August is the month dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. As such, I’d like to share the special devotion of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The devotion as we know it now began when when Mary appeared to Sr. Lucia, one of the visionaries of Fatima.

On December 10, 1925 Sister Lucia was in her convent cell in Spain when Mary appeared with Jesus. In this vision, Jesus was a child. Mary rested her hand on Sister’s shoulder and a vision of a heart circled in thorns appeared in Mary’s other hand. At the same time she heard these words spoken by the child Jesus:

“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.”

Then Mary said:

“Look, my daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”

At first, Sister Lucia stayed quiet about this devotion because she believed it was tied to the third secret of Fatima. Two years later, after receiving permission from Heaven to share the devotion, she made it known. To this day, many people around the world continue in this devotion.