VISIT OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA- AT ST.TIMOTHY.

Next month, on October 13^th, Pope Francis is going to dedicate the world to Our Lady of Rosary. The Original Statue of Our Lady of Fatima is travelling to Rome for the dedication of this historic ceremony. The Statue of Our Lady of Fatima is going around the whole world as ambassador of peace and reinforcing the message of Mary for Conversion.

The apparitions of the Virgin of Fatima in 1917 were in some respects a direct response to a plea from Pope Benedict XV, who implored the intercession of the Blessed Mother in bringing the great First World War to a halt. On May 5, 1917, the Pope sent out a pastoral letter to the world, in which he asked the faithful to petition Mary the Mother of mercy in “this awful hour”. Within eight days, on May 13, the Mother of Mercy appeared at Fatima with her own “peace plan” for the world. In the third of the Fatima apparitions, the Virgin said that the present war would come to an end (something that most people found unbelievable at the time), but a new and greater war would begin during the papacy of Pius XI.

After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1908, Portugal was ruled by anti Christian groups who killed nearly seventeen hundred priests, nuns and monks between 1911 and 1916. Public religious ceremonies were forbidden. It was into this unpromising environment that Our Lady of the Rosary made her world-changing entrance.

The Fatima apparitions were preceded by three appearances of the Guardian Angel of Portugal, in which he prepared the three tiny sheep-herder visionaries (Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia) for the coming of the Mother of God. The apparitions of the angel were followed by six apparitions of the Virgin to the three children from May 13 to October 13, 1917, and numerous subsequent appearances and messages to Lucia.  The apparitions were public events so that even the onlookers were aware of something extraordinary taking place, most especially on October 13, 1917.

The first secret of the Fatima was a vision of Hell, and the second secret was the revelation of the importance of devotion to the Immaculate Heart. The children were also given a third secret, which has never been revealed, although its contents have been a frequent subject of speculation. .

The fourth apparition scheduled for August 13 did not take place as planned as the children were kidnapped by the district authorities for three days and so it took place on August 19^th on a different location.

By October 13, the whole country had heard of Fatima. Seventy thousand people had arrived at the Cova. The night before, a terrible storm swept through Europe, and it was still raining by noon of the 13^th. When the Lady appeared to the visionaries, she said she was the Lady of the Rosary, that she wanted a chapel built at the Cova, and that people must amend their lives and not offend the Lord since He was already greatly offended. Then she stretched out her hands again and rays of light went toward the sun. Thus began the famous miracle of the sun. The sun now seemed to be a silver disk and multitudes could look straight into it without shading their eyes. Suddenly it started shooting off different colored rays in all directions and then spinning on its axis. And then just as suddenly it seemed to be hurtling toward the earth. The terrified onlookers dropped to their knees, convinced that the end had come and many sought forgiveness for their sins. Just when it seemed that there would be cataclysmic collision, the sun returned to its normal position and everything was as before. The miracle of the sun was witnessed not just by those in the Cova but by people thirty miles away. With this magnificent display, the apparitions of Fatima came to an end.

Franciso died in April 1919 and Jacinta in February 1920 as was predicted by Our Lady. Both were victims of the great global influenza epidemic. Jacinta heroically endured excruciating pain in the last months of her life, and her body was found to be incorrupt when it was exhumed in 1935 and 1950.

In 1925 both the Virgin and the Christ child appeared to Lucia. At this time, Jesus asked the whole world to institute the practice of reparation to the immaculate Heart on the first Saturdays of every month: those who for five consecutive first Saturdays received communion, went for reconciliation, recited five decades of the Rosary, and meditated for fifteen minutes on mysteries of the Rosary, all in reparation to the Immaculate Heart, would receive graces required for salvation. In 1929, the Virgin told Sister Lucia that this was the time for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart.

At the request of Sister Lucia, the bishops of Portugal consecrated their country to the Immaculate Heart in 1938- and with good reason it is believed that, as a result of this act, Portugal was not drawn into the Second World War. Lucia entered the Carmelite order in 1948 and she died on Feb.14, 2005 at the age of 97.

Pope John Paul the Second was shot on May 13^{th ,  1981} and he miraculously escaped death and he believed that the assailant could not kill him, because he chose the wrong date, the first day of apparitions in Portugal. And the bullet that hit him is added to the statue on the crown of Our Lady of Fatima. The smith who originally made the crown left just enough space for the bullet to be fixed on the crown with out having it to be re-modeled. He didn’t know how this happened. And this crown was made from the wedding rings and jewels sent by the women of Portugal in gratitude for saving their husbands and sons in World War II. Portugal remained neutral in World War II and did not get involved in war.

Our Lady intervened in history a lot of times. None of the world religions has any tradition or even concept of such phenomenon and it stands in a class of its own without analogy or replication in the history of religions. In his book, Miracles of Mary, Michael S.Durham writes that “the Virgin Mary appeared more than 21 thousand times in the past ten centuries. That includes her apparition at Falmouth. The Month of October is the rosary month, and we will be saying rosary 20 minutes before each Mass on Sundays. October 7^th is the feast of Our Lady of Rosary. It was earlier known as the feast of Our Lady of Victory. It was instituted in commemoration of the victory of Lepanto, a war won against the Turks who almost overrun the Western Europe. On the invitation of the pope Christians all over the world said the rosary unanimously and the Christian Europe was able to defeat the Muslims. Otherwise majority of the world would have been Muslim now. Mary’s intercession is always powerful before God.  And she constantly intercedes for her children. Let’s teach all our children the Memorare: Let’s say it together now:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. 
Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand,
sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of thy Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me.
Amen.