I wondered the other day, how the world would
look if the Second World War did not happen. No Nazi’s, no holocaust nor
concentration camps, no mourning widows and orphans, no dead soldiers; Eastern
Europe without a half-century of living
in the dark shadows of the Soviet Union.
In this 100th anniversary year of
the apparitions of Fatima, it’s worth pausing to consider the magnitude of the
opportunity humanity has missed. Unlike in the Garden of Eden where Eve was
deceived and our first parents had less understanding of the consequences of
failure, our Lady gave really quite clear instructions to our more recent
ancestors and even prophesied the stern, far-reaching result of not responding
to her requests:- “But if people do not cease offending God ...
another and more terrible war will begin. If my requests are heard, Russia will
be converted and there will be peace. If not, she will spread her errors
throughout the world, fomenting wars and persecution of the Church.” It could have all been prevented
through repentance, change of heart, fervent prayer and sacrifice. Instead we chose
death.
The wars and their consequences that we see
playing out in our own day are an extension of the spiritual battle; that’s
where the real action is and we are invited to participate in that through our
prayer to advance against the forces of darkness that are behind the veil and
the woes of this world.
Our collective and consistent prayers, we
have been told, can prevent and stop wars, suspend the forces of nature, bind
and disarm Satan and the fallen angels and save souls. And so we don’t get
confused, our Lady even supplies the weapon we require: the Rosary. Young or
old, illiterate or educated, ‘one size fits all’.
We have, within our grasp, such an
amazing opportunity to change the world, or, we can wait ... for the next war,
the next terrorist group, the next deadly disease, famine or weapon of mass
destruction and bear the pain of our complacency and disobedience, like our
ancestors did.
The
conclusion of Fatima’s message is reassuring though “In the end my Immaculate
heart will Triumph”.
