Our Lady Of Fatima!
TODAY’S FEAST
A blessed Feast of OUR LADY OF FATIMA to you, on this 99th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima’s first apparition!
TODAY’S FEAST
A blessed Feast of OUR LADY OF FATIMA to you, on this 99th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima’s first apparition!
During the height of the First World War, at noon on May 13, 1917, Our Lady – appearing “more brilliant than the sun” – came to Lucia dos Santos and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who were shepherding their flocks near Fatima, Portugal, in order to announce to mankind the only means by which the Justice of God could be averted from punishing the terrible sins of the world as they deserve. “God wills,” Our Lady said, “to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”
In the course of Her apparitions, Our Lady announced God’s promise that
when the incomparable merits of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are
solemnly invoked by the Church, through the Consecration of Russia and
the promulgation of the Reparatory Devotion of the Five First Saturdays,
God will relent from punishing the enormous sins of the world, and will
instead grace the world with conversion and peace. Tragically, as these
requests of Our Lady of Fatima have remained unheeded, the world has
sunk day by day and year by year ever deeper into errors and crimes,
which have brought ever greater and prolonged punishments from Heaven
(including wars and persecutions of the Church), while hell is being
filled with the souls of poor sinners.
The eternal salvation or loss of countless souls continues to hang in the balance, as we approach the limit of God’s patience. Will we obtain the Consecration of Russia in time to prevent the martyrdom of the faithful throughout the world, and the annihilation of whole nations? “Sacrifice yourself for this intention, and pray!”
THE CHURCH’S OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENT OF FATIMA
The apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima have been given an unparalleled endorsement by the Church. The most significant of these official endorsements came on October 13, 1930, when Bishop José da Silva of Leiria published and read aloud before a crowd of 100,000 pilgrims at the Cova da Iria his declaration that the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima are worthy of belief, granting at the same time his official permission for the cult of Our Lady of Fatima. Six months later, on May 13, 1931, all the bishops of Portugal gathered at Fatima to solemnly consecrate Portugal to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The liturgical celebration of today’s feast, established locally in 1930, was extended to the universal Church in 2002.
EPISTLE and GOSPEL
for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima
Collect • O God, Who, through the fruitful virginity blessed Mary, hast bestowed upon mankind the rewards of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may experience the intercession in our behalf of Her through whom we have been made worthy to receive the Author of life, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son...
The eternal salvation or loss of countless souls continues to hang in the balance, as we approach the limit of God’s patience. Will we obtain the Consecration of Russia in time to prevent the martyrdom of the faithful throughout the world, and the annihilation of whole nations? “Sacrifice yourself for this intention, and pray!”
The apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima have been given an unparalleled endorsement by the Church. The most significant of these official endorsements came on October 13, 1930, when Bishop José da Silva of Leiria published and read aloud before a crowd of 100,000 pilgrims at the Cova da Iria his declaration that the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima are worthy of belief, granting at the same time his official permission for the cult of Our Lady of Fatima. Six months later, on May 13, 1931, all the bishops of Portugal gathered at Fatima to solemnly consecrate Portugal to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The liturgical celebration of today’s feast, established locally in 1930, was extended to the universal Church in 2002.
for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima
Collect • O God, Who, through the fruitful virginity blessed Mary, hast bestowed upon mankind the rewards of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may experience the intercession in our behalf of Her through whom we have been made worthy to receive the Author of life, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son...
Epistle • Ecclesiasticus 24:14-16
[Wisdom (here a figure of the Blessed Virgin) speaks, of Herself: Her origin, Her dwelling, Her dignity and Her fruits.]
From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before Him. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. And I took root in an honorable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of Saints.
Gospel • Luke 11:27-28
[The Holy Mother of God is blessed among women.]
At that time, as Jesus was speaking to the multitudes, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee and the paps that gave Thee suck. But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.
[Wisdom (here a figure of the Blessed Virgin) speaks, of Herself: Her origin, Her dwelling, Her dignity and Her fruits.]
From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before Him. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. And I took root in an honorable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of Saints.
Gospel • Luke 11:27-28
[The Holy Mother of God is blessed among women.]
At that time, as Jesus was speaking to the multitudes, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee and the paps that gave Thee suck. But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.
SERMON IN A SENTENCE
"Continue to pray the Rosary every day in
honor of Our Lady of the Rosary in order to obtain peace for the
world..., because only She can help you!"
(Our Lady of Fatima, July 13, 1917)
