Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is, in a sense, a counterpart and consequence of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Between the moment of Our Lord's conception at the Annunciation and the moment when His Own newly-formed Heart began to beat in Mary's womb, the heart of Mary served simultaneously as the one heart for both herself and her Divine Son. In a sense, her heart was His Heart during those first days of His life on earth. And when His Heart was opened on the Cross by the thrust of the lance, so her heart was pierced also by the sword, as prophesied by Simeon on the fortieth day of Christ's infancy. 

Now those Hearts are inseparably united, so much so that Our Lord takes very personally, one might say, insults to His beloved Mother. In fact, all the errors that have undermined the dignity of Mary have actually been—in one guise or another—attacks on the Incarnation of the Son of God. For example, the heresy of a 5th century bishop, Nestorius, denied to Mary the title "Mother (or Bearer) of God." But the reason behind the denial of Mary was Nestorius' denial that the Person of the Divine Son became man. He taught that there are two distinct persons in Christ, the one belonging to the divine nature and the other belonging to the human nature. He regarded Mary as the Mother only of Jesus the human person. The Catholic Church upheld the truth of the Incarnation by defending the faith that the Divine Person actually took human nature and became man; He did not just take "possession" of a separate human person who already existed. Jesus Christ is one Divine Person Who is both God and Man; not two distinct persons some- how bonded together. 

We see the unity of those loving and beloved Hearts clearly manifested in Our Blessed Mother's messages at Fatima. There, in 1917, she told the children that Our Lord Himself sent her to establish devotion to her Immaculate Heart and to make reparation for the offenses committed against her Divine Motherhood. Upon the fulfillment of this devotion would depend all mankind's hopes for peace in the world. The words which Our Lady addressed to the children were committed to them as secrets, to be revealed only at a later time designated by Mary. Ten years later, in 1927, after the deaths of Jacinta and Francisco, the Blessed Mother instructed Lucia to reveal the first and second secrets involving the need for devotion to her Immaculate Heart, the terrifying vision of hell, the call for repentance, for prayer, and for sacrifice. Lucia told of Our Lady's prophecy that if men did not stop offending God by sin, Russia would spread her errors throughout the world, causing great suffering by inciting wars and persecutions. Russia's conversion and a consequent time of peace would depend on the Holy Father consecrating Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart. Lucia revealed that the Blessed Mother had said the Holy Father would indeed make that consecration of Russia, but that it would be late. 

Lucia explained that she was ordered to reveal the secrets in 1927 because the moment would soon come when the consecration of Russia must be made by the Holy Father, who at that time was Pope Pius XI. Two years later, in 1929, Lucia announced that the time had come that the Holy Father must consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary with all the bishops of the Church. But Pope Pius XI did not make the consecration. After three years passed with no consecration, in 1932 Lucia stated that Our Lord had directed her to warn the Holy Father about His displeasure and about the grave consequences of delay, even mentioning the tragic fate of King Louis XVI of France, who had failed to add the emblem of the Sacred Heart to the flag of France. Still, even after this dire warning, there was no consecration. In 1937 Pope Pius XI issued two powerful encyclicals against Nazism (Mitt brennender Sorge) and against atheistic Communism (Divini Redemptoris). He died in 1939. Ten years had passed since Heaven's demand, yet there had been no consecration of Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart. The prophesied horrors of World War Il followed swiftly. 

In 1942, the 25th anniversary of the apparitions, Pope Pius XII acted together with the bishops of Portugal in consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart. Russia was not named, but there was an oblique reference to it. Lucia said that the consecration pleased Our Lord and that, although it was not the consecration demanded, it would cause the shortening of World War Il. But then Lucia said that it was required that every Catholic family must consecrate itself, with each faithful soul, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

Finally, by a special apostolic letter of July 7, 1952, Pope Pius XII did fulfill Mary's prophecy of 1917 at Fatima that the Holy Father (himself) would consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart "but it would be late." But that 1952 consecration did not include all the bishops as demanded by the message of 1929. And Lucia's words following the consecration in 1942 still stand and apply to every single one of us: the need for all Catholic families and for all faithful souls to consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary And this we do.