October 13: The Anniversary of the Fatima Miracle of the Sun, & A Message from Fr. Richard Kunst about Anniversaries

George Weigel, in Witness to Hope, sights Pope John Paul’s conviction that God’s action in history has sanctified time. For Christians, time is no mere chronology; time is the dramatic arena that God chose to enter for the salvation of the world. Anniversaries.. are occasions to bring the depth dimension of history to the surface of Christian consciousness. (Witness to Hope, p. 471)

Father Richard Kunst, Curator & Commentator

I’d like to express to you my conviction that the point of Papal Artifacts’ remembrance of so many dates and anniversaries on this site is for the same reason Pope John Paul II expresses above: these events concerning our pontiffs, saints & blesseds and notable individuals indicate God’s actions in history. Time is sanctified in often dramatic fashion in the events of their lives. And John Paul believed there are no mere coincidences; God is present in all of these circumstances. So we will continue to honor those events by bringing them to you on their anniversaries or as they are happening. —-Father Richard Kunst.

Seven Rosaries Gifted to Father Richard Kunst From Pope Saint John Paul II

7 Rosaries Gifted to Father Richard Kunst From Pope Saint John Paul II & One from Bp. Robert Brom

How the Miracle of the Sun Dazzled the Sceptics
by Donal Anthony Foley posted Thursday, 12 Oct 2017

An Excerpt from The Catholic Herald

A point worth focusing on is that many of the witnesses thought it was the end of the world, so terrifying was their experience. So we can also see the Miracle of the Sun as a foreshadowing of what will actually happen at the end of the world, and also as an indication that we are living in a time of crisis, of judgment, when we are called to stand up for the Church and for the truth.

Our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima have also been linked with the Book of Revelation by authorities such as Pope Paul VI and respected writers such as Fr Louis Kondor, the now deceased postulator for the Causes of the seers Jacinta and Francisco Marto.

Paul VI said that the Miracle of the Sun was “eschatological in the sense that it was like … an annunciation of a scene at the end of time for all humanity assembled together”. He also identified Our Lady with the “great sign” of Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation, in which “a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars”.

In short, Fatima, and the Miracle of the Sun in particular, are great “signs of the times” that have been given to the Church and the world by God through the Blessed Virgin. Within the Church, especially in this centenary year, we really ought to be taking both the great miracle and message of Fatima much more seriously.