by Deacon Bob Ellis
Recently an apparently disheartened woman wrote to me: “When will we see Our Lady triumph? Things seem like they’re getting worse instead of better.” A fan of the admonition “Be not afraid,” I’m an ardent promoter of hope as an outcome of faith and advise people expressing fear to do a check on their faith and to beef it up.
But this was not an expression of fear. It was, rather, a symptom of frustration and impatience. Many have for years and years remained faithful to the requests Our Lady made of us at Fatima and are longing to see the fruits of their fidelity. Before specifically addressing the issues of patience, a somewhat misguided desire to see fruits and failure to recognize them when they are manifest, and deficiency in numbers, it would be helpful to examine our understanding of the triumph and our expectations.
To be properly understood the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary needs to be considered in the context of what St. Paul taught us about what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.
He wrote: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” (Col 1:24) This does not mean that Christ’s death on the cross was incomplete regarding its capacity to redeem the whole human race and reunite it with God. There is nothing that anyone can add to the infinite value of the cross.
However, there is an aspect of Christ’s suffering that is not complete—namely, the application of the merits of His Passion to individual souls. We accomplish this for ourselves when we unite our own sufferings to those of Christ. We accomplish it for others when we make of our sufferings reparation for their sins and for their conversion, as Our Lady told us we must do right after she showed the little Fatima shepherds the vision of hell.
Now let’s take a look at the triumph of the Immaculate Heart with St. Paul’s words and their meaning in mind.
The triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary has already been accomplished just as has redemption. [In a certain sense they are one and the same.] The head of the serpent has already been crushed by virtue of Mary’s role in the sufferings of her Son as Co-Redemptrix. However, the application of its merits – its impact on individual souls – requires that they unite themselves to it in the same way to bring it to completion. Its manifestation in the world will be complete only when a plurality of its nations and their citizens have humbled themselves and pledged allegiance to Christ the King.
Deficiency in numbers
The triumph’s manifestation in the world will always be proportional to the number of souls who have united themselves to it. The reason why “things seem like they’re getting worse instead of better” is that so many are turning away from God and His Heavenly Mother.
In addition, those of us who remain connected with Them sometimes fail in our obligation to honor the requests Our Lady made of us at Fatima.
We do not adequately and consistently offer everything as a sacrifice in reparation for sin and the conversion of sinners. We are not faithful enough in praying the Rosary every day. We are not consistent in the practice of the First Saturday Devotion. The brown scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is too often neglected. And finally, the Eucharistic reparation taught to us and encouraged by the Angel of Peace during his third apparition has been almost completely forgotten. It would do us all well to frequently assess our own faithfulness and bone up wherever and whenever necessary.
Patience
Patience has become one of the most difficult virtues to cultivate today because of the fast-paced and over-cluttered nature of the modern world. No one wants to wait for anything. But ought we not practice patience with the unfolding of the Divine plan at least in some proportion to the patience the Almighty has borne with us over the centuries of human history? There is Divine assistance available to us.
Romans chapter 12 teaches us how to endure with patience all that confronts us in daily life situations. Verse 12 points to the critical importance of taking the time and putting forth the effort to pray. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “pray without ceasing.” Praying and patience are in accordance with each other. How can we pray and not be patient? How can we be patient if we do not pray? We will alleviate much of our frustration and grow in the virtue of patience if we remember these teachings.
Desire to see fruit
The Spirit moves wherever He wills, but His objective is not always achieved because, on account of our free wills, its attainment requires our voluntary cooperation and we frequently refuse it. If the Spirit’s goals are sometimes not attained, how much more frequently might ours not be. I’m reminded of teachers who seldom see the fruits of their labor because what they teach does not come to fruition in the lives of their students until long after they have departed the classroom. We can take at least some consolation in the fact that we aren’t the only ones who endure this disappointing experience.
I would be remiss if I did not point out that there have been many profound fruits of the triumph, which have been known to the world—the taking down of the Berlin Wall in Germany and the dissolution of the Soviet Union among them. While they are chiefly recognized exclusively as accomplishments of world leaders, we know their spiritual underpinnings. Let us resolve, through spiritual activity in cooperation with the Spirit and His spouse, to bring about more and more until the complete triumph is manifest.
We at the World Apostolate of Fatima – Our Lady’s Blue Army – have great confidence that the darkness which has enveloped the world during our time will be dispelled by the Light of the world when we approach the end of the tunnel.
The more people we can motivate to assist in its mission by joining the apostolate the easier will be the task for everyone involved and the quicker the mission will be accomplished.
No one can do everything, but everyone can do something, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem.
If you have a question or would like to discuss anything in this article further, I can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 920-371-1931.
May God bless each of you and your families.
Deacon Bob Ellis is the National Coordinator for the World Apostolate of Fatima USA.
20 Responses
I believe we are seeing the triumph of Mary as we speak. If Trump gets in a 2nd term I know we are in the triumph. He was sworn in the office Jan 2017. 100 year anniversary of Fatima and he is fighting hard to rid us of the Godless anarchist trying to take over this nation. I think it will take 13 years to see total triumph thru out the world. I think Trump is the catalyst for this change to defeat the Godless.
Beautifully written! TRUMP 2020 God bless him, and our Nation!
Can’t really accept that Trump is the correct person to be running the country given his behavior towards others, his past history, what his own family says about him, and what those who work with him have revealed and are revealing. We can do better than this. Biden prays the Rosary. Doubt if Trump knows what a Rosary is.
Biden is an apostate given his effort to promote activities known to be intrinsically evil. He is held to a higher level of responsibility in regard to his Catholic upbringing. Much is expected from those who are given much. Catholics are given the seven sacraments. Trump is doing what he is doing after having only Baptism. Our Lady is using a spiritual child (not grown up) to enact her loving work on this nation trying to bring it back to her Son. There is only one God and Trump behaves (now) like he knows it. Biden has two masters and is split between them; hence is struggling. We are morally bound not to vote for a person who will further policies that further tax money going for intrinsically evil programs. We ARE morally bound to not vote for Biden. It is not too late. He can work to become heartily sorry for ALL his sins, not because he fears hell, but because he has offended the One True Triune God Who is all good and deserving of all of Joe’s love. He can further resolve to amend his life and to avoid the near occasions of sin. A sinner like me can see this. Why are you denying it Paul? May our Mother help us all.
It isn’t about the appearance of a person or what they perceive to do or know, or for their past for us to judge, but what I see from the two candidates I can attest to. Biden contradicts the teachings of the church by supporting abortion and since he supports that which is a sin, a mortal sin he is not in communion with the church. Trump on the other hand is very very pro life and stands up for all the rights to life. So maybe you don’t like trump as a person and that’s your opinion, but he has saved many lives in his administration lives that if Biden were in office would and will be dead. We are talking about millions of lives of innocent children being killed/aborted. I am here to warn you dear brother whom I love that if you vote for Biden the deaths of those innocent children will be on your hands. And if you decide not to vote that Is a sin as well. We must vote trump in to save the lives of those millions of innocent children
The issue of abortion is the paramount and preeminent priority of the 2020 presidential election. All other issues combined do not rise to its level of importance and consideration.
When one candidate for the office of president of the United States of America is for abortion and the other against, abortion is the only issue that matters. The admonition against single-issue voting contained in the USCCB’s 2020 “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” is moot as far as the 2020 presidential election is concerned. It would apply only if both candidates held the same position on abortion.
When one candidate for public office supports and/or promotes abortion and the other opposes it anyone who votes for the former engages in cooperation with grave moral evil. Any Catholic who does so commits a mortally sinful act thereby seriously endangering their eternal salvation.
Thank you and God bless! M. Turek
The whole world is extremely restless, and many, many don’t respect the Mother of God at all. The most Holy Rosary is the world’s powerful weapon against evildoers to obtain peace. May our Mother of God, pray for us, sinners now and at the hour of our death.Amen
thank you for encouraging thoughts.
You wrote a good article Deacon Ellis.
You wrote a good article.
May Our Lord and His Mother bless you always.
The lack of practice and promotion of the First Saturday Devotion as the reason. This is the fault of the leaders of the Church as much as individuals. Sr. Lucia said as much. Our Lord Himself told her He wanted this devotion established to honor His Mother. Do we need any further incentive? I believe a campaign for the canonization of Sr. Lucia would bring the First Saturday Devotion to prominence and fruition in the Church.
Something vital was missed in Lourdes and Fatima. And perhaps La Salette as well. I say no more here.
If you don’t vote for Trump just do not receive the sacraments, and know that you are voting for abortion pure and simple, this is the number one reason we vote for a candidate. The church is being attacked and will have hard times based on the Blessed Mother Apparition to Sister Lucia for 2020, which has and will continue to happen. Either your Pro life and Pro freedom of religion or your not. The Sisters of the little poor had more battles with the Supreme Court because of mandates by Obama and Biden. This is Good vs Evil in USA right now. The elected Supreme Court Justices for the freedoms as Catholics, will be effected traumatically, if Trump does not get elected. Hail Mary Full of Grace The Lord is with Thee Blessed Art Thou Amongst Women and Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb JESUS.
This is a beautiful article and I am enlightened by the different responses .God will work in HIS TIME not OURS but we all need to do a personal evaluation of our spiritual practices and make adjustments. My husband was very ill for five years and thanks to many prayers God put in his path a physician who performed a surgery last year which corrected his problem. During that time it was difficult for me to pray and so many days all I could do was to offer Our Lord “my day- every thought, word, deed and action” as well as “offering up” my physical pain as taught to me by my nuns many years ago. I am most grateful for “Live Stream” and presently the Novena to the Mother of God for our Nation which my parish, EWTN and I would guess many others are participating in .I have found a way to focus on Prayer, AMEN! In addition: President Trump is a GOOD MAN and his heart is with God and our First Lady is a spiritual woman. America needs to pray and vote for his re-election otherwise America will be doomed and turned, into a country we will not recognize. Biden is EVIL and a puppet, just because he says a rosary doesn’t make him good, his lies, actions, support of Abortion and past voting record on important bills prove otherwise. Hopefully, God will change him if HE so desires to change. God molds people like he did with Mary Magdalene who is a saint. I have always felt in my heart and soul that God hand-picked President Trump to lead America and the world back to his Sacred Heart through Our Blessed Lady!
We need to pray for the bishops and priests who pray the rosary AND voted for Biden.
im praying for pope francis…hes very very confused. He shouldve supported president trump..if he was hearing from God he would have. Pope Francis needs conversion. How the Church goes…so goes the World. Mercy Jesus. More time please. Mary pray for us!
The Blessed Mother said to pray the Rosary well. It is not to be hurried through but meditation on the mysteries is imperative. If Biden prayed well he wouldn’t be promoting death mandates and abortion. How do you know her really prays the Rosary or is it for show? (The loss of the Child in the Temple)
The Blessed Mother said to pray the Rosary well. It is not to be hurried through but meditation on the mysteries is imperative. If Biden prayed well he wouldn’t be promoting death mandates and abortion. How do you know her really prays the Rosary or is it for show? (The loss of the Child in the Temple)