Our Lady of Fatima

On this day in 1917 in the tiny village of Fatima, the Blessed Mother appeared for the first of six apparitions to three young children. The First World War was still in its devastating progress and Pope Benedict XV had just made an appeal to Mary to end it. Mary's message to the children and to us was simple enough: "reform your lives, do penance for your sins and pray the rosary every day." On October 13th of that year, the apparitions concluded with the astounding "miracle of the sun" when 70,000 people saw the sun spinning wildly to the earth in bright colors and the rain-soaked believers and scoffers found themselves dry after a soaking rain while they awaited the promised "sign". The war ended the next year, but as Mary predicted, it was followed by another and the "battle" with Communism, a "war" at one point seemingly over but now apparently still smoldering. One of the lessons of Fatima is that through the weak, (Mary chose to give her message to illiterate children), through fidelity to living according to the mind of her son, and by prayer, particularly the rosary which focuses on the life of Jesus, will evil be overcome. The recent tensions and the tangible presence of evil in our world today are a call to all of us to put her simple message into practice.
Bro. Rene