Message of Pope John Paul II for the Sick at Fatima May 13, 2000. Video Night Vigil

Pope John Paul II Arrives
at Fatima Sanctuary
To Beatify Jacinta and Francesco

I was going to do a similiar post back in May but the joy of the First visit to Fatima as pope of Benedict XVI the post on May 13 covered this historic event! I remember with joy the excitement in the sanctuary as the pope arrived seeing his helicopter fly over the sanctuary and knowing he was blessing all those present. I thank God for the grace he gave me to be present for this great moment in the church the long awaited beatifications of the shepherd children.  This event taking place so soon after the Canonization of Sr. Mary Faustina Kowalska on Mercy Sunday April 30. God had given me the joy to also be present at this momentous occasion in the history of the church. I had a seat near her community on the balcony with the pope. Not because I was worthy or had done anything to merit it. No! On the contrary it was a gift of his great mercy to me, a soul who He has been truly merciful to and wanted to teach me the ways of Providence and Mercy!  I am still learning! So many were so caught up in the News that the Pope was going to reveal the 3rd Secret with the members of the press that  in some cases the Beatifications were overshadowed by some as an after thought.

The Crowds at the Night Vigil on May 12, 2000

Pope John Paul II sick himself gave a heartfelt message to the sick at Fatima during the Beatification Ceremonies I wish to share it once more  for those who never read it!

           Pope John Paul's  

        Greeting to the Sick

                             May 13, 2000

Dear Pilgrims to Fátima!

I would now like to offer a special greeting to the sick, who are present here in large numbers, but I also extend it to all who, at home or in hospital, have joined us in spirit. The Pope greets you with great affection, dear sick people, and assures you and those who are close to you of a special remembrance in prayer. I place the longings of each of you on the altar where Jesus continuously intercedes and sacrifices himself for humanity. I have come among you today as a witness to the risen Jesus. He knows what it is to suffer; he experienced the anguish of death, but by his death he destroyed death itself and is absolutely the first human being to have freed himself from its chains once and for all. He traveled man's whole journey to the heavenly homeland, where he has prepared a throne of glory for each of us.


Dear sick brother or sister!
If someone or something makes you think that you have reached the end of the line, do not believe it! If you know the eternal Love who created you, you also know that there is an immortal soul within you. There are various seasons in life; if by chance you feel winter approaching, I want you to know that it is not the last season, because the last one will be spring: the springtime of the Resurrection. Your whole life extends infinitely beyond its earthly limits: heaven awaits you.

Dear sick people!

I know that "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Rom 8: 18). Take courage! In this Holy Year an abundance of the Father's grace is poured out on those who know how to receive it with the simple, trusting heart of a child. Jesus reminded us of this in the Gospel passage proclaimed earlier. Seek also to be numbered among these "little ones", dear sick people, so that Jesus will delight in you. In a little while he will draw near you to bless you personally in the Blessed Sacrament. He comes to you with the promise: "Behold, I make all things new" (Rv 21: 5). Have trust! Abandon yourselves to his provident hands, as did the little shepherds Francisco and Jacinta. They are telling you that you are not alone. The heavenly Father loves you.
 

Night Vigil Rosary Procession at Fatima

12th of each Month May-October

                
     

              God Willing another post tomorrow on the 13th!

Pope Benedict XVI First Visit to Fatima as Pope! Theme of Pilgrimage "With You We Walk In Hope!"

Theme for Papal Trip to Fatima May 11-14, 2010

With You We Walk In Hope

Pope Benedict XVI will make a two-day stop in the historic city of Fatima during a visit to Portugal this week. This trip will be the Popes 15th apostolic journey abroad in his five years and his first to Portugal as pope. He will be in Portugal Tuesday through Friday. Benedict XVI will be the third Pope to visit the Fatima shrine, after Pope Paul VI in 1967 and Pope John Paul II's three trips in 1982, 1991 and 2000.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi presented the program of the Pope's 15th apostolic visit outside Italy. Fatima is "a Marian shrine in which events occurred with which Benedict XVI has been personally concerned in a very profound way, also from the point of view of theology and spirituality." As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he wrote a document on the event, published in 2000. We will be just one month before the conclusion of the Year for Priests and the context is very appropriate," he explained. the emphasis this trip will give to the world of the clergy in the celebration of vespers with priests, religious, seminarians and deacons in the Church of the Most Holy Trinity of Fatima, and the meeting with bishops in Lisbon-More

World Wide Fatima Rosary on May 13

Join Catholics around the world  to pray the Rosary on  May 13th to honor Our Lady of Fatima and to beg her to intervene in the world, to stop the growing spiral of sin, and violence. The driving force behind the Worldwide Fatima Rosary on May 13 is the thought that Our Lady will be pleased to see one million people praying the Rosary all together on May 13th, which is the very day She pleaded: “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world!”

The Pope Invited  Everyone 

 To Go With him to Portugal!

"Dear friends, in the heart of this Marian month, I will have the joy of going in the forthcoming days to Portugal. I will visit the capital, Lisbon, and Porto, the country's second city. The principal objective of my trip will be Fatima, the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the Beatification of Jacinta and Francisco. For the first time as Successor of Peter I will go to that Marian Shrine, so dear to Bl. John Paul II. I invite everyone to accompany me on this pilgrimage, participating actively with prayer: with only one heart and one soul we invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary for the Church, in particular for priests, and for peace in the world."... Read More

                  

 Fatima a Place to

Extend One's Gaze

   for a Meditation on History!

                 Pope John Paul II at Fatima 2000

Pope to Reveal God's Action in History

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office,Comments on Pope's Fatima Visit: "John Paul II wanted the 'third secret' of Fatima to be revealed on the occasion of the beatification of the two little shepherds, Francisco and Jacinta, during the Jubilee of 2000, transition between two millenniums," said Father Lombardi. "A century was ending characterized by great sufferings, on which in fact the visions of Fatima gave at once a dramatic and luminous interpretation: time of war and of martyrdom, in which the Church and the Pope himself shared profoundly the sufferings and thirst for salvation of the whole of humanity. To two ignorant children, in an insignificant place -- as is characteristic of great Marian events -- was entrusted a message that in its simplicity, that released a spiritual force able to surmount borders and to be transmitted beyond the grave circumstances of history of humanity," Father Lombardi wondered what the Fatima message can tell us, now that the secret has been revealed-Read More

Action of God, Lord of History, 

and Co-responsibility of Man

Fr. Lombardi, continued and recalled the comment of the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the conclusion of the publication of the text of the "secret," which stated: "Action of God, Lord of history, and co-responsibility of man, in his dramatic and fecund liberty, are the two bases on which the history of humanity is built. The Virgin who appeared in Fatima is calling us to return to these forgotten values, to this future of man in God, of which we are an active and responsible part." Father Lombardi concluded: "We need pure and innocent eyes to read the path of the new millennium and to understand where its risks and truest hopes are. The message of Fatima retains all its seriousness vis-à-vis history."