Remembering: Our Lady of Fatima

Happy Mother’s Day, our dear Mama Mary!

Throughout the world, many will remember Mama Mary’s apparitions at a small village in Fatima, Portugal that started this day, May 13, in 1917.

This oft-recounted story of our Lady of Fatima and her apparitions before the three young children remains a favorite among devotees.

“A Lady all in white, more brilliant than the sun… indescribably beautiful,” standing above a bush, appeared to siblings Francisco and Jacinta, and their cousin, Lucia while they were tending their family sheep.

Mama Mary appeared to them every 13th of each month, starting from the month of May ‘til October.

Our Lady promised that God would grant peace to the world if people turned to prayer, the Rosary, reparation, and consecration.

This hymn, Our Lady of Fatima, written in 1948 by Gladys Gollahon, an Irish-American housewife, is a vivid reminder of the prayers of the three children at Fatima:

“Our Lady Of Fatima, we come on bended knee. To beg Your Intercession, for peace and unity. Dear Mary, won’t you show us, the right and shining ways.

We pledge our love and offer you, a rosary each day. You promised at Fatima, each time that you appear to help us, if we pray to you, to banish war and fear. Dear Lady, on First Saturdays, we ask your guiding hand, for peace and guidance here on earth, and protection for our land.”

At Fatima, Mama Mary promised the children she would show a sign that would convince the world about her appearance. The sign came to be known as the Miracle of the Sun narrated as follows:

“Nearly 70,000 people journeyed through the heavy rain and mud to the place of the previous apparitions to witness the predicted miracle. Many were scornful, unbelievers whose sole intent was to discredit the children’s stories.

“Suddenly the ‘clouds separated…and the sun appeared between them in the clear blue, like a disk of white fire.’ The people could look at the sun without blinking and while they gazed upward, the huge ball began to ‘dance’. The huge fireball whirled rapidly with dizzy and sickening speed, flinging out all sorts of brilliant colors that reflected on the faces of the crowds. The fiery ball continued to gyrate in this manner three times, then seemed to tremble and shudder, and plunge in a mighty zigzag course toward the earth. The crowd was terrified, fearing this was the end of the world.

“However, the sun reversed course and, retracing its zigzagging course, returned to its normal place in the heavens. All of this transpired in approximately ten minutes. After realizing they were not doomed, the crowd began ecstatically laughing, crying, shouting and weeping. Many discovered their previously drenched clothing to be perfectly dry.”

Many Marian devotees believe as well in the “secret” which consists of three parts, revealed by Mama Mary to the shepherd children.

The first of the three secrets revealed a vision of the souls in hell, the second, the prediction of the end of World War I and a prediction of the beginning of World War II as well as a request to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the third, a vision of the Pope, along with other bishops, priests, religious and lay people, being killed by soldiers.

Did the 3rd secret predict the “1981 attack on Pope John Paul II’s life? The Pope has always credited the Virgin for his survival.”

In 1984, Pope John Paul II consecrated “the world including Russia” to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In 2010, May 13th in Fatima, Pope Benedict XVI reminded all: “We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic mission is complete.”

Continuing prayer, the rosary, penance needed for “peace and unity” and “to banish war and fear.”