As a part of my new daily routine to obtain and sustain intentional hope in my life I have begun praying the Fatima prayers every morning. Here’s some background on the prayers:

World War I cost Europe the lives of many sons; over 37 million in fact. Portugal was in political chaos. Then after a revolution the monarchy was replaced with a republic under the influence of Freemasonry. Even though the new government was not sympathetic to people’s Faith, the Faith was the only reason for living for the majority of Portugal. In the small and dusty town of Fatima three children were committed to their Catholic faith with every part of their lives. Then in Spring of 1916 when the children were only age 6, 7 and 9 they claimed to encounter a heavenly messenger who taught them a prayer: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love you. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love you.”

Later that year the angel came again and taught them another prayer: “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. And by the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners.”

The next year they claimed to start seeing the Virgin Mary as well and that she started teaching them more prayers, such as the Eucharistic Prayer: “Most Holy Trinity, I adore you! My God, my God, I love you in the Most Blessed Sacrament.”, and the Decade Prayer: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen.” The Decade Prayer was later added to the official Rosary.

The two youngest children Francisco and Jacinta Marto died in the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1919 and 1920. The eldest, Lucia Santos claimed to have encountered the Virgin Mary again in 1931 during World War II and was taught the prayers: “By your pure and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, obtain the conversion of Russia, Spain, Portugal, Europe and the whole world!” and “Sweet Heart of Mary, be the salvation of Russia, Spain, Portugal, Europe and the whole world.” These children believed and convinced others to believe that praying these prayers would lead them to world peace.

Now, what really happened in Fatima, Portugal? We can use our modern enlightened intellect and scientifically explain the experiences away. We can even accuse the children of lying about it, or even the Church silencing the true accounts the children gave, and changing the story to one that makes the Catholic Church look more appealing (which has been a common accusation). Or we can even be typical quarrelsome Protestants and say it’s impossible because no one can encounter the Virgin Mary, because that’s a bunch of ‘Catholic hullabaloo’; or even worse, mark it up as an encounter with demons.

What really happened in the dusty roads of Fatima almost a century ago is not really important to me. In the middle of a terrible war where peace seemed to be nowhere in sight a group of children began praying and teaching others to prayer prayers of radical hope for global peace. And I think we can all use a little bit more hope for peace. For me, the only difference when praying these traditional prayers is that I either take the Virgin Mary out or I just replace her with Jesus. That may sound dangerously counterintuitive, since she had apparently asked the children to use her name in the prayers, but no matter what you believe I think we can agree that there’s nothing that Mary can do that Jesus can’t do. So the prayers still work.

Yesterday was the memorial of the terrorist attacks in New York City on September 11^th, 2001. For many people this event was a wake up call that there are people out there that don’t like us and believe that we are the villains. We have two choices when we realize this. We can become cynical, bitter and defensive or we can choose hope for peace. We can choose to slander other countries out of fear, or we can choose to pray that Jesus would be the salvation of the entire world, asking pardon for those that do not believe, adore, hope, and love Jesus, and praying that Jesus would lead all souls to Heaven. This changes us how we look at the world. It’s interesting that the children claimed that these prayers would lead us to global peace. Are they saying that if Jesus hears enough people praying these prayers enough times then he’ll comply and provide global peace? Or perhaps if we got more and more people praying these prayers their outlook of their enemies would change. These prayers melt away the division we put up between our friends and enemies. And I know things are chaotic in the world right now but we must be careful that despair does not divide us further and further. That’s what despair does. It gives us the opportunity to divide further or find a way to make peace; and more division will just make things worse. You may say we can’t do anything about it since we don’t have a hand in global affairs but you can change how you see your enemies by praying for them. Perhaps this hope for peace will spread. It starts with us.