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The Immaculate Heart of Mary
“To whoever embraces this devotion, I promise salvation.” Our Lady of Fatima
I meditated on an article written by Father Michel Simoulin that was featured in Le Seignadou (Sign of God), newsletter of the priory in Montreal de l’Aude, France, to conclude the month of October that is the month of Our Lady of the Rosary.
“Fatima will be for devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary what Paray-le-Monial was for devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Fatima, in a certain way, is the continuation, or rather, the conclusion of Paray-le-Monial: Fatima combines these two Hearts that God Himself united in the divine work of Redemption.” — Cardinal Cerejeira, Patriarch of Lisbon, May 30, 1948
Development of Devotion
We must first agree on what the word “heart” means. The Bible talks about the heart to express the innermost place in a man, the seat of his interior being: his feelings, his urges and his desires, but also his memory, will and intellect: one knows well only with the heart. The heart is the entire person, his “secret garden” that no one knows except God alone. What God seeks is the heart: this is why the heart is the place where God allows Himself to be found, since God dwells in the human heart. Thus to speak about the Heart of Jesus is obviously not to discuss His cardiac health. Nevertheless, it…
