Section 14: "At The Hour Of Death"
The Word Of God Vs. The Lady Of Fatima's Words
Section 14: "At The Hour Of Death"
The Word Of God Vs. The Lady Of Fatima's Words
At the age of 18, Lucia entered the Novitiate of the Institute of St. Dorothy as a postulant. Two months later, on December 10, 1925, the Lady appeared again to Lucia and showed her a heart encircled by thorns, which she was holding in her hand. The Lady said:
"Look, my daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns which ungrateful men pierce me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me"(10).
Here is a long list of conditions which, when met, assures us that "Mary" will supply the grace necessary for salvation at our death. But the writer to the Hebrews observed,
"Although by this time you should be teaching others, you need to have someone teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. . . . [including] repentance from dead works" (Hebrews 5:12; 6:1, NAB).
The members of this Judeo-Christian community had heard the voice of God, but they were trying to go back to other systems instead of pressing on to maturity. This seems to be a time-spanning temptation; nineteen centuries later, there is another voice urging even those who've once heard God to return to their own works. This Lady of Fatima wants five months of Saturdays given to works, works which are done in order to attain something that's already been given to us.
God has given the grace necessary for salvation in the Person of Christ (John 1:17), and it avails right now. We don't have to wait until we're ready to die. Jesus took care of any promise of acceptance at the hour of death. He Himself is salvation at that hour because we believe in Him:
"I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, though he should die, will come to life; and whoever is alive and believes in me will never die" (John 11:25-26, NAB).
Though the first Adam put us all under the sentence of death, the writer to the Hebrews proclaimed Jesus as our victory over death, and over the fear of death which resides in all men's hearts:
"Now, since the children are men of flesh and blood, Jesus likewise had a full share in ours, that by his death he might rob the devil, the prince of death, of his power, and free those who through fear of death had been slaves their whole life long" (Hebrews 2:14-15, NAB).
In his letter to the Romans, Paul explicitly states that the death issue has been resolved in Christ:
"At the appointed time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for us godless men. . . . If death began its reign through one man because of his offense, much more shall those who receive the overflowing grace and gift of justice live and reign through the one man, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:6,17, NAB).
After His resurrection, Jesus the Lord appeared to John with a message to the churches:
"There is nothing to fear. I am the First and the Last and the One who lives.Once I was dead but now I live - forever and ever. I hold the keys of death and the nether world" (Revelation 1:17-18, NAB).
Because of Jesus' resurrection from the dead and His Spirit within, we have victory at the moment of our personal death. He has already destroyed its power that kept us out of God's presence:
"The sting of death is sin, and sin gets its power from the law. But thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:56-57, NAB).
Earlier in this chapter, Paul proclaims the unique worth of Christ's death and resurrection:
"If Christ was not raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins, and those who have fallen asleep in Christ are the deadest of dead. If our hopes in Christ are limited to this life only, we are the most pitiable of men" (vv. 17-19, NAB).
We know that Christ was raised from the dead, and this is God's proof that men are freed from their sins and have victory over death. Our hope is in Christ by faith, rather than in works requested by an apparition.
"Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13, RSV). This is God's promise to us, but has He left open the possibility that He'll also save those who call on some other name? Is there any scriptural reason to believe that God may possibly honor the First Saturday Devotions? No. Scripture says,
"There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name in the whole world given to men by which we are to be saved" (Acts 4:12, NAB).
There is no salvation in the name of Mary, no salvation in the name of the Immaculate Heart, no salvation in the name of First Saturdays, nor in the name of reparation to Our Lady of Fatima - no salvation in any other name in the whole world!
There is salvation only in the name of Jesus. There is no grace of salvation received through devotion to the Lady's Immaculate Heart. Paul wrote:
"For it is by free grace [God's unmerited favor] that you are saved [delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation] through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves - of your own doing, it came not through your own striving - but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law's demands], lest any man should boast. - It is not the result of what any one can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself" (Ephesians 2:8-9, AMP).
We'd like to make a simple point here. During the first apparition at Fatima, Lucia asked the Lady if she would go to heaven:
"'Yes, you will.'
'And Jacinta?'
'She will go also.'
'And Francisco?'
'He will go there too, but he must say many Rosaries'"(2).
First, we want to be perfectly clear that God does not send anyone's spirit from heaven to preach the gospel. He has given that role to the body of Christ, his flesh and blood followers. In addition, the Lady's responses to Lucia's queries are proof in themselves that this particular spirit was bringing "another gospel." If the "Lady from heaven" had intended to proclaim God's word, this would have been a grand opportunity to relate the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ, an ideal situation for the children to hear the good news that it is God "who has given you life in Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:30, NAB). The Lady could have promised,
"God so loved Francisco that He gave His only Son, that by believing in Him, Francisco will not perish but have eternal life" (see John 3:16)."In Him, you too, Francisco, were chosen; when you hear the glad tidings of salvation, the word of truth, and believe in it, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit who had been promised. He is the pledge of our inheritance [which includes heaven], the first payment against the full redemption of a people God has made His own, to praise His glory" (see Ephesians 1:13-14).
But instead of giving Francisco this good news, the Lady laid the "grace" for his salvation on the number of Rosaries he would say. She didn't tell him that Jesus said He was "the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through [Him]" (John 14:6, NAB).
The Lady who said she came from heaven made no such use of this opportunity. Instead, in this first appearance as well as in each of the others, she centered things on herself - her Rosaries, her Immaculate Heart, her presence, her way to God, her plan for world peace, her healing power, her chapel, her miracle of the sun. In the few times she did refer to Jesus, the Lady portrayed Him as chief promoter of devotion to her Immaculate Heart, which we will discuss in the next chapter.
(1) Kondor, Appendix 1, pp. 191-192.
(2) Kondor, p. 161.
