Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/581284
National Catholic Forester 14 14 In spring in 1916 Lucia Dos Santos age 9, and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, ages 8 and 6, were in a meadow with their sheep. When it started raining they hid in a small cave. After the rain stopped, they stayed in the cave to eat their lunch, say the rosary and play a game of jacks. They had played for a short time when suddenly a strong wind blew that swayed the trees and a white light enveloped them. In the middle of that light appeared a cloud in the form of a young man who said to them: "Fear not! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me!" The angel knelt on the ground and bowed very low. The children imitated the angel and repeated his words three times: "My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I beg pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You." Then he rose and said: "Pray this way. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications." In summer, when Jacinta, Francesco and Lucia were playing near the well of Lucia's house, the angel came to them saying: "What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High." The children asked: "How must we sacrifice ourselves?" The angel said: "Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. By this you will bring peace to your country. I'm its Guardian Angel, the Angel of Portugal. Above all accept and bear with submission all the suffering the Lord will send you." Then in autumn, as the children started prayers, they saw the angel. He had in his hand a chalice over which hung a host, from which fell some drops of blood into the chalice. He knelt and repeated three times with the children: "Most Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirt – I adore thee profoundly. I offer thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles in the world, in reparation for all the outrages, sacrileges, and indifferences whereby He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners." Then he rose, took the host, and gave it to Lucia, while the contents of the chalice he gave to Jacinta and Francisco, and said: "Take the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ horribly outraged by thankless men. Repair their sins and console your God." Lucia Santos (age 10) and her two cousins Francisco (age 9) and Jacinta Marto (age 7) in Fatima, Portugal. They were the visionaries of the Virgin Mary's apparitions. The Day the Sun Danced