Sister Lucia, the third of the Little Shepherds of Fatima, who lived until the 13th of February of 2005 as a Carmelite Nun in Coimbra, Portugal, and who wrote the famous MEMOIRS containing the Message of Fatima brought by Our Blessed Mother to the world, may have performed a sensational cure of a child four years old at the moment of the miracle at Salta, Argentina.

Rosario André was hospitalized for ten days with hemolytic-uremic syndrome, having a very serious infection that needed desperately antibiotics but at the same time could not receive them due to renal failure caused by her rare sickness, that affects blood, the central nervous system and the kidneys. She was close to die when her mother, Alexandra Maria took the book by Sister Lucia, MEMOIRS, and placed it in her child’s breast, and embracing her, both prayed to Sister Lucia to cure little Rosario.

Immediately, the symptoms of fever, diarrhea and vomiting disappeared. Next day, the lab exams showed no infection as the bacteria was killed without antibiotics. The miraculous cure happened on the same day of Sister Lucia’s death! Rosario was healthy again! And she has remained healthy afterwards. Medical evidence was forwarded to Church authorities.

It must have been in 1914 or 1915, shortly after I began to care for my parents’ flock of sheep, because I had already begun the life of a humble shepherd together with other children of the area, when we were surprised by an apparition that completely puzzled us. One day when we were on the slopes of the hill known as the Cabeço, we saw something like a white cloud in the shape of a human being, which had come down from the sky and was passing slowly in front of us, above the trees that stretched down to the valley at our feet, as if wishing to attract our attention and keep our eyes fixed on it.

Some of the girls who were there told their parents what they had seen, but I said nothing beyond confirming, when asked, what the others had said. I have been asked many questions about this apparition, which happened several times in different places. My reply today is the same as it was then: I do not know what it was nor what it meant. But I was left with an interior conviction which I do not wish to conceal, and which tells me that it was the Guardian Angel. Perhaps in that form and without speaking, he wished to make his presence felt and so prepare souls for the accomplishment of God’s designs.

Until now, I have not wished to say any more about those apparitions than I needed to say in order to reply to the questions that were put to me. Today, however, I am doing so, not in order to confirm whether or not they were the Guardian Angel, but in order to tell you that Guardian Angels truly exist, and that they were created by God to serve, adore, praise and love Him. It is equally certain that God, in his abundant goodness and mercy has given each of us an Angel to accompany us, help and guard us.

I tell you this categorically, not simply because it was given to me to see; if such were the case, my words would not be very convincing. I am telling you what God has revealed to us in the sacred pages of the Old and New Testaments. You are free not to believe in what I myself say, but you cannot doubt the Word of God contained in Sacred Scripture. So let’s have a look at some of the passages in which God reveals to us this truth about Guardian Angels.

When Moses was crossing the desert, leading the People of God to the Promised Land, the Lord said to him: “Behold, I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Give heed to him and hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him” (Ex 23:20-21).

And the sacred text also tells us what happened to Jacob when, in obedience to his parents’ wishes and in order to escape the foreseeably violent reaction of his brother Esau, he set off for Paddan-aram: “He came to a certain place, and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all families of the earth bless themselves’” (Gen 28:11-14).

I have heard various commentators on Sacred Scripture say that God communicated with the Patriarchs of old by means of dreams, as He spoke to the Prophets by means of visions. It must have been so, because if the dreams were mere dreams, there would have been no reason to attach such importance to them, neither would people have come to realize how, in fact, they were fulfilled in the life of Jacob.

We find the same thing in the life of St Joseph and the Three Wise Men, as the Gospel tells us. When the Wise Men had departed “An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt” (Mt 2:13-14).

As regards the Wise Men, the same Evangelist describes what happened: “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?’… Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared; and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word’… When they heard the king they went their way… and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him…. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way…. Then Herod sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under” (Mt 2:1-12; 16).

Wise and studious men such as the Wise Men would not be inclined to believe in mere dreams or allow themselves to be guided by them. Hence, I believe that what they received were not so much dreams as true revelations of the supernatural. All the more so because dreams, as compared with revelations, are of less value than the night as compared with the day. In fact, whereas dreams leave in us a confused and vague memory of whatever it was we dreamt about, revelations are engraved indelibly in our spirit and leave a clearer memory even than of an ordinary conversation one has had with another person.

A certainty of this kind must have been engraved in the minds of the Wise Men and of St Joseph. Otherwise, they would not have attached so much importance to the dream, forcing Our Lady to get up in the middle of the night and set off for a foreign country with a tiny child in her arms, and without giving her time to make any preparations or secure some means of transport.

In addition to the events just described, Sacred Scripture describes many others which prove to us the existence of Angels and how God sends them, sometimes as messengers, at other times as helpers or as guardians and defenders. Here are some passage from the sacred pages: “Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him; and when Jacob saw them he said, ‘This is God’s army!’… And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day…. Jacob asked him, ‘Tell me, I pray, your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was preserved’” (Gen. 32:1-2; 24, 29-30).

One day when Our Lord was talking to his disciples, he said to them: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 18:10).

And St. Luke, describing the events surrounding the annunciation and the birth of the divine Word and his precursor John the Baptist, refers to several interventions by Angels: “While Zechariah was serving as a priest before God when his division was on duty… there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call him John’” (Lk 1:8; 11-13).

“In the six month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin… and the name of the virgin was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with your… Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God…. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God’” (Lk 1:26-28; 30, 35)

When the time had run its course, Mary’s Son was born in the city of David called Bethlehem: Now, in that region “There were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord….’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!’” (Lk 2:8-11, 13-14).

But already in the very first pages of Sacred Scripture the existence of Angels is affirmed when, after Adam’s sin, we are given a description of his expulsion from the garden of Eden: “He (God) drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen 3:24).

All the passages of Sacred Scripture which I have mentioned, and many others, prove to us that Angels really exist and also the purpose for which God created them, which is exactly the same as the purpose for which He created us: “To serve Him, praise Him, adore Him and love Him.”

With this conviction, then, let us sing with the psalmist: “Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your habitation, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Ps 91/90:9-12).

Bearing these truths in mind, it will not seem so strange to us that God should have once again chosen to make use of one of his Angels in order to address to us yet another call to obey his law and remember the end for which we were created.

Ave Maria!

INTRODUCTION

As the second millennium gives way to the third, Pope John Paul II has decided to publish the text of the third part of the “secret of Fatima”.

The twentieth century was one of the most crucial in human history, with its tragic and cruel events culminating in the assassination attempt on the “sweet Christ on earth”. Now a veil is drawn back on a series of events which make history and interpret it in depth, in a spiritual perspective alien to present-day attitudes, often tainted with rationalism.

Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which go to the heart of human events and which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of history. These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must therefore have their focus in the core of Christ’s proclamation: the Father’s love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the grace required to abandon oneself to him with filial devotion. This too is the message of Fatima which, with its urgent call to conversion and penance, draws us to the heart of the Gospel.

Fatima is undoubtedly the most prophetic of modern apparitions. The first and second parts of the “secret”—which are here published in sequence so as to complete the documentation—refer especially to the frightening vision of hell, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Second World War, and finally the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communist totalitarianism.

In 1917 no one could have imagined all this: the three pastorinhos of Fatima see, listen and remember, and Lucia, the surviving witness, commits it all to paper when ordered to do so by the Bishop of Leiria and with Our Lady’s permission.

For the account of the first two parts of the “secret”, which have already been published and are therefore known, we have chosen the text written by Sister Lucia in the Third Memoir of 31 August 1941; some annotations were added in the Fourth Memoir of 8 December 1941.

The third part of the “secret” was written “by order of His Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and the Most Holy Mother …” on 3 January 1944.

There is only one manuscript, which is here reproduced photostatically. The sealed envelope was initially in the custody of the Bishop of Leiria. To ensure better protection for the “secret” the envelope was placed in the Secret Archives of the Holy Office on 4 April 1957. The Bishop of Leiria informed Sister Lucia of this.

According to the records of the Archives, the Commissary of the Holy Office, Father Pierre Paul Philippe, OP, with the agreement of Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, brought the envelopecontaining the third part of the “secret of Fatima” to Pope John XXIII on 17 August 1959. “After some hesitation”, His Holiness said: “We shall wait. I shall pray. I shall let you know what I decide”.(1)

In fact Pope John XXIII decided to return the sealed envelope to the Holy Office and not to reveal the third part of the “secret”.

Paul VI read the contents with the Substitute, Archbishop Angelo Dell’Acqua, on 27 March 1965, and returned the envelope to the Archives of the Holy Office, deciding not to publish the text.

John Paul II, for his part, asked for the envelope containing the third part of the “secret” following the assassination attempt on 13 May 1981. On 18 July 1981 Cardinal Franjo Šeper, Prefect of the Congregation, gave two envelopes to Archbishop Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Substitute of the Secretariat of State: one white envelope, containing Sister Lucia’s original text in Portuguese; the other orange, with the Italian translation of the “secret”. On the following 11 August, Archbishop Martínez returned the two envelopes to the Archives of the Holy Office.(2)

As is well known, Pope John Paul II immediately thought of consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and he himself composed a prayer for what he called an “Act of Entrustment”, which was to be celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 7 June 1981, the Solemnity of Pentecost, the day chosen to commemorate the 1600th anniversary of the First Council of Constantinople and the 1550th anniversary of the Council of Ephesus. Since the Pope was unable to be present, his recorded Address was broadcast. The following is the part which refers specifically to the Act of Entrustment:

“Mother of all individuals and peoples, you know all their sufferings and hopes. In your motherly heart you feel all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, that convulse the world: accept the plea which we make in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart, and embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord those who most await this embrace, and also those whose act of entrustment you too await in a particular way. Take under your motherly protection the whole human family, which with affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother. May there dawn for everyone the time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, of justice and of hope”.(3)

In order to respond more fully to the requests of “Our Lady”, the Holy Father desired to make more explicit during the Holy Year of the Redemption the Act of Entrustment of 7 May 1981, which had been repeated in Fatima on 13 May 1982. On 25 March 1984 in Saint Peter’s Square, while recalling the fiat uttered by Mary at the Annunciation, the Holy Father, in spiritual union with the Bishops of the world, who had been “convoked” beforehand, entrusted all men and women and all peoples to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in terms which recalled the heartfelt words spoken in 1981:

“O Mother of all men and women, and of all peoples, you who know all their sufferings and their hopes, you who have a mother’s awareness of all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, which afflict the modern world, accept the cry which we, moved by the Holy Spirit, address directly to your Heart. Embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord, this human world of ours, which we entrust and consecrate to you, for we are full of concern for the earthly and eternal destiny of individuals and peoples.

In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and nations which particularly need to be thus entrusted and consecrated.

‘We have recourse to your protection, holy Mother of God!’ Despise not our petitions in our necessities”.

The Pope then continued more forcefully and with more specific references, as though commenting on the Message of Fatima in its sorrowful fulfilment:

“Behold, as we stand before you, Mother of Christ, before your Immaculate Heart, we desire, together with the whole Church, to unite ourselves with the consecration which, for love of us, your Son made of himself to the Father: ‘For their sake’, he said, ‘I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth’ (Jn 17:19). We wish to unite ourselves with our Redeemer in this his consecration for the world and for the human race, which, in his divine Heart, has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation.

The power of this consecrationlasts for all time and embraces all individuals, peoples and nations. It overcomes every evil that the spirit of darkness is able to awaken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in the heart of man and in his history.

How deeply we feel the need for the consecration of humanity and the world—our modern world—in union with Christ himself! For the redeeming work of Christ must be shared in by the world through the Church.

The present Year of the Redemption shows this: the special Jubilee of the whole Church.

Above all creatures, may you be blessed, you, the Handmaid of the Lord, who in the fullest way obeyed the divine call!

Hail to you, who are wholly united to the redeeming consecration of your Son!

Mother of the Church! Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope, and love! Enlighten especially the peoples whose consecration and entrustment by us you are awaiting. Help us to live in the truth of the consecration of Christ for the entire human family of the modern world.

In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all individuals and peoples, we also entrust to you this very consecration of the world, placing it in your motherly Heart.

Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths towards the future!

From famine and war, deliver us.

From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.

From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us.

From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.

From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.

From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.

From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.

From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.

From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us.

Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies.

Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin: individual sin and the ‘sin of the world’, sin in all its manifestations.

Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the Redemption: the power of merciful Love! May it put a stop to evil! May it transform consciences! May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of Hope!”.(4)

Sister Lucia personally confirmed that this solemn and universal act of consecration corresponded to what Our Lady wished (“Sim, està feita, tal como Nossa Senhora a pediu, desde o dia 25 de Março de 1984”: “Yes it has been done just as Our Lady asked, on 25 March 1984”: Letter of 8 November 1989). Hence any further discussion or request is without basis.

In the documentation presented here four other texts have been added to the manuscripts of Sister Lucia: 1) the Holy Father’s letter of 19 April 2000 to Sister Lucia; 2) an account of the conversation of 27 April 2000 with Sister Lucia; 3) the statement which the Holy Father appointed Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, to read on 13 May 2000; 4) the theological commentary by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Sister Lucia had already given an indication for interpreting the third part of the “secret” in a letter to the Holy Father, dated 12 May 1982:

“The third part of the secret refers to Our Lady’s words: ‘If not [Russia] 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’ (13-VII-1917).

The third part of the secret is a symbolic revelation, referring to this part of the Message, conditioned by whether we accept or not what the Message itself asks of us: ‘If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, etc.’.

Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have not yet seen the complete fulfilment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the human person, immorality and violence, etc.

And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible”.(5)

The decision of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to make public the third part of the “secret” of Fatima brings to an end a period of history marked by tragic human lust for power and evil, yet pervaded by the merciful love of God and the watchful care of the Mother of Jesus and of the Church.

The action of God, the Lord of history, and the co-responsibility of man in the drama of his creative freedom, are the two pillars upon which human history is built.

Our Lady, who appeared at Fatima, recalls these forgotten values. She reminds us that man’s future is in God, and that we are active and responsible partners in creating that future.

Tarcisio Bertone, SDB
Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli
Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

by Fr. Robert J. Fox

“What I recommend to you above all else is that you get close to the tabernacle and pray. In this you will find the light, the strength, and the grace that you can pass on to others. . . . For this reason they need more and more to pray . . . . Let time be lacking for everything else but never for prayer and you will experience the fact that after prayer you will accomplish a lot in a short period of time”
( p. 317-318)

Lúcia de Jesus Rosa Santos – Sister Lúcia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart, better known as Sister Lúcia of Jesus and was a Portuguese visionary and Roman Catholic Discalced Carmelite nun. She was one of the three children who experienced a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal in 1917.

Lucia de Jesus dos Santos was born in Aljustrel, a village in the parish of Fátima, Portugal. Her parents were Antonio and Maria Rosa dos Santos. She was the youngest of seven children, six girls and a boy. By 8 she was occupied with the tending of the family’s sheep, accompanied by other boys and girls of the village.

It was while in the company of her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, that the first heavenly apparition occurred, that of the Angel of Portugal, come to prepare the young trio for their mission and for an even greater visitor.

It was while in the company of her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, that the first heavenly apparition occurred, that of the Angel of Portugal, come to prepare the young trio for their mission and for an even greater visitor.

Lucia was 10 years old when on May 13, 1917, while tending the sheep in the Cova de Iria, a woman, who later identified herself as the Blessed Virgin Mary, appeared to the children. The apparition would continue monthly on the 13th of the month until October 1917 (save August, when imprisonment by the anti-clerical authorities prevented it). During each month’s apparition, the Virgin encouraged prayer, especially the rosary, and sacrifice. She also communicated certain prophecies of the future (the end of World War I, the rise of error in Russia (communism) and its propagation throughout the world, the annihilation of nations, another war preceded by a heavenly sign if men did not convert, and the suffering and persecution of the good, especially the Holy Father). On Oct. 13, 1930, the bishop of Leiria-Fátima, José Alves Correia da Silva, declared the apparitions of Fátima worthy of credibility and allowed public devotion to the Virgin under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima.

After the prophesied death of Jacinta and Francisco, during the flu pandemic of 1919, Lucia alone remained to carry on the mission assigned by the “woman from heaven.” At 14 she was admitted as a boarder to the school of the Sisters of St. Dorothy in Vilar, near Oporto in the north of Portugal. On Oct. 24, 1925, she entered the Institute of the Sisters of St. Dorothy as a postulant in the convent in Tuy, Spain, not far from the Portuguese border. During these years she would continue to receive private revelations explanatory of the message of Fátima. She made her first vows on Oct. 3, 1928, and her perpetual vows on Oct. 3, 1934, receiving the name Sister Mary of the Sorrowful Mother.

In 1946, seeking a more contemplative life, Lucia entered the Carmelite convent of St. Teresa in Coimbra, where she made her profession as a Discalced Carmelite on May 31, 1949. She took the name Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart.

In 1967, Sister Lucia traveled to Fatima to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the apparitions, presided over by Pope Paul VI. She went again in 1982, when Paul John Paul II came to the Shrine on 13 May to give thanks for the saving of his life during the assassination attempt of 13 May 1981, and again when the Pope came there in 1991, and finally in 2000, to beatify Jacinta and Francisco.

Over the years Sr. Lucia would write two books, Memoirs, recounting the events of Fatima in her own words, and Calls from the Message of Fatima, giving answers to the many questions about living the message of Fátima, which she has been asked over the years.

In the second apparition, that of June 13, Lucia asked the Lady, “Will you take us to heaven?” The Virgin responded,

Yes, I shall take Jacinta and Francisco soon, but you will remain a little longer, since Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart.

That mission came to an end on February 13, 2005, when after weeks of weakness Sr. Maria Lucia succumbed to the infirmities of old age. Her funeral Mass at the cathedral of Coimbra was presided over by the city’s bishop, Most Reverend Antonio Cleto. She will lie in rest at the convent where she spent so many years, until a place is prepared for her body at the Basilica in Fátima, where Francisco and Jacinta are entombed.

SISTER MARY-LUCY OF JESUS AND OF THE IMMACULATE HEART
SPEAKS TO CONFIRM OUR FAITH

« I beg you, o Mother, to guide my pen so that it may faithfully transmit the Message which God, through You, chose to entrust to me. »

This book is presented by Sister Lucy herself as an answer to the questions that she has been asked:

« I address this to all those who have faith and also to all who have not the happiness of possessing this gift of God, because we are all pilgrims on our way to eternity, whether we know it or not. I have received countless letters containing a great many questions and requests. » Especially concerning the Third Secret and the consecration of Russia.

« I should have liked to be able to reply to each one separately, but as this was not possible… » For what reason? Sister Lucy does not say why, but one only has to read Brother Francis’ book [John Paul I: The Pope of the Secret (JPI) Volume IV of The Whole Truth about Fatima] to be able to understand: because she is forbidden to do so (JPI, pp. 65, 238 ff.).

« … I am replying now to all in general with “Calls from the Message of Fatima”, which God chose to entrust to me on behalf of all. » This last declaration brushes aside the distinction “public revelation” – “private revelation”, dear to Cardinal Ratzinger. The “Calls from the Message of Fatima” are for « all », in the same way as the Gospels, the Epistles of St. Paul or the Book of the Apocalypse.

« I do so in the conviction that this is God’s will, recognised as such by legitimate authority », that is to say by the authority of the hierarchy.

In writing the preface to the book, Mgr Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva, the Bishop of Leira-Fatima, did indeed write:

« The author of this work is Sister Lucy (Sister Mary-Lucy of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart to give her full religious name), who is so well known that there is no need for a preliminary word of introduction. » This is somewhat on the short side! There would however be much to say, especially to those who already know her and love her! This for example: « Sister Lucy is an extraordinary woman, strong and trustworthy; she has the calibre of a country woman and an amazing memory. » This is how the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, Albino Luciani spoke of her, after having met with the seer in the parlor. He also said:

« She speaks with short, broken phrases, which go straight to the heart of problems and events. She is seventy years old, and yet she retains the freshness of a young girl. Her eyes are clear. She is simple, spontaneous, calm and smiling. She lives as though she were the last of the Carmelites. She speaks with an open heart, without searching for her words; she is profoundly convinced of what she is saying, and she says it with passion. »

We shall see this in reading her book. For she is indeed its author. We can believe the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima: « Nevertheless, in order to avoid any doubts or misunderstandings, I wish to assure readers of this book that it was her idea and was written by her. » Mgr Ferreira knows that we have thousands of reasons to be wary, ever since her superiors required her to sign apocryphal letters. (JPI, p. 453).

She therefore wanted to write this book. Not on her own initiative, be quite assured of this, but entrusted with a mission, a message from Heaven, as she had just said, « in the conviction that this is God’s will, recognised as such by legitimate authority »

« … and I offer for all the sacrifice that this work will require of me ». What sacrifice? That of her own insights, even supernatural ones, sacrificed to obedience, to the judgement of her superiors and to their will. « It is very enlightening, writes Brother Francis, for understanding Sister Lucy’s attitude, to recall the warning of Our Lord to Saint Margaret-Mary: « I am pleased that you prefer the will of your superiors to mine, when they prevent you from doing what I order you to do. Let them do whatever they want with you; I will find a way for my plans to succeed, even through means that may seem opposed and contradictory to them.” »

Sister Lucy continues :

« It is not an interpretation of the Message; this pertains to God’s Church. Neither is it an historical account of the Apparitions, as this is already known to you. Many authors have told the story better than I could ever have done, and it is contained in many books that have been spread throughout the world. »

Among them, the works of our Brother Francis and of his predecessor Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, of our Sister Frances of the Holy Dove, which have been accepted as reference works.

« All I wish to do is to reply to the questions, and clarify the doubts, that have been put to me. »

How? By means already used by Our Lord with St. Margaret-Mary, means which seem opposed and contradictory to His plans, since Sister Lucy omits a good part of what she had received as her mission to reveal to the world: the great Secret of 13 July 1917, the reparatory devotion of the five First Saturdays, the request for the Russia’s consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. « For, Brother Francis writes, by forcing the holy Carmelite to neglect significant elements of Our Lady’s message, her directors have prepared, without knowing it, the triumph of the Fatima cause. For, the heroic patience of Sister Lucy and her unfailing obedience to those who represent and who are for her the Authority of the Holy Church, from her prioress and her confessor up to the reigning Pope, bring a new proof of the supernatural origin of the apparitions, visions, interior locutions, to which she gave witness in the past. »

Her silence on these burning issues accuses the aforementioned superiors, bishops and Popes, of ill will.

Her heroic obedience accuses their disobedience.

One conclusion is certain : undoubtedly, « all the requests she addressed to her directors, to the Bishops of Fatima and the Popes themselves, were and still are today, authentic requests from the Queen of Heaven and earth » (JPI, p. 492-493).

WORDS OF A WOMAN INSPIRED

Nevertheless, they are constantly on her mind when she writes. These requests show through on every page as we will see in reading her carefully. May we follow her recommendation:

« Please do not look upon this communication as something that comes from myself. Look upon it, rather as the echo of the voice of God, and let us all willingly endeavour to follow faithfully the path that He has mapped out for us. »

This « path », we know, is the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. But Sister Lucy does not specify this… Not through an oversight. Through obedience.

« Yes, because it was out of love that God sent us this pressing call from His mercy, in order to help us along the way of our eternal salvation. »

She had read this word “mercy”, written in crystalline letters that were formed by the trickle of water running down from the left arm of the luminous Cross in the vision of Tuy… of which she is forbidden to speak.

Therefore, she quotes the Gospel:

« “I am the Way; I am the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14.6): said the Lord to his Apostles, and also to us. Those who follow the Way of the Truth, who is the Word of God, follow Jesus Christ, and have within them the Source of life. Again, it is Our Lord who has told us: « The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life. It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” (Jn 6.63) So it is with my eyes fixed on the Way of Truth… »,

that is to say, on this very Jesus Christ whom she saw nailed to the luminous Cross at Tuy,

« that I shall endeavour to explain the Message to you exactly as God entrusted it to me, and gave me to understand what it means and to which souls it is addressed. »

Who are these souls? Further on, we will learn that they are « the souls that are making their way to God ». This expression, the very one which concludes the Third Secret, is going to turn up several times like a refrain that informs us that Sister Lucy’s book is a commentary on the great Secret of 13 July 1917, but between the lines, without saying it overtly.

« I would ask you, therefore, not to pay any attention to the poverty and ignorance of the instrument which God chooses to use, because He is in the habit of choosing poor and useless instruments to accomplish the works of His power, knowledge and wisdom. This will be yet another proof He is giving you that the work is His and not mine. » (Calls, p. 35)

The solemnity of this warning cannot be sufficiently stressed. An inspired author, of the Old or the New Testament, would not speak otherwise.

Moreover, it can be said that Sister Lucy entered her career as a « prophet » at the age of ten, on 13 October 1917, according to Doctor Carlos Mendes’ testimony. He took her into his arms to carry her through the crowd that was withdrawing in good order after contemplating the miracle of the sun:

« My shoulder became the first platform from which she preached the message that Our Lady of the Rosary had just entrusted her with. With great enthusiasm and great faith, she cried out: “Do penance! Do penance! Our Lady wants you to do penance. If you do penance, the war will end…” She appeared inspired… It was really impressive to hear her. Her voice had a certain intonation, like the voice of a great prophet. » (Sister Frances, pp. 275-276)

In her sixth Memoir, Sister Lucy writes on the same tone, not being afraid of comparing herself to the patriarch Isaac, father of a great nation: « While I write, I remember the story of Abraham and of his son Isaac. The latter was climbing up the mountain, loaded with the bundle of wood that would serve for his sacrifice, but he did not suspect this, and God sent him a ram to replace him for the holocaust, and He made him the father of renowned and numerous descendants.

« I as well carried the wood, [that of « a large Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with its bark », carried as a heavy secret], and God also gave me a numerous posterity [all the « souls that were making their way to God » by going on pilgrimage to Fatima], not according to nature, flesh and blood, but according to God’s grace and blessing and the motherly protection of our Mother of Heaven.

« My posterity is numerous, scattered throughout the world. From those far-flung regions they call me, they hold out an imploring hand to me; those far-off children are asking me for God’s blessing, Our Lady’s protection, the cure for their illness, comfort in their anguish, strength in their life’s fights and light to illuminate their way. There are the descendants that God has granted me; we are united, not by bonds of nature, but by those of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. St. Paul said it to us in those words: «It is in one Spirit that we all have been baptised, in order to create one body; Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, we all have quenched our thirst of one Spirit.” (1 Co 12, 13)

« It is this Spirit who makes the whole earth fruitful, who makes the entire human being bear fruit, who transforms all of us into sons of the same Father who is the eternal, immense and immortal God, who makes us all participate in His immortality. All those who are seeking the Lord enter his posterity… and you who are united to us in this same Spirit of faith, hope and love, you who come from so far, or from very near, and who pass through this poor house, so modest a house as this [ the house of the dos Santos in Aljustrel ], you are repeating the echo of voices of those who preceded us, working, praying and singing, and now, in Heaven, they sing the new Canticle of thanksgiving and praise of our only God, our true Saviour. » (Sixth Memoir, p. 96-97)

Let us listen to Sister Lucy. Before enumerating the twenty “Calls from the Message of Fatima”, Sister Lucy presents, in a first part, entitled “In the presence of God”, the “families of the little shepherd children” and the “Guardian Angel”.