War Strategy on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, the anniversary of the miracle of the sun and Our Lady's last visit to thethree Portuguese children, Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia. On this day, more than most, the Church begs us to remember the messages and warnings given specifically for the benefit of the modern world. Though Catholics have celebrate this feast every year since 1930 and the Church has sounded a continued orchestra of warnings in the modern era, beginning with Pope Pius the XI and Pope Leo XIII, it seems that even the most pious among us have been lulled (or deafened) to sleep. More than ever we can see the reasons for the Blessed Mother's concern, her gentle rebukes pertaining to the evils of our times, and her plea that we make reparation and pray to avoid the punishment we're bringing down upon ourselves through the constant worldwide commission of sins particularly offensive to God. 

The recurring phrase 'Do Penance; Pray the Rosary', for many of us in traditional circles especially, has been a clarion call so constant that many of us take it for granted; it's a hum in the generator of Catholicism, blending in with the world's cacophony, it's background noise, like the sin and general depravity we've also become more accustomed to than we even realize. The world -- even the small world of practicing Catholics -- has developed a partial deafness that has also kept Our Lady's clarion call distant to our ears. I'm ashamed to say my ears have been as blocked as anyone's, my conviction weak; I haven't taken up arms in the fight against the evils of Modernism as I should -- though I have all the weapons at my disposal. Like many, I've lived in a kind of bubble most of my life, maybe too secure in the safety and consistency of Mass and the Sacraments, taking for granted that America would never allow my freedom of religion to be compromised, that the constitution would protect our country from the evils of Communism specifically addressed by the Blessed Mother at Fatima. Throughout my life, though we rode troughs and waves of good and evil in the US, nothing has been so dire and alarming that I've felt an overwhelming need to run for the armory -- spiritually or literally. 

That's changed in the last two years, though. Things have gotten so upside-down and backward out there in the world, the lunacy has even permeated, if not popped, our happy little Trad bubble in the Midwest. But, I don't know: is this mayhem necessarily a bad thing?

There are side benefits of these crazy times. The shortlist of crazy being: the insanity of the plandemic, the corruption in governments all over the world, the constant flow of immorality from media (that most of us carry around in our hand from sun up to sun down), the general cognitive dissonance of almost everyone, particularly in the public sphere...)  Aye-yi-yi. Makes you wince, doesn't it? Side benefits? One wonders how there could be any. But, you've heard the old saying: There are no atheists in foxholes. Bombs going off around us are bound to wake us up -- to some kind of action, right? We can be hopeful that the craziness explodes into the benefit of conversions, because these are foxholes for atheists and non-practicing Catholics to jump into, and this is war. War of the most vital kind, as it is being played out on the unforgiving, ever-changing battlefield of public perceptions (governments, education, mass media, etc), and is maiming, wounding, and killing millions of individual souls -- already made weak by lifetimes of ignorance, laziness and complaisance -- souls that don't even know they are supposed to fight.

We know, though, don't we? I speak to the choir here. (waving at you, choir) We know who we are. Those of us who have had the grace of having been born to the true Faith, those of us who have had the grace of conversion and have found the Truth of the Catholic Church where it has escaped from the evils of the hijacked seats of Rome: we have a grave responsibility to take up arms daily because we do know. Our Lady of Fatima told us the time had come to pick up the shield of penance and the sword of the rosary -- or we would regret it. It's been 103 years. Anyone who's paying attention is probably thinking a lot about regret right now -- of what we should have been doing all this time on all the different battlefronts to keep the enemy from the gates, socially, politically, and spiritually. And much could have been done. Should have been done. And not by some unknown saint, or neighbor, or (pick your favorite public figure)... but by each one of us. It's been the war of ordinary, everyday people all along -- a war played out in countless battles within the hearts of every soul that has ever lived since day one in the Garden of Eden. The question for each of us is: have I really thought of it that way, as serious and real -- and not just an idea without literal consequences?  Me? To be honest, only sporadically -- and with short-lived resolutions -- the same way I go right back to my old ways a week after Easter and forget all about Lent. I could have done better. 😕 Lots better.

But it's never too late. As long as I'm alive, I can pitch in with the Church Militant. (And, God willing and I don't blow it, I can pitch in as a member of the Church Triumphant after that!) It's not all that hard a thing to do. As Catholics we know that, though we do have a responsibility to a reasonable amount of social action, our best, most productive campaign against evil can be fought from our own homes and churches. It's doable for every single person who has a will to do it. With the help of God, the most humble among us can be the greatest warriors for good! On the wings of sanctifying grace, we can wield our rosaries, send the most mighty  troops of angels in our defense through the holy sacrifice of the Mass, lay in stores and ammunition through our prayer and sacrifices, and gain new soldiers in the fight through our good examples of charity and unbending commitment to the Truths of our Faith. Mass, rosary, little penances. A battle plan that doesn't sound grand and noble as a crusade -- but it is! And if we never took it seriously before, we have ample evidence that it is now time to do so. Look around you. This is truly war. Time to do as our Mother has told us and gird up!