Greatshield17
Claritas Prayer Group#9435
The three little shepherd children, Lucia dos Santos, (March 22, 1907 - February 13, 2005) St. Francisco Marto, (June 11, 1908 - April 4, 1919) and St. Jacinta Marto, (March 11, 1910 - February 20, 1920) approached the holmoak tree in the Cova da Iria, on which Our Lady appeared. Our Lady had appeared to the children twice before, on the 13th of May and June, this would be Her third time appearing to them. A recurring theme in both of the apparitions was a call to say the Rosary daily and offer up sufferings in sacrifice for the conversion of poor sinners, in reparation for the sins of the world, and for an end to World War I.
As the children knelt down before the holmoak, Our Lady appeared as She did the two previous times. Our Lady's appearance in the Fatima of apparitions was of a Woman clothed in all-white garments, that shone like sparkling water reflecting the diamond-white rays of the sun. In the year prior to the apparitions, the three shepherd children were met by an angel. During that apparition, Lucia reported a great weariness and draining in her body; during the Marian Apparitions, Lucia reported feeling a joyful liveliness in her body instead, this is because she was in the presence of a fellow-human being who was beatified in body and soul, where as the angel lacked a body.
Lucia asked Our Lady to reveal who She was and perform a miracle so that everyone in the village would believe them. Our Lady answered that She would perform the miracle in October and that they must keep coming to the holmoak on the 13th of each month. Our Lady then emphasized that the children sacrifice themselves for the conversion of poor sinners, and then proceeded to open Her folded hands. During the first apparition back in May, when Our Lady opened Her folded hands, a great and intense Light emitted from Her hands and went into the children's chests, deep into the innermost parts of their souls which, in the words of Lucie herself, "[made] us see ourselves in God, Who was that light, more clearly than we can see ourselves in the best of mirrors."
In June, during the second apparition of Our Lady, when She opened Her hands, the same intense Light shone forth from Her hands again, but the experience that Lucia reported this time was quite different, "We could see ourselves in it, as if immersed in God. Jacinta and Francisco seemed to be in the part of this light that went up toward heaven, and I in the part that was cast toward the ground. In front of Our Lady's right hand there was a heart encircled by thorns that seemed to pierce it. We understood that it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, insulted by the sins of humanity and which desires reparation."
Thus we get to third time, July 13th. This time, the light that reflected from Her hands shone, not towards the children, but towards the ground at their feet, what happened next was a terrible vision which Lucia herself describes as thus:
"Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror."
Our Lady then explained the vision and made the following prophecies:
"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. 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. Finally, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc. ..."
This vision and these prophecies, are known as the three Secrets of Fatima, they're called Secrets because Our Lady forbade the children to disclose them anyone until a clerical authority issued a commanded for them to; indeed, in August, government officials kidnapped the children in an effort to pry the Secret from them. The Second Secret, foretells Our Lady's call to the Pope to consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, and Her instituting of the First Saturday Devotion, (a devotion that contains a promise of the grace of Final Perseverance) as well as a warning that if the Pope does not consecrate Russia, and there aren't enough First Saturday Devotions being done, God will allow World War II to happen, along with the Cold War, and the spreading of Marxist ideologies throughout the globe; all as a punishment for the sins of the world. The Third Secret is highly controversial, it allegedly begins with, "In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc. ..." The Vatican did release a Vision recorded by Lucia, but it is contested among mostly laity within the Church, whether this is the whole secret or only part of the Third Secret.
However, in this thread, we are addressing the First Secret of Fatima, the vision of Hell. Yeah, my first thread after introducing myself is on this topic. Hell is a teaching that many people both within and without the Church do not like; it is a teaching that many ignore, downplay or outright deny. In the First Secret of Fatima Our Lady points us towards eternity and emphasizes the fate of a sinner, She emphasizes what many do not want emphasized. Thus I will now address this topic that Our Lady preached at Fatima.
There are a fair amount of philosophical explanations behind this, but it all comes down to one thing and that is this; without Hell there can be no Heaven, how is that? Heaven is where people go who love God who is Goodness Himself. So what becomes of those who, by their own free will, do not love God? Those who don't love God can't go to Heaven because all that's in Heaven is God, and a loving relationship with Him. Hell is the place that people go that is away from God, and it's Hell because it is away from God who is Goodness Himself. I think the person who put it best is the late Mother Angelica, and I highly encourage everyone reading this to watch this, slightly over 12 minute video in which she explains what I am trying to explain here:
Remember the choice is ours, Our Lady was given the choice of whether or not to be the Woman God called Her to be, and She said "yes." We also have a choice of whether we want to be the people God calls us to be, we must decide and Our Lady is offering us the best way to make the right decision:
