Today is independence day for Israelis. For the Palestinians it is the nakba day, the day of the catastrophe. 71 years ago. A catastrophe that is not yet over. The war that began in 1948 between Israel and the Palestinians is not yet over. Still the same hostility. Despite that, hope remained through generations. Life will come again.
After 71 years it is time for the war to stop and for the hostility to end.
One spring day, while tending their sheep in a property that was known as the Chousa, Lucia and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco, had led their flock to the east side of rocky outcropping known as the Cabeço. Here is Sister Lucia’s account of the events that took place:
From that first apparition at Fatima, Francisco quickly began to give lessons and examples to everyone on how we’re to react to what Our Lady revealed and asked.
May 13 marks the 102nd anniversary of Fatima. While not the same date, this year also commemorates the 100th anniversary of the death of Fatima seer St. Francisco.
Let’s recall the major event of the apparition first. May 13 was the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament. Keep that in mind for when we get to Francisco.
The Story of Our Lady of Fatima
Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children–Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos–received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners, and for the conversion of Russia.
Interview with Vladimir Legoyda, the Head of the Russian church’s Synodal Department for Church, Society and Media Relations claims that the Moscow Patriarchate is not dominated by Putin and expresses gratitude for the discretion of the Pope and the Holy See in the face of recent intra-Orthodox controversies: “There was not a single comment from the Roman Catholic Church that would interfere or make the situation worse”.
Of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.”
–Hebrews 1:7
Not only does Jesus possess a superior name and is a superior object of worship to the angels, but He also rules over a superior kingdom. Look at Hebrews 1:7: “And of the angels He says, ‘Who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.’” In this verse, angels are likened unto wind and fire. What did the writer mean by that? He was saying that angels flit about from here and there to do the will of God.
Francis goes to the “catholic heart” of Bulgaria, a nation in which only one person in a hundred is Christian. He celebrates Mass in Rakovsky, in the church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and administer the sacrament of First Communion to all 245 children present. It is the first time for Bergoglio on an apostolic journey. To the children he says: God needs "The Lord needs you, because he wants to work the miracle of bringing his joy to many of your friends and family members". And "our family name is" Christian”.
A few years ago, a group of visiting US senators who were given a talk by a Jordanian Cabinet minister, were surprised to discover that he was Christian. After the official discussions were over, one of the visitors ventured to ask the minister: “Can you tell me when Christianity was introduced to Jordan and by whom?” He was astounded to hear his host answer: “To the best of my knowledge, it was introduced by Jesus Christ in person. This is where it all started.”
Pope Saint John XXIII lived in Bulgaria for nearly ten years, from 1925 until 1934, while serving as Apostolic Delegate. Locally, they still call him “the Bulgarian Saint”.
While he was in Sofia, he developed a special veneration for Our Lady of Nessebar, whose name means “Gate of Heaven”. He continued to venerate her until the day he died.
On Sunday, Pope Francis prayed the Regina Coeli before the icon of Our Lady of Nessebar, in Saint Aleksander Nevsky Square, and recalled his predecessor.
In both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, saints tend to play a major role in daily spiritual life, making it only fitting that when Pope Francis visits Bulgaria and Macedonia this weekend, shared devotion of several towering figures in Eastern Europe likely will emerge as a key theme.
In both nations, saints such as Cyril and Methodius, Mother Teresa and Pope John XXIII have long served as a point of unity for the small Catholic population and the vast Orthodox community.
