A group from my parish, and here around, recently returned from a pilgrimage to France and Portugal, including Lourdes, and Fatima.
Additionally, before their departure, a travelling Statue of Our Lady of Fatima visited our parish.
I was reminded of an earlier post involving the 100th
anniversary of the final apparition at Fatima. I remarked on a homily by the archbishop of San Francisco. In his homily he said:
We cannot afford to do so ( ignore the request of Our Lady of Fatima) any longer. We have to pay attention. We have to do what she told the waiters at Cana: do whatever he tells you. And what does Christ tell us to do? He reveals this in the requests our Lady made at Fatima. It is now time to heed those requests. We might not have the power to change world history, but we can change what happens in our own families and communities if we heed the message.
And:
What did she ask us to do? It should come as no surprise, because it is the central part of her message wherever and whenever she appears: prayer, penance and adoration.
Let us then "do whatever he tells us," and respond to the requests by Our Lady of Fatima, engaging in prayer, penance and adoration "to save souls from hell, and to establish peace in the world."
