Dear Friends and Benefactors,

The world remains in shock over last month’s vicious suicide attacks, which are likely to be as good a symbol of hell as we will ever want to hear about. The sheer evil reminds me of the vision of hell seen by the children of Fatima, as described by Sister Lucia:

"Plunged in this fire were demons and souls that looked like transparent embers, some black or bronze, in human form, driven about by the flames that issued from within themselves together with clouds of smoke. They were falling on all sides, just as sparks cascade from great fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid cries of pain and despair which horrified us so that we trembled with fear…"

Nobody can doubt that this atrocity is an important event in the worldwide struggle of evil against good, of the devil against God. Nobody can deny that this event was produced by the false monotheistic religions that have rejected Christ, the Redeemer, and his instruction that is the epitome of Catholic charity: "Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you" (Mt 5:44).

Nobody can deny that such diabolical hatred, revenge and despair are the product of "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" and "thou shalt love they neighbor and hate they enemy" (Mt 5:38 & 43), so clearly condemned by Our Lord.

It is crucial for us to pray that our neo-pagan country not be carried away by similar dangerous and anti-Christian sentiments of revenge, although charity does indeed require that justice be done to the guilty. Rather let us see here a sobering punishment and warning for a society that has created a hell for itself by despising the laws of God. It is no longer just divorce, breakdown of the family and murder of the unborn; it is now public impurity, homosexuality as an approved life-style, euthanasia, artificial insemination, cloning and fetal cell research that have become perversions crying out for vengeance. How can our society self-righteously claim that it does not deserve this wake up call, when it deserves much more?

As we pray for the repose of the poor souls caught in this tragedy, for all those who suffer from its consequences, and for the conversion of those who might have taken part in engineering it, let us not forget the simple words of Our Lady of Fatima:

"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. In order to save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If you do what I tell you, many souls will be saved, there will be peace."

Surely this is the message that we need to learn: to give ourselves more fully to establishing devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, wherever we are. For perfect spouse of the Holy Ghost, Mother of Mercy, filled with compassion, She is the Refuge of Sinners; She alone holds the key to the perfect love of Her Divine Son which is the beginning of heaven. This devotion is necessarily a devotion of reparation, making up for all those who do not recognize the greatness of this Spiritual Vessel, Mother of divine grace. Our Lord Himself explained to Sister Lucia, on May 29, 1930, what this devotion of reparation really meant:

"There are five types of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

1. Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception.

2. Blasphemies against Her perpetual Virginity.

3. Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize Her as the mother of men.

4. The blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children indifference or scorn, or even hatred of this Immaculate Mother.

5. The offenses of those who outrage Her directly in Her holy images. Here, My daughter, is the reason why the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspired Me to ask for this little act of Reparation."

Alas, these blasphemies are continually repeated not only in the modern world, and not only in the false sects, but also within the Catholic Church itself. If the Protestants and Orthodox have always denied the Immaculate Conception, this extraordinary prerogative of Our Lady is now disregarded as meaningless by the majority of Catholics. For if original sin is no longer considered such a horrific separation as to make us enemies of God (the Pope himself has effectively denied that it breaks God’s covenant), then Mary’s immunity from every stain of original sin becomes a meaningless expression. And if heretics have often denied Mary’s perfect virginity before, during and after the birth of Our Lord, now Catholics no longer regard virginity, whether consecrated by religious vows or as preparation for marriage, as an indescribable treasure, for they do not appreciate the miracle of Our Lady’s perpetual virginity, purity and holiness. And if Protestants have always denied Our Lady’s mediation of grace, the refusal of the post-Conciliar Church to define or even to preach that Mary is the Mediatrix of All Graces is a frightening betrayal of the integrity of our Faith. And if Protestants have always treated Our Lady with indifference and scorn, the fact that so many Catholics have now pushed aside Marian devotion as a medieval superstition is the ultimate insult to her Immaculate Heart. Likewise the modern iconoclasts, who have destroyed the holy pictures and statues in our churches, or relegated them to museums, have they not also greatly disrespected our Heavenly Mother and Queen?

Can we not see in the failure of Catholics to make reparation to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart the fundamental reason for such a punishment against our nation? Let us, then, be ever more vigilant, at work, in our homes and churches, with our friends and families; to honor our Immaculate Mother and to acknowledge our sinfulness; to treasure all virginity as a participation in Our Lady’s perpetual virginity; to practice publicly and in our hearts the devotion to the Blessed Mother, from whom all graces flow; to encourage others to honor and love Our Lady, knowing that the more we honor Her the more we honor Her Divine Son; to treasure and have around us truly beautiful and sacred images of the Blessed Virgin Mary, under all her different and wonderful titles. In this way we will make reparation for a nation that is without God because it is without Mary, His Mother, and for a Church that is drifting away from the Faith because it has pushed out devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The diabolical nature of the revolution in the Church was recently illustrated by an interview with Fr. Gabriele Amorth, Founder and Honorary President of the International Association of Exorcists, published in 30 Days magazine (No. 6, 2001). Complaining about the new rite of exorcism that the Congregation of Divine Worship is trying to introduce, he had this to say:

"All of us exorcists in trying out the prayers of the new ad interim Rite have proved that they are totally ineffective. But then again, the rite of Baptism of children came off worse too. It was totally re-worked so that exorcism against Satan has been all but eliminated"

and also,

"Their intention was to arm us with a blunt sword. Some effective prayers were cancelled, prayers with 12 centuries of history. New ineffective prayers were written in".

His only lifeline, he explained, was that permission can still be obtained to use the traditional rite. His other great complaint is that 150 exorcists, all priests trained and canonically appointed to the charge were "barred from taking part in a public Papal Audience in Saint Peter’s Square. (This) says much of how the exorcists of the Church are obstructed in their ministry, how much they are frowned upon by so many of the ecclesiastical authorities."

Father answered the following interesting question:

"You are locked in daily battle with the Devil. What do you see as Satan’s greatest success?"

and his answer was very revealing about the crisis in the world and in the Church:

"The fact that he has managed to convince people that he does not exist. He has almost managed it, even within the Church. We have a clergy and an Episcopate who no longer believe in the Devil, in exorcism, in the exceptional evil the Devil can instill, or even the power that Jesus bestowed to cast out demons".

The recent tragedy is a reminder of the evil that the devil does in the world, consequence of the evil that the same devil continues to bring about in the Church. Listen again to Father Amorth commenting on the exclusion of the 150 exorcists from the Papal audience:

"The smoke of Satan gets in everywhere, everywhere. Perhaps we were kept out of the Papal audience because they were afraid that all those exorcists might have cast out the legions of demons that have installed themselves in the Vatican."

"You’re joking aren’t you?" was the question that immediately followed, to which Fr. Amorth had this to say:

"It might sound like it, but I don’t think that it is a joke. I have no doubt whatever the Devil is tempting the upper levels of the Church, above all, just as he tempts every upper level..."

It is very importance for us to keep our combat in perspective. It is a combat against the devil himself, attempting to destroy the hierarchy, liturgy and doctrines that make up the Catholic Church, and this under cover that he does not exist, and that consequently religion can now evolve into a humanistic world-wide fraternity, the progress of humanity towards an earthly paradise and the defense of the rights of man. Such, at least, is the meaning of the preparatory document for the Synod of Bishops, scheduled to take place in Rome during this month of October. Take, for example, §32:

"New tasks are the field for the Church’s mission, to match today’s new social phenomena and new cultural necessities, new environments for evangelization and new engagements that derive from the understanding of the Gospel message. These latter are the promotion of peace; the development and liberation of peoples; the acknowledgement of the rights of minorities; the promotion of the status of women; a new preoccupation for children and youth; the safekeeping of the creation; the promotion of authentic culture and of scientific research that respects the values of life; international dialogue on new world-wide projects."

Here is the true evil in our modern world, the suicide of souls by entirely overlooking the reality of the supernatural contest against the world, the flesh and the devil upon which our eternity depends. May God grant us confidence, through the intercession and protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, through the daily recitation of her Holy Rosary, and through the devotion of reparation to her Immaculate Heart, sign of final perseverance.