Pope Francis asked: “How do we bring war into prayer?” Prayer allows itself to be transformed into action, charity and practical faith. Prayer, in its weakness, can appear to be a failure. Even God seems to fail in Jesus on the cross: instead, it was there that he conquered hatred, evil, death, and began a new history, a new creation.
The message of Fatima does not intend to satisfy apocalyptic curiosities about the end of the world; it only launches a heartfelt appeal for conversion so that humanity may be saved from the selfishness that destroys. In these difficult times, we are accompanied by Mary's consoling words: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph". In 2000, the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explained the meaning of these words as follows:
"My Immaculate Heart will triumph". What does this mean? The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of all kinds. Mary's ‘fiat’, the word of her heart changed the history of the world because she introduced the Saviour into this world - because thanks to this "Yes", God could become man in our space and remains so now forever. The evil one has power in this world, we see it and experience it again and again; he has power because our freedom continually allows itself to be turned away from God. But since God Himself has a human heart and has thus turned man's freedom towards good, towards God, freedom for evil no longer has the last word. Since then, the word has been valid: ‘In the world, you will have tribulation but have confidence; I have conquered the world’ (Jn 16:33). The message of Fatima invites us to rely on this promise.”
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