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10 OCTOBER 2023 | DENVER CATHOLIC Lucia described the vision: "After Our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus seemed to bless the world, for they traced the sign of the cross with their hands. When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our Lady; it seemed to me that it was Our Lady of Sorrows. Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as St. Joseph had done. This appa- rition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Carmel." Then came the miracle: the sun "danced" to eyewitnesses, who were 70,000 in attendance. "Opening her hands, she made them reflect on the sun, and as she ascended, the reflection of her own light continued to be projected onto the sun itself," Lucia wrote. "Here … is the reason why I cried out to the people to look at the sun … I was moved to do so under the guidance of an interior impulse." Fatima for today Even though the secrets of Fatima seem to refer to events of the past, her message is still relevant today. Many of the errors of communism are still alive and have found renewed force in our culture and other parts of the world. Christian persecution in the world is on the rise and many people are leaving the faith. The message of Our Lady of Fatima is filled with hope. As she warned of future wars, death and per- secution, she didn't request anything that surpassed our abilities. Instead, she reminded us that prayer, the offering of our sufferings and our own conversion were powerful means of transforming history. She reminded us that, as Christians, we can only bear fruit if we abide in Christ — sin, on the other hand, sterilizes our actions. She said that God wished to estab- lish in the world the devotion to her Immaculate Heart for the salvation of "poor souls." Devotion to the Immac- ulate Heart of Mary implies embrac- ing the same attitude of heart as Mary in her fiat — "your will be done" — and defining this attitude as the center of our whole life. Our Lady was asking us to imitate her, as St. Paul did in his letters (1 Cor 4:16). Let us then not forget her message in our time. We must look at history through the eyes of salvation history: God and the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph, but Christ calls us to collaborate in his plan of salvation in our daily lives. Christ calls us to become true disciples, following the example of Mary, his Mother.