The Fatima Center wishes you a blessed and grace-filled feast of Pentecost!
When Our Lord ascended to Heaven forty days after His Resurrection, He promised to send the Holy Ghost to the Apostles, to confirm them in the Faith, to sanctify them, and to enable them to found His Church. Following the Ascension, the Apostles – along with the Blessed Virgin Mary and other disciples of Our Lord – returned to the Cenacle in Jerusalem. There they waited for the coming of the Holy Ghost, Who came on Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Easter Sunday.
In this article we consider two parallels between the great Mystery of Pentecost and Our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima. We invite you to add additional connections you have considered in our comment section below.
(1) The Light Emanating from Our Lady’s Hands
“And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them.” (Acts 2:1-3)
This Scripture passage reminds us of how light is an image that God uses to help us perceive His sanctifying grace and Presence. St. John teaches that in Christ [the Logos] “was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5). We know that Christ is “the light of the world” (John 9:5).
Our Lord promises to send the Holy Ghost, Who is the Spirit of Truth (cf. John 14:17). And there is a profoundly deep connection between Truth and Light. Consider, for example, how at the start of Holy Mass, Holy Mother Church prays Psalm 42 that God will send us His light and truth (emitte lucem tuam et veritatem tuam).
These images in turn remind us of the light that emanated from Our Lady’s hands onto the three children during the May and June (1917) apparitions.
Of the May 13 apparition Lucia says that Our Lady was “all dressed in white, more brilliant than the sun, radiating a light clearer and more intense than a crystal glass filled with clear water pierced by the most burning rays of the sun.” The children found themselves in this light.
Lucia continues: “Our Lady opened Her hands for the first time, and communicated to us, as by a reflection which emanated from them, a light so intense that, penetrating our heart and even to the depths of our soul, it made us see ourselves in God, Who was this light, more clearly than we see ourselves in the best mirrors.” In this light, the most profound impression the children received was the sadness of God, by which they understood that God is very much offended by the sins of humanity – which are far worse in our times than they were 100 years ago!
Then regarding the June 13 apparition, Our Lady opened Her hands and communicated to the three children, for the second time, the reflection of that immense light. In it they saw themselves as submerged in God. In this apparition Our Lady once again conveyed to them the reflection of that light, through which they were given a special knowledge of and increased love for the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Lucia writes:
“It seems to me that on that day, that reflection of light had as a principal goal to instill in us a knowledge and a special love towards the Immaculate Heart of Mary; in the same way as the other two times, it had that same goal, but with respect to God and to the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Since that day, we felt in our hearts a more ardent love for the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
(2) Our Lady, Our Advocate
“I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete” (John 14:16).
In this Scripture passage, “Paraclete” means advocate (coming from the Greek Paraclitus, which translates into the Latin advocatus). The Advocate intercedes with the Father for sinners. Similarly, Our Lady intercedes with Her Son on our behalf; thus, She is also our advocate.
God wants to give us things, but He won’t because it will make us proud. As Father Gruner once explained:[1]
“St. Augustine tells us that God, in His goodness and His greatness, has great charity towards each one of us and wants to give us great things. However, because we are sinners, He finds it difficult to give it to us because we will become proud. How is He going to give us these great gifts when we don’t deserve them and we’re going to become proud because we received them?
“St. Augustine tells us that God gives us these gifts only through the merits and the intercession of the saints. St. Alphonsus Liguori tells us that the Blessed Virgin Mary lived so well as to have merited enough to save all souls. Thus, God wants to establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and He will not give us these graces of world peace that we do not deserve … if we don’t turn to God for help, except and only through the Blessed Virgin.
“God wants Her to get the credit for it. That is why, when Sister Lucy asked Our Lord in 1936, why He would not convert Russia, why He would not bring about peace, except for the consecration [of Russia], Our Lord said:
“Because I want My whole Church to recognize that consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that My Church will place devotion to the Immaculate Heart beside devotion to My Sacred Heart.”
Conclusion
The days between the Ascension and Pentecost were a difficult time for the Apostles. Christ had apparently left them, and so perhaps they felt abandoned or orphaned. They were hiding in fear and, under the guidance of Our Lady, were praying the first Novena. On Pentecost, with the coming of the Holy Ghost, there was an outpouring of grace and the Apostles now had great courage and faith. They then witnessed Christ to the world, ultimately even to the shedding of their blood.
Who cannot see a parallel with our time in the “Fatima Era”? We are now living in a time when it also seems that Christ has left us. In 2020, our shepherds had closed the churches, cancelled Masses, prohibited reverent reception of Holy Communion, and closed off many channels of grace.
Even today, there is talk of more contagions and draconian state measures – and the very real possibility of a third world war, a nuclear war. Yet Our Lady of Fatima, our Advocate, provides grace and truth in this time of trial. No other age has been given such a tremendous grace as the light from Fatima. The Message of Fatima has all we need to save our soul and that of others; we just need to follow Our Lady of Fatima’s Five-Point Plan.
We must continue to pray the Rosary daily to prevent future and worse calamities. We must maintain full hope and confidence that many graces will soon be outpoured, and that we too may hold fast to the faith with great courage – even if it may mean suffering and martyrdom. What greater witness could we give to Christ and thereby win the palm of victory? In the end, we know that God already has the victory, the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady will triumph, She will reign, and there will be a period of peace in the world.
What a fitting type we see in Pentecost for Our Lady of Fatima’s Message.
[1] “Father Gruner Speaks to the European Union Parliament about the Message of Fatima for World Peace,” in The Fatima Crusader, Issue 104, Winter 2013, pp. 8-9.