Please check our schedule updates page for the Mass, Confession, Adoration, and Devotions schedule during the Week. Please keep checking often for any changes.
Revolution and Our Lady of Fatima
1917 saw one of the bloodiest revolutions in history: the Communist Revolution in Russia. That said, communism has never limited itself to Russia. When Pope Pius XI condemned communism in the 1930s, he wrote the encyclical in Latin – for the whole world (as opposed to the two encyclicals condemning Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany were written in Italian and German respectively).
1917 also witnessed the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three poor shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. On July 13, 1917 Our Lady showed the children Hell. She also spoke to them of the sins and offenses against her Son that had caused World War I and would possibly lead to another war if mankind did not repent of its offenses against Jesus. To avoid impending suffering, Our Lady asked the children to spread the following message (which is relevant today):
Mary said, “To prevent this I come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not she will scatter her errors through the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyrized, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world.” (The First Saturday Communion of reparation is to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of each month in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.)
In other apparitions Blessed Mother asked the children to pray the Rosary for the conversion of poor sinners.
Our Lady’s promise has come true as in 1984 St. John Paul II consecrated Russia to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart. It was soon thereafter that communism in Eastern Europe fell, beginning in Poland. The Catholic Faith is free in most of the former ‘Eastern Bloc’. Communism also fell as a political party in Russia, though there are many ‘former communists’ in power. The Catholic Faith is ‘mostly free’ to operate in Russia today.
Was there bloodshed in this Revolution of Our Lady? The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe was, for the most part, a bloodless revolution led by Our Lady
Herself through Pope St. John Paul II. It was this pope who consecrated himself to Our Lady as a 20 year old. He loved to pray the Rosary daily. He was miraculously spared by an assassin’s bullet on May 13, 1981 – the anniversary of the first apparition of Fatima. It was this saint who was ordained a priest in secret during the communist rule of Poland. He consecrated his papacy to Our Lady. He it was who led this revolution through the Rosary, his courageous teaching and courageous action.
In the midst of an attempt to a social revolution in our country to socialism and a removal of a government ‘by the people’, may we follow Our Lady’s words to pray the Rosary daily and make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and peace! May we learn from St. John Paul II to use the weapon of Truth in action to shine on the errors of darkness that seek acceptance of immorality as well as limit our freedoms, especially our religious liberty!
God bless
FRVW
Homily for the 17th Sunday After Pentecost (EF 9/27)
“…We must pray fervently, that the best candidates are indeed elected, in the humble and trustful and persevering spirit of the alleluia verse, ‘O Lord hear my prayer, let my cry come unto thee”…”
Homily for 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (OF 9/27)
“…God’s ways are not unfair, we think that because sometimes life is hard for us, and we get frustrated in our sins …”
Ignite, St. Thomas’s, Spark, and GSG!
Just a reminder that there are a few youth ministries’ options this week. All high schoolers are welcomed at Ignite, St. Thomas’s, Girls Small Groups, and Guys Small Groups, any week, so please feel free to invite and bring a friend! The same goes for all middle schoolers being welcomed at Spark, so please feel free to invite and bring a friend anytime!
We are also in need of volunteer adult leaders, those willing to help lead by their presence and sharing their love for Jesus with our parish’s awesome high school and middle school teens… please email Paul to learn more!
Also, if you’d like to be added to either the high school (grades 9-12) or middle school (grades 6-8) email lists, to hear about these ministries and more throughout the year, as well as upcoming events, please email Paul: youthministry@holytrinityparish.net.
Here’s more for this week:
Revolution and Education
How does a revolution occur? What is a revolution?! Deus Vult was the rallying cry of Catholic crusaders in the 1200s. It means God Wills It! Re-volt then is a turning away from someone, some power, etc.
Most of us have studied in our basic high school history classes about the bloody, violent revolutions in France from 1789-1794 – 1000s and 1000s lost their lives, many of whom were priests and nuns; Or, the communists in Russia in 1917 (and following years) – millions lost their lives; Or, the communists in China in 1948 (and following years) – tens of millions lost their lives.
There are other ways to bring about revolution. One effective way is through education – either for the truth or against the truth. I will come back to the Truth. Indoctrination through education is essential to any revolution. (Hence, the need in every revolution against Truth to stop all Catholic education.) The above revolutions would not have amounted to much, particularly the communists, if they had not indoctrinated their youth. How? There are a few basic agenda items:
~ Remove God and any objective moral authority (as well as those who would teach such)
~ Remove/rewrite history and the errors of history
~ Remove parents from teaching their children
~ Teach the youth a new (and false) ‘religion/way,’ ‘truth,’ and ‘life’
Can we see similar actions in our country?
~ Has God been removed from our school systems? Is there any objective moral authority – i.e. Natural Law – taught as a basis for moral decisions? Locally, it is the state department of education. Fairfax County’s gender confusion education is permitted within the Va. Dept. of Education.
~ Is there a slant in teaching subjects, particularly history, against Christianity – i.e. oversight of persecutions in Mexico (1920s), Russia (1920s-1980s), Eastern Europe (1940s-1980s), China (1950s-present), care for European Jews in World War II by the Catholic Church, etc?
~ How many of our parents are given textbooks to peruse – especially regarding family life education? In the social engineering education in Virginia, do parents have the right to opt their kids out of gender indoctrination classes? How many parents are seen as the primary, original and irreplaceable teachers of their children – as St. John Paul II taught so clearly?
~ What are our youth being taught? There are no absolute truths, except perhaps in math – forget science if you can now define whether you are male or female! God is irrelevant – if He even exists. You can decide what is the ‘truth’ for you. You can decide how to live your life based on your definition of truth. EXCEPT, if your Truth – Christian morality – is deemed ‘unloving’ and ‘bigoted’ by the established rulers – could be political, educational, entertainment, etc. – you are not allowed to hold these or live according to them!
If we do not recognize these shifts, we are behind the curve by about 40 years. The non-Christian movers in education (and entertainment) have been at work for well over 40 years to bring about a social revolution. We could add the political. But, the political will only last if people’s beliefs and morals have been effectively changed.
Are there good Christian people in education? Yes. But, presently their voices – if raised – are not being heard. How crucial it is for every family to re-commit to learning, teaching and living the Truths of Jesus Christ! He it is Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life! He it is Who reveals to man what it is to be man! He it is Who has promised ‘the Truth will set you free’!
More on how the Truth, Jesus Christ, has brought about true, peaceful revolutions in recent memory – and will in the future.
God bless
FRVW
Homily for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost (EF 9/20)
“….One day at a time, so we can love, that’s how Our Lord is going to change this world, is by Catholics who are in love with Him, spend time with Him, and are humble and think first of Him and then of other and then think of themselves last…the human heart is made for love….”
Homily for 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (OF 9/20)
“He doesn’t asks us to be creative, He asks us to be faithful, and humble, and admit that all that we have comes from Him, and not to envy His generosity towards others…..”
Fraternal Correction Points by Fr. Herbert F. Smith, S.J.
- Unless you are a model correction taker, be slow to give it.
- Correct like a friend and fellow sinner, not like an enemy.
- Knowing how you resent unjust correction, never inflict it.
- Harping on past faults is not correction but condemnation.
- Know that love wins over better than an army of accusations.
- Get help to correct when it is needed.
- Frame the correction so it will heal and not wound further.
- Decide first whether the person needs correction or help.
- Correct infrequently, and only the greater failings.
- Correction hurts, so don’t correct with a sledgehammer.
- Think how prayerfully Mary would correct, and imitate her.
- Put yourself in the culprit’s shoes and think about it. You may end up congratulating him for not being worse!
Homily for the 15th Sunday After Pentecost (EF 9/13)
“…May all of us work to elect leaders who will defend the right to life from the moment of conception and strive to protect the dignity and innocence of our children from the wickedness of such organizations, so to fulfill what Paul said today “Let us do good to all men, especially to those of the household of faith…”
Homily for 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (OF 9/13)
“May we forgive from the heart so the heart may be free to love”
