May 13 2026 - Our Lady of Fatima (school mass) - Become like shepherd children

 

Today, May 13 is the anniversary of Mary, the Mother of Jesus appearing to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917.  Mary appeared six times to Lucia, age 9, and her cousins Francisco, age 8, and his sister Jacinta, age 6, between May 13, 1917 and October 13, 1917.

Why was it, that out of all the people in the world, Mary appeared to three young children the ages of many of you here? She didn’t appear to the Pope. She didn’t appear to a journalist or a historian who could write a thorough and detailed account of her visit. She didn’t appear to a news anchor who could interview her on live television. Why three young shepherd children?

Part of that answer is mysterious—God works in mysterious ways. God wanted Mary to appear to those three children in Portugal because that’s what God wanted, He has his reasons, and those reasons are not always immediately known to us—we’ll find out in heaven.

Likely though, Mary appearing to three, poor shepherd children has something to do with Jesus telling us that unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

This message was especially true in 1917. For in 1917, the world was on the verge of tremendous technological advancement: a lot of our own country still didn’t have electricity, but in just a few yers the world would change—automobiles, airplanes, nuclear power, soon computers, wireless communication, space rockets, internet, now artificial intelligence.

In 1917, the world would soon be getting more powerful and more complex, and Mary, appears from heaven to three simple, weak, poor children, and tells them to pray, to be dependent on God, and to not let material things become the center of your lives.

If Mary had appeared to adults, to their parents even, would they have believed her, that God wanted us to pray the rosary, to go to confession, to believe in Jesus. Many adults think of themselves as too sophisticated to pray the rosary, too proud to go to confession, too learned to believe in hell and the devil, too cultivated to practice fasting. This is why they are often so unhappy, because they have stopped believing in God in their deepest hearts. But, as we heard in the Gospel, "blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."

Dear ones, please head our Lady’s message. Don’t grow up to think that you don’t need God. Don’t grow up to think that the point of this life is just to become rich or that the right amount of material things will make you happy. Don’t grow up to think that it’s okay to sin. If you do, you’ve grown up wrong.

God gave Mary a special job to appear to these three young children, he trusted them with this simple yet profound message: that if we want to be happy in this life and be with God in eternity, we need to turn way from sin, practice prayer, believe in Jesus and his teachings, and do what we can to help others turn to God.

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Inspired by Mary’s call to prayer and to trust in God, we offer now our prayers of petition:

For the holy Church of God, that she may always heed Our Lady’s message of Fatima by proclaiming and living out the call to prayer, penance, and conversion with faith, hope, and love.

For peace in our world, that through the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, hatred may give way to reconciliation, violence to justice, and war to enduring peace,

For the conversion of sinners and the renewal of faith, especially in places darkened by unbelief and indifference to Christ.

That during this month of May, all people may turn their hearts to the Blessed Virgin Mary, seeking her aid and imploring her intercession with increased and fervent devotion, imitating her example of Faith, Hope, and Love..

For those who suffer, especially the poor, the persecuted, and the forgotten, that they may know the comfort of Mary’s immaculate heart and the strength of her Son’s redeeming love,

For the dead, that they may be received into the glory of heaven where Mary, reigns as Queen.

O God, who chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to bring your Son into the world, hear our prayers and strengthen us in faith, hope, and charity, that we may one day share in the triumph of her Immaculate Heart. Through Christ our Lord.