J.M.J.
October 2018
Month of the Holy Rosary
Dear Friend of Our Lady,
An angel appeared to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco three times in 1916, the year before Our Lady of Fatima graced them with Her visits. He called himself the “Angel of Peace” on the first visit, and the “Angel of Portugal” on the second visit.
It is believed that this angel was Saint Michael the Archangel, because he is the angel claimed by the Portuguese as the guardian of their country. He was sent to spiritually prepare the children for the Queen of Heaven’s visits.
But he was also preparing them, and subsequently us, for a great battle – the battle Catholics find themselves in today defending Christ’s true Church and its perennial teachings, which is ultimately all part of the greater battle for the salvation of souls.
This battle has been taking place with increasing ferocity since Our Lady appeared in 1917. It is a spiritual battle that has grown so vicious, it seems to be without limits.
It might perhaps be considered the greatest battle since the first battle between the good and bad angels when Lucifer rebelled against God.
It was Saint Michael – from the 8th and second lowest choir of angels – the Archangel, who led the great battle against Lucifer – from the highest choir, the Seraphim, and considered to be the most glorious, beautiful and gifted of the angels – and his band of rebellious angels, and cast them down from Heaven, into hell.
How fitting then, in this time, that it was Saint Michael who was sent to prepare the three children seers of Fatima for the visits of the Queen of Heaven and the battle – now more than a century long – that has ensued.
This battle we are in now could have been avoided had Our
Lady of Fatima’s Message been heeded.
Suppression of the Fatima Message
One of the reasons Our Lady of Fatima’s requests have not been heeded is because the Message was successfully suppressed right from the beginning.
It is estimated that only a very small percentage of the world’s Catholics are actually familiar with the Fatima apparitions. And the degree of familiarity varies. That may sound strange to us because we have been graced with the knowledge of the apparitions.
Today, the Message is suppressed more than ever through various means employed by the enemies of Our Lady:
– Silent churchmen. Not speaking about Fatima keeps Catholics uninformed about Our Lady’s requests, and for those who know of Fatima, the silence conveys the message that Fatima isn’t important;
– Churchmen prohibiting prayers for the Consecration and conversion of Russia;
– Churchmen and others speaking of Fatima in the past tense, falsely stating Our Lady’s requests have been heeded;
– organizations posturing as if they are Fatima-centered (even including the word Fatima as part of their name) while excluding key parts of Our Lady’s Message, or worse, distorting the Message in order to maintain the fiction that all has been fulfilled.
– Churchmen forbidding the distribution of literature on the Fatima Message for various bogus reasons. Here is one recent example:
Just this month, an apostolate volunteer said to me on the phone, “They won’t let me distribute literature from Father Gruner.” He explained that the priests at various parishes in the diocese are preventing him from passing out literature from The Fatima Center, acting on the orders of the diocesan bishop. Sound familiar?
Frustrating though it may be, technically it is a good sign. It means that the enemies of the Fatima Message are still threatened by the work of Our Lady’s apostolate, which those of us who worked side-by-side with Father Gruner for decades, continue to carry on.
It is ludicrous – yet it shows how desperate they are – to continue to intimidate people into silence about Our Lady’s Message by continuing to attack the reputation of a priest who died three-and-a-half years ago.
Failing to recognize that previous attempts to make the full Fatima Message disappear (by viciously maligning Father’s reputation) were unsuccessful while he was alive, they continue in their attempts to suppress the Message by using the same unethical methods even after his death.
These faithless men are supposed to be leading souls to Heaven but instead, in suppressing the Fatima Message, they are leading the souls that God placed in their care, in the opposite direction, to hell.
The various attacks against Father’s reputation were, and still are, bogus. When one bogus reason seemed shaky and didn’t work as well as the enemies wished, they simply invented another one – “disobedient” (not true), “he isn’t incardinated” (not true), or “he was de-frocked” (also not true).
Here is how ridiculous, yet determined, these churchmen are: On September 12, 2001, seemingly there was no greater concern of the enemies of Fatima in the Church, than reminding the world of the lie previously published, that “Father Nicholas Gruner is suspended.”
Really? The day after the Twin Towers disaster, and that is all the enemies in the Vatican were concerned about, warning the world of the previously touted bogus claim, that Father was suspended?!
Posting on the web a baseless aspersion on that pious priest. No signature, no Vatican seal, and no one taking credit for it other than the vague words – designed to mislead – “from a higher authority.” Who might that be? The now-disgraced Vatican Secretary of State at that time, Cardinal Angelo Sodano? It is obvious that no one signed or took credit for it, because no one wanted to be caught in an ugly, deliberate deception when asked for (non-existent) proof of such a slanderous claim.
Why was it posted on specifically that day? The enemies claimed it was to denounce a bishops conference, titled Peace in the World, that had been organized by Father Gruner approximately 5 months earlier, and was scheduled to take place in Rome on October 7 – 13.
The real reason for posting that slanderous notice on that specific date was because the enemies of Fatima anticipated, rightly so, that Father would proclaim and explain to the Catholic world that the Twin Towers disaster – like so many others – would never have happened if the Fatima Message had been heeded. And he would (and did) warn that more disasters are to come, until Our Lady’s Message is heeded.
Likewise, when the clergy scandals began unfolding a few decades ago, the clergy guilty of these heinous crimes should have been removed from their positions as soon as their sins were revealed. Instead their crimes were covered up by transferring them to other venues where more unsuspecting victims awaited them. They remained unscathed and their reputations were preserved intact.
However, Father Gruner was not so fortunate. While the guilty predatory clergy continued with their unspeakable crimes, Father Gruner it seems, was the only one being publicly marginalized.
For what “crime”? For continuing to remind the world, the Pope, and the bishops, that the Consecration of Russia still isn’t done and the full Third Secret is still not revealed.
Why attack Father Gruner, while leaving these clergymen to continue in their sin?
Because they weren’t promoting the full Message of Our Lady of Fatima.
The efforts to suppress Our Lady’s Message continue by various means, including “forbidding” the distribution of Fatima literature published by an apostolate whose founder’s reputation has been falsely maligned for 30 years now. Maligned solely as a means of suppressing the only apostolate working full time to spread the full Fatima Message.
Cannot Be Silenced by Men
These friends of satan just don’t get it. Their attacks against Father and his work, while gaining some victories, failed to completely silence Father and vanquish the Fatima Message because the Message isn’t about Father Gruner or The Fatima Center. It never was. It is about Who is really in charge.
It is about Her! The Queen of Heaven! She is in charge, because God gave Her this battle and it is She Who will be victorious over the evil in the Church and the world. It is She who was chosen by God to crush satan’s head.
Her Message can only be silenced if She allows it. And She may well allow it to be silenced for a time, as evil continues to grow in the world through the negligence of Catholics to heed Her requests.
It is satan who finds willing men to assist him in his mission of dragging souls to hell. This battle for souls has resulted in, and will continue to result in, the loss of many, many souls. Which is what Our Lady warned about, and why She came to Fatima in 1917.
Ignoring the Fatima Message is the reason for all the crises in the Church, and for the spiraling moral decline in the world.
Satan has been having one giant celebration as souls fall into hell, and all the more so in the last 60 years with members of the Church hierarchy – all the way to the top – helping him in his mission of stealing souls from God.
The Battle That Great Saints Wanted to Fight
Father Gruner said on more than one occasion that some of the great saints and Doctors of the Church expressed a desire to live in these times, because they said that in these times, there will be some really great saints.
Since we have been chosen to live in these times, let us embrace this battle using the weapons we have been given by Heaven, starting with praying the holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Let us wear the protective armor we have been given, Our Lady’s livery, the Brown Scapular. Let us offer sacrifices for sinners as Our Lady of Fatima requested, including offering the sacrifices of our daily duties – especially the sacrifices required by fighting this battle!
Let us make reparation for sins, especially the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, specifically by making the Five First Saturdays Devotion. If circumstances prevent this, offer Rosaries with the intention of making reparation for the five blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart.
And last, but not least, let us get back into the state of grace, if we have fallen, and stay there. Pope Pius XII said that the number of souls in the world that are saved is directly dependent on the prayers and sacrifices of Catholics who are in the state of grace.
Since Heaven sent St. Michael to the children of Fatima to prepare them, and us, for the battle in these times, let us pray to him for his intercession and assistance.
Enclosed is the leaflet, Prayer against satan and the rebellious Angels, published by order of Pope Leo XIII in 1884 when, after celebrating Mass one day, he suddenly sank to the floor in a deep swoon. Physicians were called immediately and it was feared he had already expired, because they could not find a pulse. After a short interval, the Holy Father rallied. Opening his eyes, he exclaimed with great emotion: “Oh what a horrible picture I was permitted to see!”
He had been shown, in spirit, the tremendous activities of the evil spirits and their fierce attacks against the Church. In the midst of this vision of horror he also saw consoling visions of the glorious Archangel Michael, who had appeared and cast satan and his legions back into the abyss of Hell.
The leaflet contains an exorcism prayer beginning with The Sign of the Cross and a prayer to Saint Michael. It is intended to curb the power of the devil and prevent him from doing harm.
Catholic faithful may say the exorcism prayer but should be sure to follow the instructions given on the leaflet for lay people. Please join me in praying this special prayer.
For more copies of the enclosed leaflet, call us at 1-800-263-8160 or 905-871-7607, or return the enclosed reply form.
In the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts,
Joanna Swords