By Fr. William Kneemiller
Guest column
In January, the guest column writer John Oven wrote an inspirational update on the Fatima message of promoting the First Saturday Devotions. I have a follow-up on this message as we need to grow in the Fatima devotions and promises. I encourage parishes to have copies of the Fatima message from Mr. Oven, and also to be introduced to an article in Soul Magazine entitled “Lucia on the Essential Message of Fatima” by editor Barb Ernster.
The account and messages of Fatima are much loved among Catholics, and the apparitions were fully approved by the Catholic Church in 1930. However, because the key events at Fatima with the three children occurred over a century ago, it can be viewed more as a historic record, or a “one-time” devotion rather than a call to daily conversion. The focus of this article is on Ernster’s insights on this subject.
The article in Soul Magazine focuses on the core message to the three children of Fatima at the first apparition on May 13, 1917, when our Blessed Mother asked the children: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings he wills to send you as an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and in supplication for the conversion of sinners?” Later, it would be reported by the children that they did not understand what this suffering would involve but they did say “Yes” and were comforted by the promise of Mary’s grace in times of need.
Decades later, the founder of Soul Magazine, John Haffert, met with Sister Lucia and he asked her what the essential message of Fatima was. Sister Lucia reported that it was indeed the first message given to them in May of 1917 when the Blessed Mother asked them if they were willing to offer themselves to God and to bear sufferings for the sins of others — being the act of reparation for others.
Sister Lucia went on to explain that this offering was very much involved in our daily lives: “She emphasized that it is the fulfillment of one’s daily duty, according to one’s state in life, and the sanctification of this effort in reparation for sins and the conversion of sinners, which is the primary condition for the turning back the tide of evil which threatens the world today.”
Many Catholics feel connected to the Fatima message, but have we memorized any Fatima prayers? Recall that the Blessed Mother taught the children the following prayer to say whenever they made a sacrifice: “Oh Jesus, it is for love of you, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart.”
These daily acts of sacrifices and offerings to our Blessed Mother are practical ways to live out our first five Saturday devotions. We know that our Blessed Mother takes our offerings straight to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ and every day can help our families to be a Holy Family!
(Father Bill Kneemiller is a retired priest for the Diocese of Davenport.)
