Jacinta Marto was born in Portugal March 11, 1910, daughter of Manuel and Olimpia Marto. Jacinta was the 1st cousin of Lucia de los Santos. Francisco, her older brother was born Jun 11, 1908. Jacinta would die in February, of pleurisy, in the year 1920—not even ten years of age! Despite her short span of years, Jacinta soared high as an eagle in her spiritual life, making her one of the youngest saints in the Roman Catholic Church.
In this short essay we intend to transmit some of the subsequent messages that Our Lady gave to Blessed Jacinta Marto, and we would like to make a brief commentary on these short but extremely important messages. In total these messages are seven. Hopefully upon reading them, meditating upon them, and assimilating them in your mind, heart and soul you will apply these messages to your own personal life. We would strongly exhort all to share these messages with others. Indeed, one of the best ways to grow in our own personal faith is to be ready and willing with joy and enthusiasm to share the faith with others. In a word, what we have received freely, we should be ready to give freely!OUR LADY’S SUBSEQUENT MESSAGES TO JACINTA:
1. More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason.
Jesus said in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” (Mt. 5:8) This being the case, let us be aware of the many temptations pervading our culture and society—temptations for the young, the middle-aged, as well as the old that could place in danger or jeopardy our eternal salvation. Never forget: our primary goal in life is unequivocal and clear—to save our souls and to be with God and Mary, the angels and saints in heaven forever and ever. Let us place a list of the possible dangers of falling into the sins of the flesh: TV, radio, movies, ads, commercials, immodest dress (we will talk about this in the next segment), parties, and most important the ubiquitous presence of the internet via computer, tablet, and most important the cell phone, and then various internet streaming devices. Examine your conscience to perceive any danger for you, and if you have a family, for your family at large. You might have to make some alterations. Jesus calls all of us to conversion. His first public preaching was: “Be converted for the kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mk. 1:15)
2. Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much.
Try to make a comparison between the way that people dressed 50-100 years ago and now!!! What a marked contrast, to say the least; it is almost as clear and obvious as the difference between night and day! If you like, to understand the marked contrast: compare the movie starring Jimmy Stewart, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, with any modern movie today. In the movie with Stewart, as a whole, women dressed modestly and were respected. Today, the woman is seen as a mere physical object to be utilized, exploited, and discarded, almost as if she were a Coca Cola bottle. Never forget that our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the living Tabernacle of God, the Sanctuary of the Blessed Sacrament after receiving Holy Communion, and is destined for glory. Pope Saint Leo the Great in his Christmas homily message cries out: “Christian, remember your dignity!” We should recognize both our dignity and our destiny and we will radically change our lives. Dignity? Temples of the Blessed Trinity, once we are baptized! Destiny? Arrival safely in heaven to be enveloped in the loving embrace of the Trinity—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! We should dress in such a way that we are glorifying Almighty God and edifying our neighbor—who also is endowed with dignity and eternal destiny.
3. Many marriages are not good; they do not please Our Lord and are not of God.
Sad to say, most marriages end up with quarrels, fights, separations and divorce, with the unfortunate victims being the innocent children. Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen gives us the reason in his famous book on marriage that all of those who are preparing to get married should read: “It Takes Three to Get Married.” Those three? The husband, the wife, and God!!! From the start, if God is not placed in the very center of the marriage, there will be problems and very quickly! In concrete the famous words of the Rosary-priest, Father Patrick Peyton offers us the solution: “The family that prays together, stays together.” Our Lady of Fatima, whose official title is Our Lady of the Rosary, in every one of her six appearances told the children and the entire world to pray the Rosary. She also said that if the world did not pray enough then a worse war would break out. What happened 20 years later? World War II!!! Husbands should love their wives and children, but they should love God first. Wives should love their husbands and children, but they should love God first. If this is done families will be strong, persevering and wholesome for the growth of the children!
4. Priests must be pure, very pure. They should not busy themselves with anything except what concerns the Church and souls. The disobedience of priests to their superiors and to the Holy Father is very displeasing to Our Lord.
Very clear and to the point is this message for priests on the two virtues and vocation that priests must embrace with all of their heart, mind, soul and strength (Lk. 10)—a total purity of heart, mind, body, soul and intention, and then the paramount importance of the indispensable virtue of obedience. May priests and Bishops take the words of Our Lady of Fatima seriously to heart! Furthermore, with respect to the vocation and the mission of priests, Our Lady expresses herself with utmost clarity and transparency: priests should love the Church and have an insatiable love for what God loves most—the salvation of immortal souls. The motto of the great priest SAINT JOHN BOSCO, resonates loud and clear: GIVE ME SOULS AND TAKE ALL THE REST AWAY!!! The last words of Saint Ignatius of Loyola to the great missionary Saint Francis Xavier also resonate forcefully: GO SET ALL ON FIRE!!! In a word, Our Lady most earnestly desires that priests be holy, that they pursue holiness of life, and the salvation of immortal souls above all else!!!
5. The Blessed Mother can no longer restrain the hand of her Divine Son from striking the world with the just punishment for its many crimes.
Two reflections parallel to Our Lady’s sad but powerful words! The first is the Biblical passage of Moses who perched himself on the top of the hill overlooking the battle of the Israelites against the Amalekites. When Moses had his hands elevated, raised on high, then the Jewish army with Joshua as captain and leader prevailed. However, when the arms of Moses drooped and dropped due to weariness the enemy camp prevailed. Brilliant idea! Hur and Aaron, who were present with Moses, decided to seat him on a rock and both of them would sustain his arms on high. This done, Joshua and the rest of the Israelite army mowed down the Amalekites and won the battle! The second can be found in “Diary of Divine Mercy in My Soul” of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska #39. In this powerful number Jesus says that He is about to destroy their most beautiful city, most likely the city of Warsaw, due to their sins. However, as a result of the prayers of one person—Saint Faustina, this city was spared! What can we learn from these two examples? Very clearly: the power of two holy souls, Moses and Faustina. Jesus is calling us to personal and individual holiness so as to hold back and stay the chastising hand of God upon the world at large!
We might even add a third: the arms of the priest elevated in every Mass. Indeed, more than anything else it is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the perfect prayer and sacrifice of Jesus Himself that can placate, appease and hold back and restrain the chastising justice of God the Father upon all of humanity. “My child, unite yourself closely to Me during the Sacrifice and offer My Blood and My Wounds to My Father in expiation for the sins of that city. Repeat this without interruption throughout the entire Holy Mass. Do this for seven days.” (Words of Jesus to Saint Faustina, Diary #39)
6. If the government of a country leaves the Church in peace and gives liberty to our Holy Religion, it will be blessed by God.
In these words, we must pray very fervently for all of our political officials, the President, Vice-President, Congress, Senate, local officials and all who are elected and engaged in political and governing positions. They indeed wield much power and will be judged more severely and strictly by God. First and foremost, we should pray for those in authority that they will defend the rights of the innocent—most especially, the rights of the unborn children. In a word, abortion is the number one evil in the country as well as in the entire world. As our Founding Fathers so clearly emphasized: “All men (and women) are endowed with inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta so clearly understood this with respect to world peace that she stated we will not attain world peace until we defend the rights of the innocent unborn babies. Abortion is violence against the smallest and most innocent. If not defended, then peace will never become a reality in the world at large!
7. Tell everybody that God gives graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask graces from her, and that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Ask them to plead for peace from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the Lord has confided the peace of the world to her.
The Hearts of Jesus and Mary work in harmony. Indeed, Mary formed the Sacred Heart of Jesus within her most pure womb during the course of nine months. Mary never is an obstacle to Jesus, but rather a bridge of union. The last words of Our Lady recorded in Sacred Scripture in the context of a wedding, the Wedding Feast of Cana, were: “Do whatever he tells you.” (Jn. 2:5) This advice is excellent! If only it would be obeyed! As Saint Louis de Montfort reminds us: “Mary is the quickest, shortest, and easiest path to Jesus.” In a word, in the midst of the trials, storms, temptations and tempests of our daily lives we must find a sure refuge in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. As in the time of Noah, when the few people and all the animals sought and found refuge in the ARK, so we must find our refuge in the modern ark, the Ark of the Covenant, and that Ark is the presence of Mary, most specifically, in the depths of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In the Immaculate Heart of Mary we can find a sure refuge.
Furthermore, in the Immaculate Heart of Mary we can encounter pure and tender mercy. As we end the recitation of the most Holy Rosary we pray the Hail Holy Queen starting with these words: “Hail Holy Queen, Mother of MERCY, our life, our sweetness and our hope…” Indeed, the greatest and most ardent desire of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is that the whole world will say NO to sin and love fully and totally the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in imitation of her Immaculate Heart. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Sweet Heart of Mary, be our salvation.
Father Ed Broom, OMV, is Associate Pastor of St. Peter Chanel Church in Hawaiian Gardens, California. He is a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary and was ordained by Saint John Paul II on May 25, 1986. Fr. Ed teaches Catholic Ignatian Marian Spirituality through articles, podcasts, a radio show, retreats and spiritual direction.
