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.
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 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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
