We are nearing the end of the year 2017, and with it the centenary of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, which is undoubtedly the most important of the Marian apparitions. In her messages, Mary gave us the recipe to obtain peace in the world, and told us how to be united to her Son, Jesus. She told us to pray the Rosary daily and consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart. Mary added these words of comfort that fill us with hope : “At the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph”.
In these days of uncertainty, conflict, terrorism and threats of war, the Rosary is the greatest and most powerful weapon we have to change people’s hearts. This is what the people of Poland recognized with their marvelous initiative, the “Rosary at the Borders”. The Virgin Mary gave St. Dominic the Rosary some 800 year ago. She told St. Dominic that if he had no success preaching against the Albigensian heresy, it was because the soil had not been sown and watered with Hail Marys. The results were remarkable. The Rosary is the path chosen by God, and there is no better path.
In all of her apparitions over the centuries, the Virgin Mary always encouraged the faithful to pray the Rosary. This is also what happened in Colombia, South America, in the seventeenth century, with the apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá.
One of the dangers that can occur in the Christian life is that money should take the place of God. The danger is that money can become an idol, a divinity. Bishop Mathieu Madega of Gabon, who visited us for a fourth time in Rougemont in September for our study session on Economic Democracy, reminded us of the words of St. Paul : “The love of money is the root of all evil”. It is love of God and neighbour that we must practice. We must put money and material goods in their proper place which is at the service of individuals.
Bishop Madega spoke of the debt-money system that traps us and turns us into slaves. Louis Even, the founder of MICHAEL, explains how we can free ourselves from the debt-money system that enslaves us (See Our economic liberation through Social Credit and Money at the service of the people). Today’s financial system can collapse at any moment under the weight of its unpayable debts. It is therefore vital to know of the solution offered by the Social Credit financial system, also known as Economic Democracy,
In closing, as we did in our last issue of MICHAEL in 2016, we have included in this edition an illustrated calendar of the saints and their feast days. Fr. Solanus Casey, an American priest who worked in the Detroit area, will be added to this calendar, since he will be declared blessed on November 18, 2017.
This calendar was greatly appreciated by last year’s readers. There are millions of saints in Heaven (the Church Triumphant) ready to intercede for us and help us if we ask, of course. Let us not forget the souls in Purgatory (the Church Suffering) who need our prayers and Masses offered so that they might reach eternal glory. And let those of us on earth, we the Church Militant, fight for truth and justice. Happy reading !