TradCatKnight: Mary’s Promise, 2017

“Do not lose heart, I will never forsake you! My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 13, 1917)

I awoke this morning to see the sky that achingly beautiful blue that fills my soul with longing for heaven. Rosary in hand I thought of St. Teresa’s Hail Mary. She appeared to one of her devoted sisters of Carmel to tell her that if she could, she would return to earth  to say just one Hail Mary, so effective is that prayer. And so throughout the day, I pray “St. Teresa’s Hail Mary” for her.
Just think a moment — St. Teresa of Avila, that great doctor of the Church, came back to say, … what?
 

To explain her mystical insight in the Mansions? No. 
She returned to urge her sisters to pray the simple, loving Hail Mary. 
Dear readers, Our Lady’s promise to us is simply this: Her Immaculate Heart, that is, her most pure and perfect will, to strengthen us and lead us through this maelstrom of the spiritual Chastisement of the Church today.
Today, we have a pope who appears to be an apostate, and who misleads the faithful that contraception is allowed in some instances, that some couples who co-habit without marriage have the grace of marriage while many who have been sacramentally married do not,  who never misses the opportunity to attack the faith of those who still listen to him. Then the devil rejoices! This is the Passion of the Bride of Christ; do not fail Our Lord now.
Although the hour is late, we must struggle in this wreckage of a world with all its dreary temptations. The grace – and with it the graciousness – of the Christian era has receded, leaving a most barren landscape, where lost souls wander. Look around you – how few believe in Christ or His Church; even fewer know of Our Lady of Fatima and even less actually obey her. 
 

It is 100 years after Our Lady’s appearances, and how few Catholics are aware of the simple, effective means God has provided for our salvation and that of those entrusted to us.

Briefly then, in summary: Set aside for the moment, sentiment. Satan deceives us by sentiment. With it he is herding poor souls to hell in unprecedented numbers. The internet is filled with sites proclaiming a “salvation” that appeals to our need to feel good, to be comforted. Yet we have no right to be comforted when the very Bride of Christ, His beloved Church is hanging, stripped and tortured on the Cross. Those who offer us comfort in false mercy blaspheme the Cross.
We must perfect our wills. The essence of the love that must transform us is in the the fusion of our will with the Immaculata’s. It must burn brightly within us and through us in all that we do, all that we choose to avoid doing, our sacrifices, penances. We consecrate our hearts to her Immaculate Heart, that is, our wills to her pure and perfect will. 
To be very clear: what is necessary is not that we engage in complex spiritual programs or discover new “revelations” or new devotions; no, only one thing is necessary: each moment, in the midst of whatever distractions beset us, we must form the desire to unite our will with our Mother’s. Then, when she has our attention, she will show us the way. This is the way of spiritual infancy, of childlike trust in our Mother.
It is this intention, this movement of the will that is the whole point here. God sees our intentions. They are so precious to Him. They mean more than heroic deeds accomplished without this love, for whatever comes from the pure heart of the Immaculata is most precious to Him. So give yourself, heart, mind, will to Our Lady and she will offer your imperfect deeds to her Son in loving reparation and in petition for the conversion of poor sinners.

In this time, we must avail ourselves of the simplest, most effective methods. Sister Lucia assured us the remedies asked for are the Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That devotion means practicing the total surrender of our will to hers at every moment throughout the day, offering all to her, according to her pure and perfect will.
Resolve now to be her child! Cast all else aside and give yourself without reserve to our most pure and perfect, most loving and merciful Mother!
Our Lord Jesus Christ knows how difficult these times are for us, and that is why Our Lady is here, offering us her Immaculate Heart, her perfect will to support our imperfect one. Oh, I want so badly to help you to see there is all of heaven for you in your next Hail Mary! Give her your heart, give it to her regardless of the feeling of desolation, even the repugnance that may beset you. These temptations of the devil are allowed by God to chasten and strengthen our wills. Again, sentiment has no place here.