Fatima: October 13, 1917 to October 13, 2025 108 Years

JMJ

The Messages of Fatima Are As Important Today As They Were 108 Years Ago

By Avelino de Almeia, journalist at the O Seculo dialy - Ilustração Portuguesa N.º 610, 29 October 1917, page 353, (online at hemerotecadigital.cm-lisboa.pt), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=971353

One hundred and eight years ago today, the Blessed Virgin Mary - Our Lady of the Rosary, performed a miracle to authenticate the apparitions.

Here's an account from Wikipedia:

Various claims have been made regarding the events that transpired. Many witnesses reported that after a period of rain, the dark clouds parted, revealing the Sun as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky. It was described as being significantly duller than usual, casting multicolored lights across the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds. The Sun was then reported to have careened towards the Earth before zig-zagging back to its normal position.^[15]^[16] Witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became "suddenly and completely dry, as well as the wet and muddy ground that had been previously soaked because of the rain that had been falling".^[17] Not all witnesses reported seeing the Sun "dance". Some people only saw the radiant colors. A number of people (thousands according to some sources^[8]) saw nothing.^[18]^[19]

Here's an account from someone not at the site:

I was only nine years old at this time, and I went to the local village school. At about midday we were surprised by the shouts and cries of some men and women who were passing in the street in front of the school. The teacher, a good, pious woman, though nervous and impressionable, was the first to run into the road, with the children after her.
Outside, the people were shouting and weeping and pointing to the sun, ignoring the agitated questions of the schoolmistress. It was the great Miracle, which one could see quite distinctly from the top of the hill where my village was situated---the Miracle of the sun, accompanied by all its extraordinary phenomena.
I feel incapable of describing what I saw and felt. I looked fixedly at the sun, which seemed pale and did not hurt the eyes. Looking like a ball of snow revolving on itself, it suddenly seemed to come down in a zigzag, menacing the earth. Terrified, I ran and hid myself among the people, who were weeping and expecting the end of the world at any moment.
Near us was an unbeliever who had spent the morning mocking at the simpletons who had gone off to Fátima just to see an ordinary girl. He now seemed to be paralyzed, his eyes fixed on the sun. Afterwards he trembled from head to foot and lifting up his arms fell on his knees in the mud, crying out to our Lady.
Meanwhile the people continued to cry out and to weep, asking God to pardon their sins. We all ran to the two chapels in the village, which were soon filled to overflowing. During those long moments of the solar prodigy, objects around us turned all the colors of the rainbow. We saw ourselves blue, yellow, red, etc. All these strange phenomena increased the fears of the people. After about ten minutes the sun, now dull and pallid, returned to its place. When the people realized that the danger was over, there was an explosion of joy, and everyone joined in thanksgiving and praise to our Lady.
Fr. Ignacio Lorenco (Alburitel, 11 miles away)

Source: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/sixth-apparition-of-our-lady-23368

Breaking it down:

It had been raining and both ground and garments were soaked.
Sun was seen as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky, casting multi-coloured lights across the landscape, people and surrounding clouds.
It careened towards the Earth before zig-zagging back to its normal position.
Clothes and ground were dry.
Not everyone saw the same thing.
People did not have to be at the same location to observe the event.

Skeptics will raise objections to practically each of these points to which I will provide my immediate counter points.

Skeptics: If it was a normal astronomical event, then it should be observable by all and there should be consistent reports from the witnesses.

First of all, inconsistency in eye-witness accounts does not indicate that nothing happened. People's memory of events are affected by a variety of factors. What is common is that something unusual occurred.
That we have a common experience (wet to dry transition) combined with people experiencing different things or none at all, and that people miles away witnessed the event demonstrates that something happened even though not all experienced it in the same manner.
This was not a 'normal' event, it was a miraculous event foretold by the children in advance. If it had been a normal event - everyone should have seen roughly the same thing.

Eyewitness Account - What They Saw VS What They Think They Saw

Skeptics discount the eyewitness accounts because they don't all agree. This is a bad way to undertake an investigation. As investigators know, even in natural events, accounts will differ and it is by taking the sum of events together that one can arrive at a truer account of what transpired. The investigation into the crash of TWA Flight 800 and the varying eye witness accounts was my first exposure to this knitting together what what eyewitnesses saw vs what they thought they saw.

Mass Hysteria: The people wanted to see something and thought they did when Lucia said, 'Look at the Sun'.

The attitudes of the people present at site and miles aware were different. There were skeptics and believers alike at the site as well as in the locations miles away.
That skeptics near and far witnessed the event discounts the assertion that it was just in their imagination.

The transition from soaked by rain to dry occurred in moments.

This is particularly important as the accounts are that it was muddy and although the rain had stopped the ground and people were soaked.
After the miracle, both ground and people were dry.

Why Is Fatima Still Important? The Messages!

On that day, Our Lady gave Heaven's stamp of approval on the messages:

That day, when Lucia asked what Our Lady requested, she first answered, I want a chapel built here in my honor. (Done)
Then Our Lady followed with her constant monthly instruction, I want you to continue saying the Rosary every day. (We need to heed this request!)
Next, she told the children, The war will end soon, and the soldiers will return to their homes (referring to World War I) (Done)
Then, she identified herself as she had promised. I am the Lady of the Rosary.
Lucia asked if Our Lady would grant the numerous petitions for her from the people. Our Lady answered, Some I shall grant, and others I must deny.
Then came more major guidance — People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend our Lord any more, for He is already too much offended!
Remember, in July Our Lady told the children if men do not refrain from offending God, there would be another and more terrible war (World War II).
As Our Lady left, she directed attention to the sun. Here we want to look first at what just a pinch of eyewitness descriptions. Then we’ll turn to other visions appearing that day to the children, and finally it’s imperative we listen to the urgent, vital message of Our Lady — things so obvious yet so easily ignored. (Source: National Catholic Register)

It is obvious that men (i.e. all of mankind) continue to offend God and, I believe, that if they do not a worse chastisement will (if not already) befall us.

I wonder if there is a dual purpose to the Miracle of the Sun. What it both a miracle but also a prophecy? A large asteroid plummeting to the Earth and setting all afire is not out of the realms of possibility. I remember my mother relating a story about the Great Flood and that God would keep His Promise (Genesis 9:11) and not chastise mankind with a flood of water, but that next time it would be with fire (2 Peter 3:6-7).

Here's the actual reference (link):