Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta
By 'chance' I noticed some synchronicity regarding the Three Secrets of Fatima and the date of May 13th. This was the date of the first apparitions; the day Pope Pius XII was ordained; Pope Paul VI flew to Fatima on May 13, 1967; and on May 13, 1981 Pope Paul was wounded by a Turkish terrorist in St Peter's Square.
The Three Secrets of Fátima are a series of three apocalyptic visions and prophecies which were supposedly given to three young Portuguese shepherds, Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto following an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, starting on 13 May 1917.
Around noon on the 13th, the Virgin Mary is said to have entrusted the children with three secrets. Two of the secrets were revealed in 1941 in a document written by Lúcia, at the request of José Alves Correia da Silva, Bishop of Leiria.
When asked by the Bishop in 1943 to reveal the third secret, Lúcia said she was "not yet convinced that God had clearly authorized her to act." But, in October 1943, the Bishop ordered her to put the third secret in writing.
Lúcia did as instructed and sealed this in an envelope, not to be opened until 1960, when "it will appear clearer." For some reason this didn't happen but the supposed text of the third secret was officially released by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Some claim, however, that it was not the entire secret revealed by Lúcia, despite repeated assertions from the Vatican to the contrary.
The Secrets are as follows:
First Secret
Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear.
The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.
Second Secret
You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. 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. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI.
When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church.
The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.
Third Secret
At the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword; it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour
Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: "Penance, Penance, Penance!" (In the second scene a terrible catastrophe befalls the world.) And we saw in an immense light that is God… a Bishop dressed in white. We had the impression it was the Holy Father.
Other Bishops, Priests, men and women going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big cross; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins, and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow.
He prayed for the souls of corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died the other Bishops, Priests, men and women, and various lay people of different ranks.
(The third scene depicts the return of humanity to God.) Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels, each with a crystal aspersorium in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.
How you decipher the 'secrets' is up to the individual but there has been much controversy and discussion as to whether the full 'true' secrets have been revealed,
For example, in his book, Behold A Pale Horse, Milton William Cooper, a former US Navy Intelligence Briefing Team Member, wrote the following:
"The events at Fatima in the early part of the century were scrutinized. On the suspicion that it was alien manipulation, an intelligence operation was put into motion to penetrate the secrecy surrounding the event. The United States utilized its Vatican moles and soon obtained the entire Vatican study, which included the prophecy.
This prophecy stated that if man did not turn from evil and place himself at the feet of Christ, the planet would self-destruct and the events described in the book of Revelation would indeed come to pass.
The prophecy demanded that Russia be consecrated to the Sacred Heart. It stated that a child would be born who would unite the world with a plan for world peace and a false religion. The people would discern that he was evil and was indeed the Anti-Christ.
WORLD WAR III would begin in the Middle East with an invasion of Israel by a United Arab nation using conventional weapons, which would culminate in a nuclear holocaust. Most of the life on this planet would suffer horribly and die as a result. The return of Christ would occur shortly thereafter."
Whatever we feel about the Three Secrets of Fatima there are times when it does feel as if we are on the knife-edge of something disastrous - but hopefully not.
And, of course, there is also an opinion that the Three Secrets of Fatima are a massive hoax ... but that would mean people are being manipulated by religion ... surely not ...
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