The Power of Three

Lucy, Francis and Jacinta – three children who saw a vision of Mary and were compelled to change the world. It is fitting in this month of our Blessed Mother that we remember and recall what brought us to the modern age of the rosary. Never before has something like this altered our perceptions and our belief in the very system of prayer we now hold so very dear.

Our total dedication to the consecration to Mary derives from this very rite. We need to be involved in our own journey towards a deeper prayer life. She is our intercessor through life and we send our needs through her to Christ. Innocence is the purity of both body and mind and what a fitting vessel to Mary then though he eyes of these children. Their opinions are not clouded by fear or jealousy or hatred or some adopted bigotry and their minds not molded by ignorance.

All a child knows is what their surroundings shape them to become. Parents the world over search for an answer of how to properly raise them. We need to remember to let life just happen and that tomorrow will take care of itself. There are no rule books on faith for true faith is a leap into that unknown.

God expects us to take that jump with Him. When I was little, I was not aware of the outside world and would often fashion games of what I perceived it to be like. I am sure that you too pretended to be someone or something you admired. We look to others for the things that ground us and bind us to one another.

Perhaps the rosary is just such a tool that can help our children develop discipline and care. Our Blessed Mother must have thought that this unity or spirit could bring about a profound way in which to change the minds and hearts of one another. When you look into the eyes of a little boy or girl, don’t you wish that you could keep them this way forever?

A simple way to do something is often the most profound and lovely. Do not complicate things with possessions and desires, rather, allow this simplicity to make you stronger and ready to take on life’s challenges. For those three children of that small village in Portugal, it was a beginning. For us who follow their dedication to prayer, it can be a way to reach our goal as well.

Saint John Paul II once said in his message on the 1996 World Day of Peace that, “Children share with their parents and brothers and sisters the experience of life and hope. They see how life's inevitable trials are met with humility and courage, and they grow up in an atmosphere of esteem for others and respect for opinions different from their own.

It is above all in the home that, before ever a word is spoken, children should experience God's love in the love which surrounds them. In the family they learn that God wants peace and mutual understanding among all human beings, who are called to be one great family”.

Let the rosary become a vessel that delivers us, that unites us, that allows us to become more compassionate toward one another.