Between May and October of 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children on the 13th day of every month in Fatima, Portugal in a field called the Cova da Iria. The only exception to this date was August 13 when the children were jailed for not revealing the three “secrets” Our Lady had entrusted to them. In that month, Mary appeared to them on August 19. She encouraged the children to go to Mass on the first Saturday of each month offering their Holy Communion in reparation for sin. To the children, Our Lady said:
“I come from Heaven. I am the Lady of the Rosary. I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and to ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord any more, for He is already too grievously offended by the sins of man. People must say the Rosary. If people do as I ask, many souls will be converted and there will be peace.”
On October 13, 1917, Our Lady fulfilled a promise that she had made to the children – that on the day of her last appearance there would be a sign so that all would believe. The weather that day was inclement with torrential downpours and the Cova was a sea of mud. Nonetheless, seventy thousand people gathered there that day to see what the sign would be.
The pouring rain had finally stopped but the sun was shrouded by a thin layer of clouds. Lucia, the oldest of the children, cried out to the crowd to look at the sun. Witnesses said the sun began to change colors and rotate like a wheel, dancing in the sky and heading toward them like it was falling from the heavens. During this time the children said lovely images of the Holy Family, Our Lady of Sorrows, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel appeared to them. They saw St. Joseph and Jesus blessing the crowd. In the meantime the crowd was awestruck and terrified by what was taking place. Many begged forgiveness for their sins certain the world was coming to an end.
Among the reporters present that day was one from the Lisbon daily, O Dia. His report for that day said the following: “…the silver sun, enveloped in the same gauzy purple light was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds…The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands…people wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they.”
For Reflection:
How seriously have I considered Our Lady’s message to the children of Fatima? Where does my life still need to be amended? For which sin do I still need to seek pardon and repentance? To what extent do I pray the Rosary – Seldom? Occasionally? Regularly? Daily? What resolution am I willing to make in light of Our Lady’s words?
