It would be appropriate right now to write about St. Louis deMontfort since we are nearing the end of our study of the 33 Day Preparation for October 7th Consecration - but this article will be about a saint who has written beautifully about the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and will serve to help us in our love! He is not very popularly known but should be as he was a fighter against the Jansenists of his time by expressing the love of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary for all created souls. 

 St. John Eudes founded a religious order in 1643 — the Congregation of Jesus and Mary — principally dedicated to priestly formation and missionary work. Later in his life, he became noted for his devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and for his strong opposition to the Jansenist heresy that was plaguing the French Church in his day. He was the first to seriously develop the liturgical worship of the Sacred Heart, so that at his canonization in 1909, Pope St. Pius X called him "father, doctor, and apostle of the liturgical cult of the hearts of Jesus and Mary." In his work entitled The Sacred Heart of Jesus , we find the work of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps no one has written more movingly of the interior life of Jesus — His dispositions, virtues, sentiments, and affections — than St. John Eudes did in the pages of this book. For example, in the passage below we see the depth of Christ’s sacrificial love when he wrote chapter 8, entitled "The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a Furnace Burning with Love for us in His Sacred Passion":

“The first cause of those most painful wounds in the Sacred Heart of our Redeemer is our sins. He saw the immeasurable insult and dishonor caused His Father by all sins; He saw the damnation of a countless number of souls resulting from those sins. As He had infinite love for His Father and His creatures, the sight of all those sins rent His Heart with countless wounds, such that if we were able to count all the sins of men, which are more numerous than the drops of water in the sea, we would then be able to count the wounds of the loving Heart of Jesus.

The second cause of His wounds is the infinite love of His Sacred Heart for all of His children, and his constant vision of all the afflictions and sufferings that are to happen to them, especially all the torments that His holy martyrs are to suffer. When a mother watches her beloved child suffering, she feels the pain more keenly than the child. Our Savior's love for us is so tremendous that if the love of all parents were centered in a single heart, it would not represent even a spark of the love for us that burns in His Heart. Our pains and sorrows, ever present to His vision and seen most clearly and distinctly, were so many wounds bleeding in His paternal Heart. These wounds were so painful and deep that they would have caused his death a thousand times over, even immediately after His birth, if He had not miraculously preserved Himself, because during His whole earthly life His Sacred Heart was continually pierced by many mortal wounds of love.

Therefore we have the greatest obligation to honor the gracious Heart that sustained so many wounds of love for us.... With what affection should we embrace, and endure all our afflictions, out of love for Jesus, our Savior, since He first bore them for love of us! Should they not be most sweet to us, since they have already passed through His most gentle and loving Heart? What a horror we should have of our sins that have caused so many wounds and such intense grief to the divine Heart of our Redeemer...!”

 St John Eudes is well known for his teaching about the mystically united hearts of Jesus and Mary. He also wrote the book, The Admirable Heart of Mary. He wrote so beautifully of these two hearts. He said the following:
“You must never separate what God has so perfectly united. So closely are Jesus and Mary bound up with each other that whoever beholds Jesus sees Mary; whoever loves Jesus, loves Mary; whoever has devotion to Jesus, has devotion to Mary.”
 
May we find repose in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary during this time of great need in the Church and consecrate ourselves and the world to them. May we seek all that we need within these two Hearts which love mankind and want our salvation. The enemy is not bigger than God so may we have confidence in placing Jesus and Mary upon the throne of our hearts.  
Sacred Heart of Jesus – Your Kingdom come through Mary!
Below are the links to find these books.
 

​Here is an article from Rorate Caeli that gives great insight into the Fatima message.
God bless!
​

Father Fuentes had an interview with Sister Lucy in 1957. This is what Sister Lucy told him:
"Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. Believe me, Father, God is going to punish the world and very soon. The chastisement of heaven is imminent. 
In less than two years, 1960 will be here and the chastisement of heaven will come and it will be very great. Tell souls to fear not only the material punishment that will befall us if we do not pray and do penance but most of all the souls who will go to hell." 

-Exact words of Sister Lucy (visionary at Fatima) in an interview with the Rev. Fr. Augustin Fuentes on December 26th, 1957 
* * * * * *
What was Sister Lucy referring to?
Many Fatima followers believe that the chastisement began in the 1960's and it was the removal of the hand of God upon us. It is not His Will but our will that caused this to happen. We were disobedient to Our Lady, Queen and Mother - we did not pray - we did not do penance - we did not amend our lives!
The Exaltation of the Cross is a Feast that we should seek to try to share in the sufferings of Christ which are also the sufferings of Our Lady. He continues to suffer as we reject His Ways - and we are witnessing that it is not only those who reject Christ who are causing Him to suffer but those within the Church itself!
Father Frederick Faber once said:
"We must remember that if all the manifestly good men were on one side and all the manifestly bad men on the other, there would be no danger of anyone, least of all the elect, being deceived by lying wonders.  It is the good men, good once, we must hope good still, who are to do the work of Anti-Christ and so sadly to crucify the Lord afresh…. Bear in mind this feature of the last days, that this deceitfulness arises from good men being on the wrong side."
--Fr. Frederick Faber, Sermon for Pentecost Sunday, 1861
Therefore, we must be careful to study and know our True Faith in order to defend that Truth. If we see that within our Church, we have wolves in sheep's clothing, we must alarm the others and pray for the souls of those who offend Our Lord and Our Lady with their cunning lies and deceitful ways. Souls are at stake! They are falling into Hell! Hell is eternal! No more chances! Does this not stir us to be vigilant? We must remember that and be brave no matter what the consequences. Yes, we will have to be like Simon and carry the cross for Jesus when we defend Him. We will be persecuted but soon this life will be over and we will be standing before Our God and King! We must at all cost defend Him - and with great love for Him and for souls!!
We must be careful to be vigilant! We must know who we are defending and it is NOT other religions. We must defend the one True Faith given to us by Jesus Christ. Here is a quote from a holy priest named Father Michael Muller:
"It is impious to say, 'I respect every religion.' This is as much as to say: I respect the devil as much as God, vice as much as virtue, falsehood as much as truth, dishonesty as much as honesty, Hell as much as Heaven."
--Fr. Michael Müller, The Church and Her Enemies 
May we pray to Our Lady of Sorrows whose Feastday follows the Exaltation of the Cross, to be vigilant, brave and faithful to the one True Church of Jesus Christ! May we ask Her to protect us, guide us and give us the necessary graces to be filled with zeal to win for God many many souls for Heaven. May we continue to pray the prayers of Reparation taught at Fatima, offer sacrifices and may we pray daily the Rosary so that one day - Her Immaculate Heart will Triumph in order for Her Son to reign in the hearts of all men. 
Our Lady of Sorrows - pray for us!

Today, September 8th, is the Birthday of our Queen and Mother! What can we sinners give to such a  beautiful and holy Mother? We can strive to please God - this will please Our Queen. She wants us ALL TO BE HOLY! This is our resolution and our goal! Mary is such a humble servant of God that She will and does help us in this goal! It is the duty that God the Father has asked of Her. It is why He created Her without original sin- to bring us Jesus! Our holiness is what pleases Our Queen most!

We know that we are all called  to strive to be holy. Our lives here are very short and therefore each day is a gift of God to grow closer to Him and to lead others to Him. Our part is to rid ourselves of all sin and to practice virtue. Our Mother was sinless and full of virtue, therefore, we can live in imitation of Her and ask Her for guidance on this road. God, who by His grace, aids man in his efforts through actual and sacramental grace through the hands of Our Queen and Mother. Through prayer and frequenting the Sacraments, we can attain the helps that God wishes to give us in His love and mercy. He wants our perfection and union with Him more than we do. St. Teresa of Avila stressed that many die in spiritual infancy because they do not desire to grow daily in holiness. It is not a common ambition to be a saint. We live in a world of indifference and tolerance. If we have even a tiny desire, it is easily destroyed by the slightest presence of our enemies: the devil, the world and the flesh. So should we desire such a thing? Should we think it is possible? Should we think it is wrong to be different than the average indifferent soul? Aren’t we created to love God above all things?
The answer is – Holiness is for everyone and therefore attainable! Grace is made available by God to those who ask for it. What does it matter what others think or say. We are to live for God alone! We may even encounter a priest who says that our goals are set too high! The reality is that we are caught up in a world of indifference and coldness of heart. The world lacks heroes! Why did God choose St. Joan of Arc to lead the armies when she was only 14 years of age? Why did God make St. Therese of the Child Jesus a Doctor of the Church when she left school at age 15 and died at age 24? God’s ways are not our ways and He chooses the humble souls WHO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN HIS GOODNESS!! This is the key phrase – Jesus I Trust In You! St. Teresa of Avila says that we should have “Determined Determination” to be a saint. God wants it! It is for His glory! We must first seek the humility of Our Lady though – we must know that we are empty vessels without the grace of God to fill it. Everything is grace! Without it – we can do nothing – therefore – all glory belongs to God and we should always give it to Him in imitation of Our Mother who gives Him all glory!
Knowing this about Our Lady, who then can guide us most perfectly on this path to holiness? It is Mary, Our Queen and Mother. Mary never committed a single sin, either mortal or venial, nor any voluntary imperfection, such as resisting an inspiration of grace, nor even any involuntary imperfection, such as acting without reflection. Mary had the constant thought of God before Her. When we sin, we lose sight of God. Mary found pleasure only in God. She never found any pleasure in anything whatsoever outside of Him.  Every sin is the result of an error, the thought of finding good or happiness where it is not. The graces of light made Mary see that true good and true happiness can be found only in God. Even when we know that the error is an error, we act upon it, because of the fickle character of our will. The graces of strength gave Mary’s will an absolute and unshakable direction toward the good. Grace then is evidently the most important factor and it raises the purity of Mary’s soul incomparably above that of man in the state of innocence or that of the most sublime angel before his admission to the Beatific Vision.
Therefore, because of Her purity, let us turn to Mary and ask the Dispenser of all of these graces to show us the way to be holy. May we turn to Her in our daily struggle for sanctity and ask Her to first give us humility and then the determined determination needed to keep battling against the enemy and to beg God for the graces through Her to be the saints that He needs in a world grown cold, indifferent and tolerant of evil.
Let us ask Our Mother for graces on Her Birthday - as this will please Her!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY, WE LOVE YOU AS QUEEN AND MOTHER!!
THANK YOU ETERNAL FATHER FOR GIVING US SUCH A QUEEN AND MOTHER!
Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces, pray for us.
                                                                    

​THE MOTHER OF GOD AGAINST THE ENEMY
Has God not declared that there are enmities between the serpent and Mary, and that although Satan should cause a third of the angelic host to lose paradise, She shall crush his head? Bringing forth the Mystical Body of Christ, Mary’s role is to lead each of its members to Heaven. This is how an absolute reign of Christ is established because Satan is defeated. This is the secret of Mary that Satan hates: She has the power, by God, to lead us to Her Son Jesus.
The serpent will not suffer his head to be crushed without fighting. “And the dragon was angry against the Woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”. Apoc. 12:17 Yes, indeed does Mary enable us to keep the commandments because that is how She keeps Her promise of Salvation; and we have the testimony of Christ which is Salvation because that is also Her promise.
 At death, Satan struggles to win our soul one last time but he is powerless against us as long as we have recourse to Her. “Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.”  Knowing this wonderful Truth of the Church, how can we serve Her while still living? Will we not join with Her in that mission of prayer that brings us our own salvation through Her? She has asked us for a daily Rosary to bring peace into the world. Can we not give Her this 20-30 minutes of our day? Satan has declared war upon the Church. He is spending millions to propagate world-revolution, to preach atheism and to subvert the Christian culture. Will we just sit back and not listen to Our Mother who is so attentive to us?
 Satan hates us, the seed of Mary, and he may try to drown us in a river of most powerful temptations even in threats of martyrdom as many have had to withstand; but we have been placed by God, through our devotion to Mary, under Her Mantle.  Just as Noah was providentially placed in his ark against physical waters; we have been placed in the ark of Mary. Mary is that happy ark, says St. Bernard, “in which those who take refuge will never experience the shipwreck of eternal perdition.” Also, St. Alphonsus remarks that “just as at the time of that deluge even brutes were saved in Noah’s ark, so under the Mantle of Mary even sinners obtain Salvation; and therefore let us enter this ark, let us take refuge under the Mantle of Mary and She will secure Our Salvation.”
How will I obtain this Salvation “from Mary”, you may ask? She will share with you the thirst of Her Divine Son for souls imparted to Her on Calvary. Mary’s Immaculate Heart burns with a longing to save souls.  We will hear in our hearts once we give ourselves to Her, “My Son thirsts and since He has made me Mediatrix, I thirst also!”It was made known at Fatima and other approved visits from Her that our prayer is needed too.
Our Lord Himself told St. Mary Magdalen dePazzi: “Oh, see how most men are within the grasp of the demon! See how his jaw is open to devour them! Far from avoiding it, they go and cast themselves in, and there is no one who will escape if My elect do not save them by their prayers.” Mary has marked us for Her elect. Our Lord, being the Head of that divine Body, the living Church, He has made His Mother the neck and us the members. Our Lord Jesus’ Sacred Heart is the Driving Power and Mary’s Immaculate Heart is one with It so that we, Her children, may be one with them. This is our vocation, our apostolate, our purpose – to love God above all things and to win for Him many souls from the clutches of Satan. By entering into union with Mary during the course of our day with our prayers, we release the graces which God has enclosed in Her Heart for the world. This torrent of graces which we can help procure from the Hearts of Jesus and Mary can engulf the world and cause it to be said: “and the earth helped the Woman, and the earth opened Her mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth.” Apoc. 12:16
Yes, our prayers of union with Mary can cause that rain of Grace from Her Immaculate Heart to satisfy the thirst of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by saving souls! May we pick up our Rosary (our weapon) and defeat the enemy by winning souls for Heaven so that in turn on our death bed, Our Mother will pray for us at the hour of our death.