Day 8 - 12 May / 12 October

In Fatima… A crowd estimated at around thirty thousand hadgathered in the Cova when the children arrived for their appointment with Our Lady on Thursday 13th September. Lucia was shocked by the size of the crowd, which pressed in on them all the way, clutching at them, kneeling on the ground before them, begging for intercession to be made for themselves or for their loved ones. 

As Lucia later wrote: “They threw themselves on their knees before us, begging us to place their petitions before Our Lady. Others who could not get close to us shouted from a distance: “For the love of God, ask Our Lady to cure my son who is a cripple!” Yet another cried out: “And to cure mine who is blind!... To cure mine who is deaf!... To bring back my husband, my son, who has gone to war!... To convert a sinner!... To give me back my health as I have tuberculosis!” and so on. All the afflictions of poor humanity were assembled there.” 

A journalist in the crowd even cut off Lucia’s long plaits of hair which she wore down to her waist as she passed by. She later said of this: “Nothing is my own, so what of it! Everything belongs to God. May he dispose of it all as best pleases him.”

When the children finally arrived at the holm oak tree, they had not long started the Rosary before a flash of light from the east announced the approach of Our Lady. Shortly she was there before them, standing on the tree. Lucia began with her usual question: “What do you want of me?”

“Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. In October our Lord will come, as well as Our Lady of Dolours and Our Lady of Carmel. St Joseph will appear with the Child Jesus to bless the world.” Then Our Lady added: “God is pleased with your sacrifices. He does not want you to sleep with therope on, but only to wear it during the day time.”

Lucia replied: “I was told to ask you many things, the cure of some sick people, of a deaf-mute…” “Yes, I will cure some, but not others. In October I will perform a miracle so that all may believe.” 

Lucia offered the Lady some letters with a bottle of scented water saying, “They gave me this if you would like them.” Our Lady replied simply, “This is not needed in heaven.” 

As in the previous month there were no rays of light from Our Lady’s hands. She simply rose and disappeared towards the east. However, as she departed white petals began to fall from the sky. As one witness described it, “They were like round, shining snowflakes floating down to earth, in a strong beam of preternatural light.” The petals became smaller as they fell and vanished as they reached the people, leaving no trace.

For the first time, during the September apparitions there were many priests present in the crowd present at the Cova. Several of these later gave favourable testimony of their experience, which contributed to official approval of the Fatima apparitions which would later come from the canonical commission appointed by Bishop da Silva of Leiria to study the evidence. 

Reflection…  When we read about the huge crowds waiting for Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco on September 13th, it is striking just how quickly their world has changed. In May 1917 Fatima was still, like Lourdes before Our Lady’s apparitions to the young Bernadette almost 60 years earlier, a seemingly insignificant small community largely unnoticed by the wider world (just like Nazareth — Mary’s own home town). 

Now, just four months later, it had become the talk of Portugal, with newspapers on all sides of the political spectrum printing almost daily articles about it. Ironically the anti-Catholic press actually promoted the apparitions, writing at length about the foretold miracle in October, but only because they were convinced that nothing would occur and so the Church would be ridiculed. 

And all the time more and more pilgrims arrived in Fatima from all corners of Portugal and beyond, all anxious to meet with the three children, many of them with prayer requests for Our Lady, as we hear in Lucia’s words above. This was actually one of the main sacrifices which the children were able to offer to Our Lady as the constant interrogations by strangers were a real cross for them to bear. 

Instead they longed for silence and peace in order to be able to fulfil their promises to Our Lady that they would devote themselves to prayer and simple, everyday acts of penance and sacrifice, such as giving their lunches to poor local children or beating themselves with nettles.

We too have to make sacrifices as part of our daily lives, and sometimes, these sacrifices can be demanding.When this happens we can come to understand the real meaning of making a sacrifice – that is, it is concerns something which we hold dearly but which we give up for the greater good. 

This is often something which costs us dearly. It goes against our natural instincts, but we do so out of love. It might seem completely unnatural for these three young children to be doing acts of penance such as fasting or inflicting physical pain upon themselves, but they also did it out of a desire to save others, just as Christ himself had offered his own life on the cross for the salvation of humanity. It has been said that real love always costs us something, always requires that we give something of ourselves for the good of others. In just a few months, the children had taken this lesson to their hearts.