Today is the 103rd anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima. The miracle took place on the 13th day of October, 1917.
The 13th Day
Remembering what happened in Fatima in 1917 is so important today. Why? Because of the message of Fatima. What is the message of Fatima?
The first message I reflect on has to do with the influenza of 1918-1920. So many people today are petrified of this virus to the point where they won’t go and congregate as a people of faith.
Many messages were given from Our Lady of Fatima to the three children on the 13th day of each month starting from May 13th, 1917 through Octboer 13th, 1917. The two children on the right of this picture are Jacinta on the far right, and Francisco in the middle between the two girls.
One message that was very clear from the onset is that these children, who were ten or less, were to do penance and pray.
Pray for what you might ask. They were to pray for the conversion of sinners. That’s how important it is to God to have people of faith pray for others that are not quite there. There are more souls along the path to perdition because not enough people of faith are praying for them. And as diabolical as the satan is, he convinces some people of faith that they shouldn’t pray for others.
Another message closer to our present situation though is when the children asked if they were going to heaven. Our Lady said yes, but Francisco will have to say many rosaries. Our Lady even told all three that Jacinta and Francisco would be taken soon. As young children, these three never stopped praying together. When the influenza broke out in earnest one year later in 1918, both Francisco and Jacinta caught it. Our Lady came to Jacinta one more time with another message. She recounts this for her cousin Lucia.
Look, Lucia, Our Lady came to see us and said that She was coming soon for Francisco. She asked me if I still wanted to convert more sinners. I said yes. Our Lady wants me to go to two hospitals but it is not to cure me. It is to suffer more for the love of God, the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She told me that you would not go with me. My mother will take me there and afterwards I am to be left there alone.
St. Jacinta, October 1918
St. Jacinta does end up in the hospital like her brother and she suffers much. During one of the occasional visits by Lucia, Jacinta says “I love Our Lord and Our Lady and I never get tired of telling Them that I love Them. When I tell that to Them, it seems sometimes that I have a fire burning in my breast, a fire that does not consume … Oh, how I would like to be able to go again to the hills to say the Rosary in the Cave. But I can’t any more. When you go to the Cova da Iria, pray for me, Lucia! I’m sure I’ll never go there again. Now you go to Francisco’s room because I want to make the sacrifice of being alone.”
Jacinta and Francisco are children not even 12 years old at this point, yet their burning desire is to do penance and pray for the conversion of sinners.
Both Jacinta and Francisco are taken up within the next year.
A movie came out this year about Fatima. Well worth the watch, but personally I like the 13th Day movie version.
What was the Miracle of the Sun and how does that relate to the title of this post, “The Miracle of the Son”? It was on October 13th, 1917 when the greatest miracle of the last 2,000 years happened to humanity. That miracle in 1917 was witnessed by over 70,000 people and reported on by all the secular papers of that time. EWTN has an excellent website for those interested in reading all the messages from Our Lady to the children. This page discusses in detail what happened on that day of the sixth apparition of the Blessed Mother and the details as reported by the secular press about the miracle and the conversion of sinners on that specific day.
https://www.ewtn.com/fatima/sixth-apparition-of-our-lady.asp
Before the great miracle of the son, Lucia asks her “Will you tell me your name?” She responds,
I am the Lady of the Rosary.
Our Lady of Fatima, 13 October 1917
Lucia gets bold and asks the next question “I have many petitions from many people. Will you grant them?” Our Lady’s response, “”
Some I shall grant, and others I must deny. People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend our Lord any more, for He is already too much offended!
Our Lady of Fatima, 13 October 1917
In 1917 we have a message from Heaven saying Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is already offended. How much more is he offended today?
As the 70,000 witnessed the Miracle of the Sun, the three children witnessed Our Lady disappearing, and then St. Joseph with the child Jesus appeared and seemingly blessed the whole world with a hand gesture in the form of a cross, similar to a priestly blessing in a Catholic Church at the end of Mass.
On that day were two miracles: “The Miracle of the Sun” and “The Miracle of the Son”. Today during mass the priest asked if anyone had a prayer to request of God. Here is my prayer, “On this 101st anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun, may God send his Son to illuminate the hearts, minds, and souls of all peoples and all nations so they may be saved from degeneration, disaster, and wars.” For this I pray to the Lord.