Mary asked Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta, ‘Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you?’ Lucia responded, yes, that they were willing. ‘Then you are going to have much to suffer,’ Mary said.

“On July 13, 1917, Mary said, ‘Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice, ‘O Jesus, it is for love of you, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary’ . . .

“Our culture is ‘I’ centered. We strive to make ourselves as comfortable as possible and care for our own needs before anyone else’s. Suffering and self-sacrifice are ‘other’ centered. If we are thinking of other people and caring for their needs without any thought of our own, peace naturally results. No one would be worried about what they don’t have. Everyone would be concerned about ensuring the well-being of others. The world would be a giving, not a taking, one. It would be focused on loving and caring, first and foremost.”

Excerpt from Fatima at 100. Fatima Today

(October 13, 2017, is the 100th anniversary of Our Lady’s apparitions in Fatima, Portugal.)