CMI to host parish-level Fatima centenary celebration

BUKIT PADANG – The Church of Mary Immaculate here will host the parish-level Fatima centenary celebration on 13 May 2017.

The Mass will be held in Mandarin at 6 pm preceded by a Marian procession around the church compound.

The event will be organised by a committee under Catherine Wan.

This year is the centenary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Cova da Iria. The Virgin Mary ‘visited’ Portugal, while Europe was prey to the massacre of World War I. The Portuguese Corps, 45,000 men strong, left Lisbon 103 days before the first apparition; they would be defeated in the bloody battle of Lys in the month of April 1918. The country itself was troubled by secularisation.

The Virgin Mary came to entrust her message to three little shepherds: Blessed Francisco and Jacinta, and Lucia, whose process of Beatification is underway in Rome.  Her message, which has not lost any of its timeliness, has now reached the world.

At the heart of the message, is the daily prayer of the rosary for peace. Why not daily Mass? The question was posed to Lucia. She stressed that not everyone can go to Mass every day, but everyone can carry the rosary with them.

Popes have made the pilgrimage to Fatima on May 13: Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1982, 1991 and 2000, and Benedict XVI in 2010. Pope Francis will go this coming May 12-13.  While there, Pope Francis will canonise the siblings Francisco and Jacinta Marto.