San Luis, Argentina, May 1, 2017
Dear Fathers, Seminarians, and Novices,
The apparitions of the Mother of God in Fatima, Portugal between the months of May and October of 1917 were without a doubt “the greatest religious event of the first half of the twentieth century, an explosion, an overwhelming eruption of the supernatural in a world dominated by materialism.”[1]
In fact, the magnificent event of Fatima has been identified as “a great sign of the times,”[2] or more precisely, “of our time, which our Lady herself seems to read with special perspicacity,”[3] revealing a “charism for our time.”[4] Fatima is, in the words of St. John Paul II, “the manifestation of her maternal concern for the fate of the human family, in need of conversion and forgiveness.”[5] Thus, we see the immense spiritual, prophetic, and eschatological content of the messages of the “Mother of Heaven,” as Venerable Sister Lucia used to call the Virgin Mary.
God, who has in his hands the entirety of events, providentially disposed that we as a Congregation would be born on March 25, 1984, the day on which St. John Paul II, together with the bishops of the world, fulfilled the request of the Virgin of Fatima by consecrating the entire world to her Immaculate Heart.[6] And so when the Holy Father said: “Embrace, with the love of the Mother and Handmaid, this human world of ours,”[7] we also were included there as well as those who would follow after us.
In these two events, which by the Merciful Providence of our Lord converged, we may taste the sweet and loving delicacy of the maternal wisdom, which seems to embrace us unconditionally as an Institute as well as each one of us in particular. We can even fairly say that we have been born from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and being thus, we cannot but break into joy and see how the maternal protecting assistance of the Virgin always accompanies us.
That light which radiated from the “Lady, all dressed in white… more brilliant than the sun,”[8] “with her heart in her hand,”[9] continues illuminating “our time” and shows us the way with her consoling promise: “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.”[10]
Who is there among us who does not feel those words of the Virgin directed particularly towards him? If we belong to her in “maternal slavery of love”[11] and if we trust in her to obtain her “indispensable help in perpetuating the Incarnation in all things.”[12]
Thus, for us, this first centenary of the apparition of the Mother of God in Fatima is absolutely a singular and historic event, as well as an invitation to renew our sense of belonging and trust in the protection and aid of the Most Holy Virgin.
By means of this circular letter and in the light of the maternal love of Mary, I would like to reflect upon some points of her message.
1. Designs of Mercy
In the first place, there is something which is very instructing for us, both now and at all times. When the Angel appeared the second time to Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta in 1916 he said to them: “The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you.”[13]
One might be inclined to think that from that point on, the life of these three children would have been free from struggles, griefs and somehow, they would be ‘very happy’ according to worldly standards. Nevertheless, their lives were sown with great sufferings. In fact, the Angel immediately asked them: “Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly… Above all accept and bear with submission, the suffering which the Lord will send you.”[14]
Sister Lucia comments that “these words of the Angel” were engraved intensely in their souls “like a light which made us understand who God is, how He loves us and desires to be loved, the value of sacrifice, [and] how pleasing it is to Him.”[15]
Already from the first apparition, our Lady asked them if they wanted to offer themselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send them,[16] and She announced to them that they would have “much to suffer” but that the grace of God would be their fortitude. To this, they responded with a generous, heroic, and decisive fiat. For, as the Angelic Doctor says: “nothing moves us to love more than knowing that we are loved.”[17]
Thus, in the following months, and actually until the end of their lives, the little shepherds went on entering progressively and each moment more deeply into the mystery of the cross, because it will always hold true that “the most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being her greatest favorites, receive from her the best graces and favors from heaven, which are crosses.”[18]
In addition to the numerous prayers and penances that they offered daily, the three little shepherds suffered much physically and morally, at the hands of both the good and the bad. We can recollect, for example, the great suffering that the presage of the deaths of Francis and Jacinta during the apparition of June 13th was for Lucia.[19] We can also easily imagine what the vision of hell must have been to the sensibility of these pure children, which they said “horrified us and made us tremble with fear.”[20] Also, the deep sadness they experienced at seeing the “Lady so kind and so sad”[21] and “Our Lord so sad.”[22] All of this united, sometimes, to the indifference of their parents, others, to incomprehension and incredulity,[23] and to the countless mockeries and contempt[24] from their families. Sister Lucia herself tells that her mother “reprimanded and punished” her because she thought that she was lying.[25]
Although the list could be unending, we add to this all the tortuous and oppressive interrogations to which they were submitted. The countless number of threats, insults and blows[26] which they received without cause. The doubts and temptations which assaulted Lucia, making her lose her enthusiasm, filling her with fear even to the point of determining not to go back to Cova de Iria.[27] Also, there was the instance of their time in prison, where they were threatened “to be fried alive.”[28] The later illness of Francisco and Jacinta with the painful circumstances which surrounded the death of both of them: Francisco who endured great physical sufferings and Jacinta who died far away from her loved ones in Lisbon (she said to her cousin Lucia: “Oh please, pray hard for me, because I am going to die alone).[29] Knowing the great love and the spiritual union of these three children, it is not hard for us to imagine the great pain this must have caused Lucia. Remembering the death of her cousin, she wrote: “This grief was a thorn that pierced my heart throughout the years to. It is a memory of the past that echoes forever unto eternity.”[30] Speaking of her farewell with Jacinta, Sister Lucia said that it was “heartrending.”[31]
And so, each of their sufferings, trials, and crosses that they had to undergo formed part of the “designs of mercy” that the Angel had announced to them. For it is simply true that the “designs of mercy” include crosses in our lives. And in the light of this mystery we should know how to see the crosses that come to us.
Therefore, at all times, also now, we must be genuinely convinced that all that happens to us belongs, without a doubt, to the merciful design of God for us. All of the sufferings, whether they be caused from within or from without, false questioning that can become an obstacle to the progress of our works, defamations, ungratefulness, misunderstandings and all that may cause us affliction, both personally and as a religious family, are nothing other than “heralds of a great joy,”[32] and we must “give thanks to God for them as a sign of his mercy,”[33] as St. John of Avila said. “The cross is like a touch of eternal love in our lives.”[34]
We also, just like the little shepherds, “are invited to be as happy as Peter and the Apostles were when they were allowed to share in the Cross of Christ so as to then participate in the glory of his resurrection.”[35] So, we too should always have the manliness to pronounce our fiat and, in no way, turn back from the work we have started. We should be firmly convinced that we follow him who today as much as yesterday has all power, and even if the whole world were to try to prevent it, his truth will triumph. “Therefore, there is no room for fear. Nothing can make us reject the revealed truth and love of Christ.”[36]
Jesus said to St. Gemma Galgani: “Keep on the path of the Divine will.”[37] And that is what we have to do, and acting in any other way, as we well know, would be a mistake.
How much we must learn from these “privileged little ones!”[38] Then, if I may, I would like to make an application of the two elements of the message-prophecy of Fatima, which I consider are very close to us, in a personal way. I refer particularly to the need of communion of our sufferings with those of Christ for the good of souls, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary as our refuge.
2. Victims with the Victim
The then Cardinal Ratzinger in his Theological Commentary about the message of Fatima wrote: “no suffering is in vain, and it is a suffering Church, a Church of martyrs, which becomes a sign-post for man in his search for God.”[39]
In my point of view, a deep aspect of the message of Fatima, particularly for us as priests of the Incarnate Word, is that of our communion with the sufferings of Christ for the good of souls; an aspect which stands out in the martyrs, but which also forms an essential part of our vocation and of our priestly ministry.[40]
St. Paul wrote to the Colossians: in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking* in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church of which I am a minister.[41]
The phrase of the Apostle constitutes an entire program for the spiritual and pastoral life and is applied to the unity or solidarity that exists among the members of the one Mystical Body in the life of grace. And this in two different ways:
a) Regarding the application of the passion of Christ so that its infinite efficacy, obtained in the priestly offering which He made once for all,[42] be applied to and reach all men throughout history.
b) Regarding the necessary conformity which should exist between the body and its head, that is, between Christ and his members, a conformity which should be even greater in his sacred ministers and religious.
And although, “certainly we do not add anything substantial to the sacrifice of Christ… Christ ‘suffered as our head, and He continues to suffer in his members, that is to say, in us.’[43] Therefore, ‘Christ will be in agony until the end of the world’[44] since ‘the total measure of all the sufferings of men will not be filled until the end of the world.’”[45]
Thus, the expression what is lacking to the Passion of Christ should not be understood as if it was incomplete or insufficient, for it was overabundantly infinite. It should be understood rather in reference to the efficacious application of the merits of the passion to all men of all times, an application which becomes effective by means of our apostolic ministry.
Father Luis de la Palma comments the words of St. Paul saying: “so that the merit of the passion of Christ might be effectively applied to the unfaithful and sinners it is necessary to preach, to peregrinate, and to suffer many contradictions and persecutions, which were lacking to Christ to suffer for the sanctification of the entire body… these I carry out for Him with much joy, for I also suffer in my body hunger and thirst, prisons and cells, which Christ would suffer were He present.”[46]
In this sense, our Directory of Spirituality says: “Since God chooses suffering to redeem us, it is precious and invaluable when it is endured with patience, accepted as coming from God, and sanctified by uniting it to the pain of Christ,”[47] for which reason “we are co-redeemers.”[48] Herein lies the importance and the necessity of not letting suffering go to waste, but rather to know how to take advantage of it.
“The co-redemptive efficacy of our sufferings depends on their union with the Cross, and in the measure and degree of that union. We live from Christ’s sacrifice… no pain is redeeming unless it is united to Christ’s Passion. If we do not learn how to be victims with the Victim, all our sufferings are useless.”[49] This is what the Most Holy Teacher taught to Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia: “Ever since the day Our Lady taught us to offer our sacrifices to Jesus, any time we had something to suffer, or agreed to make a sacrifice, Jacinta asked: ‘Did you already tell Jesus that it is for love of Him?’ If I said I hadn’t, she answered: ‘Then I will tell Him,’ and joining her hands, she raised her eyes to heaven and said: ‘Oh Jesus, it is for love of You, and for the conversion of sinners!’”[50]
It is the will of God our Father, that we too—as the Blessed little shepherds—cooperate so that the unique and superabundant redemption worked by Christ on Calvary may be applied to all men, particularly those of our times, our contemporaries. Lucia asks us too today: “Do you not want, then, to offer this sacrifice for the conversion of sinners?”[51]
Part of our spirituality is to “learn how to complete what is missing in the Passion of Christ with affective reparation – by prayer and love; effective reparation – fulfilling one’s own duties, apostolate, etc.; and afflictive reparation – by sanctified suffering, for our own spiritual welfare and for the Mystical Body’s.”[52]
For the unity of the mystical person of Christ, we, his members, are not only able but we must also help one another, because by this common incorporation into Christ we are individually parts of one another.[53]
This is the reason for the ardent supplication of the Mother of Heaven: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them.” [54]And on another occasion, She tells them: “To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”[55]
With what innocence and profundity did the little shepherds understand the importance and the necessity of sacrificing themselves for others, for which they did not let any opportunity pass by to offer prayers and to offer sacrifices. One anecdote which Sister Lucia told can serve as an illustration of this, showing the generosity of the youngest of them who “felt and personally experienced Our Lady’s anguish:”[56] “As the Blessed Virgin had told us to offer our prayers and sacrifices also in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we agreed that each of us would choose one of these intentions. One would offer them for sinners, another for the Holy Father and yet another in reparation for the sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Having decided on this, I told Jacinta to choose whichever intention she preferred. “I am making the offering for all these intentions, because they all please me.”[57]
The extent of her generous example, and yet sublime in its simplicity, does not cease to question us, religious, whom by our vocation and divine election have been called to a victimhood with the perfect Victim.
Therefore, the message of the Virgin of Fatima is an invitation to each of us to be solidary with one another offering ourselves to God as a living, holy, and pleasing host.[58] As St. John Paul II said: “Pray and sacrifice yourselves for us, for all those who also pray, for those who cannot pray, for those who do not know how to pray, and for those who do not want to pray!”[59] Likewise, our proper law lively recommends us to pray for our enemies and for those who hate and persecute us.[60]
3. The Immaculate Heart of Mary, our refuge
“The good will be martyred… In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph”[61] our tender Mother said to Sister Lucia during the apparition of July 13, 1917.
These words, which imply great suffering enkindle at the same time the light of hope in our lives, for “‘per crucem ad lucem,’ which is what the Apostles taught us when they said that it is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”[62]
Our Lady announced great sufferings by means of which—especially as religious—we are to actively cooperate in the application of redemption to souls: “[we also saw] other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks,”[63] who later would die “one after another.”[64] And this is true, whether or not we arrive at a bloody martyrdom, for the very profession of vows “resembles martyrdom”[65] which is demonstrated in the daily self-abnegation[66] through sacrifices and the crosses which imply fidelity to the Incarnate Word. Even more so, because martyrdom is related to our religious life as its end, for it tends towards the perfection of charity for no one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.[67]
For this reason, we are asked to live ready for martyrdom for our fidelity to God,[68] which means that martyrdom becomes synonymous with being a true disciple. St. John of Avila, doctor of the Church, said: “let the servants of God be warned that they are to be persecuted.” And he continues saying: “They suffer for God and because they reached God; and persecution is against God. If the persecutors think otherwise, their fault would be lessened, but not our crown; and if they, being deceived, think that they serve God, we, without any illusion, know that we serve God.”[69] From this follows that, if we are faithful, we may consider that “the highest grace that God can grant our young Religious Family is persecution.”[70]
To this truth, we add the fact that, if we are true sons of such a dear Mother, we should expect to suffer great crosses, and as St. Louis Marie says, “One is tried even more than others, because Mary, as Mother of the living, gives to all her children splinters of the tree of life, which is the Cross of Jesus.”[71]
But we should not stop at this with a fatalistic conception of life, but rather, we must have a wise vision which leads us to appreciate suffering—small or great, visible to all or in the secret depths of our soul—from which “there comes a purifying and renewing power, because their suffering is the actualization of the suffering of Christ himself and a communication in the here and now of its saving effect.”[72] That goes to say that a greater faith is asked of us, “faith… in the saving Love that is always stronger, always more powerful than any evil.”[73]
We must be men of an intrepid faith, who take advantage of all the crosses and difficulties to love more God and our neighbor, not wasting any opportunity to practice works of mercy. In fact, one of the non-negotiable elements of our Institute is to have “a providential outlook on life. A strong example of this is the fact that we consider our enemies as a part, spiritually, of our religious family, since they have done and do us good […] ‘omnia cooperantur in bonum.’[74]
Regarding this point, we also consider valid for us the advice of St. Francis de Sales: “Be firm in your trust in the providence of God, which, if it prepares us crosses, will give us the valiance to carry them […] Do not get carried away by the painful events of this life; prepare yourselves with a perfect hope that while they occur, God, to whom they belong, will free you from them. He has protected you until now; cling strongly to the provident hand of God and he will assist you in all occasions, and if you cannot go on, He will sustain you. What do you fear, if you belong entirely to God, who has assured us that all will work for the good of those who love him? Do not think about what will happen to you tomorrow, because the Eternal Father himself who takes care of you today, will take care of you tomorrow and always: He will not give you any evil, but if he does, he will give you an invincible courage to endure it.”[75]
Therefore, in all the sufferings that we are called to endure, whether personally or as an Institute, we should learn to see the designs of mercy which God has for us. And, after the example of Venerable Sister Lucia we should know how to see “always… the hand of God in it all.”[76]
Now, it is also important to notice that in bearing all the sufferings God wills to send us,[77] we are not alone, for the presence of the Mother of God sustains us so that we may carry our crosses “with greater ease and [with] more merit and glory,”[78] a truth of which the apparition of Fatima is an eloquent sign. “For, this good Mother… sweetens all the crosses she prepares… in the honey of her maternal sweetness and the unction of pure love,”[79] so that all sufferings, as bitter as they may be, can be carried with joyful conformity.
Today also the Virgin of Fatima repeats to us with tender tones: “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.”[80] This is the same as saying: in my Immaculate Heart you will find “every grace, continuous friendship with God, every protection against the enemies of God, possession of truth to counter every falsehood, endless benefits and unfailing headway against the hazards we meet on the way to salvation, and finally every consolation and joy amid the bitter afflictions of life.”[81]
And so, while others rejoice “in their riches or boast of their worldly honors; others in the preeminence of their offices or dignities;”[82] or others “hope in their talents; count on their innocence of life, or the rigor of their penances, or the number of their good works, or the fervor of their prayers”[83] we await everything from this august Lady whom God “chose… as the dispenser of all he possesses,”[84] and through whose virginal hands every heavenly gift passes.
She is no mere spectator of our battles, but rather She gets fully involved in our lives, whatever the particular circumstances may be, or however complex our reality is; the extent of her loving maternal care knows no limits. She desires to be our Refuge. Our beloved St. John Paul II said: “Mary embraces us all with special solicitude… She herself prays with us.”[85] She maternally feels our struggles and knows in depth our sufferings and our hopes.[86] For this reason the compassionate presence of the Mother of the Incarnate Word in our lives, which is not secondary but fundamental and integral, should expand our heart with a holy trust, as that of a child who awaits everything from the goodness of his beloved mother, so that we may enter ever more deeply and generously into the way of the cross which is “the only way of life.”[87]
Today and always may the consoling words of Blessed Jacinta stay engraved in our hearts: “We must never be afraid of anything! The Lady will help us always. She is such a good friend of ours!”[88] We must have the certainty that the Virgin will always help us in all things.
The Most Holy Virgin promised: “My Immaculate Heart will triumph.” The very heart in whose warmth the Most Holy Heart of the Incarnate Word was formed will triumph and “will bring to the triumph of heaven those souls who have especially and constantly recommended themselves to her intercession.”[89] Let us consider, then, the fleetingness of the pains of this life before the definitive beatitude that we are promised.
Yes, “the Evil One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God. But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: In the world you will have tribulation but take heart; I have overcome the world! The message of Fatima invites us to trust in this promise.”[90]
Dear brothers, may the celebration of this first anniversary of the apparitions of the Mother of God in Fatima encourage us, illumine our souls, and fill us with an unshaking trust in her omnipotent supplication, for “She is our whole hope,”[91] for “God… willed that we should have all things through Mary.”[92]
With this certainty, let us go trustingly to our Mother of Heaven, thanking her for her constant intercession and implore her with filial audacity that she may continue to keep watch over the way of the Church, of our beloved Religious Family, and of each of its members and the missions entrusted to us. May the tenderness of the gaze of this sweet Mother fill each corner of your lives, and may She grant you a constant serenity, consolation, and joy in the Incarnate Word.
Now, and always, let us go onward holding firm to her Immaculate Heart which tenderly tells us: “Do not lose heart. I will never abandon you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.”
Happy Feast Day of our Lady of Fatima!
In the Incarnate Word and in the Immaculate Heart of his Most Holy Mother,
Fr. Gustavo Nieto, IVE
General Superior
[1] Cf. Mons. A. Marto, Fátima e a modernidade. Profecia e Escatologia, 7, citing French writer Paul Claudel (English quote from Fatima: A Message More Urgent than Ever).
[2] L. Gonzaga Da Fonseca, Le meraviglie di Fatima, 5.
[3] Cf. Saint John Paul II, Speech in Fatima, May 13, 1982.
[4] S. De Fiores, Il segreto di Fatima, 22.
[5] Message of the Holy Father for the Fifth World Day of the Sick, February 11, 1997, 1.
[6] Upon the closure of the Holy Year of Redemption.
[7] Saint John Paul II, Consecration of the World to the Immaculate Heart, March 25, 1984; cf. During the Jubilee Day of Families, the Pope consecrated all men and all nations to the Virgin, cf. Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, VII, 1. Cittá del Vaticano 1984, 775-777.
[8] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Fourth Memoir, II, 3.
[9] Words of Blessed Francisco Marto, Idem, Fourth Memoir, I, 5.
[10] Idem, Fourth Memoir, II, 4.
[11] Constitutions, 83.
[12] Cf. Idem, 17.
[13] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Second Memoir, II, 2.
[14] Ibidem.
[15] Idem, Fourth Memoir, II, 1.
[16] Idem, Fourth Memoir, II, 3.
[17] Cited by bishop dr. juan straubinger, The Psalter, Psalm 39 (40).
[18] St. Louis marie Grignion de Montfort, Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 154.
[19] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Fourth Memoir, II, 4.
[20] Idem, Fourth Memoir, II, 5.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Fourth Memoir, I, 12.
[23] Idem, Second Memoir, III, 5.
[24] Idem, Second Memoir, II, 2; 4.
[25] Idem, Second Memoir, II, 13.
[26] Idem, Second Memoir, III, 3.
[27] Idem, Second Memoir, II, 5.
[28] Idem, First Memoir, I, 12.
[29] Idem, First Memoir, III, 5.
[30] Idem, Fourth Memoir, I, 17.
[31] Idem, First Memoir, III, 6.
[32] Letter XVIII – To console an afflicted young woman.
[33] Letter X – To friends, possibly Jesuits of Salamanca, who were going through persecution.
[34] Cf. Dives in Misericordia, 8.
[35] Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen, The Power of Love.
[36] Directory of Spirituality, 121.
[37] Rev. Amedeo, C.P., The Biography of Saint Gemma, chapter 14.
[38] Saint John Paul II, Homily of Beatification, May 13, 2000.
[39] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Appendix III.
[40] In this point I freely follow G. Ruiz Freites, IVE ,El mensaje de Fátima y los mártires del siglo XX: un llamado a completar en nosotros lo que falta a la pasión de Cristo (Col 1, 24-25) which will appear shortly in Diálogo (n. 71, May 2017), San Rafael, Argentina.
[41] Col 1: 24-25
[42] Heb 7: 27; cf. Heb 9: 28.
[43] Saint Augustine, Exposition on the Book of Psalms, LXI, 4.
[44] B. Pascal, Thoughts, 553.
[45] Saint Augustine, Exposition on the Book of Psalms, LXI, 4; Directory of Spirituality, 165.
[46] Camino Espiritual, 13, 3. [Translation from Spanish].
[47] Directory of Spirituality, 166.
[48] Idem, 167.
[49] Idem, 168.
[50] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, First Memoir, I, 10.
[51] Idem, First Memoir, I, 12.
[52] Directory of Spirituality, 169.
[53] Rom 12: 4-5.
[54] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Second Memoir, II, 11.
[55] Idem, Third Memoir, 2.
[56] Saint John Paul II, Homily of Beatification, May 13, 2000.
[57] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, First Memoir, I, 13.
[58] Cf. Directory of Consecrated Life, 290; cf. Rm 12:1.
[59] Saint John Paul II, Message to Priests and Religious in Fatima, May 13, 1982. [Translation from Spanish].
[60] Cf. Directory of the Works of Mercy, 158; Directory of The Third Order, 121.
[61] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Third Memoir, 2.
[62] P. Carlos Buela, IVE, Las Servidoras II, II Parte, capítulo 4. 1; Acts 14: 22. [Translation from Spanish].
[63] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Appendix III.
[64] Ibidem.
[65] Constitutions, 50.
[66] Cf. Directory of Consecrated Life, 399; cf. Lumen Gentium, 42.
[67] Cf. Directory of Consecrated Life, 405; Jn 15: 13.
[68] Directory of Spirituality 36; Constitutions, 96.
[69] Carta II – A un religioso predicador (Fr. Alonso de Vergara, OP), [Translation from Spanish].
[70] Directory of Spirituality, 37.
[71] St. Louis marie Grignion de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, 22.
[72] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Appendix III.
[73] Saint John Paul II, Homily, May 13, 1982.
[74] Cf. Notes of the Fifth General Chapter, 5.
[75] Cf. F. Vidal, En las fuentes de la alegría con San Francisco de Sales, Cap. 7, 2; Obras completas de San Francisco de Sales, Edición de Annecy, Tomo XVI, 125 and Tomo XVIII, 211. [Translation from Spanish].
[76] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Second Memoir, II, 9.
[77] Idem, Fourth Memoir, II, 3.
[78] St. Louis marie Grignion de Montfort, Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 154.
[79] Ibidem.
[80] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Fourth Memoir, II, 4.
[81] St. Louis marie Grignion de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, 21.
[82] Cf. P. Luis de Granada, cited by bishop dr. Juan Straubinger, El Salterio, Psalmo32 (33). [Translated from Spanish].
[83] St. Claudio de la Colombière, Discourse 682.
[84] St. Louis marie Grignion de Montfort, Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 25.
[85] Saint John Paul II, Homily, May 13, 1982.
[86] Cf. Radiomensaje durante el Rito en la Basílica de Santa María la Mayor. Veneración, acción de gracias, consagración a la Virgen María Theotokos, en Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, IV, 1, Città del Vaticano 1981, 1246. [Translation from Spanish].
[87] Directory of Spirituality, 142.
[88] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, First Memoir, I, 10.
[89] Cf. Saint Alfonsus Maria de Liguori, The Glories of Mary, chapter 2, 3. [Adapted version of the English translation].
[90] Fatima, In Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs, Appendix III, Theological Commentary; Jn 16: 33.
[91] P. Carlos Buela, IVE, Sacerdotes para siempre, Part I, chapter 3, 7. [Translation from Spanish].
[92] St. Louis marie Grignion de Montfort, Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 141.
