“Pray, pray a great deal and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.” – Our Lady of Fatima

by Tony C. Diaz | The Pacific Voice

Faithful at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Yigo honor the visiting International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima during its visit to Guam Nov. 18-Dec. 10, 2006. The statue will return to Guam Oct. 1-21. (File photo, Tony C. Diaz)

Like a mother extending loving arms to her children, Our Blessed Mother is always there to comfort us in good times and in bad.

During a time when conflict and hardships are everywhere on our island, she is with us still, calling us to pray fervently and faithfully follow the path of Our Lord.

In five days, a powerful symbol of Our Blessed Mother will arrive on island, bringing its urgent worldwide message of peace and repentance.

Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron and the Catholic Church on Guam will welcome the return of the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima to the island October 1-21 during its historic second visit to our shores.

Representing Mother Mary and her miraculous appearance to three peasant children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, this Pilgrim Virgin Statue of our beloved Mother Mary has traveled throughout the world since 1947 as part of a mission calling for the conversion of sinners and repentance of our sins.

The statue first came to Guam November 18 to December 10, 2006 and in that historic first visit thousands filled Guam’s churches and sites where the statue visited and stayed. In most instances, the statue stayed at the parish overnight.

The Archdiocese’s Division of Pastoral Ministries and the Newman Center Campus Ministry is coordinating this year’s return pilgrimage.

Palé Mike Crisostomo, Director of the Newman Center and Director of Youth Ministries, said the return of the Fatima Statue is an urgent reminder for all of us to return to Christ.

“The main thing that is being encouraged by the visit of Our Lady is that she brings a message of peace and that is the message of her son Jesus,” said Palé Mike.

“It is to Jesus through Mary that we try to impress on our people that Mary is not the center or even the attraction, it is Jesus himself,” said Palé Mike, pastor of Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart Church, Toto.

“And Mary’s message is pray to her son. Let me be the instrument or the vehicle to bring you to my son. So this message of peace, this message of Jesus is what she brings to our island; to remind us, to refocus all of us, in the message of Jesus, the person of Our Lord.”

The Fatima Statue will arrive on island 6 p.m. Friday, October 1. It will first visit Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Toto. The statue arrives in Toto at 6:45 p.m. at which time a Rosary will begin. Mass will begin at 7 p.m. followed by all-night vigil at the church named after the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

It is appropriate that the first stop is at the parish of the Immaculate Heart for one of the main elements of the Fatima mission is to call all people to consecrate themselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

During the Fatima statue’s first visit to the island in 2006, 40,000 brown Scapulars of Mount Carmel, which were a part of the pledge of conversion, were distributed to faithful throughout the parishes and sites that the statue visited. As well, 40,000 booklets describing Our Lady of Fatima’s mission of peace, prayer, penance and conversion saw their way into the hands of islanders, young and old. The familiar blue booklets contain the prayer of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and describe the inspiring story of Our Lady of Fatima. They also contain the requests that Our Mother makes to each and every one of us in her Peace Plan from Heaven.

“If what I tell you is done, many sinners will be converted and there will be peace,’ Our Lady said in one of her many messages to the world.

It is a message she charged little Jacinta, Lucia and Francisco to tell the world. It is a message Our Lady continues to call each of us to take to heart and act upon.

Just like her first visit in 2006, her custodian Carl Malburg will accompany the Fatima statue. He will be assisted by Patrick Sabat. As in 2006, at the different sites on Guam, Malburg will speak to the people about Our Lady of Fatima and her message of peace, prayers and repentance.

The Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima will leave Toto 12 noon Saturday, October 2 where it will visit the elderly and sick at St. Dominic’s Senior Care Center in Barrigada Heights 1 p.m. that day and the Skilled Nursing Unit at 3:30 p.m.

The next two parishes it will visit will be San Vicente/San Roke in Barrigada at 5:15 p.m. Saturday, October 2 and Umatac-San Dionisio 6 p.m. Sunday, October 3. Before that, it will visit the youth at the Department of Youth Affairs 1-3 p.m. October 3 and the inmates at the Department of Corrections 3:30-5 p.m. also October 3.

The Fatima Statue will visit virtually every Catholic Church on Guam during her three-week stay. One exception is that — because of its tiny size and the large numbers expected — Blessed Diego Luis De San Vitores Church in Tumon will combine its visitation and vigil with St. Anthony parish at St. Anthony Church in Tamuning Wednesday, October 6.

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Editor’s note – The Office of Youth, Young Adults, which includes the Newman Center Campus Ministry, is part of the Archdiocese of Agana’s Division of Pastoral Ministries. Our work and ministries receive valuable support and grant funding by the Catholic Church Extension Society.