Fom the Desk of the Executive Director - David Carollo
Official Statement from the World Apostolate of Fatima - Our Lady's Blue Army - A call to keep our swords in hand
I want to speak with you about the troubling happenings in the Church which have dominated the news these past few weeks.
Certainly it is sad when anyone acts contrary to the laws of God, and it is even more troubling when those ...
Fom the Desk of the Executive Director - David Carollo
Official Statement from the World Apostolate of Fatima - Our Lady's Blue Army - A call to keep our swords in hand
I want to speak with you about the troubling happenings in the Church which have dominated the news these past few weeks.
Certainly it is sad when anyone acts contrary to the laws of God, and it is even more troubling when those that we look up to and trust fail to live up to their responsibilities. The very foundation of our Faith is shaken.
Certainly those who are guilty of crimes and those who helped facilitate these actions must be punished, but we must be careful not to support actions that will do serious long term damage to the Church of Christ. Her enemies are many and are ready to attack as a wild beast attacks a wounded animal.
Thou art Peter the rock and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The optimal word here is prevail.
Throughout history the Church has suffered persecution and difficulty. It is no different now. Whether these attacks are from the outside or from within they are non-the-less attacks against the Body of Christ.
There are many good priests and bishops, truly the majority, who labor faithfully in the vineyard of the Lord. They work daily for the salvation of souls. We must support them and the Church.
At Fatima Our Lady warned of the many difficulties that would envelope the world if her requests were not headed. The Church is not immune from these difficulties.
Instead of the Church transforming culture as is its mission, in many quarters the culture is transforming the Church.
The Cure of Ars once said the there is no such thing as a bad priest just those who have not been prayed for enough. Our job as members of this apostolate is to pray for the sanctification of our clergy so that they can effectively transform the world.
He also said:
“If a priest is determined not to lose his soul, as soon as any disorder arises in the parish he must trample under foot all human considerations as well as the fear of the contempt and hatred of his people. He must not allow anything to bar his way in the discharge of duty, even where he is certain of being murdered on coming down from the pulpit. A pastor who wants to do his duty must keep his sword in hand at all times.'”
We too as laity must keep our sword in hand at all times. Our sword is the rosary, the weapon as St. Padre Pio called it.
101 years after the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima the many things that she predicted have come to pass. Unfaithfulness in all walks of life has become the norm. One half of all marriages end in divorce, even Catholic marriages. Many religious vocations are abandoned. The problems which we are witnessing in the Church reflect the problems of a society that has turned from God and decided to set its own course. We as the Church of Christ must make an even stronger effort to be faithful to Him.
We are calling for a new initiative of prayer for priests. Let’s help them be soldiers in this war. It is indeed a war, and the consequence of losing this conflict is eternal loss of God.
The Fatima message is one of prayer, penance and sacrifice. Let us make a new effort to bring holiness back in to the world. The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, promised by the Queen of Heaven will come when we have merited it by our faithfulness.
Our website bluearmy.com has many resources to help you grow spiritually. Join us in this effort to convert the world.
God bless you!
A Prayer for Priests
O Almighty Eternal God, look upon the face of Thy Son, and for the love of Him who is the eternal High Priest, have pity on Thy priests. Remember, O most compassionate God, that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation, which is in them by the imposition of the bishop’s hands. Keep them close to Thee, lest the enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of their sublime vocation.
O Jesus, I pray Thee for Thy faithful and fervent priests; for Thy unfaithful and tepid priests; for Thy priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Thy tempted priests; for Thy lonely priests; for Thy dying priests; for the souls of Thy priests in purgatory. But above all I commend to Thee the priests dearest to me; the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted, and who gave me Thy Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me, or helped and encouraged me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way, particularly N. O Jesus, keep them all close to Thy Heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen. (Richard Cardinal Cushing, 1895-1970, Archbishop of Boston)
