Wednesday, May 13th, 2020

One of the more famous elements of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima is the well-known vision of hell shown to the children. As Sr Lucia writes: “Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear.”

Its important to receive this private revelation with the right spirit. Firstly to accept that, yes, suffering is the consequence when I reject God - perpetual suffering if that is how I live my life: not because God is vengeful, but because we cannot function without him. But also, more importantly, to accept what the main point of the messages were - that it doesn’t have to be this way because God is close, he aches for union with us, and all we need to do is abandon ourselves to him and his happiness is ours forever. Being sinners, this is not so easy for us to do: so we have an extra help - the Blessed Virgin Mary. A life lived with Mary is a life close to God - because in her arms I am right next to the Baby Jesus.

Let us pray:

“O God, who chose the Mother of your Son to be our Mother also, grant us that, persevering in penance and prayer for the salvation of the world, we may further more effectively each day the reign of Christ. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.”