The precious children of Fatima, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, have captured our hearts, as the brave trio who fought against all odds to fulfill a promise to Our Lady. She asked them to come to her on the 13th of every month for six months, in the year 1917; and against all odds, they said Yes!
Our Lady gave them important messages during that time period, many of which they could not understand. Some of the profound things she told them were just for them; others were for the world. But the drama of the Miracle of the Sun on October 13, 1917, witnessed by more than 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria, and even in the mountains of the Azores, for a time overshadowed many of the messages that she gave to these little people.
Over the years, we have had the opportunity to go through all the events of that six-month period that would change the world forever. Everything was important to them, but some things burned an impression on their hearts and minds more than others. One of these events was a vision rather than a message from Our Lady.
We have to preface this with some things, the children shared with each other. Most of this came into the world, years later, from Lucia, when she, under the obedience of her bishop, wrote about those early years. Messages related to Hell played an important role in the Apparitions of Our Lady in 1917, as well as those of the Archangel Michael in 1916. Just think of some of the things that were said to the children. One of the most forceful references to Hell was when Our Lady told the children: “Many souls go to Hell because no one prays for them.”
This was the beginning of his plea for us to pray for the conversion of sinners. Much of the thrust of the Fatima message had to do with praying for sinners in an attempt to keep them from being plunged into the eternal flames of hell.
This accounts for the prayer that Mary made to the children and to us through them, which we say at the end of each decade of the Rosary,
“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 Your Mercy.”
After this, Maria opened her hands and pointed towards the earth. The bright light opened up the land, burrowing deep into the bowels of the Underworld. The children were given a vision of Hell. In Lucia’s third memoir, she describes it as follows:
“Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire that seemed to be under the earth. Immersed in this fire were the demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating in the conflagration, (fire , flare) already raised in the air by the flames that came from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, already falling everywhere like sparks in a great fire, without weight or balance, and between shrieks and moans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons were distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive resemblance to hideous and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted only an instant.” (“Fatima in Lucia’s own words”, Third memory, the vision of hell)
They spoke of a sea of fire, full of devils and souls of people, black or tan, burning fiercely, out of them came frightening cries of indescribable pain, being sucked into a river of fire, like molten lava, embers of burned skin that flew from their charred bodies. Demons could be distinguished from people in that they looked like ghoulish and misshapen animals. The grotesque sight would have raised the hairs on the nape of the strongest adults. These innocent little children were petrified. Maria spoke with Lucia.
“You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wants to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. If you do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war will end, but if men do not stop offending God, a worse one will begin.
“When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, (This prophecy of Our Lady was fulfilled on the nights of January 25 and 26, 1938, when a great light, which was attributed by science to an aurora borealis, was seen by the majority of the world.) know that it is the great sign that God has given you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes through war, famine and the persecutions of the Church and the Holy Father”.
This vision of Hell, and Our Lady’s words, had a devastating effect on the children, especially Jacinta, who was extremely sensitive and only seven years old. In reality, they were all little people, Lucía ten, Francisco eight and Jacinta seven years old. Jacinta was disturbed by the vision of Hell. Really, she was disturbed by the whole idea of Hell.
When the apparitions began, she was reflecting on Hell. She was happy that the Lady had told her that she would go to Heaven. However, she was worried about all those who would not go to Heaven, but to Hell. She stopped playing; she sat and prayed and meditated. This was before they had the vision of Hell. Lucia once asked her what was wrong with her.
“That Lady said that many souls go to Hell. What is Hell then?”
Lucia answered: “It’s like a big and deep pit of beasts, with a huge fire inside – that’s how my mother explained it to me – and people who commit sins go there and don’t confess them. There they stay and burn forever!” “And they never get out of there again?” “Nope!” “Not even after many, many years?” “No! Hell never ends!”
Copyright (c) 2011 Bob and Penny Lord Site