The Message of Fatima

The sixth and final apparition at Fatima on Oct. 13, 1917 was a very climactic ending to a six-month period that transformed the little village into one of the most visited places on earth. Besides the great miracle of the sun performed so all would believe, the Blessed Mother revealed to the three shepherd children that she was the “Lady of the Rosary” and wanted a chapel to be built there in her honor. She reminded them of the importance of the daily Rosary and promised that WWI would end soon.

One part that tends to get overlooked, but that deserves our utmost attention are the final words of Our Lady to the children: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.”

In her memoirs many years later, Sister Lucia commented on this final statement by Our Lady: “Of all the words spoken at this Apparition, the ones most deeply engraved upon my heart were those of [this] request made by our heavenly Mother. How loving a complaint, how tender a request! Who will grant me to make it echo through the whole world, so that all the children of our Mother in Heaven may hear the sound of her voice!”

According to Saint Francisco, who spent much time in silent prayer before the tabernacle at the Fatima parish church, and who, like the other seers, had experienced something of heaven and God in the light from Our Lady’s hands which streamed over them in the early apparitions, God was not only offended, but was also sad at all the sins committed by mankind.

One day, he said to Lucia, “I loved seeing the Angel, but I loved still more seeing Our Lady. What I loved most of all was to see Our Lord in that light from Our Lady which penetrated our hearts. I love God so much! But He is very sad because of so many sins! We must never commit any sins again.”

When I visited Fatima in 2006, I was surprised to find that rather than focus on the apparition itself, the entire shrine is devoted to the call for repentance which was the content of the final message.  This is, perhaps, the issue that makes this apparition genuine in my eyes precisely because it is the essential message of the Gospels. 

The very first Gospel written, that of St. Mark, opens with these words: “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” John [the] Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

This call for repentance, to turn away from sin, is echoed in all the other Gospels and is the focus of the conclusion of the last Gospel, that of St. John, who wrote: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

The message of Fatima is, therefore, the message of the Gospels.  Today as we mark this anniversary, we praise God for the gift of so loving a mother who cries out to her children: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore.”