Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli

On Oct. 13, 1917, more than 70,000 people gathered in a small rural community about 110 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal. Reports that the Blessed Mother had promised a miracle on this day brought them to the Cova da Iria. It had rained throughout the night. The ground was muddy; the people, drenched. As the clock passed the predicted noon hour and nothing happened, skeptics jeered at the simple faith of the thousands waiting for the miracle.

At the moment the sun reached its highest point in the sky, the Blessed Mother appeared to the three shepherd children, Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco. She had been appearing to them once a month since the 13th of May, 1917. On the 13th of July, she had predicted a miracle. Now, three months later, she came to fulfill her promise. The children alone saw Mary. When she turned her hands toward the sky, the sun burst through the dark clouds, bathing the landscape in a rainbow of color. Then, without warning, the sun began to zigzag toward the earth. Three times it approached, threatening to crush everyone in sight before it receded.

The crowd panicked. Some people screamed, fearing the imminent end of the world. Some wept for their sins. Others knelt in prayer. Ten minutes later, when the event ended, the muddy ground was dry and the rain-soaked clothes of the spectators as well. People as far away as 11 miles from the Cova da Iria witnessed “the miracle of the sun.”

Among the countless believers and unbelievers was Avelino de Almeida, a reporter from O Século, Portugal’s most influential and anti-clerical newspaper. Almeida had been covering the story of the Fatima apparitions, mocking and debunking them. After witnessing the event of the sun first hand, he wrote: “Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bare-headed, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws — the sun ‘danced’ according to the typical expression of the people.”

Mary predicted this miracle and it happened. She also made other predictions at Fatima. At the time of her apparitions, most of the nations of Europe along with Russia, the United States and the Middle East were fighting in World War I. This “Great War” cost Europe more than 37 million lives. On July 13, 1917, Our Lady not only predicted its imminent end, but also another war even more terrible.

Our Lady said that, if people did not amend their lives, there would be another war. This was in 1917 and Benedict XV was the pope. However, Mary said that the new war would begin during the reign of Pius XI. There was no Pius XI until five years later.

Our Lady even provided a sign that the war would come if people persisted in their sins. She said, “When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, you know that this is the great sign that God gives you that he is going to punish the world for its many crimes by means of war, hunger, and of persecution of the Church and the Holy Father.” And, so it happened.

On the night of Jan. 25, 1938, people from Canada to Bermuda, from Austria to Scotland witnessed a strange light in the sky. So impressive was the unusual light that fire engines were called out in London, France, and Switzerland to extinguish nonexistent fires. In Canada, short-wave radio transmissions were blocked for almost 12 hours. Less than two months after this stunning display of the Aurora Borealis, Hitler invaded Austria and World War II began.

To the three simple shepherds of Fatima, unschooled in geopolitics, Our Lady also spoke about the rise of communism in Russia. On July 13, 1917, she said that Russia would spread its errors throughout the world and cause much suffering by abandoning the Christian faith. Four months later, the October 1917 Russian Revolution imposed the world’s first atheistic communist regime and Mary’s prophecy began to be fulfilled. The spread of communism made the 20th century a veritable hemorrhage of blood. Nations were annihilated and millions of people were imprisoned, tortured and executed for their faith.

The message of Fatima, strengthened and authenticated by fulfillment of its prophecies in history, remains as needed today as it was when Lucia and her two cousins Jacinta and Francisco heard it from the lips of Our Lady. In an age when humankind continues its rebellion against the will of God, Mary repeats for each of us the first words of Jesus in his public ministry. She brings to us Christ’s call to conversion. “The kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe the gospel” (Mk 1:15).

At a time when civilization is torn asunder by terrorism, persecution, violence and war, when families are broken and life itself no longer seen as a sacred gift, when Christians are being martyred, Mary promises that God will grant peace if we return to him in prayer and reparation. She pleads with us to return to God who desires to show us mercy and forgiveness. Like her prophecies of war and suffering for sin, even the vision of hell that she showed the three frightened children on July 13, 1917 was an act of mercy. Knowing what sin is and realizing where it brings us should turn us from evil to good.

Mary came to earth at Fatima to bring all of us to heaven. This is the role which her divine Son himself gave her. On the cross when he said to John the Beloved, “Behold your mother,” and, to Mary, “Behold your son,” Jesus gave his own mother to be our mother. He has made Mary’s Immaculate Heart, pierced open by sorrow, our refuge. And, it is to her Immaculate Heart that we turn for protection from evil.

At Fatima, Our Lady asked us to find in her heart the door to Christ. To avert wars and punishments for sin, she asked for consecration to her Immaculate Heart. By consecrating ourselves to her, we realize the will of Christ who gave Mary to be our Mother. In giving Mary this most special role in the economy of salvation, Christ “did not diminish but affirmed anew the role which is his alone as the Savior of the world. [Mary is] the splendor which in no way dims the light of Christ…the Immaculate One, through whom there shines the fullness of grace” (Pope St. John Paul II, Act of Entrustment to Mary, Oct. 8, 2000).

One hundred years ago, Our Lady of Fatima showed us the mercy of God in face of the horror of sin. As we celebrate the centenary of these apparitions, I ask you to join with me in the consecration of our diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As your Bishop, I will personally make this consecration on May 13, 2017, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. On the same weekend of May 13-14, at all the Masses, our priests will repeat with you this consecration.

May Our Lady lead us by her example, her maternal concern and her constant intercession to a deeper and deeper union with Christ our Savior.