The original normal

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

Yesterday, the Catholic Church consecrated the Philippines to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This date coincides with the apparition of the Blessed Mother to the three children in Fatima, Portugal. The Blessed Mother gave the three children what is known as “The Three Secrets of Fátima.”

The secrets consist of a series of apocalyptic visions and prophecies which were given to three young Portuguese shepherds, Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, during the appearances of the Blessed Mother that started on 13 May 1917.

Lots had been said and written about the apparitions like the vision of hell and a prediction of the end of World War I, the outbreak of World War II, and the collapse of Russian communism when that country was consecrated to her by the Pope.

But the most intriguing of the messages relayed through the children was the so-called Third Secret that was given only to the Pope by St. Lucia, the last survivor.

But even the complete content had not been revealed. One version said that when Pope John XXIII read the message, he turned white in fear and kept the secret and another was the prediction of an attempt on the life of the Pope that happened when the reigning Pontiff was Pope John Paul II. The Pope said he saw the hand of the Blessed Mother deflect the bullet and saved him. That bullet is now embedded in the crown of the image of Our Lady of Fatima.

I wrote earlier that the Blessed Mother had asked the world for “penance, penance and penance” to appease God because many souls have drifted away from Him with all sorts of sins. She asked for the consecration of the world to prevent a greater catastrophe.

The consecration of the Diocese of Bacolod simultaneously with the other dioceses in the Philippine was read by Occidental Negros Governor Eugenio Lacson before the Mass was celebrated by Bishop Patricio A. Buzon at the San Sebastian Cathedral, of course with a limited attendance in accord with the protocol of the ECQ in Bacolod.

In his homily, Bishop Buzon recalled the reason for the apparitions of Mary. He said, the Blessed Mother came down from heaven and she appeared “with sadness in her face” because she was “worried of her children” many of whom are “lost”. She showed the children the vision of hell that “shocked” the children to send a message that people should return to God. She asked them to pray, to daily pray the Holy Rosary.

Those who pray the Rosary know that after every decade is a petition, “Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven especially those who most need of your mercy.”

According to the bishop, the Blessed Virgin wants us to return to God that we may be saved. He asked what many had wondered – is God punishing us? Hell, he said is here but if God is not with us that is hell. Lives that are lost and thus without God already live in hell.

This pandemic is hell he said because “we destroyed the world that God created for us. The Kingdom of God is here. Prayer is the way to God and salvation can come only from God. He alone can save us. Alone we cannot save ourselves.”

He cited the Gospel of the day where Christ said, “I am the vine, you are the branches” and without Him we can do nothing. God can save us but with our cooperation.

He explained what consecration is. It is “to make holy” and a turnover so that God can make us holy. “We must change, return to God, a birth to a new heart, new politics, new economics. Make God the center of our lives; the common good over personal interest.”

For the “new normal” the bishop proposed a new way of life, a return to the original normal, the old order of harmony, the original plan of God.

The Fatima apparition reminds us of God’s original plan – to be with Him. Otherwise it would be hell. We changed the ways of God with our own norms and ways of sinfulness and call that “normal.” So, we get into a lot of mess.

Nothing is normal without God.