#AHaLoInEurope: Revisiting Fátima – A Spiritual & Photographic Journey

 

Traveling broadens your horizon. It enriches your mind and your spirit. But traveling uses up a lot of your time and treasure. It would be a waste if you missed something on your trip you should’ve seen or experienced. It happened to me several times and I regretted that so much. If you’re planning a trip, I’d like to help you avoid missing out. So, let my blog show you what to look out for. Prepare for your trip by traveling with me through this post. Or you might still be in the praying and dreaming stage. Manifesting your dream into reality starts here! 

A Happy Solo in Fátima, Portugal

 

Fátima. A place where the Queen of Heaven appeared to remind the world to pray to her Son, Our Lord, for peace and the salvation of souls. It was here where Our Lady’s apparitions and the Miracle of the Sun stirred people’s faith.

 

Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary

After Santarém, it was our next pilgrimage destination. I was blessed to have visited Fátima in 2019. I believe the memories of being at the site where Our Lady of the Rosary encouraged such devotion helped me during the pandemic. Our daily family rosary gave us hope and strength.

Cross in front of the Basilica da Santissima Trindade
(Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity)

Being in Fátima again was a present from God. I have already written about the places there that we visited in my previous blog “#SeekingMary: Finding the Lost in Portugal”. Just click the link to learn about the sights you should be on the lookout for. 

 

After you read that, allow me to take you back to Fátima on a photographic and a deeper spiritual journey. Being less of a tourist and more of a pilgrim this time gave my eyes a new perspective about sights I had already seen.

 

Home of Francisco and Jacinta

The Cross Within

Seeing the photo of the two children on a wall across their house brought home a realization.

View from the window of the House of Francisco & Jacinta

The burden of telling the world about Our Lady’s message rested on such small and fragile shoulders. These shepherd children were canonized not because they were visionaries but because they lived their young lives with extreme holiness.

St. Francisco and St. Jacinta

Together with Lucia, they offered sacrifices for the conversion of sinners like tying a rope directly around the skin of their waists which caused them great pain. They constantly prayed as Our Lady encouraged them to and interceded for the Pope and the many people who asked them to bring their petitions to Our Lady.  

Relief Art of the Shepherd Children on the wall beside Lucia's House

Home of Lucia

 

Having lived longer than her cousins and with more of her life and writings to be studied, Lucia’s sainthood is still undergoing the canonization process. However, she has been bestowed the title “Servant of God.” Her home, like the Martos’, is a place you shouldn’t miss when in Fátima.

 

While there, I was so fortunate to capture this precious image that is evocative of Our Lady’s message: pray, especially the rosary. The light from the window of the room where Lucia was born illumined the rosary on the bedpost and cast a perfect shadow of the crucifix.

 

This next photo is the from the group of statues representing the 2^nd Apparition of the Angel of Peace to the children. You can see it in Poço do Arneiro (Arneiro’s Well) behind Lucia’s house.

 

The Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary) at dusk

and at night was a sight to behold.

 

A new experience for me was the candlelight procession. The first time I was there, the weather did not permit this to be held. Witnessing tiny candle lights flickering out of the basilica till they transformed in front of me into priests, nuns and the faithful following the cross and Our Lady’s image is a memory I will forever treasure.

 

People come to Fátima from all over the world to pray for their intentions, many, I suppose, for their healing. This photo of the cross giving light to the couple with the wheelchair vividly captures these pilgrims’ faith.

Pilgrims' Faith

 

Fátima gifted me with beautiful images. One of them is of a tiny begonia growing by the wall of Francisco and Jacinta’s house.

 

I thought it represented the visionaries of Fátima so well. They were small yet brave in going against a bureaucratic “stone wall.” The children were steadfast despite threats by government officials to boil them in oil if they did not recant their testimony about the apparitions. As my tribute to the courage of the shepherd children, I painted Fatima’s Small Begonias – “Pequenas Begônias de Fátima.”

 

Our Lady of Fátima, pray for us.

St. Francisco and St. Jacinta, pray for us.