Trices Group Book Review Journal

Fatima Prophecy

Stanford, Ray

by:

Ballantine Books

Publisher:

Location:

1987

Cover:

Paperback

Type:

Lynard Barnes

reviewed by:

04/05/1995

Comment:

Highly recommended.

Republished from Crushies Book Reviews - Volume II Issue No. 4 - April 1995 - Copyright 1995:
There are very few books this reviewer reads which evokes the utterance, "amazing!". Marveling at the beauty of language in Red Azalea by Anchee Min or the universal ideas in When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip or the relevant folk wisdom of Sarah and Elizabeth Delany in Having Our Say--marvel at voices in which craft and subject have joined to produce unique expression. But "amazing" goes beyond unique expression. In fact, "amazing" plummets to the depths of commonality--the voice, the message, the craft.

Fatima Prophecy lures the reader with the promise that it will reveal the content of a prophecy supposedly delivered to three children in Fatima, Portugal in 1916 by the Virgin Mary who appeared to them in a vision. The prophecy was to be told to the world by the Vatican in 1960--as instructed by the vision. But 1960 came and went and the Vatican has kept the prophecy a secret--maybe. (See sidebar).

Retelling the events of Fatima,the author goes on to relate other apparitions by the Virgin Mary: Beauraing, Belgium in 1932 and 1933, San Sebastian de Garabanda, Spain in 1961, and the most intriguing of all, Zeitoun, Egypt in 1968. There are photographs of the Zeitoun apparition. In part two of the book, Stanford begins an explanation of the Marian apparitions.

The telling mark of New Age material is its arrogant concern with "the world". New Age marterial is simply old-age thought in a different package. It is the packaging that sells of course.

Fatima Prophecy is billed as New Age. It is not. Not in any sense of the hype. First, the gist of its message was composed in 1971 and 1972 from "trance-readings" when the tag New Age was neither popular nor a genre. Secondly, the message is not about what "they" are doing to destroy the world, it is about what "I" am doing. And the message is a simple one: love thy neighbor. Yes, even the jerk who parked a truck of explosives in front of the Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Love thy neighbor.
Stanford allows his trance-readings to get the message across. It is not easy material to digest. For the 1988 edition, he added his own comments, consisting primarily of apologetic excuses for some of what is contained in the readings. The apology marterial is

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superfluous.

The readings explain the difference between the Marian apparitions and ghosts or disembodied spirits. Everything here must be taken on faith. You either believe or not. For those reared in the traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, there is a beautiful symmetry to the idea of a love transcending both life and death and the difference people think that there are among them. That love expresses itself in such manifestations as the Marian visions.

The readings also attempt to explain why the Marian apparitions took place and, according to the readings, will continue to take place. While prophecy, the foretelling of future events of significance to all peoples, is part of the Marian apparitions, it is not the core ingredient. It is here that the Fatima Prophecy is at its best, continuing to weave a symmetry of beauty and logic. Why am I concerned about what will happen in the future? What possible benefit do I hope to achieve from such knowledge? Bottom line: I am going to die within a hundred years at most. What earthly concerns will I have after a hundred years? For those piqued at the Catholic Church for withholding the final prophecy of Fatima, the trance-readings asks why anyone would expect the Church to behave any differently than any other human institution, especially if the prophecy had something demeaning to say about the role of the Church in human affairs.

By the time the trance-readings get around to discussing the secreted final Fatima prophecy, you are fairly well convinced that it is not the prophecy itself that is significant. Rather, it is the fact that the prophecy was delivered. In the language of the trance readings, it is the love of God for humanity that allows the Marian apparitions to happen, providing those who are capable of understanding to understand the importance of love and compassion in human affairs.

The 1918 apparition at Fatima marked the beginning of the bloodiest century in recorded history. Even now in Eastern Europe, Africa and South America, "ethnic cleansing" campaigns are taking place. Though the message has been delivered, few seem to have heard. There will, according to the Stanford readings, be a price for this lack of attention. It is a price that will be paid not because of what "they" are doing over there, but because of what I am doing--what is in my heart, my prayers.

Fatima Prophecy delivers a powerful message. The prophecy delivered at Fatima in 1917 however is of only secondary significance. Supposedly, the prophecy talks of the end of the reign of Popes toward the end of the century. More significant than the end of Popes in Rome is the reason that end is to come about.

If you don't like New Age marterial, be assured that Fatima Prophecy is not. Read it.

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