Sr Lucia, one of the children who saw Our Lady at Fatima, tells us that during the second apparition at Fatima (13 June 1917) Our Lady said: “Jesus wishes to use you in order to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. I promise salvation to those who embrace it; and these souls will be beloved of God like flowers arranged by me to adorn His throne.” “Upon saying these last words,” reports Lucia, “she opened her hands, and for the second time she communicated to us the reflection of that intense light. We could see ourselves in it, as if immersed in God. Jacinta and Francisco seemed to be in the part of this light that went up toward heaven, and I in the part that was cast toward the ground.”
“In front of Our Lady’s right hand there was a heart encircled by thorns that seemed to pierce it. We understood that it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, insulted by the sins of humanity and which desires reparation.” [1] In other words, Our Lady formally promises heaven to whoever practices this devotion! She is categorical; she promises salvation to whoever embraces this devotion to her Immaculate Heart.
This promise was made to Lucia, to Jacinta and to Francisco, but also to all humanity. It is made to us. The promise applies to all those who down the years have come to know it and love it. This promise is made wherever it echoes around the world. At this moment, it is made to you who are reading about it.
Well, then, let’s immediately accept! It is Our Lady who is promising. It is as though she herself were saying to us: “I want you in heaven with me. But I want you all the more if you accept this promise of my Immaculate Heart. Come!”
“Jesus wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world.”
It seems that Our Lady strives to invent ever more ways to get us into Heaven. But there is something perverse in modern man. He is much more likely to be interested in a health insurance policy than the most magnificent of supernatural promises.
Look at the beautiful comparison Our Lady made. She says of the souls who embrace this devotion that they will be placed by her around the throne of God, just as a lady would place flowers on the Blessed Sacrament altar. It is a beautiful thing to imagine our soul put in front of God like a flower! Could anything be better than this? Alas, there are many who hear this and only yawn.
“I promise salvation to those who embrace it; and these souls will be beloved of God, like flowers arranged by me to adorn His throne.”
1. [The Apparitions and Message of Fatima According to the Manuscripts of Sr Lucia, Vera Cruz, Sao Paulo, 1989, pp 40-41]
