Sister Tina, who attended WYD together with the youth from Albania, tells us about their visit to Fatima.
Monday, August 7
“Last night we arrived in Fatima, which will be the last stop with the youth of our Archdiocese of Durres. It is a great gift: being able to conclude this pilgrimage at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima. Mary has accompanied us and carried us by the hand during these days and, as the Pope said, –She points us to Her Son Jesus-“.
Pope Francis himself had decided, before leaving for Portugal, to entrust the young participants of WYD 2023 to Mary.
The Vigil and Mass also took up the Marian theme. The Pope explained to the young people the significance of Mary’s gesture: in order to reach her cousin “She got up and went in haste” despite having just received the angel’s announcement. Our Lady, “instead of thinking of her, she thought of the other, of her cousin Elizabeth. The joy is missionary.” So, this is the invitation to be joyful pilgrims and missionaries.
Again, the pope, during the August 5 audience in Fatima, said, “There are many invocations addressed to Mary, but there is one invocation that we can also pronounce thinking about the Visitation: the Virgin who runs. Whenever there is a problem, whenever we invoke Her, She is not late. She comes. She hurries. Our Lady who runs, do you like that? Let’s all say it together. Our Lady is in a hurry. She is in a hurry because she is a mother -Apressada-“.
Fatima is reconfirmed, also thanks to WYD, as a place of search, especially for peace: “For this reason, during WYD I returned to Fatima, to the place of the apparition, and together with some sick young people I prayed, so that God would heal the world of the diseases of the soul.” The pope cited four: “pride, lies, enmity, violence”. Pope Francis, then, renewed the consecration of Europe and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
