In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit.
In the gospel today, Jesus laments the hardness of hearts of those who are in attendance and lamenting that they seek a sign, seek signs from Him in order to be converted, that He gives the example of Jonah preaching to the Ninevites, and they repented and converted at his preaching, and how there's something greater than Jonah here, who is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior, who has already worked such marvels and miracles, and yet people's hearts remain hardened.
So our Lord laments the hardness of heart and the lack of response to God's gifts in calling about their conversion and repentance, and so it's a reminder to us that by our faith we must always seek to be renewed in our faith in Christ, and that we want to live that faith by striving to be free from sin and to be detached from sin and to live the life of grace that God calls us to.
And it's interesting that it seems human nature doesn't change very much, because at Fatima 70,000 people were in attendance on October the 13th, 1917, to see a sign.
They were there to see a sign, to give proof to Our Lady's messages, and Our Lady had been appearing to the three children, and I was reading accounts of those who were in attendance there that they were actually also in attendance there that day, atheists, who were there just to mock the believers.
They were there to mock the believers, and witnesses saw these atheists going on their knees and reciting the act of contrition and the creed, and so the sign that Our Lady provided was of course the miracle of the sun, in which people saw various aspects of the sun spinning and turning colors, and that it seemed to be descending from its position.
But not only was the sun and the sun's rays turning colors, but witnesses said that everything on the ground was turning the same colors as the sun, so even the people's skins were being reflected by the color from the sun, and they saw the objects around them turning colors as well from the change of colors coming from the sun.
This miracle was given by Our Lady to give people the understanding of what she was saying was of a serious nature, and that was when this last apparition, Lucia asked Our Lady for to grant, if she would grant the favors of those who were there, the prayer intentions, Our Lady responded, some she would, some she would not, that they must first be converted and repent, confess their sins, and sin no more, because Our Lord is already much offended.
And this was one of the main messages throughout the apparitions of Fatima, that Our Lord was much offended by sin, and again people's hearts growing cold and indifferent to sin, and cold and indifferent to Christ's sacrifice in our redemption, in His suffering and death on the cross, and so Our Lord, Our Lady was lamenting people's, again, not needing to be converted, and to be turning away from sin, and to confess their sins, and seek repentance, and sin no more, that we must recognize Our Lady came to, again, show us that we're called to live that life of grace each day, and not allow ourselves to be in any way influenced by the world and its mentality, which glorifies sin, which has glorified sin, and which rejects Christ in His teachings, in His commandments, in His Church, that we must seek to console Jesus in this time, by our faithfulness and fidelity in living the life that God calls us to in following His Son, Jesus Christ.
Lucia also asked Our Lady at this apparition who she was, what her name was, and Our Lady responded, "I am Our Lady of the Rosary," and to encourage the people to pray the rosary every day, and that the war would soon end, and she had said previously that to tell the people to pray the rosary for the end of the war, because only she could bring it to an end, and it's just reminding us the power of the rosary, how important the rosary is in our daily spiritual life, and that the rosary can change world events, and can change the course of the world, meaning that, you know, through the rosary, we can obtain peace in the world, and bring about a new reign of peace in Christ Jesus our Lord, and so Our Lady was just encouraging us how important it is, the rosary, the rosary is to, to renew the society in the world in love and faith in her Son, Jesus Christ.
May we be renewed today in our love for our blessed mother, our tender mother who came to Fatima to bring us, once again, to bring us her motherly, her motherly admonitions and her motherly concerns that we live the life of grace in following her Son, Jesus Christ.
I had the privilege once to be in Fatima on October the 13th, and the mass was truly a marvel to be part of.
It was an outdoor mass with the bishops, and the Cardinal, I think, was there, and it was a, the square was filled for this mass on October the 13th, and they had the procession before and after mass with the statue of Our Lady.
It was such a beautiful thing to be part of, and it's just a reminder to us of the truth of our faith that we have a mother in heaven watching over us, who wants us to follow her Son that we may be with her and Him forever in our true home in heaven.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.