Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ
What does this headline – “Christianity
is finished in Iraq” (The Herald, 17 Aug, 2014)
make you feel? The threat of genocide on our Iraqi brothers and sisters can
happen anywhere. Their grotesque violence and mass murder leave many of us
feeling helpless in the face of cruel injustice. Concurrently, we have
conflicts in Syria, The Gaza, and Ukraine; the Ebola outbreak; airplane tragedies.
As both Church and humanity, we feel threatened.
But are all these new? Throughout
history, the Church and Christians have faced heresies, persecution, oppression
and plagues. Our forebears must have experienced evil’s grip as we do now. Amidst
all the tribulations, though, we still find God’s providence. One common thread
running through the incidences is the Blessed Virgin Mary’s intercession. In
the book, “The Five Warnings”, Fr. Faroni and Cisostomo highlighted several episodes.
According to tradition, in the 12th
and 13th century, when the Albigensian heresy was widespread in
southern France, Our Lady advised St. Dominic to counter it by asking the
people to pray the Hail Marys alongside his preaching of our salvation
mysteries. This is essentially what we do when we pray the Rosary, which was
officially approved by Pope St. Pius V in 1569.
On 7 October 1571, members of the
Confraternity of the Rosary in Rome processed praying the Rosary while
Christian troops battled against the Muslim Turks to prevent the invasion of
Rome. The outnumbered Christians won the battle. Hence we commemorate the
victory by the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary on 7 October.
Praying the Rosary also saved
Catholicism in Asia, when in 1646, the Dutch was prevented from conquering the
Phillipines. The ill-equipped joint Filipino-Spanish forces prayed the Rosary
before every encounter with the Protestant Dutch forces. (Fr. Marie-Dominic, n.d. as cited by Fr. Faroni and
Crisostomo, 2006)
According to Fr. Faroni and
Crisostomo (2006), however, the greater
victories of the Rosary were against the apostate forces of Freemasonry and
Communism. Since 1910, the Catholic Church in Portugal was heavily and openly
persecuted by the Freemasons. By 1917, the country was nearing economic
disaster and beset with lawlessness. World War I then worsened things. In 1917,
Our Lady appeared in Fatima. She asked for the Rosary prayer and devotion to
her Immaculate Heart; the people listened. After the apparitions, the Masonic
government was defeated. A religious revival happened. And Portugal was spared
from World War II, as Sister Lucia, one of the Fatima seers, foretold. (Freemasonry Watch / Fatima Crusader, n.d., as cited by
Fr. Faroni and Crisostomo, 2006)
Since 1938, Austria lost its
independence; first to Germany, and later given to Communist Russia. From 1947,
Fr. Petrus Pavlicek, heeding Our Lady’s counsel to pray the Rosary daily for restoration
of peace, started Rosary crusades with annual processions throughout the
nation. In 1955, against all expectations, Austria was miraculously granted
independence by Russia. (Charles E. Schaffer / Fr.
Marie-Dominic, O.P., n.d., as cited by Fr. Faroni and Crisostomo, 2006)
In 1964, Brazil almost became a
Communist state. Fr. Patrick Peyton preached a rosary crusade across the
country. Its people prayed the Rosary fervently, kneeling or parading on the
streets. Rosary marches were held. Inexplicably, President Joao Goulart, who
attempted to sell out his country, was gradually abandoned by his aides. The
military took over without bloodshed on 26 March; Goulart and the Communist
leaders fled. On April 2, the people held a gigantic prayer march in
thanksgiving to the Lord and Our Lady. (Fr.
Marie-Dominic, O.P., n.d., as cited by Fr. Faroni and Crisostomo, 2006)
The victories of Our Lady’s
intercession for Portugal, Austria and Brazil were influenced by Our Lady of
Fatima’s messages. Sister Lucia understood from her that the Devil is waging
the final battle against the Blessed Virgin, and that God is giving two last
remedies to the world – the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of
Mary. This seems most urgent, since God always exhausts all means to win back mankind
before He punishes the world.
To explain the importance of the
Rosary, Fr. Faroni and Crisostomo uses the allegory of a mother sending her
child to buy some milk, but being brought ice cream instead. Ice cream is
better than milk, but it is not what she asked for. They added, (I quote) “Whatever
else a person may do, even though they go to Mass every day, they still need to
say the rosary in their home. It is the medicine our Mother has told us to
take, to keep our faith strong and healthy.” (unquote)
Brothers and sisters, just as
light shines the brightest in darkness, only in the midst of our world’s gloom,
will the joy of the Gospel shine the brightest. Let us not despair, but use the
remedy that God has given us – the Holy Rosary, which is the Gospel on beads. In
this Month of the Rosary, let us pray the Rosary more fervently in the face of
current events. We are not helpless; we have the most effective remedy against
the Devil. It could be our final remedy.
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