Why Our Lady of Fatima?
by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

If the Virgin Mary wished to come to this land of Portugal, to Fatima, if she wished to appear to these few children to give them a message for the world, it is surely because she desired that our souls be lifted up toward Heaven. It was so that our souls may be saved, it was so that our souls may go to join her one day in Heaven. In a few extraordinary pictures, she manifested to these children of Fatima the whole reality of our faith. Our Lady spoke to them also about the souls in Purgatory. She wished also to show them the reality of Hell so as to encourage them to do penance, so as to encourage them to pray to save souls, thus showing that the Immaculate Heart of Mary is altogether directed toward the glory of her Divine Son and toward the salvation of souls. To save souls is to cause them to go to Heaven. Therefore it is our entire catechism in a way that these children saw in an image, and this happened through the grace of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

 

Let us try then to put ourselves into this setting today too, because what happened in 1917 is still true today, and perhaps even more than at that time, because the situation in the world is even worse now than it was in 1917. The faith is disappearing, atheism is advancing everywhere, and the Most Blessed Virgin herself announced it. For although she wished to show us a vision of Heaven, She also wished to speak about the Earth. She told these children essentially: "It is necessary to pray, it is necessary to do penance so as to stop the devastating effects of this terrible error, Communism, which will dominate the world if people do not do penance and if they do not pray and if they do not carry out my will".

 

The first means is prayer. "It is necessary to pray." The Blessed Virgin unceasingly repeated this to Lucia, because Lucia asked her the question each time: "O Lady, what do you want of me? What do you want me to do?" A fine question! There can be no better dispositions. Is this our disposition also? Mary! What do you want us to do? Then Mary said: "It is necessary to pray, take your rosary, recite the rosary every day to sanctify yourselves and to save souls, to save the souls of sinners". She repeated this every time she came. She also encouraged Holy Communion, receiving the Holy Eucharist, since she even enabled the Angel to come and give Communion to these children. Can Mary wish anything else but to give us her Son, to give us Jesus in our hearts?

That We Might Keep the Faith and Grace in Our Souls

 

The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, in her love for us, in her gracious condescension toward us, wished to warn us. She wished to announce future events to us, so as to enable us to keep our faith, to keep grace in our souls. Thus we are warned, we know that after 1960 some serious events in Church history would cause a crisis, and particularly with regard to those who lead the Church. So you see, if the Most Blessed Virgin Mary wishes us to have in our souls dispositions of the love for God, dispositions of prayer, a readiness to unite ourselves to Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, a willingness to sacrifice ourselves for the sinners of this world, well, then, let us ask for this grace today!