Fr. Bob’s Spiritual Reflection–5/13/2026
“Pray for Peace!”
Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. I’m always intrigued by the many apparitions of The Blessed Virgin Mary. There are probably 28 or 29 that have some sort of church approval, and the appearing of Mary to three children in Portugal at Fatima is one of them.
Three shepherd children, Lucia and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta were blessed to have their first meeting with Our Lady on May 13, 1917. Their meeting was declared “worthy of belief” on October 13, 1930.
The many appearances that followed involved the ‘secrets’ from Mary: A vision of hell, prediction of the end of World War I (20 million lives lost) and the beginning of World War II, and the shooting of the ‘bishop in white.” This was understood to be the pope and when Pope John Paul II was shot, many remembered that third prediction.
Because of this, Mary had always begged for prayers for peace. She even told the children to encourage everyone to pray the rosary every day for peace. That message never went out of style!
Francisco and Jacinta died from a flu pandemic. Francisco was ten and Jacinta was nine. Mary told Lucia that she would take care of Francisco and Jacinta but she wanted Lucia to continue spreading her message. Lucia became a nun and lived delivering Mary’s wishes until her death when she was 97. I celebrate this great feast by continuing to pray for peace in the world. I encourage you to do the same.