13 julio 1969: Pablo VI recuerda en ángelus la primera misión del "Apollo 11"

El Osservatore Romano, recuerda esta efemérides, en lo que fue un momento histórico, que marco el mundo. Marcello Filotei recuerda el 20 de julio cuando los astronautas llegaron a la luna

Patricia Ynestroza-Ciudad del Vaticano

“La ciencia ficción se hizo realidad el 20 de julio de 1969, cuando los astronautas estadounidenses Neil Armstrong y Buzz Aldrin pisaron la luna a la que habían llegado después de cuatro días de viaje a bordo del Apollo 11. El tercer miembro de la misión, Michael Collins tuvo mala suerte, a pesar de que él dijo que no”.

Filotei recuerda que Collins era el único que podía pilotar el módulo de mando, y tenía que permanecer en órbita mientras los otros dos saltaban a la superficie lunar mientras el mundo los miraba en mundovisión. Era necesario, sin él, la misión no habría tenido éxito, pero no “debería haber sido fácil mantenerse alejado como Moisés para contemplar la "Luna prometida" sin poder alcanzarla. En cada órbita durante 48 minutos permaneció fuera del contacto por radio con la Tierra, las emociones que sintió, según informó, no eran de miedo ni de soledad, sino de "conciencia, anticipación, satisfacción, confianza, casi exaltación". En cualquier caso, continuó: "es desde los tiempos de Adán que nadie ha conocido semejante soledad humana".”

El momento de bajar a la luna

Los otros dos astronautas, tomaron más tiempo del esperado para salir del transbordador, “porque la mochila que llevaban detrás de ellos para asegurar su supervivencia era demasiado grande para pasar fácilmente por la escotilla”, cuenta Filotei, después de haber recolectado más de veinte kilogramos de piedras y haber plantado la bandera, en realidad solo lograron clavarla algunos centímetros porque el suelo era particularmente duro, regresaron a la nave.

Ante las maravillas de Dios ¿qué es el hombre?

Armstrong y Aldrin antes de regresar a la nave, dejaron en la superficie lunar una placa de oro en la que estaba grabado el Salmo 8: "Cuando veo tus cielos, obra de tus dedos, la luna y las estrellas que tú formaste, Digo: ¿Qué es el hombre, para que tengas de él memoria, y el hijo del hombre, para que lo visites? Le has hecho poco menor que los ángeles, y lo coronaste de gloria y de honra. Le hiciste señorear sobre las obras de tus manos; Todo lo pusiste debajo de sus pies”.

Papa Pablo VI quiso este mensaje en la luna

El mensaje al cosmos le había sido confiado por Pablo VI, quien ya había dirigido su pensamiento a la misión una semana antes. Fue el 13 de julio cuando el Papa Montini enfatizó que el momento iba "más allá de los elementos descriptivos de este hecho único y maravilloso". Se estaba haciendo historia y lo que más sorprendió al Papa fue "ver que no se trata de sueños". "La ciencia ficción se convierte en realidad", dijo, pero no se detuvo allí, sino que captó un aspecto particular de la misión: "Si consideramos la organización de cerebros, actividades, instrumentos, medios económicos, con todos los estudios, experimentos, Los intentos, la hazaña, la admiración se convierte en reflexión y la reflexión se curva sobre el hombre, el mundo, la civilización, de donde brotan novedades de tal sabiduría y de tal poder ".

Una vez más volvieron a surgir las preguntas habituales: "¿Quién es capaz de hacer tanto? tan pequeño, tan frágil, tan similar al animal, que no cambia y no sobrepasa por sí mismo los límites de sus instintos naturales, y tan superior, tan maestro de las cosas, ¿tan victorioso en el tiempo y el espacio? ¿Quiénes somos? Seiscientos millones de personas vieron la luna en vivo. La intuición de Pablo VI llamó la atención sobre la mano del hombre, colocando "esta criatura de Dios, incluso más que la misteriosa Luna, en el centro de este viaje".

https://www.vaticannews.va/es/papa/news/2019-07/efemerides-papa-pablo-vi-llegada-a-la-luna.html

Did Our Lady of Fatima Save President Trump?

PATRICK O'HEARN

During President Donald Trump’s tenure, a statue of Our Lady of Fatima was placed in the White House. The statue was a gift from Fr. Andrew Mahana, a Maronite priest, who also exorcised the White House on January 20, 2017 (inauguration night), according to an article by uCatholic.¹ A friend of mine who worked for President Trump said that they referred to the west wing of the White House as the “West Wing Chapel” due to the Marian statue and other religious items.

On May 13, 1981, Pope St. John Paul II survived an assassination attempt. That day was the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, and Pope St. John Paul II himself credited his survival to Our Lady of Fatima. The pope said, “The gunman fired the gun, but Mary guided the bullet;”² another source stated the pope’s words as, “One hand shot, and other guided the bullet.”³ Exactly one year after being shot, the pope visited the apparition site of Fatima. He placed the bullet in Mary’s crown, saying, “You saved me, you saved me.”

Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three children, St. Jacinta, St. Francisco, and Ven. Sister Lucia, on the 13th of every month from May to October of 1917 in Fatima, Portugal—each time asking for prayer and penance.

Most significantly, however, on July 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima revealed the three secrets, including the vision of hell to the children—a most important apparition.

On Saturday, July 13, 2024, President Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, PA. This was the 107^th anniversary of Our Lady’s appearance at Fatima.

This last July 13th fell on a Saturday—a day which Catholics honor Mary especially.

July 13th is also the feast day of Rosa Mystica, one of Mary’s titles and a recently approved Marian apparition.

Furthermore, one mile away from the grounds on which Trump’s rally was held sits a Catholic Church with a grotto to Our Lady of Fatima—a grotto that we think was facing President Trump at the time.

I believe Our Lady of Fatima saved President Donald Trump’s life. She guided the bullets away from him just as she did for Pope St. John Paul II.

Our Lady is God’s instrument. She plays a special intercessory role to Our Lord, and it was her intercession that helped spare President Trump’s life. Certainly, the prayers of Fr. Jason Charron, a Ukrainian Catholic pastor who gave the benediction before the rally, called down heavenly protection.

Interestingly, President Trump was shot at 6:11 pm EST, which, as someone pointed out to me, could refer to Ephesians 6:11: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

President Trump later credited God for saving his life after the attack: “It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.” Indeed, God’s armor was surrounding President Trump, especially that of His Mother.

Throughout Salvation History, we have heard stories of the Blessed Mother protecting souls. Souls have survived shipwrecks, fires, wars, and more because of their devotion to Mary. For instance, at the only approved Marian apparition site in the United States, at Our Lady of Champion in Wisconsin, there was one of the deadliest fires in U.S. history. Despite the damage of the fire, it never touched the six acres of land where Mary had appeared twelve years earlier. The visionary, Sr. Adele, and many families prayed the Rosary the entire night of the fire and carried a statue of Mary in procession during their prayer.⁴

My own grandfather, Albert Vidmar, a member of the 100^th infantry, prayed to Our Lady that he would return safely from World War II. Shortly after his prayer, he was hit in his back with shrapnel but survived. He credits Our Lady for getting him home safely. He prayed his Rosary faithfully for the rest of his life.

Even one “Hail Mary” and one look of love at a statue of Our Lady has saved many in the past and can save many today. Our Lady, by virtue of Her Son, promises to shield souls from the greatest of attacks, especially spiritual ones.

On that sunny Saturday evening in Pennsylvania, Our Lady was protecting President Trump and many other souls who could have been killed.

Mary is the Mother of all people, Catholics and non-Catholics. Perhaps someday President Trump will visit the Shrine Our Lady of Fatima with bullets in hand. Perhaps his brush with death will guide him to an even greater conversion and, God willing, someday lead him to the Catholic Church.

For those who hate President Trump, may their hearts be softened by realizing that human life transcends political parties. Every life matters, especially the most vulnerable in the womb. We are all made in the image and likeness of God. This life is passing, and one day there will be no more wars, violence, or political parties. God will be all in all; Jesus Christ will be our King forever should we seek Him now, or Satan will be our slave master forever should we reject the King of Kings.

Let us pray for President Trump’s full recovery and for the bystander who was killed in this senseless tragedy. Let us also pray for God’s mercy to be upon the soul of the perpetrator.

Our Lady of Fatima, intercede for our nation, which is becoming more and more divided. May you help bring an end to abortion and convert the hearts of all sinners. Heal President Trump. Bring all people back to your Son. Restore our great nation so that “In God We Trust.” We ask this through the precious blood of your Son, Jesus, whom this month of July is dedicated to. Amen.

Author’s Note: Mary’s powerful intercession is one of the reasons I wrote a children’s book called, Our Lady of Sorrows: Devotion to Mary’s Seven Sorrows, published by Sophia Institute Press with a foreword and four original prayers for children by exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger. One of the promises of Our Lady to St. Bridget of Sweden for those who pray seven Hail Mary’s in honor of her Sorrows is as follows: “I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy, and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.”

Photo by Robert McGowan on Unsplash

¹George Ryan, Did You Know? Our Lady of Fatima is Represented at the White House? uCatholic, June 7, 2019, https://ucatholic.com/blog/did-you-know-our-lady-of-fatima-is-represented-at-the-white-house/

²“Eyewitness to May 13, 1981: John Paul II said” “Mary Guided the Bullet” and Then Forgave,” CNA/Ewtn News, https://www.ncregister.com/news/eyewitness-to-may-13-1981-john-paul-ii-said-mary-guided-the-bullet-and-then-forgave.

³Paul Kengor, May 13 Connects Fatima Apparitions, John Paul II Shooting, National Catholic Register, https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/may-13-connects-fatima-apparitions-john-paul-ii-shooting.

⁴More can be found about this apparition in my children’s book: Go and Fear Nothing: The story of Our Lady of Champion by OSV Kids.

Tagged as: Our Lady of Fatima, president

https://catholicexchange.com/did-our-lady-of-fatima-save-president-trump/

In 1981, a bullet narrowly missed the heart of a certain Karol Józef Wojtyła when an aggrieved Turk shot him in the Vatican City. Wojtyła, whose professional title was “Pope John Paul II”, later forgave his would-be assassin, who managed to penetrate the Bishop of Rome with two bullet holes, leading to significant blood loss but without killing him.

This being the 64th anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin Mary at Fátima, she was later invoked as the Pope’s protector that day, and he said himself that a “motherly hand” had guided the bullets to miss his vital organs. I am not the first to wonder why Our Lady of Fátima could not have guided the bullets to miss him altogether.

We have seen a similarly religious response from a similarly religious political milieu following the attempt on Donald Trump’s life on Saturday. Given how close he came to martyrdom in Pennsylvania — turning his head slightly at the exact moment of impact, which was therefore taken by his earlobe rather than his occipital lobe — it has been suggested by a number of political commentators that God had a hand in saving the former president at the last moment. One wonders, as one does of the Secret Service that day, what took him so long.

Megyn Kelly this week provided a useful case study. Reminding her viewers that Trump was shot at 6:11pm, she read a passage from the New Testament: “Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” The citation? Ephesians 6:11. “I’m almost emotional reading it,” she said. “It’s just that what happened to him and our country this weekend is extremely grave and extremely important, and we are all so lucky it wasn’t worse than it was.”

It would take a utilitarian theology of incomprehensible proportions, however, to convince the family of Corey Comperatore, who did catch a bullet that day, that our providential father was controlling its trajectory. How lucky his daughters should feel that the Lord — or perhaps Our Lady of Fátima again? — protected Trump by redirecting those bullets into their dad.

Such is the unthinking theological sloppiness of those who think that God was guiding those bullets, those who insist that Trump is God’s chosen president. This is the same Trump who when asked to name a single Bible verse that he liked, said: “The Bible means a lot to me but I don’t want to get into specifics.” At least he won’t struggle to pick a favourite now.

Read it all in Unherd