, the time they devote to saying the Rosary is not the same as that during which they attend Mass. For such people, praying the Rosary can be looked upon as a way of preparing themselves to participate better in the Eucharist, or as an act of thanksgiving made during the day..

« I don’t know, but from the little knowledge that I have from my contact with people in general, I see that there are very few truly contemplative souls who preserve and maintain within themselves a relationship of intimate familiarity with God which prepares them for the worthy reception of Christ in the Eucharist. Thus, vocal prayer is necessary for them too, meditated, pondered and reflected upon as much as possible, as the Rosary should be.

« There are many fine prayers that can be used as a means of preparing to receive Christ in the Eucharist, and of maintaining our intimate relationship with God. But I do not think that we shall find one more suited to people in general than the praying of the five or fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. For example, the prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours is marvellous, but I do not think it is accessible to all, nor that some of the psalms that one recites will be readily understood by all. It requires a certain degree of instruction and preparation which cannot be expected of all.

« Perhaps for all these reasons, and others that we are unaware of, God, who is our Father and understands better than we do the needs of His children, chose to stoop to the simple ordinary level of all of us in asking for the daily recitation of the Rosary, in order to smooth for us the way to Him.

« Finally, bearing in mind all that the Magisterium of the Church has said to us over the years about the praying of the Rosary – I shall remind you of some of these things further on – and what God, through the Message, has asked us for so insistently, we can conclude that the Rosary is the form of vocal prayer which is most suited to people in general, which we must appreciate, and which we must make every effort never to abandon. God and Our Lady know better than anyone else what is most appropriate for us and what we most need. Moreover, it will be a powerful means of helping us to preserve our faith, hope and charity.

« Even for those people who do not know how, or who are not able to recollect themselves sufficiently to meditate, the simple act of taking the rosary in their hands in order to pray is already to become mindful of God, and the mention in each decade of a mystery of the life of Christ recalls Him to their minds; this in turn will light in their souls the gentle light of faith which supports the still smouldering wick, preventing it from extinguishing itself altogether.

« On the other hand, those who give up saying the Rosary and who do not go to daily Mass, have nothing to sustain them, and so end up by losing themselves in the materialism of earthly life.

« Thus the Rosary is the prayer which God, through his Church and Our Lady, has recommended most insistently to us all, as a road to and gateway of salvation: Pray the Rosary every day (Our Lady, 13th May 1917).

« Ave Maria! » (Calls, pp. 131-134)

THE REVELATION OF MARY’S IMMACULATE HEART

« The eleventh Call of the Message “Jesus wants... to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart”. »

Clearly, these words are from Our Lady. But sister Lucy quotes them without indicating any date, and omits those that are concerned with her own vocation: « But you, Lucy, Jesus wishes to make use of you to make Me known and loved. » If the seer omits, perhaps out of humility, to quote these words of Our Lady, she has not forgotten them! That is why she accomplishes her mission without delay:

« Establishing in the world the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means bringing people to a full consecration through conversion, self-dedication, intimate esteem, veneration and love. Thus, it is in this spirit of consecration and conversion that God wishes to establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. » (Calls, p. 135)

What about reparation? A concern that entered Lucy’s heart as far back as 13 June 1917, when she saw this Heart surrounded with thorns that penetrated into it, understanding that « this was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, outraged by the sins of mankind and seeking reparation ». Censored! Sister Lucy goes on:

« We all know what a mother’s heart represents in a family: it is love! In fact, it is love which makes the mother bend over her baby’s cradle, sacrifice herself for it, give herself, rush to the defence of her child. All children trust in the heart of their mother, and we all know that we have in her a place of special affection. The same applies to the Virgin Mary. Thus the Message says: “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God” Hence, the Heart of Mary is the refuge and the way to God for all Her children. »

Sister Lucy knows very well that “all Her children” do not answer Mary’s “call”. She came to Pontevedra, in 1925, to complain about this:

« Behold, My daughter, My Heart surrounded by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and their ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and say that all those who on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep Me company for fifteen minutes whilst meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, in a spirit of reparation, I promise to assist at the hour of their death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls. »

But sister Lucy is forbidden to talk about this apparition. This is a new, cruel thorn in Mary’s Heart! Then, the seer takes her Bible from which she draws a stream of light:

« This refuge and this way were proclaimed to all humanity immediately after the fall of our first parents. To the devil, who had tempted the first human beings, and had induced them to disobey the divine order they had been given, the Lord said: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gn 3.15. The new generation that God foretold would be born of this woman, will triumph in the battle against the progeny of Satan, to the point of crushing its head. Mary is the Mother of this new generation, as if She were a new tree of life, planted by God in the garden of the world so that all Her children can partake of Her fruit.

So, in the most innocent fashion, but also in the most indisputable way, the dogma of Mary’s universal Mediation, so disparaged, and finally refused by the Second Vatican Council is established!

« It is from the heart of their mother that children receive their natural life, their first breath, their life-giving blood, the beating of their heart, as if the mother were the spring of a clock impelling movement to two pendulums. When we see how dependent the child is on its mother in those early months of its formation in the womb, we could almost say that the heart of the mother is the heart of the child. And we can say the same of Mary, when She carried the Son of the Eternal Father in Her womb. Hence, it follows that the Heart of Mary is, in some sense, the heart of all that other generation, the first fruit of which is Christ, the Word of God. » (Calls, pp. 135-136)

This assertion appears to be the logical conclusion of the preceding considerations. But if Sister Lucy is able to formulate it with full assurance, it is in accordance with the apparition of Tuy, in which she saw « Our Lady of Fatima with Her Immaculate Heart in Her left hand, without a sword or roses, but with a crown of thorns and flames. » That is to say, adorned with the emblems that are those of the Sacred Heart, since the apparitions of Paray-le-Monial, in the seventeenth century. It was at Tuy that Sister Lucy was able to see, with her own eyes, that « in some sense, Mary’s Heart is the Heart of Christ, the Word of God ».

What follows shows that she is certainly thinking about this Eucharistic theophany that she saw at Tuy:

« And it is from this fruit that that other generation of this Immaculate Heart is to be fed, as Jesus said: “I am the bread of life. He that eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in Him. As (…), I live by the Father, so he that eats Me the same also shall live by Me.” (Jn 6.48; 56-57). And to live thus because of Christ is also to live because of Mary, since Jesus had received His Body and Blood from Mary. It was in this Heart that the Father placed His Son, as if in the first Tabernacle. Mary was the first pyx that held Him, and it was the blood of Her Immaculate Heart which communicated to the Son of God His life and His human nature, from which we all, in turn, receive grace upon grace. (Jn 1.16).

The conclusion is a cry of victory:

« This is that new generation born from this wonderful Woman: Christ in Himself and in His Mystical Body. And Mary is the Mother of this progeny chosen by God to crush the head of the infernal serpent.

Sister Lucy gives proof of that, like the true daughter of Mary she is. Pressing home her advantage, she jostles with  the scribes and overthrows their “theological” objections to the “consecration” to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

« Thus we see that devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary must be established in the world by means of a true consecration, through conversion and self giving. In the same way, through the consecration, the bread and wine are converted into the Body and Blood of Christ, which were drawn with His very life from the Heart of Mary. Hence it is that this Immaculate Heart must be for us a refuge and the way that leads us to God.

« We thus constitute the retinue of the new generation created by God, drawing our supernatural life from the same life-giving source, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who is the Mother of Christ and of His Mystical Body. Thus we are truly brothers and sisters of Christ, as He Himself said: “My mother and my brethren are those who hear the word of God and do it.” (Lk 8.21).

Having been forced to return to the Gospel gives Sister Lucy the opportunity to become even bolder against a purported biblical renewal that would not be Marian:

« This word of God is the bond which links all the children in the Heart of the Mother; there we hear the echo of the word of the Father, because God enclosed his eternal Word in the Heart of Mary; and it is from this Word that life comes to us: “If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and he who believes in Me, let him drink !” As the Scripture says : “From His breast shall flow streams of living water.” (Jn 7.37-38).

« In fact, we read in the Book of Isaiah: “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit upon your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.” (Is 44.3).

« This blessed and watered land is the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and God wants our devotion to take root there, because it was for this very purpose that God placed so much love within the Heart of the Mother of all human beings, who consecrates and converts Her progeny into the Body and Blood of Christ, Her First-born, Son of God, the Word of the Father: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (…). And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” (Jn 1 4.14).

« God began the work of our redemption in the Heart of Mary, given that it was through Her “Fiat” that the redemption began to come about: “And Mary said.:, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to Me according to your word.” (Lk 1.38) “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us» (Jn 1.14).

« Thus, in the closest union possible between two human beings, Christ began, with Mary, the work of our salvation. Christ’s heart-beats are those of the Heart of Mary, the prayer of Christ is the prayer of Mary, the joys of Christ are the joys of Mary; it was from Mary that Christ received the Body and Blood that are to be poured out and offered up for the salvation of the world. Hence, Mary, made one with Christ, is the co-Redemptrix of the human race. With Christ in Her womb, with Jesus Christ in Her arms, with Christ at Nazareth and in His public life; with Jesus Christ She climbed the hill of Calvary, She suffered and agonised with Him, receiving into Her Immaculate Heart the last sufferings of Christ, His last words, His last agony and the last drops of His Blood, in order to offer them to the Father.

« And Mary remained on earth in order to help Her other children to complete the redeeming work of Christ, preserving it in Her Heart as a wellspring of grace – Ave gratia plena – in order to pass on to us the fruits of the life, passion and death of Jesus Christ, Her Son. »

« Ave Maria! » (Calls, pp. 135-137)

THE GREAT SECRET OF MARY’S HEART

The three following chapters are entitled :

« The Call to reflect on eternal life » so as to avoid saying: on Hell. « The Call to the Apostolate », so as to avoid saying: to the conversion of Russia through its consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. « The Call to persevere in virtue », in other words: to final perseverance through the reparatory devotion of the Five First Saturdays. For, whether Cardinal Ratzinger grants permission or not, the heart of the matter is still and exclusively the great struggle of Jesus and Mary against sin, to deliver all souls from Hell. « A Divine tragedy of love and eternal punishment» that the Abbé de Nantes is the only theologian of the second half of the twentieth century not to tone down with a cheerful outcome, in the style of Father Varillon, for instance, according to whom: « If somebody says that Hell is a reality, he boasts of having a piece of information about the afterlife that Christians do not have. Hell is damnation, and nobody knows if there are damned souls... » (The Suffering of God, Centurion, 1975, p. 110) This passage is all that is needed to express the feeling that is commonly admitted today in the Church, at every degree of the hierarchy. As though, in the evening of Good Friday, on the other side of the veil, having left the scene of the world to descend into Hell, Jesus, closely followed by the Good Thief, had met the other one, the bad thief, and had shook hands with him while laughing: « Why, it is over, let’s make peace with one another! »

« How can these great theologians – I can no longer say these mystics – let go of one end of the chain and so discredit the beauties of Hope by turning them into attitudes of presumption and insolence? (Georges de Nantes, A Mysticism for our Times, CCR n^o 112, p. 22)

For it is beautiful to hope and to conquer, « to love and to pray that the Name of our Heavenly Father be hallowed, that His Kingdom come, that His Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. And in Hell? Ah! Let us struggle against Hell, but let us not question God about the work of His First and Eternal Sorrow! » (ibid.)

Our Lady of Fatima calls up Her children to this inexpiable struggle in the « Twelfth Call of the message: “The Call to reflect on eternal life”.

« We all have a desire to preserve our temporal life, which passes with the days, the years, work, joys, sorrows and suffering. But how little we concern ourselves with eternal life! And yet, this is the only life that is truly decisive and that lasts for ever.

« When God created human beings, He destined them for eternal life by sharing in His divine life. Hence, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them” (Gn 1,27), and then went on to explain that “The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Gn 2.7). We see here that the human body was taken from the dust of the earth, but human beings received life itself from the very Being of God, from the creative breath of His lips. Hence, our soul is a spiritual being which participates in the life of God and is immortal. When the body becomes totally incapable of co-operating with the action of the soul, the soul leaves it and flies to its centre of attraction, which is God.

« But our participation in eternal life must be decided between two very different realities: Heaven or Hell.

« In the Call to devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we saw how there are two distinct progenies which are at loggerheads with each other: the progeny of Satan, which leads people into the way of sin, and the progeny of the Immaculate Heart of Mary who, as the Mother of the children of God, leads them in the way of truth, justice and love, since God is Love, and all His children are known by the way they love. And whereas the children of God climb by the way of love to the possession of eternal happiness in the Kingdom of God, the children of Satan are dragged down by the vileness of sin into the abyss of eternal punishment.

« There are unbelievers in the world who deny these realities, but this does not make them any the less real; nor does these people’s incredulity deliver them from the pains of Hell if their lives of sin should lead them to it. » (Calls, p. 138)

HELL EXISTS AND I CAN FALL INTO IT

« Hell exists, our Father wrote, in an ardent mystical page. Angels, but men as well are damned there, today, at this very moment, and not only the big, the despicable, the notorious criminals, distant, but ordinary sinners, nearby, who died yesterday, whom you knew, whose hand you shook, whose gaze you met, they are burning. » (Mystical Pages, Vol. II, pp. 128-129 –in French only)

Sister Lucy saw with her very eyes the demons and souls of the damned, « like transparent burning embers, black or bronzed, having human form. They were floating in this fire, lifted up by the flames that issued from within themselves, along with clouds of smoke. »

Cardinal Ratzinger’s censoring will not stop anyone from falling into it, on the contrary! By insinuating that the visions of the Secret are only fabrications of Lucy, based on memories of her childhood devotions, he plays a large part in driving masses of poor sinners towards Hell, who would have otherwise been turned away from it by the testimony of Sister Lucy if it had been spread throughout the whole world with the support of his authority.

Obedient, Sister Lucy continues by coming back to the Bible:

« There are many passages in Sacred Scripture that speak to us about Hell and its torments, and about those who go there. Thus, at the Last Judgement, those who have not performed the works of mercy will be told:

“Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels (...). And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the just into eternal life.” (Mt 25.41, 46) »

We must once again quote the Abbé de Nantes, the only modern theologian offering an appropriate commentary for the dogma of the Catholic faith which the messenger of the Queen of Heaven recalls. No, it is not a joke nor something to frighten us:

« What my human reason does not dare to conclude, Jesus, with all His strength of a perfect man, reflected on it before I did and understood it; what my heart did not want to accept, His Heart of infinite human tenderness consented to. How can I still question, what could I have against it, what could I object if the fairest of the sons of men, the wisest, the most loving, the most generous of men knew with His divine science what Hell is and fully consented to it? To not want to believe what You revealed to us, however terrible it may be, would be to separate myself from You, o Word, o Christ, o Master of perfect Wisdom! » (ibid., p. 135)

Sister Lucy continues: « When warning His disciples against the temptation to pride because of the success of the mission they had accomplished, Jesus said: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Lk 10.18) »

The Abbé de Nantes is indeed a member of our modern generation when he admits: « I could not fathom the eternal tribulation of these members of our human lineage who are like brothers to me, and even less desire it. » However he receives from the Gospel the same lesson as Sister Lucy against pride, when he continues by addressing himself to our Heavenly Father: « But I see that sliding on this slope I would soon succeed in entering into solidarity with revolt, injustice, pride. With revolt, by finding You unjust in Your Judgements, and – excuse the blasphemy that I reject from my heart and my lips – odious in Your eternal maledictions. With injustice, by siding with the sinner against You and by judging him worthy of love and still endearing to my heart when he is no longer to Yours! With pride, by preferring the God of my imagination, flaccid and overindulgent, pardoning without repentance, loving me right to my taints as though through the unworthy passion of a dirty old man and, to be perfectly frank, idolising myself and the entire human race in me so as to reduce You to our subjection and to force You to accept us in your Heaven, all of us, without having deigned to put on the wedding garment, because it is me, because it is them, and that You must certainly love and admire us just like, in our taints and our vices, we love and idolise ourselves! (ibid., pp. 129-130)

For her part, Sister Lucy recalls the recommendations of Jesus to his Apostles: « Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell. (Mt 10.28) »

« Speaking to his disciples of the final resurrection, continues Sister Lucy, Jesus ended the parable of the net that was cast into the sea and enclosed all kinds of fish, which the fisherman then had to sort out, by saying: “So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the just, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.” (Mt 13.49-50) »

Let us not forget that Lucy has seen with her very own eyes  this « furnace of fire » that many exegetes persist in interpreting as an “image” intended to frighten. « And the following words of Jesus, too, leave no room for doubt she insists: “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands go to Hell, to unquenchable fire (...) And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mk 9.43-48) »

The present life is therefore the scene of a terrible struggle whose stake is eternal life, which must be won at the price of every sacrifice:

« The last passage quoted does not mean that God really intends us to tear out our eyes or to cut off our hands and feet, but that we are to tear out, or cut off, the temptations, evil inclinations, passions and vices which drag us along the path of sin and might, for this reason, be the cause of our eternal damnation. »

Sister Lucy saw Hell with her own eyes. Henceforth, the question of interpreting these texts leaves no room for doubt. If there is a “biblical renewal”, this is where it lies! The Carmelite continues reading Sacred Scripture with her eagle eye, like a true daughter of the prophet Elijah:

« In the Old Testament, we find texts that, when read today in the light of the faith of the Church, constitute the first dawning of divine revelation concerning the truths that they teach, as, for example, this question of the existence of Hell. This is true of the following passage from Isaiah, describing the fate of those who refused to obey the Law of God: “The hand of the Lord is with His servants, and His indignation is against His enemies (...). And they shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against Me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” (Is 66.14, 24) »

Sister Lucy saw these « corpses » in the third part of the great Secret of 13 July 1917. But at the moment that she was writing, it was still a secret. She therefore continues, unperturbed:

« And in the Book of Wisdom, the Holy Spirit describes as follows the lamentations of those who have condemned themselves on seeing the salvation of the Just:

« Then the just man will stand with great confidence in the presence of those who have afflicted him, and those who make light of his labours. When they see him, they will be shaken with dreadful fear, and they will be amazed at his unexpected salvation. They will speak to one another in repentance, and in anguish of spirit they will groan, and say:

"This is the man whom we once had in derision and made a byword of reproach – we fools! We thought that his life was madness and that his end was without honour. Why has he been numbered among the sons of God? And why is his lot among the saints? So it was we who strayed from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness did not shine on us, and the sun did not rise upon us. We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction, and we journeyed through trackless deserts, but the way of the Lord we have not known. What has our arrogance profited us? And what good has our boasted wealth brought us? All those things have vanished like a shadow, and like a rumour that passes by.

“Like a ship that sails through the billowy water, and when it has passed no trace can be found, nor track of its keel in the waves (...). So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be, and we had no sign of virtue to show, but were consumed in our wickedness!” (…)

“But the just live for ever, and their reward is with the Lord; the Most High takes care of them. Therefore they will receive a glorious crown and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord, because with His right hand he will cover them, and with His arm He will shield them (...). He will take holiness as an invincible shield (...). Lawlessness will lay waste the whole earth, and evil doing will overturn the thrones of rulers.” (Ws 5.1-23).

« And we could go on transcribing similar passages from Sacred Scripture where God speaks to us of the existence of an eternal life, either of bliss or of condemnation, according as our deeds deserve. The word of God affirming this truth is sufficient for us who have faith, because we know that His Word is true. » (Calls, p. 140)

This is indeed sufficient for believing in the hereafter. Why then did the Blessed Virgin come down at Fatima?

« At Fatima God sent us His Message as further proof of these truths, bringing them to our minds so that we do not allow ourselves to be deceived by the false teaching of unbelievers who deny them, and of those who have left the true path, who distort them. With this end in view, the Message assures us that Hell does truly exist and that the souls of poor sinners do in fact go there:

« “You have seen Hell (the Message said to the three little shepherds from Aljustrel) where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I am going to say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. (Our Lady, 13 July 1917) » This is the only allusion, but so fleeting, to the extraordinary vision of Hell (see insert above) which Sister Lucy does not have permission to repeat.

« Moreover, after showing the children the horrible vision of Hell, the Message points once again to devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as the way of salvation: “To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I am going to say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.” Peace with one’s own conscience, peace with God, peace in our homes, peace within families, peace with one’s neighbours and peace between the nations.

« This is the peace that the world ardently longs for, and from which it is so far removed because it does not listen to, or follow, the word of God! Hence the words of the Message: “If what I am going to say to you is done...”

« And what is it that Our Lady says to us ?

« We shall continue to see what it is She says in the description of the Calls of the Message.

For the present time, by her docility in observing the order imposed by her superiors, Sister Lucy produces the indisputable proof of the heavenly origin of the great “Secret” of 13 July that she is not allowed to tell us.

What does Our Lady tell us?

During our pilgrimage to Fatima, on 13 October 1996, we heard Cardinal Ratzinger reply to a question by quoting these words of Mary at Cana: « Do whatever He tells you » According to the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, these simple words sum up the entire message of Mary, until the end of the world: « This is what Mary tells us and it is what She exhorts us to, precisely here at Fatima. »

This assertion is not correct, for Mary says quite the contrary « If what I am going to say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. » At Cana, two thousand years ago, Our Lady said to the servants at the wedding « Do whatever He tells you » Today “on the threshold of the third millennium”, She says « If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. »

However, docile to the Cardinal’s demands, Sister Lucy speaks of the wedding of Cana: « For the moment, let me remind you of a passage from the Gospel of St. John, in which we find what we might call “Mary’s commandment”. There was a marriage being celebrated in Cana in Galilee, at which Jesus Christ, His Mother and His disciples were present.

« At a certain moment, Mary noticed that the wine was running short and She told Her Son about the awkwardness of the situation which would cause embarrassment to the young couple. She then said to the waiters: “Do whatever He tells you”. They obeyed and the Lord changed the water into wine (Jn 2.1-10). We could regard this as Mary’s commandment: “Do whatever He tells you”? As though she would have said: “Follow the Word of God, which is Jesus Christ, His Word!”

« This commandment comes from a Mother who is ever anxious to lead Her children into the arms of their Father, because only there will they be able to find the way of Truth that leads to Life. She Herself is a Mother, because She followed this way, that of the Word of the Father: “I am the handmaiden of the Lord; be it done unto Me according to your word”, was her reply to the Angel when he conveyed to Her the word of God (Lk 1.38). And this faith of Hers in the word of God was praised by her cousin Elizabeth: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to Her from the Lord.” (Lk 1.45)

« And all this is confirmed by the following words of Jesus: “For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother, and sister, and mother.” (Mt 12.50).

« It was thus that the servants deserved to see the miracle of the changing of the water into wine; they did what Mary told them to do and they obeyed the word of Jesus. This is the way of salvation: to hear the word of God and keep it. »

The true conclusion is beyond Cardinal Ratzinger, but not a reader of Sister Lucy.

For who will tell us « the word of the Lord »? Where will we find it if not in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as Sister Lucy said above: « There we hear the echo of the word of the Father, because God enclosed His eternal Word in the Heart of Mary » (Calls, p. 136) This is the contents of the “Calls from the Message”.

Taken from  He is Risen n^o 13, September 2003, p. 3-12