The story of Our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima from May to October of 1917 are well known. She came to a world embroiled in the First World War and provided a message of hope to people who were suffering greatly. To those three little children, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, she offered the perfect remedy to the ills afflicting humanity. She presented her plea to pray the Rosary for peace, to make sacrifices for sinners, to establish devotion to her Immaculate Heart, and to make reparation to her Immaculate Heart on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months. It is a message that altered the history of the world throughout the twentieth century by the fall of communism in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Our Lady’s influence from Fatima continues to be felt today as, just on March 25th of this year, Pope Francis consecrated Russia, Ukraine and the whole world to her Immaculate Heart.
There is, however, another foundational part of the message of Fatima that happened in the spring, summer and fall of 1916. Three times that year an angel who identified himself as the Angel of Peace appeared to the three shepherd children with an important message and plea. The Angel came to prepare the children for the coming of Our Lady the next year.
In the first appearance of the Angel in the spring, he instructed the children to pray with him as he bowed down to the ground and they imitated him. He prayed the following prayer:
My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You. I beg pardon for those who do not believe, nor adore, nor hope, nor love You.
He repeated this prayer three times and then arose, saying, “Pray this way. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.”
In the summer of 1916, the Angel of Peace made his second appearance to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta. He exclaimed to them, “What are you doing? Pray, pray a great deal! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you! Offer unceasingly to the Most High prayers and sacrifices.”
When Lucia asked the Angel how they were supposed to sacrifice themselves, he replied, “Offer up everything within your power as a sacrifice to the Lord in an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners…”
Finally in the Fall, the Angel came back a third and final time to the children. He was holding a chalice in his hand. A Host was over it, from which fell some drops of Blood into the chalice. Leaving the chalice and Host suspended in mid-air, he prostrated himself on the ground, repeating this prayer three times,
“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly. I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended. And, through the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of sinners.”
The Angel then arose, and, holding the chalice and the Host again, he gave the Host to Lucia and the contents of the chalice to Jacinta and Francisco as he proclaimed, “Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God.” The Angel then prostrated himself and offered the same prayer again three times.
These encounters with the Angel of Peace tell us that the message of Our Lady at Fatima is based in the Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist and always point to Him as the One whom we love and adore and to whom we offer reparation. She, as the Mother of Jesus, always leads us, her children, to Him, especially to Him present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
It is for that reason that the prayers of the Angel of Peace have been adopted as the official prayers of the National Eucharistic Revival. They can be found on the USCCB’s Eucharistic Revival website, or on our diocesan Eucharistic Revival web page.
As we prepare to kick off our diocesan Eucharistic Revival on June 19, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, let us strive to pray these prayers daily, if possible, before Our Eucharistic Lord in our parish church, where He waits for us in the tabernacle or exposed on our altar.
Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh