From the balcony of our hotel room, I could see the steeple of the Cathedral. Every hour, the bell chimes the song of El Trece de Mayo.
The bells bring up memories of my younger days back in the Philippines. When the bells ring, it’s a call for prayer especially at 6 pm. People literally stopped what ever they were doing to be still and silent. I think it went on for a minute or two. As a girl, it seemed forever.
The minute we hear the bells, we dash home leaving the games and playmates behind. We go home for family prayer of Angelus. It’s a short prayer and when it’s finished, we all say Good Evening and asked for blessings from the elders especially my Mother.
I really love this tradition; however, we fell out of it when we moved to Canada. As a starter, I never heard any bells here. Most of us have different work schedules. It saddens me because I don’t practise it anymore.
Fatima is a beautiful place where three children met by an Angel and Our Lady. Being here made me feel childlike as well. There was giddiness in me that was hard to contain. Is this giddiness influenced by the spirits of the three children? Or was it just my silliness of not taking life so seriously.
This place is a melting pot of pilgrims to honour the apparition of Mother Mary. There are so many miracle story of our Lady of Fatima that is chronicled in this area similar to Lourdes.
One of the stories was about the assassination of Pope Paul when he was visiting Fatima. He survived and it was a story about Forgiveness in Action that I posted in Blog4Peace.
Photographs and Memories 
Beautiful!
Not as beautiful as your creations. Thank you.
Thank you so much 🙂
I agree what a beautiful way to start the day. With Fatima’s bells.
Thanks, Emily. Since you are a well seasoned traveller, I can assume that you’ve been there.
I’ve never experienced these “prayer moments”, but it sounds like it would be nice if we had it here in Canada. I suppose the closest we could get to it, is if we were at a retreat. Still, my friend, you described Fatima so well, I could almost be there with you! Thanks!! 🙂
Silent or guided retreats are wonderful, TK.
Hello my friend, the world needs bells to ring for moments of stillness and silence. Maybe then some of the madness will cease. We have bells that ring through our small town, they are on the clock tower and it is so lovely to know that when they chime we, the people, all have a common sensory experience being shared. There’s something about that that I love. Big cyber hug to you. Paulette
Hi Paulette. Lucky you to have bells in your town. Thanks for the hugs. Sending peace your way. Perpetua.
My husband works at a university, and the building next to him plays bells every hour.
That’s wonderful. Is the university in the city or town?
I guess I would call it a town, about 60,000 population, although to us it is a city, since we live in the country and the population of our nearest town is only 2000.
That is quaint. I hope as it grows the bells will remain.
I think it’s interestingnhowntoi mention being giddy. I’ve been I a few places before where I’ve had that feeling. Knock, where our lady appeared in Ireland, and few places that were special to other religions as well and it always amazed me how the energy is lifted. I’m not sure if it’s from the place itself being special, the residual energy from an appearance or the good energy people bring to it, but you are right about how the physical feeling changes.
Hi Sean, Knock is one place I missed out during a retreat and self guided pilgrimage in Ireland. Must go back. Certain energy places a big part which is unexplainable in comparison to what I felt in Lourdes, definitely heavy.