You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Hey there, sprouts. Today is Thursday, May 13th, 2021. Today is also the Feast of the Ascension,

although most places transfer this feast day to Sunday. Also, today is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima when we celebrate Mary appearing to three poor shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. Mary, of course, appeared to them on the 13th of

several months to follow, ending in October. She encouraged them to pray, to make sacrifices for the

conversion of sinners. She told them secrets. And in October, she allowed them to witness

many visions while people all around them saw a miracle in the sky when the sun spun around and appeared to be crashing to the earth.

Our lady of Fatima reminds us to pray the rosary, to pray the rosary to take that seriously.

And also, it's not just for adults to pray the rosary.

Remember, she was talking to three children who were young. Hasinta

was only seven when she saw Our Lady of Fatima, and she took on the job of praying and making

sacrifices even at that young age. So no matter how old you are, Our Lady of Fatima reminds you to pray, to make sacrifices for

the conversion of sinners. Now, as we continue to talk about the ascension, I want to talk about

one specific little, maybe it feels like a detail, but it's kind of a big deal. And that one little detail is the clouds. Okay, so I'm

going to read you one verse from the book of Acts. And this is the actual moment when Jesus ascends

back up into heaven. He's gathered his followers up on kind of the top of a mountain, giving them some

final instruction, telling them to await the Holy Spirit. And then it says, when he had said

this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. A cloud. Now maybe that's just, go on, they're up on a mountain,

and he's going in the sky, so that makes sense. Now, it does, but the thing is, is that a cloud

is a very common thing that we see associated with God a lot.

So if you remember in the Transfiguration,

Jesus is there shining white, he's talking to Elijah and Moses,

but then a cloud surrounds them.

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