Today, the universal Church honors the Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Fatima, our spiritual mother who cares for each one of us with love, affection and care.
On May 13th, June 13th, July 13th, August 13th, September 13th and October 13th, 1917, three Portuguese children, Blesseds Jacinta and Francisco Marto and Lucia dos Santos, saw the Blessed Mother at Cova da Iria, a place near Fatima, which is 110 miles north of Lisbon.
Our Lady, Mary, the Mother of God, requested that the children pray the Rosary for peace in the world, for the conversion of sinners and for the conversion of Russia, who she warned would spread its errors throughout the world. The Rosary is the prayer of the Gospel.
Mary entrusted these three children with three secrets. Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta died in 1920. Accordingly, Lucia revealed the first secret in 1927, which addressed the need for devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a frightening and terrifying vision of hell.
Lucia became a Carmelite sister, revealing her secrets to the Holy See. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II, who was canonized on April 27th, 2014, now being known as St. John Paul the Great, directed the Secretary of State of the Holy See to reveal to the world the third secret. This secret spoke of a “bishop dressed in white” who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows into him. This was linked to the attempted assassination against Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prepared a document dated June 26, 2000, which addressed the “third secret.” Indeed and in fact, Pope John Paul II had the bullet that shot him placed into her crown at the Shrine at Fatima.
The Catholic Church, after a most thorough and careful investigation of these apparitions, declared Our Lady of Fatima to be legitimate and worthy of faith, with Our Lady’s Feast Day to be celebrated on May 13th.
In the year 2005, Lucia died at the age of 97.
Our Blessed Mother’s message to us was to pray and for people to come to Our Lord Jesus Christ, to repent, to do penance and amend their lives.
In The Message of Fatima, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated:
“Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which go to the heart of human events and which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of history. These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith and must, therefore, have their focus in the core of Christ’s proclamation: the Father’s love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the grace required to abandon oneself to Him with filial devotion. This too is the message of Fatima which, with its urgent call to conversion and penance, draws us to the heart of the Gospel. . .”
Dear Blessed Mother, we love you and we ask you to help us to do the Will of Jesus, and to follow His Gospel. Please take care of us always!
Respectfully,
Joan
