May 13th, is the 106th anniversary of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the three shepherd children, in a small village of Fatima, in Portugal, in the year 1917. The three children were Lùcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto. At the first apparition, Mother Mary asked the children to return to the spot on the 13th of each month for the next six months. These three holy children saw the Blessed Virgin Mary appear to them from May to October 1917.
Mother Mary asked these children to learn to read, write and pray the Rosary – “to obtain Peace for the World, and for the end of the War”, That is World War I. They were to pray for sinners and for the conversion of Russia. She asked for devotion to her Immaculate Heart and to pray a lot; to pray the Rosary for sinners and sacrifice a lot as many sinners perish in Hell because nobody is praying or making sacrifices for them. These children did all that they were told.
Lùcia dos Santos who became a Carmelite nun, died in 2005 at the age of 97. In less than two years of the first apparition, that is on 4th April 1919, Francisco died of Influenza. On 20th February 1920 Jacinta died of Influenza too. These were just two of the multitudes that died from the Flu Pandemic of 1918.
As we look back at 100 years, life has not been very much different for us now, as it was then. We have the Pandemic, the current War between Russia & Ukraine with threats of World War III, violence, crimes, abnormal perspective on genders, easy availability of pornography to the youth, to name a few. In the words of the famous song we can say – “Lord Jesus you know, you’re looking below, IT’S WORSE NOW THAN THEN”. The same message of Fatima is perfectly relevant to –day-to-pray a lot for the end of the war, to pray for World Peace, to sacrifice a lot for sinners. We need to pray a lot against the attacks on marriages and on the youth.
Though the Blessed Virgin Mary may not appear in these days as at Fatima, if we just turn to her, she will flood us with Grace to join in her Mission “to bring all men back to her Son”. She knows where we are. She knows we are in the most dangerous times in history with craziness of every kind. In her, we have both, a human and divine Mother, because she has gone through everything we have gone through.
Mother Mary is the single – most –loved and revered spiritual figure in the whole of history. She is not only revered by Christians but by members of other religions as well. She is recognised as the Force of Love by trillions who pilgrimage her shrines. People have discovered that from her Love Force amazing things happen, impossible things happen. She is everybody’s Mother and she is here to help everyone, Pope Francis called her Heart a “Treasury that has no limit”.
Prayer has a tremendous power to make the impossible possible. It is the most valuable gift we can give the World; which is in turmoil today. No one has become poor by praying. When we recite our Family Rosary, let us not waste our prayer by a mechanical and speedy recitation. Rather let us offer each bead of the Rosary for various situations happening daily in order to radiate out all the madness we are living in. We have a responsibility to make every prayer a Powerful weapon against the Evil Forces. In the midst of our struggles, we need to see what others are going through the world over, and reach out to them with our prayers and sacrifices.
May the message of Mother Mary at Fatima seep into the depths of our mind, heart and soul. May it awaken in us a deep desire for Prayer, Penance and Sacrifice, not just in the month of May, but all the days ahead.
May your homes and your lives, be showered with the gentle, tender love of the Blessed Virgin Mary – our Mother.
J. Rodrigues