1 June 2013 The greatest promise of Mary ‘The gates of hell will be closed on the First Saturdays of each month. Nobody will go to hell on those days. However, the gates of Purgatory will be open. So many souls will be able to reach heaven. It is the result of the merciful Love of My Son -- It is the reward of these souls who venerate My Immaculate Heart.’ Ref: “Imprimatur:” Local bishop of Hungary. Taken from the “Revue de Coeur Immacule Reine de la Paix”, Vol. I, No. 4 “Alliance of the Two Hearts” The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary beat as one in perfect harmony with the Will of the Father. The devotion that has developed from these Two Hearts — the Communion of Reparation, is very close to the heart of Pope John Paul II. (Pope John Paul II, “Message”, 22 Sept 1986) The revelations about the Two Hearts “are not public revelations or part of the apostolic deposit of faith to which we are committed as dogmas for the sake of salvation. ‘... still the devotions inspired by these private revelations draw upon the great mystery of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Redemption which are at the very center of our Christian faith’ and which we hold in common with the first disciples of Jesus Christ and with Mary herself. They are at the very heart of the hierarchy of truths in Catholic teaching which Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism mentions.” (“Decree on Ecumenism” no. 11) The opening of the heart of Christ by the lance is the fulfillment of the prophet Zechariah’s prophecy: “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.” (Jn 19:37; Zech 12:10) “We are sinners and thus we pierce the Heart of Jesus. We must go back to that Heart, with sorrow for our sins.” (“1988 Fatima Consensus Document”, 22) Since Mary intimately shared in the passion and sufferings of her Son due to our sins, our reparation must reach out to her; for her heart is intimately linked with the Heart of Christ Himself. The first act of reparation is our own conversion. It extends to our neighbors through the means requested by the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary every first Friday and first Saturday of the month: the Holy Rosary, Holy Communion, Confession and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Love as the essential motivation makes daily living of the spirit of reparation our main preoccupation. Ref: “Alliance of the Two Hearts”, 1996, p349 In virtue of the Spirit, Mary becomes Mother of God All of Mary’s greatness is in the fact that she is the ‘Mother of God’; the central point of all the Virgin is in herself and relative to believers. The Spirit is present and effective in a most precise way in this divine maternity. We are indebted to the Spirit for that event. Let us pause and meditate on “how ‘Mary’ virginally” becomes the Mother of God. The Holy Spirit, in the present economy of salvation, is always the ‘precursor of Christ’. Without the previous descent and activity of the Spirit, there can be no visible presence of the Word. ‘The Annunciation to the Virgin’ is the most evident and most important event in this process of the divine economy. This salvific fact in which ‘our salvation began’ already represents a pentecost. The Spirit descends on Mary in an effective way to make the Son of God a human being. Mary asked, “How can this be ...?” How can I virginally conceive a baby? The angel replied: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you; the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” (Lk 1:35) The Creed professes that Jesus ‘was born of the Virgin Mary by the work of the Holy Spirit’. The Holy Spirit, ‘he who gives life’ descends on Mary; surrounds her. It is he who has made known the Word of God. In the fullness of time, the Son of God, is made man in the womb of the Virgin. Fathers of the Church affirm: ‘When Mary gave her answer to God, she received the Spirit, who molded in her that flesh equal to God’. Why, we may ask, does this ‘becoming flesh’ of the Word, his becoming man, take place in the very womb of Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth? Why has such involvement between a human creature and the Holy Spirit never happened at any other time in human history? In Mary all this took place with the least resistance. Ref: Cf Theological-Historical Commission, “The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life”, 83-4, 1997 Our Lady “Virgin Immaculate, my Mother, do not abandon me. See how my poor heart is filled with tears. I do not want to offend my God! “I already know, and I trust I shall never forget, that I am worth nothing. My smallness and my loneliness weigh upon me so much! But ...I am not alone. You, Sweet Lady, and my Father God will never leave me. “Faced with the rebellion of my flesh and all manner of diabolical arguments against my Faith, I love Jesus and I believe -- I do Love and do Believe.” Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 215) • Memorial of Our Lady of the Star, at Aquileia, Italy. This church is so called, because it is affirmed that a star was seen in open day on the head of St. Bernardine of Siena, when, preaching at Aquileia, he applied to the Blessed Virgin that passage of the Apocalypse, where it is said that there were twelve stars on her head.—(See his life in Surius.) “Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar (http://www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Our Lady of the Star, Aquileia, Italy (15th Century). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html) • Our Lady, Health of the Sick (Kevelær, Germany). (MaryLinks Calendar.htm); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html) • Our Lady of Grace (Montreal, Canada) (www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html); (MaryLinks Calendar.htm); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html) • Our Lady of the Star. Aquiles/Aquileia, Italy. 15th century. www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm • Our Lady, Health of the Sick. Kevelaer, Germany. www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm • Notre Dame de Grace. Montreal, Canada. www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm