When you’re travelling you hope and pray everything goes well, in other words, exactly as you planned. But sometime life happens, things get out of control and you realize that you aren’t and can’t be in control. This experience can sometimes be a rude awakening. You can’t control the weather, we can’t change unexpected delays…when all this happens, all one can do is to accept it. That’s part of life. Eventually, one learns to accept things in life without any complaints. Problems help us to become more virtuous…patience being an important virtue.

During my journey here I thought of a story I heard some time ago.

Once upon a time there was a monk who had a problem with another monk from the monastery. One day he finally worked up the courage and asked to be transferred to a different monastery, convinced that all his problems would be gone. But after being transferred to a different monastery, he experienced exactly the same problem, same problems just a different person. He then asked to be sent far into the woods in order for him to lead a life in solitude. The abbot gave him the permission. The monk moved deep into the woods, and was very happy and immensely peaceful at first. One day a strong gush of wind knocked over his clay vessels and water pot, shattering them to pieces. He got very angry and yelled at the wind. It was then that he realized that his problems weren’t just the other people, he was part of the equation! He had refused to believe he could be the problem, or at least part of the problem.

We go through life not realizing that sometimes life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we say to ourselves that something or someone will be a problem, then it certainly will be that way. But if we say to ourselves that we can work out the problems that we will encounter in life, of course with the help of God’s grace, then we will!

In last Sunday’s gospel we heard Jesus promising to send us the Holy Spirit, our advocate. But the Holy Spirit isn’t our only heavenly advocate. Our Blessed Mother is too!
We are neither perfect, nor do we have to pretend to be. She is our Blessed Mother who loves us as her children. She has offered us and continues to offer us hope and guidance. Let us entrust ourselves and all our troubles to her.

A total of 50 pilgrims arrived in Fatima this morning feeling extremely tired and exhausted from a long flight and very little sleep, but we were all very happy and excited to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima for a private Mass and to join in the Rosary Procession with Candle light at night.

Hundreds of people from all around the globe gathering together tonight and praying the rosary together and carrying the statue of Our Lady of Fatima was truly a celebration of our faith, our Blessed Mother’s love for us and certainly a moving experience.

I’m very excited to be here, and will be sharing more photos and stories with you. Stay tuned!