New Era World News

ANY IMPARTIAL OBSERVER OF GLOBAL EVENT can discern the Hand of God at work in the world as Russia is being converted and the nations of the world are one by one in the process of rejecting global liberalism while many are reasserting their Christian patrimonies (Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, Poland, France, Asia, Argentina, Middle East).

While New Era has been reporting on these changes since its inception, secular and liberal pundits have also begun to observe the many changes occurring world-wide.  They are, however, misinterpreting, and thus misrepresenting, them as a political movements, movements referred to as “Populist“, when in fact these are primarily moral, cultural, spiritual and religious movements. However, there is at least one commentator, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, a much more sophisticated player, who realizes that the fast-paced global movement underway is not a typical populist cry for economic justice, but a deeper more rotund-paradigmatic movement having cultural, moral  and spiritual dimensions as well.  One of the few think-tank/institutes that recognizes the unique and broad scope of the current global movement is the Schiller Institute. The Schiller Institute bills itself as the “Forum for a New Paradigm” and a “New Era of Civilization.” LaRouche recently stated at Schiller Institute Seminar (Jan. 11, 2017):

“What we see right now is a completely new paradigm emerging….Obviously the idea for what was the axiomatic basis of the globalization system since 1991 to insist on a unipolar world, is failing, or has failed already.” 

Summarizing her presentation in which she called for a new international economic order and the revival of a classical Renaissance in culture, the LaRouche PAC stated:

“Sublime, is the only fitting word to describe Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s deep and beautiful presentation and the atmosphere she created… at the Schiller Institute/EIR seminar held in Stockholm on January 11th, under the title “Donald Trump and the New International Paradigm.” Her speech moved the audience to address the fundamental epistemological, deeper meaning…of mankind in the universe. This deeper meaning even touched the diplomats present…In all, there were seventeen diplomats among them seven ambassadors. Four European countries were represented, nine from Asia, and four from Africa….Among the other participants there were contacts from different Swedish associations working for friendship with Russia, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, the Baltic Sea area, and another group working to leave the EU, as well as three businessmen contacts and longtime activists of the Swedish LaRouche Movement.

A few days later, after the Trump inauguration, Helga percipiently stated:

“The next days will witness many revolutionary developments, qualitatively new, resembling nothing ever seen previously in all of human history. But there is one thing which is known now, and already is inevitable and unavoidable. Their system (neocon-liberalism) is finished. It is over, and it can never come back. Yes, they can raise a ruckus, as they are doing. They can make a bloody mess if they are allowed to–but they will never be able to bring that system back from the grave. Thank God, now we are done with it forever.

Almost immediately following the results of the Presidential election, Lyndon LaRouche announced that “it was not (only) the United States that had rejected Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and everything they stood for–it was the world that had rejected them. It was a global phenomenon.”

LaRouche is correct about a “completely new paradigm emerging”.  However, she misrepresents it as a Schiller Institute initiative aimed at rectifying the many errors of a rapidly eroding neo-liberal world that has characterized modernity.

In discussing LaRouche’s ideas in an online intelligence report, members of the Schiller Institute reveal the ideological potency of the founder’s ideas and initiatives:

“He (LaRouche) went on to point to the success of the (his) Manhattan Project—of organizing the American people around the necessity, and possibility, of choral beauty—despite all of its difficulties (see EIR, Jan. 8, 2016). That Manhattan Project is now the key to history; if LaRouche had not launched it as he did in October 2014, now all would be lost.

Who are the LaRouche’s, what is the Schiller Institute, and exactly how does an institute whose analysis of the situation is so astute offer solutions that run contrary to the vision for an Era of Peace expressed by the Mother of God at Fatima?

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What Does LaRouche Say that Sounds So Sublime and Convincing?

LaRouche hopes to gain her listener’s confidence by being an astute observer of the the global liberal demise and by presenting herself as an opponent of effete liberalism and of decadent liberal culture. According to the Schiller Institute

“The clock of mankind has advanced to a point where the old lackluster ways will no longer work. According to all established criteria, mankind has gambled away all its chances for survival. Too many catastrophes are crowding in upon us, the entropic process has proceeded too far and the rift between the U.S.A. and Western Europe is all but accomplished.”

Demonstrating her astute observation skills, the collapse of liberalism, and subsequent opportunities for an Era of Peace she states:

“We are indeed in very, very fascinating times. And I think there is much reason to be hopeful….There are accumulations of strategic realignments which have shaped up over the last three years, but especially in the last year, where one can actually see that the potential for a completely new kind of relation among nations is on the horizon, and that we may actually have the chance to bring a peaceful world.”

Adding to the sublimity of her message, Ms. LaRouche states:

“What we see right now is a completely new paradigm emerging, a system which is based on the development of all, a “win-win” potential to cooperate among nations, and obviously the idea for what was the axiomatic basis of the globalization system since 1991 to insist on a unipolar world, is failing, or has failed already. And with that, a system which tried to maintain this unipolar world with the policy of regime change, of color revolution, or humanitarian intervention, or so-called humanitarian intervention to defend democracy and human rights, obviously has led the world to a terrible condition, but this is now coming to an end.”

Then, in language reminiscent of recent New Age Reports, she traces the movement’s etiology:

“It started in a visible form with the vote of the British population in June last year for the Brexit, which was the first real upset; everybody was taken totally unawares, except a few insiders. This anti-globalization revolt was obviously continued with the election of President Donald Trump in the United States; it was continued with the “no” to the Italian referendum organized by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, to change the Constitution.

LaRouche is avante-garde, progressive and intellectually confident, enough to be an advocate of cooperation between the United States and Russia because such cooperation can usher in an Era of Peace.  In her own words:

“So the fact that Hillary did not win the election was extremely important for the maintenance of world peace. And I think that of all the promises that Trump made so far, the fact that he said that he will normalize the relationship between the United States and Russia, is, in my view the most important step. Because if the relationship between the United States and Russia is decent, and is based on trust and cooperation, I think there is a basis to solve all other problems in the world.”

LaRouche even gets  the roles of the United States and Russia in Syria and the Middle East correct – a very astute observer indeed:

“Ash Carter, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, just gave a press conference where he said that it was only the United States which has fought ISIS in Syria. Now, it takes some nerve to say that, because everybody in the whole world knows that without President Putin’s decision to militarily intervene in Syria starting in September 2015, and the tremendous support of the Russian Aerospace Forces for the fighting of the Syrian troops, the present military situation in Syria would have never developed. And it was to the contrary, the very dubious behavior of the United States supporting various kinds of terrorist groups which prolonged this process and slowed it down.”

Evaluating the Trump effect, LaRouche correctly ties it to a global phenomenon (because the Era of Peace is a global phenomenon):

“Donald Trump is actually part of a global process which is underway; and which is not going to stop until the reasons for this process — which you can actually call a global revolution — until the causes are removed.”

 

“This period of history, which I would say started with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and which led to what we call “globalization,” is coming to an end.  Or, has come to an end already.  Now obviously, that process, which really started immediately with the broken promises of the United States and others not to expand NATO to the Russian border; which subsequently was broken many times.  The recent deployment of U.S. and NATO troops and military equipment to the Russian borders is just the latest example of that.”

Yes, the United States has broken promises related to NATO expansion along the Russian border and yes the period of liberal global hegemony is coming to a close.

As attestation to this fact, LaRouche points out the “depraved” and “degenerate” culture spawned by liberalism that must be modified if the world is to advance into a new and prosperous era:

“We have to reject the popular culture associated with modern globalization, because it is depraved and degenerate. And that we had to go back to the revival, a Renaissance, of the best traditions of every culture, and have a dialogue among them.”

LaRouche is clearly a coruscating observer and social-cultural critic; however she misses, and therefore fails to represent, the Mariological dimensions of the global movement underway. Moreover, the solutions she offers run contrary to authentic Christian renewal of the type associated with Fatima and the Era of Peace promised by the Mother of God.

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Who is LaRouche and What is the Schiller Institute?

When they founded the Schiller Institute Mr and Mrs Schiller insisted:

“We are founding the Schiller Institute. We do so not only because there is a vacuum we need to fill with institutions willing to revive the spirit of the American Revolution and the German classical period. We are founding the Schiller Institute because Schiller’s special method of approaching world-historical problems is the only one which can still bring about a solution today. The kernel of this method can be defined in Schiller’s own words: Man is greater than his fate. Even if the objective situation looks almost hopeless and desperate, we, like Schiller, are sure that a courageous spirit and human reason will always be able to find the higher level where the problems are solvable…

In its own words:

“The Schiller Institute is working around the world to defend the rights of all humanity to progress –material, moral and intellectual. It is named after Friedrich Schiller, the great 18th-century German poet and playwright, whose works have inspired republican opposition to oligarchic tyranny worldwide.”

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“In America, the Institute, a non-profit corporation headquartered in Washington, D.C., was founded in May 1984. The Schiller Institute is also established in Australia, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and has a growing influence in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.”

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LaRouche – Schiller Initiatives

Education:

“The whole education system must be changed.  You have to throw out algorithms, you have to throw out mathematics, you have to go back to basic scientific discovery.  You have to go to a Classical culture.  And I think that that is so absolutely important why the Schiller Institute must really be a guiding force in this process, because you know, the popular culture in the United States is so detrimental to the idea of creativity, that I think we have to really intervene in this situation in a very, very powerful way.”

Culture:

Because modern culture is so bereft of artistic, philosophic and humanistic ideas it is easy to criticize.  In the context of post-modern culture anything “classic” sounds good.  Thus, LaRouche is able to slip in a significant negative cultural element in the name of a good vis a vis modernity:

“The future of civilization will be a dialogue between Plato, Schiller, Confucius, Tagore, and many other great poets and scientists of the past.”

The nations of the Western World have their roots in Christendom, but LaRouche envisions a return to paganism.

According to the First Things,

“Schiller prefigures the Whig interpretation of history, in which enlightened Protestantism gradually triumphs over the medieval obscurantism of the Catholic Church. Schiller’s interest, to be sure, is not religious but political; his neo-Hellenic “Classicism” was explicitly non-Christian.

Schiller was avowedly anti-Christian (at least as far as institutional Christianity is concerned-against the institution but not the religion per-se), even accused of being a Free Mason:

“His two book-length histories are unabashed Protestant polemics. The first is a sympathetic portrayal of the Netherlands’ revolt against Catholic Spain…. The second is a history of the Thirty Years War, which makes the astonishing claim that “Europe came out of this frightful war unoppressed and free” because it destroyed forever the principle of Catholic universal empire.”

As far as being a Mason, it has not been conclusively demonstrated, but many have made the allegation linking LaRouche, the Schiller Institute, and Masonr:

“Lyndon LaRouche, the one-time U.S. Trotskyist who embraced conspiracy theories as he lurched to the extreme right through the 1970s. LaRouche includes Masons and Gnostics in his overcrowded pantheon of evildoers, which is slightly odd given that he was once happy to see himself and his followers as part of a “neo-Platonic humanist” conspiracy against oligarchical enemies.  He also venerates the eighteenth-century German Romantic Friedrich von Schiller, who was not only a Mason but also, according to J.M. Roberts, a member of the Illuminati.(One of the many LaRouche front groups is called the Schiller Institute.)

Others, like author Carol White, are not so credulous:

“Larouche is a Grand Orient Freemason and so not to be trusted completely. This Larouche is an agent of the Hegelian Dialectic, setting up two false opposing movements which are both controlled by the same sect usually freemasonry to have an appearance of a “natural” synthesis (old age of liberalism versus new paradigm). However if you have two glasses of hot water BUT you NAME one cold water even if you mix them you will still only have hot water regardless of names.”

Masonic or not, the LaRouche model looks and sounds suspicious and even more so since his mentor, Friedrich Schiller, was a Christian in name only:

“Schiller’s support of the Protestant cause was nominal rather than heartfelt; he was no Christian, but man of the enlightenment, a self-styled “citizen of the world.”

This is precisely the problem with Schiller and with LaRouche: self-proclaimed citizens of the world not proclaimed citizens of the Kingdom of God, men of the Enlightenment, a period in which a New World Order, Novos Ordo Seclorum, was introduced by like minded men, many of them Freemasons, which helps give credence to the supposition the Schiller was himself a member of the lodge.

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The Mother of God or LaRouche – How Do LaRouche-Schiller Initiatives Run Contrary to Fatima?

According to LaRouche human beings are an evolving species. Speaking like an agnostic socio-biologist she states:

“If you look at the evolution over a longer period of time, life developed from the oceans with the help of photosynthesis; then you had the development of ever higher species, species with a higher metabolism, higher energy-flux density in their metabolism.”

In a document entitled “The Next Stage of Human Evolution”, the LaRouche PAC states:

“That next stage of evolution is a whole interlinked complex–moral, material, psychological, and scientific–all of these aspects closely intertwined, as they always have been in Lyndon LaRouche’s thinking. One word for this next stage of our species’ evolution is the “New Paradigm.” The New Paradigm, as Helga Zepp-LaRouche has memorably said, “where we become truly human.”.

Thus, according to LaRouche, human beings progressively solve their problems by advances in technology and intellectual attainment etc. Although there is much truth to ponder in these assertions, there is no mention of God, prayer, charity imitation of Christ, the Church or the sacraments et al.

LaRouche is not seeking a new vision of economics rooted in the precept of charity, “Solidarnosc”. LaRouche proposes turning the pages back to earlier chapters in liberal history, to the times of Roosevelt, Hamilton, and Glass Stegall, (a 1930 act that limited securities, activities, and affiliations within commercial banks and securities firms) as if permitting commercial banks to engage in security activities caused the current economic crisis, a crisis that has been brewing for decades and even centuries as attested to by the acceptance of business cycles as a natural phenomenon associated with capitalism. The global system needs much more than a return to financial regulation of the Glass Stegall brand.  Obviously financial regulation is needed – the whole question must be revisited .  However, the type of change needed is far more extensive than that proffered by LaRouche.  According to the Schiller Institute:

“The only solution, at this point of deep breakdown, is to implement LaRouche’s four laws recovery program on an emergency basis”:

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1.Reinstate FDR’s Glass-Steagall banking separation
2.Return to a Hamiltonian System of national banking
3.Invest federal credit for productive employment
4.Launch a crash program for fusion power

According to the LaRouche PAC:

“LaRouche’s Four Laws provides the only basis for the United States to save itself from collapse and join in collaboration with China, Russia, India, and other nations participating in the global economic renaissance centered around China’s New Silk Road program.”

There is muster in this latter point as well, partial and specious truth (to be discussed in the future).

The main reason LaRouche is able to make such a brilliant analysis of the current global situation and then provide such a weak reform platform is due to a commitment to the Enlightenment and a refusal to let go of the deist dream for a better world without the Holy Trinity – god yes, perhaps the deist God of Nature, but not the Holy Trinity.

LaRouche is a strong advocate of Classical culture, which she associates with the Enlightenment.  One of Schiller’s mission as stated above is “to revive the spirit of the American Revolution and the German classical period.” In other words, the Schiller Institute, like the Schiller’s themselves, is anti-Catholic, perhaps anti-Christian all around.  Quixotically, The Enlightenment was itself the bedrock and purveyor and source of modern liberalism. The Schiller Institute thus proposes going forward by first going backward, backward to the founding principles of the Enlightenment and then forward again. Perhaps they think they can do it better if they get a second try.

In true Enlightenment and New Age style, LaRouce seeks a universal syncretism:

‘From the beginning, we said that such a new world economic order can only function if it’s combined with a Classical Renaissance…That we had to go back to the revival, a Renaissance, of the best traditions of every culture, and have a dialogue among them. For example, in Germany, obviously you would emphasize the German Classical culture of Schiller, Beethoven, and all of Classical music; in China, you would emphasize Confucius; in India you would emphasize the Vedic writings, Tagore (a Pirali Brahmin), and so forth.

Of course there is no mention of Christianity.  No it is part of a “xenophobia” that must be healed:

“People get completely excited, because they discover that there are beautiful things to discover in other cultures! And once you study and know these other cultures, xenophobia and racism disappear!

New Era is perplexed: What does a Chinese citizen and devotee of Confucianism or a Hindu Brahmin do when he or she comes into contact with a French or Polish devotee of Jesus Christ and His blessed Mother?  Does the Oriental person get healed of their cultural xenophobia or only the Christian? Does the Hindu Ashram give way to the Greek Academy or are they all acceptable because they share common principles found in all religions and cultures as LaRouche seems to think:

“Because you realize that it’s beautiful that there are many cultures, because there are universal principles to be discovered in music. One musician will immediately understand another musician because it’s a universal language.”

It is beautiful that there are many cultures, and beautiful that there is a Christian culture too, a culture that LaRouche fails to mention, but one she implicitly demeans as a purveyor of “xenophobia”.  If she believes there is such a disease as xenophobia, but that purveyors of Classical culture along with Confucius in China and the Hind Vedic culture as well as that of Plato and Tagore are exempt, if she believes all of these are grand and precious cultural attainments, which culture then is xenophobic except her own, the one she fails to mention, i.e., Christian culture?

It seems that LaRouche desires Americans and Europeans to be healed of their cultural ailments but those from a Hindu or Oriental background are OK. Presumably Christianity is also OK, if it gives up its evangelical component and accepts all religions as equal AS LONG AS THEY CONTAIN AND REFLECT THE “UNIVERSAL” DIMENSIONS, dimensions that LaRouche, along with Theosophists, Gnostics and Masons believe and teach are present in all religions – a grand religious synthesis in which Jesus Christ who suffered and died for all humanity is no longer the savior of all humanity, but is equivalent to a Pirali Brahim, a being who himself honors higher more evolved gods and “ascended masters”, gods and masters who say wonderful things but none who took the form of a slave and died for anyone. The story of the Incarnation, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is unparalleled in the annals of comparative religion.

At one point LaRouche endeavored to cooperate with the Catholic Church,

“At one point, LaRouche decided he wanted to work with the Roman Catholic Church – he was hoping to get in with the Church. So, suddenly, he was pro-Catholic. At that point, many members converted to Catholicism. But when he discovered that the Catholic Church wanted no part of him, in 2000, LaRouche launched a vicious attack on the Catholic members of the organization, including commissioning items for the daily internal briefing memos attacking members for going to church. In a savage campaign, he drove most of the Catholics out of the organization.

After driving out Catholics from his organization, LaRouche, like Masons and Thesophists, further manifested his anti-Catholicism.

“Take the Papacy in a certain earlier period. You had a great leader who built all the water systems in Europe [Charlemagne]. He did it; and as soon as he died, Hell broke loose. And the Catholic Church became a piece of sodomy, immediately at that point. You have to know what happened when Charlemagne died; after his death, the Satanic movement took over the Catholic Church.”

In short, LaRouche and the Schiller Institute are just another front for liberalism, a very sophisticated front – one that offers one of the most progressive Christian geopolitical analyses imaginable.  For example, LaRouche’s “Producerism”  and anti-imperialism makes him appear to be an opponent of capitalism, when in actuality he is an advocate:

“Pro­ducer­ism, with its problematic distinction between productive industrial capital and parasitic finance capital, was central to LaRouchite economics, as it enabled LaRouche to be procapitalist and “anti-imperialist” at the same time

LaRouche’s ideas might be complex and sophisticated, but in the end – because such ideas neglect the Incarnation and subsequent Christian prophetic content  –  no matter how resounding, they work against authentic human and social development.

Nothing really new here except a brilliant expose of the changing times that can be interpreted as a Masonic bailout in the guise of helping humanity progress to its next stage of evolutionary development. LaRouche’s analysis and solutions are similar to the “Reform Liberalism” unfurled by FDR, a reform that rescued capitalism from the throes of socialism by engaging in Keynesian economics and deficit spending.

Neither LaRouce nor Schiller represent a forward march toward human dignity and Christian social renewal. They represent an adroit and very clever manipulation of events in the guise of progressive change, an attempt to hold onto a financial and cultural empire by appeal for change that simply returns the world to a previous chapter in a how-to-book that brought the world to the place where it stands now.  In other words, the only thing sublime about LaRouce and Schiller are the slippery words and concepts they employ.  Correctly seeing the world groping for change, they hope to continue profiting by representing themselves as enlightened avante-garde agents of an merging paradigmatic shift while refusing to let go of the liberal agenda that brought about the collapse we are now experiencing. Perhaps this is why Lyndon LaRouche was sentenced to a fifteen year prison term for conspiracy to commit mail fraud involving more than $30 million in defaulted loans, and 11 counts of actual mail fraud involving $294,000 in defaulted loans.

Mr. LaRouche maintained that he was

“…the victim of a Government campaign to keep him from alerting the nation to a wide variety of threats and from otherwise expressing his unorthodox political views”.

It seems as though the LaRouche phenomenon is still operative – trying to alert the nation, and the world, this time to a wide variety of new possibilities that are nothing but a Masonic sham attempt to keep people from seeing the possibility for authentic integral social, cultural spiritual, economic and political renewal-renewal rooted in the Holy Trinity. Real change, real peace, prosperity and progress will be achieved when the world returns to its God, to the Holy Trinity, Someone LaRouche fails to mention.

.New Era World News

ON DECEMBER 30, PRIOR TO THE NEW YEAR, New Era reported that the Russian, Turkish, and Iranian foreign ministers gathered in Moscow to discuss the situation in Syria. As a result of the meeting, the three announced their willingness to facilitate future negotiations between Damascus and Syrian opposition groups.

As a result of the meeting, the Troika issued a document referred to by the New York Times as “The Moscow Declaration”. Among its eight articles, the “Declaration” states:

• Iran, Russia and Turkey express their readiness to facilitate and become the guarantors of the prospective agreement being negotiated between the Syrian Government and the opposition. They invited all other countries with the influence on the situation on the ground to do the same.

Consequently, On December 30 the Assad government and the main Syrian opposition groups agreed to a nationwide cease-fire. Turkey’s Anadolu News Agency, reported that Russia and Turkey agreed to act jointly in order to guarantee implementation of the ceasefire agreement; they have been actively monitoring violations since that date.

The Russians, Iranians, and Turks decided to act without the United States. Under President Obama, the United States neocons suffered a humiliating defeat, an international debacle far from their vision for a New American Century – The US was being taken out of the game and placed on the bench by the Russians.

“Russia (however) said the United States could join a fresh peace process once President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20” (Reuters, Dec 30, 2016).

Russian Secretary of State Sergey Lavrov stressed these sentiments in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin:

“I would like to express the hope that as soon as the administration of Donald Trump takes office, they will also be able to join these efforts [to settle the Syrian crisis] so that we could jointly work in this direction”  (CNN News).

Russia has in fact extended an invitation to the Trump administration to send a representative to attend the talks in Astana.  Now that he is president, he will face opposition from neo-conservative and neo-liberal statesmen and from ranking officials in the Pentagon and intelligence community, men and women opposed to any cooperation with the Russians.

We will soon find out what the United States under President Trump is going to do – the Astana meeting began yesterday (January 23) in Kazakhstan as scheduled. It is the first time, since the conflict began six years ago, that high officials from the Syrian government have sat at a negotiating table with high officials representing the armed opposition to discuss cessation of a war that has claimed over 400,000 lives.

At the outset of the meeting (being held at the Rixos President Astana Hotel)  Iran, Turkey, and Russia welcomed the various delegates including representatives of the Syrian government and members of armed opposition groups opposed to the Syrian government.  The Syrian government is being represented by Bashar Jaafari (Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN) who voiced extreme difficulty sitting down with countrymen who have helped ravage Syria supported by, an cooperating with, an overwhelming influx of foreign terrorists backed by an immense amount of foreign aid and assistance:

Delegates stressed the situation cannot be solved by military intervention.  Although the military is necessary to assure adherence to the cease-fire-peace initiative, the imbroglio must be revolved diplomatically, a process that will involve the United Nations.

“There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict…it can only be solved through a political process based on the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 2254 in its entirety.

The cooperating powers all agreed to the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of the Syrian nation, implying that they will uphold the right of Syria as a sovereign nation, a nation entitled to determine for itself who its leaders will be and who will be invited to fight alongside it against common enemies.

“The delegations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, in line with the Joint Statement of their Foreign Ministers made in Moscow, on December 20, 2016 and the UN Security Council resolution 2336…”reaffirm their commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, non-sectarian and democratic state”

It appears as forecast in our earlier report that the Syrian High Negotiation Committee (HNC) the umbrella group for Syrian opposition groups has not been invited. The  “HNC is a Saudi-backed and formulated umbrella organization.” Given the fact that the HNC is headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, home of Sunni radicalism, of Shariah Law and Wahhabi and Salafist ultra-extremism led by Saud monarchs who rule their country with a tight fist, it seemed clear that they would not be invited. For centuries the Sauds have been locked in deadly combat with Shiite Iran and have been the prime supporters of jihad and terrorism in Syria.  It is hard to imagine a group supported by the Sauds involved in a peace process that will strengthen the hands of its enemies viz., Iran, Russia and Turkey. Moreover, the HNC, supported by Great Britain has insisted, that President Assad must be removed from office within six months of any transition. This is contrary to the Syrian initiated democratic process envisioned by the Russians and the Syrian people themselves who voted overwhelmingly in Assad’s favor in 2014.

Moreover, according to Aljazeera News

“The HNC would reject any agreement struck by Russia and the US if it largely differed from the HNC’s terms.”

To bolster military operations to secure the cease-fire (in spite of opposition groups such as the HNC and other terrorists not invited to Astana), it was agreed yesterday (Jan 23) that (1) Iran will cooperate militarily with Turkey and Russia to assure the ceasefire and (2) that Syria’s indigenous opposition forces will be separated from the various terrorist organizations operating within the country (al-Nusra-ISIL-Daesh), organizations supported by Saudi Arabia and represented by the HNC.  The terrorist groups will be subject to the combined wrath of Iran, Russia and Turkey who reiterated their “determination to fight jointly against… them.”

This in itself is an extremely significant development.  In the past Saudi Arabia has brokered deals with Turkey to keep Iran in check; now, it appears that Turkey is switching allegiance. By Turkey now combining with Iran, it is Saudi Arabia that is checked and potentially threatened.  The Sauds are further feeling the heat due to Russia’s combining its forces with both The Turks and the Persians (Iran). Implicitly, Saudi Arabia is being warned. If tensions do not cease; it is highly likely that Saudi Arabia will find bombs dropping on the Arabian Peninsula and Trump might not be there to intervene, esp. if he is working with the Russians to bring peace to the Middle East.

It appears that the Astana meeting is intended to foster peace between the Assad government and Syrian opposition, that is with opposition from Syrian citizens (not imported terrorists) who have issues with the government. Once these issues are resolved, the UN can take up negotiations with the terrorists who are unruly even at a meeting.  In all likelihood, Syria is being united, internal grievances mollified and divisions healed before the Russians, Turks and Iranians begin pounding the terrorists into oblivion – as Trump has stated “I would bomb the shit out of ISIS”.

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https://youtu.be/KK79N5zOmZQ

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Before this can happen, bombing the “shit” out of ISIS, Assad wants to unify his country and mitigate any grievances to assure the full support of his countrymen in the war that is about to be unleashed on the terrorists unless the UN can somehow avoid the coming conflict, a conflict that will presumably involve the US aligning with the Russians, Turks, Iranians and Syrians against ISIL-Deash-al Nusra et al.

Tuesday’s meeting concluded with the three guarantors issuing a join-statement supporting the upcoming UN Geneva talks and the participation of Syrian opposition forces (not necessarily the terrorists) within them.

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Meeting Concluded but Not Over

The January 23 meeting was open to the press.  Today, Jan 24, participants are meeting en banc behind closed doors to engage in further discussions between the Syrian government and opposition forces. Apparently, President Trump has been contacted and responded positively; it is reported that the United States has a representative there. According to Sputnik:

“Damascus delegation is set to speak first, followed by the armed opposition, Russia, Iran, Turkey, the United States and the United Nations.

Kairat Abdrakhmanov,  Foreign Minister of host Kazakastan, is optimistic:

“I am confident that the meeting in Astana will provide the necessary conditions allowing to find the acceptable solution of Syrian crisis for all the interested parties in the framework of Geneva process under the auspices of the UN and will be a significant step forward to peace and stability in Syria. I wish you successful and fruitful negations….Kazakhstan believes that the only correct way to resolve the situation in Syria should be negotiations based on mutual trust and understanding.”

Abdrakhmanov also stressed his wishes for a successful start that will lead to a breakthrough opening the way to the diplomatic side of things to occur in Geneva under UN auspices on February 8, 2017.

“We are providing you with the platform and the conditions to start negotiations… The next few days are very important,” the delegates he said “should use this opportunity to ensure a real breakthrough.”

The Astana round involves representatives of the armed opposition whereas the Geneva round will be a political process involving diplomats.  The Astana round is primarily a military round involving maintenance of the ceasefire that will prepare the way for the Geneva Round in February.  Highly significant is the role Russia s playing in cooperation with the UN. It is Russian military might in cooperation with Iran and Turkey that the UN is relying on to bring the contending parties to Geneva to engage in higher diplomatic talks.  In the past, meetings were attempted in Geneva but armed opposition groups refused to participate. Astana therefore represents a breakthrough, and if the talks proceed well (along with a successful ceasefire) there is hope for significant progress in Geneva.

As a result the Astana talks will focus primarily on military issues. Strategies and agreements intended to enhance the volatile ceasefire are expected to be the main issue on the agenda. These agreements, if reached, will pave the way for a political settlement of the Syrian crisis in Geneva. Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia emphasized this point:

The talks in Astana are “an important contribution to… a comprehensive political settlement in Syria which will continue in wider activities in Geneva in early February.”

However, if neocon war hawks respond like the liberal robotons taking to the streets in various US cities, if the war hawks are as un-accepting of Trump’s Russian initiatives or of Russia brokering a peace treaty while the US plays second fiddle, disruption or attempted disruption of the new administration can be expected. If the neocon response is anything like the liberal response, further unrest can be expected in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. The fact that ISIL and Jadhat Fatah al Sham (al Nusra Front), who maintain control of large swathes of Syria’s oil fields, are not at the Astana meeting is indicative of a latent backlash waiting for Trump – these are forces who were, and have been, supported by neocons during the Obama administration. If Trump is unable to adroitly handle domestic opposition against Russia and Assad, opposition rising from war-hawks in his own party and from liberals on the left who will use the opportunity (who will do anything to put the new president in a quagmire) to disrupt his administration, the situation will grow worse, not better.

However, do not count the rising American majority out, the men and women who rose to put Trump in the White House. If the liberal neocon cohort has not learned its lesson, the same people who voted for Trump will themselves soon take to the streets in unprecedented numbers in support of their new president and of America’s new peace initiatives.  They are tired of war-mongering, of being lied to, of unpunished criminal acts, of disruption and constant belly-aching from hypocritical and spoiled extreme liberal leftists – they have simply had enough.  If things continue as usual, “same old-same old”, it can be expected that they will soon be heard from in a rising crescendo of support for peace and cooperation with Russia and other coopering nations throughout the world as the promised Era of Peace dawns upon humanity.

President Trump and the United States have an opportunity to work with Russia and the global community toward world peace. But to be successful they must resign themselves to the reality that the neocon-neoliberal vision for a new American Century must be modified.  The age of liberal global hegemony is coming to an end.  Increasingly, the nations of the world are opting for national sovereignty and a restoration of traditional family values as the Era of Peace promised at Fatima continues to dawn upon the nations.

The United States can either adjust and cooperate or continue suffering one foreign policy embarrassment after another. It is either cooperate for peace or, as concluded in the previous article, a continued fall into irrelevance, something the Americans are unaccustomed too. If this happens, due to lack of cooperation with Russia et al, the liberals and their neocon allies who help make it a reality will have something real to cry about.

New Era World News

FATIMA IS SITUATED IN THE FOOTHILLS of the Serra de Aire Mountains about one hundred miles north of Lisbon, Portugal.  It has become a worldwide pilgrimage destination and international shrine visited by every modern pope as a place of human spiritual and social renewal. Saint John Paul II referred to Fatima as the, “Marian capitol of the world.” Fatima was once a little known Portuguese village, until a series of three angelic apparitions prepared the way for a visitation by Blessed Virgin Mary to three small children thereafter drawing more than four million visitors annually to the site. Fatima is of such contemporary importance that one of the first actions taken by newly elected Pope Francis was to consecrate his entire pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima. This was followed by World Youth Day in Rio de Janero, which he also consecrated to Our Lady of Fatima. Then, on Oct. 13, 2013 he consecrated the entire world to Our Lady of Fatima followed by conversations with Vladimir Putin relevant to Christianity in the modern world and the role of Russia in defending Christians in the Middle East as will be detailed in this series of articles on Fatima.

The Fatima story begins with three visit by the Angel of Peace in 1916 to prepare them for the coming of the Virgin Mary the following year. The first apparition of Our Lady took place on May 13, 1917, just prior to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.  On this date the Mother of Jesus appeared at Fatima to three shepherd children, Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto.  She came to turn the nations embroiled in world war back to God and to make an appeal for world peace.

Thereafter, she visited the children on the 13th of every month for six consecutive months making a number of prophecies now popularly known as the “Three Secrets of Fatima.” According to the official Catholic interpretation, the three secrets involve Hell, World War I and World War II, and the attempted assassination by gunshot of Pope John Paul II. The apparitions culminated with the unprecedented “Miracle of the Sun,” which she performed before a gathering of some 70,000 pilgrims and skeptics (including atheists and Free Masons) on October 13, 1917 as she had said she would so that “all might believe”.

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First Visit by the Blessed Virgin Mary, May 13, 1917

Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia were taking a rest from tending sheep on a slope in the Cova da Iria where they were passing time playing at building a stone wall when a flash of lightning appeared in the east. Sensing rain, they hurried towards home. Half way down the slope there was another flash of lightening. After proceeding a few more steps they beheld a beautiful Lady all dressed in white. She was more brilliant than the sun and radiated a clear and intense light.

The children stopped immediately in front of her and were bathed in the light that radiated from her in all directions.

Our Lady’s first words were reassuring, like those of the Angel of Peace who began his visit by consoling the children: “Do not be afraid“:

“Do not be afraid. I will do you know harm!”

“Where are you from?” asked Lucia

“I am from heaven”

“What do you want of me?”

“I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the thirteenth day, at the same hour.  Later on I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterwards, I will return here a seventh time.”

“Shall I go to heaven too?”

“Yes, you will,”

“And Jacinta?”

“She will go also.”

“And Francisco?”

“He will go there too, but he must say mnay rosaries,”

Is Maria das Neves in Heaven?”

“Yes, she is.”

“And Amelia?”

“She will be in purgatory until the end of the world.”

“Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?”

“Yes, we are willing.”

“Then  you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort”

As she pronounced these last words, She opened her hands communicating an intense light which penetrated their hearts to their innermost depths of their souls enabling them to see themselves in God, who was the light. In this light, they saw themselves more clearly than in they ever saw themselves in any mirror.

Then moved by a communicated interior impulse, they fell to their knees repeating:

“Oh, Most Holy Trinity, I adore You! My God, my God, I love You in the most Blessed Sacrament!”

Finally, Our Lady told them to:

“Pray the rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.”

Then she rose serenely to the east and disappeared into the empyrean.

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LESSONS:

The children had been prepared for this visit from the Queen of Heaven by first being introduced to the Holy Trinity by the “Angel of Portugal” who instructed them during his first visit to ask pardon for those who “do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love Him.”

Saying this prayer three times helped make the transition to the next angelic apparition in which they were taught to constantly offer prayers and sacrifices in reparation for sins by which God is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of poor sinners. 

“You will thus draw down peace upon your country, I am its Angel Guardian, the Angel of Portugal. Above all accept and bear with submission the suffering which the Lord will send you.”

The children were taken progressively deeper into the mystery of Divine Love and Justice, which require a closer imitation of Jesus who never ceased offering prayer and sacrifice for sinners. They were taught that they could win grace for their country in this way. They were also taught that those who pray for sinners can, like Jesus, be expected to suffer for sinners, if they are willing.

Finally, during the third angelic apparition, they were taken deeper into the mystery of the Eucharist, which is both the answer to sin and the cause of God’s greatest displeasure rooted in the apathy and sacrileges committed against Jesus Christ by ungrateful men who fail to recognize the supreme sacrifice made by the Son of God to make divine life accessible to humanity by the offering of His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity available to all men and women as the means of deepest communion with the Holy Trinity. The angel appeared with the Sacred Host and Chalice and beckoned the children to thrice repeat the prayer he had taught them to recite prior to their receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ that united them to the mystery of the Holy Trinity present in the Eucharist:

During the third apparition, they were taught a new prayer of adoration and reparation necessary to win grace for the conversion of sinners:

“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of you the conversion of poor sinners.”

They were also told that Jesus is horribly outraged by ungrateful men and that they should do more than pray but to worship God and receive Holy Communion by which they could “repair for the crimes of men and also console Jesus.

After Holy Communion, the angel prostrated himself on the ground and three times repeated the same prayer of consolation, adoration, and reparation to the “Most Holy Trinity” for the conversion of sinners.

“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in (1) REPARATION for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, (2) I beg of you the CONVERSION of poor sinners.”

This completed the preparatory phase by which the children were taking step by step deeper into the mystery of the Holy Trinity expressed in the mystery of the Eucharist and the need for adoration and reparation through Eucharistic prayer and daily sacrifice offered to the Trinity for the sins of men, esp. sins against the Eucharist.

Significantly, the first apparition of Our Lady ended, as it had with the Angel of Portugal, with adoration and love of the Blessed Sacrament.

“Oh, Most Holy Trinity, I adore You! My God, my God, I love You in the most Blessed Sacrament!”

Afterward, the Virgin Mary concluded Her first visit with one final request. She asked the children to continue praying the rosary.

Thus, Our Lady linked the Rosary and the Eucharist, as St. John Bosco had linked devotion to Mary, “Auxilium Christianorum” (Help of Christians) and Her Divine Son, Jesus Christ in his well-known dream of the two pillars, which the Church Militant (the Church on earth) headed by the Pope must honor to obtain victory over the world and the enemies of Christ. In effect, the Virgin Mary was beginning to unfold the relationship between the Eucharist and the Rosary as the supernatural and Divine means offed by the Holy Trinity and the Queen of Heaven and Earth to obtain world peace:

“Pray the rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.”

New Era World News

This series is being written because of the immense importance of Fatima for the modern world.

THIS YEAR THE CHURCH IS CELEBRATING the centenary of the appearance of the Mother of God at Fatima, Portugal in 1917. Since that time Fatima has become the world’s most prominent center of Marian devotion, a place that John Paul II referred to as the “Marian capitol of the world.”  Given the fact that the Our Lady of Fatima precisely foretold the outbreak of World War II, the rise of communism and the persecution of the Church, Her other prophecies concerning the conversion of Russia to be correlated with an “Era of Peace” are of especial relevance since, unlike the former that have already occurred, these prophesied events are in  the process of occurring.  Any impartial observer of global events can discern the Hand of God at work in the world as Russia is being converted and the nations of the world are one by one in the process of rejecting global liberalism while many are reasserting their Christian patrimonies (Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, Poland, France, Asia, Argentina, Middle East).

While New Era has been reporting on these changes since its inception, secular and liberal pundits have also begun to observe the many changes occurring world-wide.  They are, however, misinterpreting, and thus misrepresenting, them as a political movements, movements referred to as “Populist“, when in fact these are primarily moral, cultural, spiritual and religious movements. Unlike other populist movements that have focused on economic and social justice, equal rights for the little guy etc. this new “populist movement” differs from previous populist movements because of its global scope and because it is characterized by moral and spiritual dimensions including the frothy rejection of liberalism that, all taken together, indicate or hint at its religious nature.  Although the movement has profound political ramifications, it is not political in essence. At its core, the populist movement sweeping the globe is related to Our Lady’s promises made at Fatima, promises pertaining to the “Conversion of Russia” and a corollary “Era of Peace“. This highly unusual global movement has a religious or theological etiology that intersects with politics, what New Era refers to as theo-politcal or “Theopolitcs“.

It behooves everyone, Catholic, Protestant and non-Christian to know the Fatima Message due to the import of its contents, contents that are unfolding in front of our eyes on a daily basis.  The current spiritual movement was foreseen by St. Louis Marie de Montfort. De Montfort is a highy significant saint for our times. His evangelical work is so exceptional, that another saint, Saint John Paul II, exhorted the “apostles of today” to draw inspiration from his life and work:

“Now that the need for a new evangelization has become imperative in most parts of the world, Fr de Montfort’s zeal for the Word of God, his solicitude for the very poor, his ability to make himself understood by the simplest folk and to stimulate their piety, his qualities for organizing, his initiatives to sustain fervour by founding spiritual movements and to involve the laity in the service of the poor, all that, with practical adaptations, can inspire the apostles of today” (Letter on 50th anniversary of de Montfort’s canonization).

De Montfort’s facund treatises on the Virgin Mary are so exceptional that John Paul II (in his Encyclical Redemptoris Mater) recommended de Montfort’s Marian spirituality to all the faithful:

“Marian spirituality, like its corresponding devotion, finds a very rich source in the historical experience of individuals and of the various Christian communities present among the different peoples and nations of the world. In this regard, I would like to recall, among the many witnesses and teachers of this spirituality, the figure of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, who proposes consecration to Christ through the hands of Mary, as an effective means for Christians to live faithfully their baptismal commitments”.

One of the main reasons for De Montfort’s contemporary relevance is his perspicacious understanding of the role of the Virgin Mary in the “End Times”, times which we are entering.

How do we know we are entering the end times?  One complex and difficult way is the study of sacred scripture especially eschatological literature.  A more simple approach is the fact that Jesus promised to be with His Church until the end of time:

“Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matt 28:20)

And that the Holy Trinity would reveal to the Church all that was going to happen:

“I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth. For he shall not speak of himself; but what things soever he shall hear, he shall speak; and the things that are to come, he shall shew you” (John 16: 12-13).

Then, years after His Ascension, Jesus appeared to Saint John on the island of Patmos and He has continued to appear to His saints at special times throughout history.

“And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks: And in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, one like to the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. And his head and his hairs were white, as white wool, and as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, And his feet like unto fine brass, as in a burning furnace. And his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars. And from his mouth came out a sharp two edged sword: and his face was as the sun shineth in his power.”

 

“And when I had seen him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying: Fear not. I am the First and the Last, And alive, and was dead, and behold I am living for ever and ever, and have the keys of death and of hell. Write therefore the things which thou hast seen, and which are, and which must be done hereafter” (Revelation 1: 12-19).

In the 20th century Jesus revealed Himself to a highly regarded Polish saint, Saint Faustina Kowalska, a poor Polish nun to whom He appeared prior to World War II.  Among other things, He confided to her His love for humanity and His desire to bless the world with an outpouring of Divine Mercy before His final coming as “Just Judge”.  He also revealed His special love for the nation of Poland from which He said would come the “spark” that would prepare the world for His Second Coming.

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Saint Faustina Divine Mercy Message and the End Times

The Divine Mercy Message and Devotion is based on revelations given by Jesus Christ to Saint Faustina  who recorded the revelations she received about the Mercy of God in a voluminous diary, which contains the Message of Divine Mercy (PDF), mercy that God intends for all humanity, especially for those most steeped in sin. Thanks to the love and work of Saint Faustina, Devotion to the Divine Mercy has spread throughout the world.

(c) Knights of Columbus Supreme Council

Devotion to Divine Mercy has gained the highest approbation of the Catholic Church. It has been placed on the universal liturgical calendar of the Church as the Feast of Divine Mercy celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter, also the day on which Pope John Paul II, the “Pope of Mercy” breathed his last breath as the Vicar of Christ and “Apostle of Mercy.”

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“I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming” (Diary, 1732).

Russia is being converted as promised at Fatima, but Poland has stepped forward igniting the flame of love promised by Jesus. From Poland is coming forth the spark of spiritual renewal, of life giving and cleansing mercy, that flows from the Heart of Christ the King.

Jesus told Saint Faustina that Poland would be the instrumental “spark” that would prepare the world for His “final coming”. Images of that spark that is igniting a fire across Europe and beyond can be viewed in the video below.

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We are living in or about to enter into the “Hour of Mercy”, the time preparatory to Christ’s final coming, a time foreseen by St. Louis Marie de Montfort, a time, in his words, when

 “…great men filled with the Holy Spirit and imbued with the spirit of Mary” …will destroy sin and establish the kingdom of Jesus Christ.”

 

“They are the “great souls filled with . . . zeal” (True Devotion 48), “superior to all creatures by their great zeal” (True Devotion 54). The action of the “true apostles of the end times” (True Devotion 58) consists of spreading “the fire of divine love” everywhere; they are themselves “a flaming fire” (True Devotion 56). In the battle against evil and the enemies of God, these great saints “will become, in Mary’s powerful hands, like sharp arrows,” and they will leave “an odor of death” among the worldly (True Devotion 56). Their work will not be limited to reforming the Church, but will include extending it to “the idolators and Muslims” (True Devotion 59).

De Montfort wrote of the Second Coming of Christ to “reign over all the earth and to judge the living and the dead”. Prior to His coming, he foresaw “great men filled with the Holy Spirit and imbued with the spirit of Mary”, men whom he said will “destroy sin and establish the kingdom of Jesus Christ.”  Poland has already taken the first steps in bringing this eschatological vision of De Montfort to fruition.  As of November 1, 2016, Jesus Christ is the King of Poland.

“These great souls filled with grace and zeal will be chosen to oppose the enemies of God who are raging on all sides. They will be exceptionally devoted to the Blessed Virgin. Illumined by her light, strengthened by her spirit, supported by her arms, sheltered under her protection, they will fight with one hand and build with the other.”

De Montfort concludes:

“Towards the end of the world … Almighty God and His holy Mother are to raise up saints who will surpass in holiness most other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs….Mary scarcely appeared in the first coming of Christ….

 

“But in the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and openly revealed by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known, loved and served through her.”

All the above provide strong reason to believe that the world is entering (or has already entered) into a graced moment of sacred history, a time that Jesus, Himself, said was preparatory to His final coming, a time that has been confirmed by the highest authority in the Church, a time in which the Virgin Mary’s Fatima prophecies pertaining to the conversion of Russia and a corollary Era of Peace are being fulfilled. Since there is strong reason to believe what Our Lady foretold at Fatima is upon us (during this 100th anniversary year of Her 1917 appearances), it is through this “Fatima Lens” that we can correctly discern what is happening around the globe – the so-called global populist phenomenon is a prodigious phenomenon related to Fatima and the coming Christian renewal during an Era of Peace prior to the final onslaught by the anti-Christ at the end of the world.

It is the purpose of this “Fatima Series” to  familiarize the reader with the Fatima Message beginning with the three visits by the archangel Michael in 1916, followed by six visits of Our Lady in 1917 and other visits to Sister Lucia at Tuy and Pontevedra, Spain and Rianjo.  The series will also include an article on the Three Secrets of Fatima and another about the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart.  This later article will conclude the series; it is also the most contentious issue in Fatima circles. There are many strong Catholic traditionalists who argue that the consecration requested by Our Lady has not been fulfilled because She specifically asked for the consecration of “Russia”, but John Paul II, who made the consecration in 1984, did not mention Russia.

Specifically, instead of “Russia”, John Paul II consecrated “individuals and nations” and the “world” but not Russia.

“In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and nations which particularly need to be entrusted and consecrated.”

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“In entrusting to you, oh Mother, the world, all individuals and peoples, we also entrust to you this very consecration of the world, placing it in your motherly Heart.”

Because he did not mention “Russia” specifically, many have wrongly concluded that the consecration is invalid – even though affirmed by every pope since John Paul II and by Sister Lucia herself.

New Era will demonstrate the erroneous nature of this false contention. Using the formal Fatima literature accepted by both parties (those who accept and those who reject the validity of John Paul II’s 1984 consecration) it will be demonstrated that Pope John Paul II’s 1984 Act of Consecration accurately fulfill’s Our Lady’s requests and that the far-right Fatima detractors are not only disobedient but also in gross error.

In fact, for the first time it will be shown from the Fatima documents themselves that it was the “world” not “Russia” that should have been consecrated  In other words, John Paul II after studying the literature brought to him in Gemelli Hospital (where he was treated and recovering from assassin’s wounds) acted correctly: The “world” not just “Russia” needed to be consecrated.  The pope was not derelict in his papal duties; he was not hemmed in by diplomatic agreements (ostpolitik), nor did he suffer from fear of Communist retaliation as maintained by many ultra-traditionalists.  John Paul II acting in his role as Supreme Pontiff understood the Fatima Message and its cultural and historical contexts, the contexts in which it was given in 1917 and in which the Church was living in 1984.  After conducting an exhaustive and prayerful study of the documents, graced by wounds he united to the blood of Christ, he purposefully worded the consecration the way it was delivered because it was the correct prayer formula as requested by both Our Lord and Our Lady as will be shown.

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UNDERSCORING THE IMPORTANCE OF FATIMA FOR THE MODERN WORLD

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Beginning with Pope Pius XII, every modern pope has either pointed out the importance of Fatima, visited  Fatima, or consecrated “humanity”, the “world”, or “Russia” to Our Lady of Fatima. Modern papal consecrations include:

• Pope Pius XII October 31, 1942  consecrated all of humanity over Vatican radio in Portuguese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
• Pope Pius XII December 28, 1942 repeated the consecration at St. Peter’s
• Then on July 7, 1952, the same pope consecrated all the people in Russian lands to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
• Pope Paul VI November 21, 1964 renewed in the presence of the Fathers of the Vatican Council (but without their participation) the consecration of  Russia to the Immaculate Heart.
• Pope John Paul II May 13, 1982 on a trip to Fatima to thank Virgin for miraculous recovery,  consecrated the world to the Mother of all Peoples.
• Then on March 25, 1984, Pope John Paul II conducted a worldwide collegial consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at St. Peter’s Square before statue of Our Lady of Fatima flown in from Fatima.

Later Sister Lucia, the last survivor of the three children to whom Our Lady appeared in 1917, confirmed the validity of the March 25 consecration made by Pope John Paul II.

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WHERE IS FATIMA AND WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT?

Fatima is situated in the foothills of the Serra de Aire Mountains about one hundred miles north of Lisbon, Portugal.  It has become a worldwide pilgrimage destination and international shrine visited by every modern pope as a place of human spiritual and social renewal. Saint John Paul II referred to Fatima as the, “Marian capitol of the world.” Fatima was once a little known Portuguese village, until a series of three angelic apparitions prepared the way for a visitation by Blessed Virgin Mary to three small children thereafter drawing more than four million visitors annually to the site. Fatima is of such contemporary importance that one of the first actions taken by newly elected Pope Francis was to consecrate his entire pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima. This was followed by World Youth Day in Rio de Janero, which he also entrusted to Our Lady of Fatima. Then, on Oct. 13, 2013 he entrusted the entire world to Our Lady of Fatima followed by conversations with Vladimir Putin relevant to Christianity in the modern world and the role of Russia in defending Christians in the Middle East as will be detailed in this series of articles on Fatima.

The first apparition of Our Lady took place on May 13, 1917, just prior to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.  On this date the Mother of Jesus appeared at Fatima to three shepherd children, Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto.  She came to turn the nations embroiled in world war back to God and to make an appeal for world peace.

Thereafter, she visited the children on the 13th of every month for six consecutive months making a number of prophecies now popularly known as the “Three Secrets of Fatima.” According to the official Catholic interpretation, the three secrets involve Hell, World War I and World War II, and the attempted assassination by gunshot of Pope John Paul II. The apparitions culminated with the unprecedented “Miracle of the Sun,” which she performed before a gathering of some 70,000 pilgrims and skeptics (including atheists and Free Masons) on October 13, 1917 as she had said she would so that “all might believe”.

The Virgin Mary told the children that Holy Mother Russia, the bastion of Orthodox Christianity, would become a communist nation and that it would lead a world-wide persecution of the church and that various nations would be annihilated.

She also told the children that in the end Russia would be converted if and when the pope in union with all the bishops of the world consecrated Russia to her Immaculate Heart.

After much stalling, intrigue and diplomacy, as mentioned above, Pope John Paul II finally made the requested consecration on March 25, 1984. He was moved to do this for several reasons, chief among them the would-be assassin’s bullets that struck him landed on May 13, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, which he was celebrating in Rome.  In his own words,

“It was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death” (Pope John Paul II, Meditation from the Policlinico Gemelli to the Italian Bishops, 13 May 1994).

While recovering in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital he had the Fatima texts removed from the Vatican Archives and personally presented to him. Lying in the hospital, prayerfully studying the Fatima dossier, he recognized himself as the pope “dressed in white” spoken about in the “third secret”, the pope whom Our Lady referred to when she told the children that the “holy father” would have much to suffer, implicitly at the hands of the communists.

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Pope John Paul II Recognized Himself as the Pope Dressed in White in the Third Secret of Fatima

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Subsequently, he had the bullet removed from his body sent to Fatima to be placed in the crown of the Virgin statue. Then, on March 25, 1984, he proceeded to consecrate the world to Our Lady of Fatima in union with the bishops. Following that collegial act he then also decided to publicly reveal the much guarded “Third Secret of Fatima” for the first time since it was given to the children in 1917.

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Pope John Paul II Consecrating the World to Our Lady of Fatima

Following the 1984 papal consecration, as promised, communism was toppled, the Solidarity movement gained momentum in Poland, the Berlin wall came down and one after another the nations behind the “Iron Curtain” were given political and then religious freedom – Russia was being converted as Our Lady of Fatima had promised.

The granting of religious freedom in Russia was followed by an increasing number of significant events including the removal of the communist flag from over the Kremlin for the last time on Christmas day, December 25, 1991 thereby symbolizing the end of atheistic communism and foreshadowing the return of Russia as a world power to its ancient Christian patrimony—the rebirth of Christianity on Christmas day.

A new spring-time was occurring in the North. Russia had reemerged as a sovereign nation granting religious freedom to Christians and other world religions. and then Vladimir Putin committed Russia to the protection of Christians throughout the Middle East. On June 1, 2010, President Dmitry Medvedev signed a new law commemorating July 28 as a national holiday thereby officially recognizing the founding of Russia as a Christian nation with the baptism of Prince Vladimir in Kiev in 988.  Speaking at the annual celebration commemorating the “Baptism of the Russ,” he said:

“The continual work of the Russian Orthodox Church will affect the revival of Christianity in our nation. Thanks to the Orthodox faith, Russian culture through the years, has acquired Biblical values on which the system of moral ideals for our nation is built” (US Department of State, 2010).

It is the purpose of this “Fatima Series” to familiarize the reader with Fatima beginning with the three visits by the archangel Michael in 1916, followed by six visits of Our Lady in 1917 and other visits to Sister Lucia at Tuy and Pontevedra, Spain and Rianjo. In all there were 14 apparitions and locutions: Three angelic apparitions prior to the six consecutive appearances of Our Lady in 1917. These were followed by five more post 1917 apparitions/locutions to Sister Lucia from 1925 through 1931 and several important communications between Sister Lucia and her spiritual director that are essential to the Message of Fatima.

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NOTE

The following articles will focus on the essential communications that took place on each of these dates. Description of the apparitions are borrowed from Sister Lucia’s Memoirs: “Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words”  (2007), Fatima, Portugal.

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IN THE WORDS OF Prof. Americo Lopez Ortiz, International President of the World Apostolate of Fatima

“The Message of Fatima has it all: The doctrinal richness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; its freshness, images, gestures of the primitive Christian catechesis; the calls to penance from Saint John the Baptist, preparing the way for the Redeemer; the strong eschatological accents of Christ before the ruins of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44); the didactic force of Jesus’ parables; the simple life of the villagers, their emotional gestures and learned prayers; the prophetic contents of the Book of Revelation with the confrontation between “the Woman clothed with the sun… and the red dragon”; as well as God’s seal with the Miracle of the Sun October 13, 1917 (video 5:32) and the profound spiritual peace found in that holy place where heaven and earth meet for the welfare of humanity.

Fatima might be called a “Concise Summa of the Catholic Faith“, as Prof Americo states, “Fatima has it all.” Nonetheless, the immense compilation of theological truths began in a very simple yet profound way with the appearance of an angel who came three times as a messenger to prepare the children for subsequent visitations by the Mother of God (video 3:02). Our Lady appeared six times on the 13th of six consecutive months beginning in May and culminating in October, 1917. These visits were followed by a seventh, which was a special visit to Lucia on her departure from Fatima. These seven visitations were followed by two lesser known additional visitations each of great significance: Pontevedra and Tuy, Spain.

The visitations can be studied individually but bear more fruit when studied systematically as one body forming “a unique and perfect message coming from heaven, having the objective of explaining the Gospel of the beloved Son of God for our times so that nobody could excuse himself or herself from being unable to read ‘the signs for our time’”.

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FIRST ANGELIC APPARITION

BETWEEN APRIL AND OCTOBER 1916, the “Guardian Angel of Portugal” also referred to as the “Angel of Peace” appeared to Jacinta and Francisco Marto and Lucia dos Santos.

The children were tending sheep and wandered into an olive grove on their godfather’s parent’s property. After eating lunch the began to pray the rosary followed by some games when a strong wind began to bellow through the trees.  Looking to the east from which direction the wind was blowing they beheld a “light whiter than snow and in the form of a young man, transparent and brighter than crystal pierced by the sun.” The young man proceeded closer and closer until the children could clearly see his facial features.

His first words were:

“Do not be afraid. I am the angel of peace. Pray with me.”

The angel then knelt down bending his forehead to the ground. Motivated by a supernatural impulse the children did the same, repeating the words they heard the angel saying, words that constitute the first prayer taught to the children at Fatima – a Trinitarian prayer of faith, adoration, hope, love and intercession:

“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You.”

After repeating this prayer three times the angel rose and said to us:

“Pray in this way. The hearts of Jesus and Mary are ready to listen to you.”

The Angel then disappeared leaving the children enveloped in a supernatural aura that was so intense that they remained unaware of their own existence for a long time afterward even extending into the following day. Although secrecy was not required of them, they felt an interior impulse that they should not talk about the event to anyone.

Because the prayer was repeated three times, it can be interpreted as an intercessory prayer of reparation to the Holy Trinity for atheists (those who do not believe in God) and for tepid souls who believe in Him but do not adore Him, love Him or hope in Him. The children were being taught to repair for the sins of unbelief, for souls too immersed in themselves and the world to love God by their own acts of belief, adoration, hope and love, which the children were taught to make for them.  The first Fatima petition is a petition to pardon atheists (those who do not believe) presaging the forth-coming growth of Atheistic Communism that the Mother of God will address later in July of 1917.

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SECOND ANGELIC APPARITION

In this visit the Angel, in addition to prayers for pardon requested at his first visit, urges the children to pray constantly and to offer sacrifices in order to make to make reparation for sins.

“Suddenly we saw an angel beside us”:

“What are you doing?” he said.  “Pray, Pray very much! The hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High”

“How are we to make sacrifices?”

“Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for sins by which he is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of poor sinners.  You will thus draw down peace upon your country, I am its Angel Guardian, the Angel of Portugal. Above all accept and bear with submission the suffering which the Lord will send you.”

This apparition enveloped the children in the same supernatural aura that the first had. Francisco was able to see, but he did not hear what the angel had to say nor would the girls reveal it to him until an entire day had passed. The angel’s words were so efficacious and trenchant that, according to Lucia they

“Sank into our souls like a gleaming torch showing us Who God is, what is His love for us, and how he wants us to love Him too; the value of sacrifice and how it pleases Him; how He receives it for the conversion of sinners. That is why from that moment we began to offer Him whatever mortified us.”

The children were being taken deeper into the meaning of reparation prayer and the ineffable mystery of Divine Love that unites Father to Son and man to God in the Son.  They were being led along the road of spiritual perfection in imitation of Christ; they were being taught to offer their lives as a sacrifice of love for the sins of others in order to win grace from the Holy Trinity for their conversion and to draw down peace upon their country

In addition to the rosary taught them by their parents and other prayers a child raised in a Catholic country might know, they had been taught only one prayer from the Angel of Peace:

“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You.”

Armed with so few prayers, they were nonetheless equipped to move heaven. Here, in this second apparition, the Angel of Peace adds a request for sacrifice to enhance the power of their prayer. Prayer enhanced by sacrifice with the intention of making reparation merits grace for the pardon of sinners and draws down peace upon a country.

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THIRD ANGELIC APPARITION

In “October or towards the “end of September” (1916) on the slope of a small hill facing Aljustrel the children stopped to say their rosary and the prayer taught them by the Angel during the first apparition.

During this visit the Angel of Peace reveals that the Lord is greatly offended by sins against the Blessed Sacrament.  Their simple prayers and sincere sacrifices are now elevated and given Eucharistic meaning. They are taught to offer the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, the greatest and only acceptable sacrifice (the Eucharist), to the Holy Trinity for offenses with which He is offended. Therefore, the Angel of Portugal appeared in front of the children holding a chalice with a host suspended above it from which dripped some drops of blood that fell into the sacred vessel.

The Angel left the chalice and host suspended in the air, he again prostrated himself on the ground and repeated a new prayer (a pre-communion prayer) again, three times.

“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of you the conversion of poor sinners.”

He then took the chalice and host in his hands and gave the host to Lucia and the chalice to Jacinta and Francisco saying as he did so:

“Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, HORRIBLY OUTRAGED by ungrateful men.  (1) Repair their crimes and (2) console your God.”

Then he showed the children how to console and make reparation to the Holy Trinity for sins committed against the Body and Blood of Christ:

The angel prostrated himself on the ground and three times repeated the pre-communion prayer, which is also the post-communion prayer, a  prayer of adoration and reparation to the “Most Holy Trinity” for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference that are so offensive to Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world and for the conversion of poor sinners.

“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in (1) REPARATION for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, (2) I beg of you the CONVERSION of poor sinners.”

The angel then disappeared.

During this visit the Angel revealed that the gravest sins must be atoned for by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  These sins the angel refers to as “horrible outrages”.  They are committed by men and women who do not appreciate the agony and suffering born of love that the Son of God bore for them on the Cross and the agony He still endures by outrages committed against Him in the the Eucharist, outrages committed by ungrateful men, which apparently had already reached a large number by 1916, a number that was going to grow.

The angel also taught the children to pray for “poor sinners”.  He did not say that Jesus is “horribly outraged” by poor sinners.  He refers to them only as poor sinners, sinners in need of consolation; sinners led astray, sinners who are perhaps ignorant and weak, sinners who have been neglected and mal-formed by those who call themselves leaders, those who claim to know the truths about God but are blind:

“And Jesus said: For judgment I am come into this world; that they who see not, may see; and they who see, may become blind. And some of the Pharisees, who were with him, heard: and they said unto him: Are we also blind? Jesus said to them: If you were blind, you should not have sin: but now you say: We see. Your sin remaineth” (John 9: 39-41).

Leaders such as these, although they claim to have wisdom (esoteric wisdom) and to know the paths that lead to God, leaders such as these (men who horribly outrage God while thinking they are doing a service to man) make those who follow them more fit for hell then they ever were before they met these “blind guides”:

“Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves” (Matt 23:15).

The Angel of Peace defined two groups of sinners here; he was indicating the growth of atheists and theosophists who were manning the secret societies of communism and masonry.  He made a distinction between those who “horribly outrage” God and those referred to as “poor sinners.” This idea is echoed in the Gospels where the Lord refers to evil men who do not believe Him and who conspire against Him as “Sons of the Devil”:

“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof. But if I say the truth, you believe me not. Which of you shall convince me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God” (John 8:44-47).

The other group, the poor sinners are also represented in the Gospel; they are the “sheep without a shepherd”, poor sinners on whom He had compassion (Matt 9:36). The first group are to be punished more severely, the second, hardly at all. (Luke 12: 47-48).

But it is not the Lord’s intent to punish anyone; He came not to punish but to save:

“For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by him” (John 3: 16-17).

Therefore, He wants all degrees of sin repaired and all sinners to be pardoned and converted; He wants His little children to participate in the salvation of many by imitating Him, by their prayer and sacrifice united to His prayer and sacrifice.

Finally, the angel revealed the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary, which will have a prominent place in the visitations of the Blessed Mother when she appears in 1917.  The Messages and lessons taught by the Angel of Peace can be seen as propaedeutic or preparatory to the lessons that will be taught by the Blessed Mother.  The children were being prepared to receive her.  Clearly, the best way to prepare the heart to receive graces from the Queen of Heaven is prayer and sacrifice united to and in imitation of Her Divine Son, especially the rosary offered in conjunction with the Eucharist in reparation for “poor sinners” and for outrageous sinners whom Jesus desires to win back from the clutches of darkness.

For the third time, the prayer taught to the children at the culmination of the visits by the Angel of Peace is a Eucharistic prayer and an invocation to the Sacred Hearts for both evil men deeply steeped in sin, esp. sins against the Eucharist and for poor sinners, men an women who sin through weakness and ignorance or willfully commit sins but not outrageous sacrileges.

“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in
(1) REPARATION for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended” (as the Angel said Jesus is HORRIBLY OUTRAGED by ungrateful men). “And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, (2) I beg of you the CONVERSION of poor sinners.”

This prayer was to be both the children’s pre-communion prayer at the elevation of the host and also their post-communion prayer of consolation and reparation to the Holy Trinity for the conversion of sinners as taught to them by the Angel of Peace.

This is a prayer worthy of committing to memory.  It is a prayer repeated by angels and taught directly by the Angel of Peace to the children at Fatima for the consolation of Jesus, for the conversion of sinners, and as the final preparation for the visit of the Virgin Mary seven months later.

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NOTES

It is important to note that although the Holy Trinity is eternally happy, nonetheless God does have emotions and can be outraged, feel pain etc. This is possible in the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ who is both true God and true man.  As a man, Jesus Christ can suffer pain and anguish caused by ungrateful men who commit outrages and sacrileges against the Eucharist and to a lesser extent by anyone who shows indifference to Him in the sacrament of love, that is in the Holy Eucharist.

This final prayer also introduces the Virgin Mary into the Fatima dialogue and associates Her Immaculate Heart with the redemptive work of her Divine Son.

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What are Outrages – Sacrileges – Indifferences?

The Lord’s greatest gift to the world is the Eucharist  -The sacrifice that makes us whole and by which He is wedding humanity to His Divinity thereby making us divine as the Body of Christ.

Sacrilege and indifference are verbs for sins committed against the Holy Trinity especially in the Eucharist. These are sins against Jesus Christ Himself.

• Outrages: are acts that arouse fierce anger, shock, or indignation

• Sacrileges: are violations or injurious treatments of sacred objects dedicated to the worship of God. 

There are three kinds of sacrilege: sacrilege of person, of place, and of things (real sacrilege).

A person commits a sacilege by the administration or reception of the sacraments while in the state of mortal sin. Deliberate and notable irreverence towards the Holy Eucharist is reputed the worst of all sacrileges.

Sacrilege also includes conscious maltreatment of sacred pictures or relics or the perversion of Holy Scripture or sacred vessels by using them for profane purposes. Sometimes the guilt of sacrilege may be incurred by omitting what is required for the proper administration of the sacraments or celebration of the sacrifice, as for example, if one were to say Mass without the sacred vestments.

• Indifference

Indifference entails the neglect of religious duties either by those who do or do not believe in the necessity and utility of religion.

Indifference extends especially to failures related to the precepts of the Church:

• Observance of Fast Days
• Attendance at Mass on Sundays and Holy Days
• Reception of the Eucharist at least once a year
• Confession once a year at Easter,
• Observance of the Church’s marriage laws
• Help provided for needs of church

Article Two Fatima Series
Article One Introduction