Franciscan University Presents: Fatima and Hope

many Catholics have learned to love the Blessed Virgin Mary from their childhood especially under her title as our Lady of fátima what happened in that small town and Portugal so many decades ago and why do these events still bring hope to the modern world today we'll discuss the message of Fatima with our special guests father Andrew apostolis see fr Michael Hernon vice-president of advancement at Franciscan University in Steubenville Ohio and you're watching Franciscan University presents stay with us welcome to Franciscan University presents I'm Michael Hernon vice president of advancement at Franciscan University in Steubenville Ohio today we'll be discussing the message of Our Lady of Fatima and its relevance today joined here in our studios with our regular panelist dr. regis martin professor of systematic theology at Franciscan University dr. Scott Hahn professor of biblical theology at Franciscan University and student ville and our special guest who's no stranger to wtn father Andrew Apostoli CF our Father Andrew is the one of the cofounders so the franciscan friars the renewal is also a member of the community there you were ordained to the priesthood by then Bishop Sheen and you now the Vice postulator for the cause of Archbishop Fulton sheen you're a seminary professor you're an author and popular speaker and today we're going to be discussing the book fatima for today the urgent marian message of hope father could you start us off with just a little bit about Fatima when did it happen and had it all started well the main event with the operations of Our Lady began on May 13th 1917 however as God often prepares the way you know even when he sent John the Baptist before Christ he sent an angel to the three little children the three little children were Lucia Martin Santos and her two little cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marco they were Lucia was 10 Francisco was 9 and Jacinta was only 7 and the angel came in the year 1916 three times to prepare them I think with a spirit of first of all prayer and understanding the idea the importance of sacrifice for the conversion of sinners he taught them a little prayer to say called the pardon / my god I believe I adore I hope and I love you and I beg pardon for those who do not believe do not add or do not hope and do not love you and so he he instilled in them that prayer and a real spirit of sacrifice in fact it was the second time he appeared they were playing some games and what are you doing you have to be really that that maybe the pressure the angel kind of slapped him around yeah that's right that's right well they sound like perfectly normal children oh they were absolutely your friends Francisco especially he liked that relay his games you know he used to say a brief when they do we pray the rosary but he would say Hail Mary Holy Mary and that's right when the buzzer mother appeared all three children saw him but Francisco could not hear her and when Lucia asked why couldn't Francisco hear our lady said he has to say many rosaries first so he made up for the office you know abbreviated rosary the third apparition was very important because it brought the Eucharist into the message of Fatima because the angel he called himself the angel of Portugal the angel of peace he came holding the bus at sacrament the host was above a chalice and the host the precious blood of Jesus was dripping into the chalice and all of a sudden remains suspended in the air he came down to where the three children when they bowed to the ground almost as the Muslims pray but their heads of the ground profound adoration and he taught them a beautiful prayer of reparation to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament so that prepared the children with the spirit of sacrifice spirit of really deeper awareness of the need to pray for the conversion of sinners and he told them God has plans for you and then finally 1917 as you know World War one was going on they called it the water end all wars unfortunately it did not in the Pope at the time Pope Benedict the 15th yeah attempted to negotiate peace between the nations but there was such hostility you know that he made no progress so he said we have to go to our lady and in May of 1917 he began a novena and on the eighth day which was May 13th the Blessed Mother made her first appearance to the children they were they were shepherding the Sheep it was a they were the youngest children in their families and that was always the task is held Rijn were to take the Sheep out and you know feed them graze them out and you know they were in a place called the Cova day area which was owned by the Marteau thing i'm sorry by the by the Santos family uh and while they were there they thought a storm was coming they saw like a lightning and all of a sudden the next thing they saw was this beautiful lady and she introduced herself when they asked her who are you where you from she said she said I am from heaven and she said God has designs for you and will you accept suffering from God for the sake of the conversion of sinners and peace in the world so they had already been prepared with an understanding of intercessory prayer and the need for sacrifice and so generously these little children really gave their lives over and that was the first apparition she asked two things at that apparition she mentioned a few other thing but the two main things should come back on the 13th of every month you know from now until October and she said pray the rosary every day it's the only request she made in all six all six of the apparitions was pray the rosary every day just a couple of very quick questions why Portugal is it because Portugal was not a belligerent in the great war because I mean there are children everywhere why couldn't Mary have appeared to a couple of French kids that's right well that's a very good point Regis I think the reason why Portugal was chosen was because it had a tremendous history of the faith but remember a Masonic government had taken over the King Portugal and his son were they were assassinated at the 1912 and then Masonic government took over and the president who was a very fiercely anti-catholic anti-christian he said Portugal will become you know a secular nation he said in two generations there won't be anything of a remembrance of the faith in Portugal so I think Our Lady came to rescue that land which had been so close to her you know and I think that's why she came there and then at the same time you know she she was giving this message through the children you know when you mentioned that the little as always seems to be God's predilection right like you know Bernadette at Lord remember and Lucy esperen sweer asking the same question like you know I know what how does this make any sense well hesitated it was really interested to see how detached they were and how really not affirming you know in reading your book yeah yeah Lucy it family gave her a very hard time yeah yes I got a lot of punishments and then my authorization yeah it was a real persecution for them a great testing of their faith and their trust that the other question I had was why 1917 the war had been raging since 1914 why the postponement yeah well of course I think the Pope was trying to do it diplomatically he realized he just came to a stone wall and he said there's only one person who can help us now and that's our lady and so you confidently went to her and of course these three kids knew exactly about the Pope pregnant again Isis I got to mine I mean they know nothing about Russia and yet Russia ends up also looming large and all of this absolutely are Keable yeah well you know I mean God always chooses these innocent ones you know as Jesus said father I praise you because you reveal these things the little ones you know it kind of reminds me you know when Saint Bernadette when she was on trial you know after the apparitions and they were questioning her and the one question put to her was why would God choose a thirteen-year-old girl to take this message to receive this message she said well I guess he wanted one and you know when they're when they're so innocent they're very accepting right they didn't question everything you know they had that faith at simple simple faith and you know what they were faithful to it they became so generous you know that later on in the August when they were supposed to go to the apparition site in the Cova they were abducted by the governor there who was a Mason and they were actually put in prison and threatened if they didn't reveal the secrets that our lady had made they were threatened to be boiled in oil that's that's a question I want to ask you about you know we often hear about the message of early data and the secrets could you help explain it sure sure what the secrets really refer to the July 13th apparition there were it was actually just one apparition but they broken it down into three segments that's why you hear the third secret okay what it was the first segment was the children were given a vision of held when Our Lady appeared she opened her hands she the first two times she appeared when she opened her hands beautiful piece around the children this time when she opened their hands in July the earth opened and they had a vision of hell yeah and after you know which really really was frightening and the afterwards our lady said you have seen Hell where poor sinners go and it is to prevent this that God is establishing devotion to my Immaculate Heart so that was the first thing and you know and that's when she taught us that prayer we say at the end of each decade oh my Jesus forgive us our sins save us from the fires of hell lead all souls to heaven especially those most in need of thy mercy so that was that was now that was the first secret the second secret followed immediately and that was when our lady said the war will end he said but she said as she said and if people do what I say and your peace will come if not she said another more terrible war will occur and she said there will be a sign if you see a knight lit up by an unknown light know that this is the sign that God is going to punish the world for its sins by war and that happened on the night of January 25th 26th 1938 and Lucia was a nun at that time she was a Dorothy and nun and she said that's the sign I was not alive at that time but I remember talking to my former provincial and he was a young boy he said I remember him such an eerie night you saw a green and red and all these colors in the sky and what about hood well and this was up practically a year before the outbreak of the Second World War just about yet night and she even named the Pope she's called in Paiste 11 and it was partially live it was Polacks I don't that amazing that was a real all right huh that was the eerie that he does right that's right yes fairly still the Pope yeah and the three secrets the third secret now oh it was part of the second series just should mention you she said an evil will begin in Russia and will spread around the world hey that was communism yeah I said provoking wars with Korea Vietnam and so on then if provoked salmon's member how Stalin starved the poor people in the crane then it would would be annihilated all those nations became part of the Soviet Union they lost their independence home and then finally he said she said and the Pope will has the church will be persecuted in the Pope was suffered much she's about to prevent that I will come back and ask for two things I would ask for the communion of reparation which we call the five for Saturday and finally she said I will ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart by the Pope but then that led to the third secret now the third secret begins with an angel he's holding a flaming sword and he ready to touch the earth which as Cardinal Ratzinger described it he says was kind of an apocalyptic symbolism that and fire would engulf the way you can think of a nuclear war whatever you know and the Blessed Mother put her hand out and these these breezes from her hand stop the flames from touching your know that word she prevented a world war some believed that that was the Cuban crisis because we were very close to pushing the buttons you know nuclear weapons and and then he called for penance he said it three times penance penance penance then they saw this procession coming through as they said cities that was burned out hat you know broken-down buildings and everything and they were even dead people they're the kind of represented the tragedies of World War two and the suffering you know a lot of the whole like 20th century and was led this procession was led by a bishop in white they didn't know who he was but they assumed there was a pope following him or bishops priests religious laypeople and huge procession went up a mountain and there was a price on a cross at the top of the mountain and it was bleeding and they aimed there were angels there catching the blood of Christ in these basins like and um the Pope as he knelt before the cross you know he was shot arrows and guns and the Pope died thing and so that that became the third secret because when the bishops in Fatima wanted information for the beatification and canonization of Francisco and Jacinta the one they had to go to was Lucia see and our Lord had told her you know to keep that secret but she he allowed her to talk about the first two secrets say yeah and so she revealed them in her memoirs what happened with the third secret she had to write that independently she got very sick and the bishop came to her and said you better give us that information before you die otherwise it'll be something important we don't know she wrote on a separate piece of paper and wrote 1960 and the rest became the older long history of what happened to that message that really was a secret that was kept for a long time if it wasn't revealed until later you know as we as we go into this we're going to in the next segment we'll talk about the the message in and so far as what our ladies requested do you we also have the miracle of the Sun I don't know if in a very short way if you could describe what what that was okay right now yeah yes the the miracle the Sun was when this at the second apparition a little Lucia told the lady the people want to know who you are and they want to sign that you're really coming here she said I will give that in October so what happened in October they estimated about 55,000 people were right at the Cova and the miracle of the Sun was actually seen for 25 miles around by another 20,000 people so about 75,000 people saw this miracle which was like the only miracle ever predicted as to time and place and met the magnificence of it and so people saw very clearly that Our Lady was there yeah in our next segment we'll go into what our Lady has requested you're watching Franciscan University presents the state Mary was asked to really serve God in a very special and distinct way I think that's really such a model for us and how she said yes Aries not only when the angel Gabriel came to her but every single moment of her life and she was just willing to serve and that's just a really that's a really good model for us every single moment of our days whenever we live and whenever God asks something of us we should always be willing to serve Him Mary was one who really anyway taught me how to pray high school I was in a place where I needed just a very gentle hand to bring me deeper into my faith and she was one that just really took me into her arms and brought me to her son I really told me and taught me about who her son was and the love that he had for me and what he wanted from me in my life my name is Michael Villanueva I'm majoring in philosophy and theology last semester I had sacraments with dr. Hahn and I'll tell you right now it was the best class in my entire life every class I'm just knocked out of my chair it hits me like a ton of bricks the beauty of the truth that he's speaking to us something so simple God what's so beautiful and so profound and so powerful Franciscan University is academically excellent and passionate today we're discussing the message of Our Lady of fátima with author preacher teacher father Andrew Apostoli father in your book you say the message of Our Lady of Fatima the appearance and the apparition in our Fatima is one of the most important apparitions let's go deeper into the requests that our lady had back in 1917 well basically her message was she came she's a mother she was made mother to all of us at the foot of the cross and she cannot forget her motherly role and she's she's concerned for the salvation of her children and that's why that that vision of hell was so significant because she said she doesn't want any of her children to be lost so what does she ask for she asks for living good and holy lives one of the last things she said in the October apparition was tell the people she told it to be looked over and tell the people to stop offending God he's already been so grievously offended so she was calling us to holiness of life secondly she was asking for prayer as intercessory prayer for the salvation of souls she had said in the in the August apparition with great sadness in fact Lucia when she wrote about she said a lady's face turned very sad at that moment in that apparition she said many souls are lost from God she said pray pray very much and offer sacrifice because she said many souls are lost from God because there was no one to pray and offer sacrifices for them I think that's a key to her message so she asked for prayers yes for sacrifice later on she asked for she said she would come back we mentioned in the previous segment that a lady had said about the evil that would begin in Russia and spread around the world and she said she would ask for the two things then one of the things she asked for was the so-called communion of reparation that's what she called it she came back in 1925 she appeared to sister Lucia she was actually a postulant with the sisters by then the other two were dead that's right the other two died within two years and our lady even said that they would be going before yes amazing she said I'll take them soon and she sells just she sold this little to see it she said you have to wait a little while long she died at the age of 97 and a while last time in any of their barriers a sense of humor yes but I hope Francisco got in enough rosaries oh yeah all where he was dispatched yeah he did he he was ardently in love with Jesus he used to you know when he would suffer these terrible headaches they got that flu I think it was the Spanish flu was it out of the World War one right which took about 20 million what was our more devastating than the war itself that's right that's right and he the two of them died of that and he used to suffer terrible headaches so on the way to school that I'm not justice for not students to follow this example but he couldn't study and he would say to Lucia and Jacinta you go to school I'm going to go to the church and pray and he would go behind the altar and he pray especially that little prayer the angel taught the reparation and say his rosaries soon after God to come and it's great you started saying about how our Lady appeared in 1925 to hear the 1922 system Lucia what happened was was in the little room of sister Lucia she our lady came with the Christ child and our lady's heart was surrounded by a crown of thorns and the Christ child spoke first even said to Lucia you see the heart of your mother surrounded by a crown of thorns put there by evil men and who will take those thorns out of the heart of your mother then our lady spoke and said to Lucia at least you do it for me and then tell anyone who will go to confession receive Holy Communion offer a rosary and then spend 15 more minutes keeping me company meditating on other mysteries of the rosary all the intention making reparation to my Immaculate Heart tell them I promise them when they die they will have the graces of salvation you know and Christ child said tell the people don't make the devotion once keep making it over and over because our Lord nor lady won our prayers and this sacrifice you know this special devotion for the salvation of souls and you know unfortunately it's the most neglected part of the request of violating they should point out that the confession just recently the Holy See said that you can go to confession any day during the month okay so if you're making it for let's say March or April any day during the March or April you go to confession you can apply it to the five four Saturdays and then but it all has to be done with that intention making reparation for the blasphemies and offenses against her heart the priest who was her confessor and the superior her superior were the ones who were supposed to get this devotion out and a priest asked her how come there's only five four seven why not nine or seven or so so she asked our Lord now Lord said because there are five blasphemies against my mother's Immaculate Heart one is blasphemy against the Immaculate Conception but you can imagine how Satan hates that privilege of Mary huh yeah the beginning of the undoing of his kingdom secondly the blasphemies against Mary's perpetual virginity which is really in the face of all this our society today so sex you know sexual liberties and so on distortions a thirdly reparation for those who deny or blaspheme Mary's mother of God and our mother forth reparation for those who keep the young from her because she's a mother she has a right to the love of all her children and all her children have a right to her love and finally for those who distort her images and treat them with great disrespect and we know that happens in some instances they've been terrible blasphemies against Mary yeah so these are this is what our lady requested the confession communion the rosary and then 15 minutes and it seems simple but she's saying that's that's the rest of you got to do this yeah yeah yeah thick through it you go that's the important thing well what makes the the message I think particularly compelling is that it's preceded by the marvel the miracle of the son of and and we ended on on that the last segment perhaps you could enlarge upon that it seems to me that if that many people had witness to this you've got pretty irrefutable evidence of mary's presence of and concern that's right absolutely you know they had range for about two days prior to that apparition people the ground was soaking wet muddy and and all these people imagined tramping over that mud and everything they were soaking wet and and what happened was when the children finally got there they were praying the rosary people began to clamor we want to sign and there was nothing getting very angry in fact the mother of Lucia thought Lucia was going to be killed that day because the she didn't think anything was gonna happen maybe she has doubt real very skeptical about the whole thing but what happened is all of a sudden the the Lucia remember they were talking to Our Lady and all of a sudden we'll see it just wave toward the Sun she said look at the Sun and later on she said she doesn't remember saying that oh no I just look at the Sun and all sudden people turned on and all sudden the Sun began to break through the crowd but the clouds and you know it began to turn all different colors and then as they called it they said it began to dance in the sky I was in a hotel in in Fatima where a man who owned that he told me his grandparents were at that apparition and he said look at this photograph all the people are looking to the left here he said father the son is never there it's always to the right that's how far the son was moving laterally and then as you know the people said it became unhooked it began to come down to the early thought it was going to engulf the earth and people and yeah was that they were screaming out their sins and everything but miracles actually happen blind people could say lame people were healed so it was a spectacular thing all Haiti gave the proof and you know a lot of skeptics went there a lot of people went at a market yeah to kind of nail the coffin lid that's right I remember distinctly when I first heard about Fatima I was still a Protestant on August 18th in 84 it was the day that my wife gave birth to our second son Gabriel and she had just got into labor we were at the hospital and so you know just to distract us in between the contractions we're watching TV flipping through the channels and in the middle of a contraction I look up and here's Ricardo montalbán rich Corinthian leather and all of that talking about Our Lady of Fatima and I never heard of this you know and so my I'm much closer to a much more open to Catholicism at this point I'm still two years away from becoming Catholic my wife is still very distant you know and so the fact that I'm watching TV when she's having a contraction but watching about the Blessed Virgin Mary it says I mean I have sensitivity to that sighs man yeah but the the fact is I I was I was enthralled I was enthralled and I was I was massaging her back extra you know so I could watch and I mean when it came to the miracle of the Sun and they showed the photographs of tens of thousands of people and the umbrellas and the mud and then all of a sudden the Sun bursting forth and then they also quoted the reports of the the Portuguese newspapers that were run by the secularists the atheists racism you know and and just how irrefutable and yet how inexplicable I mean the mind changed against its will is of the same opinion still and so nevertheless a lot of hearts were converted and you know it's like how in the world did I not hear about this 1917 and then it talks about Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution you know and it was just like you know it couldn't have come at a better time in my life and it went it was like a laser being going right through my mind to my heart and I thought she's my mother she's my mother Wow and I began praying the rosary you know on a daily basis as a result of that show Wow and it was just unbelievable graces you mentioned something there about Russia I know that was a desire and a request of the consecration of Russia and you could talk about we know what did happen did Russia get consecrated to the Emeka absolutely people who question that too I know there's a lot of people question it it absolutely done and what Pope John Paul did is he did the consecration exactly the way Pius the 12th had done it during World War two see the the bishops of Portugal they were celebrating the 25th anniversary of the apparition was 1942 the world war was going on and they they were celebrating in Portugal and they asked the Holy Father to make the consecration of Russia but in the meantime something else happened and it was very significant there was a mistake in Portugal her name was Alexander Enid Acosta she's now blessed and if you ever go to Portugal you've got to go visit her shrine visit there's a cross in the ground that was there there was brown dirt for a hundred years and our Lord told alexandrina that was waiting for you and she became a mystic she was a victim soul she had suffered an injury trying to escape the sky he was trying to molest her and and so she suffered the passion and so on our Lord asked her he said in have the Holy Father consecrate the world now this is different than Russia consecrate the world to my mother's Immaculate Heart and I will lesson World War two by two years and so that request came of the Portuguese bishops knew her they knew she was in an authentic mystic and so they took that very seriously that request and of course they had the request from Our Lady through sister Lucia for Russia so now the consecration of the world did not require the bishops that only required the Holy Father consecration of Russia we cried the Holy Father with the bishops and so when PI c12 tried to make the consecration okay he made the consecration of the world validly and that's why after that 1943 the Allies began to win it does a turning point yeah yeah within two years it was over yeah right yeah and they had not won anything major however the consecration of Russia did not take hold you know why because due to the war the Pope could not reach all the bishop eyed eyes and so he didn't have enough bishops to do it with with him and sister Lucy had told him that a lot of people think it was because you didn't mention Russia by name no that's not the reason that the country Valley in fact sister Lucia when she was told to make this double request she prayed before the busted sacrament and the Lord told her do what the bishops told you to do she had no problem with the way the Pope did it but he didn't do it with all the bishops that's right I took John whole to do it like so he did it with the union of the bishops and that's what made the curse has been 84 or waiting for that before yeah and the Soviet empire of implodes within seven four or five years absolutely the autistics are unbelievably made we go to the next place yeah yeah in our next segment I'd like to continue our conversation on Our Lady of Fatima but I know our guests would enjoy talking a little bit about Archbishop Fulton sheen as well you're watching Franciscan University presents sting witness I'm currently doing the Louie de Montfort consecration to Jesus through Mary which is a beautiful consecration that our lady has given us and my favorite prayer in that is the litany of the Holy Ghost which has really helped my day-to-day prayer life and just seeing the Holy Spirit working in my life and hearing him speak to me throughout the day and as I grow closer to God through Mary's intercession I'm able to hear his call and say yes to God is as Mary said yes to Jesus which is a great blessing explore the treasures of your Catholic heritage on a Franciscan University pilgrimage led by inspiring spiritual directors you'll walk in the footsteps of saints and martyrs in the Holy Land Poland France and Italy and you'll deepen your love for Jesus Christ through daily Mass confession prayer and the joy of Christian Fellowship but Franciscan University lead you on a pilgrimage of faith find out more at Franciscan edu slash pilgrimages I'm glad you joined us for Franciscan University presents this entire show is taped right here in our communication art studio at Franciscan University our students are operating the camera and the equipment's our regular panelist Regis and Scott our members are a theology faculty and today we're discussing Our Lady of Fatima with author preacher and teacher father Andrew Apostoli now before we get back to Our Lady of Fatima I'd love to take a few minutes here and talk about the cause of Archbishop Fulton sheen who ordained you to the priesthood and you're now the Vice postulator for his cause so so what can you tell us a little bit about some Fulton sheen stories sure you know one of the great things about him was his great love of the Eucharist and remember he was known for his making that holy hour every day call it the hour of power power that makes my day and you know he was faithful to that hour which he had promised when he was in third year I think third year theology he had made a promise to give that hour every day he was inspired by a little Chinese girl who had given her life for the Eucharist in China and he said if that little girl could have that courage I can spend an hour every day and so he made it faithfully even though he was travelling and so on you know he he also you know had a great devotion to Our Lady and particularly to Our Lady of Fatima we've been talking about her and of course he was a great opponent of communism many of his convert she had an estimated 52,000 converts many of them were communist Bella Dodd who had entered the Communist Party and her assignment was to recruit men who had no vocations no faith no morality into the priesthood Wow that was an order from Stalin himself you know to destroy the Catholic Church from within by you know ordaining men who were not true priests you know who are not to be subversive within this job should be subversive a that was way to destroy he converted her and she told them she's like I could at about eleven thousand them eleven hundred I'm sorry eleven hundred men to enter the priesthood you know and destroy the church from within and you know and so other communist to and you know he made it its greatest most of em prophecy he was very prophetic he told people things about their lives and so on but his most famous prophecy he made run on television one of his programs as you know there were live programs and he went up to the camera he did a show using about the Communist Party he used one of Shakespeare's plays about Julius Caesar and he changed all the names in that play the communist officials and anything else Tollan Lenin Khrushchev and all and then he went up to the camera and he said and yes mr. Stalin your day will come and it will come very soon five days later Stalin had a massive stroke that paralyzed him before things lady was dead Wow and he made that prophecy right there on live television you know so and but he also you know he promoted Our Lady even as little mission rosary and so on but even now as we're working on his cause some wonderful things testimonies are coming through but perhaps the most outstanding thing of a favor granted now I can't call it a miracle any popkins Claire miracles but an alleged miracle happened to a little child in the Peoria diocese he was the little fella was born dead he was stillborn the umbilical cord during the birth process got wrapped around his neck he died you know for lack of air and then they examined him four different times you know for life and so there was absolutely no lot signs of life no brain waves no breathing no heartbeat and the doctors were ready to declare the child dead it was 61 minutes after the birth no life signs and the mother kept praying to Bishop Sheen and as the doctors were ready to declare that little child that he started to breathe Wow and we just feel that this was a just tremendous favor and of course Peoria is where he's promised that's right that's right his name is James Fulton you know you'd be surprised a lot of people are naming their children after him Fulton that's great that's great well that is so encouraging to hear about Archbishop Sheen and his cause hopefully moving forward even further yeah we've been talking about Our Lady of fátima I want to ask you wrote Fatima for today why now what's the relevance of a message from 1917 to today well the relevance I think was summed up by Pope Benedict when he said those who believe that the prophetic message of Fatima has ended are clearly mistaken and the reason it can't it can't be ended is because Our Lady said in the end the Pope will consecrate Russia to my Immaculate Heart that's why I believe it was done it was done by Pope John Paul II secondly many souls will be converted those conversions are starting to happen what we need to do more of as we said earlier in the program as to do the fight for Saturday's devotion that is specifically linked to the conversions and finally Our Lady said an era of peace would be given to the world and I believe that and I believe Our Lady didn't make a promise she didn't intend to keep and she said it would happen so that's why I think we can look forward to it when Pope Benedict was there in Fatima in on may 13th the year 2010 he was saying mass in the Cova I should point out there were three rows of Russian people from Russia that were there had a big sign Mary thank you for what you are doing for our country so they're acknowledging the change is happening and the Pope said that we can pray and hope that the fulfillment of the promises of Our Lady at Fatima would be fulfilled by 1917 which would make it a hundred years he said I'm not making a prophecy you know he everything is done the consecration is made the third secret has been fully revealed that was revealed by John Paul you know when he when he got shot in the hospital he wanted to see what the third message I remember he was shot on May 13th 1981 and he connected it May 13 May 13th Fatima light in fact aliaga the man who shot him when he went when the Pope went to see him in prison remember aliaga said to him why are you still alive he said I'm a professional assassin I don't miss he said Who whose feast was it in your church that day that's the one who saved you is that interesting coming from the assassin yeah he was the one who prompted the Pope teasin yeah yeah yeah what one guy pulled the trigger but a woman averted of its trajectory yes that's really says she got a Sparrow's life yeah and so to me all of those are done you know and you know the statistics bear it out I was recently had gotten these statistics that in nineteen 1985 since 1985 to the end of the year 2011 there was an increase in churches in Russia 350 percent increase of churches the number of monasteries from 1991 there were nineteen ninety one to 117 monasteries in Russia there are now over 800 and they're filled we don't have vocations in the West like that got them you know like that right you know so our words were true there was a conversion that we don't always see it over here but the conversions are really happening we've we've entered upon a new marian age like i think which is sort of reminiscent of the high middle ages there was a period during the 13th century I think from 1170 to 1270 when over 800 cathedrals were built in France oh I'm sorry 80 cathedrals and 500 churches that dot the landscape of Catholic France up and that testifies to the love of the Virgin yeah that's right it's not you know as henry adams's puts it it's not steam that built Chartres Cathedral it was devotion to our mother can you go back for a moment you mentioned that the assassination attempt on Jean Paul was on May 13th that's right and he didn't make the connection right away though no that's right that's right see he it took him he was in the hospital Gemelli hospital for three weeks right after the assassination attempt and he had lost a great deal of blood that's right right here but it was lost that night that's why he said he's not so much that I you know I'd uh America venom II from die she says I think she gave me back my life put it you know and and what happened was when he went back a second time he got sick and had to go back and he realized that connection the assassination made thirteenth Fatima it made 13 that's when he asked for the third secret to be brought to him now remember sister Lucy had written 1960 on that that's why pope john xxiii had looked at it in order to reveal it in 1960 but i imagine he said who's this pope ticket shot remember we said that's the beginning of the that's part of the message same thing paul the six looked at it he said now it's not the time this is not the time what's this pope john paul looked at it he know immediately that's me yeah you know and that's when he made that I guess John Paul the first didn't have enough time that's right look at it yeah and one year later of course John Paul goes to Fatima to think old lady he attempted to make it then but what happened was the people and he relied on in the Vatican did not send out the notices to the bishops so he didn't have all the bishops with him however he took it into his own hands and on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1983 he sent out the notices to all the bishops in joined with him and he made the consecration on March 25th 1984 right with two thousand eight hundred plus bishops yeah I thinking it with him which is almost almost an absolute total number no and even since he said he did the best he could do and you can't build some I was not going to ask you to do better than you can do and at that point in 1984 the Soviet Union just seemed indomitable that's right no I mean Reagan was doing his best and a lot of others too but by 89 the the you know the the Iron Curtain just began to fall by 91 you know missionaries were going in yeah I mean the back prayer of its dissolution I don't think was in the cards nobody by the way in addition to all those bishops there were a couple of families of in Saint Peter's Square mine included but we were there in 1984 we witness of this consecration to to Russia I love the beautiful part that in the book you quote about how God's will is not immune and how I think you're coordinated yeah that's right you know and this is the prayers in Russia changed some of the things that happened I mean is that is to that a little bit about how our prayers can affect it sure when God hears prayers and you know it moves hearts our lady for example when she talked about the power of the Rosary she said the Rosary is so strong it can stop wars it can bring world peace and it can bring conversions so when we pray the rosary Our Lady is going to apply that to the salvation of souls and the more that are saved the the more peace will come into the world because remember she told little Jacinta war is the punishment for sin you know and that's why what we do does affect God's plan you see that in with Jonah when he preached an innovate God was going to punish and destroy the city they did penance and he didn't destroy it that's God is moved you know as we come closer to 2017 you know there is going to be a buildup and I think that you know people who watch the program oughta just pray about what can I do to kind of collaborate to court and you know with parishioners with other parishes you know with the diocese throughout the country throughout the world because you know ever since watching that TV program back in 84 I began to pray the rosary and you know I remember the last year in the month of October the month of the Rosary I you know I'm gonna do it twice you know it has been my favorite prayer since before I became a Catholic and the experience of it at one level was like you've got to be kidding the Rosary talk about repetition you know and yet at a deeper level you know when you begin to discover just just begin to discover I'm a child of God and the older I get the wiser I get the smaller I get you know and the the joy watching God do things that you can't even ask him for you don't have enough faith to pray you know through the rosary it's just how what Paul says you know how the wisdom of God appears to be foolish and yet the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom and the weakness of God is more powerful than the power of man I just think that we don't even imagine how much God wants to accomplish through the Rosary that's right oh it's very powerful for him Padre Pio used to say is there any prayer more beautiful than the prayer our lady herself taught us then the rosary he said pray the rosary all the time so I think one of the practical things people can do pray your rosary every day and learn about the pfeiffer savage motion please make it that's essential to peace in the world and that's great in our final segment we'll look at some key points to wrap this whole conversation together stay with us on Franciscan University presents I'm a coordinator of Fisher fishers of men and when it gets down to it our lady is the greatest evangelizer we have that's our big charism is evangelization is preaching the word and you think about it like the Apostles all look to our lady they all drew her their strength from our lady and so we just like to do the same thing there's nobody that knew our Lord better than his mother and we just go to her to learn about him and to increase our devotion our love for Christ because that's what she's all about my name is Kelli Butler and I'm a communication arts major I took independent digital filmmaking definitely intense many all-nighters in the editing lab getting things done Pope John Paul the second has a quote do not be afraid to go out into the streets and into public places preach Christ like the first apostles that's what we're called to as Catholics and as Christian you have that responsibility that every work you create should reflect Christ Franciscan University is academically excellent and passionately Catholic we've come to the final segment of Franciscan University presents we've been discussing Our Lady of Fatima with father Andrew Apostoli CFR his book Fatima for today the urgent Marian message is published by Ignatius press I couldn't recommend this book enough it's a real comprehensive book now let's take some time to share our final thoughts Regis could you start us off well I an overwhelming sense of gratitude really for what you've done father not just the book but the presentation today it's marvelous it's really a fascinating and enthralling narrative that you've woven together out of the materials of Mary's appearance and I think you draw so eloquently so wonderfully from your own experience your own devotion and and I was much struck by Scotts reminding us that were closing in on the centenary of 100 years after the apparitions began what can we do I mean the urgency of the need for peace is probably greater now than it was even in that tempestuous spring of 1917 were bedeviled by by wars everywhere and I'm also up struck by the structure of the Hail Mary which is really what the Rosary is about a whole list of Hell Mary's there's a kind of alternating current a rhythm of praise followed by petition and and I think the praise is is necessary in order for the petition to bear fruit and it reminds me finally of Dante he's like us he's everyman he wants to see the face of God this is the deepest cry of longing in the human heart let me see your face but you can't see the face of God without the wings of the woman who will somehow fly you straight into the precincts of eternal Felicity that's what Dante discovered he had to invoke Bernard of Clairvaux who then went to Mary to ask her please would you help your servant TEI get into heaven and there look on the face of God and people who desire grace but will not have recourse to Mary it's as if they are flying without wings and and Mary has those wings the wings of the Spirit the wings of heaven and you awaken so wonderfully that longing to get back to Mary so that we can go home to God that's great sky thank you for sharing that I think of the Hail Mary as being you know what two halves the angelic salutation and then the prayer of sinners and and how heaven and earth are united and how we get to share in the Angelica salutation and extol the greatness of God's grace within her and at the same time you know cry out in terms of her own need for mercy and her prayers I want to thank you for writing this book and it came out you know in 2010 seven years before the centenary and seven years for me and other people who study Scripture that's that's significant no instead of just going on with you know prattling on about my thoughts I just want to conclude my part here with a prayer to Jacinta and Francisco and to Archbishop Fulton sheen that this would book would be the instrument for preparing the people of God to enter into the centenary celebration the five first Saturday's would make a dramatic comeback the rosary itself would would return with a greater force of grace and we could even ask for and not only for Russia but for countries like ours which have imbibed so deeply of the doctrines of Russia that there would be a dramatic transformation not just for political or economic stability but for spiritual transformation personal conversion for families and marriages and parishes to be transformed I believe this book coupled with the rosary and the prayers the Saints has that potential thank you for the ZQ thank you Father could you share sure chant I thank you for those beautiful words you know my love for Lady Fatima goes all the way back in my life I was a young boy it was affected by the story I think you know because it involved children and it was so simple and her plea you know that if we do what she said we will find peace and we need it you know I look around the country today and I see what would Pope John Paul had said way back in 1976 that the Catholic Church is in the greatest spiritual struggle of her 2,000 year history he says many Catholics are totally unaware of this and what's at stake he said is not one nation or one doctrine he said it's the entire Christian culture that has built up for 2,000 years and you see it the attack on life life the sacredness of life is a heart as a cornerstone of Catholic culture and we don't what you know recognize the dignity of each person secondly the family and this is under attack in our society and of course now even our religious freedom this is sacred I mean who can command you to go against your conscience god alone you are responsible to God alone in your conscience and our lady came and she told us all these things would happen see I see these changes as communism in a but a different name in our nation and if she warned us this was going to happen she told us how we could stop it and that's why I would hope people would pray their rosary every day it's a powerful very safe it's a real testimony you gave the power of that prayer you know our lady taught it to us you know and the putt refuses the lady gave it those and the devil is always trying to take it away okay and and secondly the fight for Saturday's devotion in my book I refer to that practice the five four Saturdays as our ladies spiritual development program you know our Catholic people are not going to confession and the numbers they used to win regularity sometimes year the number they need to absolutely she's getting us to go to confession every month say the Rosary received that extra Holy Communion you know Our Lady is interested in our spiritual growth and and that's why Fatima you know to me holds the key and will bring the peace if we do what our mother said and she loves us and we should be loving children thank you so much father thank you for coming to Steubenville thank you for being on our program and speaking to our students really has been an inspiration to me and a great challenge something for us to bring to our families and also just to sharing about Archbishop Fulton sheen two really really enjoyed that you know when I read the book I think you set it up in a perfect way where there is an epic battle between good and evil you start off with a tremendous story of Genesis and of revelation of how Our Lady is in that battle and we are in a battle we may not realize it we're not on the sidelines and there's only one weapon and it's Our Lady's rosary that's going to get our families our communities this country in the world back on track those first Friday our first Saturday devotions the communion of reparation those are just something we need to to make a part of our lives and you had a beautiful part here father about when Lucia at one of the apparitions asked our lady what what do you want of me and she went through the normal responses have come to back to on the 13th pray the rosary daily but she also added learned to read and I thought it was a very simple response but you showed that she needed to learn some practical skills to share the message of Our Lady she even went on to learn how to use a computer what is our role in sharing the message of Our Lady of Fatima to the world what are the skills at our disposal that we need to leverage for Our Lady thank you for watching us here on Franciscan University presents this entire show comes forth from the heart of Franciscan University and I want to invite you to be a part of our mission by taking classes here on campus or through distance learning come for a summer conference or join us on a pilgrimage to one of the holy shrines visit us on faith and reason com it's a website that has some great resources the free handout for today is a chapter xviii fatima for today from the book on Pope Benedict and the continuing challenge of Fatima this free handout as well as a sheet of all the prayers from Fatima is avail at faith and reason dot-com thank you for watching and stay with us next time father could you close us with a final blessing sure the blessing of st. Francis and then both bow your heads and pray for God's blessing may the Lord bless you and keep you may he turn his face to you and have mercy on you may he smile on you and grant you his peace and I ask our lady to a lady fatima to put the mantle of her love and protection over each one of you and all your loved ones it may st. Joseph the only other saint to appear at Fatima may he protect you and your families and I bless you in the name of the Father the Son and of the Holy Spirit to download the free handout on today's topic go to faith and reason com email your request for the handout - presents at Franciscan ddu at faith and reason com you can also purchase past episodes of Franciscan University presents or request today's free hand out and purchase past programs by calling 888 three three three zero three eight one that's eight eight eight three three three zero three eight one or call seven four zero two eight three six three five seven you

Channel: Franciscan University of Steubenville

Views: 17,227

Rating: 4.8688526 out of 5

Keywords: Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, Catholic, college, Michael Hernon, Dr. Regis Martin, Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Andrew Apostoli CFR

Id: y1K58TPO9Zw

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 18 2013