August 2022
Be Very Good
A wave of evil unfolds before our eyes: destruction, war and persecution. The world and man stray further and further from God, consumed with avarice and the desire for power, consumerism, materialism. Man is living as if God did not exist and believes he is free. He even believes he is God, supported by the new technologies. Those men will soon have to appear before God, the just and truthful Judge. What will they say to Him?
Wait!
The First Message contains these words: "If we do not change, a very great chastisement will come upon us.” We do not know when, how, or what this chastisement will be, but can presume that it will be terrible. On June 19 and 23, 1962, the “Nights of the Screams” took place. The girls were instructed about the Warning and the Chastisement. The Virgin Mary showed them a vision of the Chastisement that will come if, after the Warning and the Miracle, the world does not change. We can imagine what the girls’ screams must have been like to produce such fear in those present that everyone immediately asked for confession. One of the witnesses remembers, “The girls gave astonishing cries and said, ‘Wait! Wait!... Let them go to confession!’ People began to ask each other for forgiveness publicly. The whole village went to confession, and, apparently, they were extraordinarily sincere and repentant confessions.”
Loli and Jacinta wrote two messages regarding what they saw.
June 19, 1962
“The Virgin told us not to wait for the Chastisement. But it will come even if we are not waiting for it. Because the world has not changed, and She has already said this twice. And we do not listen, because the world is worse. We must change a great deal, and the world remains the same. I mean it: The world remains the same. What a shame that it does not change! If it does not change, soon the very great Chastisement will come.
June 23, 1962
“The Virgin Mary told us that the world is still the same and that nothing has changed… that few would see God. They are so few that it makes the Virgin Mary very sad.
What a shame that it does not change! The Virgin Mary told us that the Chastisement is coming. Since the world does not change, the cup is filling.
How sad the Virgin Mary was! ... Although she does not let us see it, because the Virgin Mary loves us so much… She suffers alone, because she is so good…! Everyone be good so that the Virgin Mary can be happy!
She told us that we who are good should pray for those who are bad. Yes, let us pray to God for the world, for those who do not know Him. Be good. Everyone be good.”
Prepare Yourselves!
There are many things in the world that we cannot change directly, but we must consider what is in our power and get to work. Personal conversion, the struggle for holiness and changing are not indifferent in the huge battle against evil that is taking place in the world today. If each one of us took the call to conversion seriously and made a sincere effort to live holy lives, we would be helping the world change. We must prepare ourselves and be aware that the time we must convert is the present moment, because who knows if there will be “later”? Who can add a minute—a second—to his life? We do not know how much time we have. We cannot sit around and wait for the moment to arrive when we say, “Now I am going to convert.” This “now” is right now—literally. It is the precious moment God gives you so that you can say, “Here I am, Lord. I want to follow You. I want to be faithful to You. You know that I am weak, but I want to start over and change.”
Be Good… If You Can
St. Philip Neri used to say, "Be good... if you can." We know that without grace we can do nothing. To be good we need—besides the desire to be good and the effort it requires on our part—the grace of God that makes it possible. The Lord said, "Without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). We must count on Him and on Our Mother. They are there to help us. But this disposition, this "I will" that puts us on the way to this "be good," must be a personal response.
Let Us Pray to God for the World
In addition to our personal effort, we must want everyone to know God and to return to Him. We can do this through evangelization by word or lifestyle, and through intercessory prayer. We must pray for the world, for sinners, for those far from God and for governors. We must also pray for the Church and for those whom the Lord has chosen to guide Her so that they, too, may be saints and that the Church may fulfill her mission in the world of proclaiming the Good News, baptizing in the name of the Lord Jesus and leading souls to Heaven. At this point we cannot stand with our arms crossed. We must watch over our hearts, so that no sterile complaints arise that lead nowhere but to bitterness and perhaps even division: “Did I complain about that priest, that person, that situation?” “Yes.” Then change. Now ask yourself: “Have I prayed? Have I offered sacrifices? Have I done penance?”
We Know hat the Victory Belongs to Our God
We know that the battle is won. This gives us the courage to continue. But we also know that in these moments, when the battle rages, we must fight with more courage to save as many souls as possible. Let not one be lost!
Let us ask Our Mother to help us to take her words seriously and to give us the courage to be witnesses of Christ in the world that needs Him so much.