Letter to promote preaching on the 13th of the Month

In an effort to promote the message of Fatima as requested by Our Lady we ask all clergy to remember to include, on the 13th of each month, the message of Fatima.  Our Lady asked all of us to spread the message and live it. One way we can promote this is to have all the clergy preach about Fatima on the 13th of each month, the date that Mary appeared to the seers. Just a reminder within a homily so that the message is never too far from thought.

Be not afraid. 

When the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in Fatima, from all eternity, the Fatima message was meant for theses shepherd children. Shepherds of the Church, listen up. Fatima's message is unique for YOU. As Catholics, we believe in the supernatural. From Sacred Scripture, Salvation history, is the fulfillment of God's plan in the person of Jesus Christ.  At Fatima, possibly somewhat overlooked is the significance of this occupation ... Shepherds. Let that sink in. “ In the designs of Providence, there are no mere coincidences.” said St. Pope John Paul II from May 13, 1982, in thanksgiving to Our Lady one year after the attempt on his life.  It is no coincidence that the Fatima seers were shepherds, tending their flock. Fatima is called the Peace Plan for the world, from all eternity, uniquely it is also a peace plan for the clergy.

After the first meeting with the Angel of Peace the children immediately began to work on their interior lives and personal holiness. Compelled by supernatural grace, the Angel taught them how to prepare for their vocation. In your everyday life the first thing for a Shepherd to do is to focus on personal prayer and personal sanctity. You cannot give what you don't have. This requires a lot of patience, honesty and humility... with yourself. You are not doing everything right. Go to the other side of the boat and seek help and advice to help keep yourself in check, don't go to the people you know will always inflate you. Strive to live a unity of life. Jesus needs you.

Long Suffering…the children were willing to suffer and offer sacrifices for poor sinners (and did!). “Will you offer yourselves to God, and bear all the suffering which He sends you, in reparation for the sins which offend Him, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners?” Lucia spike for them all: “Yes, we will,” she said and the Blessed Mother replied, “then you will have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your strength.” Taken from the May 13, 1917 vision of Our Lady of Fatima. What are you doing for your people? You must be willing to suffer for your people. Perhaps this means fighting against the injustice of Churches being closed and limited during this Covid crisis. Or speaking the truths of the Faith which are often counter cultural going again popular opinion. You must have no human respect as the Fatima shepherds demonstrated. They were not worried about what others would say of them, they were taunted by other children and adults who didn’t believe that they had seen a vision of Our Lady. Yet they remained loyal and kept their promises.

Your primary mission in being a priest is that you are called to serve.

“Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” Who are pure of heart? Children. “What do you want of me?” Said Lucia to Our Lady each time she appeared at Fatima. These children were ready to serve. It wasn’t earned, it was a grace given to them by God through Mary. That was their vocation, it is your vocation too. To serve Jesus through Mary.

Possessing the innocence of a child, trusting and abandoning yourself to the will of God is what to strive.  It is one thing to say it and an entirely different thing to live it. Calculating and manipulating are not attributes of childlike trust. The shepherd children were so strong and convicted of the message of Our Lady. Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco had no fear of death after they were given a vision of hell. Our Lady showed Hell to them and told them, this is where poor sinners go. They the children trusted Our Lady. They were willing to die in a boiling pot of oil rather than betray their promise to Mary. How many of you would do that? The shepherd children had innocence, humility and trust in God. Think of Jesus when speaking with his Apostles and he perceived the thought of their hearts, he took a child and put him by his side, and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me; for he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” (Luke 9:46-48)

Strive to live worldly poverty. The shepherd children were from hard working families. In the days terms they lived a modest life. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” 

(Luke 9 3-6)

Uneducated in worldly things but raised with a rich faith, this is the foundation for every one of us. Promote a family tradition of passing on the Faith to future generations. Their lives focused around the liturgical year. 

Always focused on Jesus. Everything the shepherd children did was for love of Jesus and to help others get to Heaven. The message of Fatima began and ended with the Eucharist (the source and summit of our Faith, which is Jesus). The Angel of Peace taught them the prayer to love Our Lord in the Eucharist and brought Holy Communion to them.  The Eucharist is the spiritual food that Jesus left us here on earth so that we may have life within us. The Hidden Jesus.  It is his real presence, body, blood, soul and divinity. Our priests are in persona Christi their job is to bring Jesus, the Holy Eucharist, to all, they are another Christ’s … The Eucharist...so your calling your vocation begins and ends with the Eucharist and that’s what your whole life is to be about is to bring the Eucharist to all. So that’s just an overall idea about the message. 

Shepherds of the Church, strive to be like these shepherds, poor and ignorant; useless in things of the world with a childlike trust, be fervent in prayer, live a unity of life and offer many sacrifices for poor sinners.Fatima a message for our times, a message for the faithful, and in particular a message for Our Shepherds in the Church today. Would anyone believe these children today? Well...they didn’t believe them then either. Sadly, after the scandals in the hierarchy we are at a time when many have lost trust and faith in our Shepherds… Fatima; A Peace plan for the world, for the Church. Imitate the shepherd children of Fatima and live Our Lady's message. Our Lady has promised, “You will suffer much, but God’s grace will strengthen you.“ All the elements are there to be the shepherds that the Church so desperately needs today.