Fatima, Christianity and Islam
Did you know that the Portuguese town of Fatima, one of the most famous places for pilgrimage in the Catholic world, was named after the revered daughter of the Islamic prophet Mohamed?
In my opinion, this is no coincidence.
Seen with todays understanding there is a symbolism in the apparition of the Blessed Virgin in Fatima that we Catholics should not miss.
In Fatima the end of a nihilistic, materialist form of government in Russia was promised but also the end of the age of war.
To Fatima we go to pray for peace in the world, to Fatima.
The blessed Virgin coming to Fatima, if this is not a sign, what is?
In order to prevent the next world war and gain world peace there needs to be a reconciliation between Christianity and Islam.
We do not and should not mix our religions like a pot of stew. That would never work.
(And actually we don´t need to either.
My take on the difference of religions is this:
Since the Divine stands above time and space, Divine truth can only be communicated in form of metaphor. And different metaphor sometimes show this truth from different angles, angles which can never be combined on this world, but from a Divine perspective they are nothing but logic.)
No, we should not cut or twist our religions just to make all differences go away.
However,while we acknowledge those differences, we should also recognize the many points we have in common. And most important, we must build bridges of respect and mutual love towards each other.
Christianity and Islam must join forces, not against the rest of the world, but against philosophies which denigrate human beings to either useful tools or useless eaters.
The humanistic value of equality is actually derived from the Christian and Islamic religion, not from ancient Greek philosophers.
Those old Greeks have taught us the value of logic and how to argue on a logical basis, but politically they believed in oligarchic rule, since they thought that everybody who had to work with his hands, was too stupid and not virtuous enough to take part in politics.
Egalitarian principles came with Christianity and were reinforced by Islam.
During and after the age of Enlightenment, the secular humanists wanted to free themselves from the constrains of religion, so they denied the connection.
But by cutting off their roots the secular humanists became vulnerable for every wind blowing from the non-humanists: the followers of Nietzsche, Hitler, Ayn Rand, Leo Strauss, the Malthusians and all the other man-haters.
In those groups, what started as a dislike of God, became often dislike of mankind.
And now we live in an Orwellian world, where compassionate humanists are demonized and war-criminals are justified.
In the last few weeks I went through archived speeches of the Iranian president Ahmadinejad, as well as through Iranian newspaper archives available online in English.
And what I have found is rather surprising and stands in total contrast to the demonizing picture painted by western media about this very same Iranian president.
Indeed, if I would leave out specific Islamic phrases, I could take a speech by President Ahmadinejad and credit it to Pope Benedict, or the other way around.
Most Muslims or Catholic Christians have no idea how much common ground there is between Islamic and Catholic social teachings.
There are a billion Muslims and a billion Christians in the world.
When we stick together we can stop the war-mongers and restore respect for humanity again.
about the USA is that I have had the good fortune to be exposed to many different races and faiths. I have seen first hand that it is possible for people of all different types to get along and live in peace.
I have an interesting and true story about faith. It seems there was this man who was a Catholic. He knew this couple that was also Catholic, and they had a son and a daughter.
The daughter was very good, but the son was a very naughty boy. The son would get into trouble all the time. He was always fighting and unhappy.
The man saw how unhappy the boy was, but he could think of nothing to say or to help the boy. The man was worried that the boy would kill somebody or become some sort of criminal, so the man prayed.
The man was Catholic so he prayed the rosary every day. He would pray for the boy every day. The man prayed for years for the boy.
The boy's parents got divorced and the mother remarried without getting an annulment, so she could no longer receive communion. The mother decided to go to the Protestant church instead. So the boy went to the Protestant church.
At the Protestant church there was a very active youth ministry, and there was a knowledgeable counsellor that knew how to guide angry young boys.
The boy became very well versed in scripture and learned to have a love and respect for God. And he stopped being a bad boy. He grew into a very kind and thoughtful young man.
So the Catholic man wondered about this. He had prayed to God to save the boy from being bad, and God had done this. What a great gift! But the boy was not Catholic anymore. What a conundrum! Had God answered the prayers of a Rosary by making the boy into a good Protestant?
It reminded the man of a joke about the lady who took her son to the sea. The lady loved her son so much, and she enjoyed watching the little boy run out and play on the shore.
Suddenly a great wave came up out of nowhere and crashed down on the boy and dragged him out to sea. The boy was gone!
The lady prayed: "Dear Lord! Please send me back my little boy. He's all I have in the world."
Suddenly, out of nowhere, another wave came and splashed onto the shore. There was the little boy, and he was alive!
The lady threw her arms around the boy and hugged him and kissed him. She looked at the boy for a moment, and then she turned to God and said, "He had a hat!"
So the man thought about this joke, and realized that he was being like the ungrateful lady who wanted her boy exactly as he was before, with his hat.
Who knows the mind of God? God does things in his own time and in his own way.
I think God has a plan, and it is a very good plan. For now, if we have different faiths, then so be it. We can still get along and live together in peace. I have seen people do it and I believe.
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"Stop judging by appearances, but judge justly."
comments are always good Christopher, thanks.
For another awesome post.
and thank you Christopher for your excellent comment.
Posts like this give me hope that all is not lost.
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"Money" has no value - people do.
..much can be learned from different people's cultures, could you imagine if everyone was the same?
..i think the problems are mostly people's EGOS, they think it's okay to force others to be a certain way or do certain things (servitude), even in the name of God! (blasphemy)
..the rest of the problem is people's willingness to follow without any critical thinking, which has been capitalized (sic) on by the manipulative devil worshippers.
..any philosophy or belief MUST BE VOLUNTARY, or it is meaningless, and quite detrimental.
This is a beautiful story and has probably happened in a similar way many times.
God works in different ways.
I also love your comment on Mother Teresa.
As part of her spiritual journey she had to loose the certainty she once had in exchange for a life in faith and hope like an ordinary Christian.
She had to give up her spiritual certainty for something even greater: love.
Thanks CZ.
Erlenda, I like your summary of the Mother Theresa story. That puts a nice "button" on the end. I must try and remember the way you phrased it so that I can pretend I made it up.
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"Stop judging by appearances, but judge justly."