Understanding Fatima

Question: A friend of mine is forever mentioning Fatima. What am I, as a Catholic convert, to make of this? Am I required to accept it?— Name withheld, Austin, Texas

Answer: There is probably no other prophecy so well attested and verified as that of Our Lady of Fatima. That said, the Church has never required Catholics to believe private revelations as a matter of faith. The Church, however, does hold up for the faithful certain apparitions, devotions and private revelations as worthy of acceptance and pious adherence.

The teachings of our Lady at Fatima in 1917 have proven trustworthy and been verified both by signs and by the simple fact that they all came true. Her warnings of dire consequences if we did not pray and convert have sadly proven to be accurate. She warned of another, more terrible war (World War II). She said Russia would spread errors, and she warned a pope would be struck down.

These messages were verified by two signs predicted by Our Lady. The first was the miracle of the sun, where more than 70,000 people saw the sun dance and move as if falling from the sky. She also spoke of great lights in the sky that would serve as a final warning before the terrible war of which she had warned. Those lights appeared all over Europe just before Hitler invaded Poland in the form of a stunning display of the aurora borealis.

A third secret spoke of a bishop dressed in white garb who would be martyred. Many link this to the assassination attempt on Pope St. John Paul II, wherein he escaped full martyrdom by the prayers Our Lady had asked for.

A final and belated prophecy from Fatima seems to have come in the form of a letter written by Sister Lucia dos Santos to Cardinal Carlo Caffarra. The year was 1981 and, according to the transcript of an interview with Cardinal Caffarra, she wrote the following:

“[T]he final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid, she added, because anyone who operates for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be contended and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue. And then she concluded: however, Our Lady has already crushed its head.”

And once again, the prophecy seems accurate, because this is exactly where we are. So, while belief is not required, it does not seem rational to reject these apparitions, either, due to the evidence. Finally, it never hurts to pray for peace and the conversion of sinners, which is the fundamental request of Our Lady of Fatima.

Biblical exegesis was important to Christ as He connected the data points of the TaNaKh to His literal fulfillment.

The Messiah was the source of truth. We can rely on what he said.

We see the apostles, especially Peter doing such in Acts.

Actually what we see the apostles, especially Peter doing is speaking by the Spirit of God. That in itself is scripture, and we can rely on their exegesis as inspired by the Holy Spirit.

What did Nicodemus know well? The law, prophets and writings.

He knew that Ezekiel referred to the house of Israel.

Where do we see in the OT references to God purifying sinners, and indwelling them with His Spirit? Ezekiel 36.

Israel

Yes Isaiah and Jeremiah are other references as well.

And they, unlike Ezekiel, are explicitly mentioned in the New Testament ...

However, given the original discussion Ezekiel 36 addressed: cleansing, indwelling, change of heart and causing one to walk in God's statutes. All of which are "characteristics" of born again, born from above.

Your portion of Ezekiel is addressed to the house of Israel and is not mentioned in the New Testament books, except perhaps in Romans, and only in reference to the pollution of the name of the LORD. There are multiple references in the prophets so that is perhaps why the author did not mention the source(s). In any case, it is dealing with the house of Israel.

For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.

Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.

And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

Isaiah, Catholic chapter forty eight, Protestant verse eleven,
Ezekiel, Catholic chapter twenty, Protestant verse twenty two,
Ezekiel, Catholic chapter thirty six, Protestant verses twenty to twenty three,
Romans, Catholic chapter two, Protestant verse twenty four,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James,
bold emphasis mine

Of course they do...they have bread and wine/grape juice. as their Lord's supper....Catholics have the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Himself in their re enactment which is what Christ Himself prescribed.

Which is not what Christ Himself prescribed, thus the kosher Jews understood it as they did David's words in saying that water was the blood of men, and thus poured it out unto the Lord.

And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethâ€“lehem, which is by the gate! And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethâ€“lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men. (2 Samuel 23:15-17)

And thus there is absolutely no priest in the NT church even dispensing bread as part of his ordained duties, let along as a sacrifice for sin and nourishing souls. as instead they are charged with preaching the word which only is said to do so in the NT. (Acts 20:28.32; 1Tim. 4:6)

What Catholicism believes is closer to the cannibalism of pagans, for supposing one gains spiritual life by literally eating human flesh and blood is akin to pagan endocannibalism, and is not Scriptural and the Scriptural gospel.

Alpers and Lindenbaumâ€™s research conclusively demonstrated that kuru [neurological disorder] spread easily and rapidly in the Fore people due to their endocannibalistic funeral practices, in which relatives consumed the bodies of the deceased to return the â€œlife forceâ€ of the deceased to the hamlet, a Fore societal subunit. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_%...9#Transmission

he custom of eating bread sacramentally as the body of a god was practised by the Aztecs before the discovery and conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards."

The May ceremony is thus described by the historian Acosta: â€œThe Mexicans in the month of May made their principal feast to their god Vitzilipuztli, and two days before this feast, the virgins whereof I have spoken (the which were shut up and secluded in the same temple and were as it were religious women) did mingle a quantity of the seed of beets with roasted maize, and then they did mould it with honey, making an idol...all the virgins came out of their convent, bringing pieces of paste compounded of beets and roasted maize, which was of the same paste whereof their idol was made and compounded, and they were of the fashion of great bones. They delivered them to the young men, who carried them up and laid them at the idolâ€™s feet, wherewith they filled the whole place that it could receive no more. They called these morsels of paste the flesh and bones of Vitzilipuztli.

...then putting themselves in order about those morsels and pieces of paste, they used certain ceremonies with singing and dancing. By means whereof they were blessed and consecrated for the flesh and bones of this idol. This ceremony and blessing (whereby they were taken for the flesh and bones of the idol) being ended, they honoured those pieces in the same sort as their god....then putting themselves in order about those morsels and pieces of paste, they used certain ceremonies with singing and dancing. By means whereof they were blessed and consecrated for the flesh and bones of this idol. This ceremony and blessing (whereby they were taken for the flesh and bones of the idol) being ended, they honoured those pieces in the same sort as their god...

And this should be eaten at the point of day, and they should drink no water nor any other thing till after noon: they held it for an ill sign, yea, for sacrilege to do the contrary:...and then they gave them to the people in manner of a communion, beginning with the greater, and continuing unto the rest, both men, women, and little children, who received it with such tears, fear, and reverence as it was an admirable thing, saying that they did eat the flesh and bones of God, where-with they were grieved. Such as had any sick folks demanded thereof for them, and carried it with great reverence and veneration.â€

...They believed that by consecrating bread their priests could turn it into the very body of their god, so that all who thereupon partook of the consecrated bread entered into a mystic communion with the deity by receiving a portion of his divine substance into themselves.

The doctrine of transubstantiation, or the magical conversion of bread into flesh, was also familiar to the Aryans of ancient India long before the spread and even the rise of Christianity. The Brahmans taught that the rice-cakes offered in sacrifice were substitutes for human beings, and that they were actually converted into the real bodies of men by the manipulation of the priest.

...At the festival of the winter solstice in December the Aztecs killed their god Huitzilopochtli in effigy first and ate him afterwards. - http://www.bartleby.com/196/121.html

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Understanding Fatima Evidence supporting the apparitions is strong, but devotion to any private revelation is not required November 1, 2015