On May 9, 2023, my wife Imani, and I embarked on a spiritual pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal to celebrate the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three young shepherds: Jacinta, Lucia, and Francisco in May 1917. In addition to appearing to the three shepherds, she performed a celestial miracle of the sun that was witnessed by 70,000 people. The Blessed Mother’s appearance to the shepherds and her revelations are thoroughly investigated, documented, and approved by the Church. For approximately thirty days, my wife and I basked in the sanctity of Fatima, during which, our souls were revivified and empowered by the rich sacramental grace of Eucharistic reception, adoration, and the sacrament of reconciliation. Annually, millions of Catholics, as well as non-Catholic pilgrims, visit Fatima for spiritual discernment, healing, faith renewal, and spiritual reflections. My pilgrimage to Fatima arose out of a perennial yearning for a deeper mystical union with the Creator. This odyssey was consistent with the miracles and wonders that characterize my life as Yeshua. The Fatima pilgrimage proved to be an invitation and springboard to a deeper intimacy with the Divine Fiat. The expression, “ a call to total sanctification”, perhaps, best exemplifies the Fatima phenomenon. There is a palpable Marian presence and consciousness which permeates the Cova da Iria. Tradition maintains that each attendee has been “called” to Fatima by the Virgin Mary herself for a personal revelation. In the months preceding my “call”, I was estranged from the Church after becoming disgruntled, owing to the underrepresentation of African American clergy, deacons, and parishioners in the Catholic Church. Hence, I took a hiatus to research the Judaic roots of Christianity. Nevertheless, at the propitious moment, the tentacles of the Blessed Mother touched my soul as I began to contemplate the necessity of a spiritual pilgrimage. I contacted Father Jose at Saint James Church for the sacrament of reconciliation, prayer, and further discernment. With the recommendation and support of his input and prayers, it became clear that I should go to Fatima. Having discerned that Fatima was calling I didn’t know why and a leap of faith would be required to discover why. However, subsequently completing the Fatima pilgrimage, in retrospect, the pilgrimage to Fatima inaugurated a new epoch; a commitment to sanctification. During the pilgrimage, the words of Lord Yeshua in Mathew 6: 6-10 circumlocuted in my mind: “And when you are praying do not use vain repetitions. Therefore, when you pray to say, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done”. The Lord Yeshua taught his disciples to recite a sacred prayer formula in the language of creation (Lashon Ha Kodesh). When this prayer is recited in the Holy Tongue, the sanctity of the letters creates a diminution of the personal will, and inaugurates The Divine Will! One of the most profound effects of the Holy Tongue is its spiritual DNA. That is, it’s the ability to create reality. In effect, the answer to this prayer is inherent in the sequence of letters and their meaning.
THE LORD’s PRAYER IN HEBREW:
אבינו שבשמים יתקדש שמך תבוא מלכותך יעשה וזונח כמו בשמים כן בארץ את לחם קוטנו תן לנו יום יום הוא שלח לנו את אבותינו כיסו להתעלם גם אנחנו לעכל הקריאה ולנו ולותהנו לידי ניסיון כי אם אצלנו מינהאר אמן
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The sentence,” thy will be done,” denounces the petitioner’s personal will, in deference to the Divine Will. This prayer is not a petition for our perfunctory needs! While in Fatima our Lady inspired me to hear, for the first time, the salient nature of these words; they are a consecration and a total surrender, a commitment to live in the Kingdom of The Divine Will. In retrospect, the central message that I received at Fatima was penance and a call to the complete surrender of my personal, or human will to the Divine Will of the kingdom of Heaven. I was called to Fatima as a child of Mary to be invited to live in the Kingdom of The Divine Will.
The objective of this article is to heighten and refine the reader’s awareness of the significance of this prayer, its words, meaning, and purpose. The prayer is a petition for divine order, placement, and purpose. However, owing to the collective spiritual underdevelopment, its intention has remained amorphous, and therefore, its miraculous power for sanctification remains dormant. Secondarily, I wish to encourage each reader to examine for himself the inherent petition for sanctification and with this insight enter, more fully into the mystery of the Divine Will. Recitation of this powerful prayer with knowledge of its exactness, offers a new vision of possibilities for a heavenly life which counters the current hopelessness and despair related to the Will of earth, or human will. When prayed as an act of consecration, heavenly gifts of joy, peace, meekness, gentleness, patience, self-control, kindness, and holy love are bestowed. This prayer was given to the Apostles with a specific end in mind; their total transformation; the eradication of their lower egoistic humanity. The Kingdom of the Divine Will is being orchestrated through the intercession of our Lady of Fatima. Divine volition is calling her children into sanctification for Heavenly life on Earth; the divestment of personal Will is the essential criterion. Eternal life is the exclusive domain of the Kingdom of the Divine Will. Each day’s prayer should be” Lord what is your will”, let thine will be done! This prayer is the key to Sanctification which is why it was taught to the Apostles. In the book of Zephaniah 3:9, it is prophesied that God will give his people a pure language. This pure Tongue is Lashon Ha Kodesh, the Hebrew, Aramaic language of holiness spoken by Yeshua and his disciples. LashonHa Kodesh, sacred speech, is different from conventional English, or other languages owing to its creative intelligence. Hebrew, is unlike a perfunctory language. The combination of Hebrew letters and their meaning becomes the manifest reality. The words of the Lord’s Prayer are in-effect the answer to the prayer. Each word is an impulse of creative intelligence with a mathematical equivalent that creates reality as the letters, words, and sentence combinations are spoken during prayer. Additionally, the auditory perception of each letter, word, and sentence infuses the intelligence of each sound into the central nervous system, purifying and optimizing the potential to live the fullness of the Kingdom of the Divine Will. The words of the Lord’s prayer are the basis for living the reality of the inner kingdom of righteousness. I am certain that this was Lord Yeshua’s rationale for teaching the prayer formula exclusively to his disciples in the holy tongue. This prayer of consecration elicits the desire to divest the individual will, in deference to the Divine Volition! Always and only, these words should resonate within the citizens of heaven,
“Let your Will be done, let thy kingdom come”. Hence, sanctification entails a total surrender of the personal will. Lord Yeshua states forthrightly in Matthew 7:21,” Not everyone who says to him, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my father”. This revelation is being trumpeted by the Holy Spirit! The children of the new humanity are being liberated from the earthly shackles of the human will, conspicuous consumption, and spiritual emptiness that characterizes the human will. The new humanity has said, “yes,” to the Divine Will, to live in the ways of heaven and no longer of earth. The sons and daughters of salvation are being elevated higher into the Kedushah (holiness ); into kingdom life in which divine providence becomes the personal Will; in a state of unity with God. Why did Lord Yeshua come into this world, was it not to complete that which was missing? It has taken two millennia for the world to evolve into this era of Sanctification; which is, the inauguration of the kingdom of the Divine Will of heaven. Historically, since the Will of Eve, the will of mankind has been the cause of brokenness, suffering, disappointment, and death. When the human will, supersedes the will of God, sorrow, loss, and regret become inevitable. However, when man’s thought, speech, and actions are within the will of god, a perennial flow of peace, contentment, and wellness in an upward spiral of eternal life persist. Death is not within the Will of God, death is a consequence of sin. We are at the threshold of Sanctification into the Kingdom of the Divine Will. The gospels brought forth Salvation and redemption and made God’s Will known. This next epoch of humanity entails living the Divine Will; a life of union with the creator; an intimacy found in total surrender inherent in the words, ” not my will, but thine be done”.
Dr. Yisrael teaches an introductory Hebrew reading course. Interested parties contact Babayshua@gmail.com