SECRETS AND A CALL TO PRAY, PART II of the series THE DIFFICULT MESSAGE OF FATIMA
Kathy Boh on 12th Oct 2017
SECRETS AND A CALL TO PRAY
PART II of the series
THE DIFFICULT MESSAGE OF FATIMA
celebrating
OUR LADY OF FATIMA CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
MAY 13, 1917-OCTOBER 13, 2017
Before we get into the call to pray from Mary at Fatima, let’s look briefly at an overview of prayer from Church and Bible history.
PRAYER IN GENERAL
There are many kinds of prayer, for numerous kinds of intentions. We are familiar with thanks and praise, which the Bible frequently recommends for us to do. God is greatly pleased with hearts willing to do so, as He says throughout scripture, particularly in Psalms and epistles. Then there are petitions (both personal and general, public and private).
We can pray publicly and privately, with memorized or written prayers, or we can simply talk to our heavenly Father or our Savior (Friend, Bridegroom, soon-coming King, etc.) Jesus… and the Holy Spirit for guidance and comfort, clarity and wisdom (and the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit).
We are definitely encouraged to pray for others—just as Jesus, our High Priest, is “ever-interceding” to the Father for us and for our needs. Intercession is an extremely vital prayer of love—it is bringing the needs of others before God, and involves praying in their behalf, especially for salvation. (We will delve into much more concerning intercession later in this article after we begin to discuss Mary’s call and the rosary, itself.)
Also, we cannot forget the basic individual prayers that require us to face ourselves and our own faults and needs. As we seek to come closer to God and please Him with our lives, we find that repentant conversations with God are necessary—and they usher in His cleansing, graces, and approval.
Other types of prayer mentioned in scripture are: prayers of commitment, consecration and dedication; prayers of binding and loosing (using the authority Jesus gave his disciples over the enemy evil spirits); prayer of agreement (which Jesus spoke of [Mt. 18:19]; united prayer (as with the apostles in the upper room as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit); the prayer of faith [James 5:15]; and prayer in the Spirit (which is led by the Holy Spirit, and sometimes involves the gift of tongues).
THE CALL TO PRAY
Many have heard the call to pray through various Marian apparitions and fervent requests by Mary to pray for others in this world. We take note that God—throughout Bible history—has continually sent messengers to speak to us and draw us into His intense desire to “save”. 1
Mary has been sent—particularly in recent centuries—to call us to prayer, as Jesus did and continues to do. For this and other reasons, the rosary and Marian devotion became more popular and prominent in the 19th and 20th centuries, as even older manuscripts (for instance, St. Louis de Monfort’s [1673-1716] The Secret of the Rosary, pub. 1911) were published and various popes encouraged the rosary as a devout practice. 2
Pope John Paul II believed that intercession for him, and his prayers through Mary’s intercession, saved his life in 1989 when he was shot. 3
THE FOUNDATION STONE OF INTERCESSION
—OUR EVER-INTERCEDING HIGH PRIEST
Jesus is called our “high priest”. He goes beyond the role of(Old Testament) “high priest” (representing the people to God by prayers and sacrifices) … He also became the sacrifice. He, Himself, as both Son of God and Son of man—the spotless, perfect Lamb of God—died the cruel and bloody death/sacrifice to take our sin/ our consequences upon Himself and pay the price. He continues to intercede for us so that we receive that price that He paid for us by turning to and living for Him.
It remains foundational that it is Jesus Who invites us to follow His example, and join our intercessions with Him, as we pray and intercede even now—especially for the salvation of souls. It is difficult for us to comprehend just how high a calling we have in interceding for others—and even in “sharing” some of Christ’s sufferings. The Savior of our souls seeks to apply His love and salvation in this day and this time and “this” place—whatever that “place” ends up being. We can become both part of the call and part of the fulfillment… particularly in a time when so much of anything that is of God, of truth, of justice or right living is being trampled or thrown out in (and by) the culture around us.
“…1 Timothy 2:5: ‘For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.’ But in the preceding four verses (1 Tim. 2:1-4), Paul instructs Christians to pray for each other, meaning it cannot interfere with Christ’s mediatorship: ‘I urge that prayers, supplications, petitions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone… This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior.’ 4
PRAYER FOR OTHERS—INTERCEDING
So we understand: Christians are called to intercede—to pray to God on behalf of one another and for each other’s needs—as we see plainly in scripture:
“First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone” [1Tim 2:1]
“With all prayer and petition pray [with specific requests] at all times [on every occasion and inevery season] in the Spirit, and with this in view, stay alert with all perseverance and petition [interceding in prayer] for all God’s people.”[Eph. 6:18, Amplified Bible]
“In the days when he was in the flesh, he [Jesus] offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” [Hebr. 5:7]
How great to see just how much we are encouraged to join with Jesus in interceding for those on earth who are in need of his help, his salvation, and his grace!
In summary, throughout Bible and Christian history, God has called on His people to pray… to pray in many ways, but, specifically to call upon His help and intervention in behalf of those around us. Many Marian apparitions and other visions to saints and holy people throughout the Christian experience attest to the fact that God calls on us to intercede for peace in the world, for reparation for sins (our crying out in petition, thanks and supplication for ourselves and others for God’s mercy and intervention), and prayer for particular places and people in the world around us.
Let’s go back to Fatima and ask some questions. Why intercede? What does Fatima have to do with it?
What is the shortest answer to that question? Here it is: Mary asked us to pray, to intercede. Let’s see what she said. Let’s look at the “secrets”.
THE “SECRETS” OF FATIMA
“The children, especially Lucia, maintained that Our Lady gave visions to the children which they were to keep secret. These visions were given to the children during one of the middle visits…Twenty three years after the events themselves Lucia was ordered by the local bishop of Fatima to write the secrets and she willing did so for the first two. However, she was not convinced that she should release the contents of the third secret. The bishop ordered her under holy obedience to do so and so she wrote out the secret and placed it in a sealed envelope that was not to be opened for 19 years, or 1960 when she said it would be clearer to understand.” 5
FIRST SECRET
“[T]hese are not so much secrets of Fatima in reality, but really the visions of Fatima. The first secret, or vision, was of hell.”
The children were greatly impressed with the desire to see souls saved “from this great eternal suffering”. 6 (We will look into this in greater detail in Part 3.)
THE SECOND SECRET
The second “secret” or vision concerned world wars. World War I was going on during the apparitions at Fatima. In this second vision, the three children learned that it would end, but another…
“World War (II) [would] ensue under the papacy of Pope Pius XI (who reigned from 1922 until 1939) unless people stop offending God and Russia is converted.”
“[T]he Blessed Virgin show[ed] the young children a vision in which they learn[ed] that World War I (which is going on during the time of the visions) will end, however another” war would begin under his papacy—Pope Pius XI. 8
THE THIRD SECRET
The sealed envelope that contained the third secret…
“was opened in 1960. [T]he secret was not made public until 2000 when the Vatican released the text that Lucia had written…” which was revealed on July 13, 1917 at the Cova da Iria-Fatima.
“[T]he message on the outside of the envelope said that it ‘could be opened only after’ 1960, not that it must be published to the world in 1960. Furthermore, it envisioned the opening being done by the Patriarch of Lisbon or the Bishop of Leiria, not the pope.” 9
Through much of the 20th century, there was speculation as to the message of the third secret.
The then Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) had further comment regarding the expectations.
“In an interview conducted in November 1984, Cardinal Ratzinger (of the Holy Office) confirmed that, with the Pope’s permission, he had read the Secret and that it concerns, in his words, ‘a radical call to conversion, the absolute gravity of history…
…But the things contained in the Third Secret correspond to what has been announced in Scripture and are confirmed by many other Marian apparitions.’ " 10
When the message was revealed in the year 2000, it became clear that the primary reference was to Russia and the potential danger from war and even nuclear attack… not just from any other enemy or warfare, as some speculated.
"Sister Lucia agreed with the interpretation that the third part of the 'secret' was a prophetic vision, similar to those in sacred history. She repeated her conviction that the vision of Fatima concerns above all the struggle of atheistic Communism against the Church and against Christians, and describes the terrible sufferings of the victims of the faith in the twentieth century [Bertone, MF, op. cit.]. 11
“For many years it was rumored that the third part of the secret involved the possibility of a nuclear war. If there is anything in the text that suggests this, it is the flames of the sword, which Sr. Lucia noted ‘looked as though they would set the world on fire.’
The angel with the flaming sword represents the judgment that would fall on the world were it not for the intercession of Mary (and, of course, the intercession of others, though here it is Mary with whom we are concerned since she radiates the light that stops the flaming sword).” 12
The sealed secret also contained descriptions of a vision involving priests, bishops, and what appeared to be the pope. Pope John Paul II connected the message to his own experience in 1981—May 13th, the anniversary of the first Marian apparition to the three children. Direct quotes from the letter’s text are as follows:
From the sealed text that Lucia wrote (that was opened in 1960), we read:
There were “Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks… [B]efore reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way…“
“The journey of the pope and those with him through the half-ruined city suggests that the Church must pass through the destruction that accompanies war, and it evokes the suffering of the pontiff in witnessing this destruction but being unable to stop it. This reflects the experience of many twentieth-century popes.” 13
Lucia once commented that in the vision, she and the other two children had seen the Bishop in white fall after being shot, but he may not have died. They…
“had the impression that it was the Holy Father” she had written in the sealed letter. 14
So how does this attack against the pope in the vision compare to the real life shooting of Pope John Paul II, who believed that Our Lady of Fatima saved his life? (The bullet that was shot is now imbedded in the crown of one of the primary statues of Our Lady of Fatima at Fatima.)
“The intercession of Mary may have changed what would have happened…” After he read the third secret John Paul II attributed his survival to Mary guiding the bullet so that he did not die. Then Cardinal Ratzinger commented
‘That here “a mother’s hand” had deflected the fateful bullet only shows once more that there is no immutable destiny, that faith and prayer are forces which can influence history and that in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies.’" (Ratzinger, MF, op. cit.). [Ratzinger, Message of Fatima, Theological Commentary] 15
Some have believed that the overall references to the pope and the bishops and the clergy still speak to persecution that is ongoing across the world against Christians.
We continue with this series:
FATIMA series: THE DIFFICULT MESSAGE OF FATIMA
in honor of the
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION of OUR LADY OF FATIMA
With Part III: THE DIFFICULT MESSAGE:WARNINGS
With Part IV: FATIMA: WHY PAY ATTENTION NOW?
Part I, THE FATIMA STORY AND THE ROSARY, was published earlier.
FOOTNOTES
1 This paragraph is taken from an article written last year on this blog site at trinitychurchsupply.com/blog, that was called THE ROSARY: ORIGINS, HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT, written and posted by Kathy Boh on October 20, 2016
2 Ibid
4 THE ROSARY: ORIGINS, HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
5 https://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/the-three-secrets-of-fatima-explained
6 Ibid
7 Ibid
8 Ibid
10 http://www.fatima.org/essentials/facts/secret.asp
11 https://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/the-three-secrets-of-fatima-explained
13 https://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/the-three-secrets-of-fatima-explained
14 Ibid