The Third Apparition of Our Lady - July 13, 1917

Mary came as a mother to warn God’s children that He urgently asks us to live in fidelity to His laws and in charity with each other.

Friends in Christ –

I have returned to America from Fatima. The time I spent in Fatima was such a grace-filled experience. What I anticipated doing was not exactly what I ended up accomplishing in Fatima. But I received tenfold more than I expected by focusing on prayer, receiving the sacraments, and taking the time to listen to God in silence.  I now find myself happily thinking of the little bedroom at the Ave Maria Casita where I spent so much time with spiritual books, my rosary, and contemplation.  In the end, I felt clear-headed about some questions I had about God’s will for me.

It was by a "God-incidence" in 2019 when my religious daughter had a one-night unplanned stay at a Monastery in Fatima. Six years later, she was able to be the initiator of a month’s stay for me there at Our Lady of Perpetual Rosary Monastery. On the same grounds is the Ave Maria Casita, and nearby is a lovely chapel where Mass and Adoration are held daily.  

On arrival, I was greeted kindly by Mother Maria Lucia, OP, and Sr. Jacinta. Mother Lucia was originally from Washington, DC, and Sr. Jacinta was from the Philippines, so I was relieved to find out that I would not have to rely on my translator app to communicate, as they both spoke perfect English. These two holy women are cloistered nuns and have been part of the Dominican Order of the Perpetual Rosary for many years. Please pray for them in thanksgiving for their life vocation to pray for peace and conversions. Throughout my stay, I was able to spend a little time with Mother Lucia and exchange thoughts on the Fatima spirituality and personal consecration to Jesus through Mary.

Because of our mutual interest in Fatima and Consecration, Mother Lucia offered me some books to read that deepened my knowledge and understanding of the events that took place in Fatima in 1917, when Our Lady of Fatima appeared six times to three poor, uneducated children who lived in a secluded village in Portugal. Interestingly, but understandably, God often chooses those who are untainted by world views and comforts to become His instruments to accomplish His work. These children had not been formed by the world but by the spiritual guidance of their own mothers, who took it seriously to teach them to obey and respect the Church. They were humble, living the simple life of shepherds.

I came to realize that I had a gap in my understanding of why Our Lady came to Fatima. The broader political and social landscape in Portugal, where socialism and communism were discreetly muscling to destroy the Catholic Church's presence, was integral to a more complete understanding of our Lady's apparitions. Mary came with a Call to Faith and to stop offending God. Both Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI also referred to the messages as still active for our time during their papacies. 

And now, in our current climate, the message urgently continues to give us a path to peace and unity. It's been 109 years since our Blessed Mother came to warn us that God is deeply offended by our sins and that we must not offend Him anymore. We can each do our part, and if enough souls believe, trust, and obey God, the tide will turn, we will experience many conversions to the Truth, and there will be peace.

The messages God sent through the Marian apparitions of Fatima were ones of love for His children to return to Him through obedience.  The messages were personal, to each of us, urging us to turn away from sinful activities that will draw us away from Him.  

Our Lady came with a strong warning to those who live outside the laws of God.  But it is a message of hope and love. She came as a mother to warn God’s children that He urgently asks us to live in fidelity to His laws and in charity with each other. If not, we suffer the consequences for our disobedience.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations. - Deuteronomy 7:9

July 13, 1917 Apparition

Image from the Traditional Lay Carmelites of Fatima: https://www.traditionallaycarmelites.com/talks/what-are-the-three-secrets-of-fatima-part-1

The following is the actual text between Lucia and the Blessed Virgin Mary, as testified by Lucia, age 10, and again when she was older.  Francisco, aged 9, could only see but not hear the Blessed Mother, and Jacinta, aged 7, could see and hear but not speak with Mary. Lucia was the only seer who could see, hear, and speak with Mary. Because this is a testimony archived in the cause for sainthood for all three children, it cannot be altered in any way.  

"What do you want from me?" I asked. (Lucia)

-I want you to come here on the 13th of next month, to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you. (Mary)

I would like to ask you to tell us who you are, and to work a miracle so that everybody will believe that you are appearing to us.

-Continue to come here every month. In October, I will tell you who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle for all to see and believe. 

I have here a petition to make, that you convert a woman from Pedrógão and another one from Fátima, and cure a child from Moita. She said that she would convert them, and restore the child's health, within a year.

-Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As Our Lady spoke these last words, she opened her hands once more, as she had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. Terrified and as if to plead for succour, we looked up at Our Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly:

-You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes 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. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius Xl.

-When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. 

-To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.

{After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!'. And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in white; ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross, he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.}

-Do not tell this to anybody. Francisco, yes, you may tell him. When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: “O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.”

After this, there was a moment of silence, and then I asked: Is there anything more that you want of me?

-No, I do not want anything more of you today.

Fatima in Lucia's own words, Fátima, p. 177-179 (IV Memoir); the section between square brackets appears in the parish priest's interrogation of July 14, 1917, Documentação Crítica de Fátima. I, pp. 13-15; the section in curly brackets is the famous third part of the secret of Fatima (Memórias da Irmã Lúcia, p. 213).

In Christ’s Peace,

 - Theresa