Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On December 10, 1925, The Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Child Jesus, appeared to Sr. Lucia in the Dorothean convent in Pontevedra, Spain, requesting the First Five Saturdays Devotion to make reparation for sins against Her Immaculate Heart.
Our Lady appeared holding Her Immaculate Heart, encircled with thorns. Then the Child Jesus said, "Have pity on the Heart of Your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation."
The Blessed Mother then spoke: "I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who on the First Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for 15 minutes, while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to Me."
Our Lady also desired that Russia be consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart, otherwise Russia would spread her errors throughout the world. Few people understood what that meant because at that point Russia was traditionally very Catholic.
But not much long after the apparitions, Russia would succumb to communism and would help spread communism throughout the world.
Various popes consecrated the world to Mary’s Immaculate Heart, but none fulfilled Our Lady’s request until Pope John Paul II. The other popes did the consecration themselves and not in union with the bishops of the world.
Pope John Paul II was shot on May 13th, 1981 on the anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima. In 1984, Pope John Paul II in union with all the bishops of the world consecrated the world to Mary’s Immaculate Heart, which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as many other countries suffering from communism. Sister Lucia has affirmed that the consecration was accepted.
This year, Pope Francis in union with all the bishops of the world consecrated Russia, the Ukraine and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25th (Solemnity of the Annunciation).
Jesus told Sr. Lucia that He desired that Mary’s heart be honored alongside His Sacred Heart. This would come to fruition when Pope John Paul II established today’s memorial the Saturday after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The Virgin Mary also asked Lucia to promote world devotion to Her Immaculate Heart and Lucia did so behind the cloistered monastery of the Carmelites until her death.
Our Lady desires that every person be consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart. By consecrating ourselves to Her, we give Her permission to help us-- to do God’s will. She will do with us, as She did with Russia, She will protect us from evil and bring about peace within our hearts.
May the Immaculate Heart of Mary, be our refuge and may we consecrate ourselves to Her Immaculate Heart often, permitting Her motherly intercession to obtain every grace we need to allow the Sacred Heart of Jesus to live and reign in us.
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