Sunday, April 5, 2015

51. THE CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA, THE SECRET OF FATIMA



April 5, 2015Three days after His death and burial, Jesus rose from the grave and invited the disciple whom history has nicknamed "Doubting Thomas" to examine the marks of his crucifixion John 20:27 "Then he saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither, and see my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing." When Thomas touched Jesus wounds, he finally believed in the resurrection. Christ responded, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" John 20:29.

As Christians today, we are the ones who have not seen but still believe.

In 1917 Three Children Believed They Have Seen and Spoke with the Blessed Mother In Fatima, Portugal



These three Portuguese children, Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta Marto, and Francisco Marto, were young and without much education when they reported the apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in 1917.


The apparition is also referred to as Our Lady of the Rosary (a term first used in 1208 for the reputed apparition in the church of Prouille), because the children said the apparition called herself the "Lady of the Rosary". A combination of these titles is also seen, i.e. Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima (Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima).
The events at Fátima gained fame due to elements of secrets, prophecy and eschatology, particularly with regard to World War II and possibly more World Wars in the future. Chief among these is also the alleged urgent need for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The reported apparitions at Fátima were officially declared worthy of belief by the Catholic Church.
The first secret was a vision of hell, which Lúcia describes in her Third Memoir as follows:
"Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. 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. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror."
The second secret included Mary's instructions on how to save souls from hell and convert the world to the Christian faith, also revealed by Lúcia in her Third Memoir:
"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."
According to Sister Lúcia, the Virgin Mary promised that the Consecration of Russia would lead to Russia's conversion and an era of peace.
Pope Pius XII, in his Apostolic Letter Sacro Vergente of 7 July 1952, consecrated Russia to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pius XII wrote:
  • Just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart.
When Pope Pius XII consecrated the entire human race, was it done in fulfillment of the specific request of the Blessed Mother? According to Sister Lucia, once Russia is consecrated to Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Mother of God, Russia will be converted and era of peace will follow. And this was the promise of the Virgin Mary.  What really comes to the minds of the faithful is whether the consecration was done properly and according to the wishes of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the other hand, there is a also lingering question whether there is a part of the message in the The Third Secret of Fatima that is unknown to us that has prevented the sole consecration of Russia? If there is what is it? 
19. WARNING - THE CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA REQUESTED BY OUR LADY NEVER HAPPENED!
Modern Day Russia   
Pat Buchanan's column, “Is God Now on Russia’s Side?,” is difficult to read and almost laugh-out-loud funny, as Buchanan was once a staunch anti-communist who served President Reagan as his communications director during the Cold War. Buchanan’s opposition to the Evil Empire, as Reagan correctly called it, has given way to an unseemly embrace of former Soviet KGB colonel Vladimir Putin, the virtual dictator of Russia who served the “Evil Empire” for decades.
Glenn Beck on the other hand has made no secret of his belief that the world is headed for World War III, and recently released a video highlighting the similarities between present-day Russia and Germany just before World War II. He said the two countries have followed the same “fascist playbook.”
“The escalating violent military conflict between Russia and Ukraine is deeply troubling, but it’s also deeply familiar,” Beck said. “The last time the world saw military aggression like this, it ended in global war and tens of millions dead. The similarities between now and then are striking.”

So if the world is heading towards World War III, then the consecration of Russia has yet to be fulfilled. According to Sister Lúcia, the Virgin Mary promised that the Consecration of Russia would lead to Russia's conversion and an era of peace.





“The Message of Fatima
imposes an obligation on the church”.
… Pope John Paul II

What is a “consecration”? 

It is a ceremony by which a person, group of persons, or thing is set apart as sacred and dedicated to the service of God or another sacred purpose. 

What is meant by “the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary”? 

At Fatima, on July 13, 1917, Our Lady told Sister Lucy that “God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church, and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the Communions of reparation and for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart ... In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.” 

Our Lady’s request is very simple: Russia—the fount of so much evil in the 20th Century—must be set apart and made sacred by its consecration to the Mother of God. 

Why is it necessary to consecrate Russia in particular? 

Because God wills it. As Our Lady told Sister Lucy at Fatima: “Russia will be the instrument of chastisement chosen by Heaven to punish the whole world if we do not beforehand obtain the conversion of that poor nation ...” 


And as Sister Lucy disclosed in her published memoirs and letters, Our Lord Himself confided to her that He would not convert Russia unless the consecration were done, “Because I want My whole Church to recognize that consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that it may extend its cult later on, and put the devotion to this Immaculate Heart beside the devotion to My Sacred Heart.” Sister Lucy has explained that because Russia is a well-defined territory, the conversion of Russia after its consecration to the Immaculate Heart would be undeniable proof that the conversion resulted from the consecration and nothing else. The establishment in the world of devotion to the Immaculate Heart would thus be confirmed by God Himself in the most dramatic manner. 

And what if the consecration of Russia is not done? 

At Fatima, Our Lady warned that if the consecration were not done as She requested, then “Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated.” By the same token, the miraculous conversion of Russia after its consecration by the Pope and the bishops, and the resulting peace in the world, will be a sign of the power of God’s grace acting through ministers of His Church and the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

How exactly is this consecration supposed to be accomplished? 

True to Her word at Fatima, Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucy at Tuy, Spain, on June 13, 1929, to say that: “The moment has come when God asks the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means.” The phrase “by this means” is crucial, because it signifies that the consecration is not merely a symbol of the coming conversion of Russia, but the very means by which it will be accomplished. Thus, without the act of consecration there will be no conversion of Russia, and without the conversion of Russia, Russia’s errors will continue to infest the world, producing the persecution of the Church, the martyrdom of the good, the suffering of the Holy Father and ultimately the annihilation of nations forewarned at Fatima.

Over the ensuing decades, Sister Lucy has explained time and again that the act of consecration requires that the Pope “choose a date upon which His Holiness commands the bishops of the entire world to make, each in his own Cathedral, and at the same time as the Pope, a solemn and public ceremony of Reparation and consecration of Russia ...” 

But isn’t Fatima just a private apparition no Catholic has to believe? 

Far from it. The apparitions at Fatima were confirmed by a public miracle witnessed by 70,000 people—the Miracle of the Sun. Pope John Paul II himself declared at Fatima in 1982 that the Message of Fatima “imposes an obligation on the Church”, and he publicly attributed to Our Lady of Fatima his escape from death in the assassination attempt of May 13, 1981—the very anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima.

In fact, the Pope himself has twice attempted to perform the consecration (May 13, 1982 and March 25, 1984), although Russia was not mentioned on either occasion, and the bishops of the world did not participate. These attempts demonstrate that the Pope himself recognizes an obligation to consecrate Russia, even if he has not yet been able to accomplish a consecration in the manner specified by Our Lady: a solemn public ceremony, mentioning Russia specifically, and involving all of the world’s bishops. Yet Our Lady Herself has promised us that this event will ultimately occur. 

Didn’t the Pope succeed in performing the consecration of Russia in 1984? 

No. As Sister Lucy herself declared in a September 1985 interview, the attempted consecration of March 25, 1984, did not satisfy Our Lady’s requests because “there was no participation of the bishops and there was no mention of Russia.” In consecrating the world in general on that date without mentioning Russia, the Holy Father himself acknowledged in the presence of tens of thousands of witnesses, both during and after the ceremony, that the people of Russia were still “awaiting our consecration and confiding.” The next day these statements were reported in the Pope’s own newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, and the Italian Bishops’ publication, L’Avvenire. 

Wasn’t the consecration of the world by the Pope in 1984 enough to fulfill Our Lady’s request? 

No. For her entire life since the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, Sister Lucy has insisted that Russia must be specifically mentioned. 

For example, in a 1978 interview with her confidant, Father Umberto Pasquale, and in a letter to Father Pasquale in 1980, Sister Lucy was asked the question: “Has Our Lady ever spoken to you about the consecration of the world?” During the interview, Sister Lucy answered:


“No, Father Umberto! Never! At the Cova da Iria in 1917 Our Lady promised: ‘I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia ...’ In 1929, at Tuy, as She had promised, Our Lady came to tell me that the moment had come to ask the Holy Father for the consecration of that country.” 

And, in the 1980 letter (dated April 13 of that year), Sister Lucy confirmed what she had said in the interview, stating in her own handwriting that “Our Lady of Fatima, in Her request, referred only to the consecration of Russia.” Both the 1978 interview and the 1980 letter (photographically reproduced) were published in the May 12, 1982, Italian edition of L’Osservatore Romano.


Does not our own common sense tell us that if Our Lady of Fatima requested the consecration of Russia, then Russia must at least be mentioned in the act of consecration? We might also reasonably ask what possible reason there could be for not uttering one simple word—Russia—in the act of consecrating Russia. No explanation has ever been given for this mysterious omission in the attempted consecrations of 1982 and 1984.. 



But doesn’t the “collapse of Communism” after the 1984 consecration ceremony show that Russia is beginning to convert and that the consecration must have been effective, despite its failure to mention Russia? 

Hardly. In 1997 Russia enacted legislation which discriminates against the Catholic Church and in favor of Russian Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. Catholic parishes are required to apply for an annual “registration” which can be revoked at will by any local bureaucrat, while priests and nuns are given only three-month visas which cannot be renewed. The Vatican has condemned the new law as a great setback for the Church in Russia. 

In all of Russia today there are some 300,000 Catholics—fewer than there were in 1917, the same year Our Lady came to Fatima and promised the ultimate conversion of Russia, which has yet to occur. The Russian Revolution, which has been exported in various forms to other nations, confirms Our Lady’s prophecy of the spread of Russia’s errors throughout the world. Today Muslims outnumber Catholics ten-to-one in Russia. Compare this with the true miracle of conversion which occurred after the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico in the 16th Century: within nine years some 9 million Aztecs turned from devil-worship and human sacrifice and were converted and baptized as Catholics. Yet in Russia today, more than 14 years after the supposed “consecration” of 1984, we see barely a trickle of converts, and fewer Russian Catholics overall than there were 80 years ago!

Even the Russian Orthodox patriarch, Alexi II, publicly admitted on December 24, 1998, that since the supposed “fall of communism” in Russia, Christian culture “is not only being pushed into the background and oblivion, but is also being mocked and ridiculed ... as something extinct and unnecessary.” Alexi also decried the “rise of neo-paganism ... totalitarian sects, black magic practitioners, astrologers, and occultists” in “post-communist” Russia.

Meanwhile, Boris Yeltsin has been forced to cede power to the Communist-dominated Russian parliament, and his new prime minister, the former head of the dreaded KGB, has placed Communists in control of the entire Russian economy, producing what even the liberal NY Times has called “a shift to the left” and a return to Soviet-style government.

Most telling of all: Since the “consecration” of 1984, more than 600 million children have been slaughtered in the womb around the world—including Russia, where legalized abortion began. The war on the unborn is the greatest war in the history of the world. Thus, it should be obvious to anyone with common sense that the period of peace promised by Our Lady if Russia were properly consecrated has yet to occur.


The conversion of Russia promised by Our Lady of Fatima has simply not happened. This can only mean that the consecration has not been done, for Our Lady’s promises cannot be false.

Isn’t it too late for the consecration of Russia anyway, since Russia’s errors have already spread throughout the world? 

No! As Our Lord Himself confided to Sister Lucy at Rianjo in August of 1931: “They did not wish to heed My request! ... Like the King of France, they will repent of it, and they will do it, but it will be late. Russia will already have spread its errors in the world ...” 

So the consecration will ultimately be done, and, as Our Lady promised at Fatima, “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and a period of peace will be given to mankind.” Our Lord Himself confided to Sister Lucy, regarding the consecration, that “It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.”

What is so urgent about the consecration now? 

As Our Lady warned at Fatima: “If My requests are not granted, Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated.”

We have yet to witness the annihilation of nations foretold at Fatima. Must we wait until it happens before we finally do exactly what Our Lady commanded us to do in God’s name? In view of the accelerating decline of morality and the disintegration of social order around the world, simple prudence should tell us that we cannot delay even one moment longer the consecration of Russia, and only Russia, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

But if the Pope feels he has done the consecration, what right does anyone have to question him? 

The Pope has never publicly stated to all the members of the Church that he has performed the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On the contrary, the Pope’s words as quoted in L’Osservatore Romano demonstrate that he knows the consecration has yet to be done. In view of this, the faithful have every right to petition their Pope for the definitive consecration of Russia. In fact, the God-given right of the faithful to petition the Supreme Pontiff in matters affecting the good of the Church was infallibly defined as Catholic doctrine by two ecumenical councils: Vatican I (1870) and the Second Council of Lyon (1274), and is also guaranteed by the current Code of Canon Law (Canon 212).


The good of the Church and the safety of the whole world demand absolute certainty that the requests of Our Lady of Fatima have been carried out. The matter will be settled only when the definitive consecration is performed, or when the Pope declares in an official, binding way to the whole Church that he has already performed the consecration in a manner sufficient to satisfy Our Lady’s requests. Neither event has occurred, and therefore the matter remains open to free discussion and petitions by the faithful, who have every right to address a matter of such obvious importance for the Church and the world.

The “The Message of Fatima imposes an obligation on the church” was taken from the article: FATIMA PRIEST



The Third Secret PredictsWorld War III and Worse?
The Fatima Crusader Interviews Father Paul Kramer


Introduction
Many Catholics remember the startlingly candid remarks of Mother Angelica on the Eternal Word Television Network concerning the vision of the Third Secret disclosed by the Vatican on June 26, 2000. Mother Angelica said to her national television audience on May 16, 2001:

As for the Secret, I happen to be one of those individuals who thinks we didn’t get the whole thing … Because I think it’s scary ...

Mother Angelica, like millions of Catholics the world over, found it hard to believe that an obscure vision of a “bishop dressed in white” hobbling past the dead bodies of bishops, priests and laity outside a half-ruined city, and then being executed by a band of soldiers, is all there is to a Secret that had been kept under lock and key by the Vatican for more than forty years. For one thing, where are the “words of the Virgin” — mentioned by the Vatican itself in its 1960 announcement suppressing the Secret — which would explain this vision? How did the Pope and his bishops end up in a situation where they were slaughtered? Is the half-ruined city none other than the devastated city of Rome from which the Pope flees over the dead bodies of his subjects, as Pius X is said to have foreseen in his own prophetic vision?

Father Paul Kramer, who has studied the facts and circumstances of the Third Secret for some thirty-five years, agrees with Mother Angelica that the Third Secret is indeed scary — and far scarier than Catholics have generally understood.

Father Kramer has concluded from his research that the Third Secret foretells much more than the apostasy in the Church that begins “at the top,” as revealed by Cardinal Ciappi, the papal theologian to five consecutive Popes, (from Pius XII to John Paul II) who read the Secret. That much was indicated clearly by what Fatima scholars unanimously agree is the beginning of the Third Secret starting with the “words of the Virgin”: “In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved” to which Sister Lucy added “etc.” to indicate that more words of Our Lady would follow in the Third Secret.

Beyond this, says Father Kramer, the “words of the Virgin” suppressed by the Vatican in 1960 do indeed explain how the Pope comes to be executed outside the half-ruined city. That event is the culmination of a series of catastrophic events, including not only the calling of Vatican II and its being hijacked by modernist liberals within the Church structures. The Third Secret also foretold what we are now living through, namely the aftermath of Vatican II. It also foretells that World War III will possibly leave Rome in ruins. In this interview for The Fatima Crusader, Father Kramer shows how the missing words of the Virgin must complete a puzzle whose pieces are already available to us from reliable sources, including the late Pope John Paul II himself. Let the reader prayerfully consider in his heart, Father Kramer’s research into the voices of Catholic prophecy that foretell our immediate future.

The Third Secret Predicts - World War III and Worst? was taken from: FATIMA CRUSADER  and more on Interview with Fr. Kramer

Official position of the Catholic Church

Private revelations do not form part of the deposit of faith of the Catholic Church, and its members are not bound to believe in any of them. However, as a matter of prudence, assent would normally be expected of a Catholic based on the discernment of the Church and its judgment that an apparition is worthy of belief. 
After a canonical enquiry, the visions of Fátima were officially declared "worthy of belief" in October 1930 by the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima.

Recently, the Vatican had issued an article unveiling the truth of the Secrets of Fatima. 

A candlelit vigil at the Fatima Shrine in Portugal

Canadian Fr Nicholas Gruner, who died on April 29 of a sudden heart attack, founded the The Fatima Crusader magazine and was among the strongest voices claiming that there was more to the message of Fatima than had been revealed.
To all believers and faithfuls, let us continue to pray for peace throughout the world.