We celebrated the centennial of the apparitions in Fatima in 2017. On 15 June 2021, 100 years have passed since the little-known, so-called seventh apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. Fr. Dr. Krzysztof Czapla, priest and Director of the Fatima Secretariat at Krzeptówki in Zakopane, told the Polish portal polskifr.fr about the details.
The seventh apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, although less known than the previous six, was already announced by Mary at the beginning of the apparitions.
“This is something that we know about since the beginning of the apparitions. We are talking about something that was announced by Mary, and not facts that we discovered years later. Mary announced it at the first meeting,” recalled Fr. Dr. Krzysztof Czapla.
On 13 October 1917, the last of the six famous apparitions of Fatima took place. The first of the three visionaries of Fatima, Francisco Marto, died in 1919 and Jacinta a year later, leaving only their older cousin Lucia dos Santos. Lucia recalled that Mary had given her the mission of proclaiming the Message of Fatima, and in order to do so, she had to learn to read and write. With the help of her spiritual mentor, Fr. Manuel Nunes Formigao, and his wealthy friends, Lucia was offered the opportunity to go to Lisbon and be educated there. The local bishop, however, decreed otherwise. He did not want Lucia to go to Lisbon, because of the commotion around her and the apparitions, which were inconvenient for the Portuguese authorities, and would only grow there. It was necessary to keep the matter quiet. The bishop ordered Lucia to go to a place where nobody would know about them.
As Fr. Dr. Krzysztof Czapla told us, Lucia experienced something of a spiritual crisis at that time. She suspected that she might never return to her beloved Fatima. She complained to Our Lady that she was no longer able to bear this sacrifice.
Fr. Dr. Czapla pointed out that Lucia “while going to those places connected with the apparitions, to the cemetery where her father was buried, she also came to Cova da Iria, where the apparitions took place. It was there, in this time of crisis that she was experiencing, that Mary came on 15 June 1921, put her hand on her shoulder and said: ‘I am coming for the seventh time. Follow the path the bishop shows you, for this is the will of God.’” At that moment, Lucia’s inner rebellion gave way to decision: the girl wanted to carry out God’s will to the fullest, as she had already agreed to do years before. And that is what she did.
Is the Message of Fatima still relevant? Fr. Dr. Krzysztof Czapla has no doubt that it is. “Fatima is a way of saving sinners from hell, from something that is man’s greatest tragedy. As long as there is even one sinner in the world, Fatima will remain relevant. We have a duty in the spirit of the love of neighbor to save him. Our Lady gives a concrete remedy: devotion to Her Immaculate Heart,” stressed the Director of the Fatima Secretariat. “Since there are sinners, we are not to condemn them but to save them,” added Fr. Dr. Czapla.
In this context, the devotion of the five first Saturdays of the month, which Mary asked to be practiced, is particularly important. Every believer is also invited to offer himself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (even by following the example of St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort) so that the work of saving sinners may bear much fruit. Moreover, in the Heart of Mary, one can find protection from the workings of evil, to which those who sacrifice themselves to save sinners are especially vulnerable. “My Immaculate Heart will never leave you; it will always be with you, it will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God,” said Fr. Dr. Czapla, recalling the words of Mary addressed to Lucia and noting that they are also addressed to each of us.
The Director of the Fatima Secretariat pointed out that Mary gives extraordinary promises for the fulfillment of her requests: consecration to her Heart, remuneration for the sins of the world. Then, there will be the conversion of Russia, a time of peace, and the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart. The fulfillment of Mary’s wishes will bring salvation not only to those who accomplish them but to the entire world as well.
The Sanctuary at Krzeptówki in Zakopane (southern Poland) is a votive offering of gratitude for the miracle which saved the life of the Holy Father John Paul II on 13 May 1981. It is also the seat of the Fatima Secretariat, which animates devotion to Fatima, coordinated the Great Fatima Novena, and now runs the One Intention Crusade (secretariatfatimski.pl).
Author: PolskiFR.fr
