The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is August 22nd. When we think of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we call to mind the Blessed Virgin Mary’s interior life. Mary’s heart exudes unfathomably immense love for humanity, and, she is the source by which the gift of grace is given to us by God. Sadly, Mary’s Immaculate Heart has experienced innumerable blasphemies and offences committed against it.

On December 10 1925, Our Lady appeared to 18 year old Sister Lucia (the oldest and the last of the 3 shepherd children of Fatima) in her convent in Pontevedra, Spain. While Mary held her Immaculate Heart surrounded with thorns, the Child Jesus floated on a cloud and said: “Have pity on the Heart of your most Holy Mother. It is covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment.”

Our Lady, with immense sadness, placed her hand on Lucia’s shoulder and spoke these words:

“Look, My daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you at least try to console me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who on the first Saturday of five consecutive months shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to Me.”