July 13th is the anniversary of the third apparition that occurred in 1917 in Fatima, Portugal.  If you are not familiar with the miraculous accounts of Fatima then you should get caught up. http://www.ewtn.com/fatima/index.htm  Every time the Blessed Mother appears and the Catholic Church approves it as worthy of faith, it is an amazing and powerful gift from God. But the apparitions of Our Lady that took place in Fatima are exceptional.

Her messages at Fatima came at a time when the world was nearing the end of  World War One. Her warnings to the world if we did not repent were serious.  The three children who she appeared to weighed in at the young ages of 7,9 & 10 and their lives were changed beyond understanding.  Ours will be too if we listen to Our lady.  Her words are as important for us today as they were in 1917.

Probably the two most intense moments of the July apparition were 1. The children were shown a vision of hell.  And 2. They were told that a second and much more terrible war was going to take place if the world did not repent. 

The lessons for our times that we can learn from the apparitions of Fatima are enormous. I encourage you to look into them.

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS! MUCH IS COUNTING ON YOUR RESPONSE!

The Fortnight For Freedom is still trucking along.  Check out the USCCB’s web site for more information. 

http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/fortnight-for-freedom/index.cfm  

This is a very important time for us all in our country with regards to the attacks on religious freedom.  Quite a lot has been written and spoken about on Catholic radio and television concerning the seriousness of these days and the need for all of us to step up our prayer and action to defend our religious freedoms.  

In a previous post we drew attention to a speech by Archbishop Charles Chaput,  to a group of Catholic journalists on June 20th, the evening before Fortnight For Freedom began.  The entire speech can be found here   http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2012/06/launching-the-fortnight-for-freedom  Here are a couple more key points that the Archbishop made in that speech that are of notable importance.

“Here’s my fourth point: Unless we work hard to keep our religious liberty, we’ll lose it. It’s already happening in other developed countries like Britain and Canada. The U.S. Constitution is a great document–historically unique for its fusion of high ideals with the realism of very practical checks and balances. But in the end, it’s just an elegant piece of paper. In practice, nothing guarantees our freedoms except our willingness to fight for them. That means fighting politically and through the courts, without tiring and without apologies.

Here’s my fifth and final point: Politics and the courts are important. But our religious freedom ultimately depends on the vividness of our own Christian faith–in other words, how deeply we believe it, and how honestly we live it. Religious liberty is an empty shell if the spiritual core of a people is weak. Or to put it more bluntly, if people don’t believe in God, religious liberty isn’t a value. That’s the heart of the matter.

The worst enemies of religious freedom aren’t “out there” among the legion of critics who hate Christ or the Gospel or the Church, or all three. The worst enemies are in here, with us–all of us, clergy, religious, and lay–when we live our faith with tepidness, routine, and hypocrisy.”

How each of us responds to these challenges will affect many lives, now and for generations to come.

Our basic God-given, American, religious freedom is under attack.  The time is now to get off the couch, the fence or whatever it is you are sitting on that’s keeping you from getting involved.   

Here’s my second point: Freedom of religion is more than freedom of worship. The right to worship is a necessary but not sufficient part of religious liberty. Christian faith requires community. It begins in worship, but it also demands preaching, teaching, and service. It’s always personal but never private. And it involves more than prayer at home and Mass on Sunday–though these things are vitally important. Real faith always bears fruit in public witness and public action. Otherwise it’s just empty words.

The founders saw the value of publicly engaged religious faith because they experienced its influence themselves. They created a nation designed in advance to depend on the moral convictions of religious believers, and to welcome their active role in public life.Archbishop Charles Chaput delivered a speech on June 20th in Indianapolis to a group of Catholic journalists on the eve of the “Fortnight for Freedom,” a national campaign of teaching, witness, and prayer against these attacks on our religious freedom.  Here are a few quotes from that speech.  What you should gather from this is that Archbishop Chaput, and he is not alone, is not watering down the seriousness of this matter.  It would do you good to read the entire speech http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2012/06/launching-the-fortnight-for-freedom  and START THE CONVERSATION with those around you.  If we do not take an urgent stand NOW then we will be facing even worse threats in the future.  Pay close attention to what many of the bishops are saying.  What is needed here above everything else is that we pray, fast and give our lives to God, entirely!  It is the grace of God that can heal and convert hearts.  But the hearts that need healing and converting always include our own.

Archbishop Chaput’s speech to Catholic journalists:

I’ve known Greg Erlandson as a friend for many years. So I was glad to accept his invitation to join you tonight.  And I’m very glad to speak on the theme of religious liberty because events in our country have made it an urgent concern.  I can sum up my remarks tonight in five simple points.

First, religious freedom is a cornerstone of the American experience. This is so obvious that once upon a time, nobody needed to say it. But times have changed. So it’s worth recalling that Madison, Adams, Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson–in fact, nearly all the American founders–saw religious faith as vital to the life of a free people. Liberty and happiness grow organically out of virtue.  And virtue needs grounding in religious faith.

Gertrude Himmelfarb, the historian, put it this way: The founders knew that in a republic, “virtue is intimately related to religion. However skeptical or deistic they may have been in their own beliefs, however determined they were to avoid anything like an established Church, they had no doubt that religion is an essential part of the social order because it is a vital part of the moral order.”

Here’s my second point: Freedom of religion is more than freedom of worship.  The right to worship is a necessary but not sufficient part of religious liberty. Christian faith requires community. It begins in worship, but it also demands preaching, teaching, and service. It’s always personal but never private. And it involves more than prayer at home and Mass on Sunday–though these things are vitally important. Real faith always bears fruit in public witness and public action. Otherwise it’s just empty words.

The founders saw the value of publicly engaged religious faith because they experienced its influence themselves. They created a nation designed in advance to depend on the moral convictions of religious believers, and to welcome their active role in public life.

I will be posting more of Archbishop Chaput’s speech in coming days.  I encourage you to go out to the link above and read the entire speech now.  This issue is far too important to ignore!  If you remain silent then you are part of the problem.  Spread the word and be part of the solution.

 Thank you for joining in the effort to end this unprecedented government coercion.