“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
TUESDAY, July 13th Mt. 11: 20-24 “Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented…. ‘I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.’”
- Someday we will die, we know not the hour nor the day, and immediately after comes Judgement. “For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” (1 Thess 5:2)
- Today, Fr. Ed will lead us through a meditation on the Last Things, better named the Eternal Truths! This is a matter of eternal life or eternal death for us!
Excerpt from CONSECRATION TO OUR LADY OF FATIMA AND SAINT FRANCISCO AND SAINT JACINTA MARTO by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV (His New Family Consecration Program!)
OUR LADY OF FATIMA: APPARITION ON JULY 13TH
(The graphic vision of hell—consequences!)
Friends in Jesus, Mary, Francisco and Jacinta, today we are invited to meditate and think very seriously upon the ETERNAL TRUTHS of death, judgment, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. No doubt, these are very serious truths, but they cannot be avoided if we want to make our consecration seriously.
THE LAST THINGS. The overall message of Fatima speaks very clearly about the Last Things, in a certain sense, the things that matter most in our lives in the light of God, time, and eternity. What then are the so-called LAST THINGS that Our Lady of Fatima invites us to pray over? They are the following: the reality of DEATH, JUDGMENT (that follows), HEAVEN, HELL (July 13th Apparition), and PURGATORY, and also the all-embracing concept of ETERNITY.
OUR LADY AND THE LAST THINGS. If you step back and reflect on the three Apparitions of the Angel, and the six Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, all of these truths surface and invite us to assimilate them in our meditations. Death? Yes, Jacinta and Francisco will die very young. Also, friends, we all one day will have to die; we know neither the day nor the hour, but we must be prepared. Judgment follows right after we die. Saint Paul says: “It is appointed to man to die once and then be judged.” (Heb. 9:27) “What we sow is what we will reap. If we sow in the flesh, a harvest of corruption; in the spirit, a harvest of eternal life.” (Gal. 6: 7-8) Heaven? Yes! Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta, after living a short but holy life, were taken to heaven. They are contemplating the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary in heaven right now, and they are praying for us that we might reach heaven.
PURGATORY? Yes, Lucia’s friend, Amelia, was saved, but apparently had done something quite serious for Our Lady said that Amelia would be in Purgatory until the end of the world! The Bible teaches in the Book of Revelation: “Nothing impure can enter in the Kingdom of heaven.” (Rev. 21:27). We should pray often for the souls in Purgatory, and live holy lives so that when God calls us from this life to the next for our own Judgment, we can go to Heaven right away or as quickly as God’s justice and mercy permit!
HELL? Yes! One of the essential points for our reflection today is on the reality of Hell. Why? For the simple reason that Our Lady showed the three children of Fatima—Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta a graphic vision of Hell. It was the ardent desire of Our Lady, our loving, tender, kind, and compassionate Mother to show these three simple shepherd children, as well as the whole world (and that means us, too) a graphic, strong, honest vision of HELL!
DENIAL OF HELL. Many people, even Catholics, will say this: “O, I do not believe that a good, kind, and merciful God could ever send anybody to hell!” This is a very dangerous statement that can confuse, hurt, and damage many. It is important that we learn how to use language well and not be ambiguous—meaning confusing! True! God sends no one to Hell, but people choose it by making bad choices—that is to say, by committing mortal sins, living in mortal sin, and dying in mortal sin without any sincere repentance. To the point: Hell does exist and people can go there. We could actually go there if we reject God by committing Mortal sins, if we do not repent of our Mortal sins, and if we die in the state of Mortal sin.
WHAT DID THEY SEE? WHAT WAS THE VISION OF HELL LIKE? Our Lady opened her hands and the earth seemed to open up. Looking down, the children saw what looked like a pit that was blazing with fire. It looked like a sea of fire. Call to mind when you have seen a fire in your life: the flames rising and falling, the different colors of flames—red, orange, white, green, and blue. In these flames, Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco could see the souls that were the damned in hell.
THE DAMNED SOULS. What did the souls look like? They did not have human bodies; they looked transparent but could be seen. Some were transparent like a clear window; others were a bronze color; others were a dark color; still others were black. All this seemed to point possibly to the length of time that these damned souls had been in Hell.
WHAT COULD BE HEARD? Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta could hear loud cries coming from the damned souls. Not cries of happiness and joy. Quite the opposite: cries of anguish, cries of sadness, cries of hopelessness, in a word, cries of despair! Never would they be able to depart from this terrible place—we call it Hell!
DEVILS. To add to the scene, the children were able to visualize depictions of the devils. What did they look like? It was not absolutely clear, but it looked as if they were ugly, hideous, horrendous, unknown animals that were trans-piercing or passing through the souls of the damned, torturing them all the more!
OUR LADY AND THE CHILDREN. Later, the three children honestly admitted that if Our Lady had not been present there with them, they might have actually died of fear! In other words, Our Lady was there with the three children—Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta, encouraging them as they viewed this very graphic vision of Hell.
OUR LADY AND HELL. One might ask the question: why would Our Lady show three little innocent shepherd children, who could not even read and write, such a powerful, scary, and even shocking vision of Hell? Why would Our Lady, whom we pray to as “our Life, our sweetness, and our hope” (Hail Holy Queen) show hell to these children? Why? Why, you might ask??? The response to this question is very clear: LOVE!!! Yes, Our Lady showed this vision to the three children of Fatima, and now to you, as you prepare yourself for your consecration to Mary through Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta, for one clear and simple reason: LOVE!!!
WHAT IS LOVE? Our Lady showed HELL to the three shepherd children, to you and me, and to all the world because of her great love for God and love for us! She doesn’t want anyone to go there! The greatest of all commandments is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Lk. 10:27) But this LOVE is expressed and lived out by obedience to God’s Commandments. Furthermore, the great Doctor and Theologian of the Catholic Church, Saint Thomas Aquinas defines love as such: “Love is willing the good of the other.” What then is the greatest good that we can attain? Nothing less than one thing, one place, one very real and eternal reality—HEAVEN!!! The exact opposite of Heaven is Hell!
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE: DO NOT PLAY WITH MATCHES. Our Lady showed this graphic vision of Hell so as to prevent us from going there. Good Doctors tell their patients to observe certain disciplines in diet, exercise, and rest so as to prevent sickness! In the same way, Our Lady showed a vision of Hell so that we can avoid the terrible reality of hell—like spiritual preventive medicine. Or, if you like another analogy easy to understand is the following—don’t play with matches! Most probably your Mom and Dad said this to you when you were about four years old: “Don’t play with matches!” Why? Because they wanted to deprive you of your innate right to freedom? Quite the contrary! They said it so that you would not hurt yourself by getting burnt by the matches. In the same vein, Our Lady warns us about the reality of Hell so that we can avoid going there. If you like, it is similar to preventive medicine and “don’t play with matches!”
THE RESULTS OF THE VISION OF HELL: RADICAL CONVERSION OF LIFE—JACINTA!
As a result of this graphic vision of Hell on July 13th, 1917, the children went through a radical conversion of life, most especially Jacinta. Such was the impact of this vision of Hell on Jacinta, that from that time on, the little shepherd girl, who could neither read nor write, did all she possibly could to offer up sacrifices for one primary purpose: the salvation of souls, so that these poor sinners would not go to hell. The sacrifices of Saint Jacinta were actually extraordinary for such a little girl, uneducated, barely knowing her catechism.
HELL AND ETERNITY. Jacinta would talk often to her older cousin Lucia about the vision of Hell related to the idea of ETERNITY. Jacinta would ask Lucia—as if Lucia were her spiritual director, and indeed she was—if it was possible those poor souls would someday get out of Hell. She asked questions like these. Will they get out after 10 years? After 50 years? After 100 years or even more? Would those damned souls ever escape that place of torment??? Lucia would always respond: “No! Hell is eternal; those damned souls are there forever!”
WHAT ABOUT US? This very serious and sober meditation should wake us up to the reality that our life and the eternal salvation of our immortal soul is of the greatest importance. We should reflect often on the so-called LAST THINGS. That is to say, we should meditate and pray often over the fact that one day we will die. We know neither the day, nor the hour, nor the minute!!! (cf Mt. 25:13) Immediately Jesus will judge us on all that we have done in our lives. Then there are only two possibilities. If we die in grace we go to Heaven (or temporarily Purgatory, then Heaven). Or, and this is possible, if we die in unrepented mortal sin, we could lose our soul in Hell for all eternity. Within the overall context of Heaven and Hell we must also meditate upon the reality of ETERNITY—meaning that Heaven and Hell are realities that exist forever and ever and ever.
WHAT CAN WE DO? As we prepare for our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary through the prayers and example of Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta, let us strive to live holy lives beginning right now, do not put if off until tomorrow! Let us renounce sin and try with all of the effort of our will to eliminate sin from our lives, as well as to avoid the near occasions of sin—that means to avoid any person, place, or thing that can lead us into sin. Then of great importance, if you have the misfortune to commit a mortal sin, first tell God you are sorry, and then go to Confession as soon as possible, so Jesus, through the priest, can absolve you of your sins and restore you to grace.
ONE FINAL SUGGESTION. Like the children of Fatima, especially Saint Jacinta, let us offer sacrifices for the conversion of the poor sinners of the world who are living in sin and do not think about God, who are heading in the wrong direction. What sacrifices can you offer? Everything! Absolutely everything! Offer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary all you pray, say, and do every day for the salvation of poor sinners. Never forget: your soul and the soul of every sinner is worth more than the whole created universe! You are called to work, pray, suffer and sacrifice, with the help and prayers of Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco, to save immortal souls for all eternity! If you do this, you will have a special place in Heaven with Jesus and Mary, and Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco!
