Saturday, October 13, 2018
MIRACLE OF THE SUN
John,
Chapter 16,
Verse 27
For
the Father himself loves you, because
you have loved me and have come to
believe that I came from God.
Those who fear the
Lord work to not react to their feelings but act from the principle of God’s
unconditional love to empower others even at personal cost. They practice the three cardinal virtues of
Faith, Hope and Charity. The act of
blessing works both ways and bless’ all; both those who receive and those who
give.
During the night of 12-13 October, it had rained throughout, soaking the ground and the pilgrims who make their way to Fátima from all directions by the thousands. By foot, by cart and even by car they came, entering the bowl of the Cova from the Fátima-Leiria road, which today still passes in front of the large square of the Basilica. From there they made their way down the gently slope to the place where a trestle had been erected over the little holm oak of the apparitions. Today on the site is the modern glass and steel Capelhina (little chapel), enclosing the first chapel built there and the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima where the holm oak had stood. As for the children, they made their way to the Cova amid the adulation and skepticism which had followed them since May. When they arrived, they found critics who questioned their veracity and the punctuality of the Lady, who had promised to arrive at noon. It was well passed noon by the official time of the country. However, when the sun arrived at its zenith the Lady appeared as she had said she would.
"What do you want of me?"
I want a chapel built
here in my honor. I want you to continue saying the Rosary every day. The war
will end soon, and the soldiers will return to their homes.
"Yes. Yes."
"Will you tell me your name?"
I am the Lady of the
Rosary.
"I have many petitions from many people. Will you grant them?"
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!
"And is that all you have to ask?"
There is nothing more.
As the Lady of the Rosary rises toward the east she turns the palms of her hands toward the dark sky. While the rain had stopped, dark clouds continued to obscure the sun, which suddenly bursts through them and is seen to be a soft spinning disk of silver.
"Look at the sun!"
From this point two distinct apparitions were seen, that of the
phenomenon of the sun seen by the 70,000 or so spectators and that beheld by
the children alone. Lucia describes the latter in her memoirs. After our Lady
had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St.
Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle,
beside the sun. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus seemed to bless the world, for
they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands. When, a little later, this
apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our lady; it seemed to me to that it
was Our Lady of Sorrows (Dolors). Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the
same manner as St. Joseph had done. This apparition also vanished, and I saw
Our Lady once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Carmel. [Only Lucia would
see the later, presaging her entrance into Carmel some years later.] This would
be the last of the apparitions of Fátima for Jacinta and Francisco. However,
for Lucia Our Lady would return a seventh time, in 1920, as she had promised
the previous May. At that time Lucia would be praying in the Cova before
leaving Fátima for a girls boarding school. The Lady would come to urge her to
dedicate herself wholly to God. As the children viewed the various apparitions
of Jesus, Mary and Joseph the crowd witnessed a different prodigy, the now
famous miracle of the sun.
Make your hearts ready through faith as we "redeem the
times"
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
99. A saint, without prayer? I don't believe in such sanctity.
Daily Devotions
·
Total
Consecration
Day 33
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