All the Bishops

 Let us remember that when Our Lady appeared in 1917, "the Ukraine" was part of Russia as one of the Tsar's dominions. It is being singled out among the former provinces of Russia by the Holy Father because it is the only one being bombed. As Our Lady said on July 13, 1917:

If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. (Read more.)

 

From Vatican News:

In response to questions from journalists, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, has confirmed, “Pope Francis has invited the bishops of the whole world, along with their priests, to join him in the prayer for peace and in the consecration and entrustment of Russia and of Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”

The Pope will make the prayer in the afternoon of Friday, 25 March – the Solemnity of the Annunciation – in St Peter’s Basilica, on the occasion of the Celebration of Penance, scheduled to begin at 5 pm. The same act, on the same day, will be undertaken by all the bishops of the world. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, will perform the act of consecration at Fatima as the envoy of the Pope.

Already at the Angelus on 13 March, Pope Francis had invited the whole Church to pray: “I ask all diocesan and religious communities to increase their moments of prayer for peace.” And at the general audience on 23 February he had called for a day of prayer and fasting on Ash Wednesday for peace in Ukraine, saying, “May the Queen of Peace preserve the world from the madness of war.”

In the apparition of 13 July 1917 in Fatima, Our Lady had asked for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart and the communion of reparation on the First Saturdays, stating that if this request was not granted, Russia would “spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church,” and “the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.”

After the apparitions of Fatima there were various acts of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: on 31 October 1942, Pope Pius XII consecrated the whole world, and on 7 July 1952 he specifically consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary with the Apostolic Letter Sacro vergente anno, in view of the difficult situation of Christians forced to live in an atheistic communist regime.

Later, Pope St Paul VI in 1964, and Pope St John Paul II in 1981, 1982, and 1984 renewed this consecration of the whole human race. The consecration in 1984 took place March 25, in St Peter’s Square; on that occasion, St John Paul II, referring specifically to Our Lady's request at Fatima, and in spiritual union with all the bishops of the world, entrusted all peoples, and “in a special way... those men and nations who are in special need of this entrustment and consecration,” to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In June 2000, when the Holy See revealed the third part of the so-called secret of Fatima, the then-secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, pointed out that Sister Lucia had personally confirmed that the act of consecration performed by John Paul II in 1984 corresponded to what Our Lady had asked.

And now this year, on March 25, Pope Francis will consecrate Russia together with Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in communion with bishops from all over the world. (Read more.)

 

More HERE. And HERE.

 

Meanwhile, the pilgrim Virgin of Fatima is now in Ukraine at the request of the Archbishop. From CNA:

A special statue of Our Lady of Fatima has arrived in Ukraine, ahead of Pope Francis’ consecration of the country and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

“The Center of the Shrine of Fatima (Portugal) provides us with an official copy of the Statue of the Mother of God of Fatima, to ask God for protection and peace in Ukraine and the world in her presence,” the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Lviv announced on Facebook Wednesday. 

The church will house the statue from March 17 to April 15, the post read. After departing from Portugal, the statue visited Krakow, Poland, before continuing to Lviv.

The statue comes at the request of Archbishop Ihor Vozniak of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. It is one of 13 official copies of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima that travel worldwide. Carved in 1920, sculptor José Ferreira Tedin created the original statue with the help of Sister Lucia, one of the three children at the Marian apparitions in Fatima in 1917. (Read more.)

Annunciation Novena

The Annunciation by John William Waterhouse

 It begins today. On March 25, 2022, the solemnity of the Annunciation,  Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and the Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Let us remember that when Our Lady appeared in 1917, "the Ukraine" was part of Russia as one of the Tsar's dominions. Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on March 15, 1917. He returned to Tsarskoe Seloe where his children were recovering from measles. The family began to pray the Akathist hymn to Our Lady every day. In less than two months, on May 13, Our Lady appeared at Fatima. On July 13, 1917, Our Lady revealed the three secrets, including the request for the Pope to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A year and three days later, the Russian Imperial family were murdered in Ekaterinburg.

I greet you, Ever-blessed Virgin, Mother of God, Throne of Grace, miracle of Almighty Power! I greet you, Sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity and Queen of the Universe, Mother of Mercy and refuge of sinners! Most loving Mother, attracted by your beauty and sweetness, and by your tender compassion, I confidently turn to you, miserable as I am, and beg of you to obtain for me from your dear Son the favor I request in this novena:

(mention your request).

Obtain for me also, Queen of heaven, the most lively contrition for my many sins and the grace to imitate closely those virtues which you practiced so faithfully, especially humility, purity and obedience. Above all, I beg you to be my Mother and Protectress, to receive me into the number of your devoted children, and to guide me from your high throne of glory. Do not reject my petitions, Mother of Mercy! Have pity on me, and do not abandon me during life or at the moment of my death. Amen.

The Virtues and the Gifts

 

From Catholicism:

The gifts of the Holy Ghost resemble the infused virtues in a number of ways. Both are operative habits which have God as their efficient cause and the perfection of man as their final cause. Both reside in the human faculties and have right behavior as their material object.

Where they differ is in their motor cause, their mode of action, and their exercise. The virtues are put in motion by natural reason aided by faith and grace, thus making the resulting act “my act.” The gifts, on the other hand, are put in motion directly by the Holy Ghost and will only operate if He so deigns. They are more “His act,” although, by our cooperation with Him, they are truly free and meritorious acts. The mode of the virtues is a human mode of action, whereas the gifts operate in a divine mode. Finally, the virtues are actively exercised by the soul, whereas, the soul is passive under the influence of the gifts, albeit with the necessary conscious assent of the intellect and free cooperation of the will. “Such are the principal differences between the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The first one establishes the radical and specific differences between the virtues and the gifts; the others are logical consequences of the first one.”[1]

The virtues and the gifts are both necessary elements of the supernatural life (necessary, in fact, for salvation), the former perfecting the faculties of man so that we may live rightly as sons of God, the latter perfecting the virtues themselves so that we may perform their corresponding acts with ease and facility. Each gift perfects one (or more) infused virtue, either because they reside in the same faculty (as faith and knowledge in the intellect) or because, while residing in different faculties, they regulate the acts of those virtues (as temperance and fear).

Father Aumann organizes his subject matter as St. Thomas does, by treating the gifts in connection with the virtues to which they are allied. I shall approach it from the opposite direction, summarizing the gifts in the traditional order and connecting the virtues with them. And since the divine Artist made icons of these virtues and gifts in the saints, I will assign to each gift a saint who exemplifies it. (Read more.)

His Words Matter

 From Corpus Christi Watershed:

Only a very foolish person would change or “modernize” the words of Saint Robert Southwell, whose lengthy hymn is a brilliant treatise on Transubstantiation. We must remember that the Anglicans were vehemently opposed to Catholic doctrines, especially the invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and (in particular) the doctrine of Transubstantiation. After the time of King Henry VIII—in both England and its American Colonies—religious oaths were required to hold a rank in the military or government. (Read more.)

Fatima Novena for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Fatima Novena for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Peace in the World.

 

O Most Holy Virgin Mary, you came to Fatima to reveal the graces that come from praying the Holy Rosary to three little shepherd children. Inspire us with a sincere love of this devotion so that, like the shepherd children, it is not a burdensome task but a life-giving prayer. May our prayers and meditations on the mysteries of our redemption bring us closer to your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lady of Fatima, may we offer everything we do today to our Lord. As we make this offering, we think of people who are affected by our actions each day. We ask God to help us be motivated by love and compassion.

Lord Jesus, the miracles, prophecies and prayers that Your Mother brought to us at Fatima amazed the whole world. We are certain of her closeness to You. We ask through the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta that you graciously hear and answer our prayers,

especially the Consecration of Russia to Your Immaculate Heart. 

Our Father, Hail Holy Queen, Glory Be, Oh My Jesus.

Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for us!

Our Lady of the Rosary, Pray for us!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us!

Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta, Pray for us!

“From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.”

Amen.

NOTE: St. John Paul's consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary no doubt led to the fall of the Iron Curtain. Sr. Lucia said as much. Nevertheless, it is still the hope of many that some day a Sovereign Pontiff will make the Fatima Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart specifically as requested by Our Lady.

Can Anyone Choose Hell?

 

From Regis Martin at Crisis:

It is, of course, very bad indeed. Exceedingly, even hellishly bad, as it leaves one perpetually forlorn. Sartre, in other words, was dead wrong: Hell is not other people, as depicted in No Exit. Hell is being alone, absolutely and forever. It is, as the holy monk Fr. Zossima reveals in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, “the suffering of being unable to love.” Not to love the other, whether it be God or one’s neighbor, to anchor all one’s eros upon oneself, this is the philosophy on which Hell depends. And God, taking us finally at our word, will not stop us.

“Hell is what the judging God condemned and cast out of his creation,” writes Hans Urs von Balthasar. “It is filled with all that is irreconcilable with God, from which he turns away for all eternity. It is filled with the reality of all the world’s godlessness, with the sum of the world’s sin; therefore, with precisely all of that from which the Crucified has freed the world.” (Read more.)

 

(Image source.)

The Seven Sundays of St. Joseph

A devotion which begins today. From Aleteia:

Whatever the origins may be, a devotion was developed where the seven sorrows and seven joys of Joseph became the focus of meditation on the seven Sundays preceding his feast on March 19. The first Sunday of these meditations is typically either the last Sunday of January or the first Sunday of February.

Below are the following joys and sorrows of St. Joseph, along with their respective passages in scripture. One approach to these Sundays is to read each passage and consider how Joseph would have felt in the situation. This is a form of lectio divina or “divine reading,” where you are able to put yourself into the scene and see Joseph’s expressions during each episode.

When praying the Seven Sundays devotion, it is customary to pray for a specific intention, asking St. Joseph’s powerful intercession for your needs.
1st Sunday
Sorrow (Matthew 1:19) The Doubt of St. Joseph
Joy (Matthew 1:20) The Message of the Angel
2nd Sunday
Sorrow (Luke 2:7) The Poverty of Jesus’ Birth
Joy (Luke 2:10-11) The Birth of the Savior
3rd Sunday
Sorrow (Luke 2:21) The Circumcision
Joy (Matthew 1:25) The Holy Name of Jesus
4th Sunday
Sorrow (Luke 2:34) The Prophecy of Simeon
Joy (Luke 2:38) The Effects of the Redemption
5th Sunday
Sorrow (Matthew 2:14) The Flight into Egypt
Joy (Isaiah 19:1) The Overthrow of the Idols of Egypt
6th Sunday
Sorrow (Matthew 2:22) The Return from Egypt
Joy (Luke 2:39) Life with Jesus and Mary at Nazareth
7th Sunday
Sorrow (Luke 2:45) The Loss of the Child Jesus
Joy (Luke 2:46) The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple
(Read more.)

 

More meditations, HERE.