As this Jubilee Year of Mercy comes to an end, the graces will continue to flow into the Archdiocese of Denver as another Jubilee Year opens at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Lakewood.
On Oct. 23, Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila celebrated a special Mass opening the Our Lady of Fatima pilgrimage year and designating the parish as a pilgrimage site until Oct. 24, 2017. The designation comes as one of several celebratory events the parish is hosting over the next year as part of the Fatima centennial celebration. Oct.13, 2017, will mark the 100th year since Our Lady appeared to the three young shepherds in Fatima, Portugal.
In being declared a pilgrimage site, a Holy Door was also opened at Our Lady of Fatima. The Holy Door will have a plenary indulgence attached to it for the faithful to receive upon the fulfillment of certain conditions.
“In the midst of this Jubilee Year of Mercy, it is a great joy to open another Jubilee Year for Our Lady of Fatima Parish and for the Archdiocese of Denver,” Archbishop Aquila told the congregation during his homily. “My dear sisters and brothers, you are entrusted with a great responsibility in this year of pilgrimage. The parish is to be one that invites people to prayer.”
Our Lady’s apparition to the three young shepherds at Fatima has become one of the Catholic Church’s most popular devotions. Archbishop Aquila explained that the message of Our Lady of Fatima had two parts.
“That two-fold message was first to honor her, to honor her Immaculate Heart, to honor her as the Mother of God,” he said. “And then secondly, to pray the rosary for the conversion of sinners.”
He emphasized Mary’s importance in the tradition of the Church, saying that “the reason we honor Mary is because the Father himself honors Mary. He has chosen her from all eternity to be the Mother of God. She is highly favored by God himself”
In addition to Fatima, Our Lady has appeared in several apparitions throughout history, including Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City and Our Lady of Lourdes in France. Archbishop Aquila pointed out that these apparitions are meant to point the faithful toward Jesus.
“Look at her motherly love in all of the apparitions. It is as if the Father is saying, ‘If my son is not enough to convince your heart, let the mother of my son convince your heart,’” Archbishop Aquila said. “Look at the constant gifts she has bestowed upon the world in her apparitions.”
As part of the Fatima Centennial celebration, Our Lady of Fatima hopes to facilitate 1,000,000 rosaries prayed by the close of the pilgrimage year Oct. 24. The parish has a counter on a website dedicated to the centennial celebration, fatimacentennial.com. As of this writing, the counter reads over 678,000 rosaries prayed.
Plenary indulgence
To receive the plenary indulgence, one must visit OurLady of Fatima Parish in the form of a pilgrimage, and engage in some pious practice in honor of Mary. One must end with praying the Our Father, the Creed, and an invocation to Our Lady of Fatima.
Those unable to visit the Parish may, in the presence of an image of Our Lady of Fatima, unite themselves spiritually to a Jubilee activity.
For both, the following conditions must be met:
- Go to confession
- Receive the Eucharist
- Pray for the intentions of the Holy Father
