Bishop Dom José had suggested to Sister Lúcia to leave Fátima and go to Porto, since the people did not know her there. Sister Lucia wrote in her diary:
“Again, in Fátima, I kept my secret inviolable. But the joy I felt when I said goodbye to the Bishop was short-lived. I remembered my family, my father's house, Cova da Iria, Cabeço, Valinhos, the well… and now to leave everything like that, once and for all? I wasn’t even sure where to go ...! I had told the Lord Bishop yes, but now, [I thought], I will tell him that I regret it and that I don't want to go away.”
She continued in this spiritual struggle about what she should do and which was the right path until she returned to the cova da Iria. There, Our Lady appeared to her again to confirm the words of the Bishop; Sister Lúcia writes:
“So solicitously, you once again descended to earth, and it was then that I felt your friendly and maternal hand touch my shoulder. I looked up and saw you; it was you, the blessed Mother, giving me a hand and showing me the way. Your lips parted and the sweet sound of your voice restored the light and peace to my soul: ‘Here I am for the seventh time; go, follow the path where the Bishop wants to take you. This is God's will.’
I then repeated my ‘yes’ (now with much more understanding than I’d had on May 13, 1917!), and while you again betook yourself to Heaven, as if at a glance, the whole series of wonders passed through my mind that I had been able to contemplate in that very same place just four years before.”