The Power of Consecration to Mary

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I want to share with you the power of Consecration to Mary. At the end of WWII, Poland was taken over by the Soviet Union, with its government mandated Marxist atheism. Soon after, the Polish Cardinal Hlond died, but on his death bed he spoke these words: “Keep working under the protection of Our Blessed Mother. Victory, when it comes, will come through Mary. Do Not Despair!” Then in 1953 the Communists placed the top Polish cardinal, Stephan Wyszynski under house arrest. There, in the silence, he reflected on Poland’s history, that every time their situation looked hopeless, they turned with confidence to Mary, re-consecrating themselves to her, and she set them free.

This gave him the inspiration to defend the faith of the nation against militant atheism by means of the power of the Virgin Mary through consecration to her. Then he began to send word secretly to all the people of Poland to consecrate themselves to Mary once again for the freedom of the Church and the freedom of their nation. Three years later, August 26, 1956, 1 million Polish people gathered at Czestochowa, where the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Jansa Gora is kept, to consecrate themselves to Mary. After each verse of the consecration, the entire crowd shouted out “Queen of Poland! We Promise!” Less than one month later, Wyszynski was set free.

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One of the priests present at this consecration to Mary in Poland was Karol Wojtyla, who became the first non-Italian pope in 450 years, elected in October of 1978. On May 13, 1981, on the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, Pope John Paul II entered St. Peter’s square riding in an open-air motorcade. A trained assassin awaited in the crowd. As the pope’s vehicle drew near, the assassin took aim and fired at his head. The moment the trigger was pulled the pope’s attention was drawn away by a teenage girl wearing a t-shirt bearing the image of Our Lady at Fatima, and the bullet missed his head. The assassin immediately fired again, this time into the Pope’s abdomen. The bullet struck the Pope but missed the main artery and his spine. The gun jammed, and a nun tackled the assassin to the ground. As the Pope fell to the ground, his secretary Monseigneur Deziwisc, heard him say over and over, “Mary…” He was rushed to Gemelli hospital where he survived the surgery to remove the bullet from his abdomen. 

John Paul then contracted a life-threatening infection, which required a second surgery. It was at this point, as he was recovering from two near death experiences, that he requested to see the envelope containing the third part of the secret of Fatima. This contained the apocalyptic vision of the Pope being martyred. When Pope John Paul II finished reading the secret, he saw his part in the Fatima story and he came to believe that his life had been spared in order to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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On May 13, 1982, one year after the assassination attempt, Pope John Paul II went to Fatima to thank Mary for saving his life. He placed the bullet that had been taken from his abdomen in the crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima stating, “One hand fired and another guided the bullet. It was a mother’s hand which guided the bullet’s path.”

Then on March 25, 1984, the Feast of the Annunciation, John Paul II was joined by a majority of bishops throughout the world in consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This unleashed a chain of providential and humanly unforeseen events. On March 11, 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev was named General Secretary of the Soviet Union, and he began to implement changes that up until this point were unimaginable. Glasnost – Openness, Perestroika – Restructuring. Then on November 8, 1989, Sister Lucia confirmed that the Consecration of Russia requested by Our Lady, “has been accomplished” and “God will keep His word.” The very next day, November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, putting into motion the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union and the end of reign of atheistic communism in East Central Europe.

On December 8, 1991 on the Feast of Mary’s Immaculate Conception all the countries under the Iron Curtain we set free. The formation of the commonwealth of former Soviet republics began, each one to be independent, indicating the imminent collapse of the Soviet Union. On December 25, 1991, Christmas, the Soviet red flag with the hammer and sickle was lowered for the last time, Gorbachev announced his resignation and the end of Atheistic Communism in Eastern Central Europe.

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One might say, “Russia is not converted,” However, when Our Lady promised that the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart would bring about the conversion of Russia, Sister Lucia clarified that the conversion of Russia meant the granting of religious freedom, which did take place.  When I am in Jerusalem, the largest pilgrimage groups come from Russia and former Soviet counties. There is truly a new springtime of Christianity in Russia and all former Soviet Bloc countries. In October 1981 Mary is reported to have said at Medjugorje: “Russia is the people where God will be most glorified. The West has advanced civilization but without God as though it were its own creator.”

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All is not finished. The consecration of Russia, the fall of the Berlin wall, the end of the government mandated atheism in the Soviet Union, and the rise of Christianity in those former Soviet Nations was not the end game of Fatima, it was only to be the sign that God wants to save all peoples and all nations, through devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. At Fatima Mary stated: 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. In 1993, Sr Lucia told Cardinal Vidal of the Philippines that there are seven days of Fatima, and “We are only in the 3rd day of the ‘Week of Fatima.’” The 1st day was the apparition period and the 2nd day was the post-apparition, pre-consecration (1918-1984). We are in the 3rd day of seven, immediately after the consecration. Lucia explained: “The Fatima week has not yet ended…People expect things to happen immediately within their own timeframe. But Fatima is still in its third day. The triumph is an on-going process.”

Have we experienced the world-wide Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Era of Peace? It does not appear so. What is God waiting for? He is waiting for us to respond by Consecrating ourselves and our nation to Mary and to live the consecration. We are only in the 3rd day of the Fatima week. What does day four through seven look like? That depends on how we respond to the call of Our Lady.