Fatima: The True Story / Part lb

For those who believe, no explanation is necessary.
For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.

—Author Unknown

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As I’ve penned in the first post of Fatima: The True Story, I find myself wanting to retreat to a quieter place away from the mayhem.

I’ve decided to return to my ‘roots’ and record the true story of what happened in the very small village of Fatima (Portugal) beginning in 1916.

Again, as I post these excerpts, I ask that the Holy Spirit touches the hearts of many and deliver its true message therefore eliminating any pre-judged prejudices regarding Catholicism – this, in my opinion, isn’t about ‘religion’ but, rather, the message.

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The following excerpts from the book, The True Story of Fatima, are true accounts taken directly from Lucia’s memoirs and checked by her in person.

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...Children being children, the special fervor did wear off and it was not long before they went back to their daily round of playing, singing and dancing. One notable effect remained, however, which seemed to fit in with the events that followed. The three little cousins were content to spend all their time together.

When the summer months came, bringing with them the scorching heat of the sun, the children were awakened each dawn to take their sheep out to the fields while the grass was still covered with the morning’s dew. When the heat burned off the dew, and the sheep’s hunger was dulled, the children led them back again to the barn to stay there until evening when they would again to be led out to the fields. Meanwhile, the three cousins spent their days playing their games under the inviting shade of the fig trees. When they were tired, they relaxed at the well, under the lacy foliage of the olive and almond trees. It was while resting there, during one early afternoon, that the Angel visited them again. Lucia tells us what happened:

“What are you doing?” The Angel suddenly appeared at their side.

“Pray! Pray a great deal! The hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy for you! Offer unceasingly to the Most High prayers and sacrifices!”

“But how are we to sacrifice ourselves?” Lucia asked.

“Offer up everything within your power as a sacrifice to the Lord in an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended; and of supplication for the conversion of sinners. Thus invoke peace upon your country. I am her Guardian Angel; the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings that the Lord may send you.”

Only Lucia and Jacinta heard the Angel’s words. Francisco only saw the Angel and knew that he was speaking to the girls. Burning with curiosity, he wanted to learn what was said.

“Jacinta, tell me what the Angel said!”

“I will tell you tomorrow, Francisco. I am not able to speak now.” The little girl go so overwhelmed that she lacked the strength to speak.

The next day, as soon as he got up, Francisco asked Jacinta, “Could you sleep last night? I was thinking of the Angel all night long trying to guess what he said to you.”

Lucia told him all the Angel said. The little lad could not grasp the meaning of the words of the Angel and kept interrupting, “What is the Most High? What does he mean, “The hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplication?”

“When he learned the answers, he became thoughtful,” Lucia relates, “and then again started asking other questions. But my spirit was not yet entirely free. I told him to wait for the next day.

“Satisfied, he waited for a while, but he did not miss the first opportunity to ask new questions. It made Jacinta raise her voice, saying, “Take care! We must not speak much about these matters!”

“Every time we spoke of the Angel,” says Lucia, “I did not know what came over us. Jacinta used to say, ‘I don’t know what happens to me, but I cannot speak, play or sing; I don’t have the strength for the smallest thing,’ and Francisco would remark, ‘Neither can I. What does it matter? The Angel is more important. Let us think about him.”

In later years, Lucia revealed: “The words of the Angel were like a light that made us realize who God was, how He loved us and wanted to be loved; the value of sacrifice, to what degree it pleased Him, and how it was rewarded with the conversion of sinners. From that moment, we began to offer to the Lord everything that mortified us…repeating the prayer that the Angel had taught us.”

Autumn drew near. The children set out with the sheep to the hills for the whole day. They were due for another surprise visit.

We wandered from Pregueira to Lapa, going around the hill by the side of Aljustrel and Casa Velha,” Lucia continued her report. “We said the Rosary there an the prayer that the Angel had taught us in the first apparition. Then the Angel appeared to us for the third time. He was holding a chalice in his hand. A Host was over it, from which fell some drops of Blood into the chalice. Leaving the chalice and Host suspended in mid-air, he prostrated himself on the ground, repeating this prayer three times:

“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly, and I offer Thee the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the same Son, Jesus Christ, present in the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for all sacrileges, outrages and indifferences by which He Himself is offended. And by the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.

The Angel then arose, and holding the chalice and the Host again, he gave the Host to Lucia, and the contents of the chalice of Jacinta and Francisco, while he said:

“Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God.”

He prostrated himself again on the ground and again repeated with the children three times the prayer: “Most Holy Trinity…" Then he disappeared.

The full meaning of this vision unfolded slowly and astonishingly to their young minds. Their whole being became absorbed by a new, strange, yet happy feeling of the inward presence of God. They kept silence for some time. Francisco was the first to break it. He had not heard the Angel speak and was anxious to learn everything.

“Lucia,” he said, “I know that the Angel gave you Holy Communion. But what did he give Jacinta and me?”

“The same; it was Holy Communion,” Jacinta replied at once, overflowing with joy, :did you not see that it was the Blood that dropped from the Host?”

“I felt that God was within me," he agreed, “but did not know how."

The tree of them remained kneeling on the ground for a long while, repeating over and over again the inspired, heart-stirring prayer the Angel had taught them.

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To be continued.

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