[wagglebee]

"It's important to remember that Our Lady of Fatima appeared asking mankind to stop offending God in order to avert punishment. She asked for prayer, penance and amendment of life," he continued. "However, God continues to be offended. Just consider how abortion, pornography, blasphemy and sins against nature are so widespread."

Amen!

[wagglebee]

Ping

[Pyro7480]

Catholic Caucus?

[NYer]

Rosary ping!

[Coleus]

 

No Rosary Rally Captain in your city?
Become a Rosary Rally Captain by clicking here.

How will you commemorate the 90^th Anniversary of the Fatima Message?

College students organize a Public Square Rosary in Mainz, Germany.

Join the Public Square Rosary Campaign

Imagine one thousand or more rallies across America in public places. Faithful Catholics carry banners mentioning Our Lady of Fatima and her message. They gather together young and old to pray the rosary. They offer public witness to a message so often ignored.

Approaching the 90^th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, is it not time to look for supernatural solutions to our nation’s problems? Is it not time for the Fatima message to be proclaimed far and wide? Is it not time for Americans to pray publicly for the future of the nation?  After all, Fatima was directed to a huge public. Fatima’s Miracle of the Sun was one of the most extraordinary and spectacular public miracles in history.
Our Lady appeared at Fatima in 1917 with a message not just for individual Catholics but for the world. She outlined the grave consequences in world events if men did not convert, pray, and do penance: Russia would spread its errors worldwide, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. Many would be martyred, the Holy Father would suffer, and a chastisement would annihilate several nations.

So many of the evils foreseen by Our Lady are now taking place. And yet that which was meant to be shouted from the rooftops is rarely the topic of a Sunday sermon. How can Catholics bring the Fatima messages into the public eye?
To commemorate the 90^th anniversary of Fatima, America Needs Fatima will be promoting “public square” rosary rallies across the nation. The rallies are now starting and will culminate with a thousand or more such events on October 13, the 90^th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun.

What does it take to become part of this massive effort? To organize a Public Square Rosary, all that is needed is a few friends, a Rosary, and confidence in the Blessed Mother. Any public square, busy intersection or community park will serve as a place. America Needs Fatima has set up a special center to assist you in all your needs.

 

Caleb Petrone joins members of TFP Student Action for a Public Square Rosary at Gettysburg College.

Groups are already being organized. Everyone is invited to participate. To find out more about organizing a Rosary group, click here. To see about joining an existing group, click here. On university campus, students are setting up Campus Rosary Crusade chapters in all 50 states (click here for details).

Remember that by praying the Rosary, participants are using the most powerful spiritual weapon of contemporary history. With the Rosary, Saint Dominic defeated Albigensian heresy, Catholic forces were victorious against the Ottoman Turks at the battle of Lepanto in 1571, Communists were expelled from Vienna in the 1955, and many more miracles and victories were won.

To more information on the Public Square Rosary Campaign, call 1-866-584-6012.

Rosary Rallies On Target  
Public Square Rosary Campaign Sign-up Form

Public Square Rosary Flyers Now Available

 

Prayer in communion with Mary, the Mother of God
The Ave Maria (Hail Mary) prayer comes from the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke: the "Angelic salutation" of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, "Hail, thou that art highly favored; the Lord is with thee" [Luke 1:28], announcing that she was to become the mother of the Son of God, and from Elizabeth's greeting to her cousin, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb!" and "Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" [Luke 1:42, 43]. Then follows Mary's exultant hymn of praise, the Magnificat, also called the Canticle of Mary [Luke 1:46-55].

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that "In prayer the Holy Spirit unites us to the person of the only Son, in His glorified humanity, through which and in which our filial prayer unites us in the Church with the Mother of Jesus (c.f. Acts 1:14)" [CCC 2673].

"Beginning with Mary's unique cooperation with the working of the Holy Spirit, the Churches developed their prayer to the holy Mother of God, centering it on the person of Christ manifested in His mysteries. In countless hymns and antiphons expressing this prayer, two movements usually alternate with one another: the first 'magnifies' the Lord for the 'great things' He did for His lowly servant and through her for all human beings (Cf. Luke 1:46-55)" [CCC 2675].

The Catechism's section, "The Way of Prayer" (Part Four, Chapter Two, "The Tradition of Prayer" - 2663-2682) gives other fruitful instruction, and explains the significance of the Ave Maria or "Hail Mary" prayer (2676, 2677).

For many centuries, the Ave Maria has formed a significant part of the Rosary, and is repeated while meditating on the "mysteries" of the Rosary. It also is the centerpiece of the Angelus. The Ave Maria has a plainchant musical setting, and the Latin words have been set to music by many of the world's great composers.

The Memorare (Remember) is a long-beloved personal prayer of petition for Mary's intercession. The Catechism observes that "Mary is the perfect Orans (prayer), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends His Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple, we welcome Jesus' mother into our homes, for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope" [CCC 2679].

[Salvation]

Is this the Rosary Bowl idea, or something else?

[Salvation]

“Never apologize for the Blessed Virgin Mary!” ~~Mother Angelica

[Salvation]

Vultus Christi

June 11, 2008

Happy 100th Birthday, Francisco!

"How beautiful God is, how beautiful!
But He is sad because of the sins of men.
I want to console Him, I want to suffer for love of Him."

Blessed Francisco Marto

The Boy Who Saw the Mother of God

Blessed Francisco Marto, the boy who saw the Mother of God, was born in Aljustrel, in the parish of Fatima, Portugal on June 11, 1908. Together with his sister, Blessed Jacinta, he first learned of the things of God in his own family. Visited three times by the Angel of Portugal and then by the Blessed Virgin Mary herself over a period of six months beginning on May 13, 1917, Francisco began to pray and offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners, for the consolation of Jesus, and in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The Consoler of the Hidden Jesus

The Angel's words, "Console your God," seem to have burned themselves into Francisco's heart. Of the three children of Fatima, his grace is, I think, the most explicitly Eucharistic. Francisco sought, more than anything else, to be the consoler of "the Hidden Jesus" by adoring Him in the tabernacle of the parish church, and by praying the Rosary. It is this call to console "the Hidden Jesus" that, more and more, has endeared Francisco to me.

The Chalice and the Precious Blood

In the autumn of 1916, the Angel of Portugal appeared for the third time to the three children. He was holding a chalice with a Host suspended above it; from the Host drops of Blood fell into the chalice. The Angel, leaving the chalice and Host suspended in the air, fell prostrate in adoration. He then gave Holy Communion to the three children. To Lucia he gave the Host. To Francisco and Jacinta he presented the chalice saying, "Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Repair their crimes and console your God."

God Was Within Me

A few days later, while discussing this mysterious Communion of Reparation from the Chalice of the Precious Blood, Francisco said to Lucia, "I felt that God was within me, but I didn't know how!"

Son of Consolation

Francisco's personal call to console the "Hidden Jesus" strikes me as being mysteriously linked to his birthday on the feast of the Apostle Saint Barnabas whose name, in fact, means "son of consolation."

Many Rosaries

Our Lady's words, that Francisco would have to say "many rosaries" before going to heaven, have given rise to all sorts of interpretations, some of which cast a shadow over the little nine-year-old boy. Fatima specialist and author Leo Madigan gives the clearest and most sensible explanation. He writes that, "Francisco would go to heaven, but there was time for many Rosaries before that happened." Our Lady words contained no veiled threat, no ominous warning. She spoke to Francisco as a mother. While waiting to go to heaven, he had time to pray many Rosaries. For Francisco, that knowledge was a gift and a joy. Francisco died, after praying his "many Rosaries," on April 4, 1919.

My Recommendation

I can recommend no better English biography of the children of Fatima than the one written by Leo Madigan: The Children of Fatima, Blessed Francisco and Blessed Jacinta Marto, Our Sunday Visitor, 2003.

Pope John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta Marto on May 13, 2000.