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Friends of the Rosary,
On October 13, 1917, a crowd of 70,000 people — believers and skeptics alike — witnessed in Fatima, Portugal, the “Miracle of the Sun,” or “the day the sun danced.”
Our Lady of Fatima had promised the children— Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia, ages 10, 9, and 7 — that during the last of her six appearances, she would provide a sign so people would believe in the apparitions and in her message.
On that day, the rainy sky cleared up, the clouds dispersed, and the ground, which had been wet and muddy from the rain, dried up. A transparent veil came over the sun and multicolored lights were strewn across the landscape. The sun then began to spin, twirling in the sky, and at one point appeared to plunge in a mighty zigzag course toward the earth.
The crowd was terrified, fearing this was the end of the world. However, the sun reversed course and, retracing its zigzagging course, returned to its normal place in the heavens. All of this transpired in approximately ten minutes. After realizing they were not doomed, the crowd began ecstatically laughing, crying, shouting, and weeping. Many discovered their previously drenched clothing to be perfectly dry.
The stunning event contradicted the atheistic regimes at the time, which is evidenced by the fact that the first newspaper to report on the miracle on a full front page was an anti-Catholic, Masonic newspaper in Lisbon, “O Seculo.”
This last Marian apparition in Fatima showed that God is present in human history and doesn’t abandon humanity.
The miracle of the sun was understood by the people as confirmation that the three children were telling the truth about the Marian apparitions and the messages of the Secret of Fatima, which consists of three parts.
The first part was a frightening vision of hell, “where the souls of poor sinners go,” and contained an urgent plea from Our Lady for acts of prayer and sacrifice to save souls, with particular emphasis on praying the rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The second part of the “Secret” specifically prophesied the outbreak of World War II and contained the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communism’s totalitarianism.
The third part was not revealed until 2000. Its revelation coincided with the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta. It did not contain any striking or cataclysmic prediction, but, instead, the vision supported and affirmed the immense suffering endured by witnesses of the faith in the last century of the second millennium.
Sister Lucia, the surviving member of the Fatima trio, confirmed that in the vision “the Bishop clothed in white,” who prays for all the faithful, is the Pope. As he makes his way with great difficulty towards the Cross amid the corpses of those who were martyred (bishops, priests, men and women religious, and many lay people), he too falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a hail of gunfire.
That vision could have predicted the 1981 attack on Pope John Paul II’s life. The Pope has always credited the Virgin for his survival. Or it may be a portrayal of the Church’s ongoing struggle against secularism and anti-Christian movements, as well as a continuing call to prayer, sacrifice, and devotion to Our Lady of Fatima.
Ave Maria!
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
To Jesus through Mary!
Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Please give us the grace to respond with joy!
+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New York
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