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

Hey there, Sprouts. Today is Friday, August 24th, 2018. It is also the feast of one of the apostles, St. Bartholomo.

Today on the Catholic Sprouts podcast, we are wrapping up our week's look at Mary and the work that she has been doing from

heaven. So far this week, we've talked about why it is okay and even good to pray to Mary.

We talked about one of our most beautiful Catholic prayers, the rosary. Then we started talking about Marian apparitions, times when Mary

came to earth and appeared to the faithful. She appeared to Juan Diego in Mexico and earned the

title, Our Lady of Guadalupe. She appeared to St. Bernadette in Lords, and through her

instruction, a great spring of healing water has flowed forth in Lords and is still healing people

today. Today, we are going to be talking about another apparition of Mary. We are going to be talking about another apparition of Mary.

We are going to be talking about Fatima.

Just over 100 years ago, Mary appeared to three poor children in Fatima, Portugal.

The three children were Lucia, Jacinto, and Francesco.

They were, Francesco and Jacinto were a brother and sister and Lucia was their cousin.

Mary appeared to them in the middle of a pasture while they were tending their sheep.

She appeared to them several times over the course of months. People came and started to believe

that this apparition was really happening. But here is the important thing. Mary came to these three

children in Fatima with an important message. She showed them visions. She showed them visions of hell, of things that were going to

happen in the future. But through it all, she had a message for the children. She told them it was

important to pray the rosary and to suffer. To pray the rosary and to suffer.

Why is it important for us to suffer?

Because our suffering is valuable when we offer it to marry.

Even the children knew that.

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