“Tell everybody that God grants graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary...” - Blessed Jacinta
I've said it before and each time I repeat it I am more convinced. I repeat it because we get ourselves embroiled in arguments and criticism and condemning everything happening in the Church and the world which we cannot process fast enough intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.
Repeating myself again: I think we're there. Before she died, Sr. Lucia said we were going towards the trials foretold "little by little." Closer to the date of the beatifications she told the pope we were "going towards it with great strides." Which is why I think we are there now.
"I saw the Holy Father in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head buried in his hands, and he was weeping. Outside the house, there were many people. Some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language. Poor Holy Father, we must pray very much for him." - Blessed JacintaConsider Jacinta's vision in light of how the Holy Father is being treated - even by Catholics - and what he himself has been saying since the beginning of his pontificate.
"Only God knows the stories of those people who have given their lives, who have died, and continue to be stoned with the hardest stone that exists in the world: language.” - Pope Francis
The migrants and the bodies of martyrs piling up.
I watched CBS evening news last night. They interviewed Christians who have taken refuge someplace in Syria - of all places. The Christian woman said she would never go back to Iraq, explaining it was bad enough living with Muslims before, but now with ISIS it is intolerable. The mass migration includes more than Christian refugees of course, what does it mean for the West? Especially when states concede rights - as in the German example of giving up Christian festivals so as not to offend Muslims?
The mass migration crisis.
While the flow of migrants to Europe this year already represents the biggest influx from outside the Continent in modern history, many experts warn that the mass movement may continue and even increase — possibly for years to come. “We are talking about millions of potential refugees trying to reach Europe, not thousands,” Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said in a recent Twitter posting. Many of the migrants are fleeing persecution, poverty, ethnic and religious strife and war, but these afflictions are often symptoms of more profound changes.
In the Middle East and Africa, borders drawn by Ottoman dynasts and European colonialists are breaking down as the autocratic Arab states that enforced a grim peace for generations continue to implode.
As traditional lines of authority break down, militant groups like the Islamic State and Boko Haram, in Nigeria, seek to fill the vacuum while minority sects and ethnic groups suffer unspeakable treatment at their hands. - NYT
The following is that one part of the Secret Lucia told Jacinta not to speak about - since it referred to the third part which wasn't revealed until the year 2000.
"Look! Don’t you see many roads, paths and fields full of people crying of hunger, not having anything to eat? And the Holy Father in a Church praying next to the Heart of Mary?" - Blessed JacintaI think this is it.
I'm not talking about the end of the world. However, I do not think anyone could ever have predicted what we are witnessing today - the overwhelming influx of immigrants and refugees, among them may be a sort of Fifth Column movement of Islamic terrorists? I don't know - and heads of state appear not to know as well.
It's all very confusing and frustrating. All the negativity online, especially among Catholics is really depressing. Bloggers talk about war - priests and canonists and scholars discuss religious issues generated by the Synod in terms of war - one in particular, Rachel Lu, a professor from a local college kept calling liberals and fellow progressive academics losers and heretics. Declaring war along with Ross Douthat. As if war is a game - as if all of these events can be managed, controlled by human endeavor. It seems to me, Catholics like these writers speak in opposition to peace. They speak like the disciples, who before the descent of the Holy Spirit wanted to call down fire upon those who rejected them.
The temptation against faith.
The greatest temptations are now. Against faith, against hope, and against charity. It is a very difficult time. We need to pray more than condemn and judge. It's a grave temptation to fall prey to the critical spirit. Even good people, even priests online constantly focus upon the negative, pointing out particular sins - but there seems to be little online offering encouragement and hope.
Being online, reading Catholic blogs, is getting to be like living in a concentration camp - but even there, in the camps, the light of faith could never be extinguished. The mystery of Divine Providence - the Presence of God - never forsakes those who pray. No matter the state of soul. Pray. Pray without ceasing. All day. Every day. Pray as you know how - or better yet - pray the rosary - pray many rosaries. As many as possible. Prayer isn't an art form, a specialty reserved for monks or nuns - prayer itself is a teacher - it is the door which leads you to that interior communion with the Holy Trinity. Prayer is the life of the soul ... The rosary is the best teacher.
Tell everybody that God grants us graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; that people are to ask her for them; and that the Heart of Jesus wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at his side. Tell them also to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, since God entrusted it to her. - Bl. Jacinta to Lucia
