The International Pilgrim Virgin Statue Comes to Hawaii

"The role of Mary is to lead us to Jesus"

As previously reported here, Our Lady of Fatima's pilgrim statue is visiting the Hawaiian islands this month.  Yesterday, we were privileged to see this beautiful statue of our Lady at Star of the Sea in Honolulu.  Her custodian Patrick Sabat accompanies her all of the world.  There are two statues in Fatima of our Lady.  One is permanently in Fatima and the other one is the pilgrim statue.  This particular statue has actually wept tears.  To the faithful, it is a sign that our blessed mother is very sorrowful.  So much sin and suffering abound in the world.  People are turning away from her son.  However, since the start of her visit in Hawaii a week ago, the statue has not wept.

In 1972 this statue wept.  Just two months later Roe v. Wade made the crime of abortion legal in the United States.

"The world at prayer is a world of peace." - Father Patrick Peyton

The statue is on a teaching mission as it travels the world.  We are asked to respond to Mary's request at Fatima.  She asked us for prayer. "Pray a great deal for many soul's go to hell because there is no one there to pray for them or make sacrifices for them."

"The white square of Fatima vs. the Red Square of Russia." - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

We are called to be holy.  "To do great things with great love."  Just doing our ordinary duties can be holy.

Patrick Sabat challenging us "Are you willing to accept he suffering God wishes for you." 

We should accept this suffering for the conversion of sinners.  Just like the little shepherd children at Fatima did.

"My tears speak louder than my words" - Blessed Mother 1984

"Anyone who looks upon the face of my holy statue will

receive from my son and I {sic} an imprint of His heart and soul and will have peace of mind."

- Virgin Mary 1981

I would like to take this opportunity to share a portion of the latest email I, as a division leader, received from the World Apostolate of Fatima:

In 1989 the Blue Army USA address list included over 500,000 supporting members; 10 years later that had dropped to 125,000; by 2009 I was told we had only around 10,000 members left. The principal reason for this rapid decrease in supporting members seems to be the fall of the Soviet Union and consequent elimination of the threat of a communist takeover of the world and possible nuclear war. Also, perhaps more significantly, our culture has undergone a rapid change from Christianity to agnosticism, due in large part to the spread of the "errors of Russia" foretold by Our Lady of Fatima if her requests were not fulfilled. Even "devout" Catholics seem to pray much less than 50 years ago and the daily Rosary is quite out of fashion even among Catholics who consider themselves devout.

Five years ago we tried a new approach to growing WAF membership in the less devout Catholic atmosphere of our country. Through the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue Program we invited Catholics to make a pledge to pray every day for the conversion of sinners and to offer our daily crosses (everything we wish didn't happen in our lives, great or small) as reparation for sin and for the conversion of sinners, using the formula given to us by Our Lady at Fatima. In just five years our membership has grown by over 51,000 new members!

The Blue Army/WAF Pledge is still a principal goal of our apostolate (everyone in a leadership position is expected to sign the Pledge) but the simpler pledge of prayer and reparation for the conversion of sinners -- strongly requested by Our Lady -- is now considered sufficient for new members. This allows us to bring in new members who don't feel ready to sign the WAF Pledge but are willing to pray and make daily reparation for the conversion of sinners, so that we can form them in the Message of Fatima and motivate them to make the WAF Pledge. In this regard, the new members are like novices, who need to learn about the Message and grow into the spiritual life requested of us all at Fatima. We can only spiritually form those we can reach, and the simpler introductory pledge has proven effective in bringing in new members who aren't yet ready to make the WAF Pledge. It's also important to remember that Our Lady revealed that peace can be obtained only by converting sinners through prayer and reparation...

Reminder: Tomorrow is a First Saturday. Please take this opportunity to answer our Lady's call to Prayer: Penance: Rosary and Reparation.