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Our Lady of Fatima Part 1 The following is an edited transcript of the first
speech given by Father Nicholas Gruner at the Fatima Center's
"Consecration Now!" Conference held in Rome, May 9-13, 2011.
Good
morning. Let us first pray a Hail Mary, asking Our Lady to help us
understand Her Message in all its gravity. (Hail May recited.) The talk I am giving today is about Consecration Now. First of all, we
should ask ourselves why this
Conference and then why
Consecration and why Now! I
am sure you all know this, but I will just review it briefly. It all starts with a story. It is a story about each one of
us, a story about all of us. It's a story about the whole world. But it is not just a
story, it's a true story, it's a story we're living through right now.
And it is not a childish story, it is very serious. This story is not just to pass the time of day; it,
ultimately, is about our own salvation, peace in the world, and whether
we live through war in the next couple of years, or whether we live
through a period of peace without
war. Ultimately, it's up to us, it's our responsibility. St. Thomas
tells us: "against a fact, there is no argument." Let us start with the facts. In 1917, Pope Benedict XV, a
Vatican diplomat before he became Pope, recognized, after three years
of many efforts, that there was no way out of World War I, that it was
demonic and it could not be stopped, except for the intervention of
Heaven. And so, on the 5th of May 1917, he appealed to the Blessed
Virgin, in a public way in a letter to the Cardinal Vicar of Rome. He
appealed in a public way for Her to show him and all mankind the way to
peace. Our Lady Responds to Pope
Benedict XV On May 13, She came to three children --- Jacinta, Francisco
and Lucia --- and She told them that She wanted them to come back each
month for the next five months, until October 13. She told them always, of course, to pray the Rosary. She told them that She would come back the next month to tell
them what else She wanted. On June 13, as on May 13, She opened Her hands and a light
came from the palms of Her hands.
On June 13, the light from the palms of Her hands fell on the
children, and when She opened Her hands, the children could see the
Immaculate Heart of Mary circled with thorns, They recognized that
these thorns represented the sins of men, that they offended Our Lady
very much, and Our Lady was looking for reparation to console Her. Now Our Lady didn't only give them this understanding
interiorly, but She said it in words as well. The Children Are Shown the
Vision of Hell We see that Our Lady explains everything. On July 13, Our Lady
opened Her hands and this time, when the children looked at the light,
it didn't fall on them but, rather, fell on the ground in front of Our
Lady, between Her land the children. They looked down to see what it was pointing to and they could
see the fires of Hell. Lucia tells us in her memoirs: "We saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire, in which were
plunged, all blackened and burnt, demons and souls in human form like
transparent embers. Raised into the air the flames they fell back in
all directions, like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or poise,
amidst loud cries and horrible groans of pain and despair which caused
us to shudder and tremble with fear. The demons were distinguished by
the horrible and repellent forms of terrible unknown animals. The souls
of the damned were in human form but like embers of fire black yet
transparent. This scene lasted an instant and we must thank Our.
Heavenly Mother Who had prepared us beforehand by promising to take us
to Heaven with Her. Otherwise, I believe that we should have died of
fear and terror." Then Our Lady spoke, and gave us the key to the whole Fatima
Message: "You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To
save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My
Immaculate Heart." This is the key: God Wants to Establish in the
World Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary We will talk mostly in this conference about the Consecration
of Russia, because it seems to be the most difficult to achieve. In
fact, Our Lady said in Her Message of July 13: "In the end, My
Immaculate Heart will triumph; the Holy Father will consecrate Russia
to Me, Russia will be converted and a period of peace given to
mankind." But first of all, you notice She says "in the end," that is,
after some difficulty. It has now been 94 years this May 13 since Our
Lady first appeared. And there's a time limit set to this. It seems to
be 100 years, from what Our Lord said to us later on, as we will see.
This time limit is fast approaching. We Are Obligated to
Spread the Message On August 13, there were 15,000 people there. They came
because of the 5,000 people who came in July. These 5,000 came because
of the 50 people who came in That is, they told their friends and neighbors by word of
mouth, despite the opposition from the government, despite the fear of
the clergy in Portugal at the time, and despite the opposition also of
the newspapers at that time. We see then that it's important that we tell our friends and
neighbors. The children told their parents, and they told their friends,
and the word spread from there. 15,000 people came on August 13, 1917 but the children were
kidnapped. The children were put in jail, they were threatened with
death. Here are three children, who don't even know how to carry a gun
or even to threaten anybody; three children who are put in jail as
enemies of the state, who are a danger to the state, or more exactly
the Masonic state that Portugal had become. The Children Refused to Deny
Our Lady They were put in jail and they were told to deny they were
seeing Our Lady. They would not do that. They were told to deny that
Our Lady gave them a secret. They would not do that. They then said,
"Well then, tell us the Secret," and they would not do that either. They needed the authorization of Our Lady to tell that. So
since the three children would not cooperate, the Mayor of Ourem (the
town nearby to Fatima) told them that he was going to boil them in oil
until they were dead. Yet the children still would not change their story. They
would not obey the wrong orders of the ruler. When Our Lady told them to do something, they did it. When She
told them not to do something, they would not do that. Opposition to Fatima We see that on August 13 the children were not there, although
they had promised to be there. So, Our Lady came on August 19 and Our
Lady again reiterated Her promise to work a great miracle on October
13, so that all might believe. She also said that many souls go to Hell
because they have no one to pray for them and make sacrifices for them.
On August 13, Our Lady appeared. As She always did, She stood on top of a little cloud. The crowd saw the cloud come and stop over a holm oak tree and they saw the tree bend, as it would when someone was standing on it, but the people, of course, did not see Our Lady. After a minute or two of Our Lady waiting for the children,
She left. And the people could see the cloud rise off the tree and the
branches where the cloud had rested now sprang back to their regular
position. Obviously, Our Lady left. On September 13, there were 30,000
people who came. The people on September 13, as in July and August, saw
great signs already. On September 13, there were no clouds, there was
no eclipse, but the sun dimmed itself so darkly that the stars could be
seen at noon. On October 13, 70,000 people came, despite the rain. It rained
so much that they were in mud up to their ankles. They waited and at
noon, sun time, around 1:30 legal time, the Blessed Virgin came. An Historical Miracle The Sun
Danced At a certain point, as it spun around, it started giving off
colors
--- first red, then green, then blue --- so if a person had a white
shirt
on, it would turn red and green and blue as the sun spun around. After
four minutes it stopped and then it started again more rapidly, with
more beautiful colors. After four more minutes, it stopped again and
then spun a third time, this time it began to not only spin but also
plunge in the sky and finally it started to fall and fall and fall. The
sun
became very large in the sky; it became very hot and everyone thought
the sun was going to fall on top of them. They thought it was the end of the world. The people fell on
their
knees in the mud to ask God for mercy, to ask God for forgiveness for
their sins, to ask Our Lady's intercession. At a certain point, the
sun stopped falling, then went back to its normal place in the sky.
When
people got up from their knees they realized that their clothes were
dry; and where they had been kneeling in the mud, their clothes were
also clean. This happened so that all might believe. Even more
important than this, of course, were the cures. People who could not
walk
and could not see were cured instantly at this time. And, above all,
there were the conversions. Conversion of Sinners The
Greatest Miracle We have these miracles taking place on October 13, and
continuing to
take place in Fatima to testify to the truth that this Message comes
from God; that it concerns our time, that it concerns world
peace, that it concerns the salvation of souls. God's Big Plan for Our Time Our Lady said on July 13 that She would come back to ask for
the
Communions of Reparation on the First Saturdays and She would also come
back to ask for the Consecration of Russia. We will now talk about the Consecration of Russia. In 1929, on
the 13th
of June, Lucia was in her chapel at midnight; the chapel was completely
dark except for the sanctuary lamp. Lucia was prostrate on the ground,
saying the prayer that the Angel of Fatima taught them: "Most Holy
Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer
up to Thee the most Precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the
same Son, Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in
reparation for all the blasphemies, outrages, and indifferences by
which He is offended. And I draw upon the infinite merits of the
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that Thou
might convert poor sinners." The Vision of the Holy Trinity As Lucia said this prayer the whole chapel lit up; and when
she looked up, she saw before her a vision of the Most Holy Trinity. In
all the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, and all the history of
apparitions anywhere for 2000 years, I am not aware of the Most Holy
Trinity appearing anywhere else. Sister Lucia saw God the Father present as an older man,
between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit symbolized as a dove,
and God the Son is on the Cross. Underneath His right arm on the Cross is Our Lady of
Fatima standing on a cloud on the altar. Blood comes from His wounds.
From the wound in His side comes the Eucharist. A chalice catches the
Blood that drips from His wounds and from the Host. Under His left arm
on the Cross, you see the words "Grace and Mercy," and these words are
made with letters made out of water, so to speak, which flow over the
altar. "By This Means" "The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father to make
and to command all the Catholic bishops of the world to make the
Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart. God promises to save
Russia by this means." Every word is important. I'd like to dwell for a moment on the
words "by this means." St. Thomas, in his Sacramental Theology, tells
us it is the words of the priest that are the means by which the
Sacrament takes place. Without the words being pronounced, the
Sacrament doesn't take place. Similarly, without the Pope and the
bishops consecrating Russia, we cannot have either the saving of Russia
or world peace. It is by this means. Just as I could not write my notes without a pen, without an
instrument, we cannot have world peace except through the means,
through the instrument of the Pope and the bishops making the
Consecration of Russia. We might think we know better, we might think
we have a better idea, but that's immaterial. This is what God has
dictated and decreed, and He will not change His mind. Sister Lucia and her confessor for the next seven years tried
to get
the Pope --- in this case, Pope Pius XI --- to consecrate Russia. The
Pope,
of course, was very polite, but basically he didn't do it. We Must Insist on the
Consecration of Russia In 1936, the confessor writes again and asks the same
question. This
time Lucia answers in a very different way: "Should you insist? I
don't know, but recently, I was talking with Our Lord and asked Him
why He would not bring about world peace unless the Pope did this
consecration. Jesus answered and said: 'Because I want My whole Church
to recognize that consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart,
so that later on My Church will place devotion to the Immaculate Heart
beside devotion to My Sacred Heart.'" In other words, Our Lord is saying there's nothing to be done
except to
insist upon the consecration; it can't be done any other way. "I want
My whole Church to recognize that consecration as a triumph of the
Immaculate Heart." And so you can propose the consecration of the
world; you can propose this, you can propose that; but nothing will
work except the Consecration of Russia. This is again confirmed by Our Lady speaking to Lucia in May
of 1952.
The Bishops Conference of Italy publicized this event in their book II
Pellegrinaggio della Meraviglie which was published in 1960,
but the
event took place in May of 1952. Our Lady told Lucia, "Tell the Holy Father I am still awaiting
the
Consecration of Russia. Without that consecration, Russia cannot
convert; without that consecration, the world cannot have peace." Why is it that God insists upon this? Let us take an example
from
Sacred Scripture (4 Kings 5:1-15), when Naaman, the Syrian General who
had leprosy, was told that he could be cured if he went to Israel to
ask the prophet to be cured. So, Naaman went to the King ot Israel and asked for a cure.
The King,
thinking that Naaman was looking for a cause to provoke war, tore his
garments and said, "Am I God, that I can cure leprosy?" The prophet, hearing of this incident, sent a message to the
court of
the king and said, "Tell Naaman to come to me and let Israel know that
there's a prophet in the land." And Naaman went to the prophet but the
prophet did not meet him. Instead, he sent a messenger to Naaman and
said, "If you want to be cured, go down to the river Jordan and bathe
there seven times and you'll be cured." Now Naaman became angry. He said, "We have better rivers in
Syria
than this puny little Jordan," but his advisors, unlike the Pope's
advisors, were much smarter. Naaman's counselors said to him, "Had the
prophet asked you to do something difficult, would you have done it?"
He said, "Of course." Then Naaman's advisors went on: "Then why not
just try this and see what happens?" And so Naaman did what his
counselors told him, as Sacred Scripture tells us in the Fourth Book of
Kings, Chapter Five. After the seventh time bathing in the river,
when he came out, his leprosy was gone and, as Scripture says, his
skin was as smooth as that of a baby. Only a 5-Minute Prayer to
Avoid War and Annihilation! Just think of all the effort that people put into war.
Afghanistan, for
example, costs 113 BILLION dollars a year. That represents the annual
economy of most countries and the work effort of millions of people,
just to have an army of 100,000 men in another country. That's over 300
million dollars a day, or over one million dollars every 15 seconds.
All of this will be stopped, as Scripture tells us that a time will
come when all men will turn their swords into ploughshares. Isaias
tells us that instruments of war will be turned into instruments of
peace. That time will come only after the Pope and the bishops obey
the
command to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. With all the war, death, destruction and killing going on
right now
it does not look like it will ever happen. And yet, we're told in
Scripture that this will take place, that our instruments of war will
be turned into instruments of peace, they will feed the people
instead of killing them. The people and the high priests of our time are similar to the
people
at the time of Jesus Christ. They did not recognize the moment of
history they were in, even though Daniel, the prophet, had told them
that Christ would come in their time. So we have many prophets telling us this is a time of world
change. I
believe that this is a time predicted in Sacred Scripture and most of
us do not recognize it. We are told by Isaias, "they shall turn their swords into
ploughshares
and their spears into sickles: nations shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war." (Isaias 2:4) Every nation on earth has a school of warfare. This warfare is
taught
from generation to generation. When Our Lady's promise of peace is
fulfilled in the not distant future, it will also fulfill the promise
of peace that was also made to mankind in the Old Testament. Then,
also, all the nations will learn the art of war no more, because God
also promised this through the Old Testament prophets (Isaias 2:4;
Micheas 4:3). 14,400 Wars in 6,000 Years
In 6,000 years of recorded history, we have had more than
14,400 wars.
We are on the edge of a complete change in the course of history, once
Our Lady's requests are heard and obeyed. At this time, we must, each of us, refuse to do nothing in the
face of
this tremendous intervention of God and Our Lady in the Fatima
events. And, there are terrible consequences for us not obeying. The
Message
of Fatima touches each one of us, and our collective refusal to do
what it takes to get the Consecration of Russia done has a price. Our Lady said: "If My requests are granted, Russia will be
converted
and there will be peace. If My requests are not granted, Russia' will
spread her errors throughout the world raising up wars and
persecutions against the Church, the good will be martyred, the Holy
Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated." That's not all of the terrible things that will happen --- if
we, the
Pope, the bishops, the priests and the lay people do not obey in time
--- but it certainly should be enough for us to do all we can to obey
and encourage all others, especially the Pope and the bishops, to obey
very soon. Prayer and Penance Can Change
History But it's not enough to just do prayer and penance as we choose
to do
it, it's the prayer and penance that God dictates we must do that will
bring about this change in the course of history. This prayer is, of
course, the Rosary, and in the last year we have, together with others,
prayed more than 22 million Rosaries for the Pope to do the
Consecration of Russia. We had a campaign of Rosaries years ago of
another 10 million Rosaries. And I'm very glad to see that Bishop
Fellay has called for another Crusade of another 12 million Rosaries
within the next year --- between Easter of 2011 and Pentecost of 2012. We must pray the Rosary, but also we must do penance. The
first
penance, as Our Lord explained to Lucia in the 1940's, is to do our
daily duty. Some people, such as many from the Blue Army, think that
penance just involves taking care of what we do day to day in our own
personal lives. That is true to a point but it's more than that. We
also have a duty to promote the FULL
Fatima Message, just as at Fatima
when those 50 people in June told their friends and neighbors, those
5,000 people in July told their friends and neighbors, and so forth, so
that by their act of spreading the word, 70,000 people came in October.
We Have to Spread the Word
Because Fatima is Opposed The Vatican Secretary of State has made an agreement, a wrong
agreement, to not criticize the errors of Russia. They made that deal
in 1962. Yet Our Lady of Fatima came in 1917 to warn us against the
errors of Russia. The result of that immoral Vatican-Moscow
Agreement is that today most priests don't know that Communism --- and
other errors of Russia, now spread all around the world --- needs to be
opposed and opposed openly. The error of legalized abortion was first openly promoted
successfully in Russia. Today, that error is around the world. Karl
Marx called for a graduated income tax, today most every country in the
world has a graduated income tax. Most people don't recognize that as
an error of Marx and of Communism. So, if you think what the newspapers
tell you to think, that Communism is dead, don't believe it. The
errors, by different titles, by different names, are still there. But this is nothing compared to what's about to happen to us.
The
preparations for war are very real. If you look for them, you can see
them. But if you look for the headlines to tell you they're there,
don't expect to find them. The newspapers don't want to tell you these
things, but they are in the news, if you look closely. Both the United
States and Russia are preparing for a major war, actually, right now.
And some of the skirmishes are going on right now. Just to give you
some facts and figures, 70,000 officers
have recently been recruited by
Russia. 70,000! How many soldiers will these officers be in charge of?
They're also buying 600 new fighter planes and 100 new ships. That's just the Russian side. Meanwhile, the American side is
preparing
for war as well. You have the doctrine ot surrounding Russia in the
proposal for the Project for the New American Century, PNAC in its
shortest form, in which you see the United States, although under the
guise of fighting terrorism or this or that, is putting up their
military bases around Russia. The Russians were surprised by the Germans in World War II.
Even
though they had planned to attack Germany, Germany did it first to them
in the Second World War. But the Russians will not be taken by surprise
this time. They are not asleep, but the people, the rest of us are
asleep. Continued forward.
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On May 13, the light fell on the hearts of the children
and they had a foretaste of Heaven. 
