Happy New Year: Prepare for the 100th Anniversary of Fatima

How will you prepare for the 100th anniversary of Fatima? Will you resolve this year to pray the rosary every day as Mary asked? How about making the five first Saturdays in reparation for sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary? Can you make a small sacrifice every day in order to remind yourself that Christ died on the cross to save you from your sins? There are so many "little ways" as St. Therese reminds us to please the Lord. How many little gifts do we fail to give the Lord because we are looking for the big ones?


I pray that 2017 brings us all closer to Christ? Is there anything that matters more?

There are only a few days in our lives that are truly the most important. I'll offer four:

• the day you were conceived in your mother's womb;
• the day you were baptized and made a member of the Mystical Body of Christ;
• the day you were welcomed to the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and could begin receiving the Body and Blood of Christ to make you more and more like Jesus through receiving him in the "bread of angels" as St. Thomas put it;
• the day you were confirmed in the faith and received the fullness of the Holy Spirit becoming an adult in the faith

There's one more that is the most important of all. 

• the day you die and face Jesus at the personal judgment and hear His words - "Welcome good and faithful servant." or "Away from me you evildoer!"

Each of us needs to reflect on that moment now, because the decisions we make today and tomorrow and next week and next year will determine what happens at that moment. Which words do you want to hear? It's your choice.

God bless us all in 2017!