CHAPTER TWO
THREE LITTLE SHEPHERDS MEET AN ANGEL
"Why are you walking among your sheep instead of beside them as we do, Jacinta?" Lucia asked one morning as she and her cousins were leading their flocks up the Cabeco mountain, which was the grazing spot they had chosen for that day.
Momentarily interrupting the little song she had been crooning to the woolly lamb in her arms, her little cousin importantly announced:
"I want to do as our Lord did.
On my holy card at home it shows Him amid many sheep, holding one of them in His Arms."
And on she strutted, her dignity unimpaired by an occasional stumble over a sheep's thick flank.
Biting her lip to hide a smile, Lucia called out to her other cousin:
"Hey Francesco! How about playing us a song on your flute?"
Always goodnatured, Francesco climbed on to a rock, raised the flute he always carried with him and accompanied the girls as they skipped and sang:
"I love God in His heaven; I also love the earth,
I love the field that's full of flowers and the sheep of the Sierra,
I am a poor small shepherdess, I always pray to Mary.
Like my lambs I've learnt to skip
I'm the joy of the earth,
I'm the lily of the valley."
Jacinta gently put down the lamb she had been holding.
"Shift up Francesco," she called up, "I'm coming! Yoohoo."
and her sturdy little legs nimbly climbed up the rock as her brother amiably made way for her.
"YOOHOO!" Nature echoed.
Jacinta laughed delightedly.
Cupping her mouth she called out:
"Hail Mary,"
"HAIL MARY"
"Full of grace"
"FULL OF GRACE"
"The Lord is with THee"
"THE LORD IS WITH THEE"
"Blessed art Thou among women"
"BLESSED ART THOU AMONG WOMEN"
"And blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus."
All nature hushed as the echo rang:
"AND BLESSED IS THE FRUIT OF THY WOMB, JESUS."
"AND BLESSED IS THE FRUIT OF THY WOMB, JESUS."
"Holy Mary, Mother of God"
"HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF GOD"
Jacinta's voice now took on a beseeching quality:
"Pray for us sinners now"
"PRAY FOR US SINNERS NOW"
"And at the hour of our death"
"AND AT THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH."
Jacinta stood up, opened wide her arms and yelled:
"Amen . . . Amen . . . Amen!"
A warble of Amens echoed from all around as the three friends and their flocks continued their ascent up the mountain, pointing our their own houses and other familiar spots to one another.
Suddenly a few raindrops splashed down and Lucia immediately took charge:
"Hurry, you two. Round up the sheep and come after me. With luck we might find a cave to hide in until after the bad weather has passed. Quickly now!"
Swiftly the children and their sheep climbed a little further up the mountain.
Then Lucia spotted the entrance to a cave.
"Here, quick!" she called, pointing.
Having run back to ensure that none of the sheep would miss the cave, she rapidly shooed them in.
Only then did she join her cousins who had started unpacking their little food baskets.
Feeling famished, Lucia gratefully followed their example, and soon the friends were contentedly munching their bread, cheese and olives.
After they had completed their meal, the children took their rosaries from their pockets, kissed the crucifixes and made their sign of the cross.
When they had first gone out together, their mother had made them promise to say their daily rosary together after their meals.
This had proved a somewhat time-consuming task until the day Jacinta had come up with a solution which her two elders considered quite brilliant.
Today too, true to tradition, the children let the beads slip through their fingers as they said:
"Hail Mary," without adding the remainder of the prayer.
At the end of each decade they very slowly said:
"Our Father."
In this way they finished their rosary in two shakes of a lamb's tail and replete, their consciences at rest, the children looked out from the entrance to their cave.
It had stopped raining and the sun had come out, but the children were growing fond of their shelter.
"Let's stay here for a while and play marbles," Francesco suggested.
"Good idea," the little girls agreed.
Five minutes later the three children were deeply absorbed in their game.
It was Lucia's turn to cast her marble when she was disturbed by the sound of a breeze so heavy that it shook the trees.
Looking out to see what had caused the change in the weather, the children beheld a light, whiter than snow, slowly travelling towards them over the tops of the olive trees.
As the light came closer, they saw that it was formed in the shape of a boy, about fourteen years old.
Scarcely daring to breathe, Lucia and her cousins stood rooted to the spot, but they were soon put at ease, for, speaking softly, the boy said:
"Don't be afraid. I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me."
He knelt down, brought his head down to the gound and said:
"My God, I believe in Thee, adore Thee, hope in Thee and love Thee.
I ask Thee pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee."
Their hearts pounding turbulently, the children knelt down in the same position and repeated his words.
When the Angel of Peace had said the prayer three times, he stood up and regarded the children.
Then he said: "This is the way you should pray. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary listen to your prayers."
And he departed.
The supernatural atmosphere which surrounded the children was so intense that for a long time they could not speak.
Remaining in the position he had taught them, they repeated the Angel's prayer many times.
They sensed God's presence so close to them that they did not dare to discuss the vision, even among themselves.
For many years this visit of the Angel and the two that were to follow shortly after would remain their own secret, totally hidden from the rest of the world.
It was getting late that afternoon and it was time to take the sheep home when Jacinta spoke.
"I don't know what's the matter with me," she complained, crinkling her smooth little forehead in dismay, "I can't talk any more, nor sing, nor play even. I have no more strength to do anything."
"Neither have I, "Francesco replied, "but that doesn't matter. More beautiful than all these things was the Angel."
