Friday the 13th, Our Lady of Fatima, and a prayer for peace

Not Our Lady of Fatima, but 
a lovely image of Mary to go
with the Pauline prayer!

Today is the 106^th anniversary of last apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. As in 1917, the world is at war, even if we don’t call it “the war to end all wars” (at least not yet). At Fatima, Mary told everyone the path to peace: repentance from sin, whatever form it takes in our life. In 1917, she warned that a failure to repent would pave the way for “a new and more terrible war.” (History tells us how her plea was answered.) 

 

The anniversary also suggests that we turn to Mary in this time of “darkness, error and confusion.” This the following, rather ample prayer to Mary, which appeared in the very first edition of the Pauline Family prayerbook in 1920, fits the bill. I strongly suggest that on this Friday, which is a universal day of penance anyway, our prayer for peace be accompanied by an extra attention to whatever it is that we may have to “offer up” for our poor, sick world. I know that the Lord has sent me a number of embarrassingly small things that I can consecrate for this intention!

You can download a pdf (printable) version of the prayer at this link: https://indd.adobe.com/view/5eaa3321-5ff1-4654-adcd-a08f2961ed9c