Fatima for Today by Fr. Andrew Apostoli

Just started reading a great book, Fatima for Today by Fr. Andrew Apostoli. The message from Fatima is so relevant to what is happening today. I am only just beginning this book but have already recieved many graces just in the first several chapters. Fr. Apostoli does an excellent job of describing historical events leading up to the apparitions of Our Lady to Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta and putting it all into perspective for a message of hope for what we are facing in our world today. I am thankful that God led me to reading this book because it is helping me to trust in Him and in Our Lady's guidance during these troubled times. One of the ways that God prepared Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta was to send an angel ahead of time to teach them how to pray. The first time the Angel of Peace appeared, they were taught The Pardon Prayer:

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope
and I love You! I ask pardon of You
for those who do not believe, do not
adore, do not hope and do not love You.

The children were taught to trust in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and to pray for a renewal of faith, hope and charity in the world, which is needed just as urgently now as it was in 1917. The second time the angel appeared, the children were asked to pray the Pardon Prayer even more frequently and to offer sacrifices. The Angel of Peace told the children:

Make of everything you can a
sacrifice, and offer it to God as an
act of reparation for the sins by
which He is offended, and in
supplication for the conversion of
sinners. You will thus draw down
peace upon your country. I am its
Angel Guardian, the Angel of
Portugal. Above all, accept and bear
with submission, the suffering
which the Lord will send you.

The third time the Angel of Peace appeared, He taught them a prayer to pray before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament:

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly,
and I offer You 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 with
which He Himself is offended. And
through the infinite merits of His
most Sacred Heart, and the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of
You the conversion of poor sinners.

Fr. Apostoli reveals in great detail the meaning ofeach visit and has helped me to learn how to apply the angel's instructions to the children at Fatima in my own daily life. Fr. Apostoli says:

"Through the angel's three visits, the children were instructed in the ways of prayer; the importance of reparation, intercession and suffering; and the beauty and power of the Eucharist. Over the course of the next six months, the children put into practice all the angel had taught them. They were then ready to receive the first visit of their Blessed Mother."

I am so thankful that God has provided Fr. Apostoli's wise words in this book to help us as Catholics today find hope and solace in Our Lady and her messages to the children at Fatima. Read this book, you will be so thankful!! Another benefit of this book is to learn more about the fascinating history of Portugal and the Catholic Church's role in their history. Thank you Fr. Apostoli.