Prophecy and Prayers for Peace, Part II

Or, Why Today May Be a Bigger Deal Than Some are Making It, but Smaller than Others are

I think one of the reasons Our Lady of Fatima attracts so many devotees is the purported secrets. In her 1941 memoir, Sister Lucia said that during the July 13, 1917 apparition, Mary had entrusted the children with three secrets, which I’ll address out of order. The first two secrets were disclosed in the 1940s, while the third was released in 2000.

The first secret was a vision of hell, which they experienced on July 4, 1917, and explanation at the July 13 apparition that sinners could be saved from hell through sacrifices and self-mortification. I think the idea that the Blessed Mother showed young children harrowing visions of hell and instructed self-mortification doesn’t line up with her natural character, but either way, this secret seems pretty straightforward.

The third secret was a vision of religious people, led by the pope in white, going through a city of ruins, climbing a hill, and being martyred by soldiers with bullets and arrows. Sister Lucia has insisted this secret be publicly released by 1960, when it “will be more clearly understood.” Yet, in 1960, a Vatican press release said that the was "most probable the Secret would remain, forever, under absolute seal.” This led people to speculate that the secret foretold a worldwide or nuclear destruction that would incite mass panic or that officers within the Church were conspiring against the good of the Church in hiding the secret. In 2000, the Vatican finally published the text of the third secret, but speculation remained that parts of the secret were still withheld. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI said that that was the full secret, and that it could have a specific reference to the assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II and an ongoing meaning of the suffering the Church, through persecution and through the sexual abuse scandal.

The second secret was a recommendation for devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace. Such devotion would lead to an end of the Great War (WWI), but worse would come if people continued to offend God. This next war would be preceded by a strange light in the sky. (Incidentally, on January 25, 1938, a rare aurora borealis appeared over the northern hemisphere as far sough as North Africa and California. It was so bright that people in Europe thought there were wildfires burning.)

To avert this worse war or time of chastisement, Mary promised that if Russia were consecrated to her Immaculate Heart and First Saturdays Devotions established, Russia would be converted and there would be peace; if not, Russia would spread error throughout the world, causing more war and persecution. The vision concluded that ultimately, the pope would consecrate Russia and a period of peace would be granted. Although in July 1917, Russia was still under an Orthodox monarchy, many have interpreted this secret as a warning against communism, as the Bolshevik Revolution would take place just months later.   

For many believers of Fatima, this secret is the key to stopping the spread of secular/communist ideologies and bringing peace to the world. And while popes have pronounced consecrations before, war has continued, leading people to believe that the consecration must be done very specifically and has yet to be truly fulfilled.

In 1942, Pope Pius XII (who, incidentally, was ordained a bishop on May 13, 1917, the day of the first Fatima vision) consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and “in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart.” At the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI renewed Pius’ consecration of the human race to the Immaculate Heart. In 1984, Pope John Paul II also consecrated the entire world to Mary. Some maintain that the consecration must be made of Russia specifically and only and that the pope must make the consecration simultaneously with all the world’s bishops. Sister Lucia reported said that the 1984 consecration accomplished the conditions according the request in the apparition she received in 1929.

Which brings us to today. In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He has asked bishops and priests around the world to join him. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has said he will join. They will pray the consecration at 5 p.m. Rome time, one of the best time periods to have Europe, Africa, North America, and South America awake and likely to participate simultaneously. The Archbishop of Sydney has even said he will open his cathedral at 2:30 a.m. in order to join simultaneously.

And if the war doesn’t cease, the hardline believers will claim that including Ukraine in the consecration was wrong or that some bishops did not participate. Those that want to believe in secrets and prophecies being carried out will never accept that the third secret was fully released or that the second secret’s requirements were met, because that’s just not as interesting. I think devotees who put so much stock into the secrets want them to be true because it’s exciting to live in a time of living out a prophecy. They want to be a part of the visions; they want the knowledge of knowing why things are going wrong (“you aren’t following Mary’s directions”). It makes us special.

Personally, such strict and worldwide requirements in a personal revelation for something as previously-unattained as world peace seems…I’ll just say not likely. Still, I believe entrusting war-torn countries to Mary and gathering as the truly universal Church to pray for peace is still a good idea and still will bring about good. We should be praying for peace, broadly and specifically. And during particularly tumultuous times, coming together as one Church with a shared goal and prayer is powerful.

Further, there is a political aspect to all of this. The Vatican is a country, but not one who participates in military maneuvers (I mean, anymore) or take public stances against foreign leaders by name. But Pope Francis’ decision to make this consecration now, one month since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is a decidedly political one, clearly demonstrating his disagreement with Russia’s actions. Further, it is a statement against the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, who has publicly supported Russia’s actions. The Orthodox Church in Russia has a complicated and currently uncomfortably close relationship with the government; forced underground during the era of Soviet rule, yet now it is a powerful ally with Putin and a cultural symbol of “Russian-ness” to nationalists.

In response to Francis’ call for prayer, Patriarch Kirill called on the Russian Orthodox faithful to pray for peace through Mary, the Theotokos. This may sound like they are asking for the same thing, and I believe ultimately, the average Russian Orthodox praying for peace and the average Roman Catholic praying for peace are equally sincere and heard. But Patriarch Kirill’s idea of peace is that the faster Russia conquers Ukraine and gets what it wants, the faster the violence will end.

On March 13, he presented an image of Mary to the Russian National Guard in hopes, a national guard leader said, that it would “protect the Russian army and bring our victory faster.” Patriarch Kirill has spoken openly about how the Ukrainians are ethnically Rus, the same as Russians, thus perpetuating the Russian claim that Ukraine should be closely allied to, if not a part of, Russia and justifying Russian interference. He specifically called out the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine who in response to his support of invasion have broken communion from him, saying they fell victim to “forces foreign to the Church that want to destroy the spiritual unity of our peoples. When someone out of fear refuses to commemorate the Patriarch, then this is a sign of weakness.”

Pope Francis has made efforts to work together with religious leaders of other denominations and faiths throughout his pontificate, including Patriarch Kirill. Last week, the two spoke. Pope Francis reportedly said, “We are shepherds of the same Holy People who believe in God, in the Holy Trinity, in the Holy Mother of God: that is why we must unite in the effort to aid peace, to help those who suffer, to seek ways of peace, and to stop the fire.”

Their words are religious, but the way they are using those words and religious actions, are political responses to the current war. Like in 1917. Like in 1941. Both probably sincerely want the protection of Mary’s mantle. Both want peace. But what that looks like, and how we as a Church, as a world, are to arrive there, are coming from totally different political outlooks.

I do not think that war will end. Maybe this particular one will. But not war itself. Not until the Second Coming. That doesn’t diminish the power of praying for peace or make peacemaking a futile effort. It just means that I think the people putting so much stock in the secrets of Fatima are chasing a quick-fix, a utopia. While revelations and apparitions might be “worthy of belief,” they must never supersede doctrine and the Gospel. We can grow in faith through sacrifices and prayer, but they are not tasks in which we earn salvation or peace. The key to everything is Christ’s Resurrection, not our adherence to instructions given in a personal vision.

So, though I do not give much credence to this particular devotion, I will still join in with millions of others today in praying together for peace.

 

Prophecy and Prayers for Peace, Part I

Or, Why Tomorrow May Be a Bigger Deal Than Some are Making It, but Smaller than Others are

On May 13, 1917, three children in Fatima, Portugal claimed that a woman shining in light appeared to them and introduced herself as Our Lady of the Rosary. She would appear to them five more times, including the famous “Miracle of the Sun” on October 13, in which thousands had gathered and saw the sun zig-zag across the sky and emit different colors. She reportedly told the children to pray the rosary every day to bring peace to the world and to end the war (World War I).

Our Lady of Fatima became a Marian apparition with devotees almost immediately in Portugal and Spain and gaining more international popularity in the 1930s. In 1930, the Church recognized the apparitions as “worthy of belief,” meaning that the messages did not contradict the faith and that it was alright for people to believe in the apparitions. With Vatican approval, belief is permitted as the messages properly point to Christ, but since revelations such as these are private (compared to the public revelations/prophecies in the time before Christ), belief is not doctrine nor mandated. Still, many do believe, and millions of pilgrims travel to Fatima every year. That said, only 22 apparitions of Mary have ever been approved by the Vatican.

Even at the time, there were doubts to the children’s testimony. Their families initially asked them to recant. In August, they were taken into custody by a city bureaucrat in hopes that removing them from their village/family would lead them to recant. They didn’t. A priest who interviewed the children pointed out a discrepancy in one of the prophecies—the children claimed Mary told them the war would end on October 13, 1917—yet the war continued for another 13 months. The children were known to be highly pious and would often fast from food and water, even while working in the Portuguese summer heat watching sheep.

Even one of the children, Lucia, later wrote about doubts she had at the time: “I began then to have doubts as to whether these manifestations might be from the devil ... truly, ever since I had started seeing these things, our home was no longer the same, for joy and peace had fled.” But in adulthood, she maintained that the apparitions were genuine.

Two of the children died in 1919 and 1920 from flu. Many people reported that the children claimed that Mary had told them that the two of them would die soon. The third child, Lucia, became a nun and dedicated herself to promoting devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Over the years, she claimed to have several more visions of Mary and Christ. In 1925, she claimed that Mary appeared to her and instructed her to promote First Saturday Devotion—a practice begun in the eight century of honoring Mary on Saturdays and further developed in 1889 as a Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the first Saturday of every month. Reportedly, Mary’s instruction was: “I promise to assist at the hour of death with the grace necessary for salvation all those who, with the intention of making reparation to me, will, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the beads, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.”

In 1929, Sister Lucia claimed Mary appeared and reiterated a request made in 1917 that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. In 1931, Sister Lucia claimed that Jesus appeared to her, taught her two prayers, and delivered a message for her to rely to the Church’s hierarchy.  Between 1936 and 1941, Sister Lucia wrote her memoirs. She left the Dorothean order in 1947 and joined the Carmelites. She died on February 13, 2005 at the age of 97.  

I think it’s important to place the apparitions and its immediate popularity into context. Portugal had recently become an officially secular government in 1910 with the overthrow of the monarchy and establishment of the Portuguese Republic. There was a lot of tension between the religious and anticlerics, which would ultimately lead to a coup in 1926. World War I was ravaging Europe. In April of 1917, Portugal had officially joined the front lines of the fighting. The threat of Communism was on the rise; in late 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution would overthrow the Russian tsar and place Russia under Communist control. Sister Lucia first set of memoirs came out in the midst of World War II.

I think it’s reasonable to think that the tensions of the time influenced how the visions were interpreted and how much weight people put on them. The world was changing, rapidly and violently. Our Lady of Fatima offered directions—actions—to put a stop to the madness, or a least protect yourself. The daily rosary, the First Saturday Devotion, the consecration, was all something to do when you felt like everything else was spinning out of control. And she assured people that the secular, communist, or modernist ideas of the age would not win out. She was—and is—a reminder of faithfulness and victory.

Recently, her message of faithfulness and victory has made the headlines of news all around the world, because tomorrow, Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and bishops and priests around the world will simultaneously join. And it raises so many questions: Is it a fulfillment of Our Lady of Fatima’s prophecy? Is it simply a nice gesture for peace? Is it a political act couched in ecclesiastical language? Can it truly lead to conversion in Russia and an end to the war?

Part II tomorrow.

Blessed Women

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Gen. 3:15, NIV

Immediately after Mary receives the news that she is to bear Jesus, she goes to see Elizabeth, who greets her with “blessed are you among women.” This phrase wasn’t just an outpouring of Elizabeth’s joy at Mary’s news; it was title used for powerful women before and a declaration of victory. At the Fall, God places enmity between woman and serpent and declares that the woman’s offspring will, in the end, crush the head of the serpent. This is prefigured several times as women, despite their second-class status in society, rise up and save their people against a powerful adversary. “Blessed are you among women” is given to women in Scripture who will smash the heads of Israel’s greatest enemies. So why would Elizabeth say that to Mary? What do women warriors Jael and Judith have in common with docile Mary?

Deborah is one of the most powerful women in Jewish history—she is the only female judge over the tribes of Israel, and only one of two judges who is also a prophet. Men seek her advise and military leadership. In Judges 4:9, she prophesies that Israel will defeat the Canaanites in battle, but that  “the Lord will sell [Canaanite general] Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Sisera escapes the battle and seeks refuge in the tent of Jael. She gives him milk, and once he is asleep, takes a tent peg and strikes it through his temple into the ground. Deborah and Barak, the Israelite general, proclaim, “Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed” (Judges 5:24).

Judith is a widow living in Jerusalem under Assyrian rule. The commander Holofernes wants to destroy the Temple and make the people worship the king. The city is under siege and about to surrender. Judith rebukes the Israelite leaders who are about surrender. She says, “Listen to me! I will perform a deed that will go down from generation to generation among our descendants. Stand at the city gate tonight to let me pass through with my maid; and within the days you have specified before you will surrender the city to our enemies, the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand” (Judith 8:32-33). She sneaks into Holofernes’ camp, deceives him into thinking she is being seduced, and when alone with him, cuts off his head with his own sword. She returns to the Israelites, and the leader Uzziah proclaims,  “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to strike the head of the leader of our enemies” (Judith 13:18).

Pope Benedict XVI refers to Jael and Judith as “two women warriors who do their utmost to save Israel.” He then draws a comparison to Mary, “a peaceful young woman who is about to bring the Savior into the world.” By cooperating with God’s plan, Mary is also a warrior, paving the path for the ultimate victory over Satan and save mankind.

Both of these stories from the Old Testament involve deception and violent means of stopping an enemy. So how are they similar to the virginal Mary conceiving a child? Elizabeth proclaims to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42). But the previous times women are called “blessed among women,” it is immediately after crushing the head of an enemy. Through Mary, God becomes incarnate into the world and ultimately defeat death and crush Satan. The Holy Spirit moves Elizabeth (and John in her womb) to recognize the momentous power within Mary. Before her is her young, pregnant cousin. But she sees the new Eve, the new Ark of the Covenant, the salvation of not just Israel, but all mankind.

Revelation tells of a woman whose offspring defeats a dragon: “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. When the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne” (Revelation 12:1-5). From the Fall to the apocalypse, Scripture tells of woman destined to battle the enemy. By her hands, victory will come.