by Deacon Robert Ellis –
As the first Saturday of June approaches, I am experiencing a much greater sense of urgency than I have in the past. The Solemnity of Corpus Christi immediately follows it. Two days later, on the 11th, we have the Memorial of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. June 13 will mark the 92nd anniversary of the 1929 apparition of Our Lady to Sister Lucia at Tuy, Spain, during which she told her that the time had come for the pope and bishops throughout the world to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart to prevent the spread of Russia’s errors of atheistic communism throughout the world.
During the Dec. 10, 1925, apparition, in which Our Lady asked for the First Saturday devotion, she revealed her heart surrounded by thorns. The Child Jesus said: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.”
I cannot look at the world today without concluding that both the number of thorns as well as their length and breadth has increased enormously, radically increasing her pain. Because the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary are inseparable, her pain is felt by Him as well. How would you feel about anyone who caused your mother excruciating pain?
The image of Christ the King seated in Judgment on the apse wall of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC comes to my mind.
The consequences of our particular judgment at the time of our death will be eternal. But we ought not forget that many consequences of our sins of commission and omission will be endured during our earthly lives and those of our children and grandchildren. Therefore, my increased sense of urgency is from both the eternal and the temporal.
The body, blood, soul and divinity truly present in the Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of the Catholic Faith. Yet it is stated that only 30% of Catholics believe this truth, and many of those have a limited understanding of it. This is why so many people receive in shoddy dispositions of dress and demeanor and hardly ever having prepared their souls for worthy reception by means of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is also why so many Catholic public figures who are obstinate in their positions against Church teaching scandalize others by their sacrilegious reception of the Body and Blood of Christ, while jeopardizing their eternal salvation. The reasons for this and those responsible for it are a subject for another time. But the urgency of reparation we make in practicing the First Saturday devotion could not be more obvious.
The family is a domestic church. The King and Queen of the domestic churches ought to be Jesus Christ and His Most Holy Mother. St. Joseph, whose year we are currently celebrating, ought to be installed under his title Terror of Demons and as a model for fathers. Considering the plight of the family under vicious attack from all corners these days, the protection provided to those who engage in the World Apostolate of Fatima Home Enthronement Program ought to be availed by every Catholic family.
The global Communist revolution is a consequence of the failure to consecrate Russia until 55 years after Our Lady requested it in 1929. Our Lord told Sister Lucia it would be done, but it would be done too late to stop the spread of Russia’s errors, which have now infected the entire world and the consequences surround us on all sides.
Very few of us are free of blame. Collectively as a Church, few Catholics have been consistently faithful in the practice of the First Saturday devotion and helping to recruit others to its practice. Hence, my sense of urgency compels me to call upon everyone to step up to the plate NOW.
During this month of June, with so many opportunities to honor Our Lord and Our Lady, let us make a concerted effort in our devotion to their Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, and especially to our Eucharistic Lord, who is greatly outraged by the offences, indifference and sacrilege shown Him. At some point, the cup of justice will spill over.
God be with you.
Deacon Bob Ellis is the National Coordinator for the World Apostolate of Fatima, USA.
