As we celebrated the feast of the Ascension this week, during the Month of Our Lady May let us embrace the limitless potential for repentance. May the breathtaking Southern and Northern aurora displays over Western Australia and the UK and Ireland serve as a reminder of the beauty and wonder of our Creator, and may the message from Fatima inspire us to pray for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is May 13th on Monday.
“If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its sins, by means of war, famine, and persecutions against the Church and of the Holy Father.
“To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.”“If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI.
Following content taken from https://fatima.org/news-views/a-night-illumined-by-an-unknown-light/
The Night of the Unknown Light
By 1938, World War II was about to break out. It would begin “during the reign of Pius XI,” signaled by “a night illumined by an unknown light”. On the night of January 25-26, 1938 – during the reign of Pope Pius XI (1922-1939) – the sky became a brilliant blood-red. Likened to the blaze of a gigantic fire and filling the evening sky, it was seen across Europe and even in parts of North America and North Africa.
Though it was determined by many to be a most extraordinary aurora borealis, this phenomenon exhibited many characteristics not associated with an aurora borealis. It would appear that many simply assigned it that designation because they had no more appropriate term or explanation. And Sister Lucia expressed reservations about it being referred to as an aurora borealis. She wrote in her third memoir on August 31, 1941 that no matter what cause the light could be attributed to, “God made use of this to make me understand that His justice was about to strike the guilty nations…” This was the sign of the beginning of World War II and the other dire events predicted in the Second Secret.
As Fatima author Mark Fellows writes:
“The blood-red sky lasted for many hours, and was seen around half of the world at the same vivid intensity. Lucy and the Sisters watched the pulsating, violently hued inferno from Tuy. Of all the descriptions of that night, the most precise one had been prophesied over 20 years ago by the beautiful Lady at Cova da Iria. A ‘night illumined by an unknown light’, the Virgin told Lucy, would be ‘the great sign given by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and the Holy Father…’ … Within two months of the great sign, Hitler’s armies invaded Austria. As the Blessed Virgin had prophesied, the Second World War began ‘in the reign of Pius XI’.”
During the Reign of Pope Pius XI
Some critics argued that Sister Lucia’s prophecy that war would begin during the reign of Pius XI was incorrect, claiming that the Second World War began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 – as is widely and erroneously believed – when Pius XII was pope (installed on March 12, 1939), not Pius XI. However, the invasion of Austria (March 1938), the annexation of Czechoslovakia, the formation of military alliances and the decision to invade Poland were the beginnings of the war, though a ‘state of war’ had not yet been ‘officially’ declared by the major world powers against one another.
All of these events occurred during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI. Thus, it is historically inaccurate to claim that Our Lady’s prediction of a worse war breaking out during the reign of Pius XI was an error. Not only does such an assertion demonstrate a lack of historical knowledge, but worse it betrays a lack of piety and reverence, and at worst, could be construed as blasphemous.
Also, during the same night of January 25-26, 1938,
“in Moscow’s Lubianka prison a man by the name of Kristian Rakovsky was being interrogated by Josef Stalin’s chief interrogator. During the interrogation Rakovsky revealed Germany’s plan to dominate Europe. He proposed that the Soviet Union join Germany in an invasion of Poland, which would lead to Europe’s retaliation against Germany and not the Soviet Union. According to Rakovsky’s plan, France and England would wear each other out, after which the Soviet Union would turn on Germany and collect the spoils of the war. This fateful interview began at the same time the unknown light in the sky was beginning to fade. It resulted in the Soviet Union’s instigation of and participation in the war, and Rakovsky’s plan was carried out to the great benefit of the Soviet Union. Again, this decisive step toward World War II occurred during the reign of Pope Pius XI.”
The Solution: The Consecration of Russia
In addition to World War II, all the other events prophesied by Our Lady in July 1917 have already occurred – at least to some degree. We certainly should not think that these prophecies are ‘complete and done with.’ In fact, it is most likely that there will be more ‘hunger, famine, war, and persecutions of the Church.” It seems certain that more “good will be martyred,” that the Pope and papal office will suffer even greater trials. It’s manifestly obvious that we have not yet seen the ‘annihilation of nations.’
But to prevent all of this, Our Lady had appeared to Sister Lucia in Tuy, Spain on June 13, 1929 to make Her formal request for the Consecration of Russia. Then, since the Pope and Catholic bishops still had not obeyed Our Lady, in August 1931 at Rianjo, Spain, Our Lord told Sister Lucia, “It is never too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.” Thus, Heaven’s solution is still available to us.
Regarding the importance and efficacy of the Consecration of Russia requested by Our Lady, we can see a foretaste in Portugal of what the world will enjoy when the Consecration is finally properly done.
On May 13, 1931, the 14th anniversary of the first apparition at Fatima, in the presence of 300,000 faithful, the bishops of Portugal solemnly consecrated their nation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. As a result of this Consecration, Portugal experienced a threefold miracle:
- There was a magnificent Catholic renaissance; a vast renewal of Catholic life, which manifested itself in many areas, including a drastic upsurge in priestly and religious vocations and religious communities.
- There was a miracle of political and social reform, in accordance with Catholic social principles, Antonio Salazar ascended to power and “inaugurated a Catholic, counter-revolutionary program. He strove to create, as much as possible, a Catholic social order wherein the laws of government and social institutions are harmonized with the law of Christ, His Gospel and His Church. A fierce adversary of socialism and liberalism, he was opposed to ‘everything which diminishes or dissolves the family.’”
- “[T]here was a twofold miracle of peace. Portugal was preserved from the Communist terror, especially from the Spanish Civil War which raged (1936-1939) next door, and Portugal was also spared from the devastation of World War II (1938-1945).” Then in 1936, the Portuguese bishops vowed that if Our Lady protected Portugal from the ravages of the Spanish Civil War, they would express their gratitude by renewing the Consecration of Portugal to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which they did on May 13, 1938.
On February 6, 1939, seven months before declaration of World War II and a year after the “night illumined by an unknown light” (January 25-26, 1938), Sister Lucia wrote to her bishop, Msgr. da Silva, telling him that war was imminent, but that “in this horrible war, Portugal would be spared because of the national consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary made by the bishops.”And Portugal was spared the horrors of war.
Sister Lucia then wrote to Pope Pius XII on December 2, 1940, telling him that “Portugal was receiving special protection during the war that other nations would have received if the bishops would have consecrated their nations to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
And on May 13, 1942, Portugal’s Cardinal Cerejeira maintained that “the miraculous blessings Our Lady obtained for Portugal as a heavenly reward for the 1931 consecration of that nation were only a foretaste of what She will do for the entire world, once Russia is also properly consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart. As the Cardinal said: ‘What has taken place in Portugal proclaims the miracle. And it foreshadows what the Immaculate Heart of Mary has prepared for the world.’”
Conclusion
Which would you rather have: the Catholic renaissance and peace experienced by Portugal after the national consecrations of 1931 and 1938, or the state of affairs currently seen not only in the Ukraine and Gaza but throughout the entire world? It is long past time for the Pope, in union with all the Catholic bishops of the world, to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary!
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
“When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’. Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’” (Jn 19:26-27).
