Trinity Sunday - Fatima

 

This weekend is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It's the feast day for our parish.

Did you know some of the apparitions of Fatima had to do with the Mass, the Eucharist and the Blessed Trinity?

In 1916, a year before Mary appeared, an angel appeared to three children holding a Chalice in his hands. A Host was suspended over the Chalice, and drops of blood fell from it into the Chalice. While the Chalice and Host were suspended in the air, he prostrated on the ground and repeated three times: "Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly, and I offer the Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the offenses, sacrileges, and indifferences by which He is so offended. And by the infinite merits of your Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I ask for the conversion of poor sinners."

Then the angel, took the Host, gave it to Lucia, and the contents of the Chalice to Jacinta and Francisco, saying: "Eat the Body and drink the Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly offended by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God."
This prayer addressed to the Holy Trinity had as its purpose to make reparation for the "offenses, sacrileges, and indifferences by which He is so offended" in the Holy Eucharist. The angel even said the Body and Blood of Christ is horribly offended by ungrateful men. And the children are asked to make reparation for their crimes and to console God.

Years later, Sister Lucia had a vision in the convent chapel at Tuy, Spain. She had a vision of the Blessed Trinity and she saw the Virgin Mary holding a Rosary, pointing to Her Heart surrounded with thorns, as She stood next to the Blessed Trinity, who were above the altar.

She saw God the Father looking down upon Jesus hanging on the Cross and the Holy Spirit between the Father and the Son. From the crown of Jesus and His wounded Heart dripped blood onto a suspended Host, which then dripped into a chalice.

This vision of the Trinity above the altar with Mary standing near by is a reminder of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Every Mass is the re-presentation of Calvary. And Pope John Paul II said, Mary is present at every Mass because She was present at Calvary.

We need to be reminded that the Mass is a sacrifice. The Mass is like a time machine, where the event of the Crucifixion that took place over 2000 years ago becomes present in an un-bloody manner at every Mass.

The apparitions of the angel and the vision at Tuy, are subtle reminders, of our times that there is loss of faith in the Eucharist causing indifference, sacrileges, and offenses. There is also a loss of understanding that the Holy Mass is a sacrifice.

The Tuy vision showed us truths about the Mass. That Mass is a Holy Sacrifice. It’s the re-presentation of Calvary on the altar. The Holy Mass is the worship of the Blessed Trinity. The bread and wine are totally changed into the body and blood of Christ at Mass. The vision of Sister Lucia where she sees Jesus hanging from the Cross and drops of Blood falling from His head unto the Host and from the Host dripping into the Chalice, is a reminder, that the Eucharist is the true Body of Jesus and the wine is changed into the true Blood of Jesus, shed for us on the Cross.

What are the sacrileges, offenses and indifference today with regard to the Eucharist? The most common sacrilege is receiving the Holy Eucharist in the state of mortal sin.

We are obligated to confess all mortal sins before we receive Holy Communion, such as missing Mass on Sunday, impure actions, pornography, adultery, using birth control etc... Otherwise, we commit an additional mortal sin called a sacrilegious communion. When we do such a thing, we receive absolutely no graces from Communion and in fact, we deeply offend Jesus.

St Paul said that when we receive the Eucharist unworthily, will bring condemnation to our self. He said, “For he who eats this bread and drinks the chalice of the Lord unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)

Blessed Dina Belanger said, “No punishment on earth can suffice for receiving Communion in the state of mortal sin.” St. Cyril said, "They who make a sacrilegious Communion receive Satan and Jesus Christ into their hearts--Satan, that they may let him rule, and Jesus Christ, that they may offer Him in sacrifice as a Victim to Satan." The Catechism of the Council of Trent states, "Of all the mysteries...none can compare with the....Eucharist, so likewise for no crime is there heavier punishment to be feared from God than for the unholy or irreligious use by the faithful of that which...contains the very Author and Source of holiness."

During the time of the apparitions, no one, except the priest received Communion in the hand. That’s why the children received Communion on the tongue.

One of the offenses committed against the Holy Eucharist in our time is small Particles of the Sacred Host are dropped on the floor by those who receive Communion in the hand. If we receive Communion in the hand, we should look at our hand to see if there are any Sacred Particles, and if there are, we should place them in our mouth and consume them. Most people may no attention to their hand after they receive Communion.

The Holy Eucharist is not only Jesus. Every Host contains the Blessed Trinity. We can't separate the three persons of the Trinity, they are always united as one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are equal, undivided and one.

Blessed Dina Belanger speaks about the Blessed Trinity in each Host and how Jesus is present in each fragment. She said, "The veil of mystery has been torn asunder. He is there, my God, infinite Unity, adorable Trinity, under the appearance of a small piece of bread. Jesus is there, in His sacred Humanity, His Heart, His precious Blood, His Soul, His eternal Divinity; He is there, whole and entire, in each Host consecrated throughout the world and in each fragment of consecrated Host."

I would like to prayerfully consider asking Jesus how He would like you to receive Communion. If you receive in the hand, pray about receiving on the tongue.

The angel of Fatima also told the children that God is offended by ungrateful men. The angel said, "Eat the Body and drink the Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly offended by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God."

Every time we receive Holy Communion we need to thank the Lord for the gift of receiving Jesus in Holy Communion. The same is true for Confession. Every time we confess our sins, we should thank the Lord for forgiving us and bestowing His mercy upon us.

"Eat the Body and drink the Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly offended by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God."

If we are not in the state of grace, as an act of humility, we should not come forward to receive Holy Communion. People at times don't receive Communion because they accidentally ate food in less than an hour before Communion, or perhaps they have an upset stomach and don't want to receive Communion for fear of vomiting.

Today, at Mass, let us offer our self, our sacrifices, our works in union with the bread and wine as they are offered on the altar through the hands of the priest as a total gift of self. We offer our self through Him, with Him and in Him as the priest says, "Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, for ever and ever."

As the re-presentation of Jesus on Calvary becomes present on the altar, worship the Blessed Trinity, we believe Our Blessed Mother is standing at the foot of the Cross next to the priest. May our Holy Communion today, make reparation for the offenses, sacrilegious and indifferences by which Jesus is offended in the Holy Eucharist.