On the 13^th of October 2007 we will celebrate the 90^th anniversary of the last apparition of Mary as to the three children in Fatima. It was this occasion that the famous miracle of the sun was witnessed by the crowd convened to Cova da Iria - the place of the apparitions – as a sign to confirm the authenticity and importance of the message brought by Mary to all of us. [1]

The series of apparitions of Our Lady took place in the middle of the ravaging World War I in a hidden little village of Portugal to little shepherd children. The message that Mary gave to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco was first of all a message of hope and of warning in the same time. The central theme of hope is a call for repentance and prayer to stop the horrendous evils of war and bring peace to the suffering peoples of the world. The warning is that without heeding to this call, there is no way to stop the escalation of violence.

At the first of the six apparitions on May 13^th Mary said “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.” She repeated the same call for prayer on July the 13^th : “Continue to say the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, to obtain the peace of the world and the end of the war, because only she can obtain it.” Mary offers the simple means of praying the Rosary (which is in fact a prayer centered on Jesus) as powerful and only means capable to end the war and bring peace. This message is as valid now after ninety years as ever, when there is so much suffering in our modern world from war, oppression injustice and violence and we need to answer to it with our commitment to prayer. “The Lady of the message seems to read the signs of the times - the signs of our time - with special insight... The insistent invitation of Mary Most Holy to penance is nothing but the manifestation of her maternal concern for the fate of the human family, in need of conversion and forgiveness” [2].

Read the rest of this article at http://www.geocities.com/ourladyofthegraces/ourladyoffatima.htm

on the page "Healing of Societies" 

The official web site of the Sanctuary of Fatima , http://www.santuario-fatima.pt/portal/index.php?lang=EN describes the celebrations of the 90th anniversary which will take place on Oct 12-13 in Fatima.

Understanding the validity of this message for the XXI century we feel the urgency to renew our prayers for peace and ask that many would join in this most important prayer.

[1] The official web site of the Sanctuary of Fatima is http://www.santuario-fatima.pt/portal/index.php?lang=EN There is a good presentation of the events of at this web site “Fatima a Grace to Mankind” http://www.ewtn.com/fatima/