FATIMA and Tradition
The Fires of HELL
By Father Ladis J. Cizik
There is a book with the impious title: Dare We Hope "That All Men Be Saved"? by Hans Urs von Balthasar. This Swiss theologian entertains the thoughts that not only can we hope that no one goes to hell, but that we can also hope that hell is empty. This type of Modernist theology is reflected in statements said to be made from the highest level of the Church indicating that everyone goes to Heaven, including non-Catholics, non-Christians, and even atheists. Another outrageous novelty was the recently devised false teaching that there is no final punishment for the ‘lost soul,’ rather the destruction/ annihilation of that soul, such that with the death of the body, the journey of the body and soul is finished: i.e. no one goes to hell. All of this Modernist nonsense flies in the face of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, Church Dogma, and is dreadfully offensive to pious ears.
The Great Pope Saint Pius X warned us about Modernist theologians in his Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, issued on September 8, 1907, where he compared them to being "puffed up like bladders with the spirit of vanity" who "strive by profane novelties to cross the boundaries fixed by the Fathers, twisting the meaning of the sacred text" (par 17).
He says that for the Modernist: "Divine Revelation is imperfect, and therefore subject to continual and indefinite progress corresponding with the progress of human reason" (par 28). Modernism is simply defined by Pope Saint Pius X as: "The synthesis of all heresies" (par 39).
It does not take a learned theologian to refute the Modernist masters of deception who deny the reality of the souls of the damned suffering for all eternity in the fires of hell. All that it takes is to behold and understand the blackened metal candle rack at Fatima.
This blackened foreboding structure, for reasons somberly explained later by Sister Lucia, is also known as the "candle pyre."
For those who are going to Fatima to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Our Lady’s appearances or for those who have been there previously, I strongly advise you to meditate upon this candle rack/pyre. The candle rack at Fatima has a blackened cast-iron appearance and is just to the side of the Capelinha, just left of the very spot where the Mother of God appeared to Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia. This rack does not contain neat glass-enclosed vigil lights, but rather, natural beeswax candle sticks made available by the Sanctuary and placed there by devout pilgrims.
As the candles burn down, their heat twists and distorts the candles set near to them. The sea of twisted melting candles in the large candle rack does not present a pretty picture at all. At various times during the day, a Fatima Sanctuary official turns on jets of natural gas which results in a huge sea of flames and great billowing clouds of smoke as the disfigured candles are melted down for re-use.
"The candle rack really looks like hell," I always warn the pilgrims in advance. "The candle rack was constructed to look like hell ..." I continue, "… since that is the exact spot where Our Lady of Fatima showed the three shepherd children a vision of hell on July 13, 1917." The candle rack is also known as the ‘candle pyre’ since a ‘pyre’ denotes a place of intense fire where corpses are burned.
Lucia wrote in her memoirs of that July 13th: "She [Our Lady] opened Her hands once more, as She had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls [of the damned] in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons could be distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision lasted only a moment. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind Heavenly Mother, Who had already prepared us by promising, at the first apparition, to take us to Heaven.
Without that, I think we would have died of terror and fear."
Lucia continued: "Terrified and as if to plead for succor, we looked up at Our Lady, Who said to us, so kindly and sadly: ‘ 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. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.’" Near the end of the July apparition, Our Lady of Fatima taught: "When you pray the Rosary, say after each Mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins; save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need." Note that it was the Church which later insisted that "of Thy mercy" conclude this decade prayer.
In the fourth apparition of Our Lady in August, She said: "Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them."
Note that this Message from Fatima and the vision of hell on July 13th (7/13) re-affirms Mt 7:13: "Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who enter by it." It does not take a genius to understand what this passage means, although the Modernist appears to be clueless. The Haydock Biblical commentary of Mt 7:13 simply states: "The doctrine of these two verses needs no commentary, but deserve serious attention." In saying that many souls go to the fires of hell, the Fatima Message is also re-affirming numerous other Scripture passages, including: Mt. 5:22, 29-30; 13:30-42; 25:41and Lk.13:23-24). For those who embrace the Modernist teaching in Dare We Hope "That All Men Be Saved"?, they will have to hope again for a sequel entitled:
Dare We Hope "That the July 13th Vision of Hell Never Took Place"? From that apparition, it is clear that there is a hell and that people are there. There are many publications upholding the Catholic doctrine of hell that they could read, but probably would rather not.
The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 is one book that has much to say affirming the fires of hell and condemning the false hope that there is no one in hell, including the following:
• "God says of the damned: ’Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched’ (Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:43, 45, 47).
• "The fire of hell is repeatedly called eternal and unquenchable. The wrath of God abideth on the damned "(Jn 3:36).
• "The Church professes her faith in the Athanasian Creed: ‘They that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.’"
• "According to the greater number of theologians the term fire denotes a material fire, and so a real fire. We hold to this teaching as absolutely true and correct."
• "Hence, beyond the possibility of doubt, the Church expressly teaches the eternity of the pains of hell as a truth of faith which no one can deny or call in question without manifest heresy."
On that July 13th, Our Lady told the three shepherd children: "Sacrifice yourself for sinners, and say often to Jesus, especially when you make a sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."
People have lost the sense of sin in the last fifty years as all the faithful began being referred to, unconditionally, as "the Holy People of God." Sinners now believe that they are holy even if they are living in sinful lifestyles. Sinners are told by clergy of the highest rank: "Who am I to judge?" Confessionals, known now as "Reconciliation Rooms,’ are practically unused in most Novus Ordo parishes. If Jesus would have said to this modern-day crowd, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" (Jn 8:7), the poor lady would have been pummeled by an avalanche of Modernist stones.
This is in contrast to pre-Vatican II times when the people considered themselves to be sinners and the Confessionals had long lines of penitents waiting their turn to confess their sins. The long lines are still there where Traditional Latin Masses are offered. Traditional Catholics dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of hell. Modern-day Catholics ‘dare to believe’ that no one goes to hell, with credit going to the false teachings of the Modernists.
Hell is said to have become a preoccupation of Jacinta Marto, who was only seven years old at the time of the apparitions. She once exclaimed: "Oh hell! hell! How sorry I am for the souls who go to hell! And the people down there, burning alive, like wood in the fire! She once remarked to her older cousin, Lucia: Why doesn’t Our Lady show hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show hell to all the people. You’ll see how they will be converted."
Continued Next Page
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Fatima Children after seeing a vision of Hell