God has confided peace for the world tothe Immaculate Heart of His Mother. Our Lady said at Fatima on July 13, 1917, “Continue to say the rosary every day, in honor of Our Lady in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of war, because only She can obtain it.”
The world today is in a precarious state of emergency because of the many evils that we Christians face on a daily basis. Our religious freedom is under attack and we must fight for Christ. There was a time when America had an isolation policy, as we were separated from the East and West by two oceans. As Countries become more advanced in modern technology, the distance between countries today is irrelevant. This makes the production of weapons capable of mass destruction of human
lives and property.
The call of the Mother of the Church for acts of reparation, especially on First Saturday and for the daily rosary for peace is more relevant today than ever. But why reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary? Some ask this, thinking, Mary is not God. We all know that sin offends God and Mary magnificent and great is a creature, like us, created by God. If we have only a basic faith we can understand reparation to Jesus Christ, to God, in, with and through Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is both God and Man, as God-man Jesus is the mediator and the bridge between heaven and earth, also between God and mankind. Our sins caused Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. We owe Him reparation.
What is Reparation?
Reparation is the key to peace and salvation of our souls. Reparation is the act of making amends and it is the attempt to restore things to their normal and sound state. Reparation means
to recompense for the losses sustained, or the harm caused by some immoral action. That is reparation in a nutshell. As we apply reparation to our relationship with God, we know that the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, broke the union of grace, of holiness between God and man. This infinite distance now separated man from God because of the malice of original sin was infinite. Therefore, infinite reparation was needed. Infinite amends are needed to restore the relationship of holiness and grace between God and man. We realize that man cannot do anything of
infinite value, yet it must be accomplished by man because man had committed
the infinite offense.
Christ
the Ultimate Sacrifice for Reparation
Our Lord offered the ultimate sacrifice at Calvary, this infinite act of sacrifice in reparation for the sins of the whole world. Christ left us His Church and Sacraments-which are His very own acts to accomplish now and in every time and season. He has offered the infinitely perfect sacrifice to appease God and to unite God and man as a bridge from earth to heaven. This great and wonderful sacrifice is offered throughout the world by every validly ordained priest, who shares in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. We call this the sacrifice of the mass. It is infinite reparation because it is the sacrifice of the cross perpetuated. In this infinite act of reparation Jesus scans the infinite distance between God the Father and us the poor weak and sinful human beings. Jesus repairs and restores and unites God with man in this ultimate sacrifice of the cross.
Reparation with respect to God means to make up with greater love for the failure in love through sin. It means restoring what was unjustly taken and compensating with generosity for the selfishness that caused the injury. “Greater love than this no man has, that he lay down his life for his friends.” In John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; That whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The Angel appears to the three children
When the angel first appeared to the three children at Fatima, it said that, “The hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications”. Then at the second appearance of the angel, “Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it as an act of reparation for the sins by which is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. Bring peace to your Country in this way… above all, accept and bear with submission, the sufferings sent to you by our Lord.” Finally when the angel appeared the third time we see Eucharistic reparation taught in a powerful way.
How to make Reparation to the
Immaculate Heart
Mary is the Mother of the universal church. Our sins offend the head of the church, Jesus Christ and what hurts the Son hurts His Mother. Of all the members of the mystical body after Jesus Christ Himself, we owe reparation first and foremost to Mary His Mother and our Mother.
How do we make reparation to Mary our Mother and Mother of the church?
At Fatima Our Blessed Mother told us how. She called for this reparation especially on First Saturdays and that four things be offered to Her Immaculate Heart.
1. Make a good Sacramental confession
2.Receive Our Lord in Holy Communion while in the state of grace
3. Recite five decades of the rosary
4. Keep Mary company for 15 minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the rosary.
Our Lady of Fatima reaffirmed the church’s teachings about reparation. It is our turn to live the message and spread the message and live in the refuge of Her Immaculate Heart.
