“But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace …” (Gal 1:15). Like St. Paul, I, too, believe that God has a mission for each one of us. I searched for God’s mission for me, and I have found it in my vocation as a Franciscan Tertiary of the Immaculate. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” (Jn 15:16). “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Cor 9:15). I give myself totally to this call. I love living the life of a Tertiary and I am overjoyed with my religious name.

My religious name is “Brother Francisco Mary of the Hidden Jesus.” Francisco is not St. Francis of Assisi, but St. Francisco Marto, one of the Fatima seers. St. Francisco is now my patron saint and his short life provides me with the best example of how to live the life of a Tertiary.

The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children at Fatima, Portugal, for the first time on May 13th, 1917 to Lúcia Santos, Francisco Marto, and his sister Jacinta. I was happy when St. John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta in 2000. St. Francisco and St. Jacinta lived only a short time; Francisco died at age eleven, and his sister died at age nine. Their early deaths were foretold by Our Lady of Fatima, and Francisco and Jacinta really looked forward to going to heaven. What a special grace and blessing it must have been for Francisco and Jacinta to be promised heaven by the Blessed Virgin Mary! So Francisco’s attitude toward death sort of mimics that of St. Paul: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain, I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Phil 21:21, 23). St. Francisco was also perplexed about leaving his family and cousins, especially his sister Jacinta, and yet, like St. Paul, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ.” One time Francisco was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, and his answer baffled those who asked—he said, “I don’t want to be anything. I just want to die and go to heaven.” Francisco’s father confirmed that that was exactly Francisco’s heart’s desire.

Our Lady appeared at Fatima from May 13 to October 13 in the year 1917. In fact, for me, Fatima is a very recent phenomenon. I was born twenty-five years after the Fatima apparitions, and the apparitions were approved by the Vatican of being worthy of belief twelve years before I was born. Therefore, when I was a kid, it was a relatively recent event, and the story was just beginning to filter down to the public by way of the Blue Army. I don’t think it was known as the Blue Army back then but rather something like “Mother of Christ Crusade.” My mother read the story of Fatima to us kids. So in the late 1940s I was introduced to Fatima and since then have read much about it.

God called Lúcia, Francisco and Jacinta through the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima to reveal a special mission for each of the Fatima seers. Jacinta seemed to be interested only in the conversion of sinners; she wanted to save people from Hell. Lúcia discerned her mission to spread devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. After the last apparition on October 13th, 1917, the three children tried to return to their ordinary routine life; Francisco and Jacinta to await the day when Mary would come to take them to Heaven, and Lúcia hoping soon to begin her work of spreading devotion and love for the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Francisco discerned that his mission was to console the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Francisco took to separating himself from Lúcia and Jacinta after they reached the hills. More and more he appeared to want to meditate on all that Our Lady had told the children. He would say afterwards, “I liked to see the Angel so much, but I liked Our Lady much more. What I liked best about the apparitions was seeing Our Lord in that light that the Blessed Virgin put into our hearts. I love God very much. God is so sad because of so many sins. We must not commit even the smallest sin.” Lúcia said later “… but Francisco’s only desire was to console Our Lord and Our Lady, who seemed to him so sorrowful.”

What most impressed and entirely absorbed St. Francisco was God in that immense light which penetrated the inmost depths of the three children. But God told only Francisco “how sad” He was. One night, Francisco’s father heard him sobbing and asked him why he was crying. His son answered, “I was thinking of Jesus, who is so sad because of the sins that are committed against him.” Francisco was motivated by one desire—so expressive of how children think—”to console Jesus and make him happy” (Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta Marto).

Francisco makes a very profound and puzzling statement here: “What I liked best about the apparitions was seeing Our Lord in that light.…” This statement is profound and mysterious, unimaginable because no one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known (Jn 1:18). Francisco tried to explain what he saw when he saw God in the light from Our Lady’s hands: “We were burning in that light which is God and we were not consumed. What is God like? It is impossible to say. In fact we will never be able to tell people.”

In any case, Francisco saw God in the light from Our Lady’s hands, and “God told only Francisco ‘how sad’ He was.” Whatever it was that he saw radically changed his life; transformed him to totally focus on Jesus and Mary. Francisco devoted his short life to make reparation to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary for the sins of men, not only in his meditations, but always and everywhere. To meditate, he was single-minded; “I love God very much.” Hence, Francisco turned his back on the world, the flesh and the devil: he turned his back on all normal innocent childish ways. His life was a life of total sacrifice, prayer and penance, and meditation: “We must not commit even the smallest sin.” It seems to me that that is an excellent description of the aim of my life as a Franciscan Tertiary!

There is still more to meditate on here! First is the statement “I love God very much,” and “I was thinking of Jesus who is so sad because of the sins that are committed against him.” This statement hints at Marian consecration by way of Francisco devoting his short life to make reparation to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. My Marian consecration means I assist Mary, Coredemptrix, in her apostolic ministry of saving souls (My Ideal, Jesus, Son of Mary). Marian consecration is the entry point to becoming a Tertiary.

Following the sequence of events of the apparitions, the goal of Marian consecration is evident. The first experience of the children was to see the Angel of Peace.

“Fear not! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me!” The Angel knelt on the ground and bowed very low. By some inspiration, Lúcia, Francisco and Jacinta imitated the Angel and repeated the words they heard him pronounce. The Angel’s prayer is the beautiful Pardon Prayer: My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love thee! I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee.

The Angel appeared two more times saying, “The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy for you! Offer unceasingly to the Most High prayers and sacrifices”. Lúcia did not grasp what sacrifices the three should be making and asked for an explanation: the Angel said, “Offer up everything within your power as a sacrifice to the Lord in an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended; and of supplications for the conversion of sinners.”

Sacrifice, which is a charism of the Marian Vow, matures and transfigures the Tertiary into the Mediatrix: “Only sacrifices without reserve transfigure into the Mediatrix who saves souls” (Pathway).

The Angel prepared the children for the upcoming apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary; in effect—and this is important—the Angel led the children to Mary. And Mary always brings everyone to her Son. And that is exactly what happened to Lúcia, Francisco and Jacinta in the apparition of Our Lady; Mary led Francisco to Jesus. “What I liked best about the apparitions was seeing Our Lord in that light that the Blessed Virgin put into our hearts.” And God told only Francisco “How sad He was.” Think of this question: “Being consecrated to the blessed Virgin, is it not likely that Mary put Jesus into our hearts? ‘What I liked best … was seeing Our Lord in that light that the Blessed Virgin put into our hearts.’” What does Jesus in our hearts mean?

As a Tertiary my goal is to know Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Rosary is a great aid for me to know Jesus, and I always begin my Rosary with this prayer:

Mother Mary, I am yours now and forever. Through you, and with you, I always want to belong completely to Jesus.

Mary, my mother, I pray this Rosary, asking you to teach me to see and love Jesus as you see and love Him. Teach me to long for Him with your love, to long for Him with your heart, to give myself to Him, to be wholly His as you are, and to adore Him with your own sentiments. O sweet Mother, teach me how to find Jesus and to pray to Him; fill me with Jesus, transform me into Him. O Mary, show me how to contemplate the life, the work and the divinity of your Son. Be the way which leads me to Jesus, the bond which unites me to Him, and which, with Him and in Him, unites me to the Most Blessed Trinity. Amen.

However, to know Jesus has to be more than just to know about Jesus; it has to be in imitation of Francisco, “I felt that God was within me, but I did not know how. We were burning in that light which is God and we were not consumed.” This internal awareness of God guided Francisco for the rest of his short life—the way he lived, the way he thought, the way he acted the way he suffered and the way he died.

Francisco shows me that prayer, although it can be taught, is primarily, in its essence, an intimate union with Jesus; an attachment to our God, dare I say, a friendship of simply conversing with God, the Angels, and the communion of Saints. Prayer is the glue cementing me in the Kingdom of God. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Mt 3:2). It is vitally important to understand that repentance comes first, then “Thy Kingdom Come”:

The Franciscan Tertiaries of the Immaculate should habitually approach the sacrament of penance each week (or at least twice a month), and seek to have a Spiritual Director to guide and support them on the road of evangelical perfection. To purify themselves of sin let them daily examine their consciences with sincere repentance and firm purpose of amendment (Pathway).

St. Francisco, being an uneducated peasant child, did not know a lot. For example: Lúcia was the one that told him all that the Angel said. The little lad could not grasp the meaning of the words of the Angel and kept interrupting; “What is the Most High? What does he mean, ‘The hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications’?” Hence, it is not knowledge of Jesus, as Francisco had very little knowledge of Jesus, nor is it knowledge about Jesus that will develop a sense of really knowing Jesus. I think Francisco knew how to pray not by some kind of technique, nor by some rules of how to pray or finding ways to pray; he simply entered into intimacy with “What he liked best … seeing Our Lord in that light.” St. Francisco simply had Jesus in his heart, and he talked to him.

St. Francisco tells me how to have closeness to Jesus deep in my heart: “I love God very much!” St. Thérèsa, the Little Flower, came to the same conclusion, “My vocation is Love.” Hence, turning his back on the world, the flesh and the devil and all normal innocent childish ways, his life was a life of total sacrifice, prayer and penance, and meditation; “We must not commit even the smallest sin!” As I said previously, that sounds very Franciscan to me! So following Francisco’s “Plan of Life” I, too, must turn my back on the world, the flesh and the devil, as well as all my adult distractions and live a life of sacrifice, prayer and penance and meditation. I must not commit even the smallest sin. And to pray, I need only to relax, recollect myself in silence, and simply have a conversation with Jesus or Mary or the communion of saints. It is as simple as that. My favorite verse is Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” It is sometimes very difficult to “give thanks” in some circumstances, so I have to practice the virtue of perseverance.

In fact, following Francisco’s example of turning away from the world, the flesh and the devil is very much in line with the Tertiary Constitution:

Against the profligacy and the ruins of the prevailing pan-sexualism … the Franciscan Tertiaries of the Immaculate must combat with the austerity of a pure evangelical life according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh (cf. Gal 5:16-17), ever tending to seek and to taste “the things above, not those of the earth” (Col 3:2), striving to radiate everywhere the divine purity of the Immaculate, for they are “the immaculate children of God—as the Apostle writes—in the midst of a perverse and crooked generation in which you must shine like stars in the world holding high the word of life” (Phil 2:15-16).

“The quickest way that leads to Jesus in a short time” (True Devotion), is the Marian Vow. The Tertiary, through consecration, has a sure way to “advance along the road to holiness, and be sure of encountering the true Christ, without fear of the illusions which afflict many devout souls” (True Devotion).

Here is a Daily Consecration to the Immaculate:

O Immaculate, Mother of the Church and Queen of the Missions, to you we renew today and for always our total consecration to love you and make you loved, to be apostles of the Immaculate Heart, our secure refuge and way of love which leads us to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Amen.

A little background first: There is an interesting dialogue that takes place in the first apparition which shows St. Francisco’s eager willingness to pray: the dialogue between Lúcia and Our Lady about the three seers going to heaven:

“And I … am I, too, going to go to Heaven?” Lúcia asked.

“Yes, you shall,” the Lady assured her.

“And Jacinta?”

“Yes.”

“And Francisco?”

“He too shall go, but he must say many Rosaries,” the Lady responded.

At all six encounters that Lúcia, Francisco and Jacinta had with Our Lady, her constant request was for them (and us) to continue to say the Rosary every day. However, the specific and special request of Our Lady of Francisco was: He too shall go [to heaven], but he must say many Rosaries … He must say many Rosaries because his only desire, his mission, his total focus, was to console the Hearts of Our Lord and Our Lady, who seemed to him so sorrowful. What better way for an uneducated, innocent ten-year-old boy to console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary than to say many Rosaries! And Francisco had no problem doing so … bursting with joy, he folded his hands in front of his breast and exclaimed aloud, ‘O My Lady, I will say all the Rosaries you want!’ Again, this shows the simplicity of St. Francisco’s prayers and his intimacy with Jesus.

This is also in line with the life of a Tertiary, as the Constitution tells us, “The families of the Tertiaries are encouraged to cultivate the spiritual life with daily readings of excerpts from the Gospel and with recitation of the Holy Rosary in common.”

Lúcia Santos, the oldest seer at Fatima, tells the story of St. Francisco’s enthusiasm to eagerly adore God as the Hidden Jesus in the consecrated Host:

When we passed the Church on the way to school, Francisco would say, ‘Look, you go to school and I’ll stay in the church with the Hidden Jesus. On your way home, come in a get me.’ And so he spent all his day in the presence of Hidden Jesus meditating and praying and adoring the Hidden Jesus housed in the tabernacle; consoling the Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. St. Francisco was a preeminent adorer and spent much time in adoration. Jesus said to Thomas, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe’ (Jn 20:29).

Eucharistic Adoration is a Tertiary charism, as the Constitution tells us:

Let the Eucharistic Tabernacle be a point of constant attraction, an irresistible magnet of love for each Franciscan Tertiary of the Immaculate. Every day, if possible, let them make one or more visits to the Eucharist; each week there should also be some time reserved for Eucharistic Adoration in community or in private.

At the foot of the altar of the most Blessed Sacrament, let them repeat with sentiments of loving adoration the words of salutation of the Seraphic Father: ‘We adore You, our most holy Lord, Jesus Christ, here and in all the churches which are in the world, and we bless you because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.’

And so I found that St. Francisco led a life very much in imitation of St. Francis of Assisi. This is verified by the “Minimum Program of Life” of a Tertiary in the Constitution:

The work of the day should be a ‘sacrificial offering’ in intimate union with the Immaculate, the ‘Handmaiden of the Fiat.’ During the hours of daily work there should be frequent ‘moments’ of prayer with ejaculations, Eucharistic and Marian spiritual Communions, acts of love and offering, short visits to the most Blessed Sacrament, as often as possible.

The Tertiary is to live a life of grace; cultivating it by daily prayer (vocal and mental) by the recitation of the Holy Rosary and by the frequent reception of the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and of Penance.

A Tertiary is to practicing mortification in the fight against sin by avoiding dangerous occasions (television, certain types of literature, immodest fashions, beaches, etc.), observing custody of the eyes and heart: ‘I chastise my body and bring it into subjection’ (1 Cor 9:27), abstaining from meat on all Fridays (except for Solemnities).

This is the essence of the life of a Tertiary, and in fact the essence of life for anyone: Total focus on God, total focus on Jesus and Mary. “We must not commit even the smallest sin.” We are to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. Prayer is simply to be silent, listen, and chat with God.

So I love my name, Brother Francisco Mary of the Hidden Jesus. My namesake and Patron Saint, Francisco Marto, provides me much to meditate upon and an excellent example to living the life of a Tertiary; love God very much and avoid sin, even the lightest venial sin. To become a saint in the footsteps of Francisco Marto, that is the target at which I aim. St. Francisco, pray for me! St. Francisco, pray for us!