Lest there should be any misconception about the place of devotion to Mary in Catholic piety, we honor in a special way the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of Jesus, i.e., the person of Mary in her eminent sanctity and glorification by God, because it is the wish of her Son - as Our Lady revealed in her second apparition at Fatima. Jesus knows well that true devotion to His Mother leads souls to Him. As Pope Paul VI wrote in his encyclical celebrating the centenary of the apparitions at Lourdes:
"Everything in Mary leads us toward her Son, our only Savior, by whose foreseen merits she was preserved immaculate and full of grace; everything in Mary lifts up our hearts to the praise of the Holy Trinity."
And as Our Lady assured Lucy, June 13, 1917:
"I will never abandon you, my child. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God."
The Church sees Mary, then, not as the
goal, but as the
guide, who always leads souls who honor her with true devotion - to her Son, especially to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. When we pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for help in time of need, she in turn points to the Tabernacle, to Him who is
"the Way, the Truth, and the Life," and has a way of conveying to us what she said to the steward at Cana:
"Do whatever he tells you." (John.2:5)
Reference:
http://www.rosary-center.org/consecrt.htm#jesusLinkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=60185.0
