The Miracle of the Sun
ONE
Fatima miracle of the sun
Today, October 13 is the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima. In our meditation we will reflect on the October apparition, the miracle, and three parts of the message: conversion, the Rosary and Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In July of 1917, Mary promised the three little children a miracle that all would be able to see. Once this was made known – people flocked to Fatima. The week leading up to the final apparition, a severe storm raged through western Europe, and by October 13, 1917 the ground was soaked and muddy. A crowd estimated between 50,000 to 70,000 made its way – drenched – to the apparition site. The Lady appeared, and in reply to Lucia’s usual question: “What do you want of me?” she replied,
‘I want to tell you that a chapel is to be built here in My honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to always to pray the Rosary every day. The war is going to end and the soldiers will soon return to their homes soon.’
Then Lucia said, “I have many things to ask You: the cure of some sick persons, the conversion of sinners and other things…”
‘Some yes, but not other. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins.’
Looking very sad, Our Lady said:
‘Do not offend the Lord Our God anymore, for He is already too much offended.’
TWO
As Mary was leaving at the end of the apparition on Oct 13, she opened her hands, and from them rays of light extended in the direction of the sun. At this the children turned their gaze toward the sun and as they did, everyone followed. Gradually the sun grew pale, appeared as a silver disk at which all could look directly, without shielding their eyes. Rays of multicolored light shot out from the sun in every direction; red, blue, yellow, green, every color of the spectrum. Then the sun began to spin madly on its axis and appeared like a giant wheel of fire. The sun began to dance wildly. Suddenly the sun seemed to be torn loose from its orbit. It hurled closer and closer to earth and looked like it was going to plummet to the earth. The people were terrified and there arose cries of repentance and appeals for mercy. Many thought it was the end of the world.
Then, just as suddenly, the sun stopped falling downwards, and in the same swirling motion it began to climb upward until it resumed its place in the sky. The rain-soaked clothes of the 50,000 to 70,000 people and the ground around them was immediately dry. The vision lasted for more than ten minutes and everyone present was a witness. This was the public miracle promised by Our Lady so that all could see. It was even reported the next day in the secular newspapers.
THREE
At Fatima Our Lady calls us to conversion: ‘Do not offend the Lord Our God anymore, for He is already too much offended.’
Conversion is not just from unbelief to belief. Conversion, as the CCC defines it is “a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with our whole heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one’s life, with hope in God’s mercy and trust in the help of his grace.”
Fatima is also a call to penance and reparation for the conversion of others. The second Apparition of the Angel in the Summer of 1916 prepared the children for this call to penance. While the children were playing around the well near Lucia’s house, suddenly the Angel appeared and asked:
"What are you doing? Pray, pray very much! The Most Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifice constantly to the Most High. The hearts of Jesus and Mary have a mission for you"
Lucy asked the Angel: “How are we to make sacrifices?”
"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.”
“In this way, you will draw peace upon your country…Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings which the Lord will send you."
Have we taken seriously the call of Our Lady to convert and do we offer everything we can as a sacrifice for the conversion of sinners? I haven’t…But this day is a great reminder to begin again…
FOUR
Each of the Six times Our Lady appeared at Fatima she insisted that everyone pray the Rosary every day. In the last apparition on October 13 Mary revealed herself as Our Lady of the Rosary. In every approved apparition of modern times Mary told us the most powerful weapon against evil and the greatest thing we can do for our country and for souls is to pray the Rosary and lead others to pray the Rosary.
FIVE
At Fatima, Our Lady revealed that God’s plan to save the world and souls at this moment in history is through Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
On July 13, 1917, Our Lady showed the little children a vision of hell and then said: “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 7th Apparition December 10, 1925
The Most Holy Virgin appeared to her, and by Her side, elevated on a luminous cloud, was the Child Jesus. Then the Most Holy Virgin said:
“Look my daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months shall go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making Reparation to Me.”
Consecrate oneself to Mary, live the consecration by living a personal relationship with Mary that enables the Holy Spirit to operate more fully in your life and fulfill continuously the First Saturdays Devotion