I Thought I Saw a Vision

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. In 2007 I went on a pilgrimage to the Marian Shrines in Europe and visited Fatima in Portugal. What surprised me the most, were the many pilgrims visiting the extremely large area where Our Lady of Fatima appeared to the three children. I have heard that the Shrine is one of the largest in the world.  Lucia Santos and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto saw the first apparition of Our Lady in 1917. I enjoyed seeing the house where they had lived as children.  Daily, many people visit the Shrine and today on Facebook there was a posting of the celebrations currently going on in Fatima and it mentioned that there were over 300,000 persons in attendance.

 The processions are beautiful, especially the night one with everyone carrying candles and reciting the rosary.






In the Chapel of the Apparitions, I was sitting toward the back during mass. The Chapel is all glass and through the glass I could see the tree  where Our Lady of Fatima appeared to the children. As I looked at the tree I saw the image of Our Lady in the branches. My heart stopped for a moment and my brain flashed the thought, was this a vision? In the same moment, I realized that it was only a reflection on the glass of the statue inside the chapel. My excitement lasted less than 1/2 a second!