Fatima Is a Taste of Heaven, by Patti Maguire Armstrong

Being in Fatima, Portugal, on May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, is a taste of heaven. Song and prayer fill the air as groups walk down the main street throughout the days and nights leading up to the feast day.

After my husband and I completed a whirlwind pilgrimage of spectacular churches and stories, we realized that nothing compares to Fatima. Those were places to see and learn; Fatima is a place to experience.

At the other Catholic sites, people from around the world — many not even Catholic or no longer practicing — come to view spectacular achievements of man glorifying God. Fatima is the glory of heaven — brought down by our Blessed Mother through three humble shepherd children tending sheep — that is felt even today. It is faith and the love of God and our Blessed Mother through people living the Fatima message, creating a peace and joy that is palpable among the estimated 200,000 here today — a small portion of the 4 million pilgrims who come every year. …