MONTH OF MARY
A country transformed Mary is our heavenly mother and the month of May, dedicated to her, always provides us an opportunity to consider how much our Mama loves us and cares for us.
FATH E R JE F F RE Y E L L IS
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To this day, doubters cannot offer any compelling argument against the miracle; it was simply too big to explain in any other way.”
Getty images/inaquim
s er ve s as paro chial v icar of S t. M ichael p a r is h. He has a p ar ticu lar d evo t ion to O u r L ady of Fatima.
Nowhere is her maternal protect ion over us more evident than in the numerous visits from heaven that she has made. Each apparition of Our Lady demonstrates that the Queen of the Universe loves us and will do all that she can to aid us and bring us to her Son. Many people know about the marvelous visit of Mary to Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, beginning in May and culminating in October with the great miracle of the sun, where an estimated 70,000 Portuguese men and women marveled as the sun “danced” in the sky. Never before, and never since, have so many witnesses reported such a grand wonder. To this day, doubters cannot offer any compelling
argument against the miracle; it was simply too big to explain in any other way. Fewer people are aware of the even greater miracle that resulted from Our Lady’s visit to the shepherd children of Fatima: the transformation of Portugal. At the time of the apparition, Portugal was beset by atheism, Freemasonry and anti-Catholicism; these forces had conspired to squash the messages given by the visionaries. It was a bleak time to be Catholic in that nation. But that would soon change. On May 13, 1931, the bishops of Portugal came to Fatima to solemnly consecrate their nation to the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady. Although this had not explicitly been requested by Our Lady at Fatima, it was a beautiful sign of confidence that our mother would protect a people entrusted to her. No one could have predicted the amazing results that followed. Firstly, Portugal was spared from the scourge of war. In the mid-1930s, Spain erupted into civil war, and communism was poised to gain its first stronghold in Western Europe. Neighboring Portugal seemed on the verge of getting dragged into the conflict for years, but Our Lady, protecting the nation entrusted to her, prevented the war from reaching its borders.
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Four County Catholic | Spring 2023 | norwichdiocese.org