IX Edition June
2000
Heart to heart
"The
Designs of God with the Shepherds of Fatima"
EDITORIAL Mother Adela Galindo,
Foundress, SCTJM
© Only for
personal use
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
“Father... to you I offer praise; for what you
have hidden from the learned and the clever you
have revealed to the merest children” (Mt 11,
25). The Holy Father begins his homily at the
beatification of the shepherds, visionaries of
the apparitions of our Lady of Fatima, with
these words of the Sacred Scriptures.
“Pray, Pray much! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary
have designs of mercy over you” (Angel of Fatima
to the shepherds).
God the Father has not only wanted to open the
Kingdom to those who are little, but we can see
from the Marian apparitions that He has desired
to choose the little ones to bring about His
designs. It was the divine design of God that,
in 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary would come from
Heaven in search of some children in order to
give them a clear call to conversion, penance,
sacrifice and heroic love. With the heart of a
mother, she spoke to their little hearts,
revealing to them Her pain from the offenses
committed against the Heart of her Son; she
spoke to them of sinners; she showed them hell;
she revealed Her to them Immaculate Heart as the
sure path to God; she invited them to offer
themselves as victims of reparation and to
embrace the sufferings that the Lord would send
them for the conversion of sinners. The Virgin
Mary announced to them times of tribulation for
the Church and for the world. She spoke to them
of wars and persecutions against the Church. She
showed them the sufferings of a Pope and the
great danger that threatened both the eternal
and temporal destiny of humanity.
Repeating the words of Christ in the Gospel of
Saint Matthew, I also want to thank the Father
for having revealed all this to the little
children of Fatima. These children received the
words of our Lady with so much love and
seriousness that the Holy Father told us this
past 13th of May, “With this beatification the
Church wants to place upon a stand these two
lights that God has ignited to illuminate
humanity in its moment of shadows and unrest.”
During these dark hours of our historic moment,
the Church presents us two lights which
enlighten our pathway: Francisco and Jacinta.
Why? Because they both disposed themselves
completely to fulfill the designs of the Two
Hearts, designs of mercy which were to be
realized through their generosity, through their
sacrifices, and through their lives of heroic
charity – heroism of children, but nonetheless,
authentic heroism, says our Holy Father.
What were these designs of mercy with which they
were called to cooperate?
The Lord gave Francisco the grace to deeply
understand how sad the Immaculate Heart of Mary
was because of the offenses committed against
God. The experience of hearing the Virgin ask
them, “Do you desire to offer yourselves in
reparation for the sins with which God is
offended?” marked his heart forever. One day
when Francisco was very quiet and withdrawn,
Lucia asked him what was wrong. He answered that
he was thinking about how sad God was because of
so many sins. He continued, “If only I could
console Him.” This is how he became the consoler
of the Eucharistic Heart. He would spend long
hours in adoration and contemplation of the
Eucharistic Jesus, whom he called the “Hidden
Jesus.” The prayer the Angel taught them became
for him a way of life: “I believe, I adore, I
trust and I love thee, and I beg pardon for
those of us who do not believe, adore, trust or
love you.” Francisco gave himself over to an
intense spiritual life of fervent prayer which
led him to a true, mystical communion with the
Lord and to a progressive purification of spirit
by means of the denial of his own preferences
and desires, even in the games they played. A
radical transformation took place in him. He
bore the great sufferings of his illness that
eventually resulted in his death without a
single complaint.
Jacinta was so moved by the vision of hell and
by the fate of the souls in mortal sin that, for
her, there were not sufficient sacrifices to
offer for poor sinners. Animated by a profound
charity towards souls, she offered herself as a
victim for them. The words of the Virgin, “Do
you wish to offer yourselves to God, to endure
all the suffering that He may be pleased to send
you, as an act of reparation for the sins by
which He is offended, and to ask for the
conversion of sinners?” so marked her heart that
she told Lucia, in the final stages of her
painful illness, “Tell Jesus and Mary that I am
willing to suffer all that they desire to bring
about the conversion of sinners.” Jacinta also
had another great desire: to pray and sacrifice
herself for the Holy Father, especially for the
“bishop all dressed in white” whom she had seen
suffer and cry in a vision.
In Fatima, the Blessed Virgin chose two
children, shepherds, in order to make them
participants in the designs of mercy of the
Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Children, who with
their “fiat,” obtained abundant graces for the
Church and for humanity in an era of great
darkness and tribulation. These children,
totally placed the hands of Our Lady,
consecrated themselves to Her Immaculate Heart,
allowing themselves to be formed by Her and
embrace fully the maternal mission of Our Lady.
As a result, they became great channels who
obtained great graces of mercy and conversion
for the Church and the world.
What a great lesson is given to us by Blessed
Francisco and Jacinta! We have to be like
children to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and
to cooperate with the establishment of the Reign
of love of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
We have to be like children in order to dispose
ourselves with humility and obedience to be
guided by the Blessed Mother and to hear the
designs of the Heart of Christ that reside in
Her Immaculate Heart. We have to be little, very
little, in order to participate in the designs
of mercy that the Hearts of Jesus and Mary have
for us. We have to have pure and simple hearts
in order to learn how to “Contemplate like
Francisco and love like Jacinta” (Theme of the
Beatification).
May the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary reveal
to us their designs of love and mercy. And may
we, with new hearts like those of Francisco and
Jacinta, respond to such a sublime call, by
offering our lives for the fulfillment of these
designs.
May love always triumph!
In the Love of the Pierced Hearts,
Mother Adela, SCTJM
Foundress
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