The first prayer given by Our Lady, after the apparitions of the angel, refers once again to the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. In fact, the apparitions at Fatima start with the Trinity and end with the Trinity. Mary reveals to the little shepherds God's identity, one divine nature in three distinct persons. Unlike the two other prayers, this one is not taught directly by Our Lady but is inspired by the Holy Spirit and recited automatically by the children before her.
The second prayer is a sacrificial prayer, that is, a practical application of the second part of the message of Fatima about penance, and in the context of this message, it means the offering of ourselves for others, for the conversion of sinners.
The third prayer is the most universally known because it is recited by Catholics when they pray the Rosary as it is said after each mystery. It asks for the universal salvation, especially for those who are in most need of it.
1st Prayer: Communicated to the seers by an interior impulse
…Our Lady opened her hands for the first time, communicating to us a light so intense that, as it streamed from her hands, its rays penetrated our hearts and the innermost depths of our souls, making us see ourselves in God, who was that light, more clearly than we see ourselves in the best of mirrors. Then, moved by an interior impulse that was communicated to us, we fell on our knees, repeating in our hearts:
“O Most Holy Trinity, I adore You! My God, my God, I love You in the most Blessed Sacrament!”
And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ (Galatians 4:6) – The children saw themselves in God, and in Him they saw at the same time His identity as being One and Three and their own identity as little shepherds, God’s beloved children. Flooded by the light of God, they were guided and inspired by the Holy Spirit who, as Paul says to the Galatians, the hearts of the three children cried, “Abba, Father – O Most Holy Trinity…” And again like Apostle Paul says, “It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Romans 8:16)
At that moment, at the beginning of the first apparition, the little shepherds had a beatific vision of God as One and Three and they themselves were inside this light as adoptive children of God the Father. At the top of the mountain in the Serra de Aire, at that moment of transfiguration, we cannot forget that the three were mere children and that on analyzing the character and personality of each, we realize that they each belong to a different center; Lucia is cerebral, Jacinta is emotional and Francisco is visceral or instinctive. By this, we can deduce that in this encounter the human trinity encounters the Divine Trinity; that is, the human nature in the three basic personalities in which it exists connects with the One divine nature existing in the Three Persons.
This prayer is at the same time trinitarian and eucharistic, and it is as impressive as the beatific vision that the little shepherds felt immersed in the light that is God. It moves them immediately into adoration, to the love of the most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, that is, from the celestial revelation they arrive at the historic incarnation of God two thousand years ago in Jesus of Nazareth, and in his sacramental presence in the consecrated host in the here and now of our lives.
Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? (John 14:8-9)
This first prayer implies that in the adoration of the most Blessed Sacrament we also adore the most Holy Trinity. Whoever sees Jesus sees the Father, and whoever loves the Son loves the Father. The Christian prayer is therefore always a trinitarian prayer. The most Blessed Sacrament is not only the representation of the sacrifice of the Son, but also of the Father who sent the Son and offered him up, as is popularly depicted in the image of God the Father and the Holy Spirit represented by the dove, behind the cross on which Christ is crucified.
2nd Prayer: O Jesus, it is for love of You
--Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times to Jesus, especially whenever you make some sacrifice:
“O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” As she spoke these words, she opened her hands once more, as she had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire.
Penance and prayer are the summary of the Fatima message. We have already touched on the theme of prayer concentrated in the trinitarian and eucharistic prayer above, we now speak of penance, the second part of the Fatima message, which with prayer is mentioned in all the apparitions. Like Jesus gave his life for his friends, and like Jesus offered himself for the salvation of the world, Our Lady asks the little shepherds if they want to join themselves to the sacrifice of her Son, and make themselves in this year of 1917 echo the sacrifice that took place almost two thousand years ago. The children readily answer yes.
This second prayer is an unusual prayer because it is subtly insightful. It is not a contemplative prayer like the one we have already mentioned, but is a prayer that comes from practical application, it implies by way of practice a prayer to be recited exclusively after this praxis. In this sense, it is not a prayer prescribed for everyone and in every situation, but only for some and only after a concrete practice.
The Lady said that this prayer is to be recited before, during and after each sacrifice offered. This being so, the prayer is in itself a sort of magic wand that transforms an everyday misfortune of life into a sacrifice offered to God. This prayer gives an added value, an increased worth, a benefit in the vicissitudes of everyday life by giving them a meaning, a motivation. It transforms every single one of our sufferings into an act of embracing the cross of Christ for the good of humanity.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
For this reason, this prayer is not a worship or a liturgy; it is not to be recited in Church or in the context of an intimate union with the Lord. It is, however, a prayer recited during life and for life. It is an exhortation to embrace each setback in life, transforming it with and through this prayer into a “sacrifice pleasing to God”; it is also a practical application of the Scripture verse quoted above.
To suffer for a reason and a cause cost a lot less than to suffer for no purpose. Therefore by offering ourselves to God the sacrifices that life hands to us, we end up suffering less. We find comfort in the same sacrifice when we know that it will bring good to someone else.
After committing themselves to Mary, to offer themselves to God in bearing all the sufferings and misfortunes inherent in life, and especially those resulting from bearing witness to the echo of the Gospel at Fatima, the little shepherds lost no opportunity to sacrifice themselves for the conversion of sinners.
In fact, if one would forget to do so, the other would remember, as it happened in the prison of Ourém when soon after reciting the Rosary, Jacinta went over to the window, and started crying again.
“Jacinta,” I (Lucia) asked, “don’t you want to offer this sacrifice to Our Lord?”
“Yes, I do, but I keep thinking about my mother, and I can’t help crying.”
…We are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:16-17)
Like Saint Paul says, if we are sons then we are brothers of the Lord and co-heirs of the eternal inheritance. If we share in the glory of the Lord, we also must share the path that led Christ to his glory, the suffering. Like in all friendships, it is necessary to be there through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, in sadness and in joy. “He who obliges himself to love, obliges himself to suffer”, says the proverb.
3rd Prayer: O my Jesus, forgive us…
When we pray the Rosary, we say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy.
Lastly, the prayer that Virgin Mary told us to include after each mystery while praying the Rosary. This third prayer was preceded by the vision of hell that the little shepherds saw at the July 13th apparition which must remain in our consciousness as a possibility of condemnation.
… forgive us our sins – The Bible tells us that a just man sins seven times a day, which is another way of saying that no one is just before God. We are all sinners, and the one who claims to have no sin is a liar, as the good book says. So whenever we come before God without a sin that needs to be forgiven, it does not mean we have not sinned, it simply means that our moral consciousness is not doing its duty of accusing us and pinpointing our shortcomings.
… save us from the fires of hell – Only God has the power to save us from eternal damnation and He has done it freely through the death of His son. In the picture of hell as a sea of fire, the Blessed Virgin Mary considers the view and image the children have of it, following the Thomist principle: Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur - Whatever is received, is received according to the capacity of the receiver.
The way we understand hell, however, is not as an eternal torture like the sea of fire seems to suggest but as an eternal death and a return to nothingness for those whose lives amounted to nothing, and who believe that there is nothing after death.
… lead all souls to Heaven – As always in the message of Fatima, we cannot be concerned only with our own salvation, but also of others. The spirituality of Fatima is not about personal perfection but about caring for those who live a life that is wrong and is leading to nowhere. This being so, the spirituality of Fatima is a missionary spirituality and that's why we pray that all are saved.
The same Thomist principle also applies here as we believe in the resurrection of the body, not just of the soul. Despite the biblical anthropology not being dualistic, most, if not all, prayers of the Church’s liturgies portray human nature as body and soul thus following the Greek anthropology.
… especially those most in need of Thy mercy - especially those who are the furthest away from salvation; what has been always a major concern of Jesus, 'I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.' (Luke 5:32)
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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