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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.”
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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, 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 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 FatimaBrother and sister were beatified in Fatima on May 13, 2000 and canonized in May 2017.
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."
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