Today, May 13th, 2017, is the 100th anniversary of the Fatima apparitions, when Mary appeared to three Portuguese children: Lúcia, Francisco, and Jacinta. She told them that she came from heaven and that they too would enter heaven, but first they must suffer and pray many Rosaries in reparation for the sins of the world. During the 120 years from 1830 to 1950, the Church’s teaching on the Virgin Mary developed as more visions were received. In 1840, the devotion to the Immaculate Conception was approved after the 1830 Marian apparition to St. Catherine Labouré. In that vision, Mary appeared with her arms spread out while standing on the world and stepping on a snake. She instructed St. Catherine Labouré to distribute a Miraculous Medal with this image on the front and on the back to have the image of the letter M surmounted by a cross and flanked by the dual hearts of Jesus and Mary surrounded by twelve stars. Historically, the Church has suffered many conflicts and crises which would be solved by the communal praying of the Rosary. The Dominicans wear the Rosary on a belt like a sword to remind themselves of its power as a spiritual weapon. The Rosary was a powerful weapon to spread the Kingdom of God in John Bosco’s time, and it still is today.
Spiritual Talk – 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima
