Are We Idolizing Mary?

Yesterday, December 8th, with thousands of other Catholics in Fatima, Portugal, I participated in the holy sacrifice of the Mass on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  As I was reviewing the video that I took after mass, I thought to myself that our brothers and sisters in Christ of other faiths might be aghast at seeing such a spectacle of white handkerchiefs waiving, the adornment of flowers, and candles burning – even the sacrificial expression of individuals and families walking on their knees as an offering and thanksgiving for petitions requested or answered by Jesus through Mary.

Fans of Our Lady (Video)

Fatima visitors tip the scales when it comes to an outward expression of the love Catholics have for Mama Mary.  The debate over idolising our Blessed Mother is, for me, pointless. In the past, I tried to debate the tenets of our faith with other Catholics who had fallen "out of the boat", and I realised they were withdrawing back from speaking to me on other occasions.  But simply being an example of my faith and allowing the Holy Spirit to open doors and to guide my tongue to words of charity and truth has hopefully cultivated the ground for future discussions.

Our Lord Asked for Reparation

On May 29-30, 1930, in a locution to Lucia, Jesus gave five sins for which reparation should be made on the First Five Saturdays. (World Apostolate of Fatima, The First Saturday Devotion, printed with ecclesiastical permission.)

1.     The denial and ridicule of her Immaculate Conception.

2.     Against her perpetual virginity.

3.     Against her Divine Maternity and denying that she is the Mother of God and our Mother

4.     The indifference, contempt and hate taught to children against His Mother.

5.     Insults, indifference, or ridicule against her sacred images.

With His final breath, Jesus placed us under Mary's maternal care for all our holy needs with the perfect heart of a mother who weeps when we disobey God’s Laws or discredit, reduce, or ignore her Son’s mission to save us on the cross. This is not a display of weakness on her part, but rather full love, whereby she seeks us with the light of the Holy Spirit and avails herself to our prayers.

“The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin”. CCC 491

As we move forward with the Fatima apparitions, I will share some things that shed light on why Our Lady’s requests today remain active and why we need to understand her call to reparation of sin and the conversion of sinners. We will also discuss "how" we can repair.

But now there is a little tidbit of information about the statue of Our Lady of Fatima that is in the niche above the Basilica but below the bell tower.  This iconic statue was sculpted by an American priest, sculptor, and author, Fr. Thomas McGlynn, a Dominican priest from

New York.  I encourage you to read about how this statue came about under the meticulous direction of Sr. Lucia of Fatima.  The Fatima Visionary Who Helped an American Artist.

Saturday at the Theological and Pastoral Congress of the World Apostolate of the International Congress of Fatima, Sr. Angela gave an excellent presentation on Reparation and Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Sr. Angela was the Postulator for the canonization of Saints Francisco and Jacinta.  She was also the Vice Postulator for the Beatification and Canonization of Venerable Sr. Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart. It is from her study and talk that I will present some key thoughts regarding reparation and consecration.

The third visit of the Angel 1916 - from “Lucia’s Own Words”, by Fr. Louis Kondor (the apparition took place on the slope of a hillside after the children prayed their rosary and the prayer that had been taught to them by the Angel.)

“While we were there, the angel appeared to us for the third time, holding a chalice in his hands, with a Host above it from which some drops of Blood were falling into the sacred vessel.  Leaving the chalice and the Host suspended in the air, the angel prostrated himself on the ground and repeated this prayer three times:

‘Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly.  I offer thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference with which He is offended.  By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.’”

The angel brings a message of the need to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to pray in reparation for our own sins and the sins of mankind that have offended God and continue to do so.  Please continue to visit this blog to look more deeply into the messages of Fatima and their relevance to today. - St. Juan Diego, Pray for us.

I hope you will return on December 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Still writing from the Ave Maria Casita in Fatima.