A Pattern of Work and Prayer for
Fatima Youth Crusaders
We cannot be effective workers for Mary unless we live a
life of prayer and sacrifice. Pray first, then act.
- Offer your day to Jesus and Mary by starting it with the
Morning Offering and your Consecration to Our Blessed Mother.
- Pray the Rosary every day. Make it a family custom. Is your
family a family that prays together?
- Obtain copies of the Consecration to the Immaculate Heart
of Mary. Make sure that your class, your family and your Fatima Cell are consecrated to
the Immaculate Heart of Mary by saying the Act of Consecration together. Enshrine a
picture of the Immaculate Heart of Mary side by side with the Sacred Heart of Jesus in
every home and every classroom. Repeat your Act of Consecration together often.
- Wear your Scapular ALWAYS. Substitute a scapular medal only
when bathing or for serious reason. Your Scapular is a habit. It is your armor as a
Crusader in Our Lady's Army. Increase your love for Mary's Scapular by discussing it,
reading about it, telling others about it, getting others to wear it. Make sure those who
do wear it really understand what is meant by the Scapular -- a sign that we belong to Our
Lady.
- Spread the message of Fatima by telling others about Our
Lady's requests, getting Fatima pledges signed, distributing leaflets which you can order
from the Fatima Crusade Center. If and when you can, wear something blue as a sign of your
membership in Mary's spiritual army. As a project, get some blue ribbon and wear it as
your badge with your Miraculous Medal.
- Offer up the sacrifices of daily duty. When it is hard to
obey your parents, do it with special love for Mary. Do household chores cheerfully and
study your lessons well. Always show special respect, love, and obedience to your teachers
and elders. Before making a sacrifice, say: "O my Jesus, it is for the love of Thee
that I do this," and you will be surprised how easy it is to carry out your daily
duties.
- Make every First Saturday a day especially devoted to Mary.
Receive Holy Communion. Wear your Miraculous Medal. Spend an extra 30 minutes or more in
Church, as Our Lady asked, saying the Rosary and offering up many prayers in reparation to
the Immaculate Heart of Mary, thinking about the Mysteries of the Rosary and about Our
Lady's life and her apparitions. Frequently during the day offer up short ejaculations to
Jesus and Mary.
- With your teacher's help, form a Fatima Youth Cell in your
class. Use your cell meeting to pray, to meditate, to read about Mary, to discuss her life
and requests and to plan projects to spread the message of the Fatima Crusade. Doing these
things together as a group is a special grace in itself.
- Follow the example of the Fatima children -- Jacinta,
Francisco, and Lucia. Offer up daily acts of penance and reparation to help save souls and
convert sinners. Say the prayers taught by the Angel of Portugal every day with arms
outstretched in a spirit of reparation.
- Spread the Fatima Crusade by writing to your relatives and
friends in other areas and tell them about Our Lady's requests. Get materials from the
Fatima Cell Center to send to them.
- Do you know any elderly people who are confined at home
with illness? Tell them about Mary's Fatima Crusade. Talk it over with them and do little
favors for them for the love of Mary.
- Help support the Fatima Cell Center in any little way that
you can. Perhaps you can label a jar "pennies for Mary's Fatima Crusade" and
send in your donations each month to the Center. If you have collected a large sum, order
a supply of the leaflets that you would like to distribute.
- Imitate Mary and her Holy Son in every thing you say and
do. Dress modestly and be pure in heart, mind, and speech. Make your daily life an example
-- a living message of Fatima.
God bless you!
+ Francis of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
(originally written in 1962)
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