July 13, 1917 Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, 98th
Anniversary
The apparition of July 13, 1917, is the most significant of the Fatima messages. It is well worth meditating. The following is from Sister Lucia’s memoirs and appears on the webpages of the Fatima Center’s website.
The third
apparition brought to the Cova da Iria a crowd of 5,000 people. Lucy led the
Rosary and the crowd answered. At noon she rose and looked toward the east,
crying, "Close the umbrellas! Close the umbrellas! (They used umbrellas to
protect themselves from the intense noontime sun) ... Our Lady is arriving!"
The
apparition then began in the usual way, with a flash of something like
lightning and the appearance of Our Lady atop the holm-oak. Lucy relates the
apparition in her memoirs:
‘What does
Your Grace want of me?’ I asked.
‘I want you to come here on the 13th
of next month, to continue reciting the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady
of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace in the world and the end of the war,
because only She can help you.’
‘I should
like to ask You to tell us who You are, and to work a miracle so that everyone
will believe that Your Grace is appearing to us.’
‘Continue to come here every month.
In October, I will say who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle
so that all might see and believe.’
Here I made
some requests which I do not remember. What I do remember, is that Our Lady
said it was necessary to say the Rosary in order to obtain these graces
throughout the year.
Our Lady
continued: ‘Sacrifice yourselves for
sinners, and say often to Jesus, especially whenever you make a sacrifice: O
Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation
for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’
As Our Lady
spoke these last words, She opened Her hands once more, as She had done during
the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and
we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in
human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze,
floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that
issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling
back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium,
amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us
tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as
people say they heard me). The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying
and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent
like burning coals. That vision lasted only a moment, thanks to our good Mother
of Heaven, Who, at the first apparition, had promised to bring us to Heaven.
Without that, I think we would have died of terror and fear.
Terrified
and as if to plead for succor, we looked up at Our Lady, who said to us, so
kindly and so sadly:
‘You have seen hell where the souls
of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion
to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved
and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease
offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI. When you
see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign
given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes by means
of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.
‘To prevent this, I shall come to ask
for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of
Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be
converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors
throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good
will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations
will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy
Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of
peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will
always be preserved, etc. Do not tell this to anybody. Francisco, yes, you may
tell him.
‘When you pray the Rosary, say after
each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all
souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.’
After this,
there was a moment of silence, and then I asked, ‘Is there anything more that
You want of me?’
‘No, I do not want anything more of
you today.’
Then, as
before, Our Lady began to ascend towards the east, until She finally
disappeared.
No comments:
Post a Comment