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Friends of the Rosary,
On October 13, 1917, Our Lady appeared for the sixth time in Fatima, Portugal, and performed the Miracle of the Sun before 70,000 witnesses.
From May through October 1917, the Lady appeared to and spoke with the three young peasant children, Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia, on the 13th day of each month.
News of these apparitions began to spread throughout the region. The children recounted that the Virgin promised that God would grant peace to the entire world if Her requests for prayer, reparation, and consecration were heard and obeyed. When it became known that the Holy Virgin would visit the children for the last time on October 13, 1917, promising a sign that would convince the world she had appeared, many pilgrims made plans to attend.
Though the region had endured three days of torrential downpour, nearly 70,000 people journeyed through the heavy rain and mud to the site of the previous apparitions to witness the predicted miracle. Many were unbelievers whose sole intent was to discredit the visionary children’s stories.
Suddenly the clouds parted, and the sun appeared between them in the clear blue sky, like a disk of white fire. The people could look at the sun without blinking, and the huge ball began to dance with dizzying, sickening speed, flinging out all sorts of brilliant colors that reflected off the faces of the crowds. The fiery ball continued to gyrate in this manner three times, 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 laughing, crying, shouting, and weeping ecstatically. Many discovered that their previously drenched clothing was perfectly dry.
It was “The Miracle of the Sun.”
The heart of Our Lady confided to the children in July 1917 a “Secret” in three parts. The first part was a frightening vision of hell, “where the souls of poor sinners go,” and contained an urgent plea from Our Lady for acts of prayer and sacrifice to save souls, with particular emphasis on praying the rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The second part of the “Secret” specifically prophesied the outbreak of World War II and contained the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communists’ totalitarianism.
The third part was revealed in 2000, coinciding with the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta. It did not contain any striking or cataclysmic prediction; instead, the vision supported and affirmed the immense suffering endured by witnesses to the faith in the last century of the second millennium.
Sister Lucia, the surviving member of the Fatima trio, confirmed that in the vision “the Bishop clothed in white,” who prays for all the faithful, is the Pope. As he makes his way with great difficulty towards the Cross amid the corpses of those who were martyred (bishops, priests, men and women religious and many lay people), he too falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a hail of gunfire.
It is possible that the vision predicted the 1981 attack on Pope John Paul II’s life. The Pope has always credited the Virgin for his survival. Or it may be a portrayal of the Church’s continued struggle against secularism and anti-Christian movements and a continuing call to prayer, sacrifice, and devotion to Our Lady of Fatima.
Ave Maria!
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
To Jesus through Mary!
Here I am, Lord; I come to do Your will.
Please give us the grace to respond with joy!
+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New York
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