The Garden Of Eden
Of all models provided in the Book Genesis there is none more vital than that of the Garden of Eden where God as Creator presides over the orderly creation, with man and woman responding in responsible obedience, walking and talking with God in the cool of the day. With the entry of the snake, disobedience disrupted the harmony, leading to the exclusion of the man and the woman from the garden. Fear and enmity replaced peace and trust until in the fullness of time God reached over the deep rift between the male and the female, taking hold of Mary of Nazareth to be the Mother of Jesus. The Immaculate Heart of Mary would become the divine instrument in the reopening of the Garden wherein was the first setting of God's overshadowing authority in relation to His creation and His created children.
Through the signs and wonders at Fatima, in 1917, God in His mercy recalled us to this, His divine plan, wherein all of His children were to be mothered through the new Eve into the Love of the Blessed Trinity. Mary's 'Be it done unto me according to thy word,' places herself at the very heart of the new creation and redemption, under God the Father, through Jesus Christ her Savior and ours, bonded together in the love and power of the Holy Spirit, so that wherever the church is there is Mary, our Mother and the Mother of God.
'When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on earth?' That question by Jesus is designed to help us in preparing for His second coming. There is gravity within those words of Jesus. The call by God through Mary at Fatima is aimed at helping us to make that preparation. St. Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians clearly warns that before the second coming of Christ a great apostasy must take place. The loss of faith is a true apostasy. It is with this prophecy in mind that our Heavenly Father calls us to the consecration of ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Heavenly Garden where God reigns and communes with His children.
As our civilization moves further and further away from the values of the Gospel, the values which shaped it and still form the basis of our laws, institutions and customs, the true follower of Jesus Christ feels very much out of place, a stranger in his own country. Sometimes indeed, since the values of the world have penetrated into every aspect of society it can be daunting. There is a great deal of confusion, but God has not abandoned us. On the contrary, He has given us definite signs and is calling the world back to Him and to the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ. One of the ways in which He is doing this is through the various messages He gives to humanity through the intervention of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, through her various appearances at Lourdes, at Fatima, as well as many other places around the world. And her message is always the same. It is nothing more than the original message of her Son, the message of the Gospel. Wherever she appears her one aim is to direct us to Christ and to His Good News of the Kingdom of God.
She exhorts us to turn away from sin and repent, to fast and to pray both for ourselves and the world which is in such great danger because of sin. Her message is one of hope and one of joy, for if we hope in the Lord nothing can harm or disturb us. If we are rooted in Him and His Gospel we will be at peace despite the storms that threaten us, and we will be safe.
Let us amend our lives. Let our conduct be openly and fully Christian. Let us banish mortal sin and every deliberate venial sin from our souls. Let us recite the Rosary every day and as far as possible with the family. Let us do penance, first for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. Let us consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and adopt the practice of the first Saturday of the Month.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Source: Fatima, a Sign Post for the World.