The Fatima Prayers Teach Us:

Mary Is OUR Mother

The following is an edited transcript of a speech given by Father Nicholas Gruner at our Fatima: The Last Chance for World Peace conference in October 2006. His words are timeless – as truth always is. This is a transcript of faith, of hope, and what to do. Read it slowly and digest every word. Father Gruner speaks to each and every one of us and shares his great love for the Blessed Virgin Mary, OUR Mother. by Father Nicholas Gruner , S.T.L., S.T.D. (Cand.)

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he first thing we should do in this time of crisis is to pray and sacrifice. The second thing is to get others to pray and sacrifice. We should also become more aware. It seems that everyone has an opinion on Fatima but they know next to nothing about it. When they have an opinion, when they hear some objection in their mind, they then go off with misinformed and distorted comments – before they start doing that, they should learn more. The objections have been answered over and over again, by the Angel and by Our Lady and by Our Lord Himself. That should have been enough – but for too many, it wasn’t. The third thing we can do is petition. Some think that it’s somehow or other being disloyal to the Pope when we ask him to do the Consecration. Eight Popes – Pius XI, Pius XII, John The Fatima Crusader | Spring 2016

XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I (but he was only Pope for 33 days), John Paul II, Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis – have not done the consecration. Pius XII did a consecration of the world twice in 1942, in October and again in December. In 1942, Sister Lucy wrote a letter for the Pope, according to her confessor’s directions, correcting again and again, until, finally, it was sent to the Pope. The Pope did the consecration of the world on October 31 by a radio message to Fatima and to Portugal, and he repeated that again in December 1942. Our Lord spoke to Lucy after this consecration and said that, as a result of it, He would shorten the days of the Second World War. Winston Churchill, writing in his six–volume book about the Second World War, doesn’t relate it to this act of consecration but he says that the “hinges of fate” 45

changed – that the Allies lost almost every battle before the end of 1942; but after that, the Allies won almost every battle. This change – Our Lord tells us – basically was due to the consecration of the world by the Pope in 1942. False Friends It’s important for us to realize that there are enemies of Our Lady. Not everyone who opposes us is an enemy, but not everyone who opposes us is doing it out of goodwill. There are false friends of Fatima who try to tell us that the consecration of the world is a consecration of Russia and that we’ve already had the conversion of Russia, and that we’ve already had world peace. It’s amazing. These people lack one essential element – which is called love for the truth. Did the Blessed Virgin come at Fatima six times and work the Miracle of the Sun so that we could have 42 million babies killed in their mothers’ wombs every year? Is this world peace? That the United States could be bombing the people of Afghanistan or the people of Iran or wherever else, or sending drones after somebody they don’t like and killing them? This is world peace? Yet, you have people who claim to be devoted 46

to Our Lady telling us it is. I prefer to think that they are so ignorant that they don’t know what they’re saying, but it’s hard to believe that all of them are that ignorant. The Church has an obligation to obey Fatima but some Popes did not do the Consecration of Russia because the intellectual and the social atmosphere, in their judgment, was not sufficiently favorable to them standing out and doing this by themselves. Pope Benedict XVI, sometime within the first three years of his pontificate, actually sent a special legate to the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow, to ask his permission to consecrate Russia. Why? Because he was acting under the false theological idea that he needed Russia’s permission or he was acting under a prudential judgment thinking he could not do it if they didn’t give their consent. False Ideas Prevent the Consecration Either way, it is these false ideas that are preventing the Pope from acting and, therefore, it is important for us to realize that we – as members of society and members of the Church – have an obligation to help inform the public opinion so The Fatima Crusader | Spring 2016

the Pope will have right counsel and have right ideas around him. You are part of that public opinion. You can do something about it. The first thing is to learn it yourself and the second thing is to pass it on to others. We have the spiritual weapons – prayer, sacrifice, reparation and the sacraments. And then we must talk about the truth, our own attitude towards the truth. We must love the truth, we must seek it, we must defend it, we must promote it, and we must pass it “Behold the Heart of your Mother.” on, and then we must deepen it as well. “Behold the Heart of your Mother On December 10, 1925 Lucy all circled with thorns which was in her room and the Child ungrateful men put there at every Jesus came standing on a cloud moment by their blasphemies and and the Blessed Virgin (Our Lady ingratitude.” of Fatima) was beside Him. The You should think about this Blessed Virgin had in Her right for a moment. Why does Our hand Her Immaculate Heart Lord say: “your Mother” and all surrounded with thorns. not “My Mother?” On the Cross, The Child Jesus spoke first and Jesus said to Saint John: “Behold pointed to Our Lady’s Heart and your Mother.” At Fatima, Our said: “Behold the Heart of your Lord says: “Behold the Heart of Mother.” He didn’t say: “Behold your Mother.” Why is She our the Heart of My Mother.” He said: The Fatima Crusader | Spring 2016

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Mother? The Second Vatican Council, interestingly enough, explains it very well. It says that the Blessed Virgin Mary generates us into a life of grace. Saint Peter tells us in Sacred Scripture that we are made God-like; we are adopted sons by grace. And so this God-likeness quality which the Council of Trent tells us is a created quality, this is Divine Life. It transforms us, but this Sanctifying Grace or this Divine Life, this created Divine Life in us, is generated in our hearts and our souls by the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary is the One Who brings us forth to new birth and Our Lord says in St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 3, Verse 16: “Unless you be born again of water and the Holy Spirit.” So Baptism is really a rebirth, but we are not reborn without a Mother. The Blessed Virgin is the One Who gives us spiritual rebirth. Just as Mary is the Mother of Jesus, of a Person Who preexists, Jesus is a Divine Person, nevertheless, a Person Who pre-existed. She becomes His Mother by giving birth to Him in His human form. Similarly, She becomes our spiritual Mother, giving us birth in supernatural form and so She is, truly and strictly speaking, our Mother. She is as much our Mother as 48

our own natural mother is. You can see the depth of just this one word, where Our Lord says: “Behold the Heart of your Mother.” There is so much meaning in that one phrase. The Pope and the bishops and the priests can all promote the devotion of the Five First Saturdays to make reparation for ingratitude. How Is It That We Are Ungrateful? Again, we can go back to Sacred Scripture. Saint Bernard, for example, explains the Annunciation – the Blessed Virgin is asked by the Angel to be the Mother of God. She doesn’t hesitate but She takes a moment to consider it and Saint Bernard tells us: “Ask the Blessed Mary, ‘Please don’t hesitate, we’re all waiting, we’re all dependent on You and Your answer. May it be ‘Yes.’ Hurry, please!’” We are all indebted to the Blessed Virgin for Her answer because, as we know, the grace of redemption comes through sacrifice, through the Blood of Christ. “There’s no redemption from sins,” says St. Paul, “without the shedding of blood.” And we are redeemed from sin by the shedding of Christ’s Blood. But He would not have any Blood to shed if He never became The Fatima Crusader | Spring 2016

man, and He would never have become man unless the Blessed Virgin first had said ‘fiat’, “Let it be done unto Me according to Thy word.” The Blessed Virgin knew Scriptures well. She knew the prophecies of Isaiah; She knew Christ would be the Suffering Servant. Chapter 53 describes His sufferings in even more detail than the Gospels. She knew all this, and when She said, “Yes,” She became the Mother of Sorrows. Her accepting of the Motherhood of God was also accepting to become the Mother of Sorrows. She did that out of love for God but also out of love for each one of us. Our Lord talks about the ingratitude of men because we do not acknowledge, we do not thank Her, we do not remember, we do not think about what She has done for us. These are things that we can do. We can promote the devotion of the Five First Saturdays and so can the bishops. They don’t need to have any committees; they don’t need to have anyone else’s permission. All they need to do is to promote these practices widely in their dioceses, day in and day out, year in and year out. They would draw down many graces on themselves and on their parishes and on their parish families. We are The Fatima Crusader | Spring 2016

not without resources and if we all did what we could, we would see the atmosphere in the Church change. But we are all waiting for someone else to do something; we are all waiting for the leaders; we all tell ourselves we are just nobodies. That is just a big excuse – we have the power among us collectively here. Consider that the Gospel was spread to the whole world by 12 men and, among them, St. Paul excelled them all. If we had more zeal, if we had more faith, we could do more. Let us not reproach ourselves but rather ask for that faith, for that zeal, and let us do what we can with what is at our hand. St. Thomas tells us that men of goodwill can differ among themselves about their courses of action; and everyone has opportunities and graces and gifts that other people do not have. There is no way I can speak of every possible way you can assist in bringing about Our Lady’s triumph, but all of you can do the prayers and the sacrifices; all of you can tell your friends and neighbors about Fatima, all of you can learn more about the Message of Fatima; all of you can be more fervent in your application of the Message and live the life of Fatima. May God bless you. | 49