On Saturday 13th the Church was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. Shalom Catholic mission in Portugal, Setubal, was there! Jackson and Ana Lucia missionaries of Shalom Community, told us how they lived this moment.
Shalom Life and Covenant Community members was in Fatima with people from Shalom Work for this great event in communion with the Church. People came from more than 60 countries to participate in this event, which was a real moment of unity.
Jackson said: “As a community member, this great moment of communion enforced my desire of unity, a moment in family with young people from all around the world. Praying, singing together and seeing, before us, a testimony of Holiness. Pope Francis’ words touched our hearts, in a filial love for Mary our mother. The story of the little shepherds of Fatima also remembered to me that God chooses the little ones. I have been really touched to see Pope Francis, in his great humility, always so close to the people. This human proximity took me to live in a strong prayer atmosphere, in a deep silence”, told Jackson.
Ana Lucia added:
“To see how Pope Francis was praying, took each person to a peculiar prayer in the loving arms of Mary. This moment at the feet of the Virgin Mary, at the feet of the Holy Father, renewed the desire of Unity, the desire to walk to Holiness, the desire of a missionary life. This motivates us to live, full of joy, the radicality of the Gospel, the radicality of love which made Saint Francis and Saint Jacinta Marto not to suffer the pressures of that time, which would have made denying what they have seen and heard. A hundred years after the apparitions, the Church can testify of what they have seen on this Land : the Church is alive, the Church is Happy and Full of Hope.