May 27, 2019

  As the Marian Year celebrations come to a close, it is not out of place to make a recap of what the entire celebration entails.  Why the Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose centenary is also being commemorated within this Marian Year?  The six apparitions of the Blessed   Virgin Mary in 1917 alone are meant to tell the people of the world what they ought to do in order to obtain peace. In other words, the messages, pleas and requests of Our Lady are all geared towards attaining peace in this world.  There are two main requests from Our Lady, the sincere performance of which shall result in world peace—Prayer and Penance. These two must go together.  Indeed, our prayer can only be effective if it leads to true conversion of heart, a sincere metanoia. Our prayer shall perform “miracles of conversion,” if truly the people of the world can abandon their life of sin and embrace the life of righteousness.

 

            Before we expose some of the events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary—events which accord her the title “Queen of Peace”, it is pertinent to explain, at this juncture, some of the key words used in this write-up.

 

“Lady” is a word used to refer to a “woman,” which some people, especially older people, consider more polite.  It is predicated of a young woman who is either married or has attained marriageable age.  It is not used for a very old woman, for instance, an octogenarian, but predicated of a woman in her middle ages. In any case, “Lady” is used here as a synonymous term for the Blessed Virgin Mary.

 

“Queen” is defined as the female ruler of an independent state that has a royal family; the wife of a king.  This term is predicated of Mary, not as a wife of a king, but as a Mother of the Holy Family of Nazareth; secondly, it is used in the sense of being the “Mother of Christ, the King of the universe.  If Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6), and he is King of the unive`rse, then, our Lady must be Queen of Peace.

 

In ordinary parlance, peace means rest, quiet, calm, serenity; being in a state of friendship with someone. St. Paul is trying to tell us what we can do to have peace when he exhort ts us to rejoice always (1 Thess. 5:16).  St. John of the Cross corroborates this by saying, “In all circumstances , however hard they may be, we should rejoice rather than be cast down, that we may not lose the greatest good, the peace and tranquility of our soul.”  St. Alphonsus-Mary Liguori says that, to have peace, one must always do God’s will. According to him, “He who is united with the divine will enjoys, even in this life, a perpetual peace.”

 

In the Old Testament, the Jewish people held that peace was a God-given gift. Psalm 29:11 says, “The Lord gives strength to his people and blesses them with peace”. Prophet Isaiah acknowledges God as the giver of peace when he says, “You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you” (Is. 26:3).

 

Jesus Christ is the beginning of the New Testament.  Several New Testament writers acknowledge him not only as the Prince of Peace and a Peacemaker, but that he himself is peace (2 Thess. 3:16). His purpose for coming from heaven to earth is to make peace between humanity and God.  In St. John’s Gospel, he states categorically, “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you.  I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid” (Jn. 14:27).      Prophet Isaiah says that “Jesus is the Prince-of-Peace” (Is. 9:6). Thus, Mary as biological Mother of Jesus, is referred to as the Mother of the Prince-of-Peace. Indeed, she endured peacefully and without complaint everything that happened to Jesus, especially on his way to Calvary.

 

On Sunday, May 13, 1917, more than a year after the angel’s first visit, the three little shepherd children (Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta) were pasturing their flock as usual. It was noon, and the sun was shining, when suddenly a flash of lightning cut the air.  As the children were afraid, they quickly gathered the sheep to get them home.  Then glancing upon a small holms-oak tree directly in their path, a dazzling light hovered over the topmost branches; they saw the form of a lovely lady standing atop the tree in the light, her feet hidden in a shimmering cloud. She was far more beautiful than an angel.  She wore a long white dress, and the mantle over her head and shoulders reaching to her feet was edged in burnished gold.  Her hands were joined before her breast, and from the right hand hung an exquisite Rosary of White Pearls.  As they later described her, “She was a lady more brilliant than the sun.”

 

Having told the children not to be afraid, the vision said, “I came from Heaven. I want you to come here at this same hour on the 13^th day of each month until October.  Then I will tell you who I am and what I want.” She told them to say the Rosary every day, and to bear all the suffering God would send them.

 

During her appearance on July 13, 1917, Our Lady, in answer to Lucy’s plea, promised that in October she would work a great public miracle so that all might believe and know who she was. Again, she told the children to sacrifice themselves for sinners and to say many times, especially when making a sacrifice, this prayer: “O my Jesus, I offer this love of Thee, for the conversion of poor sinners and in reparation for all the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary”.

 

As she spoke these words, Our Lady stretched out her hands and bright rays came forth which seemed to penetrate into the earth.  All at once the ground vanished, and the children found themselves standing on the brink of a sea of fire. As they peered into this dreadful place, these frightened children saw huge numbers of devils and damned souls.  The devils resembled hideous black animals, each filling the air with despairing shrieks.  The damned souls were in their human bodies and seemed to be brown, tumbling about constantly and screaming with terror. All were on fire within and outside their bodies, and neither devils nor damned souls seemed able to control their movements. They were tossing about in the flames like fiery coals in a furnace. There was never an instant’s peace or freedom from pain.

 

Looking with compassion at the pale and trembling little ones, the vision spoke to them: “You have seen Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart.  If people do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”

 

Towards the tail end of the First World War, Our Lady predicted that, if people did not stop offending God, there would be another war—worse one indeed —to begin during the reign of Pius IX. She continues, “When you shall see a night illuminated by an unknown light…know that this is the great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger and persecution of the Church and the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Reparation on the five first Saturdays. If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, she will scatter her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecution of the Church.  Good people will be martyred. The Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be destroyed.”

 

On the days preceding October 13, all roads led to Fatima, with people coming from all parts of the land in any form of transportation they could find.  Many walked for miles over rough fields. It rained all the night of 12^th and the morning of the 13^th.  By noon, more than seventy thousand (70,000) people had crowded into the cave.  Standing in the mud up to their ankles, they huddled together under umbrellas, seeking protection from the relentless rain as they prayed their rosaries. Shortly after noon, the Lady arrived for her final appearance; she told the children: “I am the Lady of the Rosary. I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins.  They must not offend Our Lord any more, for he is already too grievously offended by the sins of men; people must say the Rosary. Let them continue saying it every day.”

 

When the people arose from the ground, cries of astonishment were heard on all sides. Their clothes, which had been soaked wet and muddy, now were clean and dry. Many of the sick and crippled had been cured of their ailments and afflictions. This was the fulfilment of the public miracles which Our Lady had earlier promised she would work.

 

Other messages uttered by Our Lady that show that she is Queen of Peace include the following, namely, “The Blessed Mother can no longer restrain the hand of her Divine Son from striking the world with just punishment for its many crimes.” “If government of a country leaves the Church in peace and gives liberty to our Holy Religion, it will be blessed by God”. “Tell everybody that God gives graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Tell them to ask graces from her, and that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Ask them to plead for peace from the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the Lord has confided the peace of the world to her.”

 

For the world to have true peace, I strongly recommend to all Catholics the devout recitation of the Holy Rosary every day. This is precisely what is demanded of all Catholics in this Month of October, the Month of Mary; this spiritual exercise is known as “October Devotion”. In each of the six apparitions of 1917, Our Lady requested people to pray the Rosary every day, because there is no other prayer that could be more pleasing to her.  In fact, she once remarked that, “The prayer of my predilection is the Holy Rosary. For this reason, in my apparitions, I always ask that it be recited”. Why is the Holy Rosary so effective? One reason is that the Rosary is a thinking or mental prayer. Bad thinking brought us into the ugly situation we find ourselves today.  Thus, the recitation of the Holy Rosary, which necessarily includes meditation on the mysteries of Jesus and Mary, is capable of purifying our thoughts.

 

Finally, I also recommend that we make frantic and sacrificial efforts to turn away from our sins.   Mary is the “Queen and Patroness of Nigeria”.  This is the feast Nigeria celebrates every 1^st day of October, in commemoration ll of her Independence Day (October 1, 1960). The Catholic Bishops of Nigeria decided to accord Our Lady this honour in recognition of her power to bring peace to our land. The Opening Prayer of the day partly reads: “….Through the intercession of Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, give us the grace to work for peace, keep our hearts holy and free from corruption. May the values of the Gospel influence our lives and transform our society…” As we re-consecrate our Country, Nigeria, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in this Marian Year, may she obtain heavenly peace for us all, and free us from sin and corrupt practices.

 

BY REV. FR. MARK AJIGA