MARY, MODEL OF FAITH, HOPE AND
CHARITY FOR THE THIRD MILLENNIUM
Mother Adela Galindo
Foundress, SCTJM
For private use only -©
We have been promised by Our Lady of Fatima that at the end of the great
spiritual battle that we were going to go through, “my Immaculate Heart
will triumph” (July 13th 1917, Third Apparition). The Triumph of her
Immaculate Heart is the victory of grace over sin, holiness over
corruption. But until this spiritual victory takes place, we are still
in the middle of the battle; we are still in the decisive moments in
which life or death is being chosen. This is why we could say that we
are in times of suffering, persecution and tribulation; “The Church of
the first millennium was born of the blood of the martyrs…At the end of
the second millennium, the Church has once again become a Church of
martyrs” (JPII, “Tertio Millennio Adveniente”, 37). This Martyrdom and
suffering is being experienced today in different forms: in the body or
in the heart. It is the perception of many that this is a time of
Calvary and of passion for the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. No
one can deny the fact that suffering, sin, a loss of faith and morals
have touched, in some way, their families or friends. This is the hour
of the Cross.
Our Blessed Mother was standing at the foot of the Cross, uniting her
heart to the sufferings of the Heart of Jesus. It is because of this
union that Mary’s Heart was mystically pierced by the same sword that
pierced Jesus’ Heart. This was the most painful time for Our Lady; yet,
the Scriptures say that Mary was standing by the Cross.
Standing is a posture which represents the inner realities of Mary’s
Heart. By standing at the foot of the Cross, Mary revealed the strength
and integrity of Her Heart; the undivided love for God and for humanity,
and the faithfulness to her mission. By standing at the foot of the
Cross she showed us that her Heart, being immaculate and never touched
by darkness and sin, could not be touched by it; even in the darkest and
the most painful hour: the passion and death of Her Son.
Mary did not allow the consequences of the great evil around her to
enter into Her Heart even though suffering did enter into it through a
piercing by a sword. Mary kept her freedom as a child of God, untouched,
by not being overcome by fear, or despair or hatred. For as 2 Pet 3:19
says: “A person is a slave of whatever overcomes him”. Mary was never
subjected to darkness, she was always, as she herself proclaimed: a
slave of the Lord and His plan (cf. Lk 1, 38). In the encyclical of Pope
John Paul II, “Mother of the Redeemer”, # 37, we read: “She, at the side
of Her Son, is the most perfect image of freedom and of the liberation
of humanity and of the universe”.
Because in the darkest of hours Mary’s Heart was untouched by despair,
hatred, or doubt, and lived the opposite virtues, now She can call us to
imitate those virtues in our own difficulties and sufferings. She not
only calls us but also imparts the graces that we need to be faithful
and to respond with holiness to all adversities and difficulties we may
experience personally or as families and societies in the world and in
the Church.
Three pillars sustained Mary's Heart at the foot of the Cross: her
unshakeable faith, her unfailing hope and her profound sacrificial love.
If throughout Mary’s life we see these three virtues acting powerfully
in her because of her unique privileges, it is in Calvary that we
contemplate how far these virtues can move our hearts to be faithful to
Christ in the most difficult moments. If we nourish these virtues we
will be capable of doing what our Mother did at Calvary: stand at the
foot of the Cross.
From Mary we learn to live in faith, hope and love at the foot of our
own crosses. She not only teaches us to stand firm in the midst of the
storm, by the power of these three virtues, but She comes to us to
defend us with her maternal presence and lead us through the desert of
tribulation. Just as the column of cloud during the day and the column
of fire during the night would precede the Israelites in the desert to
show them the way and never left its place in front of the people (cf.
Ex 13, 21-22), Our Lady, as the “New Column” described in the dream of
St. John Bosco, goes before us in these times of confusion and battle,
leading us safely to the Heart of Her Son and to His Church.
The Holy Father tells us in “Tertio Millennio Adveniente”: “The greatest
homage which all the Churches can give to Christ on the threshold of the
third millennium will be to manifest the Redeemer's all-powerful
presence through the fruits of faith, hope and charity " (# 37).
Why are these three virtues so crucial at the threshold of the third
millennium?
Because the difficult times that we live in, are the result of three
crises: a crisis of faith, a crisis of hope and a crisis of love. These
three crises were prophesied by Our Lady in Fatima, and we know they
come from the direct influence of Satan in the world and in hearts. But
here, Our Lady also gave us the remedy.
I. The Crisis of Faith:
In Fatima, Our Lady spoke of “errors” being spread all over the world.
In a particular way She spoke of the errors spread by Russia. Which is
the greatest error spread by Russia?... atheism, that is, the denial of
God and the denial of an absolute truth.
Faith is assenting to the Word of God, to his revelation, “To believe
means to abandon oneself to the truth of the word of the living God,
knowing and humbly recognizing how unsearchable are his judgments and
how inscrutable his ways” (“Mother of the Redeemer”-MR, 14).
We have a crisis of faith, because there is a lack of obedience to God
who has revealed himself and also to the Truth he has given to us.
“Tertio Millennio Adveniente” states, “It cannot be denied that, for
many Christians, the spiritual life is passing through a time of
uncertainty which affects not only their moral life but also their life
of prayer and the theological correctness of their faith. Faith, already
put to the test by the challenges of our times, is sometimes disoriented
by erroneous theological views, the spread of which is increased by the
crisis of obedience to the Church's Magisterium” (# 36).
The Holy Father is telling us that our faith is being put to the test in
these times because error has entered into all the areas of our lives:
spirituality, morality and doctrine. Because of this crisis of faith,
minds have been darkened and consciences are disoriented and confused.
Sin is no longer called by its name, and that’s why we see much chaos,
intellectual pride, rebelliousness, search for truth outside of God and
defining truth according to one’s own personal interpretations. We also
have a fascination with the occult and the New Age movement. All of
these confusions can be sometimes observed, unfortunately, even in
religious circles.
In this crisis of faith Our Lady is our sure refuge. For, in her
Immaculate Heart, so whole and pure, revelation was never diluted or
reduced to accommodate to her own will and pleasures. In MR # 6 we read:
“Her exceptional pilgrimage of faith represents a constant point of
reference for the Church, for individuals and for communities, for
peoples and nations and, in a sense, for all humanity.”
Because of her faith, the Word she always listened to, loved, obeyed and
reverently kept in her Heart, was made flesh in Her and through her was
given to the world. She is calling us to listen to and obey what Christ
has said and continues to say through the Church in a very unique way,
through the Holy Father and the Magisterium.
It is her faith that Mary wants to share with her children; for, as the
encyclical “Mother of the Redeemer” # 27 says: “her faith remains in the
Heart of the Church and in a sense we all share in Mary’s faith”. This
is what Mary did at Cana; she believed in the power of her Son to change
the water into wine, and she told the servants to “do whatever he tells
you” (Jn 2, 5). Our Lady’s interventions are always a call to grow in
faith, to hear and to obey what we have heard. The Scriptures say that
because of this miracle at Cana, the “disciples began to believe in Him”
(Jn 2, 11). Her mission in our crisis of faith, is therefore, to lead us
to the true faith: faith in Jesus her Son.
Mary is telling us today to believe in the truth of the Word of God and
to trust in the power behind each of his commandments and mandates.
Spokeswoman of her Son’s will, she wants us to understand that the
narrow path is the one that leads us to life and brings true happiness;
because the path of salvation is narrow for our flesh but true life for
our souls.
The errors spread in our time are darkness to our souls and our lives,
for what we believe or do not believe affects our behavior and
decisions. Faith in God’s revelation is light to our hearts and minds.
Our minds, enlightened by truth, move our wills to obey the Word of God
and loving and obeying His will is the true fulfillment of the human
being. Our Lady says: “Do [act], whatever He tells you” (Jn 2, 5). A
call to faith, which is assenting and obeying revelation.
This crisis of faith has become the great flood which threatens the
spiritual survival of humanity. That is why we need to enter into the
Immaculate Heart, the “New Noah’s ark”, in which our faiths will be
preserved. Genesis 7, 18 says “that the swelling waters increased
greatly, but the ark floated on the surface of the waters. And only Noah
and those with him in the ark were left”. Mary, as the “New Ark”, is our
refuge and those who are “in the ark” will be preserved from the
“swelling waters” of our modern times.
II. Crisis of Hope:
“Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven
and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s
promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the
grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC #1817).
In Fatima, Our Lady spoke not only of the crisis of faith, but of the
consequent crisis of hope. If there is a denial of the existence of God
and of his truth, definitively there will be a denial of His promises of
eternal life and of the eternal consequences for those who live in grace
or live in sin. This is why She revealed to the children, even in the
first apparition, the realities of heaven and its eternal rewards: joy,
love and light. She also spoke of purgatory and its sufferings. In the
third apparition, she showed them hell and the pains and despair
experienced there; in other words, its eternal punishments.
The greatest manifestation of this crisis of hope is the minimizing or
even forgetting of the realities of eternal life, leading many to live
only for the pleasures of this world, developing a materialistic way of
life, seeking self-fulfillment only in the things of this world and
avoiding at all cost, any kind of suffering, since happiness here has
become almost an idolatry and obsession. In this excessive search for
happiness in this world and in the avoiding of any kind of suffering, we
have the greatest sins of our times: abortion, euthanasia, sexual
immorality, suicide, selfishness, greed, gluttony, complacency and
addictions.
Christ teaches us in the Gospels that our true fulfillment is in loving,
which requires our self-denial—taking up our cross and following the
Lord. In other words, emptying ourselves of all that is passing and to
seek before anything else the things of the Kingdom. In the Beatitudes
(the word means: the source of happiness) the Lord showed us that those
who deny themselves and suffer for truth, justice, purity, peace,
humility, poverty, mercy and also suffer persecution are the ones that
will enter into the kingdom of heaven and their reward will be great.
The Beatitudes are exhortations totally opposite to the invitations of
this world. The world invites us to self-seeking pleasures, thinking
only of our own interests; to find self realization in doing what we
please regardless of the harm it may bring to our souls and to the lives
of others. The Beatitudes invite us and teach us the way to obtain
abundant life, now and in eternity.
Our Lady throughout her apparitions is calling us to pay attention to
the eternal realities. She often has taken visionaries to see or
experience heaven, purgatory and hell. She is suffering for the many
souls that are in mortal sin and losing their souls. But, she is also
concerned for those of us that may not be in mortal sin, but are not
putting the effort and mortification necessary to achieve the required
holiness to enter into heaven, for nothing impure can be in the presence
of God (cf. Rev 21, 27). She says to take her messages seriously, and
her most serious message is: conversion, prayer and penance. Only
through a life of prayer and penance, is it that we die to all our sins
and imperfections and acquire virtue and holiness.
Lets not be afraid to suffer what is needed for our purification, for as
St. Paul says: “So we do not lose heart... for this slight momentary
affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all
comparison, because we look not to the things that are visible but to
the things that are invisible; for the things that are visible are
transitory, but the things that are invisible are eternal” (2 Cor 4,
17-18).
III. Crisis of love:
Our Lady in Fatima called us to love and sacrifice for God and others.
She warned us of a great crisis of love that was coming to humanity.
This crisis can be observed in the world today by an extreme and almost
diabolical selfishness. All the structures of society are teaching
humanity to think only of themselves and their own interests; creating,
what I consider, the greatest idol of our times: ourselves.
Mary, who lived only to love God and others—and in her perfect
association of love with her Son, offered her life as a living sacrifice
for the redemption of humanity—is calling us to return to love,
sacrifice and self-giving. For, “In her Heart there is not even a shadow
of selfishness. She desires nothing for herself, but only for the glory
of God and the salvation of men” (JPII, Angelus, Dec. 8th, 1997).
She asked the children in Fatima: “are you willing to offer yourselves
to God and to bear the sufferings He wills to send you as an act of
reparation for the sins by which He is offended and for the conversion
of sinners?” (May 13th, 1917). She called them to offer their lives as a
sacrifice of reparation to God and also for the conversion of sinners. A
call they so generously embraced by doing all kinds of sacrifices and
accepting joyfully all kinds of sufferings.
Our Mother is calling us to do any and all the sacrifices required to
bring about our conversion and the conversion of others. She is calling
us to pray and sacrifice in reparation to the Heart of Jesus to bring
His Mercy into the world. She is also inviting us to cooperate through
our sufferings in the redemption of humanity, just as She did and to
cooperate to bring about the plan of God in this our historic moment.
The great drama of our lives is: are we opened to have our hearts
pierced in union with Christ, like Mary? Are we open to the purifying
grace of God that comes many times through suffering?...or…Do we close
the door and run away from pain, sacrifice, renunciation, allowing
ourselves to be overcome by resentment, selfishness, comfort,
self-interest and the frivolity of our culture? In our culture,
suffering is viewed as something that needs to be avoided at all costs.
However, our faith teaches us the power of our sufferings and penances
united to the Cross of Christ: power to bring about salvation and
redemption (cf. Col 1, 24: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your
sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions
of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church).
Our Lady said: “pray, pray very much and make sacrifices; for many souls
go to Hell because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray
for them” (Aug 13th, 1917). This is a call to true charity, to suffer,
to sacrifice and to pray out of love for sinners, until they are brought
back as prodigal sons and daughters into the House of the Father.
Today, the word “love” has been very much distorted. Many teach that
love is acceptance of sin as an expression of mercy and compassion. True
compassion is suffering and sacrificing for sinners until they renounce
their sins. True love is not to abandon others in their sins, but to
respectfully show them the truth, the truth that will set them free.
True love is not to tell them it is “Ok” to be in sin, or it is part of
their nature and personality. True love and compassion is to be
convinced of their dignity as children of God and therefore their
greatest dignity is to be free of sin.
In Fatima, Our Lady also called us to offer our lives in reparation to
the Hearts of Jesus and Mary for the sins which offend them. It is a
calling of love for the Two Hearts. The Angel told the children: “Pray,
pray very much! The most holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of
Mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High.
Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of
reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for
the conversion of sinners” (Spring of 1916, First Apparition).
Later the Angel taught them the great prayer of reparation: “My God, I
believe, I adore, I hope, and I love thee. I ask pardon of you for those
who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love you”
(Spring of 1916, First Apparition). Reparation is to offer our lives in
love and holiness to console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and to repair
with our love and self-giving the sins of the whole world; “Love covers
a multitude of sins” (1 Pt 4, 8). In these messages we are called to
love God above all, and to love others with a sacrificial love.
The Remedies:
Our Lady, after speaking of the three crises of faith, hope and love
gave us three remedies: FIDELITY TO THE HOLY FATHER, THE HOLY ROSARY AND
CONSECRATION TO HER IMMACULATE HEART.
Fidelity to the Holy Father:
Our Holy Father as successor of Peter, is the visible head of
the Church and the Vicar of Christ. To him has been given the keys of
the kingdom (cf. Mt 16, 19). Of Peter, Jesus said: “upon this rock I
will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven” (Mt 16, 18-19). What power has been given to the
Vicars of Christ.
Our Holy Father is the voice of Christ to us, not only in the Church but
also to the world. He who listens to him, listens to Christ. He who
rejects his teachings, rejects the teaching of Christ (cf. Lk 10). Why
should we look for the truth in any other place than in the voice of the
Holy Father and the Magisterium of the Church. We read in Luke 5 that
the Lord was standing by the Lake of Gennezaret while the crowds were
listening to the word of God. Jesus saw two boats there alongside the
lake. He got into the boat belonging to Simon and from there he taught
the crowds (cf. Lk 5, 1-4). The Lord will only teach from the boat of
Peter. In the dream of St. John Bosco, the Holy Father is the one that
leads the Church, symbolized by a boat, in a great storm and battle
through two pillars, the Eucharist and Our Lady, by tying the boat of
the Church to the pillars; suddenly, the storm then ends.
Why the Rosary:
When the Holy Father, in Fatima, on May 13, 1982 was asked about
the third secret, he replied: “Would you like me to tell you a secret?
It is simple, and after all, it is not a secret. Pray, pray, pray. Say
the Rosary every day”.
He said three times to pray, just as our Lady has been saying in other
recent apparitions. We can conclude that maybe the third secret of
Fatima described these three crises in a more specific way and the Holy
Father has called us to pray the Rosary everyday.
By praying and meditating with the joyful mysteries, we repair for the
crisis of faith and for atheism, through the contemplation of Mary's
faith. But we are also called to and we receive the graces to grow in
the virtue of faith, which is assenting to God’s revelation; and thus,
cooperating with our obedience and total dedication to his plan for our
lives and for humanity.
By praying and meditating on the sorrowful mysteries, we repair for the
crisis of love and for the pervading selfishness taking place in the
hearts of men. By contemplating the sufferings of our Lord and the
unique participation of Mary in those sufferings—for our salvation—we
are called to and receive the graces to grow in heroic charity; which is
giving ourselves unconditionally, whatever the cost, for the glory of
God and for the good of others.
By praying and meditating on the glorious mysteries, we repair for the
crisis of hope and for the materialistic attitude of contemporary men.
By contemplating the eternal rewards promised for our fidelity to the
will of God, even in the mists of suffering, we are called to and
receive the graces to grow in “hope against all hope”; which is trusting
in the love and power of God that acts in all of our present situations
in view of our eternal salvation.
Consecration to the Immaculate Heart
I said in the beginning that Mary’s Heart is the “New Ark”,
where we are safe from the present flood of atheism, materialism and
egotism. We are called to enter into the Ark by consecrating ourselves
to her Immaculate Heart. Once being totally given to Her, allow her to
be our Mother, teacher and guide; allowing Her virtues of faith, hope
and charity to mold and transform our hearts.
The Holy Father, JPII, said in Fatima in 1982: “My heart is oppressed
when I see the sin of the world and the whole range of menaces,
gathering dark clouds over mankind but it also rejoices with hope
because I am consecrating the world, to the Heart of the Mother. Doing
this means consecrating the world to Him who is infinite holiness. This
holiness means redemption. It means a love more powerful than evil. No
‘sin of the world’ can ever overcome this love” (Homily: May 13th).
The Holy Father has placed his confidence in the power given by God to
Mary to bring about the victories needed by the Church and the world:
“if victory comes it will be brought by Mary. Christ will conquer
through her, because He wants the Church’s victories now and in the
future to be linked to her” (Crossing the Threshold of Hope. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1995, pg. 221).
Let us ask our Lady to intervene and enter our hearts and all humanity,
giving us her virtues of faith, hope and charity. For as the Holy
Father, JPII, exhorted us in “Tertio Millennio Adveniente”: “the Jubilee
celebration should confirm the Christians of today in their faith in God
who has revealed himself in Christ, sustain their hope which reaches out
in expectation of eternal life, and rekindle their charity in active
service to their brothers and sisters" (31).
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
