In the year 1917 our Lady appeared before three shepherd children, they were Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta Marto and her brother Francisco.
The children were very shocked and a little scared when they heard a clap of thunder and saw an Angel appear to them. The three children fell to the ground in adoration, the Angel told them that the Blessed Virgin Mary would visit them soon and they must be good!
The Blessed Virgin Mary did appear to the three children and gave them three important messages, but the most important message that our Lady gave to the children was to love God, to be good and to offer penance for the souls of great sinners.
The Blessed Mother told the children that if people did not live good lives this would make God angry and the way to soften God's anger was to do acts of penance for the sins of the world.
Even though our Lady appeared many years ago, the message is still very important and even now we can all do what our Lady asked the three children.
To offer penance to God makes Him very happy, we can offer up little sacrifices by denying ourselves what we love best. For an example one night a week you may wish to not have dessert and offer this as penance to God, who loves all of His children.
Offering up little sacrifices or penances also helps us to become holy and this makes God very happy with us. It is also a good thing to pray for souls and for peace to come to the world.
The real message of Fatima is to love God and to be obedient to His Commandments as you go to Mass each week to worship God with your heart and mind.
Just like us, God also longs to be loved by you, we can show Him our love by praying to Him and telling God how much we love Him. This makes God very happy.
Copyright © 2006 Steve Smith. All Rights Reserved.
