Parish News for Sunday - 09/01/2011

Pilgrim Statue Of Our Lady of Fatima:

17th January 2011.

The Pilgrim Statue will come to St Josephs Church Cradien on Monday Evening 17th January 2011.

Fr Brendan Shannon will receive the Statue before the 7.00pm Mass, and conduct a time of prayer and meditation for one half hour after Mass on that evening.

On Thursday evening 21st January Fr Brendan will lead a prayer service again in Cradien at 7.00pm-8pm

On Friday Evening 21st January 2011 Fr Brendan will receive the Pilgrim Statue at the Church of Immaculate Conception before 8.00pm Mass, and conduct a half hour prayer and meditation after Mass.

On Thursday Fr Brendan will conduct an hour of prayer and Meditation in Tempo at 8.00pm.

We hope that lay groups in the Parish will organise prayer, rosary, Divine Mercy, readings at other times.

A meeting on Tuesday Night 11th January at 8.00pm in Old School to organise these rosaries, readings, Divine Mercy, prayers etc.

All groups, associations and organisation are invited. Don’t forget.

Make these Weeks times of Prayer

Notes on Fatima: Pilgrim Statue: Cradien 17th January: Tempo: 21st January 2011.

(1) In the spring of 1916 a year before the appearance of Our Lady of Fatima God sent an angel three times to prepare the three children to whom Our Lady would soon appear. Peace for mankind is the message of Fatima. The Angel calls himself “the Angel of Peace”. The children in question were: Sister Lucia who died some few years ago and her cousins Francisco, and Jacinta.

(2) In their presence the Angel prayed three times: “My God I believe, I adore, I trust, and I love you. I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not trust, and do not love you”.

(3) In the second visit the Angel said: “Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of Reparation of the sins by which He is offended and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. You will thus draw down peace upon your country. I am the guardian Angel of your Country. Above all accept and bear with submission the suffering which the Lord will send you”. Sacrifice means “to make holy” He also said: “the Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you; their Love can never be contained”. In other words they desire to inflame our hearts with the love of God- their hearts can no longer be contained. We are to offer up our daily sufferings to draw peace upon our country.

(4) The children were praying with the words taught to them by the angel, when the Angel suddenly appeared a third time to them, holding a Chalice and Host. Leaving the Host suspended in the air, he than suspended the Chalice beneath it. Drops of Blood came from the Host and dripped into the Chalice. Prostrating himself on the ground he asked the children to pray with him, and say three times: “Most Holy Trinity, Father Son, and Holy Spirit I adore you profoundly. I offer you the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ’ present in all the Tabernacles of the world in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference, by which he is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I pray for the conversion of poor sinners”. Rising, he took the Chalice and the Host in his hands; he gave the Host to Lucia and gave the Chalice to Francisco and Jacinta saying: “Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by the sins of ungrateful men Repair their crimes and console your God”. The Angel prostrated himself three times saying this prayer. (Respect for the Church as the House of God, and Respect for the Blessed Sacrament)

(5) The first apparition of our Lady at Fatima took place on May 13th 1917. At each apparition there was a great flash of light. Our Lady says that she has come from heaven. She said: “I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession on the thirteenth day at the same hour. Later on I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterwards I will return here yet a seventh time”. Before she left their presence, Our Lady said: “Pray the Rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world”.

(6) On June the 13th Our Lady appeared again. Again she asked the children to pray the rosary everyday. She told Lucia that she would go to heaven “but first Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wants to establish in the world, devotion to my Immaculate Heart”. In front of the palm of Our Lady’s right hand was a heart encircled with thorns which pierced it. This was the Immaculate Heart of Mary enraged by the sins of humanity, seeking reparation. The Vatican Document of June 26th 2000 in which the last secret of Fatima was revealed affirmed that the very heart of the Fatima message was “to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart”.

(7) The third apparition took place on July 13th 1917. Again Our Lady says: “I want you to continue to pray the rosary in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary in order to obtain peace in the world. In October I will tell you who I am, and what I want, and I will perform a miracle for all to see and believe” It was during this apparition that Our Lady asked them to say after each mystery of the Rosary: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of your mercy”. She had just shown the children a vision of Hell as a sea of fire

(8) On August 13th, shortly before they were to leave for the place where Our Lady appeared, the three children of Fatima were taken away by the civil authorities who tried to cajole or frighten the children into denial of the apparitions. Finally on the morning of the 15th they were threatened with death in boiling oil. They thought one after the other that they were really going to die. But when this threat failed they were set free and returned home. That afternoon Our Lady appeared to them in a grove not far from their village. Again Lucia asked Our Lady “What do you want of Me”? Our Lady replied: “I want you to continue to go to the Cova Da Iria (place of apparition) on the 13th and to continue praying the rosary everyday. In the last month I will perform a miracle that all will believe”. “Pray, pray very much and make sacrifice for sinners. So many souls go to Hell because there is no one to pray and to make sacrifices for them”.

(9) The fifth apparition takes place on 13th September 1917. Our Lady said: “Continue to pray the rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. In October, Our Lord will come, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows, And Our Lady of Mount Carmel. St Joseph will appear with the Child Jesus to bless the world. God is pleased with your sacrifices. He does not want you to sleep with the rope on, but only to wear it during the daytime”.

(10) Sixth apparition of our Lady on 13th October 1917. Our Lady had promised a sign in this month of October. After the usual flash of light Our Lady did come: “A Chapel is to be built here to my honour. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray the Rosary everyday”. There were 100,000 present. The children saw in the sky next to the sun, the visions of St Joseph with the Holy Child, Our Lord and Our Lady of Sorrows, and Our Lady of Mt Carmel with the scapular. All these people saw the sun as it seemed to move and revolve like “St Catherine’s wheel”. As the visions ended the sun (or ball of fire) plunged towards the earth as though about to engulf it. All thought it was the end of the world. Instead, the fiery ball returned to the sky. Instantly everything in the Cova—even where there had been deep pools of water –was dry and clean.

(11) The First Saturday Vision: December 10 1925. Our Lady had promised that after her six apparitions she would come back to request the first Saturday Communions of Reparation. She appeared with the Holy Child in Lucia’s very small room in the Dorothean convent in Portevedra, Spain. The Holy Child was elevated beside Our Lady who placed her hand on the shoulder of sister Lucia. Jesus was the first to speak: “Have compassion on the heart of your most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them” Then Our Lady spoke: Look my daughter at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. She asked again for the rosary in reparation for sin. She also asked that we receive Communion on five consecutive Saturdays and to go to confession in atonement to her Immaculate Heart.

(12) The sixth vision of Fatima with a public message took place on June 13th 1929. On this occasion the Chalice and the Host together with the Cross appeared. The Children saw the Trinity- Father—Son-- and Holy Spirit. The connection between Mass, Eucharistic Devotion, and Calvary was obvious.

These short notes are compiled to help all have a summary of the history of Our Lady of Fatima. They are short and brief. It is important to note that one does not have to accept Fatima to be a Good Catholic. The Catholic Church simply says: “Fatima is Worthy of Belief”.

They are written as a backdrop to the visit of the Pilgrim Statue to Pobal Parish. The pilgrim Statue was requested by Lucia to help bring the message of Fatima to the whole world. The Statue was blessed by the Bishop of Fatima, and crowned by the Pope. A Statue is not worshiped, but is used as an aid to sincere devotion and prayer. We have many things to pray for in our own Lives, in the lives of our Family, Parish Country and Church. Let Us Pray For:

(A). Peace- internal peace- which will reflect itself in all our relationships.
(B). The Return of all who no longer join the Worshipping Community on the Sabbath-- that Parents may bring their Children to Mass on the Sabbath Day
(C). A Return to Confession and the Sacraments.
(D). People who have been abused by Paedophile Priest s or Lay People.
(E). That all of us may Read and Listen to the Word of God in Scripture.
(F). That Lay People become more involved in Parish life, and see their involvement as coming from their Baptism.