The Miracle and the Message. John C. Preiss

difficulty when Lucia repeated them to him. Nevertheless, he was captivated by the beauty of the Angel and the intensity of the supernatural light that accompanied him.

       “Console Your God”

      Sister Lucia notes the time of the third apparition of the Angel: “The third apparition must have taken place in October, or toward the end of September, as we were no longer returning for siesta.” On this day, the three shepherds had pastured their flocks at the Pregueira, a small olive grove that belonged to the dos Santos family, on the south side of the Cabeco. She continues:

      After our lunch, we decided to go and pray in the hollow among the rocks on the opposite side of the hill. To get there, we went around the slope, and had to climb over some rocks above the Pregueira. The sheep could only scramble over these rocks with great difficulty. As soon as we arrived there, we knelt down with our foreheads touching the ground, and began to repeat the prayer of the Angel: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee.…”

      I don’t know how many times we repeated this prayer, when an extraordinary light shone upon us. We sprang up to see what was happening, and beheld the Angel. He was holding a chalice in his left hand, with the Host suspended above it, from which some drops of Blood fell into the chalice. Leaving the chalice suspended in the air, the Angel knelt down beside us and made us repeat three times:

      “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the sacrileges, outrages and indifferences by which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.”

      Then, rising, he took the chalice and the Host in his hands. He gave the Sacred Host to me, and shared the Blood from the chalice between Jacinta and Francisco, saying as he did so: “Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men! Make reparation for their crimes and console your God.”

      Once again, he prostrated on the ground and repeated with us, three times more, the same prayer “Most Holy Trinity …” and then disappeared.

      Moved by a supernatural force which enveloped us, we had imitated the Angel in everything; that is, we prostrated as he did and repeated the prayers that he said.… We remained a long time in this position, repeating the same words over and over again. It was Francisco who realized that it was getting dark, and drew our attention to the fact, and thought we should take our flocks back home. I felt that God was in me.¹²

      Sister Lucia later said love for the Eucharist was the most important part of the message of Fatima for the children. This drew them closer to God and instilled in their hearts the importance of the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. For us today, the entire message of the Angel contains an urgent call to prayer, sacrifice, and reparation for sin to the Most Holy Trinity and our Eucharistic Lord.

      Lucia again recorded the state of physical exhaustion into which the angelic apparition plunged them:

      In the third apparition, the presence of the Angel was still more intense. For several days, even Francisco did not dare to talk. He said later on: “I love to see the Angel, but the trouble is that later on, we are incapable of doing anything. I could not even walk any more. I didn’t know what was the matter!”

      It was a grace so sublime, and so intimate, that Francisco, all absorbed in God, did not have a clear consciousness of the mystical grace that he had received and felt in a confused way. Once the first few days were over, and we had returned to normal, Francisco asked: “The Angel gave you Holy Communion, but what was it that he gave to Jacinta and me?” “It was Holy Communion, too,” replied Jacinta, with inexpressible joy. “Didn’t you see that it was the Blood that fell from the Host?” Francisco replied: “I felt that God was within me, but I did not know how!”

      From this moment on, we had begun to offer God everything that mortified us, but without looking to impose particular penances on ourselves, except to pass entire hours prostrated on the ground, repeating the prayer which the Angel had taught us.… We remained prostrate a long time, sometimes repeating these prayers even to the point of exhaustion.

      Afterwards, when we prostrated to say that prayer, Francisco was the first to feel the strain of such a posture; but he remained kneeling, or sitting, and still praying until we had finished. Later he said: “I am not able to stay like that for a long time, like you. My back aches so much that I can’t do it.”¹³

      However, God Himself would send His willing children the most fruitful sacrifices. The trials that would overwhelm Lucia’s family coincided almost exactly with the time of the first few apparitions. Little by little, her home life grew unhappy. This was all the more painful for Lucia because, until then, she had known great joy in her family, whom she tenderly cherished and who cherished her in return.

      Sister Lucia notes:

      Although I was only a child, I understood perfectly the situation we were in. Then I remembered the Angel’s words: “Above all, accept submissively the sacrifices that the Lord will send you.”

      At such times, I used to withdraw to a solitary place, so as not to add to my mother’s suffering by letting her see my own. This place, usually, was our well. There, on my knees, leaning over the edge of the stone slabs that covered the well, my tears mingled with the water below and I offered my suffering to God. Sometimes, Jacinta and Francisco would come and find me like this, in bitter grief. As my voice was choked with sobs and I couldn’t say a word, they shared my suffering to such a degree that they also wept copious tears.¹⁴

      These difficult trials did not leave the shepherd children overwhelmed, however; the Angel had told the children about these sufferings and had invited them to offer them in reparation for sins, for the consolation of God, and for the conversion of sinners.

      The children received a very special grace, and the words of the Angel had entered their souls in a profound way. As Sister Lucia explains:

      These words were indelibly impressed upon our minds. They were like a light which made us understand Who God is, how He loves us and desires to be loved, the value of sacrifice, how pleasing it is to Him and how, on account of it, He gives the grace of conversion to sinners. It was for this reason that we began, from then on, to offer to the Lord all that mortified us.¹⁵

      Through these three apparitions, the Angel taught the humble shepherd children how to pray and offer their sacrifices. Francisco and Jacinta were deeply touched and grew in the spiritual life. The Angel also prepared them for what was to come. For Sister Lucia, the apparitions of the Angel remained the most important parts of the message of Fatima. Sister Lucia wrote: “The message is more a new light to shine in the midst of darkness. Great is the Lord, immense in His mercy, eternal in His love! I believe in Thee, I adore Thee. I trust and I love Thee! For Thee I live!”

      Chapter 2

      Visits from Our Lady (May–September)

      In central Portugal the terrain is rocky, and the soil is very poor. The summers are extremely dry, and it seldom rains. Olive oil is the chief marketable commodity for the farmers, so it is especially tragic when fire destroys large numbers of olive trees.

      In June, the farmers harvest wheat; in early fall, corn and grapes. In August of each year, on the 13th, hundreds of farmers bring sacks of wheat to the basilica at the Cova da Iria, to donate for use in making flour for altar breads for the following year. These breads, the humble farmers know, will be consecrated into the Body of Christ and distributed at Masses celebrated during the coming year for the teeming pilgrims who will come to Fatima.

      The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary stands atop the hill where Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta played games while herding their sheep. It is there that they encountered Our Lady for the first time. As we recount the apparitions, imagine that you are one of the three shepherds on that hill, and Our Lady is appearing to you.

       May Apparition