NV-Immaculate Heart

NOVENA TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
FEAST DAY : AUGUST 22ND
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for you
(1) Prayers for the 9th Day of the Novena
(2) Your Acts of Consecration for the Feast

What is a Novena?
A novena is a traditional devotion consisting of specific prayers recited on nine successive days. Besides being a form of praise, a novena is frequently offered for a particular intention. The first novena took place in the Cenacle, during the nine days preceding Pentecost, or the coming of the Holy Ghost. As a regular popular custom, this practice began in 12th century Christianity and continues to be beneficial today as a way of praying for healing, protection or other blessings for ourselves or others.

This particular novena is prayed to God in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is the devotion for our age—since Our Lady of Fatima said that Jesus wished to establish devotion to her Immaculate Heart throughout the whole world. Sister Lucia, one of the three seers at Fatima, also added that devotion to the Immaculate Heart was one of the two last remedies that God was giving the world—the other remedy being the Holy Rosary.

In praying this Novena, as in the case of all prayer, it is good to begin by opening ourselves wholeheartedly to God's will, offering a simple act of trust in God's wisdom and in His providential love for us all, that disposes all things for the ultimate benefit of our souls and their salvation.

How to Pray This Novena
This novena is based on our ultimate goal, which is to reach God in Heaven. Each day of the novena is divided into the following parts: (1) a quote from Holy Scripture, or a quote from Our Lady of Fatima, or a quote from a Saint (2) a passage on the Immaculate Heart from a pope or a theologian; (3) a Meditation; (4) a Prayer; (5) after mentioning your intention, pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary; (6) a Closing Prayer.

LITANY OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.

Heart of Mary, pray for us.
Heart of Mary, like unto the Heart of God,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, united to the Heart of Jesus,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, instrument of the Holy Ghost,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, sanctuary of the Divine Trinity,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, tabernacle of God Incarnate,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, immaculate from thy creation,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, full of grace,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, blessed among all hearts,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, throne of glory,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, most humble,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, holocaust of Divine Love,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, fastened to the Cross with Jesus Crucified, pray for us.
Heart of Mary, comfort of the afflicted,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, refuge of sinners,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, hope of the agonizing,
pray for us.
Heart of Mary, seat of mercy,
pray for us.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

V. Immaculate Mary, meek and humble of heart,
R. Make our hearts like unto the Heart of Jesus.

Let Us Pray
O most merciful God, Who, for the salvation of sinners and the refuge of the miserable, wast pleased that the Most Pure Heart of Mary should be most like in charity and pity to the Divine Heart of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, grant that we, who commemorate this sweet and loving Heart, by the merits and intercession of the same Blessed Virgin, may merit to be found like unto the Heart of Jesus, through the same Christ Our Lord. R. Amen.

FIRST DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: This is the Devotion Heaven Wants Now!

Our Lady of Fatima Says:
"Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world" (Our Lady of Fatima, June 13th, 1917).

Reading on the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Father Alonso, the official Fatima archivist had this to say on the Third Secret of Fatima:

‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’: The phrase most clearly implies a critical state of Faith, which other nations will suffer, that is to say, a crisis of Faith; whereas Portugal will preserve its Faith.

In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they?

If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ ... it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether.

Thus it is quite possible that in this intermediate period which is in question (after 1960 and before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), the text makes concrete references to the crisis of the Faith of the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves. Knowledgeable Church authorities have confirmed Father Alonso’s conclusions about the Third Secret, that it concerns an unprecedented loss of faith, an apostasy, from which Portugal will be preserved. In 1984 the Bishop of Fatima said, "the loss of Faith of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a nation; and it is true that Faith is continuously diminishing in Europe." And in his 1984 interview with Vittorio Messori, Cardinal Ratzinger confirmed this conclusion when he said that the final part of the Secret speaks of "dangers threatening the Faith and life of Christians, and therefore the world."

Finally, we know that the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Third Secret began to be realized in 1960 because when Sister Lucy was asked why the Third Secret was to be revealed no later than 1960, she responded "because it will be clearer then." Since 1960 we have seen the prophecy of the Third Secret unfold before our eyes, and it is clear that since that time the world has been progressively suffering from a terrible loss of Faith.

This loss of Faith, however, does not rule out a loss of life. The two can well go hand in hand, as God punishes both body and soul of sinful man. The warnings of Our Lady of La Salette give a clear indication of wars and loss of life into the bargain.

Meditation
The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then she concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable, and for ever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”

[Mention Intention]

Mindful of this consecration, we now promise to imitate thee, by the practice of Christian virtues, without regard for human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, when possible, and to offer daily five decades of the Rosary, with all our sacrifices, in the spirit of penance and reparation. Amen.

Prayer
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, rule over me, and teach me how to allow the Heart of Jesus to rule and triumph in me and around me, as it has ruled and triumphed in you. I consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart, and recommend to you my family, my country, and the whole human race. Please accept my consecration, dearest Mother, and use me as you wish, to accomplish your designs upon the world. Amen.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

LITANY OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

SECOND DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Heaven Wants This Devotion Spreading!

Our Lady of Fatima Says:
"Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world" (Our Lady of Fatima, June 13th, 1917).

Reading on the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Our Lady of Fatima said:
"I will take Jacinta and Francisco shortly; but you will stay here for some time to come. Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God, like flowers put by me to adorn his throne." (June 13, 1917).

Since the Church teaches that devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is devotion, NOT JUST to the corporeal Heart of Mary, but to the WHOLE PERSON of Mary, then it naturally follows that St. Louis de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary is the best way of showing devotion to Mary. Fr. Faber echoes this sentiment in his renowned Preface to his personal translation of St. Louis' book from the French original:

"if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone, than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignon de Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!"

The spreading of true devotion, recommended by Fr. Faber, is exactly what Our Lady is asking for at Fatima:
"Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God..."

What are you doing about it? Do you not want others to love your Mother? Do you want to keep her for yourself?

Meditation
St. Thomas Aquinas says that it is the property or characteristic of Good to diffuse itself. This is what the good God has done with Himself—He gave Himself to us and died for us. He wants us to do the same and diffuse or spread whatever is good, and that includes devotion to the Immaculate Heart, which Heaven specifically demands in our day: "Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world" (Our Lady at Fatima). “Go therefore and I will be in thy mouth: and I will teach thee what thou shalt speak” (Exodus 4:12). “Teach the children of Israel all My ordinances which the Lord hath spoken to them” (Leviticus 10:11). “Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy grandsons” (Deuteronomy 4:9). “Teach your children that they meditate on them” (Deuteronomy 11:19).

St. Louis de Montfort also says the same of devotion to the Holy Rosary (which Sr. Lucia later said was the second of the two final remedies that we are being offered by God). He writes, in his Secret of the Rosary: "Therefore, it will not be enough for us to preach this devotion to others; we must practice it ourselves, for if we firmly believed in the importance of the Holy Rosary, but never said it ourselves, people could hardly be expected to act upon our advice, since no one can give what he does not have: 'Jesus began to do and to teach.' We ought to pattern ourselves on Our Lord, who began practicing what he preached. We ought to emulate St. Paul, who knew and preached nothing but Jesus crucified. I could tell you at great length of the grace God has given me to know by experience the effectiveness of the preaching of the Holy Rosary, and of how I have seen, with my own eyes, the most wonderful conversions it has brought about. I would gladly tell you all these things if I thought that it would move you to preach this beautiful devotion, in spite of the fact that priests are not in the habit of doing so these days."

In this passage, St. Louis is also stating the fact that "good must be diffused" and that devotion to Mary, in this case through the Holy Rosary, must be preached, but is not being preached. Further on in the same book, he gives an indication of what Heaven must think about this lack of obedience in preaching what Heaven wants preached:

"One day when he was offering Mass, Our Lord, who wished to spur him on to preach the Holy Rosary, spoke to him in the Sacred Host. "How can you crucify Me again so soon?" Jesus said. "What did You say, Lord?" asked Blessed Alan, horrified. "You crucified Me once before by your sins," answered Jesus, "and I would willingly be crucified again rather than have My Father offended by the sins you used to commit. You are crucifying Me again now, because you have all the learning and understanding that you need to preach My Mother's Rosary, and you are not doing it! If you only did that, you could teach many souls the right path and lead them away from sin. But you are not doing it, and so you yourself are guilty of the sins that they commit."

"This terrible reproach made Blessed Alan solemnly resolve to preach the Rosary unceasingly." (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary, "Fourth Rose").

Prayer
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, rule over me, and teach me how to allow the Heart of Jesus to rule and triumph in me and around me, as it has ruled and triumphed in you. I consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart, and recommend to you my family, my country, and the whole human race. Please accept my consecration, dearest Mother, and use me as you wish, to accomplish your designs upon the world. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

Mindful of this consecration, we now promise to imitate thee, by the practice of Christian virtues, without regard for human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, when possible, and to offer daily five decades of the Rosary, with all our sacrifices, in the spirit of penance and reparation. Amen.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

LITANY OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

THIRD DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: This Devotion Saves From Hell!

Our Lady of Fatima Says:
"You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. 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. (Our Lady of Fatima, July 13th, 1917)

Reading on the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Our Lady of Fatima said:
"Jesus ... wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it" (June 13, 1917).

The supreme law of the Church is the salvation of souls. That is the reason why Jesus came on Earth in the first place! He said: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!" (Luke 19:10).

The salvation of our own souls comes before that of other souls. Jesus warned us: “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mark 8:36). Yet we are not to selfishly focus on our own soul alone: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

It is a great act of charity to work towards the salvation of others."Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

And that love of neighbor, brings about the forgiveness of our own sins: “But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

Meditation
It is very easy to over-exaggerate the command to love oneself, and thus fall into an excess of self-love which is selfishness. Love of self should lead to selflessness, not selfishness! We need no encouragement to love ourselves and even souls who have made much spiritual progress, such as those who have entered the Illuminative Way or the Way of Proficients, are still soaked with self-love—hence the terrible trials that God inflicts upon such souls, to crush and drain them of what remains of a bad self-love. Self-love is the first thing we see in a baby and it is the last thing to leave in an adult.

Our Lord and Our Lady were the opposite—they were selfless and their lives were a perpetual sacrifice for the salvation of souls. They saw the needs of poor sinners and did what they could to try and help them. The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then she concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable, and for ever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”

At Fatima, she seeks out recruits, who will help her in this desire to help sinners turn away from sin, and turn back to God. This is the purpose of Christ's Birth, Life, Passion and Death—it is, to use the much bandied phrase, "what life is all about!" Holy Scripture tells us that: “He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).

Prayer
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, rule over me, and teach me how to allow the Heart of Jesus to rule and triumph in me and around me, as it has ruled and triumphed in you. I consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart, and recommend to you my family, my country, and the whole human race. Please accept my consecration, dearest Mother, and use me as you wish, to accomplish your designs upon the world. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

Mindful of this consecration, we now promise to imitate thee, by the practice of Christian virtues, without regard for human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, when possible, and to offer daily five decades of the Rosary, with all our sacrifices, in the spirit of penance and reparation. Amen.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

LITANY OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

FOURTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Do Not Be Afraid! Do Not Be Afraid to Suffer!

Our Lady of Fatima Says:
"Do not be afraid, I will not harm you ... I come from Heaven" (Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th, 1917).

Reading on the Immaculate Heart of Mary
On her first visit to the three children at Fatima, Our Lady wastes no time in getting down to the "nitty-gritty" reason for her visit. Remember that these three visionaries are not adults, seasoned and strengthened by years of living the Faith. They are mere children, who, at the time of the first apparition of Our Lady, were barely ten and under: Lucia was 10, Francisco was 8, and Jacinta was only 7.

We tend to give our children immature things at that age, all things sweet, sugary and nice! Not so Our Lady! She may come smiling sweetly, but that is where the sugar and sweetness stops! She comes to ask for suffering; she tells them they will have much to suffer; she tells them of their friend, Amelia, recently deceased, saying that this young girl would burn in Purgatory until the end of the world; then later she shows them a vision of Hell!

If that apparition was taking place in America today, the parents would probably think about suing her for cruelty towards children!

Lucia then asked if they would go to Heaven and she was told yes, she and Jacinta would go to Heaven, but Francisco would need to say many Rosaries first.

Lucia asked about two young women who had died recently, and was told that one was in Heaven and the other, her friend Amelia, would be in Purgatory "until the end of world."

"Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?" "Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort." (Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th, 1917).

Meditation
The modern world has watered-down the Faith so much and we have been 'dumbed-down' so much, that it we who are like little children in our knowledge, attitude and maturity. Some almost treat the Faith like a game that we have fun with, while we all skip happily along the broad, wide road that leads to Heaven ... or does it?

The sinfulness of the world, nearly 100 years ago in 1917, is nowhere near as great as it is today. We have not only made advancements in technology, but we have made great advancements in our sinfulness too! God wasn't threatening fire from Heaven back then, but He is now!

To avoid the fire from Heaven, Our Lady will show them the fire of Hell. She exposes the children to a vision of the suffering in Hell, in order to move them to try and stop more souls from falling into Hell. She wants them to suffer greatly here below, in order to stop souls having to suffer even more greatly in Hell below!

Do we have the courage to tell that to our ten, eight and seven year olds? Or have we desensitized ourselves to the bitterness and pain of Hell, by our sugary and painless version of the Faith today? Today, to speak of Hell is almost tabboo—not just in Liberal circles, but also in Conservative circles. We could almost rephrase the saying: "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" into "Speak not of Hell, Listen not about Hell, Think not of Hell" and perhaps with some luck, Hell will just go away and leave us alone! "Let sleeping dogs lie" and so "Let the devil lie" ! Well, actually, the devil will lie, but not in the way we think! He won't lie down, but he will tell lie upon lie to drag our souls into Hell. Some of those lies are: There is no Hell! There is no devil! There is no sin! Just believe in Jesus and you are saved! All souls go to Heaven, no matter what!

Our Lady burst that bubble of lies at Fatima. Yes, there is a Hell. Yes, there is a Purgatory. Yes, most souls go to Hell. Yes, the good, sweet, loving God does punish little girls in Purgatory and keeps them there until the end of world. Yes, God does demand a lot of suffering from us in this world, even from little children, if we and they want to avoid Hell for ourselves and those around us. This R-rated apparition was not shown to adults, but to little children, aged ten, eight and seven. What is our version of the Faith like? Is it full of realism, like Our Lady's version? Or is it sugary, honeyed, candied, fun-loving cartoon version of the Faith! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). "Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!" (Luke 13:3). Those who end up in Hell, find that there is no sugar, honey, candy or popcorn down there! Isn't that the message Our Lady tried to communicate, before we twisted, watered-down and sugared her version of the story?

Let us not be afraid of Hell. Let us not be afraid to suffer much to avoid Hell. Let us not be afraid to tell our children, family, relatives and friends about Hell. For Our Lady was not afraid to come from Heaven to tell us these things!

Prayer
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, rule over me, and teach me how to allow the Heart of Jesus to rule and triumph in me and around me, as it has ruled and triumphed in you. I consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart, and recommend to you my family, my country, and the whole human race. Please accept my consecration, dearest Mother, and use me as you wish, to accomplish your designs upon the world. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

Mindful of this consecration, we now promise to imitate thee, by the practice of Christian virtues, without regard for human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, when possible, and to offer daily five decades of the Rosary, with all our sacrifices, in the spirit of penance and reparation. Amen.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

LITANY OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

FIFTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Listening to and Obeying Our Lady

Our Lady of Fatima Says:
"I shall say who I am and what I desire. " (Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th, 1917).

Reading on the Immaculate Heart of Mary
We could very well put the following words of Our Lord into the mouth of Our Lady. “If you love Me, keep My commandments ... He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him. He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words. And the word which you have heard, is not Mine; but the Father’s who sent Me” (John 14:15, 21, 23-24).

On the same lines, he asked this of the Pharisees: “But what think you? A certain man had two sons; and coming to the first, he said: Son, go work today in my vineyard. And he answering, said: I will not. But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went. And coming to the other, he said in like manner. And he answering, said: I go, Sir; and he went not. Which of the two did the father’s will?’ They say to him: ‘The first!’” (Matthew 21:28-31).

Obedience is a natural outcome and proof of love. That is why the catechism tells us that we were made to know, love and serve (obey) God. The "serving" clause of the contract follows on the heels of the "loving" clause in the contract.

Meditation
In her apparitions, Our Lady has asked that we listen to her and that we obey her:

“Listen well to what I have to say to you … If you love the Lord, listen to what I have to say to you.” (Our Lady of Akita 1973)

"If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son.” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846).

Looks like Our Lady wants to be listened to! Like any mother, she is threatening the alternative for not being listened-to: the heavy hand of the Father. Yet sadly, the world is not listening. The popes are not listening. Are we listening? If we are listening, then what are we doing about it? Listening is much like meditation, there has to be an end result, a resolution, some form of action.

Children are masters of the art of reinterpreting instructions and then protesting that they did what they were told to do! The same applies with our reaction to Our Lady's stream of instructions from Heaven. Are we reinterpreting her words? Are we watering things down? Are we exempting ourselves by arguing that the message is meant for others, in fact everyone except ourselves? Are we just looking a one part of her messages and conveniently ignoring the difficult or unlikeable parts?

Sister Lucia has this to say: "Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them" (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th 1957).

Prayer
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, rule over me, and teach me how to allow the Heart of Jesus to rule and triumph in me and around me, as it has ruled and triumphed in you. I consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart, and recommend to you my family, my country, and the whole human race. Please accept my consecration, dearest Mother, and use me as you wish, to accomplish your designs upon the world. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

Mindful of this consecration, we now promise to imitate thee, by the practice of Christian virtues, without regard for human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, when possible, and to offer daily five decades of the Rosary, with all our sacrifices, in the spirit of penance and reparation. Amen.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

LITANY OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

SIXTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: The Fire for Today

Our Lady of Fatima Says:
"I shall say who I am and what I desire. " (Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th, 1917).

Reading on the Immaculate Heart of Mary
It is only in the twelfth, or towards the end of the eleventh century, that slight indications of a regular devotion are perceived in a sermon by St. Bernard (The Twelve Stars), from which an extract has been taken by the Church and used in the Offices of the Compassion and of the Seven Dolors. Stronger evidence is seen in the meditations on the Ave Maria and the Salve Regina, usually attributed either to St. Anselm of Lucca (d. 1080) or St. Bernard; and also in the large book “De laudibus B. Mariae Virginis” (Praises of the Blessed Virgin Mary) by Richard de Saint-Laurent, Penitentiary of Rouen in the thirteenth century.

St. Mechtilde (d. 1298) and St. Gertrude (d. 1301) were both devoted to the Heart of Mary. A little earlier, it had been included by St. Thomas Becket in the devotion to the joys and sorrows of Mary; also by Blessed Hermann (d.1245), one of the first spiritual children of St. Dominic, in his other devotions to Mary; and later devotion to the Heart of Mary appeared in St. Bridget’s “Book of Revelations”. St. Bernardine of Siena (d.1444) was more absorbed in the contemplation of the virginal heart, and it is from him that the Church has borrowed the lessons of the second nocturn for the feast of the Heart of Mary. St. Francis de Sales speaks of the perfections of the Heart of Mary as the model of love for God.

In the second half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth, ascetic authors dwelt upon this devotion at greater length. It was, however, reserved to St. John Eudes (d. 1681, feast day is today, August 19th) to propagate the devotion, to make it public, and to have a feast celebrated in honor of the Heart of Mary, first at Autun in 1648 and afterwards in a number of French dioceses. He established several religious societies interested in upholding and promoting the devotion, of which his large book on the Coeur Admirable (Admirable Heart), published in 1681, resembles a summary. St. John Eudes’ efforts to secure the approval of an office and feast failed at Rome, but, despite this disappointment, the devotion to the Heart of Mary progressed.

In 1699 Father Pinamonti (d. 1703) published in Italian a short work on the Holy Heart of Mary, and in 1725, Joseph de Gallifet combined the cause of the Heart of Mary with that of the Heart of Jesus in order to obtain Rome’s approbation of the two devotions and the institution of the two feasts. In 1729, his project was defeated, and in 1765, the two causes were separated, to assure the success of the principal one.

In 1830, at Our Lady’s apparition at the Rue du Bac, in Paris, she showed St. Catherine Labouré a medal that she wanted made—on the back of the medal we see the Heart of Mary alongside the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was at Fatima, in 1917, that Our Lady made the formal and explicit request of devotion to her Immaculate Heart, stating that this is what God and Jesus wanted. She would later, in 1930, specify precisely some important aspects of that devotion. Thus we can say that devotion to the Immaculate Heart is a specific and obligatory devotion for our modern times and our present day. Indeed, Sr. Lucia said that it was one of the two final remedies that God was giving to the world which could either avoid or mitigate the forthcoming chastisement.

Meditation
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the devotion for our day. It is one of the two last remedies that God has given the world. Yet who on Earth is interested? How much hype or 'prime-time' exposure does it get? With all the fire coming out of the Sacred Heart and the fire engulfing the Immaculate Heart, and Our Lord's statement that "I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?" (Luke 12:49), we see no fire anywhere!! Some devotion may be seen smouldering under the ashes here and there, but the raging fire Our Lord wants, is nowhere to be seen! Is it raging in your life? Probably not! Smouldering, maybe. Raging? No.

Sister Lucia comments on this, saying: "The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them" (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th 1957).

It is a little like "Noe and the Flood" mentality. The chastisement was announced, the ark was being built, but nobody paid much attention. Perhaps only to mock Noe for building a gigantic ark in the middle of dry land, miles and miles from the kind of water that would be needed to float it and use it. Noe may have been mocked, but “Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). Our Lady, at Akita, said that "if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before."

We know what to do, but are we doing it? Are we doing it with devotion—with fire in our hearts—or are we just smouldering?

Prayer
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, rule over me, and teach me how to allow the Heart of Jesus to rule and triumph in me and around me, as it has ruled and triumphed in you. I consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart, and recommend to you my family, my country, and the whole human race. Please accept my consecration, dearest Mother, and use me as you wish, to accomplish your designs upon the world. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

Mindful of this consecration, we now promise to imitate thee, by the practice of Christian virtues, without regard for human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, when possible, and to offer daily five decades of the Rosary, with all our sacrifices, in the spirit of penance and reparation. Amen.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

LITANY OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

SEVENTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Spreading the Devotion

Our Lady of Fatima Says:
"He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world" (Our Lady of Fatima, July 13th, 1917).

Reading on the Immaculate Heart of Mary
In case we are tempted to pass over this too quickly and sweep it under the carpet, let us look a little deeper at Sister Lucia's comments on people disregarding Our Lady's and, even more importantly, God's demand for devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The damning statement of Sr. Lucia is: "The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them" (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th 1957).

Meditation
Sister Lucia comments on this, saying: "The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them" (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th 1957).

The initial, knee-jerk, response is that of Adam and Eve—which is one of deflecting attention from ourselves onto someone else! It is oldest reaction "in the book" and one that is repeated millions of times daily throughout the world. "He made me do it! She made me do it! The devil made me do it!"

“And He [God] said to him [Adam]: ‘And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?’ And Adam said: ‘The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the Earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’” (Genesis 3:11-15).

The demands of God were not obeyed and, regardless of how and why it came about, all the parties involved were punished without exception—Adam, Eve and the serpent. We see the same thing occur with the demands of Our Lord that the king of France consecrate France to the Sacred Heart. King upon king disobeyed, and 100 years later the monarchy and the country was punished by the terrible bloodshed of the 1789 French Revolution. In 1917, Our Lady said that God and Jesus wanted to establish devotion to her Immaculate Heart throughout the world. Again, pope after pope (the kings of the Church) refused to do it in the manner asked. Our Lord Himself said to Sr. Lucia:

"They did not wish to heed my request. Like the king of France, they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church; the Holy Father will have much to suffer."

But, as with France in 1789, it will not just be the king who will be punished, but also the people. The words of Our Lord--"provoking wars and persecutions of the Church"—are further developed and explained by Our Lady in her apparitions: "The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs. " (Our Lady of Good Success). "People will think of nothing but amusement ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes ... God will abandon mankind ... a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God" (Our Lady of La Salette). Whereas the world cries: "Fun! Fun! Fun!" Our Lady of Lourdes counteracts with: "Penance! Penance! Penance!"

We know all this and this knowledge rules out any possible excuses. We cannot pass the buck. We cannot say, "My parents never told me! My teacher never told me! My priest never told me!" Like Adam, Eve and the serpent; and France with its kings, queens, nobles and peasants—all will be punished: "The good will be martyred" (Fatima), "Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful" (Akita).

Devotion to the Immaculate Heart and devotion to the Holy Rosary are the LAST REMEDIES GOD IS GIVING THE WORLD, according to Sr. Lucia. God will ask us what we did about practicing devotion in our own personal life; then He will want to know what we did to promote the devotion around us, amongst family, friends, acquaintances, etc. He will point out to us the hours spent (and lost) in pursuing and promoting stupid vain earthly things. What will our answer be? Who will we blame? Though others may be worthy of blame, by failing to stir up the devotion in us, we ourselves are ultimately responsible. In the age of instant worldwide communication, there is no longer the excuse of not hearing something about Fatima and the demands of God and Our Lady. We can hide behind people, things and excuses now, like Adam and Eve in the foliage, but our nakedness will be exposed on Judgment Day.

"Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world ... God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart." He wishes to make use of human beings, like you and me, in order to achieve this! For starters, the easiest thing in the world is to send the link of this website to everyone you know! The whole purpose of this website is to spread the devotion. Doesn't take much! Perhaps you are afraid of what people will think of you? If so, that says a lot! That was probably part of the reasoning in the kings of France and the popes of the Church. Yet, as Our Lord says: "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father [and Our Lady] who is in Heaven" (Matthew 5:16). "Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies shall be of his own household [and Faith]" (Matthew 10:32-35). "The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away" (Matthew 11:12).

Tough call, eh? Your call! Your choice! Your soul! Your fate!

Prayer
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, rule over me, and teach me how to allow the Heart of Jesus to rule and triumph in me and around me, as it has ruled and triumphed in you. I consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart, and recommend to you my family, my country, and the whole human race. Please accept my consecration, dearest Mother, and use me as you wish, to accomplish your designs upon the world. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

Mindful of this consecration, we now promise to imitate thee, by the practice of Christian virtues, without regard for human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, when possible, and to offer daily five decades of the Rosary, with all our sacrifices, in the spirit of penance and reparation. Amen.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

LITANY OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

EIGHTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme: Refuge and Guide

Our Lady of Fatima Says:
"My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God." (Our Lady of Fatima, June 13th, 1917).

Reading on the Immaculate Heart of Mary
St. Bernard speaks of the guidance and protection of Mary:
"And the Virgin's name was Mary." Let us speak a little about this name, which is said to mean "star of the sea," and which so well befits the Virgin Mother. Rightly is she likened to a star. As a star emits a ray without being dimmed, so the Virgin b rought forth her Son without receiving any injury. The ray takes naught from the brightness of the star, nor the Son from His Mother's virginal integrity. This is the noble star risen out of Jacob, whose ray illumines the whole world, whose splendor shines in the heavens, penetrates the abyss, and, traversing the whole Earth, gives warmth rather to souls than to bodies, cherishing virtues, withering vices. Mary is that bright and incomparable star, whom we need to see raised above this vast sea, shining by her merits, and giving us light by her example.

"All of you, who see yourselves amid the tides of the world, tossed by storms and tempests rather than walking on the land, do not turn your eyes away from this shining star, unless you want to be overwhelmed by the hurricane. If temptation storms, or you fall upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the star: Call upon Mary! If you are tossed by the waves of pride or ambition, detraction or envy, look to the star, call upon Mary. If anger or avarice or the desires of the flesh dash against the ship of your soul, turn your eyes to Mary. If troubled by the enormity of your crimes, ashamed of your guilty conscience, terrified by dread of the judgment, you begin to sink into the gulf of sadness or the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her name be even on your lips, ever in your heart; and the better to obtain the help of her prayers, imitate the example of her life.

"Following her, thou strayest not; invoking her, thou despairest not; thinking of her, thou wanderest not; upheld by her, thou fallest not; shielded by her, thou fearest not; guided by her, thou growest not weary; favored by her, thou reachest the goal. And thus dost thou experience in thyself how good is that saying: 'And the Virgin's name was Mary.'"

Meditation
So many times we see the example of faith and confidence performing miracles in Holy Scripture! Moses' faith brings plagues to Egypt, parts the sea, a drowns the pursuing Egyptian soldiers. Elias' faith brings down fire from Heaven on a number of occasions, not to mention the many other miracles performed by himself and his successor, Eliseus. St. Elizabeth blesses Our Lady, and, inspired by the Holy Ghost, praises Our Lady's faith, saying that those things that were spoken to her shall come to pass, because she has believed—unlike Elizabeth's husband, who doubted what the Angel Gabriel foretold, and was struck dumb as a punishment. Our Lord spoke of this confidence and faith to many of those whom He healed and cured: "Do you believe I can do this .... Great is thy faith! ... Go, be it done unto thee as thou hast believed! ... Go, thy faith has saved thee! ... Go, they faith has made thee whole!"

Our Lady has promised that her immaculate Heart will be our refuge; yet she has also implied that we will have much to suffer! Is that contradictory? No! She will be our refuge in suffering. She will be our guide in suffering. She will guide us through suffering to the safe refuge of Heaven. As with St. Bernadette of Lourdes, she does not promise to make us happy in this world, but in the next. That is the guidance she offers; that is the refuge she offers. She does not offer exemption from suffering, but help in suffering. For we are all, some more and others less, we are all sinners; and so we have to suffer somewhere and sometime. We can either choose the easier form of suffering, which is that of suffering on Earth; or we can choose to suffer later, in Purgatory, or God forbid, Hell. Once again, it is our choice. Our call. Our soul. Our fate.

Prayer
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, rule over me, and teach me how to allow the Heart of Jesus to rule and triumph in me and around me, as it has ruled and triumphed in you. I consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart, and recommend to you my family, my country, and the whole human race. Please accept my consecration, dearest Mother, and use me as you wish, to accomplish your designs upon the world. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

Mindful of this consecration, we now promise to imitate thee, by the practice of Christian virtues, without regard for human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, when possible, and to offer daily five decades of the Rosary, with all our sacrifices, in the spirit of penance and reparation. Amen.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

LITANY OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

NINTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted for each day)
Theme:   In the End My Immaculate Heart Will Triumph

Our Lady of Fatima Says:
"In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph" (Our Lady of Fatima, July 13th, 1917).

Reading on the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Words of Sister Lucy spoken in 1957 to Fr. Augustine Fuentes, a Mexican priest.
"The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God or we belong to the demon; there is no middle ground."

"The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. The devil knows what it is that most offends God and which, in a short space of time, will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them."

Sister Lucy wrote to a priest nephew of hers, Fr. Jose Valinho in 1970:
"I see by your letter that you are disturbed by the confusion of our time. It is sad indeed that so many persons let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave which is sweeping the world and that they are blinded to the point of being incapable of seeing error!"

In her 1957 conversation with Fr. Fuentes, Sister Lucy said:
"Father, we should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already, very often, used these means and the world has not paid attention. That is why now it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform himself spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also the souls that God has placed on our path."

"Father, the Most Holy Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times, but she made me understand this for three reasons.

"The first reason is as follows: The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin, and a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat.

"The second reason is as follows: She said to my cousins as well as to myself, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies, which signify that there will be no others.

"The third reason is as follows: God, before He is about to chastise, exhausts all other remedies."

Meditation
Immaculate ... Immaculate ... Immaculate! Sin weakens, sinlessness strengthens. Neither the devil nor the world can resist Our Lady, because she is sinless. Adam and Eve sinned and fell in battle. Our Lady is the New Eve, who will not sin and who will triumph in battle. She is immaculate and her Immaculate Heart will triumph and the devil will lay waiting to be crushed by her heel: "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel" (Genesis 3:15). At Quito, in connection with the apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lord appeared to Mother Mariana and foretold that "the dogma of Faith of the Immaculate Conception of My Mother will be proclaimed during a time when the Church would be strongly attacked."

Already at her apparitions in Quito, Ecuador, as Our Lady of Good Success, she speaks of the battles of our day, then the triumph. She says that "Our Heavenly Father communicates His secrets to the simple of heart, and not to those whose hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge." She warns that only a "small number of souls ... will preserve the treasures of the Faith, [but] will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom ... [Souls] will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil ...The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith until if reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs ... There will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls, who will be lost ... The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent ...

"The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them ... The secular clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties ... Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road, traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger ... Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For religious persons are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, these religious persons degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed ... This will mark the arrival of My hour … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration." (Our Lady of Good Success, Quito, Ecuador, 1611 & 1634).

At La Salette, over 200 years later, Our Lady continues the warnings and prophecies for our day. Once again, she paints a picture of the battle, then speaks of the triumph. She points out that the battles are a result of sin, and that war is a just punishment for sin.

"If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it. I have suffered all of the time for the rest of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually. And the rest of you think little of this ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ...  The love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... People will think of nothing but amusement.

"The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence ... The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! ... rity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent.This will mark the arrival of My hour ... Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments..."There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration." (Our Lady of Good Success, Quito, Ecuador, 1611 & 1634).T

"God will strike in an unprecedented way. Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together.  The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ...  Blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption.

Then she speaks of the triumph: “But the children of the holy Church, the children of my Faith, my true followers, they will grow in their love for God and in all the virtues most precious to me. Blessed are the souls humbly guided by the Holy Ghost! I shall fight at their side … God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will ... I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”

At Fatima, she again goes down the same path:  "Are you willing to ... bear all the sufferings God wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort ... You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. 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. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out ...
If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated."

Then, again, she turns to the triumph: "Don't lose heart. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!"

What will help us through these battles? The last remedies, or weapons, that God has given us: Devotion to the Immaculate Heart and Devotion to the Holy Rosary. Take it or leave it! That's all there is! Your life. Your soul. Your choice. Your call. Your fate.

Prayer
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, rule over me, and teach me how to allow the Heart of Jesus to rule and triumph in me and around me, as it has ruled and triumphed in you. I consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart, and recommend to you my family, my country, and the whole human race. Please accept my consecration, dearest Mother, and use me as you wish, to accomplish your designs upon the world. Amen.

[Mention Intention]

Mindful of this consecration, we now promise to imitate thee, by the practice of Christian virtues, without regard for human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, when possible, and to offer daily five decades of the Rosary, with all our sacrifices, in the spirit of penance and reparation. Amen.

Pray:
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22ND

Please read the introductory thoughts on consecration before making your consecration

“Consecration to the Mother of God,” says Pope Pius XII, “is a total gift of self, for the whole of life and for all eternity; and a gift which is not a mere formality or sentimentality, but effectual, comprising the full intensity of the Christian life - Marian life.” This consecration, the Pope explained, “tends essentially to union with Jesus, under the guidance of Mary.”

By our consecration we promise to become dependent on Mary in all things: to offer all our prayers and oblations to God through Mary, and to seek every gift from God through Mary. And we do this with the greatest confidence. Since she is our mother, she knows our needs better than we; and since she is Queen of Heaven, she has immediate access to the infinite treasury of graces in the Kingdom of her Divine Son.

Mary is not only the Mother of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father; she is also Mother of all the Father's adopted children. As their Mother, she has been given the role of molding them into the likeness of Jesus.

Every work of grace, every increase of grace, is a work of the Holy Spirit; but as in the Incarnation of the Divine Word God used human instruments, so does He in the sanctification of each individual soul. As He chose Mary as the instrument through whom He would come to us, so He chose Mary as the instrument through whom we should go to Him.

And both the mystery of God coming to us through Mary, and our being led to God through Mary, is a work of the Holy Spirit. So when we speak of Mary's unique role in our sanctification, she is but the instrument the Holy Spirit uses in sharing with us the divine life of grace. It is in this sense that Mary fashions us into the likeness of Christ.

However, that this transformation—through Mary's help—be accomplished in a notable degree, there must be an awareness of her role in our sanctification, a confidence in her maternal concern and in her power under God, a surrender of oneself into her hands, and a fervent, frequent and confident seeking of her aid. This usually comes through some form of consecration to the Mother of God.

At Fatima Our Lady asked for consecration to her Immaculate Heart, a consecration which, among other things, calls for the devotion of the Five First Saturdays, which includes the Rosary, meditation and Communions of reparation—all done in reparation to her Immaculate Heart. It involves a striving to fulfill her requests for prayer and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for offenses against the Divine Majesty. In a word, it involves a striving to fulfill all that she asked for at Fatima, and trying to bring others to heed her requests.

Living that consecration means becoming an apostle of Mary, striving to imitate her virtues, and to place in her hands the flowers of little sacrifices of reparation for the salvation of souls, so that we might strengthen her hand against the attacks of the Evil One, and hasten the day of the triumph of her Immaculate Heart. To everyone who makes that consecration and sincerely tries to live it, the words of Our Lady to the child Lucia at Fatima would also apply: “I will never leave you; my Immaculate Heart will be your refuge, and the way that will lead you to God.”

If consecration to Mary “tends essentially to union with Jesus, under the guidance of Mary,” as Pope Pius XII pointed out, we must remember that any gradual transformation into Christ requires a gradual loving acceptance of a greater share in His redeeming Cross.So when we offer ourselves to Mary to lead us, to form us into the likeness of her Son, we are offering to let her lead us along the way of the Cross.

Our Blessed Mother's great concern is the salvation of the souls of her children, many of whom are being lost. She looks for generous souls among her children, who are willing to let her lead them close behind her Son, sharing more fully in His redemptive mission, filling up what is wanting in other members of the Body of Christ. Little by little they are transformed to see as Christ sees, and to desire what He desires. God wants to draw us closer to Himself, sharing more fully His Divine life; but we must understand what the fulfillment of this requires.

Consecration to Mary, then, requires a childlike simplicity and confidence, letting her lead one by the hand, trusting—regardless of what lies ahead—that she knows better than we what contributes most to God's glory, our sanctification and the salvation of souls.

AN ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Composed by Venerable Pope Pius XII

Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of thy Son on Earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to thee, all the people of our country and all the world.

Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as thou dost wish to accomplish thy designs in the world.

O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully.

We come with confidence to thee, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed thy own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes thy shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with thine, rule and triumph in every heart and home. Amen.

ANOTHER ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

O Mary, Virgin most powerful and Mother of Mercy, Queen of Heaven and Refuge of Sinners, we consecrate ourselves to thy Immaculate Heart. We consecrate to thee our very being and our whole life: all that we have, all that we love, all that we are.

To thee we give our bodies, our hearts, and our souls; to thee we give our homes, our families and our country. We desire that all that is in us and around us may belong to thee and may share in the benefits of thy motherly blessing.

And, that this act of consecration may be truly fruitful and lasting, we renew this day at thy feet the promises of our Baptism and our First Holy Communion.

We pledge ourselves to profess courageously and at all times the truths of our holy Faith, and to live as befits Catholics, who should be submissive to all perennial and unchanging teachings of Holy Mother Church, handed-down through the centuries since the time of Christ, and the lawful directions of the Pope and the bishops when they are in communion with those teachings, found in Tradition and Holy Scripture and in the perpetual Magisterium of the Church.

We pledge ourselves to keep the Commandments of God and His Church, in particular to keep holy the Lord’s Day. We pledge ourselves to participate in and make use of the consoling practices of the Christian religion, and above all, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy Communion, and the Holy Rosary, an important part of our lives, in so far as we shall be able to do.

Finally, we promise thee, O glorious Mother of God and loving Mother of men, to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the spreading of devotion to thy Immaculate Heart, in order to hasten and assure, through the queenly rule of thy Immaculate Heart, the coming of the kingdom of the Sacred Heart of thy adorable Son, in our own hearts and in those of all men, in our country, and in all the world, as in Heaven, so on Earth. Amen.

ANOTHER ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Based upon the "True Devotion" Act of Consecration to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort

O Virgin Mary, most powerful Mother of Mercy, Queen of Heaven and Earth, in accordance with your wish made known at Fatima, I consecrate myself today to thy Immaculate Heart. To you I entrust all that I have, all that I am. Reign over me, dearest Mother, that I may be thine in prosperity, in adversity, in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness, in life and in death.

Most compassionate Heart of Mary, Queen of Virgins, watch over my mind and heart and preserve me from the deluge of impurity, which you lamented so sorrowfully at Fatima. I want to be pure like thee. I want to atone for the many crimes committed against Jesus and thee. I want to call down upon this country and the whole world the peace of God in justice and charity.

Mindful of this consecration, I now promise to strive to imitate thee by the practice of the Christian virtues, without paying attention to human respect. I resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month when possible, and to offer daily at least five decades of the Rosary, with all my sacrifices in the spirit of penance and reparation.

I, . . ., a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in thy Heart, O Immaculate Mother, the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before.

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, in the presence of all the heavenly court, I choose thee this day for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, and to thy Immaculate Heart, as thy child and slave of love, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity. Amen.

ANOTHER ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
A combination of the above 3 consecration texts with additional inserts

O Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, most powerful Mother of Mercy, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary and Queen of Heaven and Earth, in accordance with your wish made known at Fatima and to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of thy Son on Earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, we consecrate to thee Russia, her land and her people, as far as we are able in our lowly unofficial capacity, and recommend to thy care, all the people of our country and all the world. Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as thou dost wish to accomplish thy designs in the world.

We come with confidence to thee, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed thy own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart so that we may attain to the level of devotion that Heaven requires. Make our hearts and homes thy shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with thy Immaculate Heart, rule and triumph in every nation and city, in every heart and home.

O Most Holy, Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Virgin most powerful and Mother of Mercy, and Refuge of Sinners, we wish to consecrate ourselves to thy Immaculate Heart according to the desires of God and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Who want to establish throughout the world devotion to thy Immaculate Heart. We consecrate to thee our very being and our whole life: all that we have, all that we love, all that we are.

O Immaculate Heart of Mary, I, [state your name], a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today, in thy Immaculate Heart, the vows of my Baptism. In the presence of all the heavenly court, I choose thee this day for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, and to thy Immaculate Heart, as thy child and slave of love, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior; the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; and even all my faults and failings―leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity.

Most compassionate Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Virgins, watch over my mind and heart and preserve me from the deluge of impurity, which you lamented so sorrowfully at Fatima. I want to be pure like thee. I want to atone for the many crimes committed against Jesus and thee.

I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before. Reign over me, dearest Mother, that I may be thine in prosperity and poverty, in peace and adversity, in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness, in life and in death.

By this consecration, O Immaculate Heart of Mary, we wish to entrust to thee our bodies, our hearts, and our souls; to thee we entrust our homes, our families and our country. We desire that all that is in us and around us may belong to thee and may share in the benefits of thy motherly blessing.

Intercede for us poor sinners; bring back to the Faith those who have fallen away or fallen into apostasy; convert the pagans; neutralize and convert the enemies of Holy Mother Church and mankind; protect us against the wiles of Satan and his devils; preserve sanctifying grace in our souls and obtain for us the grace of final perseverance in the Faith and in our devotion to thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.

O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; enkindle in our hearts and homes, parishes and schools, the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls.

We pledge ourselves to profess courageously and at all times the truths of our holy Faith, and to live as befits Catholics, who should be submissive to all perennial and unchanging teachings of Holy Mother Church, handed-down through the centuries since the time of Christ, and the lawful directions of the Pope and the bishops when they are in communion with those teachings, found in Tradition and Holy Scripture and in the perpetual Magisterium of the Church.

We pledge ourselves to keep the Commandments of God and His Church, in particular to keep holy the Lord’s Day. We pledge ourselves to participate in and make use of the consoling practices of the Christian religion, and above all, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy Communion, and the Holy Rosary an important part of our lives. We desire and promise, as far as we are able, to pray the Rosary regularly, faithfully, devotedly and meditatively. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month when possible, and to offer daily at least five decades of the Rosary, with all our sacrifices in the spirit of penance and reparation.

Finally, we promise thee, O glorious Mother of God and loving Mother of men, to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the spreading of devotion to thy Immaculate Heart, in order to hasten and assure, through the queenly rule of thy Immaculate Heart, the coming of the kingdom of the Sacred Heart of thy adorable Son, in our own hearts and in those of all men, in our country, and in all the world, as in Heaven, so on Earth. Amen.