To the Editor:
The present situation strongly requires that we reassess our situation as members of the Faith and as citizens from the point of view of security and threat of danger.
It is rather evident that every day the dangers to the Faith, to the life of the Christian and to the world intensify. To begin to counter these dangers we must have a state-wide prayer campaign. I believe that the rosary should be the centerpiece of this movement.
Recently throughout the United States such devotion was held on October 13, 2007 to commemorate the sixth apparition of the Blessed Mother at Fatima in 1917, which ended with The Miracle of the Sun on October 17, 1917.
One of the three Fatima children in 1917, Sister Lucia in an interview in 1957, said that the Blessed Mother told her and her cousins, Jacinta and Francesco, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Firstly, she said that there will be no others, and with the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.
There are many Rosary groups or societies in our churches which could serve as a nucleus of the movement. Hopefully at some time in the future this growing movement could and would manifest itself publicly, e.g. in the form of a group Rosary gathering or some other public showing of our devotion to the Blessed Mother.
On November 11, 1984, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and now Pope Benedict XVI, gave an interview in Jesus Magazine, a publication of the Pauline Sisters. The interview, entitled “Here is Why the Faith is in Crisis,” was published with the Cardinal’s explicit permission.
In the context of this subject, he revealed that he had read the “Third Secret of Fatima,” given by the Blessed Mother to the three children on July 13, 1917, and that the secret refers to “dangers threatening the faith and the life of the Christian and therefore the life of the world.”
Certainly these dangers have magnified tremendously in the last 23 years. Our Blessed Mother knew this; and I believe that is why at the beginning of each of the six apparitions between May and October 1917, she urged and exhorted the children to pray the Rosary each day.
Now that we look at the world situation, Our Blessed Mother was really speaking also to us and our forebears.
Sister Lucia also urged the daily recitation of the Rosary and stated the Blessed Mother had told her that in these difficult times the Rosary, if said properly, had special efficacy or power to produce results.
We cannot expect our bishops and priests to form and organize such a movement that would have a substantial number of us saying the Rosary daily. This is our responsibility, and the situation presently is dire enough.
I am confident that when enough of our members petition the clergy and/or hierarchy for assistance, they will receive the same.
As a starter, I propose that any reader interested in participating in an effort to get the movement started, whether they are a member of a Rosary group or not, contact me to work out a sense of direction. At the same time, we are getting a copy of this letter out to members of the clergy to enlist their support.
James P. Flynn
North Kingstown
The writer can be contacted at 401-884-3017.
