Fatima Messages for Today: Part Two

I was too young to remember, but my older brothers and sisters tell stories of our first home, which was later converted to store hay and eventually torn down to make way for the local church parish center.  The only thing I recall is how cozy it felt when Dad would start up a fire in the stove, and Mom would warm our shoes on it; contrary to belief, it does get cold in Texas during the winter. There was a very small kitchen, two small bedrooms shared by my parents and seven children, and an outhouse.

It took some reflection as an adult to realize that, indeed, we had grown up in poverty.  Only as adults did we share stories of our childhood, and only then did mom and dad share some of their personal stories with us.  Some of them were most likely too painful to talk about.  My mother never spoke of the loss of her two children, especially my older brother George, who was 8 months old when he died of pneumonia. The facts were that we were poor Mexicans who, after I was five, lived in Anglo communities and schools. I never felt the pain of discrimination.  My experience of acceptance in the communities we lived in was positive and contributed to my understanding of God’s love for neighbor.

As we grew older and raised our own families, one of my brothers began to discover and record events, dates, and stories about our parents that friends and relatives shared.  The more we learned about our parents, the more grateful we were for the gift of their lives.  They had lived their lives with complete confidence in God, never complaining of the many sacrifices they made.  A lesson to be learned was that even in poverty, one can be sanctified. The gospel teaches that the rich should be generous and “be rich in good works.” 1 Timothy 6-10 The theological virtue of charity (love) incorporates the two greatest commandments: love God above all things and love thy neighbor. I believe my parents were virtuous examples of love through sacrifice to be witnessed in family life.  Their lives shaped each one of us to realize that God indeed blessed them for their righteousness as they lived the beatitudes fully.  Our home was happy and peaceful.

The second visit of the Angel from “Lucia’s Own Words”, by Fr. Louis Kondor (The location of the apparition was the well in the Loca de Cabeco)

“We went to spend the siesta hours in the shade of the trees which surrounded the well that I have already mentioned several times. Suddenly, we saw the same angel right beside us.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked. ‘Pray! Pray very much! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High.’

'How are we to make sacrifices?' I asked.

‘Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. You will thus draw down peace upon your country.’

‘I am its Angel Guardian, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission the suffering which the Lord will send you.’

These words were indelibly impressed upon our minds. They were like a light which made us understand who God is, how He loves us and desires to be loved, the value of sacrifice, how pleasing it is to Him and how on account of it, He grants the grace of conversion to sinners.”

St. Francisco: The Boy Who Died Smiling

Theresa Gray