Why the "Immaculate Heart"?

What exactly IS the Immaculate Heart of Mary? What does this mean to us? Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI and formerly leader of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, reveals to us the meaning of this name of Mary in his letter concerning the third secret of Fatima:

"For one terrible moment, the children were given a vision of hell. They saw the fall of "the souls of poor sinners". And now they are told why they have been exposed to this moment: "in order to save souls"—to show the way to salvation. The words of the First Letter of Peter come to mind: "As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls" (1:9). To reach this goal, the way indicated —surprisingly for people from the Anglo-Saxon and German cultural world— is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A brief comment may suffice to explain this. In biblical language, the "heart" indicates the centre of human life, the point where reason, will, temperament and sensitivity converge, where the person finds his unity and his interior orientation. According to Matthew 5:8, the "immaculate heart" is a heart which, with God's grace, has come to perfect interior unity and therefore "sees God". To be "devoted" to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means therefore to embrace this attitude of heart, which makes the fiat—"your will be done"—the defining centre of one's whole life. It might be objected that we should not place a human being between ourselves and Christ. But then we remember that Paul did not hesitate to say to his communities: "imitate me" (1 Cor 4:16; Phil 3:17; 1 Th 1:6; 2 Th 3:7, 9). In the Apostle they could see concretely what it meant to follow Christ. But from whom might we better learn in every age than from the Mother of the Lord?"

None of us have such a heart as Mary's...none of us have the word "immaculate" as any part of our natures. And so, we can be devoted to her heart as a thing set apart from the rest of us, given to her by God's grace which was completed in her as His gift from her conception. Her heart alone can be called "Immaculate". Even the Heart of Jesus cannot be called thus, as He has the heart of God, the cleanness of which cannot be otherwise. We are devoted to His heart as "Sacred"; and no other Heart can be considered thusly.

An EXCELLENT SITE to learn more about the apparitions at Fatima and their importance, as well as the eight other major Church-recognized apparitons of the Blessed Virgin is Theotokos.org.uk hosted and written by Donal Foley, author and lover of the church and the Blessed Mother. To read a motivating, intelligent and sensible article by him concerning Fatima, click HERE.

What is the Practice of the Devotion
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary?

The devotion involves the following practices on five consecutive first Saturdays of the month, with the specific intention of making reparation for the five gravest offenses of man against the Blessed Virgin.

1. Go to Confession (within 8 days before or after the first Saturday)

2. Receive the Holy Eucharist

3. Pray five decades of the Rosary

4."Keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on fifteen mysteries of the Rosary."
This is separate from praying the Rosary as mentioned above, and is preferably done in the presence of the Lord in the Tabernacle or at Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament where available. Many also say the Litany of Loreto, also known as the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Why Five Saturdays?

Christians have always honored the Blessed Virgin on Saturday because of her constant faith in Jesus on that first Holy Saturday before the Resurrection. Five first Saturdays of reparation were requested to atone for the five ways in which people offend the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

1. Attacks upon Mary's Immaculate Conception

2. Attacks against Mary's Perpetual Virginity

3. Attacks upon her Divine Maternity and the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all mankind

4. Those who try to publicly implant in children's hearts indifference, comtempt and even hatred of this Immaculate Mother

5. Those who insult her directly by profaning her sacred images.

Are There Promises in Return for This Devotion?

The Infant Christ and His Blessed Mother made these immense and almost unbelievable promises to those who observe and promote the Five First Saturday Devotion:

1. The Virgin Mary's assistance at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation.

2. Salvation of souls and peace as a result of promoting of the Devotion to the Immaculate Heart.

Coming Soon to Mary's Prayers:

Rosaries specially made and set apart for the First Saturday devotions
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.