A Sad Departure
Lucia left her family and home in Fatima as a 14-year-old youth. Her life was in danger (from Freemasonic enemies of the Church). Her bishop commanded that she had to make her departure in the middle of the night without saying goodbye to anyone. Only her mother accompanied her. A poor laborer took them to the train station in Leiria.
In her Memoirs, Lucia tells us that as the train departed the station in the morning, carrying her to far-away Porto. Her heart was plunged into an ocean of loneliness; but at the same time, it was filled with the most wonderful and indelible memories of all that had taken place at Fatima. She “lived” on those blessed memories for the rest of her life. For us as well, meditating on the many details and revelations associated with the events at Fatima is a tremendous and inexhaustible source of grace.
Every Detail Holds Meaning
Our Lady of Fatima’s apparitions themselves, no less than Her Message, are profoundly instructive for us. In so many ways, Heaven has provided potent remedies to the dangers of our time through the wonderful story of Our Lady of Fatima. Everything She said and did (or directed the Angel to say or do) is a precious guide for souls in this time when a Great Apostasy has fomented in the Church.
As Father Gruner used to say, “Our Lady of Fatima – Her story and Her Message – is the antidote for the attacks on the Faith taking place all around us today.” As the years go by without the proper Consecration of Russia, prolonging this most unfortunate time of which Our Lady warned in the Third Secret, we need to advert again and again to the story of Fatima. Through it, Our Lady continues to guide us. Every part of Her apparitions and Her Message is significant for the salvation of our souls in these times.
True Doctrine and True Worship
Our Lady exhorted us to stand fast in the Church’s perennial dogmas, warning that in many parts of the world the dogma of the Faith would not be preserved. She affirmed our Catholic belief in Heaven, Purgatory, judgment, and hell; in the angels and devils; and in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Calling attention to these truths, She has forearmed us against the Modernist attacks against the Faith which She knew would dramatically worsen.
In the Fatima events, we find orthodox practices emphasized and reinforced by example for us. When Our Lady sent the Angel of Portugal to give Holy Communion to the children, he led them first to great heights of reverence and devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and then to receive Him in a proper and reverent manner – kneeling, and orally – followed by a fervent thanksgiving and profound acts of reparation. In this way, Heaven has shown us to stay clear of the great crime of a sacrilegious Communion, and not to be misled into the sacrilegious practice of “Communion in the hand” or into the irreverence of bursting into conversation in the church immediately after Holy Mass.
Our Lady of Fatima asked for us to apply ourselves to devotion to Our Lord’s Sacred Heart and also to Her Immaculate Heart. As the Angel taught the children, we ought to continually beg God for the conversion of poor sinners through the infinite merits of both these Hearts.
Many other examples could be named, as you can readily discover for yourself. If we look at the whole story of Fatima, we see Our Lady reaffirming many of the doctrines and practices that have been attacked throughout these post-conciliar decades. Thus, every detail of these supernatural events and revelations is of the greatest importance to us.
A Must-Have Resource
The Fatima Center has compiled a new pamphlet describing “10 Little-Known Facts About Fatima,” which point to God’s hidden designs in providing for the instruction and preservation of our souls today. In it, you can read about the moving mystical graces which Lucia experienced at her First Holy Communion. This is then followed by the first apparitions of the Angel as he silently joined Lucia and three friends in offering their daily Rosaries during three visits in 1915, the year before his well-known appearances to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco.
Other very instructive but often overlooked facts include Pope Benedict XV’s public plea to Our Lady as the Queen of Peace to deliver the world from the conflagration of World War I. Our Lady of Fatima answered this fervent plea a mere eight days later with Her first apparition at the Cova da Iria, giving us the sure and only means of being delivered from the chastisement of war for the great crimes of our time!
Some may learn for the first time that Our Lady of Fatima’s announced cycle of apparitions at Fatima is yet to be completed by a seventh visit, and that She appeared numerous times to Jacinta during her final illness. Jacinta was also given certain visions and revelations which the other children did not receive. Our Lady’s special love for this heroic soul is very moving and inspiring.
These and other little-known facts discussed in this pamphlet show us that God “is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand” (Eph 3:20). This remains true in the most minute details of His providence, including the details of the Fatima story. In our time, too many ignore, or have forgotten, this truth. It is especially manifest when He works through His most perfect instrument, the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Indeed, She is a perfect and inexhaustible example for us. As St. Bernard says, “Of Mary, there can never be enough!”
We at The Fatima Center pray that as you continue to learn more about the supernatural events and revelations of Our Lady of Fatima’s apparitions, you are inspired both to learn even more, and to share Our Lady’s Fatima Message with others. It is by living that Message that we will preserve our souls in these ominous times and assist our loved ones to their greatest advantage in doing so as well.
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Know, Live, and Share the Message of Fatima!