previously posted on January 7, 2018
Today, the first Sunday after Epiphany, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family, which is the last time in the liturgical year in which we honor the hidden life of Jesus. It is especially important to Consecrate our children, indeed our families today and we have resources for this both in the sidebar to the right and at top of the page just beneath the title, where a banner displays our pages you will see Family Consecration.
For today, we return to the Feast of the Holy Family to renew our faith, our hope and most of all, take heart in our love for the Holy Family and their abiding love for us.
In the Gospel today, we read of the event which comprises the Fifth Joyful Mystery, the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. In this, we commemorate the first words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel, “How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
St. Luke then tells us that Jesus returned to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph “and was subject to them.” In this brief account, we consider several important lessons: First, Jesus establishes His mission in His first recorded words, “I must be about My Father’s business.” And second, Jesus was subject to Mary and Joseph. The Son of God first asserts the primacy of God, by stating that His mission is to serve the Father in all things, then Jesus affirms the importance of family, “He was subject to them.”
On the firm bedrock of total obedience to God in all things, we can most perfectly live out our love of God within our families, whether they be our personal families or our religious communities. If love of God comes first, what follows cannot fail to serve Him.
As we open our minds and our hearts, lifting them to God in this, the Fifth Joyful Mystery, we consider Saint Joseph leading his Holy Family back home from the Temple. The blessed peace that surrounds them draws us in too, and we are nourished with the truths of this holy mystery. By His actions, Our Lord teaches us humility and obedience in His submission to His Father’s will and through that, because of that, His submission to Mary and Joseph. By our consecrations we submit to them too, and thus we learn humility and obedience.
The Fatima Connection
On the fifth visit, September 13, 1917, Our Lady told the children, “In October … Saint Joseph will appear with the Child Jesus to give peace to the world.” And in Sister Lucia’s accounts of the Sixth Visit, she related that this is precisely what occurred. You may ask, “Where then is this peace”? The answer, if you will hear it yet again, is, “Your peace is dependent upon your obedience!” As an infant receives the graces of baptism, we, the faithful have been offered unimaginable graces in great profusion, awaiting only our cooperation. If we but seek them, turning to Jesus and Mary (and Joseph too!) and seeking them in humility and obedience, we shall see miracles as never before seen in this tired old world, making all things new, restoring the faith.
But we shall not see them without a full compliance with the message of Our Lady of Fatima. Do not be misled, even by well respected traditional Catholics, if they assure you that the chastisement is ending and that we can “prepare for the post-chastisement restoration”. The chastisement, far from “winding down” is instead, bearing down upon us. I remind readers again, as I did in a previous post, “Restating the obvious, again“ in a May, 1952 appearance to Sister Lucia, Our Lady said,
“Make it known to the Holy Father that I am always awaiting the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart. Without the consecration, Russia will not be able to convert, nor will the world have peace.”
Furthermore, William Thomas Walsh confirmed that in his 1956 interview with her, Sister Lucia stated most emphatically,
“What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the Bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, she will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.”
Walsh then asked, “Does this mean that every country, without exception, will be overcome by communism?”
“Yes”, was Sister Lucia’s precise answer.
Readers, I realize that this message contradicts what you read elsewhere. But I would be misleading you with false optimism, if I tell you the chastisement is over. Although Bishops and even Cardinals are speaking out about the errors of the current occupiers of the Vatican, few there are who are rallying Catholics for a Rosary and Reparation Crusade to call their faithful to return to the message of Our Lady of Fatima.
It is a tragic fact that even in the most devout and observant Catholic families, the faith is dying among our young ones. The prevailing errors attack our children, the most weak and vulnerable. We need a flood of heavenly graces, we need Our Immaculate, Merciful Mother to intervene – the souls of our children depend on it. But sadly the leaders of the Church cannot see through the darkness and mists of this dismal time to lead us on the true way. Readers, the reason I stress this so much is because so many – so very many! – souls are being lost. All across the world, families are suffering. Please let us renew our efforts to beseech Our Lady for help – pray for the Pope, pray for the Bishops, pray for our priests! They need our sacrifices, they need our rosaries.
Please do not consider the unworthiness of this writer, but instead seek guidance from Our Lady of the Rosary. Ask her to bring you, through the path of spiritual childhood, to a closer union with the Holy Family this year. With her Rosary, we too shall find the Child Jesus in the Temple, that is, in the Church which He founded. As St. Hildegard foretold, “The Figure of a Woman“, the foul beast and its corruption will be cast out in God’s due time. Meanwhile, our prayers and also our penances are essential, not only for our own salvation but for so many other souls who will be lost if we fail them.
As we return once again to Fatima, we hear the Angel (“We saw an angel with a flaming sword” ) as he instructs the children and us,
“Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. … Above all, accept and bear with submission the suffering which the Lord will send you.”
This is precisely what Our Lord taught us in His words and His actions in the Finding in the Temple. Whether we are in the Temple or in the family, we serve God first in all things, and must, in this year, make of all things a loving sacrifice to God for the conversion of sinners. Only a brief time is given to us to do this, after which comes a darkness in which it will be impossible to accomplish much else except to cling blindly to what faith we have acquired previously. Bear in mind the passage in St. John’s Gospel, where Jesus tells us,
“I must work the works of Him that sent Me, whilst it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9, 4,5).
You see all around you that Jesus is being driven out of this world, even from His Church and inevitably, with Him, the Light goes. It is the awful culmination of the age of apostasy. Indeed, the night comes! Yes, despite false optimism of others, I assure you the night comes, even as Jesus has foretold and has happened numerous times previously. In preparation, we learn from the Child Jesus and the Holy Family to set our priorities, to hold fast to our Blessed Mother and to St. Joseph.
Our Blessed Mother has given us what we need to save our souls and those souls entrusted to us. Look to your spiritual storehouse – all your family must be consecrated to Jesus through Mary, all must have their brown scapulars, miraculous medals, rosaries, for these are both our spiritual armor and our spiritual weapons.
In all things, go to Joseph! Refer to previous posts (here), (here), and (here) for his importance, at Knock and even more so at Fatima. His assistance is immediate, and indicates how close he is to us, how strong and effective he is as our guardian and guide. The internet is such a terrible evil in our time, sucking the souls of so many right down to the cesspit of hell. And yet, as diamonds are found in the darkness of the earth, there are many spiritual treasures still to be found online. Please avail yourself of them so that you can keep true Catholic culture alive for your own little “Holy Family” for so should all our families be.
In the meantime, we need not be afraid, in fact, we should take heart. The great apostasy was foretold, as were its sequelae. Our Immaculate Mother made several appearances to provide us with what we need to sustain our souls and those entrusted to us, so that not one of her children will be lost, no matter how much the devil may deceive others. As for those who will not receive the message of Fatima, assist them as best you can, pray and do penance for them, but do not allow them to separate you from the Holy Family, our shelter in the storm.
† Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.
† St. Joseph, protect us.
† Holy Family, bless our family.
† Thank You, Lord, for everything!
† Remember, pray the Rosary and confound the devil and those who serve him!
~ originally posted by evensong, edited and reposted January 7, 2018 and all for the love of the Immaculate heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, King..