FATIMA- 100 YEARS- NOT THE END

Artist- Sr. Mary of the Compassion, OP ( Constance Mary Rowe)

This year we celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the Marian apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, witnessed by three shepherd children who reported that they saw visions of Mary beginning on May 13, 1917.

Whatever the significance of the Fatima apparitions is for each us personally, this 100-year anniversary of the apparitions is a reminder of the central message of the Gospels, calling everyone to conversion and bringing us closer to Christ. In our mad, mad world, in which things so often seem upside down, it is good to take the time to reflect on our Mother Mary’s message to us all-  love my Son, love me!

In the joy of the Gospel, we will be the Church robed in white,

the whiteness washed in the blood of the Lamb,

blood that today too is shed in the wars tearing our world apart.

And so we will be, like you, an image of the column of light

that illumines the ways of the world,

making God known to all,

making known to all that God exists,

that God dwells in the midst of his people,

yesterday, today and for all eternity.

                  (Pope Francis)