Fr. Ladis J. CizikEditor’s Note: The following is the text of a sermon given by the author at a Traditional Latin Mass on August 31, 2018. As always, Catholic Family News thanks Fr. Cizik for his continued public witness, spiritual support, and timely insights during these times of terrible darkness.
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In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
The Message of Fatima gives us a concrete way to respond to the disgusting, predominantly homosexual-based clergy sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church today. The Fatima Message calls for all of us to make reparation for the “outrages, sacrileges and indifference” by which Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, is offended. A reading of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report and other continuing reports of clergy sex abuse and cover-ups around the world give perverse new diabolical meanings to the words “outrages, sacrileges and indifference” spoken by the Guardian Angel of Portugal to the three innocent shepherd children in 1916.
The Message of Fatima demands reparation for such reprehensible crimes. The late Father John Hardon, in his Catholic dictionary, defined “reparation” as:
“The act or fact of making amends. It implies an attempt to restore things to their normal or sound conditions, as they were before something wrong was done. It applies mainly to recompense for the losses sustained or the harm caused by some morally bad action. With respect to God, it means making up with greater love for the failure in love through sin; it means restoring what was unjustly taken and compensating with generosity for the selfishness that caused the injury. (Etym: Latin reparare, to prepare anew, restore.)”
In Her first apparition to Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta on May 13, 1917, Our Lady asked the three shepherd children:
“Are you willing to offer yourselves to God to bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”
Lucia, the eldest (age 10), responded: “Yes, we are willing,” answering for her cousins. “Then, you are going to have much to suffer,” Our Lady promised, “but the grace of God will be your comfort.”
In our troubled times, during perhaps the greatest crisis in the history of the Church – perhaps a sign of the End Times – faithful Catholics will have much to suffer as we make reparation for the odious sexual sins, mostly of a homosexual nature, within the Church by which Almighty God is offended. As with the three Fatima children, we “must be willing” to endure suffering and rely upon the grace of God to be our consolation.
The Novena of Traditional Latin Masses that we begin this evening is a “Novena of Reparation.” Specifically, it is a Novena of “reparation for the heinous sins detailed in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report.” In addition, the other stated purpose of this Novena is “for the spiritual and physical well-being of the victims” and “for God’s justice.” In light of continuing breaking news extending this reprehensible sex abuse crisis to the highest levels of the Universal Church, I would ask you to add the horrific sex abuses and cover-ups beyond the borders of Pennsylvania to your prayers.
Prior to Our Lady’s appearances at Fatima, the Guardian Angel of Portugal appeared to the three shepherd children in 1916. He too spoke of the need for reparation as he taught the following prayer, which I call the “Angel Prayer,” in the presence of the Most Blessed Sacrament:
“O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly, and I offer Thee the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.”
The monstrous sins detailed in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, as well as the other abominable sins being reported today of clergy at ALL levels of the Church throughout the world, fueled primarily by a homosexual subculture within the Church, are INDEED “outrages, sacrileges and indifference” for which we MUST make reparation.
When Bishop John Pereira Venancio, the second bishop of the diocese that included Fatima, was asked to summarize the Fatima Message, he responded: “Fatima is reparation, reparation, reparation, and especially, Eucharistic Reparation.” He added that Eucharistic reparation includes such things as visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament, Holy Hours and vigils, but especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. That is exactly what we are doing here this evening at this Traditional Latin Mass – we are making Eucharistic reparation.
At the pinnacle of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at the Consecration, I would ask that you offer the Angel Prayer silently in reparation three times. The Angel directed the Fatima children to pray it three times in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Therefore, as the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, this evening, may this prayer of reparation silently be upon your lips.
Reparation is Fatima’s response to the contemptible clergy sex abuse crisis. This is a response to which faithful Catholics are called. Reparation is our cry to Heaven for God’s justice and for the spiritual and physical well-being of the victims. Reparation will also serve to bring us peace in this life and, one day, happiness forever in the life of the world to come.
In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
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Author’s Note: This sermon (delivered Aug. 31, 2018) marked the first of a nine day “NOVENA OF REPARATION for the Heinous Sins Detailed in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report” sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Woodlawn Council 2161 Traditional Latin Mass Guild. The intention also includes “the spiritual and physical well-being of the victims” and “for God’s Justice.” Click the following link to learn more: https://knightsofcolumbuslatinmass.blogspot.com/
Matt Gaspers
