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.
