Here is Sister Lucy's own account of what her cousin confided to her:

       "I asked him one day:

       "Francisco, which do you like better: to console Our Lord, or to convert sinners, so that no more souls go to hell?"

       "I would rather console Our Lord. Didn't you notice how sad Our Lady was that last month, when She said that people must not offend Our Lord any more, for He is already much offended? I would like to console Our Lord, and after that, convert sinners, so that they won't offend Him any more."

       Already in 1916, at the Cabeço, the Angel had invited them to make reparation for the offenses against the Eucharistic Jesus and to console Him. Before giving them His broken Body, and His Blood poured out for us, he said: "Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God." As we will see, soon, at Pontevedra Our Lady will make the same request to Lucy, with insistence: "You, at least, try to console Me ..."

       But how can we fulfill this sublime office? By prayer and sacrifices. Francisco had understood this well.

       TO CONSOLE GOD BY PRAYER. Since he prayed above all to console his God, Francisco felt moved by grace to look for solitude. He loved to be alone with God, heart to Heart with Him.

       "He spoke little, (Lucy recalls) and whenever he prayed or offered sacrifices, he preferred to go apart and hide, even from Jacinta and myself. Quite often, we surprised him hidden behind a wall or a clump of blackberry bushes, whither he had ingeniously slipped away to kneel and pray, or, as he used to say, 'to think of Our Lord, who is so sad on account of so many sins.'

       "If I asked him: 'Francisco, why don't you ask me to pray with you, and Jacinta too?'

       "I prefer praying by myself," he answered, "so that I can think and console Our Lord, Who is so sad!"

       TO CONSOLE GOD BY SUFFERING. Prayer and sacrifice are the two great inseparable means — for the one cannot please God without the other — by which God wishes to be consoled for all the outrages He receives from sinners.

       To sacrifice ourselves means, before all else, to accept all the sufferings which God sends us:

       From time to time, Francisco used to say: "Our Lady told us that we would have much to suffer, but I don't mind. I'll suffer all that She wishes! What I want is to go to Heaven!"

       "One day, when I showed how unhappy I was over the persecution now beginning both in my family and outside, Francisco tried to encourage me with these words:

       "Never mind! Didn't Our Lady say that we would have much to suffer, to make reparation to Our Lord and to Her own Immaculate Heart for all the sins by which They are offended? They are so sad! If we can console Them with these sufferings, how happy shall we be!"

When prayers were requested of them, Francisco and Jacinta always kept their promise and prayed with all their heart, and always obtained the grace requested. Write us for Jacinta and Francisco's prayer cards.

       This same constant determination to console Our Lord and the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspired Francisco with the desire to make sacrifices. Here is a charming episode reported by Sister Lucy:

       "On our way to my home one day, we had to pass by my godmother's house. She had just been making a mead drink, and called us in to give us a glass. We went in, and Francisco was the first to whom she offered a glassful. He took it, and without drinking it, he passed it on to Jacinta, so that she and I could have a drink first. Meanwhile, he turned on his heel and disappeared."

       "Where is Francisco?" my godmother asked.

       "I don't know! He was here just now."

       "He did not return, so Jacinta and I thanked my godmother for the drink and went in search of Francisco. We knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would be sitting on the edge of a well which I have mentioned so often.

       "Francisco, you didn't drink your glass of mead! My godmother called you so many times, and you did not appear!"

       "When I took the glass, I suddenly remembered I could offer that sacrifice to console Our Lord, so while you two were taking a drink, I ran over here."

       Excerpts from The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume II soon available from The Fatima Crusader.

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