Faith of the Children at Fatima

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 20 October 2012)

1.   The Year of Faith is a command to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world.

2.   We, the Church, have the mission to faithfully proclaim the mystery of our Lord until it is finally manifested in full light.

3.   The call to conversion is not new. The mystery of our salvation has been filled with God’s seeking out mankind who often strayed, calling him to return to the Creator in heart and mind.

4.   After the New Testament, God’s messenger has been Our Lady herself, for conversion has been the “golden thread” that links her many apparitions throughout the world.

Mary’s faith, hope and love for humanity has sustained humanity’s faith, hope and love in God’s salvation in spite of man’s sinfulness.

And yet, Mary’s call to humanity in different continents throughout the centuries to… 

5.   …follow a different path and a different world than the tragic, materialistic, de-Christianised, sinful society, which is so close to all of our lives today, remains unheeded by too many.

6.    It is a call that has gone unheeded again and again. Our Lady is seen as weeping, weeping for the world… 

7.   …and pierced to the Heart. In the image of Her Immaculate Heart pierced by a sword, we see the heart of the Blessed Virgin stabbed for all of those who have lived – and died – by the sword, and by sin. Jesus said, “Put your sword back, for all who have lived by the sword, die by the sword.” (Mt 26:52)

8.   In this month of the Rosary, let us recall her message at Fatima, one of the most famous apparitions approved by the Church.

9.   The year was 1917. Three shepherd children, Francisco (aged 9), his sister Jacinta (aged 7) and Lucia dos Santos (aged 10) were tending their flocks at a field, the Cova da Iria.

10. The Lady appeared in a very bright light above a green oak tree by its own in the field. A conversation ensued between her and Lucia. They were told to go to the same spot on the 13^th of each month, at the same hour. The Lady would only reveal her name in the last month, that is, October.

11. They were told to go to the same spot on the 13^th of each month, at the same hour. The Lady would only reveal her name in the last month, that is, October.

12. She asked them to pray the Rosary daily for peace, to make reparations for the conversion of sinners. She taught them to pray the Fatima prayer after each decade of the Rosary. They were also shown a vision of hell.

13.  The core of the Fatima message was the call to prayer, sacrifice and penance – prayer for peace, for sinners and for the Pope; the penance of fulfilling one’s daily duty well, obeying God’s commandments, avoiding the near occasions of sin and acting according to God’s will in all things.   

14.  It was at Fatima that Our Lady drew devotion to her Immaculate Heart, surrounded with thorns.

15.  On the last day of her apparition to the children, the 13^th of October, the Lady revealed her name as the Lady of the Rosary. She requested for a chapel to be built there and asked them to continue praying the Rosary every day. She asked people to amend their lives and repent, for God was already much offended.

16.  Then, the crowd that gathered with the children witnessed the miracle of the dancing sun, while the children saw a vision of the Holy Family. These symbols of air and fire prepare for Christ’s second coming at the Last Judgement.

17. What can we draw from the Fatima episode, apart from the messages of prayer, sacrifice and penance? Perhaps we could emulate the faith and obedience of the children in carrying out faithfully the requests of Our Lady. Just as Bernadette in the Lourdes apparition, Our Lady had used simple children to convey the mysteries of our salvation. Lourdes pointed to Baptism and the first coming of Christ, while Fatima opens perspectives of the end times. If not for their simple and steadfast faith, the world would not have received the warnings and messages that were meant to stem the downfall of humankind.

18.  In this Year of Faith, let us, like the trustful children, place our faith in our Blessed Mother’s guidance and carry out the call of Fatima to prayer, sacrifice and penance so that we, too, would be conveying to the world the mystery of our Lord. Then, we would have fulfilled the command of the Holy Father for this grace-filled Year. 

Mary, Model of Faith

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 13 October 2012)

Dear Friends,

I wonder if the dates Oct 11^th   2012 to November 24^th, 2013 signify anything to all of us? I hope that these dates mean something to all of us present here. As most of us probably already know, this period has been declared The Year of Faith by our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. 

Our Holy Father declared the Year of Faith to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of  Vatican II. The Second Vatican Council was formally opened by Blessed Pope John XXIII on Oct 11^th, 1962.

In his announcement on the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI informs us that the ‘Door of Faith is always open to us”. It is a door that we can pass through everyday, first by deepening our relationship with the Lord and second, with all our brothers and sisters in the Lord. He further informs us that there are two ways of entering through this door:

1)      The first is the way of ‘Content’

2)      The second is the way of ‘Act’

As such, in conjunction with the Year of Faith, the Marian Devotion Group will be participating by having some sharing sessions on the topic of Faith, through the first door, which is the way of ‘Content’.

All of us are very familiar with the word FAITH, as we use it often in our prayers, in our conversation with our friends, in sharings of our experiences of life, and in many other situations. I am sure we all believe in the gift of faith.

Faith is one of the most fundamental aspects of our Christian life. We believe that our Blessed Virgin Mary is the perfect model of our faith.

So what is the gift of faith?

Faith involves entrusting oneself, abandoning oneself to God, the willingness to submit to His will and obedience in faith.

Mary as the perfect model reflects this very well. She abandoned herself to God with total trust and in obedience in faith when she responded “Yes” to God.

To better understand what this means in practice, we can look at the life of Mary, whose acceptance of God’s invitation to be the mother of His Son is a great witness for us. By examining the dialogue that took place at the Annunciation, we can gain a deeper insight on what it means to have faith.

Mary’s Yes to God

Mary’s journey with God was one of deep faith and great trust. She had a grace-filled openness to the mystery of God in her life.

We are familiar with Luke’s account of the Incarnation when the angel appeared to Mary and announced,“ The Lord is with you”( Lk:1:28) However, before Mary responded to God, the Scripture remind us that Mary was confused and frightened and deeply disturbed by the angel’s greeting. As Mary was fully human she too experienced fear and doubts, similar to how any one of us would also encounter in our lives.

She struggled to say “Yes” to the Lord! And she “pondered” these words in her heart. Pondering is not simply a question of “thinking” or trying to master the realities of faith or mysteries of life. It is not a question of trying to control these realities or mysteries or reduce them to something our minds can handle. Rather, it is a question of letting the realities of faith be with us, to enter into us and reveal themselves to us. It is allowing ourselves to be molded by them, to allow God’s will to become our will. It is fostering both an attitude and atmosphere of TRUST and OPENNESS in our lives.

It was through her dialogue with the angel, where she asks ”How can this be? I have no knowledge of man” ( Lk1:34) and the angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you, behold your cousin Elizabeth, she too conceived a son in her old age, who was called barren, for with God nothing is impossible.” “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.” (Lk 1:38). With these words Mary was more assured and her fear transcended, she was able to submit herself to the will of God.  

Mary took a leap in faith. She had to let go of her plans and say “Yes” to a life of faith. In spite of her awareness of her own unworthiness and littleness, she had to say “Yes” to become the mother of God and also all that it would entail. She was asked to let go of her plans and let God take over her life. She was totally unaware what was to happen in the future, the struggles or difficulties. However she totally trusted God and that He will take care of all things as she surrendered in faith.

Mary’s fiat (“let it be done, as you have said” Lk 1:38) demonstrates her complete obedience to God and to His will for her. In fact it was by means of her fiat, her obedient faith, that “the mystery of the Incarnation was accomplished” in accordance with God’s plan.

Similarly, sometimes in our lives too, when God comes to invite us to make changes in our lives, to explore the inner part of our lives which we have been very comfortable with, we too can feel perplexed or confused just as Mary did. It is in those circumstances that we too can also engage in a dialogue with God and with others around us. May we too, walk in faith by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us, just as He did for Mary.

We may not know what the outcome will be. However we can take the leap of FAITH and TRUST that God will take care of us just as He did for our Blessed Mother. 

To conclude I would like to share this quote from our Pope Benedict XVI for us all to reflect:

“Knowing the CONTENT to be believed is not sufficient unless the heart, the authentic sacred space within the person is opened by GRACE that allows the eyes to… understand that what has been proclaimed is the Word of God.”