Dear Charlotte:

The Fatima Message to pray for peace is merely a reaffirmation of the command to pray for peace that is contained all over the Bible.

Here is a sampling of verses concerning praying for peace: Psalms chapters 122, 125, 128; Leviticus chapters 3, 7; Jerimiah 8; and many more.

God is the God of peace: 1 Cor 13; 1 Thess 5:23; 2 Thess 3:16; Phil 4:7-9

The Gospel is called the Gospel of peace: Eph 6:15

We are taught to pursue peace in Romans 14:19

In addition, with all due respect to your husband, but he is not thinking very logically. It is true that we cannot expect peace in the world, but that does not mean we should not pray for it.

Using the logic that we are not to pray for something that we cannot expect to be fully resolved would mean, for example, that we are not to pray for the poor (Jesus said the poor would always be among us).

We are to pray for peace, for the poor, for the suffering, for the dead, for ALL things. While total global peace may not come in this life, our prayers of peace can come to our families and can even help in some measure of peace to nations.

Do we think the Iron Curtain came down solely through human political negotiation? No. Prayers from millions were a major factor in facilitating the peace that brought down the Iron Curtain. While President Reagan is often credited with this, it was actually the Pope, behind the scenes that did more in his prayers and ministry that brought down the Iron Curtain than did the politics and diplomacy of Reagan.

It is likely that the prayers of the people of the world are directly responsible for the fact that we are even here now. Who knows what could have happened if prayers were not being offered -- we would have likely had a nuclear war by now.

Prayers CAN stop a war. There is even a historical proof of this.

At dawn on October 7, at the entrance to the Gulf of Patras, the Christian and Moslem fleets finally came face to face for the battle of Lepanto. 

The wind and all military factors favored the Muslims. Suddenly the wind mysteriously changed to the advantage of the Christian fleet. First-hand witnesses wrote about this moment as a most dramatic turn-of-events resulting from an "unknown factor".  

At that very moment, at dawn on October 7, 1571-- as Vatican Archives later revealed--Pope Pius V, accompanied by many faithful, was praying the Rosary in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.  From dawn to dusk the prayers continued in Rome as the Christians and the Muslims battled at Lepanto.  When it was all over the Muslims had been defeated. Of some 270 Moslem ships, at least 200 were destroyed.  The Turks also lost 30,000 men while Christian casualties numbered between 4,000 and 5,000. 

Following the great Christian victory at Lepanto against the invading Muslims in which the Rosary was, Pope St. Pius V declared that henceforth a commemoration of the Rosary would be a part of the Vatican's Mass on every October 7.  His successor, Pope Gregory XIII, went further. In 1573 he established the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary--to be celebrated at all Churches which had specific altars dedicated to the Rosary. 

In 1683 the Muslims again swept into Europe. With 200,000 men, they laid siege to Vienna. After months of valiant resistance by a small garrison, the city was relieved by an army under John Sobieski, King of Poland. The Rosary, to which the King was dedicated, was again instrumental in a military victory. Pope Innocent XI consecrated September 12 of that year to the Holy Name of Mary. The Moslem hordes were hurled back yet again at Peterwardein in Hungary by Prince Eugene on the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows, August 5, 1716. As a result of this victory, Pope Clement XI extended the Feast of the Rosary to the Universal Church.

In addition, we all pray for peace in the Mass. In the "Glory" we pray: "Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth."

In the Eucharistic Prayer I, the priest prays: "We offer them for your holy Catholic Church, watch over it, Lord, and guide it; grant it peace and unity throughout the world."

After the Our Father the priest prays: "Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day."

Bottomline: We are indeed to pray for peace, not only for our families, but for the whole world. To not pray for peace is to disobey the Prince of Peace.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary