On June 22, Pope Francis declared Fatima’s Sister Lucia “venerable.” She now needs a confirmed miracle to become beatified, and a second confirmed miracle to be canonized.
“What are you doing?” These are the words the Angel of Peace asked the venerable Lucia, St. Jacinta and St. Francisco when he visited them a second time in August 1916.
Earlier that year, in the spring of 1916, the Angel of Peace had visited the three children of Fatima for the first time and had taught them a prayer: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope,
I love thee. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, nor adore, nor hope, nor love thee.”
Now, just three months later, the Angel of Peace had found them not following his instructions.
Where are we in offering sacrifices and praying for the conversion of sinners? The message of Fatima is as relevant today as it was over 100 years ago: Pray the rosary, offer penance, offer sacrifices, pray for the conversion of sinners, go to Mass, attend Eucharistic Adoration, and consecrate ourselves and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“What are you doing?”
The Virgin Mary would later visit the three seers six times in six months beginning May 13, 1917.
It is a message for the three little seers of Fatima. And it is a message for us.
Jon Gauthier is a member of St. Matthew Parish in Charlotte and author of “Embracing Goodness: How Life Works.”
Rather than reading about flatulent cows or ebikes that may burn down our homes, it was refreshing to read Effie Caldarola’s column in the July 7 Catholic News Herald, ‘Trashion’: How our spiritual emptiness harms the environment,” about a simple way to help the environment and save money: Refrain from buying newly manufactured “plastic clothes.”
Sylvia Nance is a member of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Charlotte.