By Laura Ieraci

FATIMA, Portugal — Moments of prayer, as well as times for faith-sharing and theological discussion, gave way to a greater sense, among 33 pilgrims on a Byzantine Catholic retreat in Fatima, of the message of the Mother of God for unity among her children.

Several pilgrims, including Kevin A. Miller of St. Athanasius Parish in Indianapolis, said they felt called to go on this trip.

Miller, 35, said the Oct. 26-Nov. 2 pilgrimage had “a profound impact” on him. Since entering the church in 2011, Miller developed a great devotion to the Mother of God, including an interest in Fatima.

“I have sought to adhere to Our Lady’s requests at Fatima,” including starting Rosary groups, following First Saturday devotion, he said.

“The most fascinating thing to me was learning about the deep history and connections Fatima has with Eastern Christianity,” he said. It “truly is about total unity of all the faithful, Eastern or Western, Catholic or otherwise,” he said.

Father Thomas J. Loya, who served as retreat master, concurred.

“What stood out most was the experience of unity in the church. In a culture with a profound and beautiful Latin-rite heritage, we prayed in the style of our Byzantine rite,” he said. “A most special moment came when our pilgrims prayed the Rosary in the Byzantine chapel, using both Eastern and Western forms of the Hail Mary.” 

The pastor of Annunciation Parish in Homer Glen, Illinois, served as the retreat master for 33 Byzantine and Roman Catholic pilgrims from across the country, who traveled to Fatima on the Horizons-sponsored pilgrimage.

After three days of taking in Portugal’s rich culture and history, they traveled to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima for a four-day retreat on the message that the Mother of God conveyed there to three shepherd children 100 years earlier. By way of his presentations and homilies, Father Loya helped pilgrims unpack this message from a Byzantine Catholic perspective.

During her apparitions, the Blessed Virgin Mary urged the children to pray for world peace, and to offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and for the reparation of her Immaculate Heart, so offended by the sins of mankind. She exhorted the children to pray the Rosary daily and to request that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart.

During the retreat, Father Loya explained the Immaculate Heart of Mary as the way by which Christians can “return to our authentic integrated humanness” and “come to the heart of God.”

“Jesus was always making things a matter of the heart in the Scriptures,” he said. “What is the heart, but the center of our being? It is not just the place of our emotions or feelings.”

For instance, in the beatitude, “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God,” Jesus combined “seeing and the heart,” he said.

Father Loya said God so loved what he created in his image and likeness that he would unfold his plan for salvation only through his creation. By the Incarnation, God would take on human flesh and a beating heart. The Virgin Mary, who bore God in the flesh, knew this was how God wanted to save mankind, Father Loya said.           

“So her heart, the human heart, which is the archetype, is how we draw near to God’s heart,” he said. “To go to the heart of Mary is to go to the heart of Christ. It is how he designed it to be.”

“It’s an incredible testimony to the love of God and the Incarnation,” he added.

Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, apostolic administrator of Parma, joined the retreat in Fatima.

“I am like one of you, on pilgrimage to see the Mother of God of Fatima,” he told the pilgrims. However, he did speak during one of the teaching sessions about his experience in Slovakia, where communism sought to end the Greek Catholic Church, by torturing its leaders and restricting all forms of religious practice.

While in Fatima, the pilgrims stayed at the Domus Pacis, where they prayed in the Byzantine Catholic chapel. They also prayed at the sites where the angel and the Mother of God appeared, visited the homes of the three children and attended the nighttime Rosary and Marian procession in the sanctuary square.

Prior to Fatima, the pilgrims visited Lisbon, including the Shrine of St. Anthony, the medieval town of Obidos, the traditional fishing village of Nazare, and the Monastery of St. Mary of Victory in Batalha. Each stop included an opportunity to pray in a Marian shrine.

A documentary on the pilgrimage and the Byzantine Catholic Chapel will be launched March 25.

Caption:  Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, apostolic administrator of the Eparchy of Parma (front row, center), poses for a group photo with most of the pilgrims on the Horizons-sponsored pilgrimage and retreat to Fatima, Portugal. The group stands in front of the icon screen of the Byzantine Catholic Chapel of the Dormition, located in the Domus Pacis in Fatima, where the retreat was held. (Photo: David Bratnick)

Compiled from articles published in the Nov. 12, 2017 and Dec. 3, 2017, issues of Horizons.