Our Lady Of Fatima Novena
Being the Second of Three Novenas.
By Rev. Daniel A. Lord, S.J.
Australian Catholic Truth Society No.1359b (1961)
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Mt. Carmel; Our Lady of Fatima; St. Joseph.
OUR LADY OF FATIMA NOVENA.
FIRST DAY:
Fatima was long a name filled with anti-Christian associations.
It had been borne by the only daughter of Mohammed, prophet of the first ‘Red peril’.
In God's sweet providence during the rise of the second Red peril, atheistic communism, the name Fatima suddenly assumed a beautiful Christian meaning.
For to three little Portuguese shepherds in Fatima, a little village in that country, two girls and a boy, appeared Our Lady of the Rosary. The village had been named after a Moslem lady of the Middle Ages who had owned the surrounding lands at the time of the Moorish conquest of the Iberian Peninsular. This good Moslem had been named for Mohammed’s daughter but towards the end of her days she had become a devout Catholic.
In the third year of World War I Our Lady of the Rosary came to speak words that promised peace.
She held in her hand the weapon that men could use forever to end all wars — the rosary.
She spoke of her pure and immaculate heart to women tempted to sin.
And in all this a new vision of Mary, Mother of us all, was given to the world.
To Our Lady of Fatima we say:
The Prayer of the Queen of the Rosary.
O God, whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and Resurrection has purchased for us the reward of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech you, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
SECOND DAY:
The first sweeping rush of World War I and then the dreary siege of the trenches had sickened Europe.
To win the war, the best brains available had been summoned and the man-power of the nations had been exhausted.
Science invented as it had never before invented. The war drew on all the resources of laboratory and factory.
So the war dragged on, and peace became prelude to worse war.
In the midst of this chaos, the worse as the war became more confused, brutal and ugly, the beautiful Lady singled out, not the wise, but the simple, not the statesmen, but the children, not the generals, but three little shepherds.
For them and through them for the world she laid down a simple platform for the ending of all wars and the permanence of peace. The only trouble with it is that it is simple and right; the "wise" want something complicated and wrong.
War will end and peace will endure, said Our Lady of Fatima, if we pray:
My Jesus, forgive us our sins.
Save us from the fire of hell.
Relieve the holy souls in purgatory, especially the most abandoned.
If we dedicate ourselves to sinless lives,
If we say the rosary...
In honour of Our Lady of Fatima we say:
The Prayer of the Queen of the Rosary.
O God, whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and Resurrection has purchased for us the reward of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech you, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
THIRD DAY:
During the years of war the Queen of Peace appears with a rosary in her hand.
She offers the simple way to peace: Pray the rosary. Why the rosary?
The Rosary begins with the splendid act of faith that we call the Apostles' Creed.
It continues with the prayer which the Lord Himself gave us, the greatest single prayer that ever linked earth with heaven — the Lord's Prayer, the "Our Father."
Each cluster of prayers ends with a prayer that is a reverent gesture to the Trinity, a salutation to the three Persons in one God — the Gloria.
And as the main prayer, repeated in beautifully poetic rhythm, the rosary offers the prayer that was composed by the Angel Gabriel; by the inspired Saint Elizabeth, and by the Church speaking its love for the Mother of God — the "Hail, Mary."
The beat and measure, the rhythm of the prayers become the undercurrent of thought linked to the life of Christ as in the meditations we follow the Archangel Gabriel to Nazareth, follow Christ the eternal Word from heaven to Bethlehem, follow the holy family through the Infancy, follow Christ through His redeeming death, follow the Saviour and Mary through the Resurrection to the Coronation and glory.
In honour of Our Lady of Fatima we say:
The Prayer of the Queen of the Rosary.
O God, whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and Resurrection has purchased for us the reward of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech you, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
FOURTH DAY:
"To save souls, the Lord desires that devotion to my immaculate heart be established in the world."
The Sacred Heart of Jesus had always in the devotion of the Catholic faithful been linked with the immaculate heart of Mary.
Now in the vision of Fatima, Mary reminds her children of the importance of that close connection. Why?
Mary's was a sinless heart, the purest next to that of her Son.
Sin is the simple cause of all war.
Blame what economic causes we wish, underlying all those causes are greed and lust for power, cruelty and pride, long-practiced revolt against God expressing itself in swift and bitter revolt against the happiness of men.
As a corrective for these causes of war the Saviour orders devotion to the immaculate heart of His mother.
"Imitate," He bids us, "that heart whose first and greatest love was always God.
"Pattern human hearts upon that heart, which was devotedly faithful to a husband and a Child.
"Follow that heart, which loved all of God's children and prayed for them and served them in the blissful ways of peace."
We honour the immaculate heart of Mary and say:
The Prayer of the Queen of the Rosary.
O God, whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and Resurrection has purchased for us the reward of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech you, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
FIFTH DAY:
"I am the Lady of the Rosary, and I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask pardon of their sins. They must not continue to offend Our Lord already so deeply offended."
In times of war there always seems to be a swift and pitiful turning to God.
"Save us," even the sinful cry, "from the consequences of the folly we have brought upon ourselves."
At the same time the cynical dares to ask why God permits the wars into which men rush eagerly and for which they plan craftily during the days of peace.
War over, God is forgotten, and back they rush to their sins.
There can be an end to civil and international war only when men give up their part in the war of evil against good, of lies against truth, of Satan against Christ.
If men will give up their sins, they will give up their wars.
If men will stop offending God, they will cease to give those miserable offenses that result in national incidents and the excuses for war.
The Prince of Peace will lead us only when we cease to turn upon Him, only when we cease to nail Him helpless to the cross.
With a great desire for peace we pray to Our Lady of Fatima:
The Prayer of the Queen of the Rosary.
O God, whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and Resurrection has purchased for us the reward of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech you, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
SIXTH DAY:
Today we live under the fear of the atomic bomb.
We have seen it and heard it less than half a dozen times by half a dozen nations, thankfully only twice in warring anger. Yet we know with frightening clarity that if it is used again, the next major war will be, not years, but hours.
Again in the providence of God during the course of World War I, Mary foretold and in a kind of way anticipated the atomic bomb.
Seventy thousand people, believers and nonbelievers, Catholics and skeptics, had gathered round the three little shepherds. A driving rain made the day dark. Suddenly the rain stopped. As if emerging from eclipse, the sun rolled into the heavens.
Rolled is the word, for the sun was spinning, shooting forth tremendous rays of colored light. As the multitudes below screamed in terror, the sun was seen by all present to be rushing toward the earth, a gigantic falling bomb, a perilous menace moving to obliterate mankind.
Then the sun stopped. The lovely Lady smiled her reassurance. The sun rolled back into its normal position. The threat of the atomic bomb had yielded to the intercessory power of Mary Mother of mankind. In her protective role as our Mother, she will always guard us.
For protection against the threat of the atomic bomb we pray:
The Prayer of the Queen of the Rosary.
O God, whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and Resurrection has purchased for us the reward of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech you, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
SEVENTH DAY:
Man is always his own worst enemy. He deliberately shuts his eyes to the truth. He turns away from his salvation and pretends he does not see it.
So we are not surprised that the simple platform of peace laid down by heaven's queen aroused the fierce opposition of God's enemies.
The little shepherds of Fatima were treated by the agnostic officials of the country as if they were criminals.
Every effort was made to keep Mary herself from reappearing.
A conspiracy of silence, deliberate and brutal, was developed so that Christendom would not learn how easy was the program by which to end war and keep peace.
Men had their own elaborate programs of armament and treaties of balanced power and unbalanced budgets, of cultivated alliances and more carefully cultivated national enmities. They did not want God's plan for peace or Our Lady's invincible weapon — the rosary.
Yet despite persecution and the deliberate hiding of the truth, despite hatred and opposition the news of Fatima spread.
Pius XII gave the world a prayer by which it could dedicate itself to the immaculate heart of Mary. And millions took up the rosary, the weapon of lasting peace.
To Mary of Fatima we pray:
The Prayer of the Queen of the Rosary.
O God, whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and Resurrection has purchased for us the reward of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech you, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
EIGHTH DAY:
On the horizon of our modern age hangs the threat of Soviet Russia, and her pro-abortion and anti-family lifestyles.
Atheistic communism, despising God and enslaving men, threatening China, menacing Asia, seducing Europe and the ivory towers of false intellectuals, is the peril, half known, always watched with terror. Soviet Russia, clad behind an Iron Curtain, with its population gulaged and propagandized, mysterious, brutal in philosophy, gigantic in power, is enslaved to a godless regime.
A thousand vain schemes are being tried to safeguard Christian democracy against the rise of anti-God and anti-human power. Leagues, paper treaties, conciliations, bribes, all are tried — but with a disbelief that makes them failures even before they are tried.
All the while the solution had been offered by Mary.
"If my requests are heard, Russia will be converted and there will be peace."
The scandal of the division of Christendom into ‘West’ and ‘East’, the separation of the Greek and Russian nations from Catholic unity will one day be repaired through the power of prayer, especially the prayer of Our Lady’s rosary.
How complicated are the ways of men! How simple are the ways of God!
If we will consecrate the world to Mary's immaculate heart...
If we will say her rosary...
If we will be sorry for sin and keep our hearts sinless...
If we will love purity and truth...
If we do these things, what will be the result?
Well, Soviet Russia will find its way back into the arms of the Father of the prodigal, and the threat that lies behind the Iron Curtain will be removed from the world. The Russia of Saint Olga and Saint Vladimir, a Christian Russia, not separated from the see of Rome, will rediscover its ancient Christian soul.
In the hope of all that Our Lady of Fatima promised we say:
The Prayer of the Queen of the Rosary.
O God, whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and Resurrection has purchased for us the reward of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech you, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
NINTH DAY:
So Fatima became a new place of pilgrimage.
Millions have gone to see the place to which Mary came from heaven in order to show her children the ways of peace.
Men who hated God and Mary destroyed the oak tree that marked the spot on which she appeared and bombed the little church that had been built to commemorate her apparition. A larger shrine was built in its place. Pilgrims came in ever growing numbers, and the fame of Our Lady of Fatima swept the Christian nations.
Rosary in hand, individuals and families, nuns and priests, educated and unlettered did battle for the cause of Christ.
The image of Mary's immaculate heart began to appear on thousands of walls; Mary's immaculate heart became the model on which devoted Catholic youth patterned their hearts.
Once more we knew that God loves us and Mary watches over us.
Once more we were assured that God's ways are the ways of peace and that those who in their secret souls win the battle against sin are victors in history's most important battle.
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." ...and the faithful clients of Mary Our Lady of Fatima.
To her we say:
The Prayer of the Queen of the Rosary.
O God, whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and Resurrection has purchased for us the reward of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech you, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
The special feast day of Our Lady of Fatima is May 13th.
The feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary is October7th.
The feast day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is celebrated on the day after the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is always the Saturday after the Second Sunday after Pentecost Sunday.