The second part of the “secret” points out the most effective means of avoiding hell. It consists in consecrating the human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Holy Father John Paul II explains: consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means returning it to the foot of Christ’s Cross. It means consecrating the world to the pierced Heart of the Savior, bringing it back to the source of its redemption. Redemption is always greater than man’s sin or the ‘sin of the world’. The power of redemption is infinitely greater than all the evil that man and the world are capable of committing. Consecration to Mary means accepting her help in offering ourselves and all of our race to the one Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

It is the Blessed Mother who leads us most surely along the path of faith, in a spirit of boundless trust in her Son Jesus Christ, so that, by the power of his infinite Mercy, He may free us from the slavery of sin. I desire trust on the part of my creatures – says Jesus to St. Faustina – Let there be no soul so weak and sinful as to fear approaching me. Even should its sins outnumber the grains of sand on earth, they will be swallowed up in the abyss of my mercy… Man will not know peace until he returns to the source of my mercy.

We are approaching the last days. This – observes Sister Lucia – the Blessed Mother told her three times. In light of this, our most effective recourse is to consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate Heart, and pray the rosary. Our Lady also observed that since all the means of salvation made available to us had not been accepted, she would offer up her own tears.

The phenomenon of Our Lady’s pictures and statues shedding tears, so commonly seen in recent years, is thus another sign and a warning calling us to return to our senses and to God. Before the hour of justice comes – observed Jesus to Sister Faustina – I shall grant the world a period of mercy. Can we go on being insensitive and indifferent to Our Blessed Mother’s warnings and requests?

 

Dear readers! Our Lady requests that every one of us participate in the task of saving our loved ones our country, the whole world, and ourselves. We know that only Christ’s love can overcome the great menace of evil that looms over the human race. But Christ needs our agreement in order to act through us and reach the greatest sinners with His love. Thus we are called to unite ourselves with the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She will teach us how to live with trust and a lively faith. This trust is to express itself in:

• turning from our sins and living a life according to the moral norms and teachings of the Universal Church;

• observing the first Fridays and Saturdays of the month in reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary for our own and others’ sins;

• going to Confession once a month and frequent reception of Jesus in the Eucharist; also, where possible, in fasting on bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Heeding the request of Our Lady of Fatima is our one recourse. Sister Lucia explains that the penance required by God means living a just life according to the commandments of God, and making sacrifices of all things and offering them to God. He desires that all souls understand penance in this way, since many people’s understanding of penance is limited to austere acts of mortification. They do not see the power and need of working on oneself daily, in the most ordinary ways. People live their lives as though they were on summer holidays, and remain in sin. As I was praying in the chapel all night from Thursday to Friday, God told me: ‘Offering up daily duties done and keeping my commandments – that is the kind of penance I require’.

 

A call to this kind of penance is particularly timely and pressing these days when we have lost our sense of the spirit of sacrifice and neglect the responsibilities peculiar to our vocation in life. Rather than face reality squarely, we tend to shirk responsibility. In the case of marriages, this spirit of sacrifice means husband and wife jointly bearing the burdens of everyday life.