By Ben Cal
The “Miracle of the Sun” that occurred during the 6th Apparition of Fatima on Oct. 13, 1917, and was witnessed by over 70,000 people in Portugal, was a manifestation of God’s almighty power and humility to save mankind from eternal damnation.
Filipino Catholics join fellow Catholics around the world to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the “Miracle of the Sun” that swirled and danced in a circle in broken clouds, as reported by a Lisbon newspaper in Portugal a day after the historic spectacle happened.
As its consequence, many believed God’s existence through the apparition of the Blessed Mother to the three shepherd children at Fatima.
Church records show that the apparition of the Blessed Mother before the three shepherds—Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco—on Oct. 13, 1917 was her sixth, fulfilling her promise earlier to show to the world that a miracle would happen so mankind would believe in God.
In the Philippines, the only Catholic country in Asia, there are many churches named after the Fatima.
It was during these apparitions that the Blessed Mother also called the world to repent for its sin and pray the Holy Rosary daily. So, on Oct. 13, 1917, or 101 years ago, the “Miracle of the Sun” occurred. The apparition at Fatima was also seen by people living in adjoining areas as far as 25 kilometers away.
“The sun painted the world in different colors, [as it] moved and danced in the sky,” a witness, Ti Marto, the father of Jacinta and Francisco, said.
“The miracle told the world of God’s huge humility. The strange nature of the Miracle of the Sun—a spectacular public miracle that was announced ahead of time—is hard to exaggerate,” said Tom Hoopes, a famous American writer.
“God almost never works that way. God is all-powerful, with all of reality in his grasp. He is the artist of every sunset, the inventor of every wonder of nature and the author of history. He doesn’t need to give a big display to prove himself: The cosmos is big enough, thank you. But sometimes he does anyway,” Hoopes pointed out, adding that “the miracle also makes clear that God is also the ‘hound of heaven,’ the humble God, who will stop at nothing to win our love,” Hoopes wrote.
During the Miracle of the Sun, people who witnessed the spectacle wept.
The spectacle also showed the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as pointed out in the Gospel, such as John, Chapter 2, when Mary asked Jesus to perform his first miracle, changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana.
In the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1, the start of God’s redemption of man hangs on a word from Mary. Also in Act, Chapter 1, Mary is there when the Church was formed, and in Revelation, Chapter 12, it tells about the Woman and the dragon, to name a few of these Bible verses.
God made it clear that we can trust Mary, Hoopes said.
Also during the apparition, the throng of people saw the Miracle of Sun, dancing, but the three children saw more, they saw St. Joseph in the sky holding the Child Jesus, with Christ blessing the whole world.
The Fatima apparitions continually remind mankind to pray, especially the Rosary and repent for the world to attain a genuine and lasting peace.
During the sixth apparition, the seers first saw a bright light, and then saw the Blessed Mother over the holm oak.
Then Mary told Lucia that she (Blessed Mother) wants a chapel to be built at Fatima and revealed that “I am the Lady of the Rosary” and urged mankind to pray it daily.
She also revealed that World War 1 was going to end soon, and it did, as the Blessed Mother said.
Lucia then asked the Blessed Virgin Mary to cure the sick, to which Mary replied: “Some yes, others no. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins.”
She also asked Lucia to tell the world for man to stop offending God.
“Then, opening her hands, Our Lady shone the light issuing from them onto the sun, and as she rose, her own radiance continued to be cast onto the sun,” Lucia said in her memoir.
The sun, though shining at its brightest, did not blind the people who saw it.
After the Miracle of the Sun, many unbelievers were converted to the Catholic faith.
