Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: the great promise

In 1944 Pope Pius XII extended the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the whole Church, which until that date had been celebrated only in some places and with a special concession.

The liturgical calendar sets the feast as an optional Memory the day after the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (mobile celebration). The closeness of the two feasts leads back to St. John Eudes, who, in his writings, never separated the two Hearts, of Jesus and Mary: he underlines the profound union of the mother with the Son of God made flesh, whose life it pulsed rhythmically for nine months with that of Mary's heart.

The liturgy of the feast underlines the spiritual work of the heart of the first disciple of Christ and presents Mary as reaching out, in the depths of her heart, to listening and deepening the Word of God.

Mary meditates in her heart the events in which she is involved together with Jesus, trying to penetrate the mystery she is experiencing and this makes her discover the Will of the Lord. With this way of being, Mary teaches us to listen to the Word of God and to feed on the Body and Blood of Christ, as spiritual food for our soul, and invites us to seek the Lord in meditation, prayer and silence, to understand and fulfill his holy Will.

Finally, Mary teaches us to reflect on the events of our daily life and to discover in them God who reveals himself, inserting himself into our history.

The devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary received a strong impulse after the apparitions of the Madonna in Fatima in 1917, in which the Madonna specifically asked to consecrate herself to her Immaculate Heart. This consecration is based on the words of Jesus on the cross, who said to the disciple John: "son, behold your mother!". To consecrate oneself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means to be guided by the Mother of God to live fully the baptismal promises and to reach an intimate communion with her Son Jesus. Whoever wishes to welcome this most precious gift, choose a date in which to consecrate and prepare, for at least a month, with the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary and frequent participation in the Holy Mass.

THE GREAT PROMISE OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY:

THE FIRST FIVE SATURDAYS OF THE MONTH

Our Lady appearing in Fatima on June 13, 1917, among other things, said to Lucia:

“Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wants to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world ”.

Then, in that apparition, he showed the three seers his Heart crowned with thorns: the Immaculate Heart of the Mother embittered by the sins of the children and by their eternal damnation!

Lucia says:

“On December 10, 1925, the Most Holy Virgin appeared to me in the room and beside her a Child, as if suspended on a cloud. Our Lady held her hand on his shoulders and, simultaneously, in the other hand she held a Heart surrounded by thorns. At that moment the Child said: "Have compassion on the Heart of Your Most Holy Mother wrapped in the thorns that ungrateful men continually confiscate from him, while there is no one who does acts of reparation to snatch from Her".

And immediately the Blessed Virgin added:

“Look, my daughter, my Heart surrounded by thorns that ungrateful men continually inflict with blasphemies and ingratitudes. At least console me and let me know this:

To all those who for five months, on the first Saturday, will confess, receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep me company for fifteen minutes meditating on the Mysteries, with the intention of offering me repairs, I promise to assist them in the hour of death with all the graces necessary for salvation ".

This is the great Promise of the Heart of Mary, which is placed side by side with that of the Heart of Jesus.

To obtain the promise of the Heart of Mary the following conditions are required:

1. Confession, made within the previous eight days, with the intention of repairing the offenses caused to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. If one forgets to make such an intention in confession, he can formulate it in the following confession.

2. Communion, made in God's grace with the same intention of confession.

3. Communion must be made on the first Saturday of the month.

4. Confession and Communion must repeat for five consecutive months, without interruption, otherwise one must start again.

5. Recite the crown of the Rosary, at least the third part, with the same intention of confession.

6. Meditation: for a quarter of an hour to keep company with the Blessed Virgin, meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary.

A confessor of Lucia asked her why the number five. She asked Jesus, who replied:

“It is a question of repairing the five offenses directed to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

1 - The blasphemies against his Immaculate Conception.

2 - Against his virginity.

3 - Against her divine motherhood and the refusal to recognize her as the mother of men.

4 - The work of those who publicly infuse indifference, contempt and even hatred against this Immaculate Mother into the hearts of the little ones.

5 - The work of those who offend her directly in her sacred images.

To the Immaculate Heart of Mary for every first Saturday of the month

Immaculate heart of Mary, here are You before the children, who with their affection want to repair the many offenses brought to you by many who, being your children too, dare to insult you and insult you. We ask you for forgiveness for these poor sinners our brothers blinded by guilty ignorance or passion, as we ask you for forgiveness also for our shortcomings and ingratitudes, and as a tribute to reparation we firmly believe in your excellent dignity at the highest privileges, in all dogmas that the Church has proclaimed, even for those who do not believe.

We thank you for your countless benefits, for those who don't recognize them; we trust you and we pray to you also for those who do not love you, who do not trust your maternal goodness, who do not resort to you.

We gladly accept the sufferings that the Lord will send us, and we offer you our prayers and sacrifices for the salvation of sinners. Convert many of your prodigal children and open them, as a safe refuge, your Heart, so that they can transform the ancient insults into tender blessings, indifference into fervent prayer, hatred into love.

Grant that we do not have to offend God our Lord, already so offended. Obtain for us, for your merits, the grace to always remain faithful to this spirit of reparation, and to imitate your Heart in the purity of conscience, in humility and meekness, in love for God and neighbor.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, praise, love, blessing to you: pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen