This coming Friday, October 13, 2017, marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, Portugal. It was the final of the six apparitions of Mary, Our Lady, to three shepherd children, Lucia dos Santos and her two younger cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto. I anticipate many miracles for those who participate in honoring our Lord’s requests given to us by His blessed mother, Mary.
A year prior to the apparitions, the Angel of Peace appeared to the three shepherd children near Fatima in 1916 and taught them that God wanted them (and all of us) to pray and make sacrifices for sinners in order to make reparation for the sins that so offend the Lord. He appeared three times, either to teach them a prayer to say on behalf of this cause or to stress the importance of their prayers and sacrifices.
It was as if the angel were preparing the children for the glorious apparitions of the Blessed Mother, which began the following year on May 13, 1917, and continued once a month, for six months, until her last appearance October, 13, 1917.
This last apparition culminated in a sign that was promised to the children so people would believe them. That sign is known as the Miracle of the Sun which was seen by 75,000 people from as far away as 25 miles. Through her apparitions she gave a message of peace and hope to a world that was being torn apart by war.
Each time the Blessed Mother appeared, her only request to the children was to pray the rosary (reflecting on the mysteries of the life of Christ) for peace on earth and the conversion of sinners, and to return the following month on the thirteenth.
She said if people heeded her, there would be peace on earth; if not, there would be a worse war than WWI and a great evil would come upon the world.
This was not a threat from God; it was just the revelation of a truth, that the Rosary and prayers could stop wars and evil. People did not heed her requests for prayer, penance, and the amendment of their lives; therefore, the wars and the evil of Communism came.
Upcoming wars and evil were called punishments in the apparitions. I can see them as punishments for children not obeying their parent (God), but I also see them as natural consequences for not turning to God. When more people turn to God, there is less evil on the earth; therefore, less human conflicts and wars. If we love God and love and forgive one another, there will be peace.
I have included the description of the beauty of the lady who appeared to the children and the prayers that were taught to the children. I quote from “Fatima for Today ~ The Urgent Marian Message of Hope” by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR.
This is how Lucia described the “lady from heaven,” Mary:
“She was more brilliant than the sun, and radiated light more clear and intense than a crystal glass filled with sparking water, when the rays of the burning sun shine through it.” She later added more details, “She looked about seventeen years old. She wore a mantle and a tunic that seemed to be made of light. Around her neck was a cord with a little ball of light. There was a star toward the bottom of her tunic. In her hands were beads of a rosary which shone like stars, with the crucifix the most radiant of all.” (Kindle location 717)
On the first appearance of the Angel of Peace he requested the children to say the Pardon Prayer and asked them to pray it often and seriously, with childlike trust. He profoundly bowed before the Lord and repeated three times:
“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You.”
(Kindle loc. 459)
The second time the angel appeared, the children were playing games while they kept the sheep. He gently rebuked them and asked “What are you doing?” Then he told them, “Pray! Pray very much! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High.”
When Lucia asked how they were to make sacrifices, he responded that they were to make everything a sacrifice and offer it to God in supplication for the conversion of sinners and as an act of reparation for the sins which so offend God.
By uniting our sufferings to the sufferings Christ offered on the cross we share in His act of reparation for the sins of the world. By doing this, he said they would draw down peace upon their country.
The second prayer the angel taught them was a prayer to the Trinity:
“Most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.”
(Kindle loc. 606)
Mary also taught the children prayers. She warned that many of her spiritual children were in danger of being eternally lost from God. She asked that when the children offer up sacrifices for sinners, they say:
“O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
(Kindle loc. 896)
At the July 1917 apparition, after the children saw the vision of hell, the Blessed Mother taught them the “Decade Prayer” which is said after each decade of the Rosary:
“O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of Your mercy.”
(Kindle loc. 999)
In the Diocese of Victoria in Texas, there will be a special celebration for the 100th anniversary of the October apparition of our Lady. Please join us Sunday, Oct. 15, at Our Lady of Sorrows in Victoria for a Holy Hour and confessions from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. A Marian Procession with the Rosary and prayers of indulgence will follow beginning at Our Lady of Sorrows at 4 p.m. and concluding at St. Mary’s with Sunday Mass at 4:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served at St. Mary’s Activity Center following the Mass.
To make it more accessible for everyone in the Diocese of Victoria, Bishop Brendan Cahill has allowed the Fatima indulgences to include this special Marian celebration on Sunday,Oct. 15.
All quotes were taken from “Fatima for Today ~ The Urgent Marian Message of Hope” by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR.
For more information, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It will increase your understanding of the miracles and increase your love for Our Lady, which will of course increase your love for Jesus in God.
You may also watch videos of Fr. Andrew Apostoli speaking about Our Lady of Fatima on the following link.
