Fear Nothing. Be faithful to the end.

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska was a nun from Krakow (Poland), known today as the ‘Apostle of Divine Mercy.’ She was born in 1905, and died in 1938. She reported in her diary about 20 apparitions of the Virgin Mary and 30 visions of Christ, angels and departed souls. On March 25, 1936, she wrote: "Then I saw the Mother of God, who said to me: I gave the Savior to the world; as for you, you have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a Merciful Savior, but as a just Judge ... Fear nothing. Be faithful to the end…" (Diary, 635). A few months later, she wrote: "I saw her, so lovely and so beautiful that I have no words to express even a small part of this beauty. She was all in white, with a blue sash around her waist. Her cloak was also blue, and there was a crown on her head. Marvelous light streamed forth from her whole figure. I am the Queen of heaven and earth, but especially your mother. She pressed me to her Heart and said: I feel constant compassion for you." (Diary, 805).

Love Mary!

"Love Mary! She is loveable, faithful, constant. She will never let herself be outdone in love, but will ever remain supreme. If you are in danger, she will hasten to free you. If you are troubled, she will console you. If you are sick, she will bring you relief. If you are in need, she will help you. She does not look to see what kind of person you have been. She simply comes to a heart that wants to love her."
— St. Gabriel Possenti of Our Lady of Sorrows

Fatima, the Assassination attempt and the secret

 

Pope John Paul II had asked to read the third secret after the attempt on his life on May 13, 1981, and today the bullet that was extracted from his abdomen forms part of the crown of the statue of the Virgin, to whom he also offered the ring of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński (former Primate of Poland). Indeed, on May 13, 1981, at 5:17 pm, the hand of Ali Agca pulled the trigger but "someone else" diverted the bullet, in the opinion of John Paul II himself, who saw the intervention of the Virgin Mary: it was the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Blessed John Paul II also wished that the text of the secret be published on May 13, 2000, for the beatification of the two young shepherds Jacinta and Francisco. The message of the Virgin Mary was entrusted to the third visionary, Lucia, who became a Carmelite nun in Coïmbra and died not long before John Paul II, on February 13, 2005. In this visit, John Paul II gave the ring that Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski had given him to the Virgin of Fatima, on which the words Totus Tuus (totally yours) were inscribed.

May God add to my Rosary what is missing

 

Queen of the Holy Rosary, pray for us, that God may add what is missing to this modest Rosary prayer of his humble servant. You were the one who gave me this handful of wooden beads in the year of my conversion, in 1905. I remember experiencing God's presence in the courtyard of the hospital, in the naïve marching band, the bending movement of the crops under the gentle breeze, and the women who, when they saw the approaching monstrance, would kneel and bend their heads like mown hay. I have prayed my Rosary. I am pressing its simple cross as I am writing this. I know how much strength I have drawn from it since the day that I thought I was going to die, until now that, filled with eternal life and confidence, I am listening to the song of the wind. (…) I will praise my God, and before him I will press my heart against the earth. This handful of beads, O Virgin Mary, is the humble sheaf of wheat it has yielded.

A good deed is never lost

"A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love."
-- St. Basil the Great

It's also Mary's Hour

(…) The Hour of the Passion, the greatest of all loves and Jesus’ total gift of himself, is also Mary’s Hour. In this Hour Mary is intimately associated to the sacrifice of her Son, as she stands at the foot of the cross. She is not, as we sometimes represent her, crushed and collapsing on the ground. She is standing up, because she intensely participated in her Son’s sacrifice as he gave up his life and his blood.

In the suffering of her heart, Mary offered up the life of her Son as the same time as he did. This is what Simeon had predicted to Mary at the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple: “A sword of suffering will pierce your soul”(Lk 2: 35). At the same time that the soldier's lance pierced Jesus' heart to release all mercy and forgiveness, a bitter sword pierced Mary's soul.

Mary is so closely united to the sacrifice of her Son. It is the first meaning of this passage from the Gospel, the mystery referred to as Mary's compassion. We have Jesus’ Passion on one hand, and Mary's compassion on the other. Compassion means: “suffering with.”

The weapon of the Christian is the Rosary

Predestinate souls, you who are of God, cut yourselves adrift from those who are damning themselves by their impious lives, laziness and lack of devotion—and, without delay, recite often your Rosary, with faith, with humility, with confidence and with perseverance.

Anyone who really gives heed to this Our Master's commandment will surely not be satisfied with saying the Rosary once a year or once a week but will say it every day and will never fail in this—even though the only obligation he has is that of saving his own soul.
St. Louis De Monfort