On my walk…today is the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. I was thinking of how many will be saved. Some people think it is wrong to Hope that all will be saved. For me, I think we can hope but I don’t think all will be saved.

Mary told the three children ‘Many souls go to Hell because they there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them.’

At Fatima both the Angel and our Lady asked for sacrifices for sinners.

This was the vision of Hell ‘The rays of light seems to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air from within themselves….’

Mary after showing the three children this vision of Hell also gave them this prayer to be prayed at the end of each decade of the Rosary..

‘O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead (All Souls) emphasis mine… to Heaven, especially those in most need of thy Mercy.’

So in the Fatima apparitions we see both, the fear and the very real possibility of hell. But also we can Hope that all will be saved. Mary words ‘lead all souls to Heaven.’

We can Hope that all will be saved, but there is a real possibility that we you or I can go to Hell.

Maybe an analogy might help. We might hope that we pass our final exam in Math but if we have not studied than we will most likely fail the exam. But we certainly can Hope. It just another question whether or hope to pass the exam is well founded. So we can hope but the probability that we will fail the exam is great. Now this is a very imperfect analogy. God Mercy is infinite. But I think we have in the vision of Mary at Fatima both the Hope that all will be saved but also the very real possibly that I you will not be…

Mary told Jacinta ‘More souls go to hell for sins of the flesh than for for any other reason. And she said to Jacinta ‘Certain fashions will be introduced that will gravely offend My Son.’

So let our Hope be firm. Our Hope for our salvation is firm if it is rooted in obedience to Jesus and Mary and trusting in the infinite merits of Christ that He won for us on the cross.