message of this first apparition was not only for three shepherd children in 1917; it is for all of us, even today. Mary’s message to the children at Fatima invites us to offer up our sufferings for the conversion of sinners. Every one of us has something to offer on a daily basis. Our Lady also asks us to pray the Rosary for peace. The response we give is up to each one of us.
June Apparition
Our Lady appeared to the three little shepherds for the second time on June 13, 1917. June is the month traditionally devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the June apparition, Mary urged that her Immaculate Heart be honored along with devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Lucia, the only one of the three children to speak directly with Mary, greeted the heavenly Lady each time, May through October, with the same words: “What do you want of me?”
Each time Our Lady emphasized: “I want you to pray the Rosary every day.”
During this second apparition, Lucia told Our Lady: “I want you to take us to heaven.”
The response was: “Yes, I will take Jacinta and Francisco soon, but you must remain here some time longer. Jesus wishes to make use of you to make me known and loved. He wants to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world.”
Lucia, saddened that her two cousins would die soon, asked, “Must I stay here alone?”
Our Blessed Mother replied: “Do not be disheartened. I will never leave you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.” As Mary said these words, she opened her hands, and an immense light enveloped her. In this light, the three children saw themselves overwhelmed with the presence of God. Jacinta and Francisco were in the light focused on heaven. Lucia was in the light that beamed out over the earth. In front of the palm of Mary’s right hand was a heart encircled with thorns that pierced it. The children understood this to be the Immaculate Heart of Mary, grieved by the sins of humanity.
The meaning of Our Lady’s second apparition is timeless. Mary’s request of Lucia, to make devotion to her Immaculate Heart known to the world, is for us, too. Francisco and Jacinta died within a little more than two years’ time after the apparitions. Sister Lucia lived until February 13, 2005, and was nearly ninety-eight years of age. Her mind remained clear on the events surrounding the apparitions and the apparitions themselves, despite her age. For more than eighty-seven years after the apparitions, Jesus used her witness to establish devotion in the world to Mary’s Immaculate Heart. We in the Church today are called to make devotion to Mary part of how we live our faith and to share it in any way we can. Mary is the model of Christian discipleship, and of everything the Church is and hopes to become. Her Immaculate Heart reflects perfect faith, hope, and love, the virtues that make us most like Christ.
Sister Lucia spoke of the call to all Christians in the message at Fatima: “Through your prayers, your words, your example, your acts of self denial, your work and your charity, you will be able to help your brothers and sisters to get up again if they have fallen, to return to the right path if they have strayed away from it, and to draw close to God if they are estranged from Him.… Very often, people are overcome and fall because they have no one at their side willing to pray and to make sacrifices for them, stretching out a hand to them, and helping them to follow a better path.”19
The children kept the vision of Mary’s heart secret. As Lucia later explained, “This is what we referred to, when we said that Our Lady had told us a secret in June. Our Lady did not order us to keep it a secret on this occasion, but we felt moved to do so by God.”20
July Apparition
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