Mass celebrating the Reception of the Fatima Statue

Celebrated By Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
on Saturday, 12th August, 2006, at 11.00am

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am delighted to be one with the presence of the Fatima statue of Our Lady in this special Mass.

A statue reminds us of our person. Mary, the first disciple of the Lord, who loves us, guides us to Jesus in fulfilling the will of the Father.

In this Mass as we honour Mary, our Mother, and with her come to Jesus who gives perfect worship to the Father, let us ask her to pray for us and to keep us focussed on Jesus as she was.

Let us call to mind our sins.

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we honour Mary our Mother, who appeared to Lucy, Jacinta and Francis on seven occasions between 1917 and 1921.

To prepare for those apparitions the angel appeared to the three children at Loca dor Cabeço to prepare them for meeting with Our Lady. The angel’s words, ‘Fear not. I am the angel of peace, pray with me’, and the prayer the angel taught them, ‘My God, I believe, I hope, I adore and I love you. I implore your pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, nor hope, nor love you.’ The angel then brought them the Blessed Sacrament, teaching them how to receive Communion in atonement and repeating with them the beautiful act of reparation.

On 13th May 1917, Our Lady, described by Lucia as “A lady dressed in white shining brighter than the sun, giving out rays of clear and intense light, just as a crystal goblet full of pure water when the fiery sun passes through it.” Apparitions continued until 15 th June 1921, with the reminder that a life of prayer, suffering and penance is necessary in order to come to heaven and emphasising the power of the daily Rosary.

When Lucy asked about the faith of the children in June she received this message. “Certainly I will take Jacinta and Francis soon. But you must stay here longer. Jesus wants you to make me known and loved. He wants to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. To those who embrace it I promise salvation and God will love these souls like flowers put by me to adorn his throne.”

The recitation of the Rosary was emphasised by Our Lady as necessary for peace in the world and was confirmed by the miracle of the sun in October 1917. Prayer, penance and the Rosary and a oneness with Jesus which Mary demonstrated are seen as absolutely essential to the Fatima message and to the salvation of the world.

Successive Popes; Pope Pius XII in his time and Pope John Paul II in 1984, have consecrated the world to Our Lady as she requested and when Pope John Paul II went to Fatima on 13 th May 1982 in thanksgiving for his own protection from death he said these words, “I find myself today in this place chosen by you O Mother and by you specially loved. I am here united with all the bishops of the Church by that particular bond through which we constitute a body and a college, like Christ wished his apostles in unity with Peter. In the bond of this unity, I pronounce the words of the act … forty years ago and then again after ten years your servant Pope Pius XII entrusted and consecrated to your Immaculate Heart the whole world and especially the countries that were the particular objects of your love and care. This world of men and of nations I have it also under my eyes today as the moment on which I desire to renew the offering and the consecration made by my predecessor in the See of Peter. In a special way we offer you and we consecrate to you those men and those nations that have the greatest need of this offering and of this consecration.”

Dear brothers and sisters, today is a moment of oneness with Our Lady. She gave herself to Jesus in purity and in complete freedom from sin. By our repentance, sacramental confession and oneness with Jesus, we resolve to live as he has called us to live in the life that only he has given. Jacinta’s own words, “I suffer very much, but I offer it all for the conversion of sinners and in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary”, are a reminder of the challenge given to us to live one with Our Lady and to offer our sufferings for conversion of those who have turned away from the Lord.

Fatima is a wonderful moment when we know Mary’s care for us and her directing us towards Jesus. May he do that now and always.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.