Dear friends,
Today, May 13th, the Catholic Church celebrates the
feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Here is the story:
On
May 13th, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three little
shepherds in the village of Fatima, Portugal. Seven-year old Jacinta, her
nine-year-old brother Francisco, and their ten-year-old cousin Lucia were
tending their sheep in a field called the Cova da Iria. Suddenly they saw a
bright flash of light. A beautiful Lady, dressed in white and gold, appeared on
a cloud over a small oak tree. A golden cord hung around her neck. Her hands
were joined in prayer and she held a pearl rosary.
Mary
told the children that she had been sent by God with a message for every man,
woman and child in our century. Coming at a time when civilization was torn
asunder by the untold violence of World War I, Mary promised that Heaven would
grant peace to the entire world if her requests for prayer, reparation, and
consecration were heard and obeyed.
Mary
explained that war is a punishment for sin. She warned that if people continued
to disobey God’s Will, they would suffer consequences of war, hunger, and persecution
of the Church. She also prophesied that Russia would “spread her errors” of
atheism and materialism across the earth. Our Lady of Fatima repeatedly
emphasized the necessity of praying daily, especially the Rosary, of wearing
the Brown Scapular, and of performing acts of reparation and sacrifice. She
also promised a sign on October 13th as proof of her messages.
A heavy rain fell all night and into the morning as a
great crowd of more than 70,000 people gathered at the Cova on October 13th,
1917. The Lady
appeared to the children for the last time, more radiant than ever. “Her face
was brighter than the sun,” said Francisco. “I am the Lady of the Rosary,” the
Virgin Mary said. “I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and
ask pardon for their sins. They must not continue to offend Our Lord, who has
been so deeply offended. They must pray, especially the rosary.” She said that
if people amended their lives, the war would end soon. She then left the
children, raising her hands toward the sky.
Someone
cried, “Look at the sun!” The children looked up and saw Mother Mary with Saint
Joseph and the Infant Jesus. They saw Jesus blessing the people. Meanwhile, the
people were able to look at the sun without hurting their eyes. It appeared as a
silver disc, and began spinning in the sky. As it danced, it cast off great
shafts of colored light which flashed and fell upon the sky and the earth. Men
and women fell to their knees and prayed as brilliant colors fell on the trees
and stones. Suddenly, the sun began to zigzag! It started to fall like a wheel
of fire upon the people. They cried out in fear and asked Jesus and Mary to
save them. After a few moments, the sun returned to its place. The people
rejoiced and praised God for the “Miracle of the Sun.”
On
May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot in the chest and in the abdomen at
point blank range in St. Peter’s Square. He credited his miraculous escape from
death to the intervention of Our Lady of Fatima. One year later he traveled to
Fatima, and placed the bullet in the crown resting upon the statue of Mary
there. He said, “One finger fired the bullet, but another guided its path.”
Less
than 7 years later, the Berlin Wall fell without a bullet being fired, and
Communism collapsed across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for
us.
