'Our Lady of Fatima is guiding our family' - Focus on Fatima this Lenten season

'We must be sure we're trying to practice virtue in our hearts, too.'

Fatima authority Father Andrew Apostoli, of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, believes this Lenten season should be spent with an eye on Fatima.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Third Secret of Fatima includes an angel crying, "Penance, penance, penance."

Lent is, partially, a time of penance, so why not take time this year to consider her messages of penance and sacrifice?

When you normally might enjoy dessert after dinner, consider Fatima and her struggles as a mother. What must she have sacrificed for her son? What can we sacrifice for our own families?

Maria Thompson and her family told the NCR they have decided to follow the Holy Mother. She explained: "Our Lady of Fatima is guiding our family. For Lend, penance is something we definitely focus on. [Our Lady's July message] asks [us] to continue to make sacrifices for our sins and for sinners and pray the 'Sacrificial Prayer' often.

"Any child could learn it in a heartbeat. [Our Lady said] 'Make sacrifices for sinners, and say often, especially while making a sacrifice: 'O Jesus, this is for love of thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.'"

To help her children during Lent, she posts the Sacrificial Prayer around their home and encourages them to offer up smaller irritations, such as when they stub their toes or if they find themselves struggling to be kind.

Maria said the best part of the practice is, "by the end of Lent they will all know [the prayer] by heart."

Sister Lucia, one of the three children Our Lady appeared to in Fatima, once explained most people believe "the word 'penance' implies great austerities, and not feeling that they have the strength for great sacrifices, become discouraged and continue a life of lukewarmness and sin."

In one of many conversations with the Lord, Sister Lucia says he explained: "The sacrifice required of every person is the fulfillment of his duties in life and the observance of my law. This is the penance that I now seek and require."

In her book "Calls: From the Message of Fatima," Sister Lucia explained sacrifices of all shapes and sizes can be offered to God.

"The fact that they are small in themselves does not make them any less pleasing to God," she wrote, "and also very meritorious and advantageous to ourselves because, by means of them, we prove the delicacy of our fidelity and our love for God and for our neighbor."

She continued, saying we can bear the "little annoyances" without complaint and can encourage others to do the same.

"[L]et us repay them with a smile, a little kind deed done for them, a favor, forgiving and loving, with our eyes fixed on God," Sister Lucia wrote. "Make of everything you can a sacrifice - the Message tells us and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and in supplication for the conversion of sinners."

When Our Lady of Fatima appeared on July 13, she told the children: "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners; and say often when you make some sacrifice, 'My Jesus, it is for love of you, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.'"

Another way to keep Our Lady of Fatima in our hearts this Lenten season is a simple one: Pray the Rosary.

Capuchin Father Regis Scanlon, an author and spiritual director and chaplain for St. Teresa of Calcutta's Missionaries of Charity in the West, recommended daily Mass and Communion this Lenten season, daily hour of adoration and a daily Rosary.

He explained the Rosary will fulfill Mother Mary's urgent request during each of her Fatima appearances, adding: "You must recite the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war."

Maria agrees and explained: "Our Lady is also asking my children - and all of us - to do this."

So if you're struggling with what to focus on this Lenten season, choose Our Lady of Fatima. Pray the Rosary and offer your penance and sacrifices to the Lord.

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