The Unknown God Made Known: Mary’s Guiding Light

Voice over by Angeline Chue Chue

Acts 17:15.22–18:1, Psalm: 148, Jn 16:12-15

Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima

My dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

On this Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima, the Church remembers a Mother who came from heaven to a humble Portuguese village, asking for prayer, penance, and consecration. Her message echoes the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel: “When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all truth.” Mary, the first and perfect disciple, is the one who leads us to the Spirit, who leads us to the Son, who leads us to the Father. She is the star of the new evangelization.

In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul stands before the Areopagus in Athens, the intellectual heart of the ancient world. He sees an altar inscribed, “To an Unknown God.” The Athenians were deeply religious, but their worship was incomplete. They did not know the One who made heaven and earth. Paul seizes the opportunity: “What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.” He speaks of the God who does not dwell in shrines made by human hands, who gives life and breath to all, who is not far from any of us. And he proclaims the resurrection of Jesus. Some mock; others say, “We will hear you again.” But a few believe, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris.

Paul’s message is that the Unknown God has made Himself known in Jesus Christ. The Athenians had an altar to an unknown god; we have a Mother who has seen the face of God and points us to her Son.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus promises the Spirit of truth. “He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” The Spirit does not speak on His own; He receives from the Son and gives to us. The Spirit’s work is to lead us into all truth—not new truth, but the deepening of the truth that is Christ. And who better to lead us into that truth than Mary? She pondered the mysteries of her Son’s life in her heart. She stood at the foot of the Cross, receiving the Spirit’s fire. She was present in the upper room at Pentecost, praying with the apostles.

Our Lady of Fatima came at a time of great darkness—war, persecution, the spread of atheism. She revealed her Immaculate Heart, asking for prayer and sacrifice for sinners. She showed the children a vision of hell and called them to pray the Rosary daily. She promised that her Immaculate Heart would triumph. Her message is not a new revelation; it is the Spirit leading us deeper into the Gospel: repent, pray, offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners.

Pope Saint John Paul II, who attributed his survival after the assassination attempt to Our Lady of Fatima, said, “The message of Fatima is a call to conversion and penance, a call to prayer, a call to the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” Pope Francis, who consecrated the world to her Immaculate Heart in 2013, reminds us that “Mary is the Mother who never abandons her children.”

This Easter season, let us turn to Our Lady of Fatima. Let us ask her to lead us into the truth of her Son. Let us pray the Rosary, offer small sacrifices, and trust in the triumph of her Immaculate Heart. For the God who was unknown to the Athenians has made Himself known to us through Jesus, and Mary is the star that guides us to Him. Amen.

May God bless you all!