Art and Design – Does Heaven Care?

 

Most of us have heard the expression 'art is in the eye of the beholder', I've even expanded this in my novel Brushstrokes of a Gadfly:

“Art is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone will have their own interpretation.”

    It is human nature, we can't help but interpret what we see depending on our personal experiences and tastes. Often the artist means to depict one thing, and the viewing public sees something completely different!

(Is it just me, or does a  bowl of spaghetti has more 'art' to it than this?)

I for one cannot help but shake my head at the modern monstrosities creators in the art world are producing, (and I bet most of you out there do too!) 

 

What happened to honest-to-goodness skill and artistry?

Like this? Beautiful! Dashing! Dramatic!

 

(Image: Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David, 1803)

 

 

Or this? Impressionism is beautiful too!

 

(Monet's famous 'Poppies')

But now we've come to this?  Seriously?

 

 

 Uggggh.

Do modern artists of today truly think what gobbledygook they are producing is really 'beautiful'?

(Picaso's first and last self portraits. 

 I can't help but say he did not think much of himself later in life.)

    Again, it just feels like a scam market at times, galleries and art dealers wowing would-be investors with stories of how 'this is the latest collectible trend', pumping up a market that sells nothing more than splotches on a canvases , a 'hot-air balloon' system which one of my characters in the same novel also notices:

 

“They lived off each other's hypocrisy, fueling a worthless market of trash.”

 

    Then, more importantly, they seem to forget to ask the question:  does Heaven care about what we draw, paint or design?

    As Our Lord said Himself noted: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” (Luke 6:45)

 

     If spoken words display what is in the heart of a person, what does a picture show if indeed one picture is worth a thousand words?

 

I've come across several examples that show yes, Heaven does care.

 

    The first is an account of an artist who came back from the dead to warn the owner of a beautiful but scandalous painting he produced for him:

    “A painter of great skill and otherwise exemplary life had once made a painting not at all conformable to the strict rules Christian modesty. It was one of those paintings which under the pretext of being 'works of art' are found in the best families, and the sight of which causes the loss of so many souls. (…) The artist of whom we speak had allowed himself to be misled to this point by bad example.

    Soon however, renouncing this pernicious style, he confined himself to the production of religious pictures, or at least of those which were perfectly irreproachable. Finally, he was painting a large picture in the convent of the discalced Carmelites, when he was attacked by a mortal malady. Feeling he was about to die, he asked the Prior to allow him to be interred in the church of the monastery, and he bequeathed to the community his earnings, which amounted to a considerable sum of money, charging them to have Masses said for the repose of his soul. He died in pious sentiments, and a few days passed, when a Religious who had stayed in the choir after Matins saw him appear in the midst of flames and sighing piteously.

    “What!” said the religious, “have you to endure such pain, after leading so good a life and dying so holy a death?” “Alas!” replied he, “it is on account of the immodest picture that I painted some years ago. When I appeared before the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge, a crowd of accusers came to give evidence against me. They declared that they had been excited to improper thoughts and evil desires by a picture, the work of my hand. In consequence of those bad thoughts some were in Purgatory, others in Hell. The latter cried for vengeance, saying that, having been the cause of their eternal perdition, I deserved at least the same punishment. Then the Blessed Virgin and the saints whom I had glorified by my pictures took up my defense. They represented to the Judge that that unfortunate painting had been the work of youth, and of which I had repented that I had repaired it afterwards by religious objects which had been a source of edification to souls.”

    “In consideration of these and other reasons, the Sovereign Judge declared that, on account of my repentance and my good works, I should be exempt from damnation but at the same time, He condemned me to these flames (Purgatory) until that picture should be burned, so that it could no longer scandalize anyone.”

    Then the poor sufferer implored the Religious to take measures to have the painting destroyed. “I beg of you,” he added, “go in my name to such a person, proprietor of the picture; tell him in what a condition I am for having yielded to his entreaties to paint it, and conjure him to make a sacrifice of it. If he refuses, woe to him! To prove that this is not an illusion, and to punish him for his own fault, tell him that before long he will lose his two children. Should he refuse to obey Him Who has created us both, he will pay for it by a premature death.”

    The religious delayed not to do what the poor soul asked of him, and went to the owner of the picture. The latter, on hearing these things seized the painting and cast it into the fire. Nevertheless, according to the words of the deceased, he lost his two children in less than a month. The remainder of his days he passed in penance, for having ordered and kept that immodest picture in his house.” (Source “Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of theSaints” by Fr. F.X. Schouppe, original edition 1893, reprint TAN,1986.)

    Here is one example Heaven will judge on artist on the damage their work will do – for their art could be a means causing the edification and salvation of many, or, bring about grave scandal and the eternal loss of souls.

Immodesty is a big no-no.

    I found another example of the danger of immodesty in a picture, this time with regards to sacred art, with Satan making an attempt to trip up and trap a holy priest, the humble Pére Lamy (1853-1931), who received many visits from Our Lord, Our Lady and the Angels.   (Yes, he is an approved mystic.)

    As usual with mystics whose spiritual gifts are extraordinary like his were, which included the discernment of souls, his fame as a visionary quickly spread.  Naturally people asked him what Our Lady and Our Lord looked like. Not many people get to see Christ and His Mother! In some instances, Pére Lamy tried to give examples of what Our Lady was like, no statue or painting made by human hands was good enough, but he indicated a couple of statues he thought looked the closest to her manner of bearing and expression.

    One day in 1915, however, he was brought to see a newly built church, Saint Michel de Batignolles in Paris, where they were pleased to show off a sculpture of the Madonna and Child that apparently had won the prestigious 'Prix de Rome'.  

     While everyone was proud of the prize-winning sculpture and the purity of the marble used, Pére Lamy had a different reaction, especially with the depiction of the Christ Child Who was depicted "completely naked", according to the words of Père Lamy, Our Lady holding the Child with a mere piece of cloth, but only as an artistic effect, not a proper covering.  Père Lamy said he found this 'disconcerting' and even made a furious glare at it.

    To confirm his feelings, The Madonna appeared to him right then holding the Christ Child in front of the statue, and, he noted with satisfaction the Child was fully and properly dressed in his little brown wool tunic. Then Our Lady warned Père Lamy:

 “Take care, Lucifer is after you like a dog tracking down a hare.”

    He noted this was her way of showing her displeasure with the statue. She then warned him to be very careful of his words regarding it, no doubt this was due to the fact that any indication of an approval coming from him would imply the statue was accurate when it in fact displeased Our Lady, and of course, and would end up giving bad example. So, he carefully replied that the statue “did not answer the great dignity of the Mother of God and that the statue did not please me.”

 

  There you have it.  

 Nakedness in art for "art's sake" is not approved of by Heaven.

    Fr. F.X. Schouppe explains what true art is when giving his example of the artist who came back from Purgatory to demand his immodest picture be burned:

    “True art is an inspiration from Heaven, which elevates the soul to God; profane art, which appeals to the senses only, which presents to the eye nothing but the beauties of the flesh and blood, is but an inspiration of the evil spirit; his works, brilliant though they may be, are not works of art, and the name is falsely attributed to them. They are the infamous productions of a corrupt imagination.” (Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints)

  As we have seen with Satan attempting to trip up Pére Lamy, this point is indeed the case.

    But, what is even more unnerving, I've hunted down a picture of the statue that caused Our Lady's displeasure. According to the person telling this story they heard from Père Lamy, the statue was carved c. 1920 by Arthur-Joseph Gueniot (1866 – 1951).

 

The statue does not look immodest to our standards at all!

("Mater Dei" in Saint Michel des Batignolles by Arthur-Joseph Gueniot.)

    Our Lady looks perfectly clothed, her neckline does not seem open or that low at all to our eyes, and while the Christ Child is wrapped in a cloth, He is not 'completely' nude from the waist down like many other pieces as the text seem to have suggested!

Oh. 

If this piece displeased Our Lady, what does Heaven consider to be improper 'nudity'?

The answer can be found in the book of Genesis.

    When Adam and Eve fell, already they had become blinded by their sin and did not even know how to fully clothe themselves. They took fig leaves and made simple aprons, but God let them know this was not enough – He had to make them tunics of skins after they confessed their misdeed.

    A tunic or robe-like garment covers the whole upper half of the body, over the shoulders, and slightly below the knees. Having an uncovered chest and torso was still considered nakedness by God. But also observe: to make the skin-tunics, something had to be sacrificed and shed its blood to make them proper garments, a symbol of the Great Sacrifice the Lamb of God would offer to cover the whole human race with His Precious Redemptive Blood.   Those re-clothed in grace with the Blood of the Lamb at the end of time are given full white robes as we see in the Apocalypse.  Pére Lamy noted the Christ Child in the vision with Our Lady was fully dressed in a tunic when He appeared

Wow, it makes you take stock of how bad most of our Renaissance and Classical art must look like to Heaven!

Père Lamy also noted the Mother of God's “tastes are very artistic”.

  

    In one instance he tells the story of a little plaster statue of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal he once had as a child and that he had daubed up with his paints.   He said the thought he was doing something wonderful in painting it, but agreed with the wisdom of hindsight gained from his adult years that his childish attempt at statue-painting was a real mess!

    He had painted her white, apparently he had painted her hands and face white, her cloak blue, and her veil white, but then gave her a yellow girdle, which clashed with the whole white and blue ensemble. However, the statue was lost when the family home burned down. One day in a vision Our Lady commented on the statue he had painted when a child, declaring, “He thought to give me a yellow girdle: it was very very ugly!” She then laughed heartily, and said “but I liked the intention.”

Yes, Père Lamy noted Our Lady does laugh at times!

    

    And, we see the Queen of Heaven and Earth, the Mother of Wisdom and Truth, has no qualms in saying when something is ugly. We can hazard a guess she still liked the messy statue because she could see he had painted it with love even if it had not been aesthetically perfect, just like any charitable mother would who goes ahead and tapes up their child's finger painting on the front of the refrigerator as though it belonged in a gallery.  Those childish gifts are well meant, splotchy though they may be!

    Pére Lamy confirmed this again when he noted Our Lady does not find many of her statues good to look at, but still, she loves them for they “are signs of the affection people have for her”, and therefore the ugliness of the statues does not hinder her from using them as channels of grace. (Source for the information and quotes on Père Lamy: “Père Lamy: 1855-1931”, by Comte Paul Biver, TAN,1973.)

    In all, Heaven will make concessions for some 'ugly' pieces of art, but we have to ask: if Heaven will punish those artists who create scandalous pictures, and Satan could attempt to trap a very holy priest with an immodest statue, not to mention Our Lady has very high artistic tastes, then what does Heaven think of modern art?

The Holy Souls from Purgatory give the answer to this.

    Maria Simma (1915 -2004) from Sonntag, Austria, had been chosen as a victim soul to receive visits from the Holy Souls in Purgatory and aid their release. (Note: her case is still under investigation by the Church, but there has been no negative rulings on her as yet, and, she was permitted to speak of her experiences by her local bishop. I personally have not seen anything contrary to Church teachings in her visions.)

    According to the book “My Personal Experiences with the Poor Souls” (Franciscan Herald Press, Chicago,1979, p. 61), she one day received a message from the Blessed Mother via the visit of a Holy Soul requesting that a chapel be built in Sonntag. Maria's spiritual director agreed with the request, because he realized the exact spot where the chapel to be built according to the Holy Soul's directions once had a wayside shrine there long ago dedicated to the Blessed Mother, but it was removed during roadworks. The villagers had promised to put it back up, but the promise was forgotten, and as the years passed, only the older generations barely remembered it. So, Our Lady obviously wanted the promise kept, but now wanted a chapel big enough to where Mass could be said.

    When the chapel was finished, a new request came from the Blessed Mother via the visit of a Holy Soul: Our Lady desired a picture be painted and hung in the chapel depicting her as “Mother of Mercy for the Poor Souls”, but, the request also demanded “it should be a picture of natural beauty, not a contorted work of modern art.”

Wow.

 Heaven considers modern art a 'contortion', with no 'natural beauty'.

Basically, that it is twisted and therefore grotesque!

    Maria Simma would later give another example, I believe it is in the book 'Get Us Out of Here!”, by Niki Eltz. Unfortunately I only borrowed that copy and gave it back to its owner, so I don't have it on hand and will have to paraphrase what I recall. When asked about art and what the Holy Souls had to say about modern art, I believe it was about sacred art, she said the Holy Souls have told her Heaven does not approve of it as it is a mockery of what it represents.

Uh oh. Modern 'sacred art' of today therefore is more than just a mere fashion.

Heaven calls out modern “sacred art” for what it is -- a contorted, twisted, mocking sacrilege.

Heaven has also extended its disapproval to modern church designs.

    In the prophecies of the mystic Ven. Sister Domenica of Paradise (1473-1553) Our Lord warned that nearer the end of time a dark period was coming when the faith would drastically wane, one of the signs would be when church buildings would resemble caverns:

    “My bride, pray and weep for My faithful, there will come a time when My faith, declining, will be missed in many and few (faithful) will remain, when souls fall into the hands of My enemy for the scarcity and lack of the Word God, (i.e. when the Word of God will not be taught or preached, the word 'lack' also means it may not be preached properly as it should) and when the temples of the Christians will resemble caverns than churches, then the night of blindness will reign, and the day and the sun of cognisance will be extinguished, and amid so much darkness few will know those who can exercise virtue, and employ themselves in the worship of My faith (...)” (For more info, click here.)

    Therefore, modern art and architecture are displaying the corrupt nature of the times and the loss of faith.

Interesting how everything seemed to take a nose-dive after Vatican II. By their fruits, you will know them.

All one has to look at is the infamous “church” that has been dubbed “Our Lady of Minas Morgul” built in the 1960s. 

 

 (Real name: "St. Francis de Sales", Muskegon, Michigan, USA)

   

     The dark joke is not far off: I can't help but imagine a hoard of Sauron's orcs from Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' conducting a black mass here.   Yikes.

The times are growing dark indeed.

    Fr. Schouppe observed: “If such is the consequence of an immodest picture, what then, will be the punishment of the still more disastrous scandals resulting from bad books, bad papers, bad schools, and bad conversations?”

The loss of Faith.

    Being a writer today is a daunting occupation knowing what you do may affect the eternal condition of a reader's soul … but that is for another post!

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Fatima's Gradual Descent into Darkness – the Altar of the World has become a blasphemous mockery

May 13, 2017 marked the 100^th Anniversary of the miraculous apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three shepherd children of Fatima, Portugal.

On that day, Pope Francis canonised two of the little seers, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, which makes them the youngest non-martyred saints of the Catholic Church.

However, what was supposed to be a joyous celebratory canonisation Mass was filled with sombre omens. (Image: AP Photo/Armando Franca)

The official canonisation pictures of the two children are dark, disturbingly so, and they are holding lamps, a reference to the parable of the wise virgins waiting for the Master to come, who will also “search Jerusalem with lamps” during a time of disbelief. (Sophonias 1:12) It is a passage of the coming Judgement. Is this a sign to be vigilant, a sign of Dark Days ahead when the Master visits the earth unexpected with His Justice? (Right image: more official images unveiled May 8 by the Sanctuary during a news conference for the canonisation 2017, which are even darker than the ones on the basilica.)

The statue of Our Lady above the altar on the Holy Rosary Basilica never gets blackened like the other statues, (since mould is a big problem in Portugal), but at the Mass, it was clear for all to see the top and outer edge of her right hand has turned black, (notice the close up),  while the rest of the statue was perfectly white. All my years in Fatima, I've never seen the statue like this, it always stays white especially as it was cleaned not too long ago for the Anniversary. As she has said to other visionaries and mystics of the Church, she is getting tired of holding up the arm of her Son from visiting the earth with His Justice. (Close up below, thank you to Tigga Wild on Twitter for use of the photo.)

The most shocking element is the new outdoor altar specially built for the occasion of the Anniversary: a huge black /brownish stone block surrounded by six black stone candle holders and black seat for the main celebrants. The candles are set so low it appears as though black candles were burnt for the Mass.  The strange thing: the original plans showed a white altar, white podium and white seats, but this was changed, a 3D model had it in gold, but this switch to a 'Black Cube' altar is startling.  It was as if they were hiding what they planned to do regarding the altar itself and unleashed it on an unsuspecting public at the last minute. we cannot help but see a strange connection with the Illuminati 'Black Cube of Saturn' cult.  Yes, occultists believe in such a thing. (Read more about it here.)

Pope Francis himself also wore a very dark pallium with black crosses, and this for the joyous occasion of the Fatima Anniversary and the canonisation of two children? The whole ceremony was so dark and sombre, compared with the outdoor canonisations that take place in Rome! (Image below: Paulo Novais/Pool Photo via AP)

The 'crucifix' above the altar has an ugly 'floating' modern figure of Christ completely detached from the cross as though He were 'resurrecting' or ascending already. Christ is not crucified on the cross, they have depicted Our Lord levitated in mid air away from the cross,  and as Bishop Fulton J. Sheen so ominously predicted, one of the signs of the last times will be the rise of a 'church without a cross', a false church emptied of all Divine content, Christ's sufferings will be eliminated. (Image below, notice again the black altar and the black candles down the sides. AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Interesting how all the votive Masses at the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fatima contain the 'Woman Clothed with the Sun' reading from the Apocalypse, and so did the Anniversary Mass. Right now, this exact sign is occurring in the sky, which foretells a time of punishment is coming. (Read more about that here in "The Lord Says: Look tot he Sky for the Signs of the Times".)

In all, it looked like a 'Black Mass' was being offered, or at the very least, a 'Death Mass' for the Church as we once knew it.

Other ominous signs in Fatima:

The Trinity 'Church' ~ the 'Bull Ring' as one local disgruntled vandal described it on a poster here in the parish church. You don't need me to tell you this building looks nothing like a Catholic church. It's one huge spiritless community hall without a Tabernacle, complete with blasphemous depictions of a fleshy Christ on the cross inside, and I think a statue of Our Lady, no one seems to know what it is. Outside, there is a huge, featureless 'matchstick Christ', while the traditional Penitential Pathway that pilgrims make on their knees was also cut exactly in half when this 'church' was built, it is half the length it once was.   Remember, Bishop Sheen warned of church without a suffering Cross or penance, a sign of the last days. (Picture of the 'Fleshy' Christ and the 'Match Stick' Christ.)

The Fatima Sanctuary took about 47 million Euros of a grant from the European Commission to build the Trinity Church, so they were 'indebted' to the Socialist Regime: it is no surprise the Trinity Church turned out the way it did. There were plans to include ecumenical chapels in the new building so "All Faiths" could worship there, but that was scrapped.

I bet most people don't know that the Sanctuary Committee had planned to knock down the original Holy Rosary Basilica after the Trinity Church monstrosity was built, but the people complained and that was dropped. They also had planned to move the children's bodies to a modern chapel underground at the Trinity Church, but the people also protested and this too was dropped for now.

The underground chapels connected with the Trinity Church are a scandal, completely devoid of edifying decorations save a tiny modern crucifix, a statue of Our Lady of Fatima (the only pretty holy object there), and a box in the corner for a Tabernacle. The walls are dead plain, these chapels are more clinical than a hospital ward, and let's not get into the horrible monstrance used in the Perpetual Adoration chapel ~ a steel square suspended from the ceiling, while the giant jewelled monstrance donated by the Irish is stuck in a museum along with all the other beautiful chalices and ornaments for the altar donated from around the world. They've all become museum pieces while the most plain insipid chalices I wouldn't stick on my kitchen table are used for all the Masses. (Images: the steel square monstrance in the modern Adoration Chapel.  All the underground chapels look like this, white and clinical.)

 

 And here is the paganish plain silver modern monstrance that was used at the Blessing of the Sick and Benediction during the Canonisation Mass May 13, 2017 compared with the giant solid gold and jewelled Irish Monstrance now in a museum, (image below):

It seems they cannot find enough ways to introduce as much ugly modern art into the Sanctuary as they can, the perpetual Nativity scene is horrific, and so is the one they trot out for Christmas at the Trinity Church. (Image Right: Trinity Church nativity scene. Image below, perpetual Nativity scene in the outdoor Sanctuary).

UPDATE: This is the most recent 'Nativity Scene' in the Holy Rosary basilica (December 2017): giant stick figures carved from tree trunks that look like something out of a primative pagan cult.   On top of that, the basilica was practically left undecorated!  You would never know it was Christmas in there.  Before, they used to do 'something', hang a few curtains over the doors and a large 'photograph nativity' with the baby Jesus that looked slightly more traditional, but this year was a right flop. 

Another shocker, after the Holy Rosary Basilica was restored for the Anniversary, the beautiful mosaic Stations of the Cross were removed from inside, and they have not been returned. We have no idea where they are, or if they will be put back. The marble altar rails were also taken out last year and a red string was put in its place, not even a decent looking 'theatre rope' was used. The modern altar featuring the Last Supper was taken out, now there is nothing but another stone block. At least it's not black, but dark brown, close enough.  UPDATE: Thanks to Catholic Sat on Twitter who reminded me that two original altars of the fifteen dedicated to the Holy Rosary have been removed, also, in order to put new name plaques near the seers' burial places, they have covered over the CHI-RHO of Constantine on the old altars, those extra name plaques were not necessary as the graves already had clear markings right on them.  So yes, another set of traditional crosses removed!   (Images, the Holy Rosary Basilica before and after the restoration process.  The stations of the Cross are now missing. UPDATE. Dec. 2017: they're still missing, see the new nativity scene above.)

 

 

Here is a comparison of the Former versus the New altar inside the Holy Rosary Basillica. Does this look like an 'improvement'?

UPDATE: the most worrying thing I've seen about this brown altar in the Holy Rosary Basilica: Currently there are only three candlesticks shaped out in a triangle pattern around the altar (see the picture above): which looks almost exactly like the arrangement around a Masonic Altar.   Three candles are Masonic symbolic imagery.  Compare with the  pictures of a Masonic Lodges below:

        

 








 What are the bishops thinking?!  When the Holy Rosary Basilica in Fatima begins to look more like a Masonic Lodge than  a Catholic church, you know the chastisements are coming soon. 






 
Elsewhere, the red Sanctuary lamps have been taken away, the red candle outside the Chapel of Apparitions has been gone for several years now. There is one inside where the Tabernacle is closed away, but nobody sees it, so there is no public indication the Blessed Sacrament is present at the Apparition Chapel. In the Holy Rosary Basilica, little white tea light candles are now next to the Tabernacle, but that is not a clear indicator to visitors that the Blessed Sacrament is present.   People wander past and don't genuflect.  Lack of proper Sanctuary lamps leaves the Sanctuary open to more blasphemous disrespect, which was bad enough to begin with. (See the Before and After pictures.)

People are no longer respectful in the Sanctuary grounds like they used to be way back in 1997 when I first visited Fatima. People were quiet once they entered the Sanctuary let alone one of the churches, but that is long gone. As I type this, I have been living here for fourteen years now, and things have steadily become much worse. Talking, yakking, shouting, walking about, even when Mass is going on the the Chapel of Apparitions. People answer a call on their mobile phones during Mass and run out! Others sit and send texts waiting for Mass. Prayer? What is that? I remember seeing a young woman reading the 'Da Vinci Code' by Dan Brown during the Blessed Sacrament Procession. Yes. I did.

Apparently, ignorance of the faithful has now also deprived us of the Blessing of the Candles before the nightly Rosary procession.  As the candles are lit, the priest used to bless them before the procession began, but we discovered people were throwing their candles into the garbage when the procession was over!  I don't know how many blessed candles we fished out of trash cans after the night processions.  Now, the last few times we've been to the processions, no blessings were done on the candles. Perhaps that has been removed, or the priests forget, BUT if it was stopped to prevent a sacramental being thrown out, a blessing has been deprived because of indifference to holy objects.

(UPDATE August 15 2018- the priest blessed the candles for the evening Rosary procession, so, it can be hit and miss.  Hopefully enough people compalined and they've started doing it again, but the Shrine shouldn't be managed on a 'hit or miss' basis!)

Still ongoing, in the Holy Rosary Basilica and the Trinity Church, the ignornace on how to act in a church and the complete lack of respect is appalling.

All the code of conduct signs around the Sanctuary are ignored. People dress half naked as though they were at the beach, or wear see-through or skin tight clothes, and no one corrects them or keeps them from entering like they do in Rome.

Rarely any genuflections before the Blessed Sacrament when people enter the church, they troop right on through. No calm or order when receiving Communion, people pile out of pews on top of each other like a cattle drive, which is a complete nightmare in the huge open air Masses, you have to elbow your way for Communion, and then pray you don't get skipped by the priests or that a Host is dropped. (And yes, hosts have been dropped.  No act of reparation done.)

Then, priests might skip you if you were kneeling for Communion in the Apparition Chapel, espeically if you're a lady with your head covered in the traditional lace mantilla.  I've been denied Communion on several occasions, it still happens, which discourages anyone from kneeling for Communion or keeping your head covered.  Once, I even had to flag down the priest and keep him from passing me! This is how they treat Catholics, but have no problems letting Hindus come in that one infamous time May 2004 and dance around right in the Sanctuary of the Apparition Chapel, to 'honour' Our Lady as a manifestation of one of their goddesses. (Read more about that here. Note, I don't know who runs this site, I'm only sharing the news about the Hindu sacrilege / blasphemy.)

Visitors may not be able to see all the changes that have been done gradually bit by bit, but living here and watching as it happened these last fourteen years, it's one heartbreak after another.

The Austrian mystic Maria Simma, who allegedly had visitations from the souls of Purgatory, said they revealed to her that Heaven does not approve of modern images in churches for they are a mockery of what they're supposed to represent.

What an ominous warning. It appears Fatima, the Altar of the World, has become one giant blasphemous mockery, and as we all know, God will not be mocked.  Truly the lack of CATHOLIC celebration displayed for the canonisation and Anniversary of Our Lady's apparitions in Fatima is a frightening revelation of the sign of our times.

UPDATE: For those who think these observations about Fatima are over the top, that I'm making a 'big deal about nothing', I'm including below only PART of a vision Blessed Catherine Emmerich received about Our Lord's terrible Agony in the Garden showing one manner of torment He received from the devil:

“Among the throng of apparitions typical of the outrages offered to Divine Mercy, I saw Satan under various abominable forms, each bearing reference to the guilt then exhibited. (From sin committed.) … At first I saw the serpent but seldom, but towards the last I beheld it in gigantic form, a crown upon its head. With terrible might and leading after it immense legions of humans prepared to attack Jesus. …

Upon this I received an instruction that these multitudes that were thus tearing Jesus to pieces represented the countless number of those that in divers ways ill-treat Him who, in His Divinity and Humanity, Body and Soul, Flesh and Blood under the forms of bread and wine in the Most Blessed Sacrament, dwells ever present in that Mystery as their Redeemer.

Among these enemies of Jesus, I recognized offences of all kinds committed against the Blessed Sacrament, that living Pledge of His uninterrupted presence with the Catholic Church. I saw with horror all the outrages springing from neglect, irreverence, and omission, as also those of abuse and the most awful sacrilege. …

… I notice in particular many badly instructed, badly reared, and irreverent acolytes, (altar servers) who do not honour Christ in the Holy Mass. Their guilt falls partly upon their teachers and the careless sacristans.

But with terror I saw that many of the priests themselves, both of high and low degree – yes, even some that esteem themselves full of faith and piety – contribute their share toward outraging Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. 

Of the many whom, to my great sorrow, I thus saw, I shall say a word of warning to one class in particular, and it is this:

I saw numbers that believe, adore, and teach the Presence of the Living God in the Most Blessed Sacrament, yet who do not sufficiently take it to heart. They forget, they neglect, the palace, the throne, the canopy, the seat, the royal adornments of the King of Heaven and Earth, that is, the church, the altar, the tabernacle, with all its vessels, the furniture, the decorations, the festal robes, and all that is used in His worship, or the adornment of His house. All things were ignominiously covered with dust and rust, mouldering away, and through long years of neglect, falling to ruin. The service of the living God was shamefully neglected, and where it was not inwardly profaned, it was outwardly dishonoured. Nor did all this arise from real poverty, but indifference and sloth ... from preoccupation of mind with vain, worldly affairs, and often too from self-seeking and spiritual death. I saw neglect of this kind in rich churches and in other tolerably well off. Yes, I saw many in which a worldly love of splendour and tinselled finery had replaced the magnificent and appropriate adornments of a more devout age. What the rich in ostentatious arrogance do, the poor foolishly aim at in their poverty and simplicity. This recalls to me our poor convent chapel in which the beautiful old stone altar had been covered with wood veined to imitate marble, a fact that always gave me sorrow. (I.e. a real stone altar had been covered with a cheap 'tinselled finery' of fake marble veneer. )

These visions of the outrages offered to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament I saw multiplied by innumerable church wardens who were totally deficient in their sense of equity, who failed to share at least what they had with their Redeemer present upon the altar, although He had delivered Himself to death for them, although He remains

(Extracts from The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations from the Vision of Venerable Ann Catherine Emmerich, Vol 4, Tan Publishers, 1986, pp. 96-99)

Blessed Emmerich does say God does not need riches, but considering she has warned priests in particular to take care to give the best at the Altar, it shows Christ, who died for us and continues to remains on earth for us inthe Blessed Sacrament, demands respect and deserves the very best ~ "magnificent and appropriate adornments of a more devout age" ~ not showy tinsel, the mocking modernity of the world that is an outrage.

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UPDATE NUMBER TWO:   It seems that in Fatima they know when to bring out the 'good stuff' when it suits them, so it is not alway completely downhill here -- last week at the public Benediction at 5:30 PM in the Chapel of Apparitions (Sept. 24, 2017) they used a gorgeous gold and silver adoration monstrance in the statue-shape of Our Lady of Grace, the Sacred Host placed directly where her heart is, then, the Host was reverently taken out and placed in a proper 'Blessing' monstrance when the time of the public blessing was to occur.  If they have items like this for the service of the altar in such a special place like Fatima, why don't they use them instead of the blasphemous trash we see all the time? Of course, a visiting bishop was present, so this beautiful monstrance may have been a concession for him.  Still, it was good to see this, there's hope yet. 

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UPDATE NUMBER THREE: (November 10, 2017) Then, we have bright moments, like when a Latin Mass Society visits, or a pilgrim group from a society that upholds Roman Catholic orthodoxy arrives, and somehow receive permisson to decorate the modern altars into something befitting the Sacrifice of the Mass, like this, which just happened recently:


BEFORE: 

AFTER:

 
YES! What a difference! I love it when this happens! Too bad they couldn't do something about the ugly crucifix, but the properly decorated altar is a breath of fresh air.  This particular group also did the same with one of the altars in the little ugly bare white underground 'nothing' chapels and it made such a big difference. You can see it on the site at: http://blog.messainlatino.it/2017/11/pellegrinaggio-dellicrss-per-il_23.html

Too bad this doesn't happen more often.

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