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Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
01 August 2019
“In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” Our Lady of Fatima
The month of August is dedicated in the Catholic Church to the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This devotion is closely linked to the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which is celebrated by the Church in the month of June. The Church also celebrates two significant Marian feasts in this month; 'The Feast of Assumption of Mary' and the 'Queenship of Mary' making this month a complete devotion to the Blessed Virgin. As part of this devotion, we are called to firstly make reparation for the sins and offences made by mankind against the Immaculate Heart of Mary and her Beloved Son followed by consecrating us and all that we are to her Immaculate Heart hoping in return to receive the honor of being united to Her Beloved Son Jesus.
Mother Mary was the most conformed among all creatures to Jesus. Rightly so, of all the devotions, that which most conforms us to Jesus is our devotion to His Holy Mother. The more a soul is consecrated to Mary, the more it is consecrated and conformed to Jesus. Hence the Church devotes an entire month to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Though this devotion has been in practice since early times of the Church it has gained greater impetus after the messages given by Our Lady to the shepherd children during the apparitions at Fatima in 1917.
In the second apparition, Our Lady told them that Jesus wished to establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She assured Lucia, one of the seers “I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.” As the Blessed Virgin spoke her hands radiated the intense light. In front of her right palm was a heart encircled by thorns which pierced it. This was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, outraged by the sins of humanity and seeking reparation. At the third apparition In July 1917, She gave them a vision of hell saying “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“ She asked for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays to help make amends for the offenses committed against her heart by the blasphemies and ingratitude of men.
Accordingly, on 31 October 1942, Pope Pius XII, consecrated the human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin. On 8 December 1942, the Pontiff officially and solemnly declared this consecration in a ceremony in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.