On Saturday we participated in a local rosary rally, one of over 4,300 rallies of people gathering to pray the rosary in public, begging Our Lady's intercession for our country. I thought I'd share a few pictures as today is October 13, the anniversary of Our Lady's final apparition at Fatima, Portugal and the miracle of the sun witnessed by thousands of people in 1917.
We were honored to have Josiah serve as cross bearer for the procession.
However we couldn't find Jonathan during the rally, despite the fact that we all went together. We were slightly concerned, as we were in the city, and he just sort of disappeared. But he eventually turned up (way up).
He was asked at the last minute to play the organ for Benediction after the rosary. Just like something out of one of his bad schola dreams, he had to play in his socks, poor guy, and spent the rosary time scrambling to find all of the appropriate music and figure out the registrations of an organ he's only played on once. (He keeps his organ shoes and music in his car all the time, but that doesn't help when he goes someplace with us.) But he sounded just glorious on those great pipes as we processed into church singing Immaculate Mary. It was a splendid moment.
Even more amazing was when he started to play a postlude - I recognized it from his repertoire but I was rather incredulous as to how he was able to play the piece. He had 'just happened' to find the music for the Prelude from the Suite Medievale by Jean L'Anglaise lying out on the organ. :-)
America really does need the message of Fatima, as our country has strayed so very far from God and daily distances herself farther and farther from the Christian principles upon which she was founded. We need the intercession of an ever patient and merciful Mother to plead God's mercy upon us. You can read more about the apparitions and the message of Fatima given to the little shepherd children here.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
