Thursday, October 12, 2023

Anniversary of the Sixth Apparition of Our Lady

October 13, 1917

As on the other occasions, the seers, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, first saw a bright light, and then they saw Our Lady over the holm oak.

Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I wish to tell you that I want a chapel built here in my honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray the rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.

Lucia: I have many things to ask you: if you would cure some sick persons, and if you would convert some sinners...

Our Lady: Some yes, others no. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins.

Becoming sadder, she added, “Let them offend Our Lord no more for He is already much offended.”

Newpaper article about the Miracle of the Sun
Newpaper article about the Miracle of the Sun

Then, opening her hands, Our Lady shone the light issuing from them onto the sun, and as she rose, her own radiance continued to be cast onto the sun.

At that moment, Lucia cried, "Look at the sun!"

Once Our Lady had disappeared in the expanse of the firmament, three scenes followed in succession, symbolizing first the joyful mysteries of the rosary, then the sorrowful mysteries, and, finally, the glorious mysteries. Lucia alone saw the three scenes; Francisco and Jacinta saw only the first.

The first scene:

Saint Joseph appeared beside the sun with the Child Jesus and Our Lady of the Rosary. It was the Holy Family. The Virgin was dressed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph was also dressed in white, and the Child Jesus in light red. Saint Joseph blessed the crowd, making the Sign of the Cross three times. The Child Jesus did the same.

The second scene:

A vision of Our Lady of Sorrows, without the sword in her breast, and of Our Lord overwhelmed with sorrow on the way to Calvary.

Our Lord made the Sign of the Cross to bless the people.

Lucia could only see the upper part of Our Lord's body.

The third scene:

Finally, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, crowned queen of heaven and earth, appeared in a glorious vision holding the Child Jesus near her heart.

While these scenes took place, the great throng of 70,000 spectators witnessed the miracle of the sun.

Photos of the witnesses of the Miracle of the Sun
Photos of the witnesses of the Miracle of the Sun

It had rained all during the apparition. At the end of the conversation between Our Lady and Lucia – when the Blessed Virgin rose and Lucia shouted, "Look at the sun!" – the clouds parted, revealing the sun as an immense silver disk shining with an intensity never before seen – though not blinding.

This lasted only an instant. Then the immense disk began to "dance."

The sun spun rapidly like a gigantic circle of fire. Then it stopped momentarily, only to begin spinning vertiginously again. Its rim became scarlet; whirling, it scattered red flames across the sky.

Their light was reflected on the ground, on the trees, on the bushes, and on the faces and clothing of the people, which took on brilliant hues and changing colors.

After performing this bizarre pattern three times, the globe of fire seemed to tremble, shake, and then plunge in a zigzag toward the terrified crowd.

All this lasted about ten minutes. Finally, the sun zigzagged back to its original place and once again became still and brilliant, shining with its normal brightness. The cycle of the apparitions had ended.

Many people noticed that their clothes, soaking wet from the rain, had suddenly dried.

The miracle of the sun was also seen by numerous witnesses up to twenty-five miles away from the place of the apparition.

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Fifth Apparition of Our Lady


September 13, 1917

A crowd estimated at 20,000 observed atmospheric phenomena similar to those of the previous apparitions: the sudden cooling of the air, a dimming of the sun to the point where the stars could be seen, and a rain resembling iridescent petals or snowflakes that disappeared before touching the ground.

Jacinta being carried away from Cova da Iria after one of the apparitions
Jacinta being carried away from Cova da Iria after one of the apparitions

This time, a luminous globe was noticed which moved slowly and majestically through the sky from east to west and, at the end of the apparition, in the opposite direction. The seers saw a light, and, immediately following this, they saw Our Lady over the holm oak.

Our Lady: Continue to pray the Rosary to obtain the end of the war. In October, Our Lord will also come, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and Saint Joseph with the Child Jesus, to bless the world. God is pleased with your sacrifices, but He does not want you to sleep with the ropes; wear them only during the day. (The children were wearing ropes around their waists as a sacrifice for sinners.)

Lucia: They have requested me to ask you for many things, for the cure of some sick persons, of a deaf-mute.

Our Lady: Yes, I will cure some, others not. In October, I will perform a miracle for all to believe.

And rising, she disappeared in the same manner as before.

Friday, August 18, 2023

Anniversary of the Fourth Apparition of Our Lady

 

On August 19, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, Lucia was with Francisco and another cousin at Valinhos, a property belonging to one of her uncles, when the atmospheric changes that preceded the apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria began to occur: a sudden cooling of the temperature and a waning of the sun.

Feeling that something supernatural was approaching and enveloping them, Lucia sent for Jacinta, who arrived in time to see Our Lady appear – heralded as before by a bright light – over a holm oak slightly larger than the one at Cova da Iria.

Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I want you to continue to go to Cova da Iria on the thirteenth of each month and to continue to pray the Rosary every day. On the last month, I will perform the miracle for all to believe.

The place near the village of Aljustrel where Our Lady appeared on August 19, 1917
The place near the village of Aljustrel where Our Lady appeared on August 19, 1917

Then Our Lady’s face became more serious, and even upset.

Our Lady: If they had not taken you to Ourém, the miracle would have been even greater.

Lucia: What does Your Grace want done with the money that the people leave at Cova da Iria?

Our Lady: Have two portable stands made. You and Jacinta with two other girls dressed in white carry one of them, and let Francisco carry the other one with three other boys. The portable stands are for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The money that is left over should be contributed to the chapel that they shall build.

Lucia: I would like to ask you for the healing of some sick persons.

Our Lady: Yes, I will cure some during the year.

Becoming sadder, she recommended anew the practice of mortification, saying lastly, 'Pray, pray much, and sacrifice for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to sacrifice and pray for them.'

As usual, she then began to rise toward the east. The seers cut boughs off the tree over which Our Lady had appeared to them and took them home. The boughs gave off a uniquely sweet fragrance.

Sunday, August 13, 2023

What happened at Fatima, August 13, 1917

 

On August 13, the day the fourth apparition was to take place, the seers were not at Cova da Iria.

They had been abducted by the mayor of Vila Nova de Ourém, who attempted to force from them the secret revealed in the apparition of July 13. The children held fast despite the mayor imprisoning them, and threatening to plunge them in boiling oil.

Three Fatima Seers in Jail
Attribution: A.F.Phillips

At Cova da Iria, thunder, followed by lightning, was heard at the usual time.

The spectators noticed a small white cloud that hovered over the holm oak for a few minutes. Phenomena of coloration were observed on the faces of the people, the clothing, the trees, and the ground.

Our Lady had certainly come, but she had not found the seers.

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Anniversary of the Third Apparition of Our Lady

July 13, 1917

Mr. Marto, father of Jacinta and Francisco, noticed that when the third apparition began, a small grayish cloud hovered over the holm oak, the sunlight diminished, and a cool breeze blew over the mountain range, despite it being the height of summer. He also heard something like flies inside an empty jug. The seers saw the customary glare, and then Our Lady over the holm oak.

Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I want you to come here on the thirteenth of next month and to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, for she alone can be of any avail.

Lucia: I would like to ask you to tell us who you are and to perform a miracle so everyone will believe that Your Grace appears to us.

Our Lady: Continue to come here every month. In October, I will tell you who I am and what I wish, and I will perform a miracle that everyone shall see so as to believe.

Lucia then made a number of requests for conversions, cures, and other graces. Our Lady recommended the constant recitation of the rosary; thus they would obtain those graces during the year.

Then Our Lady went on: "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially when you make a sacrifice, 'O Jesus, this is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.'"

The first part—The vision of hell

Our Lady of Fatima and the vision of hell

Lucia writes, “Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. 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 by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear.

The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.”

Three Fatima Children
This photo was taken shortly after the Third Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. The children's stunned and sober faces speak volumes about what they witnessed in the vision of Hell.

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The second part—The warning of the chastisement and how to avoid it

The children then looked up at Our Lady, who said to them so kindly and so sadly:

“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war [World War I] is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI [World War II]. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this [World War II], I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world [Communism], causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc.”

Then, Our Lady again spoke:

“Do not tell this to anyone. But you may tell Francisco about it.

“When you say the Rosary, after each mystery, pray: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.' "

An instant of silence followed, and I asked, “Is there nothing else you wish of me?”

“No. Today I want nothing else of you.”

And, as usual, she began to rise toward the east until she disappeared in the vast distance of the firmament.

[Words in brackets are ours]



The Third Secret

The first part of the secret of Fatima is the vision of Hell shown by Our Lady to the three children in the July apparition. The second part is Our Lady’s warning of a chastisement to come if her requests are not fulfilled. However, over the decades popular usage has been to refer to the first part (the vision of Hell) as the First secret, and Our Lady’s admonishing as the Second secret. Both parts or secrets were revealed by Sister Lucia in 1941. In addition to the first and second parts of the secret of Fatima, there is a third one, commonly called the Third secret, which the seer omitted in her Memoirs.

She only wrote this third part or Third secret, in January 1944, at the request of the Bishop of Leiria, Dom José Alves Correia da Silva. On June 26, 2000, in accordance with specific instructions from His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released the text of the Third Secret.

This is the Vatican’s official English translation of the text of the Third Secret as published on the Vatican website:

J.M.J.

The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fátima, on 13 July 1917.

I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.

After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: 'Penance, Penance, Penance!'. And we saw in an immense light that is God: 'something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White 'we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.

Tuy, 3-1-1944

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Anniversary of the Second Apparition of Our Lady

June 13, 1917

Preceding the second apparition, the seers, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, once again saw a great brilliance, which they called lightning. Some people in the group of fifty spectators noticed that the light of the sunlight dimmed during the first few minutes of the conversation. Others said that the top of the budding holm oak bent down, as if under the weight of something. During Our Lady's conversation with the seers, some of the bystanders heard a whispering, like the humming of a bee.

Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I want you to come here on the thirteenth of next month, to pray the rosary every day, and to learn to read. I shall later say what I want.

(Lucia asked for the healing of a sick person.)

Our Lady: If he converts, he will be healed within the year.

Lucia: I would like to ask you to take us to heaven.

Our Lady: Yes, I shall take Jacinta and Francisco soon, but you will remain here for some time yet. Jesus wishes to use you in order to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. I promise salvation to those who embrace it; and these souls will be beloved of God like flowers arranged by me to adorn His throne.

Lucia: Will I stay here alone?

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Attribution: A.F.Phillips

Our Lady: No, daughter. Does that make you suffer much? Do not be dismayed. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart shall be your refuge and the road that shall lead you to God.

Lucia writes, ”Upon saying these last words, she opened her hands, and for the second time she communicated to us the reflection of that intense light. We could see ourselves in it, as if immersed in God. Jacinta and Francisco seemed to be in the part of this light that went up toward heaven, and I in the part that was cast toward the ground. In front of Our Lady's right hand there was a heart encircled by thorns that seemed to pierce it. We understood that it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, insulted by the sins of humanity and which desires reparation."

When this vision ceased, the Lady, still surrounded by the light that she radiated, rose from the little tree and glided toward the east until she disappeared completely. Several persons who were closer noticed that the buds at the top of the holm oak were bent in the same direction, as if they had been drawn by the Lady's clothes. They returned to their usual position only some hours later.

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Anniversary of the First Apparition of Our Lady at Fatima - May 13

 

First apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13 1917


The three Shepherd Children
Lucia dos Santos and Francisco & Jacinta Marto

On May 13, 1917, Lucia dos Santos, Francisco, and Jacinta Marto were, respectively, ten, nine, and seven years old. The three children lived in Aljustrel, a hamlet of the township of Fatima.

After three apparitions of the Angel of Portugal in 1916, the children began to receive visits from a luminous Lady who later identified herself as “The Lady of the Rosary.” In Catholic language, “Our Lady of the Rosary” is the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God made man.

The apparitions took place on a small property belonging to Lucia's parents called Cova da Iria, about a mile and a half from Fatima.


First Apparition of Our Lady

May 13, 1917

The three children were playing at Cova da Iria on May 13, 1917 when they saw two flashes like lightning, after which they saw the Mother of God above a holm oak. She was, according to the description of Lucia, "a Lady dressed in white, more brilliant than the sun…" Her face, indescribably beautiful, was "neither sad nor happy, but serious," with an air of mild reproach. Her hands, joined together as if she were praying, were resting at her breast and pointing upward. A rosary hung from her right hand.

"Pray the rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war."

The seers were so close to Our Lady – about a yard and a half away – that they stood within the light that radiated from her.

The conversation developed in the following manner:

Our Lady: Do not be afraid; I will not harm you.

Our Lady of Fatima

Lucia: Where is Your Grace from?

Our Lady: I am from heaven–pointing to the sky.

Lucia: And what does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession on the thirteenth day of each month at this same hour. Later I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterward, I will return here a seventh time.

Lucia: And will I go to heaven, too?

Our Lady: Yes, you will.

Lucia: And Jacinta?

Our Lady: Also.

Lucia: And Francisco?

Our Lady: Also, but he must say many rosaries.

Lucia: Is Maria das Neves already in heaven?

Our Lady: Yes, she is.

Lucia: And Amélia?

Our Lady: She will be in purgatory until the end of the world. Do you wish to offer yourselves to God to endure all the sufferings that He may be pleased to send you, as both an act of reparation for the sins with which He is offended and an act of supplication for the conversion of sinners?

Lucia: Yes, we do.

Our Lady: Well then, you will have much to suffer. But the grace of God will be your comfort.

"It was upon saying these last words, 'the grace of God...' that for the first time she opened her hands, which emitted a most intense light that penetrated our breasts, reaching the innermost part of our souls and making us see ourselves in God, Who was that light, more clearly than we can see ourselves in the best of mirrors.

Then, driven by a deep inspiration, we knelt down and repeated inwardly: 'O Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament.'”

"A moment later, Our Lady added, 'Pray the rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.'

She immediately began to rise serenely toward the east until she disappeared far into the distance.

The light that surrounded her was, so to speak, opening her way through the starry firmament."

Thursday, April 13, 2023

The Third Apparition of the Angel


The third apparition occurred either at the end of the summer or the beginning of the fall of 1916, once again at Loca do Cabeço.

According to Sister Lucia's account, it took place as follows:

"As soon as we arrived there, we began to say the angel's prayer on our knees, with our faces to the ground.

'My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love Thee....' I do not know how many times we had said this prayer when we saw an unknown light shining over our heads.

Three children receiving Holy Communion from the Angel

We rose to see what was happening, and we saw the angel bearing a chalice in his left hand. Drops of blood fell into the chalice from a Host suspended over it.

Leaving the chalice and the Host suspended in the air, the angel prostrated himself beside us and said the following prayer three times:

"'Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly and offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the earth, in reparation for the insults, sacrileges, and indifference with which He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg Thee for the conversion of poor sinners.'

"After this, rising up, he again took the chalice and the Host in his hand; he gave the Host to me and the contents of the chalice to Jacinta and Francisco to drink, saying:

'Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, who is horribly insulted by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God.'

"He again prostrated himself on the ground and repeated with us the same prayer three more times. 'Most Holy Trinity....' Then he disappeared."

After this vision the children remained a long time prostrated and repeating the angel’s prayer.

The apparitions of the angel had an “annihilating” effect on the children in that they so communicated to them something supernatural that it fatigued them.

In Lucia’s words, “It seemed to deprive us even of the use of our bodily senses for a long period of time.” At the same time, they felt a great peace and happiness, their souls as if immersed in God.

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

The Fatima Seers Help You Have the Best Lent Ever

 


Written by: Dr. Jose Maria Alcasid

Lent, that time of the liturgical year when Holy Mother Church calls on Catholics to fast and abstain from meat in the spirit of penance and self-denial, also encourages the faithful to meditate on the dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this penitential exercise, Our Lord Jesus Christ serves as our supreme model- He led the way of mortification by denying Himself sustenance for forty days and forty nights in preparation for the commencement of His public ministry.

He, who has most tender compassion for humble and repentant sinners, assures us, "I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance." Luke 5:32

And in a supreme act of immolation, Our Lord offered Himself in sacrifice for our salvation and accepted His suffering humanity for the redemption of the world.


Lenten Practices

In light of the above, how are we to model our Lenten practices in the spirit of the Fatima message?


1. During Lent

During Lent, Fatima’s constant theme of prayer, penance and amendment of life becomes ever more relevant in our daily lives.

Nowadays, many are accustomed to the conveniences that technological progress provides. Fast food, TV dinners, cell phones, ATM’s, express delivery, Internet, email, on-line shopping, etc – modern inventions that fuel that frenetic desire to get things done quickly and easily. Everything comes at one’s fingertips at one’s beckoning. And voila! The recurring mantra jumps out, “I want it and I want it NOW.” In short, no fuss, no delay; period!

The appeal of the Seven Capital Sins

In a fast paced world as such, instant gratification is the rule. Sadly, it also opens the door wide to sin and vice. The myriad of ads that one watches or reads these days appeal in more ways than one to the seven capital sins. A new facial anti-wrinkle cream flatters a 50-year-old’s vanity; a luscious and tantalizing food product feeds one’s gluttonous tendencies; the Jones’ new car spur’s one envy; an exotic perfume wakes up ones passion and lust; a sales pitch for faster delivery service mitigates one’s anger over a previously botched job; and so it goes down the line.

Our Ruling Passions

From another vantage view, each individual suffers from a ruling passion or vice that dominates all others and, frequently causes one to fall from grace. Be it pride or sensuality, intemperance, a loose tongue or what not, we know, more or less, our own weaknesses. Thankfully by the grace of God, Lent offers the opportunity for one to tackle this or that defect through serious reflection, prayer and the practice of mortification.Would it burden us much if we cease to be creatures of comfort starting this Lenten season and mortify our senses for the good of our souls? Let us turn to the children of Fatima for inspiration and courage.


2. Exemplary models of penance and sacrifice

The Angel of Portugal taught the children the virtue of asking pardon for evildoers through prayer and offering sacrifices.

He impressed upon them the compelling need to make reparation for the insults, sacrileges and indifference committed against the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Our Lady of Fatima consistently asked the children for prayers of reparation and sacrifice for poor sinners which culminated in the vision of hell that had a profound and lasting effect on them. Having seen the horrors and torments of everlasting infernal fire, the seers were transformed into heroes of mortification and penance.

A belt of rope as self torment

The children devised innovative ways as they see them fit to observe mortified lives. Lucia found a rope one day and suggested it to be cut into three pieces so each of the seers could wear them continuously around their waists. This they practiced with such zeal that it bothered them in their sleep. Pleasing at it was to God, Our Lady had to intervene later and asked them to remove them at night.

Suffering Hunger

Francisco thought it a good sacrifice to give their lunches to the sheep and in later days to poor children they met along the way. Thus they fasted much like in the spirit of austere monks. They thrived admirably on acorns from holm oak and oak trees, pine nuts, roots, berries, mushrooms and other things harvested from the roots of pine trees.

Suffering Thirst

On one occasion, Lucia and the other two children, while suffering from severe thirst, decided to forego drinking from a jar of water that Lucia fetched from a nearby house and poured it instead into a hollow in a stone for the sheep to drink.

Self-Inflicted pain

On other occasions, they would hit their own legs with nettles, "so as to offer to God yet another sacrifice."

Such were the edifying examples of mortification the child seers practiced because of their deep understanding of the urgent necessity of acts of reparation and sacrifices to appease Divine Justice and to mitigate the injuries perpetrated against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Let us take all these to heart and apply them to our own situation keeping in mind the widespread decadence corroding the moral well-being of our contemporary times. It is undeniable that much penance and prayers are needed to atone for all these transgressions. One needs just to open the newspaper or watch the nightly news to find proofs.


3. Realistic Resolutions

Adopting realistic resolutions appropriate for our condition and times.

The messages revealed in the apparitions to the three Portuguese children by the Angel of Portugal and the Queen of Heaven and Earth all speak of the gravity of the sins and crimes of mankind - a tragedy that begs for serious and resolute atonement and conversion to appease the wrath of God. To avert a terrible chastisement, Our Lady asks men to pray ardently for the conversion of sinners and to offer many expiatory sacrifices.

A sense of urgency and a call to action

We must take this warning with utmost seriousness and immediacy. It is a standing message for our times directed to all men. The seers of Fatima responded to this call by making heroic acts of penance and reparation for they fully grasped the meaning of appeasing Divine wrath. Let us follow their lead and reconcile the Fatima message with the real moral crisis staring at us blankly.

No easy way out

What has been written here so far would be put to waste if our intellect fails to change our mentality and move our will to make steadfast resolutions. If the service of God consisted only in fulfilling certain obligations, devotional practices and prescribed prayers compatible to a life of ease and comfort, then the Church would be flooded with new-found saints. But such is not the case. Sadly, it is our human nature to shun sufferings, to avoid pain and to be self-satisfied with whatever little progress we gain in the spiritual life. Let us shed our false optimism. Let us cast our tepidity and lukewarm spirit. With a changed mentality, let us replace our misconceptions with a sincere abiding sorrow for our sins.

Carrying the Cross

Take heart in the Divine counsel, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23

The cross is the embodiment of the Gospel and the glorious standard of a true Christian. And by carrying our cross, we must humble ourselves and look at ourselves as our greatest enemy; with whom we ought to wage a continual war for the rest of our lives.

Crucifix

Penitential Spirit

The current situation and the message of Fatima place the above reflections in a different perspective. Whatever self denial or sacrifice we choose to practice, we must perform with humility and prudence. Lent or otherwise, we must imbue ourselves with a lasting penitential spirit in face of the unabated moral chaos besetting mankind for, indeed, we are in extraordinary times!

And lastly, let us turn Our Lady for inspiration, strength and fortitude, always hoping in Her promise at Fatima,

"Finally, my Immaculate Heart will triumph."


Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto

Feast February 20

Francisco and Jacinta Marto, brother and sister, were born in the tiny town of Aljustrel, Portugal, two years apart. Their parents, Manuel Marto and Olimpia de Jesus, had altogether ten children, of which the little seers were the eighth and ninth.

Francisco was a handsome boy with light hair and dark eyes and calm, retiring disposition.

Jacinta was a pretty girl, with a spritely temperament, and just a bit spoiled.

At the time of the apparitions they were nine and seven years old, respectively. With their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, brother and sister pastured their families’ sheep. Their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, was ten years old.

The family home of Jacinta and Francisco Marto.
The family home of Jacinta and Francisco Marto.

In 1916 their calm, rural life was changed forever by the apparition of an angel in a field near Aljustrel. The angel, calling himself “The Angel of Portugal,” prepared them spiritually for a series of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On May 13, 1917 the Mother of God appeared to the three children atop of a holm oak near the village of Fatima. The Virgin asked the children to return another five times and promised to work a miracle at the last apparition so that all would believe, which she did by making the sun “dance” before 70,000 in October of 1917.

At that time she also called herself, “Lady of the Rosary.”

During the second apparition of June 13, when the children asked about going to heaven, Our Lady told them that Francisco and Jacinta would be going soon, while Lucia was to stay on earth a while. She added that Francisco would have to say many rosaries.

Between this information, and Our Lady’s insistence on reparation to Our Lord for so much offense, and prayer and sacrifices to help save the souls of poor sinners, the two youngest seers embarked on a rare program of holiness, culminating in their beatification in 2000.

Francisco and Jacinta, convinced that they were not long for this world, and interiorly transformed by great mystical graces as well as a terrifying vision of hell, accepted a type of “spiritual victimhood” for the sake of offering reparation to God and saving the souls of sinners.

Indeed, brother and sister were not beatified for having seen Our Lady, albeit the greatness of such a grace, but because, taking the heavenly invitation seriously, they attained heroic sanctity.


Francisco (1908-1919)

Francisco Marto
Francisco Marto

Francisco, though good and simple, obviously had some significant fault or faults for which to atone.

On hearing from Lucia that Our Lady had said that he would have to say many rosaries to go to heaven, without the least trace of resentment he exclaimed:

“O, my dear Our Lady, I will say as many rosaries as you want!”

He was often seen with his rosary in hand, seeking solitude or spending long hours before the Blessed Sacrament. His loving, innocent heart felt the special calling to “console Our Lord” for the sins of mankind.

After suffering without complaint the ravages of the Influenza of 1918, Francisco died on April 4, 1919 peacefully at home, with a smile on his lips. He was eleven years old.


Jacinta (1910-1920)

Jacinta Marto
Jacinta Marto

Jacinta was riveted by the apparition of July 13 in which they were given a glimpse of Hell.

After this vision, her every thought was of helping to save the souls of “poor sinners,” and she spared no prayer or sacrifice for that end.

Also contracting the Influenza of 1918, Jacinta suffered heroically.

In a private apparition, Our Lady asked her if she would be willing to remain on earth a little longer to help save more sinners. The nine-year-old girl generously accepted, enduring a trip to Lisbon where she was admitted to two hospitals, and finally dying alone far from her family, as Our Lady had foretold to her.

Still, the Blessed Mother herself supported her, appearing to her frequently, instructing and counseling her as well as showing her many things to come.


Tomb Stones of Francisco and Jacinta Marto in Fatima
Tomb Stones of Francisco and Jacinta Marto in Fatima
Brother and sister were beatified in Fatima on May 13, 2000 and canonized in May 2017.

Sunday, January 29, 2023

The Second Apparition of the Angel

The second apparition of the Angel of Portugal occurred in the summer of 1916 over the well at the house of Lucia's parents, next to which the three children were playing.

This is how Sister Lucia narrates what the angel said to them:

"'What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs concerning you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High!'

"'How must we sacrifice?' I asked.

"'Offer God a sacrifice of anything you can as an act of reparation for the sins with which He is offended and as a supplication for the conversion of sinners.

Draw peace upon your country by doing this. I am its guardian angel – the Angel of Portugal.

Above all, accept and endure with submission whatever suffering the Lord sends you.' Then he disappeared.

"The angel's words were impressed upon our souls like a light that made us understand Who God is, how much He loves us and wishes to be loved, the value of sacrifice and how sacrifice pleases God, and how He converts sinners because of it."