Fatima and a meeting of brother priests

A 'Doctor Livingstone' moment in the crowded square

The last few days traditionally is a peak period for pilgrims visiting Fatima to coincide with the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun on October 13th.

I do not know how many thousand people would have been in attendance, but it would have been a lot.

There are two priests who are so very close to the heart of my family and to whom we owe so much yet, they live and work hundreds of miles apart.

It so happened that both were in Fatima during the last week and they met, quite by chance, in the middle of the square.

Neither knew each other well; I think that they had met briefly on one occasion in the past.
 I would have given a lot to have been there in Portugal with them both and their flocks.

And, for Fr Z's brick by brick file, I have learnt that a friend in the group, never having served at an EF Mass in his life, stepped up to the mark thus enabling Fr Jones to celebrate a daily Mass.

The other priest was Fr Lessiter, another legendary priest who travelled hundreds of miles at night to bestow the Last Rites on my mother as she lay dying in hospital.

Father Lessiter has made last minute dashes a part of his ministry and he has anointed many a 'liberal' priest on his deathbed including a member of a famously modernist Bishop's staff.
Needless to say, the Bishop never knew what was taking place under his nose.

Remember Fatima today and pray the Rosary

Today is the anniversary of The Miracle of the Sun, the day that, in a remote part of Portugal in 1917,  the sun began to change colour and rotate alarmingly, finally appearing to drop from the sky. 

Almost 100,000 people were gathered in the valley of Cove da Iria in the torrential rain, the ground beneath their feet had turned to a morass of mud.

Our Lady had promised the three children that she would appear to them at a specific time and that her Son, would work a miracle to prove to the disbelieving masses that the witness borne by the ten year old, Lucia de Jesus and her two cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, was true.

True to her word, the 'lady brighter than the sun' did indeed appear and she announced the coming end of the First World War: 

"I want to tell you that a chapel is to be built here in my honour. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes."

And, in response to Lucia's request for the salvation of the souls of family and friends,Our Lady replied:

"Some yes, but not others. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins." Looking very sad, Our Lady said: "Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already so much offended."

We do not wish to hear those words; we try to shut out the message of Fatima and focus on the prayer and pilgrimage part but, how often, in our youth, do we ignore parental guidance that does not conform to our personal agenda?

The fact is, that we in the world have not amended our ways since 1917. If anything we have continued, in a promiscuous fashion, to turn a blind eye to the many blasphemies that occur and we have failed to stand up, as soldiers of Jesus Christ, against the wave of secularism.

The remedy, still available to us, is to pray and do penance - save the world, say the Rosary.

Please remember in your prayers, two priest friends and their flocks who are in Fatima on this day.