Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - With regard to the necessity to foster greater awareness of the importance of prayer, let us listen to what the Blessed Virgin Mary said when she appeared to the three shepherd children at Fatima in order to grasp the meaning of the Apparitions and theMessage. The extracts given below are taken from the “Memories of Sister Lucia”.
13 May 1917: «Recite the Rosary every day to obtain peace in the world…». Lucia asks if one of her friends is in heaven: «she is in purgatory and must stay there until the end of the world »…
13 June 1917: «I want you to say the Rosary every day».
13 July 1917: «I want you to… continue recite the Rosary in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary to obtain peace in the world… because she alone can help you Lei».
The three children then had a terrifying vision of hell. Here is how Sister Lucia describes it: « Our Lady showed us a large sea of fire which seemed to be beneath the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls, who were like embers, transparent and black or bronze-coloured, with human forms that floated about in the conflagration, borne by the flames which issued from it with clouds of smoke, falling on all sides as sparks fall in great conflagrations, without weight or equilibrium, among shrieks and groans of sorrow and despair which horrified us and caused us to quake with fear. The devils were distinguished by horrible and loathsome forms of animals, frightful and unknown, but transparent and black. This vision vanished in a moment. Providentially, our good Heavenly Mother had promised us, in the first Apparition, to take us to Heaven. Otherwise I think we would have died of fright and horror.
« Shortly afterwards, we raised our eyes to Our Lady who said with goodness and sadness - You saw hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to My Immaculate Heart». « Jacinta, she was greatly impressed by some things revealed in the secret. As a matter of fact, this was one of them. The vision of hell frightened her so much that she did all the penances and mortifications she could to prevent more souls from going there. ».
« There are people, even devout ones, who are afraid to speak about hell to children lest they frighten them, but God did not hesitate to show it to three children, one of whom was only seven years old. He knew she would be horrified to the point — I would say — of shrivelling with fear. ».
« Frequently she sat, meditating, on the ground or some stone, and began to exclaim, “Hell! Hell! How sorry I am for the souls that are going to hell! And people burn there alive, like wood in fire!” And quivering a little, she would kneel on the ground with her hands joined and say the prayer Our Lady had taught us: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fire of hell, lead all souls into Heaven, especially those who are most in need of Thy Mercy!” ”» «Meu bom Jesus, perdoai-nos, livrai-nos do fogo do inferno; levai as almas todas para o céu e socorrei, principalmente, as que mais precisarem…».
Then Our Lady then reveals the famous secret of Fatima.
19 August 1917: (the children were arrested and detained for questioning). Our Lady says: «I want you to continue reciting the rosary every day… pray, pray and make sacrifices for sinners, because many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray for them or make sacrifices for them».
13 September 1917: «Continue to recite the Rosary… In October, Lucia says, we saw Our Lord and then the Sorrowful Mother, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St Joseph and the Child Jesus …».
13 October 1917: «I am Our Lady of the Rosary, people must continue to recite the Rosary always, every day ». Then there was the miracle of the sun, seen by over 100,000 people as far as 20 km away. Lucia continues: «When Our Lady disappeared in the immensity of the heavens we saw next to the sun, St Joseph and the Child with Mary dressed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph and the Child seemed to bless the world making a gesture of the hand in the form of a cross. When this apparition appeared I saw Our Lord and then Our Lady dressed as the Sorrowful Mother. Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same way as Saint Joseph had done. When this apparition disappeared I saw the Blessed Virgin Mary dressed as Our Lady of Mount Carmel».
«If they do not stop offending God» Mary warns with maternal concern on 13 July, God «will punish to world for its crimes with war, famine and persecutions against the Church and the Holy Father. To prevent this I will come to ask for Russia to be consecrated to my Immaculate Heart and for Communion of reparation on the first Saturday of the month».
To say that after this date the world has converted, that hell does not exist, or perhaps it does but no one goes to hell because «God is all merciful» and he truly is … means forgetting that men and women are free, they can sin, like Lucifer they are free to rebel against God.
In the next article we will reflect on Sister Lucia’s description of the Apparitions of the Angel which happened before and are less known than those of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1917. (J.M.) (Agenzia Fides 16/11/2006, righe 59, parole 847)
