Tuesday, October 2, 2012

The Catholic Defender: October 13

October 13, 1917 marks one of the most important events in human history. It was not the rise of a great power.

It was not the fall of a dynasty. On this day, the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, appeared to the Children of Fatima.

This event has become one of the great Marian sites as pilgrims from all over the world flock there each year by the millions.

This coming October 13, I will be joining a number of other great Catholic leaders for a Marian conference at Springfield Missouri. This is fast approaching and I look forward to the opportunity to serve Our Lord and honor His Mother. I remember another recent October 13, not too long ago!

It was 2009, I was stationed in Iraq, serving at Joint Security Station (JSS) War Eagle just outside Baghdad.

I had planned to show a video of Fatima for sometime, but I wanted to wait until October 13 in honor of the real event.

The only obstacle I had of making this happen turned out to be my 15 day leave. Getting back to Kuwait was not the problem, it could be possibly days before a person can leave Kuwait to get back to Irag.

Once in Irag, it could still take more days to find a helicopter flight to get you to your duty station.

I arrived at JSS War Eagle on the evening of October 12th, just in time to share the movie, "The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima".

I wanted to show the new movie, "The 13th Day", but I did not receive it in time. The Older movie was good, so we were able to show it.

The evening of October 13, 2009, for about 2 hours, I had the opportunity to show this movie outdoors on a large screen using a PA system.

In the crowd who watched the movie were Iraqi business men who held shops in the plaza, there were Ugandans, Filipinos, Egyptians, Indians (India), and Americans.

This picture shows a visiting Catholic Priest, his Chaplains Assistant, and a Soldier supporting the event. Father was a former Lutheran Pastor who converted to the Catholic Faith!

To have the chance to recreate the Fatima event in a land such as Irag, and to have the mix of people from all over the world was fantastic.

I couldn't help but think that Our Lady was pleased by the event, with the help of God making it possible for me to be back in time.

I hope that the upcoming event in Springfield Missouri will also please Our Lady, Notre Dame!

Home page DTB facebook Page You Tube Blog Talk Radio Show

No comments:

Post a Comment