The Gift of Our Lady of Fatima

GERMELINA LISING SALUMBIDES

As an adult, I hardly prayed the rosary. One of my Baptismal names is Fatima,  – which I had dropped altogether. Moreover,  I had an almost disbelieving attitude toward the apparition of Our Lady to the children in Fatima, Portugal.

Eleven years ago, I was facing my second bout of cancer. Coincidentally my surgery was scheduled for the 13th of May – the feast of the first apparition in Fatima. And as a prodigal daughter, I prayed to her… “Please be with me and let me rest peacefully in your embrace.” Today I am a stage 2 cancer survivor despite having refused chemotherapy treatments. More significantly, I established a new devotion to Our Lady.

Five years ago, I arrived at the Shrine in Fatima, Portugal, one early morning in March 2017 – the Centennial year Celebration. The overwhelming peace struck me.

It occurred to me that I always asked for supplications and intercessions in the many shrines I had visited. At Fatima, Our Lady asks for one thing: Peace. Pray for peace. It had a profound effect on my grateful heart and my prayer life.

Today – over  100  years since  1917 – this message still has the same urgency. The end of war, peace, and  the conversion of Russia ( whether a geopolitical place or a mindset of materialism)

My mind wanders when I say the rosary ( whether scriptural, meditative, or regular ). In an interview, Fr. James Martin, SJ, said that a fellow pilgrim told him he was saying the wrong words at the wrong time. The pilgrim reassured him it was ok because it was in the intent. The rhythm of the phrase calms and settles him into a prayerful state. In 1917,  when the world was at war and people were distraught with uncertainty and fear – the repetitive cadence in the recitations must have given the faithful a profound collective calmness as they recited the Hail Marys. What a gift it was to the world then as it is for us today.

Interestingly, it is this same disposition and state of calmness when I enter centering prayer. My breath falls into a rhythm. I rest in the intent that I want to visit with the Lord – but this time –  in the silence.

I have pursued to mimic the life of Our Lady: her disposition to the will of God at the moment of the Annunciation. I have a book of paintings with the different portrayals of Mary and her demeanor at the Annunciation. I often choose one of the paintings and use it to aid my meditations.

I always check my attitude and disposition – in my daily life. Father Menninger, one of the proponents of centering prayer, always reminds us, “ Examine your motive.”

Mary’s motive always centered on the Will of God – and she glorified it. “My soul glorifies the Lord,…Be it done unto me, according to Your Word. ….My Spirit rejoices, in God, my Saviour.”  My prayer and my intent: that my life glorifies the Lord in all ways.