Fatima

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

And there she was, an almost- glowing white statue that shimmered at the foot of the San Sebastian Cathedral grand altar, almost like the 1917 apparition that she represented.

The pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fatima she is called, and she came to the province Sunday, in yet another visit that should provoke, and inspire a resurgence of the faith she had sparked almost a hundred years ago.

As the name implies, the pilgrim image travels across the world, to places warm and cold, literally and figuratively, to promote the values that the apparition had first tried to propagate: penance an prayers, faith and faithfulness.

The story happened in 1917, in Fatima, Portugal, when a Lady appeared to three children for six months straight, delivering the message on how important it was for the world to pray and do penance for its sins. It was the great headliner of its time: authorities tried to stop it . On the last apparition, in October, the Lady gave the world a physical sign so it will believe: thousands of ordinary folks saw the sun dance.

It was also here when Our Lady prophesied the rise and fall of Communist Russia and the outbreak of World War II.

 The Fatima story is one of, if not the most, famous miracles of the Catholic world, validated by the Vatican as “worthy of  belief” a little over a decade after it happened. It is also one of the most controversial, inspiring all sorts of legends, sometimes even causing division among the faithful.

Indeed, while the Fatima story has so inspired people to its message of penance and prayer, it has also spawned plenty of stories that border on the superstition,  provoking fear instead of faith.  This is especially so because it was in this apparition that Our Lady had shown three children a vision of hell, where sinners go. The vision was horrible, of souls in transparent human form burning like live coals and shooting and jumping from one corner to the next.

Here, the apparition that was going to be known as Our Lady of Fatima gave the prayer that is now part of the holy rosary: “Oh, My Jesus! Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in need of thy mercy.”

It was also in Fatima that Our Lady told the three seers three secrets, the third of which was bound too long  a lot of speculation were spun around it. To this day, a lot of movements and devotions have risen around the supposed apocalyptic themes of chastisement and judgment contained in this third secret.

A lot of newsprint has been used propagating these Fatima messages, in newspapers and books, over the years. Somebody once sent me six – yes, six! – thick volumes of books all related to Fatima, books full of speculation I wasn’t even able to get through half of the first one.

I don’t know, but I think the message of Fatima is powerful enough, profound enough and moving enough without it being used to strike fear in people’s hearts. I don’t think it is necessary as people at the Bacolod cathedral proved yesterday.

 As soon as one entered the cathedral’s main doors, the unmistakable scent of faith hit  the senses, the aroma of burning candles, the muted prayers as well as the hushed but decidedly excited going to and fro of the faithful. People prayed, individually and in groups, near the statue and from some distance. Many in fact, wrote down their prayers and pleas, the better to concretize their faith in  and love of the Lady represented by this pilgrim image that has come to visit.*

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