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Homilies | Saturday, May 13, 2017

Pray the rosary to bring peace and the end of war

Archbishop's homily at celebration for Fatima's 100th anniversary

Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily at St. Michael Church, Miami, May 13, 2017, during a celebration for the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions at Fatima.

Jesus tells the disciples in the Gospel today: Do not let your hearts be troubled; o sea, no pierdan la paz, si creen en Dios, crean tambien en mi. You have faith in God, have faith also in me.

This is “good news” for a world of fragile peace and broken promises. And it was to remind us of these promises of Christ — the Way, the Truth, and the Life — that his mother appeared at Cova de Iria, near Fatima, to three shepherd children 100 years ago today. We rejoice today that today two of those three children were canonized by Pope Francis.

In coming months, beginning today and ending Oct. 13, when in 1917 the “Miracle of the Sun” took place, there will be commemorations of these apparitions in the archdiocese and throughout the world including in Fatima, Portugal, where these events took place.

In her appearances to the three children, Mary, whom they saw as a woman “brighter than the sun,” confided to them certain “secrets” that over the years provoked no little speculation and controversy. But perhaps more importantly, Mary asked them to pray. She asked them to pray the rosary every day to bring peace to the world and an end to war.

En sus apariciones a los tres niños, María, a quien veían como una mujer “más brillante que el sol”, les confió ciertos “secretos” que, a lo largo de los años, provocaron no poca especulación y controversia. Pero, lo que quizás sea aún más importante, María les pidió que oraran. Les pidió que rezaran el rosario todos los días para traer la paz al mundo y el fin de la guerra.

El rezo del rosario ha sido, durante generaciones, parte integral de la piedad católica. El famoso “Sacerdote del Rosario”, el P. Patrick Peyton, animó a las familias a rezar el rosario en casa, diciéndoles que la familia cuyos miembros oran juntos permanece unida.

El rosario, pues, como una oración que nos lleva a contemplar a Jesús a través de los ojos de María, nos puede ayudar a abrazar la vida: a entender que la vida no es una carga que soportar sino un don que compartir. De esta manera, el rosario es un poderoso antídoto contra la “cultura de la muerte” de nuestra sociedad contemporánea, una cultura en la que se descarta cada vez más la dignidad y el derecho a la vida de los no nacidos, los discapacitados y los ancianos.

On May 13, 1981, an assassin’s bullet struck Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square. The pope survived, but he always credited Our Lady of Fatima for having spared his life. The rosary was Pope John Paul II’s favorite devotional prayer; and in 2002, he added the five luminous mysteries to the 15 traditional joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries.

The rosary, then, as a prayer that has us gaze upon Jesus through the eyes of Mary, can help us embrace life: to understand that life is not a burden to be endured but a gift to be shared. In this way, the rosary is a powerful antidote against the “culture of death” of our contemporary society — a culture in which the dignity and the right to life of the unborn, the disabled and the aged is increasingly discounted.

María nos ha dado un arma simple pero poderosa para la guerra espiritual que es parte de nuestra vida cotidiana en este “valle de lágrimas”. No es un arma de violencia o intimidación, sino más bien de paz y sanación, porque el rezar el rosario nos lleva a una relación más íntima con María, Madre de Misericordia, Vida, Dulzura y Esperanza nuestra. En un mundo todavía amenazado por las armas de destrucción masiva, tenemos en el rosario —como María indicó a los pastores de Fátima— un arma de conversión masiva.

De hecho, el rosario sostuvo a muchos fieles de Dios atrapados detrás de la Cortina de Hierro durante décadas de opresión comunista y adoctrinamiento ateísta. Privados de libertad para practicar abiertamente su religión, y con frecuencia impedidos de asistir a la Misa, estos fieles católicos hallaron en el rosario la fuerza para perseverar. ¿Y no deberíamos reconocer en los acontecimientos imprevistos de 1989, cuando el Muro de Berlín fue derribado y los regímenes comunistas de Europa del Este desmantelados, la evidencia de la poderosa intercesión de María?

We should not let the observances of the 100th anniversary of the Fatima apparitions pass without heeding Mary’s main message at Fatima: that we pray the rosary to bring peace and the end of war.

The mysteries of the Rosary present us with a veritable summary of the Gospel message — and even the unlearned and unschooled can learn through the praying of the rosary the fundamentals of the faith.

The rosary, once understood properly, is neither “old fashioned” nor “too hard”: it is accessible to all, in any place and at any time. Those 20 mysteries which we contemplate as we pray the “Hail Marys” are our instruction and hope. They should also be, for us, our rule of life and the pledge of eternal salvation.

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