MARY, OUR MOTHER

THE HEART OF MARY

3. The Final Grace. 

This is the climax of all the graces and promises of the Divine Heart. Final perseverance, the final grace, the grace of a happy death --who is not preoccupied about this problem? Which of us can with poise and serenity face that step into eternity, aware as we are of its uncertainty? When and how shall we get across? How much depends on that step! 

The eternity which follows that step is a frightening thought: to be eternally happy or eternally lost. What a terrible alternative. 

And a most frightening circumstance is that when you are making that step nobody is going to help you. Your soul will find itself all alone. Nobody will see or accompany you. Your soul abandoned, alone, will have to plunge into eternity; willy-nilly, well or ill-prepared, in grace or in sin. See yourself at that moment, that moment which one day you will certainly have to face. Take a glimpse at the eternity awaiting you. The mere consideration of it makes one tremble. How shall we feel when we shall be called on not only to take a mental glimpse but actually to take the plunge? 

Oh consoling devotion to the Sacred Heart! The Sacred Heart of Jesus who knows all things well, understands this well and hastens to help you. And how great is His help! Wanting to render this frightful step easy for you, how well He does it. He only asks you to love Him, to give Him your heart through the Heart of Our Lady, to devote yourself entirely to the devotion of the Sacred Hearts of Mary and Jesus. Could there be anything easier? Anything more reasonable and just? And in return He promises you final perseverance. He guarantees to you final victory; your triumph will be complete, your reward and crown eternal. 

Listen then to, and impress deeply upon your heart those most consoling words of Our Lord: My Divine Heart will become for them a safe shelter at that last hour.

And, too, God will send the Most Holy Virgin to help, to console and welcome the souls of those who practice this devotion. She will take them to dwell eternally within the very same Heart of Jesus. 

To live and to die within the Sacred Heart! Could there be anything more glorious? You will certainly achieve this if you learn how to shut yourself inside the Most Pure Heart of Mary. 

Promise once more you will do so. Beg Her pardon for not having done so in the past. Give Her your heart once forever and entreat Her to accept your miserable gift by counting you in the number of Her true devotees.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]