Fatima and the Immaculate Heart

Q: What did Our Lady say about her heart at Fatima?

A: The following statements were recorded in interviews with Lúcia:

"Look, my Daughter," Our Lady said to Lúcia on December 10, 1925: "at my heart, surrounded with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce me. " According to Lúcia, Our Lady is brighter than the Sun; her clothes shine in white with golden hems, her face, hands, feet shine in skin color; her heart shines in red. However, the Vatican II Council document On the Church (Lumen Gentium), paragraph 58, recalls her heart (repeated similarly in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 964):

"In faith she bore her union with her Son, even to the cross, where she stood, in accord with the divine plan, greatly grieved with her only-begotten Son, and joined herself to His sacrifice with a Motherly Heart, consenting to the immolation of the victim that had been born of her; to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: 'Woman, behold your son'."

On June 13, 1917 at Fátima, Portugal, Our Lady told Lúcia that she was to remain on the earth for two specific purposes: (1) she was to make Mary known and loved, and (2) Jesus wanted to establish in the world the devotion to her Immaculate Heart.

Our Lady assured Lúcia: "my Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God." Thus, if we devote ourselves to her Immaculate Heart, Mary will lead us to her Son, Jesus Christ and we will be on the way to Heaven.

Finally, she showed her Immaculate Heart, encircled and pierced by thorns and with flames to the three shepherd children. They understood that the Immaculate Heart of Mary is outraged by the sins of humanity and seeks reparation.

On July 13 of the same year, Our Lady told a secret to the children. This secret consists of three distinct parts, all of which are related to each other. The first part is the vision of hell. The second part is the need and urgency to establish the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. After showing the children hell, she said: "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." So let us not hesitate to wear the Brown Scapular as Our Lady of Mount Carmel told St. Simon Stock: "Whoever wears this scapular shall not suffer eternal flames." Also, we need to make sacrifices to convert poor sinners. Besides the vision of hell, the second part shows the urgency of devotion to her Immaculate Heart: wars, famine, persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, Our Lady made two specific requests: (1) the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and (2) the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.

Reparation is explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God." (CCC 1414) Our Lady promised the conversion of Russia, peace to the world and the triumph of her Immaculate Heart. The third part of the secret was later confided to the Holy Father and is now buried down in the secret archives of the Vatican.

The collegial consecration of Russia was accomplished on March 24, 1984 since the Holy Father invited all bishops of the world to perform the consecration on that day. We will still need to answer Our Lady's request for Communion of Reparation on five First Saturdays. On December 10, 1925, Our Lady gave the following conditions: on the first Saturday of five consecutive months we confess, we receive Holy Communion, we recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep her company while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to her.

On February 15, 1926, Our Lord said to Lúcia that many begin five First Saturdays but do not complete them. He also said that he will be pleased if we can make five fervent First Saturdays with the intention to make reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Scripture says: "Know, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other gods. You must keep his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today." (Dt 4:39-40) Mary's Immaculate Heart committed no sin and was preserved from original sin. Shouldn't we ponder this admirable masterpiece of God, her fully human Heart, and heed especially her words on October 13, 1917: "Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already so much offended." These words were deeply engraved on Lúcia's heart and should be engraved in our hearts.