| Apostolic Foundation of
the Church established by Christ Himself, (2) the Real Presence of Jesus, the
Savior, in the Holy Eucharist and our need for Confession and Penance, (3) the
doctrine that we need both the grace from God and our own efforts for our salvation, and (4) the essential role of the Blessed Mother for our salvation. This is a battle of
destiny for the human race, predicted in both the Old Testament (Genesis 3) and
the New Testament (Apocalypse 12) ?one that will end in a decisive way when the
Woman crushes the head of the serpent with her heel.
The battle has been further intensifying since Guadalupe and
the Reformation as the devil has been frantically spreading errors and moral
decays, while the Blessed Mother has been mobilizing her children by repeatedly
visiting them with important messages and signs ?in Paris, France (1830),
LaSalette, France (1846), Lourdes, France (1858), Pontmain, France (1871),
Fatima, Portugal (1917), Beauraing, Belgium (1932), Banneux, Belgium (1933),
Akita, Japan (1973-1981), and more. These apparitions are not isolated, random
occurrences but an integrated series of Our Heavenly Mother’s efforts to carry
out God’s Will to defeat the devil and his forces. The Church has also been
marching together with Mary by proclaiming the Marian doctrines: her
Motherhood of God in 431 (The Council of Ephesus), her Perpetual
Virginity in 649 (The Lateran Council), her Immaculate
Conception in 1854 (Pope Pius IX), and her Assumption in 1950 (Pope Pius XII).
In this climactic period of human history, the devil’s
influence is so pervasive all over the world, while the Blessed Mother’s efforts
to help us are also so intense that she sometimes manifests her motherly love
and sorrows by shedding tears of blood through her statues. The damages by the
devil and his forces are so horrible, with recurring wars, "ethnic cleansing",
drugs, pornography, violence, broken families, abortions, and moral laxity
almost everywhere. The devil’s influence has even penetrated the Church, eroding
the faith and morals from within.
The devil has been inducing humans to become preoccupied with
their selfish concerns and the things of the world and, thus, become oblivious
to their spiritual needs. He leads people to forget that God is the only true
source of Truth, Life and Love and that God alone is the almighty Creator and
Lord of the universe. The devil induces people to falsely believe that faith and
morality are private matters and there exists no major spiritual and moral
crisis in the current world. He leads people to keep their minds closed to the
authentic teachings of the Church and the true messages from the Blessed
Mother.
God willed that the Savior be given to the world through Mary
and also that we go to the Savior through her. In this most critical and
dangerous phase of human history, Mary, who is our true Mother in Heaven, is not
only offering us protection and care but also calling us to join her in the war
against the devil to end the evils in the world and revitalize the Church. That
we may participate in this war on her side, Mary wants us to consecrate
ourselves totally to her Immaculate Heart, which means that we place all we are
and all we have under Mary’s discretion for her intention. She wants us to offer
up even the trivial things in our lives, because anything can be precious and
have an everlasting value, if it is done with love.
A life consecrated to Mary also requires that we maintain a
loving relationship with people around us, forgiving those who hurt us and
respecting everyone as a child of God, who has been invited by God to join His
Kingdom. A Saint once said that our love for God could grow only in proportion
to our love for our fellow humans. Practicing love also means that we are
faithful to each other and carry out our duties.
The heart of our consecration to Mary’s Immaculate Heart should
be fervent prayers and reparations for the conversion of the world. When we
offer up our prayers and sacrifices to God together with Mary, she can do
wonders in converting sinners and mitigating God’s wrath over our offenses,
because Jesus will not refuse any of His Mother’s requests. In Fatima, Our Lady
said, "Many poor sinners go to hell because they have no one to pray or make
sacrifice for them." Also we need to be poor in spirit. We must detach our
minds and hearts not only from material possessions but also from spiritual
possessions, realizing that we are not the source of anything that is good and
that glory does not belong to us but to God. Even when we hear words of praises,
we must remember that we are unworthy servants of God, who make many mistakes
every day. We also need to keep our eyes open to God’s goodness in everything and be grateful to Him even for our pains and setbacks, because the value of a gift is proportional to the dignity of the giver and God can draw good out of
anything. Offering up physical and emotional pains to God as reparation is an
act of love, trust and self-denial.
Another essential mark of a consecrated life is the zeal for
spreading the Catholic Faith. There are countless people in this world who are
starving for the light of truth and love from God and yet have no one to bring
that light to them. At the same time, this world is being inundated with
information and bad examples that promote materialism, moral decay, and all
kinds of errors and prevent people from recognizing the truth in the Catholic
Church. This can be effectively overcome, only if more and more of us
participate actively in spreading the authentic teachings of the Church and the
true messages of Mary. In Naju, Korea, Our Lady said:
"Spread my messages of love vigorously to all the children so
that the lost Love of God may be restored in every corner of the world."
(November 11, 1990)
Mary is the Mother of God, the Mother of the Church, and the Queen of Heaven,
but her way is one of humility and love. So, she is not looking for greatness in
us but for little, total love of a trusting child. She wants us to firmly
believe that Jesus and Mary are always with us, waiting for our response to the
burning love in their Hearts.
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