Our Lady of Fatima
In 2009 we had the incredible opportunity to host the traveling statue of Our Lady of Fatima in our home. It was a miracle and a grace! During its travels, nuns accompanied the statue. My friend was helping with the trip as the statue traveled from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to the Archdiocese of San Francisco. In this stretch, there happened to be a 5-day gap during which the statue needed a home. So, by the glory of God, we were invited to house the statue for this 5-day period.
Our Lady of Fatima arrived with incredible grace as the nuns walked her into our home, settled her in a place of honor, and began to share with us the opening prayer that opens your home to become a sacred dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. This moment concluded with my husband saying a prayer claiming our home for the Holy Spirit! It was incredibly powerful as my husband stood tall in the space of claiming our faith as a family unit—claiming our home for God!
I shared pictures and text messages as soon as she was completely set up. People began to flood our home with prayer, with community, and with constant adoration. Yes, it is just a statue, however, it is so much more than that. It was the statue handmade by Lúcia’s dad and has been surrounded by global prayers for nearly 100 years. Those prayers were infused into the fiber of the statue, and we could feel it in our home!
People would come and pray at 4 a.m., at all hours of the day, and for the entire five days. Randy, our dog at the time, lay under the table where the statue was, and that became his resting and every-moment space. He only got up to eat and go outside; besides that, he would be found resting under Our Lady of Fatima! Even my dog could feel the LOVE VIBE!
Countless miracles happened over those five days! At the time, our community was struck by a huge brush fire that overtook thousands of acres. By the grace of God, not one home burned down. People who lived near the fire came to our home in community prayer, and miraculously the fire line would stop at the backyards of the houses; still our community had to be shut down, and some parts were evacuated. My home remained untouched, and people continued to visit even though they could no longer drive up to the house— they created a walking pilgrimage and continued to flood in with prayer.
On the last day, we were instructed by the nuns to take all the paper prayer requests that were laid at the base of the statue and burn them in the center of a circle of prayer. So we formed a circle in my backyard. As we lit the prayer intentions, the smoke began to circle and reach out to each one of us as if acknowledging us individually. The smoke formed a column and went straight up to the sky, taking our prayer requests directly to heaven. It was incredible.
One of my favorite saints, St. Padre Pio, also had a very close relationship with Our Lady of Fatima.
Padre Pio daily expressed his special devotion to Our Lady of Fatima as he knelt and prayed at Her shrine within the monastery, before a large picture surrounded by burning candles. Indeed, he credited the Virgin of Fatima with saving his life.
In 1959, the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima visited Italy. At the same time Padre Pio became very ill and was diagnosed with a fatal, cancerous tumor. On August 6, the statue of Our Lady arrived in San Giovanni Rotondo. Rising from his sick bed, Padre Pio prayed before the statue and kissed Her feet. As the statue left by helicopter, he said: “O Mother of mine, when you came to Italy, you found me with this sickness. You came to visit me here in San Giovanni and found me still suffering from it. Now you are leaving and I am not delivered from my illness!”
As Padre Pio spoke this prayer, a miracle occurred. High above the monastery, the helicopter with Our Lady’s statue suddenly circled the building three times. The pilot would later say that he could not explain why. At the same time, Padre Pio felt a shudder immediately run through him. His body was penetrated by a flow of light and he felt the tumor burst. He cried out, “I am healed! Our Lady has healed me!”
“Thank the Virgin of Fatima for me,” he subsequently wrote. “On the very day She left here, I felt well again. I have been back to celebrate Mass since three days ago.”
Devotion to St. Padre Pio. The Fatima Center. https://fatima.org/devotion-to-st-padre-pio/
Miracles come in all forms and at all times. Who knew that saying YES to the invitation would allow me to receive so much love for our family and our community?
Takeaway:
- Set up a sacred place in your home to pray. Invoke the Holy Spirit, claim your home for God, and ask the head of your household to say the prayer. Open your space for the Holy Spirit.
- Say Yes to invitations to pray together as a community.
- Invite your friends to pray with you — write your prayer intentions down and put the paper under your favorite symbol of FAITH.
- Place prayer intentions in a special place within your sacred home space.
- Pray for lost souls.
- Pray with our pets.
- Pray for miracles and be open to receive.
- BELIEVE
- Pray for PEACE for the WHOLE WORLD.
—Amy D'Ambra/MSMH Founder and Co-Owner
