I see ... that you are worried about the turmoil and the disorientation of our times. It is indeed sad that so many are allowing themselves to be dominated by the [wave of evil] that is sweeping the world.... Their principal error is that they have abandoned prayer. Thus, they turn away from God, and without God everything is lacking to them. For, "without Me you can do nothing."With the recent slaughter of innocents in Connecticut, the threats to our religious liberty under the impending HHS mandate, and the overall degeneration in our society of morality, culture, and even the ability to reason, one might readily assume that the above quotation was written recently. But it was written over forty years ago, by Sr. Lucia of Fatima, to her nephew, a priest.
Her recommendations still hold true now. Here are some gems to live by:
- "Keep close to God and ... tell Him about all [your] affairs and all [your] problems before discussing them with human beings.... You will discover that in prayer God communicates to you the light, strength and grace you need to do all He expects of you."
- "The only important thing for us is to do the will of God: to be where He wants us to be, and to do all He wants of us..."
- "Let time be lacking for everything else, but never for prayer, and you will experience the fact that, after prayer, you can accomplish a lot in a short period of time."
- "Never consider as wasted time you spend in prayer."
- "The devil is very smart and watches for our weak points so that he can attack us. If we are not careful and attentive in obtaining the strength from God, we will fall, because our times are very bad and we are weak. Only God's strength can sustain us."
- "Therefore, we all need to intensify our life of intimate union with God, and this we can attain only through prayer."