MARY, OUR MOTHER

Photostatic copy of a page from Ilustracao Portugueza, October 29, 1917, showing the crowd looking at the dance of the sun on October 13, 1917.

Today is the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, Portugal. On this day, October 13, 1917, nearly 100,000 people gathered in the pouring rain and mud at the Cova at Fatima, waiting and drenched to the skin for the miraculous happenings foretold by Mary, the Mother of God, to the three seers, Lucia, age 10, Francisco, age 9 and Jacinta, age 7 years. There were many skeptics on hand from the capitol city, Lisbon, laughing at the large crowd: "nothing is going to happen," they said.

At 12 noon it all started, to the amazement of one and all. Finally it stopped raining. Lucia cried out: "Everybody, look at the sun!"

The sun started to spin in the sky, all colors of the rainbow covered the countryside, but all at once, all the people saw the same thing, after about 9 minutes of this phenomenon, the sun loosed itself from the sky and came plunging down, seemingly upon the earth.

You can imagine how the people felt, they thought it was the end of the world, they fell to their knees, asking God's forgiveness. It seemed in the last moment, the sun stopped and returned to its usual position. You can picture the relief and joy of the multitude. Of course, as the crowd fell on their knees into the mud and puddles of water (it had been raining since the night before) they all realized they were completely dry and clean from the mud! There were many cures and conversions that day, but not all, as Our Lady had foretold.

The pictures above are from the Front Page of the local Portugese Newspaper, as this incredible Miracle of the Sun was seen within a radius of some 15 miles from Fatima. The rest of the world did not see it! As a matter of fact, The New York Times simply reported that an unusual event occurred at Fatima, Portugal, on Page 27, seemingly not believing one ounce of it all!

At the end of all this, Our Lady appeared in the sky, with the Child Jesus and holding out the Brown Scapular as a Sign of our consecration to Her Immaculate Heart!

Many years ago, I read a book about Fatima and it changed my whole life in relation to God. It made me aware of what God wants of us in this life and how we are to live for His glory. I started to wear the Brown Scapular and offered my life to Jesus through Mary! I am certainly happy that I received this grace and I look forward to the day when I can be with God in Heaven forever!