FT Chapter 2 (Field of Prayer & Our Prayers)
When we talk about sports, knowing the name helps us to know where it is played. So if we talk about basketball, we know that it is played on a court with two baskets on either end. If we are talking about hockey, it is played in a rink with a hockey goal on either end. If we are talking about soccer, it is played on a field with a goal on either end. Baseball is played on a field and so forth. Knowing the name allows us to know about where it is played and how it is played.
Where:
We need to know our field of play, so that we understand what is going on. So where is Fatima? It is in Europe in the country of Portugal. Portugal is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by the country of Spain to the north and east. “Since [1646], the Mother of God has been proclaimed the Queen and Patroness of Portugal. For this reason, the Portuguese kings did not wear a crown, since it was reserved exclusively for the Immaculate Virgin” (Fatima for Today, 10). Now where is Fatima? Fatima is in about the middle of the country. “Fatima was a small village in 1917. One of the main buildings in the village was Saint Anthony’s Church” (Fatima for Today, 12). Fatima is the name of the prophet “Muhammad’s first and most beloved daughter” (Fatima for Today, 11). The region of Fatima as we read in the book is named after princess Fatima who was a Muslim but converted to Catholicism to marry a Christian Knight Don Goncalo (Fatima for Today, 10). She died about a year into the marriage so our knight became a religious and took her remains with him and buried them in the region which he named Fatima (Fatima for Today, 11).
What was happening:
In the 1800’s Portugal was under siege by Freemasonry. They sought to get rid of the Catholic Church. Laws were passed to help facilitate this. The leaders of the nation in the early 1900’s, who were Free Masons, thought that they would be able to rid the country of Catholicism. But World War 1 slowed down that hope and then Our Lady appeared on May 13, 1917 toward the end of the war (Fatima for Today 11-12).
From left to right, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta
Who:
In a sport we would have players to play; well we have our prayers to pray in this case. The visionaries of Fatima were three children not adults, and these were shepherd children, so they didn’t come from wealth and they didn’t have much of an education. (Actually Our Lady will tell Lucia in one of the visions that she will need to get an education to spread this message). These three simple children are who Our Lady appeared to. Our Three visionaries are: Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto. Each of visionaries had their part to play. Lucia would live 97 years (she was 10 when Our Lady appeared), her cousins would live only a few more years. Lucia got an education and she spread the message far and wide. Her cousin Francisco once said, “I loved seeing the Angel, but I loved still more seeing Our Lady. What I loved most of all was to see Our Lord in that light from Our Lady which penetrated our hearts. I love God so much. But he is very sad because of so many sins! We must never commit any sins again” (Fatima for Today 16-17). Two things about Jacinta stick out: “She loved to hear about the Passion of Jesus and meditate on it, which often moved her to tears” (Fatima for Today, 17) & “She did not want anyone ever to go to hell, but wanted everyone to go to heaven” (Fatima for Today, 18). All of our prayers (visionaries) grew more in love with God and did their part to spread the message of Our Lady.