Catching up on The Fatima Centers 2024 Initiatives!
The Fatima Center has had a busy summer with numerous outreach activities. In May, we participated in the March for Life and Pro-Life Expo in Ottawa (see “I Will Never Forget You”). In June we partnered with local organizations to host micro-conferences in New Hampshire and Maine. July saw us promoting the Message of Fatima at the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.
Yet August was by far our busiest month. We held a weekend conference in Buffalo, three micro-conferences in Ontario (New Hamburg, Toronto, and another in Polish), a weekend Marian retreat, and we spread Our Lady’s Message at the 2024 Eucharistic Congress in Charlotte, North Carolina. This month (September) we will participate in the Catholic Identity Conference (Sept. 27-29). Next month we will co-sponsor the Rome Life Forum in Exile with LifeSite News in Kansas City (Oct. 17-18). This conference will feature Fr. Michael Rodríguez as one of the main speakers.
Promoting the First Saturday Devotion
This past year we have focused on spreading the First Saturday devotion. We are preparing a worldwide spiritual bouquet for Our Lady through our First Saturday Challenge 100by100. We currently have over 2000 participants with multiple representatives from over 35 nations.
While we have been promoting the First Saturday devotion at all these live events, in our mailing campaigns, and through our website and social media channels, the Marian Retreat enabled us to further study and meditate upon Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Ultimately, this is the word of God’s grace in the soul of believer. Yet it requires our constant collaboration with these graces. True devotion to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart is a life-long effort.
Spiritual Warriors for Our Lady
Such intense Catholic action requires us to take time to withdraw from the external activities of the apostolate and focus on the interior life. Thus, The Fatima Center hosted its second Marian retreat in the days following the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Whereas Father Michael Rodríguez directed the first retreat in 2017,1 this one was directed by renowned Mariologist and Fatima expert, Father Karl Stehlin. A goal of this retreat was to help Catholics understand how to live the spirituality of Fatima and become “soldiers in Our Lady’s spiritual army.” St. Louis de Montfort prophesied that Our Lady would use hidden and humble souls to form “Her heel” by which She crushes the infernal serpent’s head. We are now living in these times.
Approximately 40 people made the retreat. For some it was their first Ignatian-style retreat and for others it served as a regular annual or biannual silent retreat. But for all, it was an opportunity for silence in which to offer a weekend to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and so grow in God’s graces. Fr. Stehlin’s enthusiasm and love for Our Lady shone through all of his talks and he has inspired and motivated all of us to want to do more for Our Lady.
The consensus of the retreatants’ feedback can be simply summarized with three words: “It was terrific!”
A Silent Marian Retreat
The silent retreat began late in the afternoon on Friday, August 23, with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The introductory conference followed dinner. Participants gave up their cell phones and all Internet access for the entire retreat. Such detachment helps one leave the world behind. The pervasive quiet and simplicity (lack of technology) facilitate prayer and ‘hearing’ the Holy Ghost’s inspirations. Renouncing the spirit of the world is an important aspect of the retreat experience and helps one better consecrate the time to God.
We live in a world where there is precious little silence. Everywhere we turn we are bombarded by visual and auditory “noise.” The retreat is a time to block that out. As St. Maximilian Kolbe taught: If we do not keep the prescribed silence, we will not correspond with the graces of God. If we lack a grace, the whole series of subsequent graces will be lost to us; whereas, we could have kept them if we had kept our meditation and silent recollection. Hence, the retreatants were encouraged to offer up the sacrifice of silence at the beginning and end of each day.
Each retreat day included the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and praying the Mysteries of the Rosary in common. Father prefaced each Mystery with a brief reflection so as to deepen our Rosary meditation. When praying the Joyful Mysteries in the morning, the Sorrowful in the afternoon, and the Glorious in the evening, we continually returned to centering our thoughts and affections upon the principal mysteries and virtues of Our Lord and Our Lady. Moreover, across the breadth of the day, we spiritually accompanied Our Lord through His life, death and resurrection.
The structure of the retreat followed a basic pattern. Father Stehlin would deliver a conference leading us into a deeper understanding of the theme. He relied on Sacred Scripture, the wisdom and lives of the saints, the traditional catechism, sound piety, and common everyday lived experience. Each retreatant then had the opportunity to spend time in quiet mediation pondering any aspect of the conference and conversing with Our Lord and Our Lady. We heard four conferences on Saturday and two more on Sunday.
With the help of another priest, the weekend included opportunities for all who wanted to go to confession or receive spiritual counselling.
Deepening Our Understanding of and Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Father Stehlin’s talks focused on the necessity of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Her importance for our eternal salvation. He placed a special emphasis on the Message of Our Lady of Fatima as it is the most important of all Marian apparitions.
He explained that Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary consists of three key elements: Consolation – Reparation – Consecration.
We must have compassion for Her sorrows and seek to console Her by acts of reparation and atonement. This pleases Our Lord very much.
Father impressed upon all of us the importance of not just performing one set of Five First Saturdays, but to make these devotions on an ongoing basis. These devotions are powerful means by which we make reparation for the continual sins of men that blaspheme Our Lady and pierce Her Heart like cruel thorns. He insisted, “When you love your spiritual Mother, these Saturdays do not seem too difficult.“
Father also encouraged each of us to personally consecrate ourself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. To facilitate this, all participants were given a copy of The Fatima Center’s newest booklet, Personal Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, written by Father Stehlin and published by Our Lady’s apostolate with his permission.
Follow-Up and Graces for All
Even though you may not have been able to attend the retreat, you can still derive spiritual benefit from this event. The spiritual conferences which Father Stehlin gave during the retreat will be made available at our website.
Please prayerfully consider making a monetary donation to support important efforts such as this, or better yet, become a monthly donor and include The Fatima Center in those worthy apostolates you support via your regular tithe. God is never outdone in generosity.
Our prayer is that these talks will help set your heart on fire with love for Our Lady. May they make you resolute in practicing and promoting the First Saturday devotion – especially to get as many people as possible to join the First Saturday Challenge #100by100.
And as dear Father Gruner used to say, if everyone gets at least five people to spread the Message of Fatima, our work and mission shall be accomplished. May God bless you and Our Lady intercede for you.