It's the 100th anniversary of Our Lady's appearance at Fatima, and Pope Francis is on pilgrimage there. The picture above is from last night's prayer vigil: every light is a person with a candle. Today he canonized two of the three young visionaries -- the first children to be canonized without being martyrs. His homily for the occasion is lovely.
...in the Gospel, we hear Jesus say to his disciple, “Here is your mother” (Jn 19:27). We have a Mother!
Dear pilgrims, we have a Mother, we have a Mother! Clinging to her like children, we live in the hope that rests on Jesus. As we heard in the second reading, “those who receive the abundance of the grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:17). When Jesus ascended to heaven, he brought to the Heavenly Father our humanity, which he assumed in the womb of the Virgin Mary and will never forsake. Like an anchor, let us fix our hope on that humanity, seated in heaven at the right hand of the Father (cf. Eph 2:6). May this hope guide our lives! It is a hope that sustains us always, to our dying breath.
Confirmed in this hope, we have gathered here to `1`give thanks for the countless graces bestowed over these past hundred years. All of them passed beneath the mantle of light that Our Lady has spread over the four corners of the earth, beginning with this land of Portugal, so rich in hope. We can take as our examples Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta, whom the Virgin Mary introduced into the immense ocean of God’s light and taught to adore him. That was the source of their strength in overcoming opposition and suffering. God’s presence became constant in their lives, as is evident from their insistent prayers for sinners and their desire to remain ever near “the hidden Jesus” in the tabernacle.
Getty images has a collection of good photos of the festivities.
Here are some other links for the occasion.
- A succint explanation.
- A slightly longer explanation: Everything you need to know... (Part 1: the apparitions) (Part 2: secrets, approval, etc.)
- EWTN has a useful site for learning the facts of the six apparitions, their message, etc.
- I especially liked this reflection from Joanne McPortland about being a Fatima Resister. I can't relate to her experience of anti-communism and the Cold War, but I definitely relate to her experience of the oddness of some Fatima devotees and how off-putting that is. I relate her experience of Fatima to mine of Lourdes.
- Tom Hoopes has his own Fatima miracle to tell you about (and he's written a new book, The Fatima Family Handbook -- this link takes you to an interview about it).
- Dwight Longenecker: Fatima & the Atheists
- Archbishop Fulton Sheen on Fatima (part 1)
