Marian Insights

The Blessed Virgin Mary

 

 

Insights

               Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen often said that Jesus was the only man whose coming into the world was preannounced.  No other great world leader or religious figure ever had his coming foretold.  Even Jesus' mission was known before he entered the world.  His mission was to overcome evil by his saving death on the Cross.  In a very similar way, the Blessed Virgin Mary was the only woman whose coming into the world was foretold:  "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son . . ."  (Is 7:14).  Her mission was also known before she came into the world; she was to share in the saving sacrifice of her Divine Son.  Hers was to be a mission of spiritual welfare in order to help obtain the final victory over evil prophesied in God's curse of the serpent:  "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."  (Gen 3:15)

 

               The Blessed Virgin Mary plays a pivotal role in the great struggle between good and evil - between her Divine Son and his disciples, and Satan and his followers.  In the Book of Revelation, we see powerful images depicting the hatred of the devil for the woman who bears the Savior, for the Lord himself,, and for the Lord's followers. 

 

               Our Lady has appeared many times through the centuries.  One of the first known of her apparitions (recorded by Saint Gregory of Nyssa) was to Saint Gregory the Wonderworker (d. 270).  Our Lady appeared along with Saint John the apostle, whom she told to make known to Gregory "the mystery of true piety."  Many other apparitions have occurred since, mostly to one person or a small group, and the messages on most of these occasions were meant for the individual involved.  However, beginning in the sixteenth century there have been a few great apparitions with signs and wonders witnessed by any  people and messages intended for the whole world.  These apparitions have been approved by Church authority for the benefit of the faithful.  Though we are not obliged to believe in them, we can grow in faith, hope and charity if we do.



 

Fatima:  A Special Apparition

 

               Of all the messages of our Lady, none are as important as those given at Fatima, Portugal.  Our Lady of Fatima appeared six times between May13 and October 13, 1917, to three shepherd children:  Lucia dos Santos and her younger cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto.  She gave them a message of peace and hope for a world engulfed by war.

 

               World War I, called the "war to end all wars," was threatening to annihilate Europe.  To end the conflict, Pope Benedict XV began a novena to the Queen of Peace on May 5, 1917.  On that same day, the Pope wrote the following in a letter to Cardinal Gasparri, his Vatican secretary of state:

 

               "Our earnestly pleading voice, invoking the end of this vast conflict, the suicide of civilized Europe, was then and has remained ever since unheard. . . . since all graces which the Author of all good designs to grant to the poor children of Adam, by loving design of His Divine Providence, are dispensed through the hands of the most holy Virgin, we wish that the petition of her most afflicted children, more than ever in this terrible hour, may turn with lively confidence to the august Mother of God."

 

               On Sunday, May13, the eighth day of the novena, our Lady responded to the prayers of the Pope and her children in this valley of tears by appearing for the first time at Fatima.  Her message, with its hopeful promise, as well as its strong warnings, was meant for the whole world.  Pope John Paul II, who has been named the Pope of Fatima, recognized the necessity of our Lady's message for our time when he said that it was more urgent and important in our day than it was in 1917.  He added that the popes have given the events of Fatima a special recognition, as its messages were more prophetic than those of any other apparition. 

 

 



 

The July Apparition

The First Secret - The Vision of Hell

 

 

               The appearances of our Lady in July and October of 1917 were the most powerful and important of all the Fatima apparitions.  In July our Lady gave the children the core of her message, which blended many serious warnings with a promise of hope in the ultimate victory of her Immaculate Heart.  In October our Lady provided a miraculous sign by which people would know that the apparitions to the children were real.

 

               As the apparition of July 13 began Lucia brought up three concerns to our Lady.  The first was: "What do you want of me?"  In her answer our Lady repeated several requests, among which was to pray the Rosary daily.  She stressed the power and importance of the Rosary to obtain world peace.  Lucia's second concern arose from the skepticism of her family.  Finally, Lucia requested favors for various people.  Our Lady told her it would be "necessary for such people to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the graces" they were requesting.

 

               The little shepherd children then had what is probably the most frightening experience anyone could ever undergo - a vision of hell.  Before doing this, our Lady prepared the children with a plea on behalf of those who are in danger of being eternally lost from God.

 

               "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially whenever you make any sacrifice:  O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

 

               Our Lady taught them that each part of this prayer is significant.

 

               "O Jesus, It is for Love of You" - The main purpose of everything we do should be the love of Jesus.  God wants us to love him with all our mind, heart, soul and body!  This petition helps us to fulfill this desire.  Furthermore, when we pray as the visionaries did, our zeal for the greater glory of God will grow rapidly.

 

               "For the Conversion of Sinners" - The children knew very well that Jesus had suffered and died for the conversion of sinners.  Mary, in her turn, spiritually shared in Jesus' suffering and death.  Their love for our Lord and our Blessed Mother moved them deeply to share in the redemptive mission.  This concern for the salvation of others is a sign of closeness to God.  Saint Francis of Assisi used to say that nothing should take precedence over the work of saving souls for whom Jesus shed his Precious Blood.  Saint Therese of Lisieux said that she was about fourteen years old when God gave her a great desire to save souls.  One of the first situations in which she would practice her zeal was to pray and offer sacrifices for the conversion of a hardened criminal who had killed three people. He was facing the death sentence, but remained unrepentant.  Saint Therese asked God to give him sorrow for his sins so that he might be saved.  Even if he did not go to confession, Therese asked god to give her some sign that he was sorry.  Moments before he was executed, the criminal reached out, took hold of a crucifix near him and kissed it!  Therese saw that as a sign that God had accepted her prayers and sacrifices for his conversion.  She went on to convert many other sinners by her hidden prayers and sacrifices.  Our Lady of Fatima is asking us to do the same.

 

               "In Reparation for the Sins Committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary" - This was a new intention for which the children were to offer reparation.  At the end of the June 13 apparition, the children had seen the Immaculate Heart of Mary surrounded by a crown of thorns.  They understood that these thorns represented the outrageous sins of those who offend our Lady.  The prayer our Lady taught them asks for reparation for these blasphemies.