Consecration to the Immaculata - Preparation Day 8
Day Eight
If it pleases you, use all that I am and have without reserve,
wholly to accomplish what was said of you: “She
will crush your head” (Gen 3:15)
In statues and paintings of the Immaculate, we always
see at her feet a serpent that wraps the globe between
its coils and whose head she, with her foot, is about
to crush.
He, Satan, stained with sin, strives to sully all the souls
on earth with it. He hates her, who has always been unsullied.
He lies in wait for her children at her heel, but in the
fight with her, she always crushes his head in every soul
that has recourse to her. We implore her to deign to use us,
if she wills, as an instrument to crush the proud head of
the serpent inside unhappy souls.
Continuing the verse already cited, the Scriptures add:
“And thou shalt lie in wait for her heel,” and in fact the spirit
of evil undermines in a special way those who are consecrated
to the Immaculate, because he wants to offend her
at least through them. However, his attempts against souls
faithfully consecrated always end up in even more ignominious
defeat. Therefore, his impotent rage becomes even
more violent.
40
Explanation:
In order to belong to the Mother of God, you have to be
hers, her child, her servant, her slave. Thus the prayer of consecration
repeats at the beginning the essence of every true
devotion to Mary. It is with these words that St. Maximilian
defined the knight of the Immaculata who — apart from his
personal devotion to Mary for his own sanctification — consecrates
himself as a soldier, a knight: I am ready, my mistress.
All around me stand the armies of the devil, everywhere
the evil one triumphs so as to lead innumerable
souls into damnation. Facing him stands YOU alone who
have received the grace to crush his head. And it is precisely
for this mortal combat, for this cruel, decisive battle
that I put myself at your disposal: do with me what thou
wilt. You are the serpent crusher, but you can only really
crush Satan's head if you have children who are under your
orders, whose hands, feet, spirit and heart you can use to
end his dominion on earth, to chase him from the throne
he has erected in so many souls.
Spiritual reading:
Chapter: The Militia Immaculatae and the Great
Secret of Fatima (part 1), pp. 236–243
*********
CHAPTER TWO
The Militia Immaculatæ
and the Great Secret of Fatima
IN THE SECOND HALF of the year 1917 four great events
took place: the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the two-hundredth
anniversary celebrations of the founding of Freemasonry (especially
in Rome), the appearances of Mary in Fatima and, again in Rome, the
founding of the M.I. The first two events are in striking contrast to the
latter two. The connection between Bolshevism and Freemasonry is
immediately evident, once you know their principles, methods and
real goals. The two forces complement each other so well, that one
can regard them as a totality: a logical system of thought and action
that comes from one source, from the hand of one author. One can
say the same thing about the latter two events. Here the author is the
Mother of God, who appeared in Fatima in order to come to the aid
of a world confronted with the great apostasy of our times. She it was,
again, who inspired a faithful instrument in the person of Maximilian
Kolbe, whose task it would be to fulfill her will in a simple, profound
and effective way. Since the same person was revealed in Fatima and
was also the chief cause of the founding of the M.I., the two events
237
therefore illuminate each other: one sheds its light on the other, so that
the true devotee of Mary is able to discern ever more easily and clearly
the profound intentions and the unfathomable riches of the Heart of
the Immaculata.
From what we have said thus far it is clearly evident how similar
Fatima and the Militia Immaculatæ are: the importance of prayer
and sacrifice, of unconditional obedience to the Mother of God; the
Immaculate Heart of Mary in its capacity as Mediatrix of all Graces
(the very essence of the M.I.); the children who saw the visions --
examples of true Knights of the Immaculata; the glory of God and the
battle for the salvation of souls through Mary.
THE FIRST SECRET OF FATIMA AND THE FIRST-DEGREE M.I.
In the Apocalypse we find the description of the Immaculata’s
deadly foe:
And there was seen another sign in heaven. And behold a
great red dragon (12:3). … 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 (12:17).
The chief and really the only intention of the dragon is to cast
as many souls as possible into eternal damnation. The first part of
the great secret of Fatima consists of the vision of this most terrible
misfortune:
We saw something like an ocean of fire. Submerged in this
fire were the devils and souls. The devils were distinguished
238
from the human beings by their horrible and disgusting
appearance, resembling unknown, terrifying monsters….1
In order to protect souls from this hellish fire, the Mother of God
showed them a means of salvation:
You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. In
order to save them from it, God wishes to spread devotion to
my Immaculate Heart throughout the world.2
This devotion is expressed in external works, but consists above
all in an interior spiritual attitude: yearning for the salvation of souls,
one’s own and that of one’s neighbor, through consecration to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is our refuge and the way that leads
to God (Apparition of June 13, 1917).
This is precisely the ideal that St. Maximilian entrusts to his Knights,
who are expected to attack the deadly foe of souls with all the means
at their disposal. This battle is hand-to-hand combat. At stake is every
individual soul, which must be preserved from the fires of hell. The
solitary Knight in battle for every soul that is presented to him is the
foundation of the first-degree M.I.
In the first degree each one consecrates himself individually
to the Immaculata and strives personally to achieve
1 Sister Lucia speaks about Fatima, op. cit., p. 153 [German edition].
2 Ibid.
239
the goal of the M.I., according to the talents and abilities
given to him by God.3
The devil, who is intent on every single soul and forgets none of
them, is confronted by the Knight, who still lives in the world, but is
no longer of this world, because he is imbued with the presence of the
Immaculata. In Fatima the Immaculate Heart of Mary pointed out the
mortal danger and declared the general remedy. The first-degree M.I.
is, so to speak, the concrete realization of this program. To Maximilian
Kolbe was given the grace to illuminate the significance of this
devotion of each individual person to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
in the smallest details of everyday life, like a general who explains to
his officers not only the overall strategy but also trains them in the
concrete application of this strategy, in minute detail.
THE SECOND SECRET OF FATIMA
AND THE SECOND-DEGREE M.I.
The first great instrument of Satan in the battle against the “seed of
the woman” is the first beast:
And I saw a beast coming up out the sea, having seven
heads and ten horns: and upon his horns, ten diadems: and
upon his heads, names of blasphemy. … And the dragon gave
him his own strength and great power. And all the earth was
in admiration after the beast. And they adored the dragon
which gave power to the beast. And they adored the beast,
saying: Who is like to the beast? And who shall be able to
3 Manuscript: M.I., in: Co dzień z Świętym Maksymilianem, Niepokalanów 1954,
p. 183.
240
fight with him? And there was given to him a mouth speaking
great things and blasphemies … against God, to blaspheme
his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven.
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to
overcome them. And power was given him over every tribe
and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell upon
the earth adored him, whose names are not written in the
book of life of the Lamb which was slain from the beginning
of the world. (Apocalypse 13:1–8).
Exegetes usually interpret this passage in such a way that “this
beast can represent only a political power.”4 In the second secret the
Mother of God warns:
If my wishes are carried out, then Russia will be converted
and there will be peace. If not, godless propaganda will
spread their errors throughout the world and cause wars and
persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the
Holy Father will have to suffer much. Many nations will be
annihilated.5
How can this beast rising up out of the infernal sea, i.e. anti-Christian
regimes, be vanquished? Through the acknowledgment of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary and the recognition of her power in public,
social and political life. The expression of this acknowledgment and
this recognition is consecration to the Immaculate Heart, but especially
4 O. Allo, L’Apocalypse, Gabalda 1921, p. 184.
5 Sister Lucia speaks about Fatima, op. cit., p. 153 [German edition].
241
the consecration of Russia, the country that became the beacon of the
gigantic project of destruction carried out by the beast and carried off
half of the world with it into the abyss of communistic atheism. This
consecration to the Immaculata includes conversion to the sole truth,
first on the individual level, but then also in the realm of society and
its public institutions and structures: the conversion of the Church, of
peoples, and especially of Russia, and finally of the whole world.
It goes without saying: this secret is directed above all to the “great
ones of this world”, to the pope together with all the bishops, but
then also to politicians who, when they listen to the requests of the
Immaculata, often receive good things in a miraculous way (e.g. the
fact that Portugal was spared involvement in the Spanish Civil War
and World War II thanks to its consecration to the Immaculate Heart
of Mary). In Tuy the Mother of God expressly foretold to Sister Lucia
the terrible punishments that would befall those who were unwilling
to listen to her.
Should we conclude from what has just been said that this secret
has no significance for the common people? On the contrary! It
is, after all, a call to every individual to work through Mary for the
social kingship of Christ, so as to place society under the gentle yoke
of Christ, even in small and limited circles. It is a commission to go
beyond the narrow confines of private life and to fight so that society,
together with its structures, will once again be under the dominion of
the King of kings, and this is possible only through Mary.
This is precisely the purpose of the second-degree M.I. Through
the establishment of cells in all public arenas, society must find its way
back to the Immaculata: groups, associations, joint projects, especially
publicity work through the press and the mass media — in short, the
most modern methods should be applied to the work of conquering
242
the enemy in those places where he appears to be invincible, since
he holds money, other forms of power and all of public life in his
hands. Yet it is recognized as a fact that during the Communist terror
the Catholic spirit was maintained in many places behind the Iron
Curtain through the cells of the second-degree M.I. In the missions
(for instance in China) they became a method of
spreading the Catholic faith and Christian civilization. The secret
of their success was not great numbers and certainly not large-scale
material resources, but rather the intrinsic form:
Everything through the Immaculata! Lead the whole
world and each individual soul to the Immaculata!6
Consecration — that is the key to understanding the second part
of the Fatima secret. Especially the consecration of Russia, but in the
wider sense also the consecration of every institution, beginning with
the smallest cell of society, the family, and ending with the world as a
whole. Fr. Kolbe’s teaching was analogous: in order to free the world
from the “errors of Russia”, that is, from atheistic materialism, we must
consecrate to the Immaculata not only people’s private lives, but also
the public arenas. And since we are only a tiny group, which is insignificant
in comparison to the forces of the gigantic army of the enemy,
we have to be the most perfect instruments possible in her
immaculate hands and allow ourselves to be guided by her in
everything.7
6 Letter from Nagasaki, April 29, 1931 to Fr. Koziura, in: BMK, p. 236.
7 Ibid.
243
What encouraging words in today’s difficult times! One poor, weak
human being can rescue many. A little group can set off an avalanche,
preparing the way for the great return to God through Mary, the
triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
If it pleases you, use all that I am and have without reserve,
wholly to accomplish what was said of you: “She
will crush your head” (Gen 3:15)
In statues and paintings of the Immaculate, we always
see at her feet a serpent that wraps the globe between
its coils and whose head she, with her foot, is about
to crush.
He, Satan, stained with sin, strives to sully all the souls
on earth with it. He hates her, who has always been unsullied.
He lies in wait for her children at her heel, but in the
fight with her, she always crushes his head in every soul
that has recourse to her. We implore her to deign to use us,
if she wills, as an instrument to crush the proud head of
the serpent inside unhappy souls.
Continuing the verse already cited, the Scriptures add:
“And thou shalt lie in wait for her heel,” and in fact the spirit
of evil undermines in a special way those who are consecrated
to the Immaculate, because he wants to offend her
at least through them. However, his attempts against souls
faithfully consecrated always end up in even more ignominious
defeat. Therefore, his impotent rage becomes even
more violent.
40
Explanation:
In order to belong to the Mother of God, you have to be
hers, her child, her servant, her slave. Thus the prayer of consecration
repeats at the beginning the essence of every true
devotion to Mary. It is with these words that St. Maximilian
defined the knight of the Immaculata who — apart from his
personal devotion to Mary for his own sanctification — consecrates
himself as a soldier, a knight: I am ready, my mistress.
All around me stand the armies of the devil, everywhere
the evil one triumphs so as to lead innumerable
souls into damnation. Facing him stands YOU alone who
have received the grace to crush his head. And it is precisely
for this mortal combat, for this cruel, decisive battle
that I put myself at your disposal: do with me what thou
wilt. You are the serpent crusher, but you can only really
crush Satan's head if you have children who are under your
orders, whose hands, feet, spirit and heart you can use to
end his dominion on earth, to chase him from the throne
he has erected in so many souls.
Spiritual reading:
Chapter: The Militia Immaculatae and the Great
Secret of Fatima (part 1), pp. 236–243
*********
CHAPTER TWO
The Militia Immaculatæ
and the Great Secret of Fatima
IN THE SECOND HALF of the year 1917 four great events
took place: the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the two-hundredth
anniversary celebrations of the founding of Freemasonry (especially
in Rome), the appearances of Mary in Fatima and, again in Rome, the
founding of the M.I. The first two events are in striking contrast to the
latter two. The connection between Bolshevism and Freemasonry is
immediately evident, once you know their principles, methods and
real goals. The two forces complement each other so well, that one
can regard them as a totality: a logical system of thought and action
that comes from one source, from the hand of one author. One can
say the same thing about the latter two events. Here the author is the
Mother of God, who appeared in Fatima in order to come to the aid
of a world confronted with the great apostasy of our times. She it was,
again, who inspired a faithful instrument in the person of Maximilian
Kolbe, whose task it would be to fulfill her will in a simple, profound
and effective way. Since the same person was revealed in Fatima and
was also the chief cause of the founding of the M.I., the two events
237
therefore illuminate each other: one sheds its light on the other, so that
the true devotee of Mary is able to discern ever more easily and clearly
the profound intentions and the unfathomable riches of the Heart of
the Immaculata.
From what we have said thus far it is clearly evident how similar
Fatima and the Militia Immaculatæ are: the importance of prayer
and sacrifice, of unconditional obedience to the Mother of God; the
Immaculate Heart of Mary in its capacity as Mediatrix of all Graces
(the very essence of the M.I.); the children who saw the visions --
examples of true Knights of the Immaculata; the glory of God and the
battle for the salvation of souls through Mary.
THE FIRST SECRET OF FATIMA AND THE FIRST-DEGREE M.I.
In the Apocalypse we find the description of the Immaculata’s
deadly foe:
And there was seen another sign in heaven. And behold a
great red dragon (12:3). … 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 (12:17).
The chief and really the only intention of the dragon is to cast
as many souls as possible into eternal damnation. The first part of
the great secret of Fatima consists of the vision of this most terrible
misfortune:
We saw something like an ocean of fire. Submerged in this
fire were the devils and souls. The devils were distinguished
238
from the human beings by their horrible and disgusting
appearance, resembling unknown, terrifying monsters….1
In order to protect souls from this hellish fire, the Mother of God
showed them a means of salvation:
You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. In
order to save them from it, God wishes to spread devotion to
my Immaculate Heart throughout the world.2
This devotion is expressed in external works, but consists above
all in an interior spiritual attitude: yearning for the salvation of souls,
one’s own and that of one’s neighbor, through consecration to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is our refuge and the way that leads
to God (Apparition of June 13, 1917).
This is precisely the ideal that St. Maximilian entrusts to his Knights,
who are expected to attack the deadly foe of souls with all the means
at their disposal. This battle is hand-to-hand combat. At stake is every
individual soul, which must be preserved from the fires of hell. The
solitary Knight in battle for every soul that is presented to him is the
foundation of the first-degree M.I.
In the first degree each one consecrates himself individually
to the Immaculata and strives personally to achieve
1 Sister Lucia speaks about Fatima, op. cit., p. 153 [German edition].
2 Ibid.
239
the goal of the M.I., according to the talents and abilities
given to him by God.3
The devil, who is intent on every single soul and forgets none of
them, is confronted by the Knight, who still lives in the world, but is
no longer of this world, because he is imbued with the presence of the
Immaculata. In Fatima the Immaculate Heart of Mary pointed out the
mortal danger and declared the general remedy. The first-degree M.I.
is, so to speak, the concrete realization of this program. To Maximilian
Kolbe was given the grace to illuminate the significance of this
devotion of each individual person to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
in the smallest details of everyday life, like a general who explains to
his officers not only the overall strategy but also trains them in the
concrete application of this strategy, in minute detail.
THE SECOND SECRET OF FATIMA
AND THE SECOND-DEGREE M.I.
The first great instrument of Satan in the battle against the “seed of
the woman” is the first beast:
And I saw a beast coming up out the sea, having seven
heads and ten horns: and upon his horns, ten diadems: and
upon his heads, names of blasphemy. … And the dragon gave
him his own strength and great power. And all the earth was
in admiration after the beast. And they adored the dragon
which gave power to the beast. And they adored the beast,
saying: Who is like to the beast? And who shall be able to
3 Manuscript: M.I., in: Co dzień z Świętym Maksymilianem, Niepokalanów 1954,
p. 183.
240
fight with him? And there was given to him a mouth speaking
great things and blasphemies … against God, to blaspheme
his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven.
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to
overcome them. And power was given him over every tribe
and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell upon
the earth adored him, whose names are not written in the
book of life of the Lamb which was slain from the beginning
of the world. (Apocalypse 13:1–8).
Exegetes usually interpret this passage in such a way that “this
beast can represent only a political power.”4 In the second secret the
Mother of God warns:
If my wishes are carried out, then Russia will be converted
and there will be peace. If not, godless propaganda will
spread their errors throughout the world and cause wars and
persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the
Holy Father will have to suffer much. Many nations will be
annihilated.5
How can this beast rising up out of the infernal sea, i.e. anti-Christian
regimes, be vanquished? Through the acknowledgment of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary and the recognition of her power in public,
social and political life. The expression of this acknowledgment and
this recognition is consecration to the Immaculate Heart, but especially
4 O. Allo, L’Apocalypse, Gabalda 1921, p. 184.
5 Sister Lucia speaks about Fatima, op. cit., p. 153 [German edition].
241
the consecration of Russia, the country that became the beacon of the
gigantic project of destruction carried out by the beast and carried off
half of the world with it into the abyss of communistic atheism. This
consecration to the Immaculata includes conversion to the sole truth,
first on the individual level, but then also in the realm of society and
its public institutions and structures: the conversion of the Church, of
peoples, and especially of Russia, and finally of the whole world.
It goes without saying: this secret is directed above all to the “great
ones of this world”, to the pope together with all the bishops, but
then also to politicians who, when they listen to the requests of the
Immaculata, often receive good things in a miraculous way (e.g. the
fact that Portugal was spared involvement in the Spanish Civil War
and World War II thanks to its consecration to the Immaculate Heart
of Mary). In Tuy the Mother of God expressly foretold to Sister Lucia
the terrible punishments that would befall those who were unwilling
to listen to her.
Should we conclude from what has just been said that this secret
has no significance for the common people? On the contrary! It
is, after all, a call to every individual to work through Mary for the
social kingship of Christ, so as to place society under the gentle yoke
of Christ, even in small and limited circles. It is a commission to go
beyond the narrow confines of private life and to fight so that society,
together with its structures, will once again be under the dominion of
the King of kings, and this is possible only through Mary.
This is precisely the purpose of the second-degree M.I. Through
the establishment of cells in all public arenas, society must find its way
back to the Immaculata: groups, associations, joint projects, especially
publicity work through the press and the mass media — in short, the
most modern methods should be applied to the work of conquering
242
the enemy in those places where he appears to be invincible, since
he holds money, other forms of power and all of public life in his
hands. Yet it is recognized as a fact that during the Communist terror
the Catholic spirit was maintained in many places behind the Iron
Curtain through the cells of the second-degree M.I. In the missions
(for instance in China) they became a method of
spreading the Catholic faith and Christian civilization. The secret
of their success was not great numbers and certainly not large-scale
material resources, but rather the intrinsic form:
Everything through the Immaculata! Lead the whole
world and each individual soul to the Immaculata!6
Consecration — that is the key to understanding the second part
of the Fatima secret. Especially the consecration of Russia, but in the
wider sense also the consecration of every institution, beginning with
the smallest cell of society, the family, and ending with the world as a
whole. Fr. Kolbe’s teaching was analogous: in order to free the world
from the “errors of Russia”, that is, from atheistic materialism, we must
consecrate to the Immaculata not only people’s private lives, but also
the public arenas. And since we are only a tiny group, which is insignificant
in comparison to the forces of the gigantic army of the enemy,
we have to be the most perfect instruments possible in her
immaculate hands and allow ourselves to be guided by her in
everything.7
6 Letter from Nagasaki, April 29, 1931 to Fr. Koziura, in: BMK, p. 236.
7 Ibid.
243
What encouraging words in today’s difficult times! One poor, weak
human being can rescue many. A little group can set off an avalanche,
preparing the way for the great return to God through Mary, the
triumph of the Immaculate Heart.