After having kept me for many days in this novena under the luminous splendor of her apparition, Our Lady of Fatima spoke to me as follows:
“Most beloved daughters of mine, have the soul of Lucy, Hyacinth, and Francis, who received me because they were simple, like their little sheep. Be able to look upwards at all times, for the Mother does not go down into the mud, but soars over you from the azure of Heaven. With my whiteness as a robe for your soul, with your spirit praying, like my hands joined in prayer out of compassion for mortals, with the gentleness of my smile to make community life sweet, and, above all, with a heart which is, insofar as possible, immaculate - for daughters also inherit their mother’s heart from her and her heredity - imitate me, love me, and elevate yourselves.
“I am not speaking to Maria of the Cross.232 She is in my heart, the only cradle to give her peace. The poor, weary dove can come into my pierced heart and stay to quench her thirst with the compassionate tears of the Mother upon her and rest, forgetting that there is hatred in the world, because it would be too painful for her to continue without the consolation of my love. Love one another, though - the three of you and her. Love one another in me and in my Most Holy Son, who has joined you in love through a great desire of his love.
“In Iria there is a new cathedral. Beautiful. But I want the little chapels of hearts loving my Heart. They bear a stronger scent of love and are more replete with roses. Make it possible for me to descend into your hearts to communicate my sweetness and instruct you on constant acceptance of the divine will. An acceptance which made me a Queen, for those who remove their crowns shall be crowned - that is, the crown of sanctity rests on the spirits able to remove the crown of their humanity by agreeing to serve the Lord in all things.
“My blessing be upon you.”
The night before, May 12, displaying herself as most beautiful, as she was certainly seen by the three shepherd boys up in the holm oak, she said to me with a smile capable of provoking ecstasy, “I bless you, my beloved daughter. All of the blessings of the Mother and all the love of my Heart, in order to console you for everything. I bless you, beloved daughter. I bless you.” And in my great physical and moral suffering I fell placidly asleep, as if everything had been calmed by Mary’s smile and words.
232 The names chosen by Maria after the fashion of consecrated life.