The Wild Tears Fall

It is finished. I dropped the form into the plain white box on the card table in the vestibule. My fingers are stained green from the leak in my fountain pen. I had wanted the writing on the form to be beautiful, even though the paper itself was a sheet of recycled paper, lined with a plain graph and stamped with simple, black print. My letters were fine and delicate though, and the '25' I had traced satisfied me. I hope the spiritual bouquet will be more comely in its final presentation to the Pope. For today ends the rosary crusade for which Bishop Fellay called in an effort to persuade Pope Benedict XVI to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

I am not bound to the chapel of the Society of St. Pius X. My nature is such that it dare not oppose so strongly the established patriarchs, past or present; however logic may try to justify it. While I do not know if this is a craven mistrust of my reason, or rightful submission to the Vicar anointed by the Holy Spirit, I shall not submit to this movement until they have unambiguously submitted to Peter’s Successor. In the meanwhile, I do not scruple at visiting their chapel to say the rosary in Latin with their community.

His Excellency, Fellay, has twice presented a spiritual bouquet to the Holy Father. With each, a flurry of grace showered on the Earth, whiter than cherry blossoms and more numerous than rain drops. Another spray of prayers is to be given the Pontiff now. This one begs that Gloria Olivae honour a request that has yet to be fulfilled.

Pastor et Nauta said: ‘It is not for our times.’ Flos Florum also did not address it, nor was this done by De Labore Solis, unless one finds satisfaction with the 13th of May, 1982. Perhaps it is true that Pope John Paul II fulfilled the wishes of Our Lady expressed at Fatima adequately. Yet, when has adequate been enough for a queen?

Sister Lucia was understandably bound hand and foot as to what she could say concerning Fatima, and her official commentary concerning the Pope's consecration of the entire world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is ambiguous enough to cast doubt on whether the request has been fulfilled. If one can trust the three men who interviewed her later (the Lisbon Nuncia, Dr. Lacerda, and Father Messias), then her final pronouncement is thus:The consecration of Russia has not been made as Our Lady has demanded. I could not say so because I did not have the permission of the Holy See. (http://www.fatimacrusader.com/cr16/cr16pg22.asp)

In the misty realm of private revelation (which constitutes any supernatural message given after the death of the last apostle), no Catholic is held to believe anything. Once visions have been examined and acquitted by Holy Mother Church, a soul is free to embrace them, though it is still not required. But one should give pause before dismissing these post-Patmos visitations. Remember that we are also not ‘required’ to say a daily rosary, read the Scripture daily, attend Mass more often than Sundays and Holy Days of Obligations, or go to Confession more than once a year. Yet, how greatly it would promote the health of our souls to do more than the bare minimum!

If a patient were to ask his doctor: ‘Will I die if I don’t eat spinach?’ the medic would likely be flustered. ‘Well, it won’t kill you not to each spinach, but it’s very healthy and an excellent source of iron. Seeing as how you’re anaemic…’

‘Thank you, doctor. And are three cups of coffee a day likely to be lethal?’

‘Er, no, but it leeches calcium, depletes your iron, and may aggravate anxiety…’

‘Thank you, doctor! I now see no need to change my habits, and as I dislike spinach and love coffee, I'm greatly relieved.’

Ignoring the munificence of divine visitation is no sin, but it is also no wiser than living as dangerously as one can without actually risking death. Our Lady of Fatima came. She came in a time of great trial with messages of hope, words of warning, and prophecies—all of which have been vindicated by history (http://www.fatimacrusader.com/cr49/cr49ap2.asp).

If the king’s mother visited an impoverished village and showed it the way to a salt mine to revive its fortunes and prepare for coming depravation, and the villagers ignored her guidance—content to remain subject to their misfortune—what would the lord of this realm think of that hamlet? In times of famine, would they have any right to the stores of food prepared by more diligent hands? This is not to mention the anger he may feel that his mother was slighted in her efforts to help. Be he tyrant or no, why tempt the wrath of a king?

It is presumptuous to ask for a sign, yes, as St. Matthew has well related to us:

And there came to Him the Pharisees and Sadducees tempting: and they asked Him to shew them a sign from heaven. But He answered and said to them: When it is evening, you say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning: Today there will be a storm, for the sky is red and lowering. You know then how to discern the face of the sky: and can you not know the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign (Matthew 16: 1-4)

Reading carefully though, one will see that the Pharisees and Sadducees were not only reproached in asking for a sign, but in not seeing the signs already given them. ‘Can you not know the signs of the times?’

Well, one may say that as Our Lady of Fatima’s requests were not fulfilled, their time is past. It is now fitting to let them rest. However, the sins over which Our Lady admonished us have multiplied and worsened. Nations have grown more bellicose and capable of inflicting even more ruin on each other. Is not another World War imminent? Or if not war, are we not on the verge of economic ruin?

‘But Our Lady of Fatima’s particular request concerning Russia is no longer pertinent. Communism has fallen, and while it is a superpower, it is not the only nation with that title.’

This is true, but it may be that Russia’s consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary may benefit the world now more than ever before. Pious as the hagiography of the Orthodox Churches is, they dare to say that the Madonna was not immaculately conceived. That the Womb, the Tabernacle of the Most High, was rotten with Adam's sin! Were they to make the concession of her purity, would that not magnificently propel reconciliation between the Roman Catholic Church and the East?

There is also an argument politically. Throughout history there have occasionally arisen men of destiny. Like the Judges of Israel, they were not always virtuous, but they were the men chosen by God to dominate the affairs of this world. They were called messiahs—the anointed ones—and even in the Old Testament, they weren’t always Jews:

Thus saith the Lord to My anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue nations before his face, and to turn the backs of kings, and to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut. (Isaias 45: 1)

As a daughter of the Church, I believe the Messiah has come, and that He dwells in every licitly established tabernacle on this Earth. Yet, it is not the wont of a Catholic to tear at the veil of mystery, or to engrave in stone what God has not written. He is not limited by what He decrees, and if He chooses to decree again, outside the realm of prophecy, He may.

There may yet be men He anoints for a mighty destiny on this Earth; there may yet be messiahs to come in the realm of temporal affairs. And of all the world leaders today, who is the only one that calls on the name of God? who has wrested power from the oligarchs of his nation? whom his people follow with adulation and confidence? I can name but one man: Władimir Władimirowicz Putin. Whether a messiah or not, he is a man I would wish to see displaying the standard of Our Lady.

On the 13th of October 1917 at 1:30 p.m., the sun whirled wildly about in the sky above those at Fatima, imbuing the area with every colourful shade that is found in light, healing them of their infirmities, and so converting many. Signs from Heaven are not to be sought, but God is generous and dotes on us with divine munificence. What might we see if Our Lady’s requests are to be fulfilled? I have given a mere 275 rosaries towards that end, but in union with a much greater crowd of intensely faithful souls. Will we number the twelve million, Marian psalters that Bishop Fellay wishes to present to His Holiness? Pray God that we do!