Reparation: What Is It? Why Does Our Lady of Fatima Ask for It?

Reparation in Salvation History, #1 in a series.

by Robert Beaurivage

This is the first installment of a regular feature called Reparation in Salvation History. Anyone familiar with the drama of Fatima knows that the concept of reparation is central to Our Lady’s message. Why? The answer can be summed up in two reasons:

[1] Because the need for reparation is central to our salvation; and [2] Because the Fatima message is prophetic. Our Lady at Fatima could, by the will of God, foresee our time and the need for greater reparation that would arise from a world that has forsaken Him. Surely, the Lord revealed to the Virgin that, if her message was not heeded by enough people, the violation of God’s law would escalate on a massive scale in society and even within the Church, the “smoke of Satan” invading its very sanctuary.

Since Reparation is central to Fatima, if we are to faithfully spread Our Lady’s message, we also must put a focus on Reparation by fostering a greater understanding of it, presenting the wisdom of Scripture and Tradition, examples and practices whereby we will enlighten ourselves and encourage ourselves to understand and practice Reparation, thus giving glory to God and participating with Him in the work of saving souls. By ourselves, we can do nothing (“For without Me you can do nothing”---John 5:1) but, by practicing Reparation, we have the power to touch the very Heart of God and truly effect change.

Reparation is integral to the Catholic Faith, and it is intimately connected with the atonement and satisfaction of sin. Reparation implies repair, a restoration of that which was damaged or lost. The Church teaches that man has fallen from his original state of justice but the Birth, Sufferings and Death of Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, restored again to God’s friendship.

Almighty God might have condoned man’s offenses and required nothing from man in return for this restoration to grace, but this is not the case. Will a loving father, in the face of a defiant child, require nothing in return for his forgiveness? God likewise judged it better for our correction, holiness, and ultimately for our salvation (as well as a matter of justice) to require us to make satisfaction, or reparation, for our sins. The Way of the Cross is the path to Heaven, as Our Lord tells us. He is merciful, but He will not force us into Heaven. He requires us to bear good fruit---by obedience to His Father and repairing the damage done by sin:

“Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire… Not every one that saith to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven’” (Matt. 7:19, 21).

Furthermore, in the mysterious economy of salvation, not only do we participate in our own salvation by making reparation to the offended majesty of God for our own sins but also, by virtue of the Communion of Saints in the Mystical Body of Christ, we can make satisfaction and reparation for the sins of others. The Holy Ghost gives Sanctifying Grace to our souls through Baptism, by the merits of the Suffering and Death of Christ, and restores it to us by a good Confession should we lose the grace by sin. We, who were by fallen nature the “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:5) become the children of God, participating in His Divine life. Our prayers, works and trials united to the merits of Christ’s death, enable us to make further reparation for our sins and the sins of others.

“I, Paul, am made a minister. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24).

Of course, nothing is lacking in the suffering of Christ---it is of infinite value. Yet, we know that our prayers, sacrifice and sufferings are meritorious when, and only when, they are united with those of Jesus Christ; it is then that they have any supernatural value whatsoever. Since His glorified Body no longer suffers, He desires to suffer in His members---we who are members of His Mystical Body, the Catholic Church.

“The wisdom, the will, the justice of Jesus Christ, requireth and ordaineth that his body and members should be companions of His sufferings, as they expect to be companions of His glory.” ~ St. John Chrysostom

Why is this so? One cannot attain Heaven without the love of God. After all, God made us rational creatures, and love is a decision. Love without a willingness to sacrifice for the beloved is only a sentiment, a feeling, and not truly love. Who among us, having a sick child, would not comfort her? If our best friend lost a spouse or a child, would we not spend time with him?

Heaven Waits for Our Acts of Reparation

Our Blessed Mother appears in art as our Sorrowful Mother with a sword through her heart. At Fatima, she showed her Heart crowned with thorns, and her Divine Son instructs Lucia: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.” 

Our Lord complains to St. Margaret Mary concerning His Most Sacred Heart, bleeding and also crowned with thorns: “Behold this Heart that has so loved men, and there is no one to comfort Me!”

Why on earth would we not spend time with Our Lady saying her Rosary and fulfilling her First Saturday requests? Why on earth would we not spend time with Our Blessed Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, after all the appeals they have made to us to spend time with them? If we truly love them, we will do so!

When one has offended God, and truly turns back to Him, we show our love by making what amends we can for the offense to God's glory. Of course, we are not capable of making complete satisfaction for an offense against an infinitely good God, but the Lord always asks something of us which, when added to His great power, becomes something beautiful and grand for Him. This, our own feeble prayer and offering, is represented in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass when to the chalice the priest adds a few drops of water (representing our humanity) to the wine (which represents the Divinity of Christ) and prays: 

O God, who, in creating human nature, didst wonderfully dignify it, and still more wonderfully restore it, grant that, by the Mystery of this water and wine, we may be made partakers of His divine nature, who vouchsafed to be made partaker of our human nature, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Of ourselves, making complete satisfaction to an Infinitely good God on our own is utterly impossible, but God is pleased to grant us His mercy in exchange for what little we can give.

It is a great mystery that such a good and infinite God desires our company, we who are but dust! Yet we know that He does. In His Agony in the Garden, Jesus turns to His Apostles and says: “Can you not watch one hour with Me?”...“And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to grow sorrowful and to be sad. Then he saith to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here, and watch with me’” (Matt. 26:37-38).

As Christ asked His disciples to “watch one hour” with Him, so He asks us to do the same today. Let us not think we would have done better! The Apostles here represent all of humanity. We have all, at one time or another, slept spiritually instead of “watching one hour” with Our Lord. Let us resolve to change! From now on, let us with great resolve be faithful! Let us pray we will not grow weary and sleep as did His Apostles on the eve of that first Good Friday!

One evening, St. Margaret Mary was praying before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament when He appeared visibly, showing her His Sacred Heart:

“My daughter, it is true that My Heart has sacrificed everything for men, without receiving from them anything in return. I feel this more acutely than the torments of My Passion. In spite of all My eagerness to do them good, they treat me with coldness and contempt. Give Me the pleasure of making up for their ingratitude.”

Indeed, Our Lord has denied us nothing. Our Lady, ever faithful to God’s will and her calling to be the Merciful Mother of all men, calls out to us constantly. Let us be ever loving and generous in our response!

A young man who has been wounded by the neglect or abuse of a father can react in one or two ways. He can learn the evil ways of the father. Of such a son we often hear: “He is just like his father!” Or, a son can react in another way: “I am not going to be like him: I am going to be a good father!” So the son grows up and is attentive and loving toward his children. This is reparation. Likewise, when we hear of coldness, indifference and abuse toward the Blessed Sacrament, we can follow the crowd, follow the example of the abusers. Or, we can react as the second young man did in our example: “They won’t make reparation? Then I will.”

It is for this very reason, to instill in us by example the desire to make reparation for all the coldness and outrage toward Jesus in His Sacrament of Love, that the Angel appeared to the children at Fatima and taught them this prayer:

“MOST HOLY TRINITY, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly, and I offer unto Thee the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrage, sacrilege and indifference by which He is constantly offended. I offer unto Thee the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the conversion of poor sinners.”

This great Angel, majestic in bearing, with a such a stunning and overwhelming presence, as Sister Lucia relates, prostrated himself to the ground in the Divine Presence in this great Sacrament of Love. ‘Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men! Make reparation for their crimes and console your God.’ “Crimes,” the angel calls them! We must not take them lightly!

On this occasion, the children continued for hours to adore the Blessed Sacrament, quitting only when the sun set. What shall we do? Can we do any different but to follow the example of the Angel and that of Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco? Can we do otherwise than love the Eucharistic Jesus before, during and after Mass? Making fervent Communions of Reparation and spending time just adoring and loving Him in this Sacrament?

This brings to mind many of the irreverent practices that have become commonplace today in Catholic churches. What ought we to do about it? We cannot control other people, but we can make reparation ourselves. We can make visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and we can make the Communion of Reparation as Our Lady asked us to do when she appeared again to Sr. Lucia at Pontevedra on December 10, 1925:

Our Lady rested her hand on Lucia's shoulder and as She did so, She showed her a heart encircled by thorns, which She was holding in Her other hand. At the same time, the Child said: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce It at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.”

“Look My daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”

Here we learn that Communions of Reparation are needed. By doing so, we console the Heart of Mary and we gain great graces---among them the assurance of the power help of the Mother of God at the hour of death. We will usurp blasphemies with our charity to God. We will more than match ingratitude with thanksgiving to Him. We will thereby comfort the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, save souls, and gain the powerful help of the Virgin Mary! Years earlier, in 1916, the Angel had told the children at Fatima, “Make of everything you do 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. You will thus draw down peace upon your country.” Then, in July 1917, Our Lady told the children, “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say often to Jesus, especially whenever you do penance, ‘O Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ ” On this same occasion, the Virgin also told the children, “You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If people do as I shall ask, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace...If not...another and more terrible war will begin...”

So we see that Reparation for sin is a necessary reality, that Our Lord Jesus Christ demands it, and that the Hearts of Jesus and Mary are consoled when we pray and sacrifice. We have seen that as a result of our prayers of reparation, we can obtain peace in the world, sanctity and order in the Church and in our lives, and the salvation of souls. It is a serious affair. Our Lady tells us that “many souls go to Hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices for them” (i.e. reparation.) So, destruction or world peace; misery or happiness in our families; the torments of Hell or the eternal delights of Heaven---all this hangs in the balance and depends on our response to Our Lady of Fatima.

What shall we do?

Today, we can start offering our day, doing our daily duty, and praying our Rosary. We can do small sacrifices praying as Our Lady asked: “Jesus, it is for love of Thee, the conversion of sinners, and in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”  As the Angel told us in 1916: “The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplication.” We can learn the Angel’s prayer of reparation cited above and pray it often. We can learn the message of Fatima and tell others. There is much we can do. These need not be great, heroic actions. We can do the little things well, as did St. Therese of Lisieux.

We need to adopt a sacrificial spirit---a generosity in doing something for the love of God. Giving up a small pleasure. Drinking one’s coffee without sugar occasionally, controlling vain curiosity, practicing custody of the eyes. Skipping dessert. Getting up to do the dishes instead of delay. Doing a small favor to please a spouse, parent, or coworker. Getting in the habit of mentally praying every time something disagreeable or uncomfortable happens: “Jesus, it is for the love of Thee, the conversion of sinners and in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”

We will never know until Judgment Day how valuable are these small acts of love. This is the way of the saints. If we want to be truly friends of Jesus Christ, we will do this. We ask Our Lady to help us. We can do it. One thing we will learn, as time goes on, is that we will be increasingly happy in this life by the acceptance of these crosses, big and small, and eternally blissful in the next.

The world is in a sad state. This should not discourage us. We know that Our Lady said: “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph.” St Paul says: “And where sin abounded, grace did more abound” (Romans 5:20). It seems an odd saying. Sin is a catastrophe, is it not? Of course. But at all times, God’s grace is sufficient.

In our time, Sr. Lucia tells us, the Rosary carries with it a greater efficacy. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells Lucia that the penance He now requires is merely obeying the Commandments and doing our daily duty well (as Catholics and in our states in life). The small things are we need to do. The world is in dire shape and so is the Church. The consideration of these facts should not discourage us but rather animate us and motivate us. This is a GREAT opportunity to touch the Heart of God and become saints.

The message of Fatima commands us to pray the Rosary and make the Five First Saturdays of Reparation. We know that Our Lady of Fatima was speaking directly to these times. There is much for which to make reparation in our own lives and in our Church. What will we do today to comfort the Hearts of Jesus and Mary? What will we do to contribute to the restoration of the Church and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart? It all begins with taking up a broom, comforting a sick child, doing our jobs well, visiting Jesus in the great Sacrament of Love, and praying each Rosary, every day, as if it were to be our last.