The Message of Fatima

On May 13th, 1917, Mary appeared to three young Portuguese children ranging from age 10 to 7 who were tending sheep.  She told them that she would come on the 13th of every month until October, when she would provide a spectacular sign verifying the authenticity of her appearances and messages.  And so it happened, that in October before a crowd of 70,000 people who had stood in the rain for hours, the sun seemed to dance in the sky through the clouds and to plummet towards earth.  People were stunned and frightened and found themselves totally dry when the miraculous phenomenon ended. The children were told to pray often, particularly to pray the rosary for the end of the war, and in November 1919, the Armistice ending WWI was signed in Versailles.  They were told to pray for the conversion of Russia, and the fall of Communism in our own time is seen as the fulfillment of those prayers. Pope St. John Paul II survived an assignation attempt on May 13, 1981 and attributed his survival to Our Lady of Fatima.  The assassin's bullet is now in Fatima.
Miraculous events, yet the need for prayer is so evident as we continue to live in a field of wheat and tares. Like Peter, we all at sometime or another deny Jesus, feel ashamed and unconfident in his presence, but as in today's beautiful Gospel passage, Jesus does not chide, punish or condemn, but in total loving compassion and mercy asks Peter if he loves him. Peter says "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."  Jesus repeats the question twice again to assure Peter that his three-fold denial is wiped clean, and despite his denials, his job is to feed and tend the sheep.  So too is it our task, to pray and love,  to feed and tend, despite our sins and self-centeredness, the wheat and tares in our own hearts,  and in so doing  fulfill the wishes of Our Lady of Fatima.
Bro. Rene