RE News
Religious Life of St Joseph’s
Season of Easter and Feast of Our Lady of Fatima
This coming Sunday is the sixth Sunday of Easter. In the Gospel (John 14:15-21) Jesus starts by telling his disciples:
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Today is also the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima. You may think that the name Fatima might sound familiar as it is one of the names of our St Joseph’s Primary sports houses. Did you know that:
- Fatima is a town in Portugal.
- In 1916, a figure appeared to three children, Francisco (10), Jacinta (9) and Lucia (7) who were in a field looking after the family sheep.
- The figure said, “I am the Angel of Peace.” and appeared to the children two more times that year.
- On May 13, 1917 the children saw a woman all in white, more brilliant than the sun who said, “Please don’t be afraid of me, I’m not going to harm you.”
- The woman asked the children to pray and devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to “say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.”
- While many people believed the children had actually seen the Virgin Mary, many others didn’t and laughed at the children’s story.
- The Lady said she would visit the children for the last time on October 13, 1917, and promised a sign that would convince the world she had appeared and 70,000 people came to witness the vision.
- They saw the sun make three circles and move around the sky in an incredible zigzag movement.
- This miracle left no doubt in their minds about the truth of the visions and is known as the ‘Miracle of the Sun’.
- Today, millions of people visit Fatima.
- The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima is one of the largest Marian shrines in the world.
As a family we invite you to pray our Prayer to Our Lady of Fatima.
Melanie Stratford
Religious Education Coordinator