Mac what is there to give up...what is it you think I am saying? Your method of response tends to vindicate my point.
Bh , I am just satisfied by those I consider experts. For anyone looking for more ...Personally I find the over focus on this misplaced. Even bordering on obsessive/compulsive pedanticism.
Have you thought about how objectively or not we choose our "experts" and authorities? You quoted the witness Almeida above because your "authority" proposed him as a reliable witness - then you quickly went cold on him when I demonstrated how your "authority" cherry-picked his testimony and it didn't quite go the way of your own views. So now you have a new "authority" who says what you want to hear and who, this time, this time, is impeccable. Yet you still don't directly engage the discordant nature of the primary sources yourself but rely on "authority" to make those inconsistencies go away. Are those "authorities", apart from better access to primary sources, any better at understanding/harmonising all that actually happened that day than you or me. Cherry-picking testimony and facile rationalisations anybody can do.
Again , I am satisfied. For myself Frere Michel is the final word . Anyways BH, I am simply revealing my views and where I am at in my journey with God. We are all works in progress and I am sure God doesn't need me to guide you to His truth.
October 13 1917 The great miracle of the Sun . No coincidence that this terrible warning also came on October 13.. "As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day, recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests. The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, and bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their Confreres. The Church and altars will be vandalized. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. "The demon will rage especially against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will no longer be pardon for them." Look at the last words . Especially those who like to focus on only a merciful God . ''there will no longer be pardon for them.''
The Great Apostasy of the "Last Times" Announced by Holy Scripture To someone who was questioning her on the content of the Third Secret, Sister Lucy one day replied: "It’s in the Gospel, and in the Apocalypse, read them." She has also confided to Father Fuentes that the Virgin Mary has made her see clearly that "We are in the last times of the world." This does not mean, one must emphasize, the time of the end of the world and of the last judgment, since the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary must come first. Cardinal Ratzinger himself discreetly alluding to the content of the Secret of Fatima, has mentioned three important elements: "The dangers threatening the faith," "the importance of the last times" and the fact that the prophecies "contained in this Third Secret correspond to what has been announced in Scripture." We even know that one day Lucy indicated Chapters 8, 13 of the Apocalypse.
I sometimes feel I am going crazy trying to work it all out. How and what and when and where and why and who and if? On telling this to a priest he suggested that instead of an analytical approach - guaranteed to drive you nuts unless you are another Aquinas - I should simply view it all as a work of art and just let myself be drawn into the picture in prayer by the Holy Spirit. Then, he says, I will see what I need to see. I find it hard to be still.
In the book, "Fr Joe" it is suggested that all sin is selfishness...causing wrongful harm or loss to another by trying to do something or be someone and not considering their good. I think Fr Joe was right. I try in my comments to think of what good they can do. I delete quite a lot of lengthy diatribes. I find it hard to believe that the Church does not have our best interests at heart with regard to Fatima. Surely our Church would not deliberately put us in harm's way by concealing a truth that we need to know. I cannot believe it would. I cannot believe our Church is selfish.
I sometimes feel the same thing Joe. Then I remember that the Church has never said that any of these apparitions, in whole or in part is certain truth - it's a prudential judgement individuals are free to decide for themselves. Then things drop back into perspective.
Yeah . Who would've thought. I suppose it became evident that what Heaven thought was good for us , And what church leaders thought was good for us , were not the same thing when the 3rd secret was not revealed in 1960 as requested. Was it the Blessed Virgin being selfish?
STOP PRESS! Mac, it was revealed! Hidden in plain sight all along. Found it online here, it answers everything:
Mac, you should rename this thread! The 3rd secret according to Macs sources today but not tomarrow.... A bit wordy on my part I will say
