Devotion for today: The grace of God will be your comfort

Today we resume our study of the apparitions of Mary at Fatima. Again, our emphasis is on the message that Mary has for us as participants in her work of bringing all sinners back to her Son.

The first apparition of Our Lady to the children at Fatima occurred on May 13, 1917. Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia were watching their sheep and playing when light flashed in front of them. It was a beautiful sunny day with no storm in sight. Still, the children headed home, and as they descended the hill, a second flash occurred, and they saw "a lady dressed all in white, more brilliant then the sun, shedding rays of light, clear and stronger than a crystal glass filled with the most sparkling water, pierced by the burning rays of the sun". The lady spoke to them and said: "Fear not! I will not harm you." "Where are you from?" the children asked. "I am from heaven" the beautiful lady replied, gently raising her hand towards the distant horizon.” She then answered several questions and revealed to the children that she would visit them for six consecutive months, on the same day (13^th) and hour every month. As she prepared to depart, she asked the children, “Do you wish to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the suffering that He may please to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and to ask for the conversion of sinners?" "Yes, we do." said the children. "You will have to suffer a lot, but the grace of God will be your comfort.”Then she opened her hands with a loving gesture of a mother who offers her heart. From it an intense light departed that seemed to go through them. The vision vanished telling them : "Recite the rosary every day to obtain the peace for the world and the end of the war." Then she was gone.

Matthew 28: 1-8: 5-10: The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

2 Timothy 3:12: Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen:  “The power of the rosary is beyond description."

In this first visit, Mary reminds us to have no fear, that she is a loving mother who worries about all her children and wants the rest of the family to help those who are weak. Mary is asking us, through the little children, to remember that we must pray for all sinners in the world, that the closer we get to God, the more we will suffer as He did, but that we can participate in this “redemptive suffering” for the conversion of the world. Want to end abortion? Then pray and sacrifice for the hard hearts of people today to be softened. Want to stop violence and war? Then pray and sacrifice for the peace of Christ to enter into our brothers and sisters and stop them from hating. Want a weapon against the crimes of persecution in the world today? Grab your rosary, and pray. Mary came from heaven to tell us we need to get busy, and fast, to turn the world around. Our Blessed Mother reminds us that we are members of one big family, and she needs us to join with her to bring back our prodigal brothers and sisters. Let’s start today to pray one rosary every day to convert sinners and bring peace into the hearts of those who hate, who support death at all stages of life, and who place themselves ahead of God. Then the peace of Christ will set us all free, and we will no longer need to be afraid.

 Hail Mary, full of grace.

Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.