Our Lady of Fatima, in her appearances to the three children, said that men should no longer offend the Lord because he is already too offended.
His call during his appearance on July 13, 1917 can be summed up succinctly: “Sin no More”.
On May 13, 1917, Our Lady said to them: “Would you like to offer yourselves to God, ready to make sacrifices and willingly accept all the sufferings He wishes to send you, in reparation for so many sins by which the Divine Majesty is offended? , and to obtain the conversion of sinners? (cf. Our Lady of Fatima, first apparition, May 13, 1917).
The three replied in the affirmative and Our Lady told them that they would have much to suffer.
Indeed, the three children suffered enormously, but not in vain because they offered them all in reparation for sins.
The Fatima apparition is considered one of the most significant Church-sanctioned Marian apparitions in our time.
The Blessed Virgin Mary reiterated the need for prayer and penance telling the three children that there are many souls in hell as very few pray and make sacrifices for sinners.
Our Lady emphasized the importance of the spirit of reparation in her messages to the three children, two of whom were canonized, Sts. Hyacinth and Francesco.
Sister Lucia’s cause for canonization has already begun, she died on February 13, 2005. On February 13, 2008, the third anniversary of her death, Pope Benedict XVI decided that in her case, the customary five-year waiting period by Church law before the opening of a cause for beatification would be abolished.
This standard was also dispensed in the causes of Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta. On February 13, 2017, Sister Lúcia received the title of Servant of God, as the first step towards her canonization.
Even after the appearance of Our Lady, men continue to commit sins. People become forgetful of God. Instead of giving God just homage, service and praise, men continue to hurt God by sinning.
Our Lady of Fatima tells us that wars, chaos and other disasters are the effects of sin. She urges us to stop sinning and make more sacrifices.
We must practice reparation which can help reverse the course of the evils of our time. Reparation must be made by all, for all have sinned and many continue to live in sin.
Reparation, especially at the Eucharist, is very necessary today, as Saint John Paul II said in Dominici Cenae # 2.3: “May our reparation never cease.
Venerable Pius XII commissioned consecration and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus jointly with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (cf. Pius XII Haurietis Aquas, 1956, no. 124)
Since the Hearts of Jesus and Mary bleed because of the many sins committed against their hearts, reparation must be offered. (cf. Pope Pius XI Miserentissimus Redemptor, No.6.)
Pius XI defines reparation as follows: “The love of the creature must be given in exchange for the love of the Creator, another thing immediately follows from this, namely that the same uncreated love, if it be so, has been overlooked by forgetfulness or violated by offense. , some sort of compensation must be rendered for the injury, and this debt is commonly called by the name of Reparation.
The motive for reparation is love. When we love, we are ready to repair.
Repair: meaning and concept
Repair, from the Latin “reparare”, means to make new, to make amends. It is an attempt to straighten out what is wrong. Every sin is bad.
In the spiritual sense, the soul desires to help renew a sinful world with its own cooperation in the mystery of redemption.
The soul that atones for sin is actually trying to appease divine justice. Those who repair, in a sense, “bargain with the Lord” in order to withhold His punishment.
He who repairs tries to gain as much time as possible so that more sinners can be saved through the prayers and sacrifices offered to them. (cf. Freze Michael, SFO They Bore the Wounds of Christ. Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, Huntington Indiana, USA 1989 p.68,69)
The one who offers reparation is more concerned with appealing to God’s mercy to forgive sinners through prayer and sacrifice.
Reparation seeks to repair the damage already done by past sin (to “repair” a past wrong).
Reparation is a close ally of the Sacrament of Penance. A reparator longs for the soul to make an act of contrition for its sins, to be truly sorry from the depths of its heart, and to confess its wrongdoings in order to be converted and reconciled to the Savior of all mankind.
In his encyclical “Miserentissimus Redemptor”, published in 1928, Pope Pius XI speaks to us of the need for reparation. In fact, he ordered it.
It speaks of the many heinous crimes/sins in which men, under the influence and deception of Satan, shamefully abandoned Christ and His Mystical Body in great pain.
Among them are: the heinous crimes of man; governments and country leaders have openly attacked Christ; religious dedicated to the Lord have been persecuted; apostasy has become commonplace; the lack of respect for the discipline and tradition of the Church has become a bulwark; human and divine rights have been overthrown.
Serious attacks have been made on the purity of youth; the assault on the sanctity of marriage has become vigorous; the education of children has become based on false theories; the virtue of modesty has been practically forgotten; materialism abounds; the authority of the Word of God is publicly scorned; and personal adoration before the Blessed Sacrament is neglected, even forgotten.
We are all called to live the message of Fatima which is more urgent today than it was over a hundred years ago.
If we want our Church to have a renewal, let us return to the Sacrament of Confession, let us adore the Lord truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, pray the Holy Rosary daily as requested by Our Lady and attend the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass if possible every day, otherwise every Sunday.
Let us make more reparation for our sins and the sins of the world.
Let us also take to heart the exhortation of Saint John Paul II to make reparation to Jesus truly present in the Eucharist because of the many profanations, irreverences and sacrileges committed against the august presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
May our daily adoration become restorative adoration. (cf. Saint John Paul II Dominici Cenae # 2,3) Our faith tells us that Jesus is entirely and substantially present there as God and man in the Eucharist cf. CCC 1374
In his encyclical “Mystici Corporis Christi (1953)”, the Venerable Pius XII invites everyone to do works of reparation “to follow with good will the footsteps of Jesus our King, as true and effective charity towards the Church demands. and the soul which the Church continually engenders for Christ.
The same Pius XII commissioned the consecration and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus jointly with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (cf. Pius XII Haurietis Aquas, 1956, n° 124)
Paul VI
In 1966, in his Apostolic Constitution “Poenitentiam Agite”, Paul VI confirms that reparation is necessary in the Church. He believed that the solution to evil today is to pray and offer sacrifices for others.
The reparation made of prayers and sacrifices is exactly the message of Our Lady of Fatima’s approved message. The doctrine of reparation for the sins of others is an integral part of Our Lady of Fatima’s message to the three seers.
Let us wipe away the tears of our Heavenly Mother, let us practice reparation and console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Prof. Roberto Francis A. Tiquia, STD, is from the Diocese of Virac and works as National Spiritual Director of Holy Family Alliance International.
Picture credits: Wikimedia Commons
