The Immaculate Heart of Mary
One
Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pope Pius XII established this Feast in response to Fatima, especially to Our Lady’s request for devotion and consecration to her Immaculate Heart. On July 13th, 1917, Mary showed the three children of Fatima a vision of Hell and then said, “You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go.”
That is very scary to me because I have loved ones who are not interested in Jesus, not practicing their faith, and I fear for their eternal soul. But immediately Our Lady gives the remedy, “To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart…If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace.” That is the remedy: Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which includes five things we must live.
First, the word devotion means consecration. The first thing we need to do to help our loved ones to heaven is to consecrate ourselves to Mary. Why? Well, the Holy Spirit forms Jesus in us. And the Holy Spirit does this through Mary. So, give yourself totally to Mary, belong entirely to her so the Holy Spirit can form Jesus in you. And the more you are like Jesus, the more you can help your loved ones to heaven.
And consecrate your kids, grandkids, and family to Mary. Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to Mary when the Allies were being defeated on every front in WWII. Immediately after that, they began winning decisive battles, when previously they had been losing. It will be the same with your loved ones. Have confidence.
Two
The Daily Rosary
At Fatima, and at all her approved apparitions, Mary asks us to pray the Rosary every day. The Rosary is supposed to be a meditation on the Word of God contained in Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium, not just saying words while our minds wander. Read or hear the Word of God. Think and apply it to your life. Form a concrete resolution for the day.
This is how Mary taught Dominic. He went from village to village and gathered people. He taught them a truth of the faith, and they prayed a decade of the Rosary. He did this five times. That is why we do the Rosary this way.
In the approved apparition of Cuapa, Nicaragua, in 1980, Our Lady gave a vision of how the Rosary began and how she wanted it prayed. Mary instructed the visionary Bernardo to look up at the sky, where he saw something like a movie being played before him, “After seeing the procession of martyrs, there followed a group of saints dressed in white and carrying luminous rosaries in their hands. The rosaries had extremely white beads and gave off light in a variety of different colors. It was made known to him that St. Dominic led the procession while he carried a very large open book. Dominic would read, and after listening - they silently meditated. After this period of prayer and silence, they then prayed the Our Father and ten Hail Mary’s and the Glory Be. When the rosary was finished, Our Lady said to me, “These are the first ones to whom I gave the rosary. That is the way that I want all of you to pray the rosary.”
Our Lady then informed Bernardo that she was not pleased when the rosary is prayed in a rushed, mechanical way, as our minds wander in distraction. She said, “Pray the Rosary, meditate on the mysteries. Listen to the Word of God spoken in them…Put into practice the Word of God.”
Three
First Saturdays
Mary asked that we live the Five First Saturdays of Reparation: That on the first Saturday of every month, we go to Mass, receive communion, pray the Rosary, then think about the life of Jesus for fifteen minutes. Go to Confession with the intention of making reparation to the Heart of Mary. Pope Benedict extended the window for confession from twenty days before until twenty days after the first Saturday.
Sr. Lucia, the last living visionary from Fatima, wrote in a letter, “Our Lady promised to postpone the scourge of war if this devotion is spread and practiced. We see her putting off this chastisement in the measure that efforts are being made to spread it. But I am afraid that we are not doing all that we are able to, and that God, in no way satisfied, may raise the arm of his mercy and let the world be ravaged by this punishment, which will be as never been, horrible, horrible!...Peace or war depends on the Five First Saturdays along with the Consecration.”
Four
Sacrifice
During the 2nd Apparition of the Angel in the Summer of 1916, while the three children of Fatima were playing around the well near Lucia’s house, suddenly the Angel appeared again and asked, "What are you doing? Pray, pray very much! The Most Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifice constantly to the Most High. The hearts of Jesus and Mary have a mission for you."
Lucy asked the Angel, “How are we to make sacrifices?” He replied, "Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners…Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings which the Lord will send you."
One of the most powerful means to help save our loved ones is to accept and offer up to Jesus everything we did not choose, do not like, and cannot change. Don’t waste your sufferings. Offer them up for the conversion of your loved ones.
Five
Friendship
Friendship is the bridge we build to cross over to others and to help them cross back over to God. Friendship is a bond between two or more people united in pursuing something greater than themselves. Friendship is built through shared activity. It grows when we do good things together: meals, walks, work, recreation, prayer, projects, books, games, coffee, hunting, fishing, music, service, and ordinary time spent together.
But doing things together is not enough. We also have to talk while we do them. Good conversation is one of the main ways friendship is formed. It is how we come to know another person. And it’s how they come to know themselves.
Good conversation is an act of love. It says to the other person: I know, understand, love, and care for you. And when people experience that, the walls come down. Their hearts begin to open. These are the five practices Mary gives us to help her save our loved ones.
Consecration and real friendship with Mary, meditating on the Word of God in the Rosary every day, first Saturdays, accepting and offering up sacrifices, and friendship. Do these, and you are doing all you can to help save your loved ones. Trust her promise, “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
Which one of these do you need to work on today so that the triumph of her Heart may begin in you?