Chapter Seven
CONSECRATION TO THE TWO HEARTS
One thing is obvious from the past three hundred years of world maturation: God is leading us to see the Hearts of Jesus and Mary together in the final effort to destroy the reign of Satan.
Due to St. John Eudes, the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was celebrated for the first time in 1648, followed by the Sacred Heart in 1672, just a year before the appearance of the Sacred Heart at Paray in God's "final effort." (The combined "Feast of the Sacred Hearts" was instituted in 1846.)
Speaking on the centenary of the consecration of the world to the Sacred
Heart by Leo XIII, on June 4, 1999, Pope John Paul II said:
"Following St. John Eudes, who taught us to contemplate Jesus, the
Heart of hearts, in the Heart of Mary, and to make them both known and loved,
devotion to the Sacred Heart has developed in the world particularly because
of St. Margaret Mary at Paray le Monial."20
A chosen soul with special insights into the devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was given to know that among the "greatest graces," which Pope Leo XIII foresaw (from the consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart), was the Divine intervention at Fatima "to establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the devotion to the Flame of Love of both their Hearts."
"To contemplate Jesus, the Heart of hearts, in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and to make Them Both known and loved," as the Pope said on June 4, 1999, is the unfolding of God's "final effort" to wrest mankind from the reign of Satan.
Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is now required by God "so that many souls will be saved" and that through this Immaculate Heart will come the triumph of the Heart of Jesus.
We can understand Fatima, and understand where we are in the "Fatima week," only if we see the Fatima message indeed as an unfolding of the message of Jesus from Paray le Monial where St. Margaret Mary was inspired to honor the Hearts of Jesus and Mary as ONE Heart-as have other saints, such as St. Jane de Chantal, St. Francis de Sales, St. John Eudes.
Not Equal but One Flame of Love
St. John Eudes was perhaps the first to speak of the "Sacred Heart of Mary." He was born in France in 1601, forty six years before St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. He had a major role in the unfolding of God's plan for consecration to the Two Hearts. He composed the Mass and office of the Immaculate Heart and the Mass and office of the Sacred Heart. And he joined the Two Hearts. He spoke of them as one.21 (See inside front cover.)
Also in the beautiful prayer taught by God the Father to Mother Eugenia, we say: "I come to You with Jesus and Mary to ask..." And then after making petitions, we say: "In union with Their Hearts, I offer You sacrifices, etc."
The words may give us pause. But the reality, when experienced, is transcendentally beautiful. It is the realization that the Hearts of Jesus and Mary are two flames which God has joined together into one great flame of love for Him and for men. And we, poor creatures, can plunge the little love we have into that great flame where it, too, becomes one with it.
When we grasp this, we no longer pause. We take the leap of love. We are no longer worried about speaking of the Sacred Hearts as one. We know this does not mean that the Two Hearts are equal. Indeed, one is human and the other Divine. It merely means that the flames of Their love are as one flame. And we, as humans, identifying ourselves with the human heart of Mary, enter into that Flame of Love to be truly one with the Heart of Our Savior.
The words of Our Lord to St. John Eudes seem to say it all: "I have given you this admirable Heart of My dear Mother to be one with yours, so that you might have a heart worthy of Mine."
This is not a matter of our choice, but of God's choice. This is not a matter of our planning as the way to become intimate with our Father God, but of His.
We deserve chastisement. God's final effort to save us is through love.
Now Two Hearts
That is why His final effort began with the revelation of the flaming Heart of Jesus and why it comes to a climax now in the revelation of the flaming Heart of Mary.
At Pellevoisin, in 1876, Our Lady made a new revelation of devotion to the Two Hearts, referring to the Scapular (the sign of consecration to Her Immaculate Heart) as "My livery and that of My Son."
It is interesting to note that 1876 was the year Our Lady foretold the death of St. Catherine Labouré, to whom She had revealed the medal of the Two Hearts, and in that same year, She brought back from the brink of death another messenger of a new revelation of the Sacred Hearts: Estelle Faguette. One has the impression of a time-calibrated unfolding of God's final effort, the unfolding of the Sacred Hearts.
Referring to the message of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary, Our Lady told Estelle: "For a long time the treasures of My Son have been opened." (Indeed, for two hundred years!) Then, She invited Estelle to kiss the Scapular on which appeared the Sacred Heart, "complete and as usually represented according to the revelations of the Sacred Heart at Paray le Monial."22 And kissing the Scapular on Our Lady's breast, Estelle was intensely aware of the Heart of Mary. She felt one in the flame of Love of the Sacred Hearts.
Now, more than another hundred years later, is the world ready for this? Can such a great effort of love win our hearts?
We Have Deserved Chastisement
We were told at Fatima, in 1917, that if we ignored the merciful gift and requests of God's Love, we would suffer the second world war (we were informed even of the time it would begin). We were told the world would be engulfed in the spread of militant atheism from Russia throughout the entire world "fostering further wars," that millions would be persecuted and martyred, and that the Pope would suffer.
We ignored the requests. We deserved it all. We even merit the last prophecy not yet fulfilled: "Several entire nations will be annihilated."
But, through the Immaculate Heart, a great promise has been made. It is a promise that God's final effort to wrest mankind from Satan's empire will NOW succeed! It was confirmed by a great miracle. That promise is: "Finally My Immaculate Heart will triumph. Russia will be converted and an era of peace will be granted to mankind."
And, it is not too late-until we are in the Bastille with no one to hear us.
The Promise
At this moment, we should be speaking of exactly what needs to be done to obtain this great promise. But first let us gaze at the very wonder of it.
It will be the greatest epoch in the history of man. Some say it will resemble Heaven on earth. According to the recognized revelations of Luisa Picaretta, it will be a fulfillment of the prayer of two thousand years to the Father: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."
We saw a glimpse of it in the very first apparition at Fatima. In the very light of Her Heart, Our Lady revealed what the coming triumph will be.
Light streamed from Her Heart causing the children of Fatima to feel "lost in God," and to cry out: "O Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, My God, I love Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament!"
In that light from Her Heart, the children understood and were overwhelmed by the Love of the Eucharistic Heart of Her Son. Blessed Francis, the nine-year-old visionary of Fatima, from that time had but one thought: to console the hidden Jesus TRULY present in our tabernacles, for Whom the angel of Fatima had asked prayers of reparation "for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended."
The effect of that light from the Heart of Mary was a certain sign of the coming triumph of Grace in the world which, at the time of the revelations of the Sacred Heart, had been prophesied by St. Grignion de Montfort. He said that as Jesus came the first time through Mary, so he would bring about His triumph through Her.
As the Two Hearts were united at the word of an angel and united on Calvary, so They would be united in turning back the tidal wave of evil and bring the world into the new era of a peace-a peace flowing from their combined Flame of Love.
The first step to be taken is our act of consecration. "As we near the third millennium," Pope John Paul II said in the message for the centenary of the collegial consecration to the Sacred Heart on June 4, 1999, "'the love of Christ impels us ' (2 Cor. 5:14) to make known and love the Savior Who shed His Blood for mankind. 'For their sake, I consecrate Myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth ' (John, 17:19)."
Again, the Pope seems to confirm what we have been saying about the unfolding of God's final effort to save man from self destruction by consecration to His Merciful Love, manifested in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The Consecration
This consecration, as we have already said, means simply the choice away from the love of sin to the love of these Hearts which, for love of us, together on Calvary, overcame the punishment of original sin and opened the gates of Heaven.
Consecration is asked of the world, of nations, of dioceses, of families, and of individuals to these Two Hearts. We are commanded to renew these consecrations in some formal way at least once a year. It has been suggested that an appropriate day for this annual renewal would be on the feasts of their Hearts, or on the Sunday immediately thereafter.
In his consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pope John Paul II prayed:
"Before you, Mother of Christ, before your Immaculate Heart, I today, together with the whole Church, unite myself with our Redeemer in this consecration for the world and for people for whom only His Divine Heart has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation."
The consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is related to consecration to the Sacred Heart in an ineffable manner. It can be grasped in Divine light, but cannot be grasped by mere reason. It can be explained only for the very same reason that God created us in the first place: Love.
Summary of the Requests of Fatima
By "consecration," we are set aside. We make a choice to belong to what is pure and holy. And ultimately it is the personal consecration, the setting aside of ourselves, which will weigh down the scales of Divine Justice, and prevent the annihilation of various nations.
For this personal response, one would like to insert here the entire text of at least three other books adequately to explain the devotions Our Lady held out to us at Fatima as aids to be "set aside"-the Scapular and the Rosary.
But what was said in many hundreds of pages, we will try to say in a few paragraphs:
The first request of Our Lady of Fatima is sanctification of daily duty, and She offers especially two devotions (the Scapular and the Rosary) to help us. They make all the difference.
Just Offer What We Already Do!
Daily duty is simply keeping the commandments. Many people, even without religion, feel compelled, often under penalty of civil law, to keep them. But Our Lady asks us to offer up the sacrifice this effort requires to obtain graces for those who do not keep them.
After showing a vision of hell, "where the souls of poor sinners go," She said: "To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace."
Souls will be saved not just by consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is facilitated and more completely fulfilled through the devotions of the Scapular and the Rosary, but especially by the special fruit of that consecration: A joining with Our Lady in making reparation for the sins of the world.
For this, Our Lady provides a special, very powerful practice, which She asks us to perform only five times in our life.
This and other books by John M. Haffert
God's
Final Effort | Too Late? | The Day I Didn't Die