Jesus I trust in you!
Elizabeth gave birth to St. John
the Baptist and her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great
mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. Perhaps the reason for their joy
was that the Lord has put an end to the curse of her sterility through the
birth of a son in her old age. Little did they know that the birth of the
Baptist did not simply mean the end of her mother’s curse but it also meant the
end of the long wait for the promised Redeemer. “I am sending my messenger to
prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord
whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.” The parents’
insistence on the name “John” and the restoration of Zechariah’s voice were the
signs to the neighbors and relatives that what they witnessed was no ordinary
birth. The signs made them ask: “What will this child be? For surely the hand
of the Lord was with him.”
“What will this child be?” The
prophet Malachi gives us the answer: “Lo, I send you Elijah, the prophet,
before the day of the Lord comes…to turn the hearts of the fathers to their
children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come to strike
the land with doom.”
Many people simply regard the
Fatima apparitions as a doomsday message. The warnings about wars, famines,
persecutions of the Church, the spread of communism, the martyrdom of the good,
and the annihilation of nations have caught the attention of many to the point
that people think that Fatima was designed to scare people. To some people,
Fatima is a prophecy about the impending doom that is to come.
However, we forget that Our Lady
did not come to scare people about a future that they cannot change. When she
first appeared to the children she said to them, “Do not be afraid. I will do
you no harm…I am from heaven.” Our Lady introduced herself in the very same way
the heavenly visitors introduce themselves to people in the bible: “Do not be
afraid.” She came as God’s messenger with a proposal to avert what is to come
as a consequence of our sins. She came with a message of consolation: “Jesus
wishes…to make me known and loved. He wants to establish in the world devotion
to my Immaculate Heart.” She said to Lucia, “Don’t lose heart. I will never
forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead
you to God.” (June 13, 1917) As John was sent to prepare the way before the
Lord, so also the Lord sent his Mother to prepare for us the way that will lead
us to him. That way is the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The wars, famine, and
persecutions that are God’s punishment for the sins of humankind will afflict
both the good and the bad. Evil causes suffering to the good people: “the good
will be martyred and the Holy Father will have much to suffer.” And yet, we are
to bear these sufferings because they purify us. “He is like the refiner’s
fire, or like the fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver, and
he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver that
they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord. Then, the sacrifice of Judah and
Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in the days of old, as in years gone by.”
Even this evil which causes us suffering does us good. And the Immaculate Heart
of Mary is being offered by the Lord to us as our refuge amidst suffering
caused by evil. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart, making reparation to her and
consecration to her, will be our way back to the Lord.
The Lord does not send to us in our
time only the last of the prophets. He sends to us the Queen of the prophets
herself. Not only does he open Zechariah’s mouth. He opens to us Mary’s mouth.
Through her anguished message at Fatima, Mary calls us back to God. The Lord
guides world events slowly towards the triumph of the Immaculate Heart. He
guides the world towards that era of peace. Let us consecrate ourselves to her
Immaculate Heart. Let the Immaculate Heart of Mary be our refuge in these
trying times. Let her be our way back to God.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray
for us who have recourse to thee!
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