アヴェ・マリア・インマクラータ！
愛する兄弟姉妹の皆様、
レネー神父様のお説教、「ファチマの聖母―マリアの汚れなき御心」についての【英語原文】をご紹介いたします。
天主様の祝福が豊かにありますように！
トマス小野田圭志神父（聖ピオ十世会司祭）
Sermon for 13 May 2017 at Seoul – Our Lady of Fatima – the Immaculate Heart of Mary
My dear brethren,
The apparitions of our Lady at Fatima were the great revelations of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Already St John Eudes (으드) had devotion to the “most pure Heart of Mary” and this heart has been honoured by other Saints before too, but it is undeniable that the apparitions at Fatima gave a most remarkable increase to that devotion. Let us consider several essential elements of this devotion, and how they heal the evils of our time.
The “heart” represents what St Paul calls the “inner man”: “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inner man” (Eph. 3:16). The heart is the inner sanctuary where the Spirit of Love dwells; it represents the seat of all the virtues, especially the crowning virtue of charity. Now our modern man neglects the interior life and even often completely ignores it and despises it. Our modern man is attached to superficial things, exterior pleasures, fun and distractions. By calling for our devotion to her Immaculate Heart, our Lady reminds us of the importance, of the primacy of this interior life, which is already here below the beginning of everlasting life.
Already at the natural level, it is easy to acknowledge that what makes the greatness of man is his reason. If we compare our body with that of the animals, we find animals that beat us on every aspect: some see farther, some hear better, some smell better (like dogs, who can recognize you by the smell…), some run faster, some are stronger, some can fly and we can’t, etc. But by our reason we can build telescopes that see further than any animal and microscopes that can see smaller things than any animal can grasp; by our reason we can build radars that can hear many waves they can’t hear. By our reason we can make trains, planes, and even jets to the moon! All this we do with our reason. Yet our reason is not visible; our reason is not exterior: it is part of our interior man.
If the highest and most important human faculty is invisible and part of our interior man, it is manifest that this interior man is the most important aspect of man. Yet so many people search for happiness in external goods such as money, fame or power; or they search for happiness in superficial goods, in sensible goods such as pleasures and comfort: they all fundamentally neglect their interior life; they neglect or despise the spiritual goods and above all they neglect God. This is a great evil of our times. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary teaches us first of all this primacy of the interior life, this life with God, this life of Christ in us, this spiritual life which shines so beautifully in the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The obvious second aspect of this devotion is that the Heart of Mary is Immaculate: she never compromised with sin, not even with the smallest sin. Now this is most important in our time of liberalism; the mark of many “catholic liberals” is that they are always ready to comprise with the world, to twist the requirements of our Lord in order to please the world. By contrast, Our Lady has absolutely never compromised with the devil and with the world. This is why she is immaculate: sin never had the smallest power over her. She never found excuses for sin. She is absolutely immaculate.
This is particularly true in the domain of purity. She is the most pure Virgin, absolutely Virgin. In our times, this example of perfect purity is most needed: her method is the right method: never to compromise with impurity; avoid anything that could stain this beautiful virtue; avoid any curiosity of the eye and especially avoid anything against purity on the internet. It is much easier to extinguish a fire when it is small than when it is big: it is much easier to resist temptation against purity at the beginning when they are still small: compromising with them will only render the victory much more difficult and unlikely. Our Lady Immaculate teaches us not to compromise with sin at all, and especially not to compromise with impurity. She helps us to stay away from anything that could stain our soul. Her Heart is immaculate, her Love is pure and beautiful.
The Heart of Mary is detached from sin because it is attached to God. That bond with God is first of all here below by faith, as St Paul says: “by the heart we believe unto justice” (Rom. 10:10). St Paul does not mean here that faith is something sentimental: by “heart” as explained above, he means the inner man, the interior faculties. St Thomas teaches that Faith is a virtue in our intelligence. When our Lady was on earth, she was particularly praised for her faith: “blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord” (Lk. 1:45). The Immaculate Heart is immaculate in her faith: there was no admixture of error, no compromise with error in our Lady’s Faith. There were no doubts, no hesitation. She fully adhered to the revealed Truth from God; she fully adhered to God Himself Who is the Supreme Truth. By the true faith in Jesus-Christ Son of God we have access to God, says St Paul (see Eph. 3:12).
The first thing she said to the children at Fatima: “I am from Heaven!” This prompted the children to ask: “shall we go to Heaven?” This great desire of heaven which is found in the virtue of Hope is characteristic of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: no one more than our Lady had on earth this longing for God: “As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God. My soul [=my heart] hath thirsted after the strong living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?” (Ps. 41:2-3). Not only does hope include this tremendous desire for Heaven, but it includes the practical confidence in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: relying on the grace of our Lord we have confidence to reach heaven, and this is cause of great, deep joy: “Rejoicing in hope” (Rom. 12:12).
Now this is a very important and deep difference between the true faithful and the worldly people: the true faithful have hope of everlasting life; but worldly people have no hope! Their look on life ends up on a black wall, and they can’t see anything after death. They pursue immediate satisfactions with no hope for the future; they pursue external and superficial pleasures while their inner soul, deep self is in despair and deep sadness. St Paul says: “They have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). That deep sadness is a mark of the modern world, searching for external distractions, external fun and constant noise, in order to forget the deep internal sadness: “they have no hope!” That rush for external distractions, noise and entertainment is a rush away from the inner sadness, inner emptiness of their soul. Solitude and silence is for many a torture because they have not that inner Friend, the Divine Guest of our souls.
What a contrast with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who is the “sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity”. Our Lord Jesus Christ indeed said: “If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him” (Jn. 14:23). And who loved Jesus more than Mary? So, the Father loved her and with His Son came to her and made their abode in her, in her Immaculate Heart! And St Paul says: “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). In her, the inner conversation was not merely with self, but with the Most Holy Trinity, as with the marvellous Guest of her soul: and so it was in the Saints, and so it must be in us.
The heart of the worldly man is empty of God, and full of earthly things; the Heart of Mary is clean from any inordinate affection to creatures and filled with the Creator. And this is the third great Virtue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: an immense charity. St Paul says: “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29), a consuming fire of charity; hence our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Lk. 12:49). Our Lord first cast that fire in the Heart of Mary, which is ablaze with this Divine fire of charity.
That charity gives her a great zeal for the salvation of souls, for the conversion of sinners. Indeed, this is the very purpose for which the Son of God came down from heaven into her most pure womb: “to save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). So, she communicates fully with this goal of our Lord’s life: to save souls. One sees this at Fatima: she asked the children: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?” She showed them hell precisely to make them more fervent in their sacrifices for the salvation of souls, for the conversion of sinners: “You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart… I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.”
These words of our Lady are also addressed to each one of us: Are we willing to offer ourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send us, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners? Are we zealous for the honour of God through reparation for the offenses against Him, and zealous for the conversion of sinners? One can give his whole self and whole life for this purpose, especially in consecrated life. At least one should give his whole heart to this purpose by fulfilling the requests of our Lady at Fatima.
One hundred years later, the situation is worse because her requests have not been fulfilled by many. This should inflame our zeal to fulfil them even better, to console her and obtain from her the grace that many more would listen to her request, so that her Immaculate Heart may reign and that the most Sacred Heart of Jesus may reign through her. Let us pray for vocations, for good and holy Catholic families, but first of all let us respond to the call of our Lord, let us correct our own life and make it pleasing to Christ through her.
St Paul said: “For the charity of Christ presseth us” (2 Cor. 5:14). Perhaps the characteristic of the Catholic religion, the heart of the Catholic religion is the affirmation that God cares for us. And this divine charity is truly what animates the Sacred Heart of Jesus and also the Immaculate Heart of Mary: God really cares for men. Yet, how many men don’t care for God at all! If we are animated with the same charity that reigns in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, we should care for these poor souls who are far from the truth, far from the Love of God, in the darkness of sin and despair. We should do all our efforts to give them the divine treasures that are found in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We should bring them to Jesus through Mary. She is a mother; she cares! Our Lord entrusted all of us to her, and she does care for the sanctification of the faithful, for the conversion of sinners. Her heart is as big as mankind!
So [today] on the 100th anniversary of her apparitions at Fatima, let us ask the grace to imitate her Immaculate Heart, loving and appreciating the value of the inner life, the life of Christ in us, and conforming our heart to hers by rejecting any compromise with sin, and filling our soul with her virtues, virtues of Faith, hope and especially charity: with a great zeal for the honour of God, making reparations for the sins of the world and offering ourselves for the conversion of sinners, so that we and many others may go to Heaven. Amen.
愛する兄弟姉妹の皆様、
レネー神父様のお説教、「ファチマの聖母―マリアの汚れなき御心」についての【英語原文】をご紹介いたします。
天主様の祝福が豊かにありますように！
トマス小野田圭志神父（聖ピオ十世会司祭）
Sermon for 13 May 2017 at Seoul – Our Lady of Fatima – the Immaculate Heart of Mary
My dear brethren,
The apparitions of our Lady at Fatima were the great revelations of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Already St John Eudes (으드) had devotion to the “most pure Heart of Mary” and this heart has been honoured by other Saints before too, but it is undeniable that the apparitions at Fatima gave a most remarkable increase to that devotion. Let us consider several essential elements of this devotion, and how they heal the evils of our time.
The “heart” represents what St Paul calls the “inner man”: “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inner man” (Eph. 3:16). The heart is the inner sanctuary where the Spirit of Love dwells; it represents the seat of all the virtues, especially the crowning virtue of charity. Now our modern man neglects the interior life and even often completely ignores it and despises it. Our modern man is attached to superficial things, exterior pleasures, fun and distractions. By calling for our devotion to her Immaculate Heart, our Lady reminds us of the importance, of the primacy of this interior life, which is already here below the beginning of everlasting life.
Already at the natural level, it is easy to acknowledge that what makes the greatness of man is his reason. If we compare our body with that of the animals, we find animals that beat us on every aspect: some see farther, some hear better, some smell better (like dogs, who can recognize you by the smell…), some run faster, some are stronger, some can fly and we can’t, etc. But by our reason we can build telescopes that see further than any animal and microscopes that can see smaller things than any animal can grasp; by our reason we can build radars that can hear many waves they can’t hear. By our reason we can make trains, planes, and even jets to the moon! All this we do with our reason. Yet our reason is not visible; our reason is not exterior: it is part of our interior man.
If the highest and most important human faculty is invisible and part of our interior man, it is manifest that this interior man is the most important aspect of man. Yet so many people search for happiness in external goods such as money, fame or power; or they search for happiness in superficial goods, in sensible goods such as pleasures and comfort: they all fundamentally neglect their interior life; they neglect or despise the spiritual goods and above all they neglect God. This is a great evil of our times. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary teaches us first of all this primacy of the interior life, this life with God, this life of Christ in us, this spiritual life which shines so beautifully in the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The obvious second aspect of this devotion is that the Heart of Mary is Immaculate: she never compromised with sin, not even with the smallest sin. Now this is most important in our time of liberalism; the mark of many “catholic liberals” is that they are always ready to comprise with the world, to twist the requirements of our Lord in order to please the world. By contrast, Our Lady has absolutely never compromised with the devil and with the world. This is why she is immaculate: sin never had the smallest power over her. She never found excuses for sin. She is absolutely immaculate.
This is particularly true in the domain of purity. She is the most pure Virgin, absolutely Virgin. In our times, this example of perfect purity is most needed: her method is the right method: never to compromise with impurity; avoid anything that could stain this beautiful virtue; avoid any curiosity of the eye and especially avoid anything against purity on the internet. It is much easier to extinguish a fire when it is small than when it is big: it is much easier to resist temptation against purity at the beginning when they are still small: compromising with them will only render the victory much more difficult and unlikely. Our Lady Immaculate teaches us not to compromise with sin at all, and especially not to compromise with impurity. She helps us to stay away from anything that could stain our soul. Her Heart is immaculate, her Love is pure and beautiful.
The Heart of Mary is detached from sin because it is attached to God. That bond with God is first of all here below by faith, as St Paul says: “by the heart we believe unto justice” (Rom. 10:10). St Paul does not mean here that faith is something sentimental: by “heart” as explained above, he means the inner man, the interior faculties. St Thomas teaches that Faith is a virtue in our intelligence. When our Lady was on earth, she was particularly praised for her faith: “blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord” (Lk. 1:45). The Immaculate Heart is immaculate in her faith: there was no admixture of error, no compromise with error in our Lady’s Faith. There were no doubts, no hesitation. She fully adhered to the revealed Truth from God; she fully adhered to God Himself Who is the Supreme Truth. By the true faith in Jesus-Christ Son of God we have access to God, says St Paul (see Eph. 3:12).
The first thing she said to the children at Fatima: “I am from Heaven!” This prompted the children to ask: “shall we go to Heaven?” This great desire of heaven which is found in the virtue of Hope is characteristic of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: no one more than our Lady had on earth this longing for God: “As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God. My soul [=my heart] hath thirsted after the strong living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?” (Ps. 41:2-3). Not only does hope include this tremendous desire for Heaven, but it includes the practical confidence in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: relying on the grace of our Lord we have confidence to reach heaven, and this is cause of great, deep joy: “Rejoicing in hope” (Rom. 12:12).
Now this is a very important and deep difference between the true faithful and the worldly people: the true faithful have hope of everlasting life; but worldly people have no hope! Their look on life ends up on a black wall, and they can’t see anything after death. They pursue immediate satisfactions with no hope for the future; they pursue external and superficial pleasures while their inner soul, deep self is in despair and deep sadness. St Paul says: “They have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). That deep sadness is a mark of the modern world, searching for external distractions, external fun and constant noise, in order to forget the deep internal sadness: “they have no hope!” That rush for external distractions, noise and entertainment is a rush away from the inner sadness, inner emptiness of their soul. Solitude and silence is for many a torture because they have not that inner Friend, the Divine Guest of our souls.
What a contrast with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who is the “sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity”. Our Lord Jesus Christ indeed said: “If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him” (Jn. 14:23). And who loved Jesus more than Mary? So, the Father loved her and with His Son came to her and made their abode in her, in her Immaculate Heart! And St Paul says: “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). In her, the inner conversation was not merely with self, but with the Most Holy Trinity, as with the marvellous Guest of her soul: and so it was in the Saints, and so it must be in us.
The heart of the worldly man is empty of God, and full of earthly things; the Heart of Mary is clean from any inordinate affection to creatures and filled with the Creator. And this is the third great Virtue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: an immense charity. St Paul says: “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29), a consuming fire of charity; hence our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Lk. 12:49). Our Lord first cast that fire in the Heart of Mary, which is ablaze with this Divine fire of charity.
That charity gives her a great zeal for the salvation of souls, for the conversion of sinners. Indeed, this is the very purpose for which the Son of God came down from heaven into her most pure womb: “to save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). So, she communicates fully with this goal of our Lord’s life: to save souls. One sees this at Fatima: she asked the children: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?” She showed them hell precisely to make them more fervent in their sacrifices for the salvation of souls, for the conversion of sinners: “You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart… I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.”
These words of our Lady are also addressed to each one of us: Are we willing to offer ourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send us, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners? Are we zealous for the honour of God through reparation for the offenses against Him, and zealous for the conversion of sinners? One can give his whole self and whole life for this purpose, especially in consecrated life. At least one should give his whole heart to this purpose by fulfilling the requests of our Lady at Fatima.
One hundred years later, the situation is worse because her requests have not been fulfilled by many. This should inflame our zeal to fulfil them even better, to console her and obtain from her the grace that many more would listen to her request, so that her Immaculate Heart may reign and that the most Sacred Heart of Jesus may reign through her. Let us pray for vocations, for good and holy Catholic families, but first of all let us respond to the call of our Lord, let us correct our own life and make it pleasing to Christ through her.
St Paul said: “For the charity of Christ presseth us” (2 Cor. 5:14). Perhaps the characteristic of the Catholic religion, the heart of the Catholic religion is the affirmation that God cares for us. And this divine charity is truly what animates the Sacred Heart of Jesus and also the Immaculate Heart of Mary: God really cares for men. Yet, how many men don’t care for God at all! If we are animated with the same charity that reigns in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, we should care for these poor souls who are far from the truth, far from the Love of God, in the darkness of sin and despair. We should do all our efforts to give them the divine treasures that are found in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We should bring them to Jesus through Mary. She is a mother; she cares! Our Lord entrusted all of us to her, and she does care for the sanctification of the faithful, for the conversion of sinners. Her heart is as big as mankind!
So [today] on the 100th anniversary of her apparitions at Fatima, let us ask the grace to imitate her Immaculate Heart, loving and appreciating the value of the inner life, the life of Christ in us, and conforming our heart to hers by rejecting any compromise with sin, and filling our soul with her virtues, virtues of Faith, hope and especially charity: with a great zeal for the honour of God, making reparations for the sins of the world and offering ourselves for the conversion of sinners, so that we and many others may go to Heaven. Amen.