By Monica Cobb-Adams
Special to the Herald
Only by the grace of God were my sister Debra Stephenson and I able to go on a pilgrimage in 2013 to Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. We visited many beautiful, holy places. One of the highlights was Fatima in Portugal, a place special to me because of my parents families’ Portuguese heritage. Our Lady of Fatima is very dear to us.
In Portugal, we stayed at a hotel within walking distance of the Fatima shrine. The day we arrived, we immediately went to see this holy and special place where our most beautiful Blessed Mother appeared to the three Portuguese children. On the way we passed stores selling religious objects, statues, holy water and many other things. I was excited to see all the beautiful statues of different sizes, some very large like those in church.
The entrance was very large. The old church stood to the far right and to the far left was a new church. Straight ahead, off a little distance, was the open chapel on the spot where Our Lady appeared to Lucia, Jacinta and Francesco. We went there first. I could feel the holiness of this place, a place about which I thought my whole life, “If only I could go there,” to where the Mother of God, the Beloved Spouse of the Holy Spirit, our dear Mother had truly appeared.
I kept looking at the beautiful statue of Our Lady in the actual spot where she appeared. I tried to visualize how it was in 1917 when she came numerous times. We stayed there praying and petitioning Our Lady with our own requests and those given to us by others. Mary delights in helping her children draw closer to her son Jesus. Waves of emotion came over me, feelings of gratitude to God for giving us a most loving and perfect mother.
The path from the new church past the open chapel to the old church was quite far. People young and old were on the path walking on their knees or crawling. I saw a pregnant woman on her knees. That evening we returned for Mass and the candlelight procession. The Holy Mass was very moving. People from all walks of life and nationalities were there to love and venerate Our Lady of Fatima. On both nights of the candlelight procession we attended, candles were distributed and one by one we lit each other’s candles.
As the crowd walked we sang “Immaculate Mary.” I felt the love of Jesus and Our Lady through all those gathered there. It was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life, one that I will always hold dear to my heart. Our Lady is Mother to us all, interceding on our behalf and ever so gently guiding humankind toward her most holy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Monica is a parishioner at St. Anthony Parish, Kailua, a Pauline Cooperator and a cousin of Father Gary Secor.
