Not that long ago my parish started a new ministry called BE A HOLY FAMILY (abbreviated as BAHF in this blog). It's aim is to invite families - parents and their children - to come together every 4th Sunday of the month for a lesson, an activity, and refreshments. The goal is to foster the strengthening of the "domestic church" in order to help families grow in sanctity. It's a beautiful and much-needed ministry in today's Church and the world, in general.
So yesterday, this ministry was invited to the BAHF October gathering to speak about the young Fatima Seers and the important message that our Blessed Mother entrusted them with to pass on to the rest of us. I summarized the message in this manner - Our Lady asked that we ...
- Amend our lives (convert)
- Pray the Rosary daily for World Peace
- Pray for the conversion of sinners and make reparation for all our sins
I also encouraged parents to teach their children how to pray, then to pray as a family, as the prayers of innocent youngsters have particular efficacy before the throne of God, given their pure hearts ... and combining kids with the Rosary makes for a powerful force for good in our troubled times.
Thankfully, the children patiently listened to the presentation and were surprisingly attentive throughout ... and so were the parents. Afterward, we invited the families to venerate the clothing relics of Sts. Francisco and Jacinta along with a little piece of wood from the tree of apparitions that were on display, courtesy of this ministry. The relics were a big help in making the story and message of the apparitions a lot more real and tangible for the audience, especially the children.
And finally, something amazing occurred today that I believe was a blessing from Our Lady of Fatima and the child-seers to the families who attended. Almost immediately after leaving the Kamiano Center, where I had gone for the Noon Mass, I witnessed a silhouette of Our Lady of Fatima in the sky above downtown Honolulu. It was massive and clear enough for me to recognize it was the Holy Mother's figure. I actually ignored it at first, but after walking half a block and coming to another gap in the buildings, and seeing the image intact, I decided to take a few photos - below are the clearest pics.
I shared the pics with my prayer group members and one pointed out the figures of Francisco and Jacinta kneeling to the right of Our Lady, which I did not initially see in the sky. This is how I concĺuded that it was Our Lady of Fatima and she was likely happy that her message was shared with the families yesterday morning ... and she was blessing all of us for it.
A rough sketch of what can be seen in the photos.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
