Our Lady of Fatima, in her apparitions to the three children, said that men must not offend the Lord anymore for He is already too much offended.
Her appeal in her July 13, 1917, apparition can be succinctly summarized: “Sin no More.”
On May 13, 1917, Our Lady told them: “Will you offer yourselves to God, ready to make sacrifices and accept willingly all the sufferings that He may wish to send you, in reparation for so many sins by which the Divine Majesty is offended, and to obtain the conversion of sinners?” (cf. Our Lady of Fatima, first apparition , May 13, 1917).
The three answered in the affirmative and Our Lady told them that they will have much to suffer.
Indeed, the three children suffered tremendously, but not in vain for they offered them all as reparation for sins.
Fatima apparition is considered as one of the most important Marian apparitions approved by the Church in our times.
The Blessed Virgin Mary reiterated the need for prayer and penance saying to the three children that there are many souls in hell because very few pray and make sacrifices for sinners.
Our Lady highlighted the importance of the spirit of reparation in her messages to the three children, two of which have been canonized, Sts. Jacinta and Francesco.
Sister Lucia’s cause for canonization has already been started, she died on February 13, 2005. On February 13, 2008, the third anniversary of her death, Pope Benedict XVI decided that in her case the five-year customary waiting period by church law before opening a cause for beatification would be waived.
This norm was also dispensed in the causes for Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta. On February 13, 2017, Sister Lúcia was accorded the title Servant of God, as the initial step toward her canonization.
Even after our Lady’s apparition, men continues to commit sin. People become forgetful of God. Instead of rendering God just homage, service and praise, men continue to hurt God by sinning.
Our Lady of Fatima tells us that wars, chaos and other disasters are the effects of sin. She emphatically reminds us to sin no more and do more sacrifices.
We need to practice reparation which can help turn the tide of the evils of our times. Reparation must be done by all, for all have sinned and many continue living in sin.
Reparation, especially to the Eucharist, is very much needed today as St. John Paul II said in Dominici Cenae # 2,3: “Let our reparation never cease.”
Venerable Pius XII mandated consecration and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus conjointly with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (cf. Pius XII Haurietis Aquas, 1956, No. 124)
Since the Hearts of Jesus and Mary bleeds because of the many sins committed against their hearts, reparation has to be offered. (cf. Pope Pius XI Miserentissimus Redemptor, No.6.)
Pius XI defines reparation as: “The creature’s love should be given in return for the love of the Creator, another thing follows from this at once, namely that the same uncreated love, if so be it has been neglected by forgetfulness or violated by offense, some sort of compensation must be rendered for the injury, and this debt is commonly called by the name Reparation.”
The motive for reparation is love. When one loves, one is willing to do reparation.
Reparation: Meaning and notion
Reparation, from latin “reparare,” means to make new, to make amends. It is an attempt to right what is wrong. Every sin is wrong.
In the spiritual sense, the soul desires to help renew a sinful world with its own cooperation in the mystery of redemption.
The soul who makes reparation for sin is really making at attempt to appease the divine justice. Those who make reparation, in a sense, “bargain with the Lord” in order to hold back His chastisement.
One who makes reparation tries to buy as much time as possible so that more sinners might be saved through the prayers and sacrifices that are offered for them. (cf. Freze Michael, S.F.O They Bore the Wounds of Christ. Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, Huntington Indiana, USA 1989 p.68,69)
One who offers reparation is more concerned with appealing to God’s mercy to forgive the sinners by means of prayer and sacrifice.
Reparation seeks to undo the damage already done from past sin (to “repair” a past wrong).
Reparation is a close ally of the Sacrament of Penance. A reparator longs for the soul to make an act of contrition for their sins, to be truly sorry from the depths of their hearts, and to confess their wrongdoings in order to be converted and reconciled with the Savior of all mankind.
In his encyclical “Miserentissimus Redemptor,” published in 1928, Pope Pius XI tell us of the need for reparation. In fact, he ordered it.
He speaks of the numerous heinous crimes/sins in which men, under the influence and deception of Satan, have shamefully abandoned Christ and His Mystical Body in great sorrow.
Among them are: Heinous crimes of man; governments and heads of countries have openly attacked Christ; religious dedicated to the Lord have been persecuted; apostasy has become commonplace; disrespect for Church discipline and tradition has become rampart; human and divine rights have been overthrown.
Grievous assaults have been made on the purity of the youth; the assault on the sanctity of marriage has become vigorous; the education of children has become based upon false theories; the virtue of modesty has been virtually forgotten; materialism abounds; the authority of the Word of God is publicly despised; and personal adoration before the Blessed Sacrament is neglected, even forgotten.
We are all being called to live the Fatima message that is more urgent today than it was more than a hundred years ago.
If we want our Church to have renewal, let us return to the sacrament of Confession, let us Adore the Lord truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, let us pray the holy Rosary daily as requested by our Lady and let us attend the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass if possible daily, if not every Sunday.
Let us offer more reparation for our sins and the sins of the world.
Let us also take to heart the admonition of St. John Paul II to make Reparation to Jesus really present in the Eucharist because of many desecrations, irreverences and sacrileges done against the august presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
May our daily adoration become Reparative adoration. (cf. St. John Paul II Dominici Cenae # 2,3) Our faith tells us that Jesus is there wholly and substantially present as God and man in the Eucharist cf. CCC 1374
In his encyclical “Mystici Corporis Christi (1953),” Venerable Pius XII invited all to do works of reparation “to follow with good will the footsteps of Jesus our King, as is demanded by true and effective charity toward the Church and the soul that the Church continually begets for Christ.”
The same Pius XII mandated consecration and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus conjointly with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (cf. Pius XII Haurietis Aquas, 1956, No. 124)
Paul VI
In 1966, in his Apostolic Constitution “Poenitentiam Agite,” Paul VI confirmed that reparation is necessary in the Church. He believed that the solution to the evil of these days is to pray and offer sacrifices for others.
Reparation made of prayers and sacrifices is exactly the message of the approved message of our Lady of Fatima. The doctrine of repairing for the sins of others is an integral part of the message of Our Lady of Fatima to the three seers.
Let us dry the tears of our heavenly Mother, let us practice reparation and console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Fr. Roberto Francis A. Tiquia, STD, is from the Diocese of Virac and works as National Spiritual Director of Alliance of Holy Family International.
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons