"Fatima is not a destination. Fatima is a starting point"

"Fatima is not a destination. Fatima is a starting point"

On this May 13th, pilgrims were challenged to bring the experience and message of Fatima to the world.

Fatima was presented by the president of the International Anniversary Pilgrimage of May as a "starting point" to the nearly 180,000 pilgrims gathered in the Prayer Grounds, who were urged to be missionaries.

"It is not enough to admire Fatima. It is necessary to live Fatima. It is not enough to light a candle. It is necessary to become light. It is not enough to pass through this place. It is necessary to let this place pass through our lives. Fatima is not a destination. Fatima is a starting point," requested the Patriarch of Lisbon, Bishop Rui Valério, during his homily at the International Mass, as he called for concrete actions to embrace this requested mission.

"We set out to bring hope to the discouraged, we set out to bring reconciliation where there is division, we set out to bring peace where there is violence, we set out to bring light where there is darkness. Do not be afraid to be light. Do not be afraid to be saints. Do not be afraid to show the world the beauty of God," he specified.

The Patriarch of Lisbon envisioned world peace not merely as a political agreement, but as the result of a personal and inner transformation.

"A Christian does not just bring words to the world. They bring a light they have received. They bring a transformed heart. They bring a peace born of contemplation. Therefore, Fatima is not just a place of devotion. Fatima is a school of inner transformation. Here we learn that humanity only finds its way again when it looks up to God once more," said the president of the celebration, as he challenged the pilgrims to take the Fatima experience out into the world.

"Everything we experience here – prayer, silence, conversion, reconciliation, communion – cannot remain locked away in this Cova da Iria. It must pour over into life. It must enter our homes, our families, our cities and villages, our workplaces, our schools and universities, our relationships, and into the wounds and joys of daily life".

On the ninth anniversary of the canonization of the Little Shepherds, Bishop Rui Valério pointed to the example of Francisco and Jacinta Marto to remind everyone that "when God finds a willing heart, a small flame can light up the entire world".

Admiring the crowd of pilgrims that filled the Prayer Grounds, the Patriarch of Lisbon appealed to fraternity as the key to world peace.

"This is one of Fatima's greatest prophecies for our time: humanity will only find peace when it rediscovers that it is a family. Here, no one is a stranger. Here, no one is alone. Here, we are all children welcomed by the same Mother," he concluded.