May 13th - Our Lady of Fatima

 

Today is the memorial of Our Lady of Fatima and it takes on a special meaning. I had the great joy of offering Mass on the altar within feet from the actual place in which the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on the holmoak tree. The tree was eventually destroyed by the people who took branches from the tree as relics. But now on the site of the tree is the pilgrim statue Blessed Virgin Mary located in a small chapel called a cappillina.

On May 13, 1917 Our Lady of Fatima appeared the first time, to the three children from Portugal. After the three shepherd children attended Mass, they took their lunch bags and set out with their flocks of sheep to the Cova da iria. After eating lunch, while the sheep were peacefully grazing, the children began to play.

Lucia, states what happened, “Suddenly we saw what seemed to be a flash of lightening. We decided we had better go home. Hurrying toward the road with our flocks, we were only half way down the slope when we saw another flash. We had only gone a few steps further when, there before us, on a small holmoak, we beheld a lady all dressed in white. She was more brilliant than the sun, and radiated a light more clear, and intense than a crystal glass filled with sparkling water, when the rays of the burning sun shine through it.” The Our Lady spoke to them: “Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm”. Lucia asked Her, “Where are you from?” Our Lady said, “I am from heaven.”

“What do you want of me”, Lucia asked eagerly. “I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13^th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want. Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”

Lucia replied on behalf of the three children, “Yes, we are willing.” Our Lady said, “Then you are going to have to suffer much, but the grace of God will be your comfort. Pray the rosary everyday, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.”

Then Our Lady began to rise serenely, going up to towards the east, until She finally disappeared. The children remained spellbound and gazed up into the heavens. This was the first of six apparitions, of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the three children. The children had also experienced apparitions by the angel of peace the previous year.

The culmination of the apparitions was on Oct. 13^th, and resulted in the miracle of the sun, in which over 70,000 people observed. Later Our Lady revealed to Sister Lucia, He desired to establish world devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart, and the first Saturday devotions.

Today all of us are aware of Pope John Paul II’s consecration of the world and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, resulting in the fall of communism. During the Jubilee year, the Pope revealed all the secrets of Fatima, and he himself seemed to fulfill one the prophesies, as he was shot on May 13^th in St. Peter’s square. Across the piazza of the shrine is a museum which contains a special ornamented crown, which contains the bullet taken from the body of Pope John Paul II, after he had been shot on May 13^th, 1981. The pope asked that the bullet be placed in the crown, because he said it was Our Lady of Fatima, who saved his life.

And we thank God Pope Francis in union with the bishops of the world, for consecrating the world and especially Russia and the Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25^th. We pray and we await for the Lord, through the Virgin Mary to bring about the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart.

Today, Our Lady of Fatima continues to call us to live Her messages. During this month of May, may we pray the rosary every day, offer our sufferings for the conversion of sinners, and make reparation for sins against Her Immaculate Heart.