May 19

Day 6

Fatima/Tomar

I wake up in a fog at 6am.  Greg has already been up and brings me coffee. We had a loud group of boys that kept several awake last night by playing music and a guitar loudly. At one point I got up and asked them to please be quiet and they laughed at me.  Momma bear was livid at how disrespectful they were and reported them to the hostlier.  The entire group was asked to leave. Im so relieved because we’d planned to stay here one more night after going to Fatima today and if they were still here we would have moved. Hostels and Albergues  have rules and usually it’s lights out and total quiet by the latest 10pm. 

    Nicole is ready to drive us to Fatima at 8:30am. Michael, Mimi, Greg and I walk a short distance and load up into her little stick shift car she’s rented.  We arrive within 45 minutes and miraculously find a parking spot right by the Cathedral Sanctuary.  Even though I’ve seen photos of Fatima, I’m amazed at the size and newness of this whole complex. Fatima celebrated its 100 year anniversary in 2017 and has been visited by people from all over the world.  This little village in Portugal is now a busy town catering to all who visit. The history of The Fatima apparition is as follows:

      “The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, appeared 6 times to 3 sheperd children; Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta; between May 13 and October 13, 1917. She came to the little village of Fatima which had remained faithful to the Catholic Church during the recent persecutions by the government. Our Lady came with a message from God to every man, woman, and child of our century. Our Lady of Fatima promised that the whole world would be in peace, and that many souls would go to Heaven if Her requests were listened to and obeyed. She revealed 3 revelations to the children. 

    As a great sign of the whole message truly coming from God, a marvelous miracle was worked in the sky above Fatima before 70,000 witnesses on October 13, 1917 at the time, date and place that Lucy and the other two children had prophesised in the name of Our Lady of Fatima. The children were told by Our Lady that God would perform a miracle so that people would believe in the apparitions. The date the children was October 13, 1917, in Fatima. On that date, 70,000 people came to see the phenomenon. The miracle occured with the sun. All could stare perfectly at the sun without blinking, or even hurting heir eyes. While all were watching the sun, it rotated, got large and small, got close to the people, and got far away from them. The sun " danced ". Every single person who was there testified to seeing the sun dance, even non- believers who immediately dropped onto their knees and begged for forgiveness.

    Our Lady of Fatima continues to work miracles today through Fatima water which is sent from Fatima, Portugal around the world. This Fatima water sprang up in Fatima at the spot the Bishop told people to dig, very near where Our Lady appeared at the Cova de Iria (the Cove of Peace) in Fatima. The water is known to cure people with sicknesses and poor health. Still, other people are cured when they go on pilgrimage to Fatima, which is about 90 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal.”

    We see people crawling on their knees to the Cathedral, carrying candles large and small to light for someone in prayer, flowers being offered and laid down at various places.  We are all quiet as we each personally take all this in and imagine being in a place where miracles occurred. It’s almost overwhelming.  

      Mimi has decided to stay in Fatima tonight and walk from here so we all go have a farewell lunch together. Mimi gives me a bracelet made of colorful beads and a cross as a token of new found friendship. I had given her a colorful yarn ball to hang off her backpack. Simple little gifts just because. Lunch is beans and rice for me and soup for Greg. We aren’t walking the trail today so we eat a little lighter. Hugs to Mimi for good luck on her journey and hope that our paths will cross again. She’s on a 2 week Pilgrimage  and has a week to go so who knows. 

     We fill up Nicole’s car with gas and drive a scenic route back to a Tomar.  When we return Nicole heads off to the “Match Book” Museum (who knew?), Michael goes to find s place to fix his cell phone and Greg and I hike up to the castle. We couldn’t get in yesterday as it closed early.  We huff and puff our way up steep stairs and a rocky hill. 

       The castle is bigger up close than I imagined. It was built in several stages over centuries and houses an enormous convent that was used as Barracks by Napolean in 1810.   The painted tiles mixed with old world style is gorgeous and the inner church was styled after the Temple in Jerusalem. I could spend hours here and soak in all this history and beauty. As we walk this magnificent structure a chorus is singing opera in an outdoor corridor.  Magical. Simply Magical. 

     We attend church back in the village at St John the Baptist Cathedral. We had walked thru it yesterday but when we open the doors tonight it is packed and we hear a children’s choir singing. The Mass is obviously in Portuguese and we don’t understand a word but Greg pulls up today’s readings in his phone and we follow along. This must be the children’s Mass because the choir is all children and there are 16 children altar servers.... yes 16!!!!! Even with the language gap it is a beautiful service and I pray for all those prayers being sent to me.  What a privilege that is.  

    After a dinner of Spaghetti again at the same Italian restaurant (Greg loves spaghetti) we walk back to our hostel and run into the 3 Stoogies (Aussies) and the German couple who were with us the first night. They are sitting outside enjoying a beer and sharing stories. Greg joins them and I run up to my room to get everything ready for tomorrow, take care of my blister and take a hot shower before I retire for the evening. It was fun meeting Nicole and what a gift it was to spend some time with her. Turns out she’s older than 20’s and I’m shocked. She looks so young... lucky girl.  She’ll be heading to the Azores after this so we bid her farewell.