by Katie Patrick
Several years ago, during the summer of the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, I had the opportunity to visit the place where she appeared to the shepherd children, Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta.
My brother and I, along with a small group of friends, spent the better part of the month of June that year walking the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage across northern Spain that follows the footsteps of St. James who is credited with bringing Christianity to Spain. We started in southern France, crossed the Pyrenees into Spain and continued for about four weeks following what is called The French Way. Then, after reaching Compostela, we took the train to Portugal.
Walking the Camino de Santiago for one month set the stage for our time in Fatima. For nearly a month, we prayed the rosary and attended Mass daily. We grew in fellowship and community with one another. We encountered countless pilgrims along the way, exchanging stories of faith and family. Walking 12 to 15 miles a day prepared us physically and more importantly, the prayer and fellowship prepared us spiritually.
When we arrived in Fatima, we prayed alongside thousands of pilgrims for our own personal intentions and also for the intention that Our Lady asked of the three children. Our Blessed Mother gave a message to the three children asking them to pray for the conversion of Russia. She said, “I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart. If people attend to my requests, Russia will be converted and the world will have peace.”
As we are witnessing the unprovoked atrocities against sovereign Ukraine by Russian forces, I am reminded of this particular intention and implore us all to pray for the conversion of Russia and the Russian people. Here is a particular prayer that I found to Saint Thérèsa of the Child Jesus for the Conversion of Russia.
“O loving and compassionate Saint, deign to comfort our Russian brethren, the victims of a long a cruel persecution of the Christian name; obtain for them perseverance in the faith, progress in the love of God and of their neighbor, and in confidence toward the most holy Mother of God; prepare for them holy priests who shall make reparation for the blasphemies and sacrileges committed against the holy Eucharist; grant that angelic purity, especially in the young, and every Christian virtue may once more flourish amongst them, to the end that this noble people, being delivered from all slavery and returning freely to the one fold entrusted by the loving Heart of the Risen Christ to Saint Peter and his successors, may at length taste the joy of glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in the fellowship of the holy Catholic Church. Amen.”
