Editor’s Note: This lengthy article was originally published in The Fatima Crusader, Issue 74, Summer 2003. It is being reprinted here as a series of five much shorter articles. This is Part 3 of 5. [Read Part 2.]
Part II
Public, Prophetic Revelation
The next theological position is that the Message of Fatima is not a private revelation, nor is it part of the Deposit of Faith, but it nevertheless carries with it the solemn obligation – before God and man – to believe it, to obey it as well as to defend it, and to advance it to the extent of our power and possibilities.
Even if the previously outlined position that “Fatima is in the Bible” turns out not to be defined by a future Pope at a future date; nevertheless, we are still obliged to believe and obey the Fatima Message and requests.
This third position is a clear answer to the false statement that “Fatima is only a private revelation”. As we shall see, this third position is based on Sacred Scripture and on right reason.
It shows that those who claim, even people like Cardinal Ratzinger or Father Fox, that we (or the Pope or bishops and priests) are not obliged to believe and obey Our Lady of Fatima are clearly wrong.
This third position, very simply then, is that the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Message of Fatima is a public, prophetic revelation. And this is a position that has been elucidated more completely by better theologians than me. You will find among them Bishop Graber of Germany, who tells us that those who say that Fatima is a private revelation that can be ignored are wrong.[9] You’ll find the same position held by Father Joseph de Ste. Marie, a Carmelite theologian who taught in Rome.[10] He also quotes other theologians who maintain that those who say that Fatima’s just a private revelation and one need not pay attention to it, are badly mistaken.[11]
And what is a private revelation? A private revelation, strictly speaking, is a message to an individual from God or a saint that he is bound to believe. So, if Our Lady appeared to one of you, or your patron saint appeared, and told you what you must do in order to save your soul, or what you must do tomorrow, or even in the next hour, that revelation which you have, which no one else can verify, would be private and no one else would be bound to believe it except yourself.
Fatima Is Public
But Fatima is not unverifiable, and it’s not a message for one individual. It’s a public message given to the whole Church and verified by a public miracle and public prophecies. And the consequences of ignoring the requests of Our Lady of Fatima are catastrophic. Fatima is a public, prophetic revelation, and as such, once the Church has examined it and found it worthy of belief, Natural Law and Sacred Scripture tell us what we must do. In 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21, St. Paul writes: “Do not extinguish the spirit. Do not despise prophecies. But test all things and hold fast that which is good.”
Fatima Is Prophetic
The Message of Fatima is a public revelation; it’s a prophecy. The Church has tested it and found it to be good and, therefore, we are bound to hold fast to it. To take the attitude that it can be ignored without consequences would be to despise prophecy. In this case, we would be extinguishing the spirit; and if we could do that, we could then say, “Well, it’s uncomfortable for me to consecrate Russia,” or “It’s uncomfortable for me to pray the Rosary every day,” or “It’s uncomfortable for me to do this or to do that, and so I don’t want to do it.”
So all I have to do is simply say, “I don’t have to believe it”, and then I can peacefully go on my way and say, on Judgment Day: “Well, I didn’t know You wanted me to pray the Rosary. I didn’t know You wanted me to promote the Message of Fatima. I didn’t know You wanted me to consecrate Russia.” The Lord will say, “Well, you were told.” “Oh, but I was told it was a private revelation which I didn’t need to obey to save my soul.” “Well, you were told by Me in no uncertain terms. I worked a great miracle so that you would know that this message came from Me. You just did not want to hear. You wanted to shut Me off. You obviously were trying to extinguish My Spirit. That excuse will not excuse you. Don’t bother to tell Me that Cardinal Ratzinger and Father Fox said it would. You know better! To ignore it is to extinguish the Holy Spirit,[12] Who spoke to you through this prophecy. You despised prophecy, you’re guilty, and it’s too bad for you.”
It is what Sister Lucia, in her famous interview with Father Fuentes, spoke about: To refuse the known truth is a sin against the Holy Spirit. God has given the evidence that the Message of Fatima comes from Him.
Lessons from the Bible
Our Lord spoke to the cities of Capharnaum, Bethsaida, and Corozain. Sacred Scripture says:
“Then began He (Jesus) to upbraid the cities wherein were done the most of His miracles, for that they had not done penance. Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes.
“But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.
“And thou Capharnaum, shalt thou be exalted up to Heaven? Thou shalt go down even unto hell. For if in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, perhaps it had remained unto this day.
“But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” (Matt. 11:20-24)
The cities of Corozain, Bethsaida, and Capharnaum had seen the miracles of Our Lord. Even those citizens who did not witness them personally, had the testimony of many other citizens, so their disbelief was culpable.
How can it be that to refuse to believe in Our Lord’s miracles is culpable, whereas to refuse to believe in the Miracle of the Sun, which happened before 70,000 witnesses, is not culpable? The cities of Bethsaida, Capharnaum, and Corozain were condemned for refusing to believe the known miracles of Christ and for rejecting the message that was given with those miracles. That merited damnation. And, by the same line of reasoning, so would refusal to believe in the Message of Fatima. Because the miracle has been testified by 70,000 people, and not only the Miracle of the Sun, but also the cures and the prophecies.
The First Vatican Council teaches us that God not only moves us by interior graces to believe the Catholic Faith, He also gives external motives of credibility.[13] And the two greatest of those are external miracles and prophecies which have come true. And we have both of those things in Fatima. So God has given the external signs and God has also given the external prophecies, all of them verifying the truth of this message.
[Continue reading Part 4.]
END NOTES
[9] Bishop Rudolph Graber, “Why this Pall of Silence Regarding Fatima?”, The Fatima Crusader, Issue 19, February-April 1986, pp. 4-5.
[10] Father Joseph de Sainte-Marie, O.C.D., “The Church’s Duty in the Face of the Fatima Message”, The Fatima Crusader, Issue 9-10, October-December 1982, pp. 9-10.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, The Whole Truth About Fatima – Vol. III: The Third Secret, (Immaculate Heart Publications, Buffalo, New York, 1990) p. 507. See also “Authentic Prophetic Interview with Sister Lucy of Fatima,” The Fatima Crusader, Issue 19, February-April 1986, p. 11.
[13] “Nevertheless, in order that the obedience of our faith might be in harmony with reason, [Rom. xii. 1] God willed that to the interior help of the Holy Spirit there should be joined exterior proofs of His revelation, to wit, divine facts, and especially miracles and prophecies, which, as they manifestly display the omnipotence and infinite knowledge of God, are most certain proofs of His divine revelation adapted to the intelligence of all men (can. iii and iv [see below]). Wherefore, both Moses and the Prophets, and most especially Christ our Lord Himself, showed forth many and most evident miracles and prophecies, and of the Apostles we read: ‘But they, going forth, preached everywhere, the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed.’ [Mark xvi. 20] And again it is written: ‘We have the more firm prophetical word, whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place.’ [II Pet. i. 19]”
“[Canon] III. If anyone shall say that divine revelation cannot be made credible by outward signs, and therefore that men ought to be moved to faith solely by the internal experience of each, or by private inspiration; let him be anathema.
[Canon] IV. If anyone shall say that miracles are impossible, and therefore that all the accounts regarding them, even those contained in Holy Scripture, are to be dismissed as fabulous or mythical; or that miracles can never be known with certainty, and that the divine origin of Christianity is not rightly proved by them; let him be anathema.” Vatican Council I, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, April 24, 1870. Taken from the book, Dogmatic Canons and Decrees (TAN Books and Publishers), pp. 224, 235-236. See also Dz. 1790; Dz. 1812; Dz. 1813; D.S. 3009; D.S. 3033; D.S. 3034.