3 Secrets-100 years after Fatima

13 May 201 – Astro-Weather:  3 main stars shine after dark in May: Arcturus high in the southeast, Vega much lower in the northeast, & Capella in the northwest.

In early dawn Sunday morning, look for Saturn lower right of the Moon. Much farther to the lower right of this pair is fiery Antares.

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The 100 year anniversary of The Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima: Between May 13 & October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, in Portugal.

Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners & for the conversion of Russia. The third visionary, Lucia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun & died in 2005 at the age of 97.

Mary gave the children three secrets. Since Francisco died in 1919 & Jacinta the following year, both of the Spanish flu, Lucia revealed the first secret in 1927, concerning devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell.

Pope John Paul II was supposed to reveal the third secret in 2000; but we only received a part which spoke of a “bishop in white” who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets & arrows into him. Many people linked this to the assassination attempt against Saint John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981.

Yesterday, Pope Francis headed to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in northern Portugal to celebrate the centenary of the first appearances of the Virgin Mary as described by three shepherd children on May 13, 1917.

Fatima is a small city in central Portugal where the landscape is dry & rocky. For centuries, people made their living raising sheep & other animals Some people wonder about a connection to Islam because the village has the same name as the Prophet Muhammad’s favorite daughter.

In May 1917, three shepherd children — two girls & a boy — claimed they saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The children described Mary as “a lady dressed all in white, more brilliant than the sun.” Mary told the children that praying the rosary would end what was then called The Great War — World War I— which left 17 million dead.

According to the children, Mary appeared to them six times that year. In one appearance, Mary said a miracle would occur on Oct. 13, 1917. Initially the children were scolded & even threatened with death for spreading what were considered baseless stories. But pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Fatima on that date & awaited Mary’s appearance. In what came to be called the “Miracle of the Sun,” many reported seeing visions in the sky while others reported miracles of healing. A newspaper of the day reported, “Before their dazzled eyes the sun trembled, the sun made unusual & brusque movements, defying all the laws of the cosmos, & according to the typical expression of the peasants, ‘the sun danced.’”

In 1930, the Catholic Church declared the events at Fatima “worthy of belief,” & chapels, sanctuaries, shrines & other memorials to the events popped up.

Fatima attracts between 5 – 6 million pilgrims a year, making it one of the most popular shrines in the world. The largest numbers come on May 13 — the anniversary of the first apparitions.

Pope Francis will be the fourth pontiff to visit Fatima; Pope Paul VI marked the 50th anniversary in 1967, John Paul II went three times & Benedict XVI visited once.

While there, Pope Francis will canonize the shepherd children — Jacinta & Francisco, & Lucia dos Santos.

Lucia dos Santos became a Carmelite nun &, in 1941, wrote her memoirs. In them, she said Mary gave the children three secrets, or prophecies, two of which she revealed at that time. The first secret was a vision of hell that Mary showed to the children, full of lakes of fire with screaming souls in torment. The second was that World War I would end — it did, a little more than a year after the children saw their first apparition — & that another great war would come if the people of Russia were not converted to Catholicism. They weren’t, & World War II began in 1939. There was also a prediction that Russia would “spread her errors throughout the world,” which many believe is a reference to Soviet communism.

Sister Lucia wasn’t eager to share the third prophecy, but was compelled to write it down in the case of her untimely death. She told Rome the secret could be revealed in 1960, but the Vatican decided to keep it sealed to avoid inflaming the wild speculation that was already connected with the so-called Third Secret of Fatima. Sister Lucia died in 2005 at age 97.

In 2000, then-Pope John Paul II — now St. John Paul — ordered the secret published. The prophecy is said to be an apocalyptic vision of a terrible persecution. The publication hardly dampened the fervor over the Third Secret since the assassination attempt against John Paul took place on May 13, 1981 — the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima — as he rode around St. Peter’s Square wearing his white cassock, the traditional vestment of the Bishop of Rome. It seemed like a near-fulfillment of the prophecy & John Paul said that he believed the Virgin Mary saved his life by guiding the bullet past a major artery. He later sent the bullet to Fatima where it was placed in the crown of the original image of Our Lady of Fatima, fitting perfectly into the only empty space left available when the crown was made 40 years earlier.

But all of the Third Secret has not been published in full. And it is thought that people like Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — later Pope Benedict XVI — have worked to actively suppress it.

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

Sali Duren

~In the dream
A multitude of lights
Fluttered, becoming birds:
Hawks, herons, ibis, geese, flamingo, quail, vultures, lapwings & owls –
They stormed my head
Calling to each other
Then settled in the branches of my arms…
~hag

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TONIGHT: Saturday May 13th 2017, 7:30 pm – 9 pm

Proffered Words and the Landscape of Gratitude’ A poetic journey into the heart of a life written and performed by Joen Dealande (Barbara Danner)

$10 Love Donation

After the show Join us for an open conversation about the Elderberries Initiative

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 Harry Clark

Sunday, May 14, 2017- a Mother’s Day Treat

***12:30 pm at the Christian Community 2135 W. Wilson Ave, Chicago

Beat the Devil!  Performed by Glen Williamson

Based on Goethe’s play (Parts I and II) (Ninety minutes including an intermission. Yes, the whole story!)

$15

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