Words from Father Kentenich, St. Michael’s Parish, August 22, 1965
What is really the meaning of the history [of Fatima], what does God want to imprint upon us through its history? To understand this, we need to interpret the expression consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Mother. What is the meaning of a consecration? It means to surrender, to surrender oneself unconditionally. Hence we want to strive for the unconditional surrender to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Mother. Since every word from the lips of the eternal God, from the lips of the Blessed Mother, obviously has a profound meaning, we could now begin pondering and explaining.
Surrender, unconditional surrender to the heart of the Blessed Mother. What is the meaning of heart? It has a twofold meaning. The heart is, first of all, the symbol of love and then the symbol of the entire personality. A symbol of love! We may surrender ourselves to the Blessed Mother’s love, but we must emphasize from the very beginning that this is her love for God and for us. Once more, it presupposes that the Blessed Mother has not only a head, not only a will, but a heart as well. The heart is what is essential; love is what is essential. We should surrender ourselves to the immeasurable, to the moving love of the Blessed Mother—her childlike love for the Father, her motherly love for us, her bridal love for Christ; but it is always selfless love, love suffering for the sake of love, love sharing in suffering for the sake of love. Surrender [to her heart and to her love]. Her love is always a symbol, a mirror of the love which the Father has for us. We surrender to the Blessed Mother’s love for the Father and for us as a symbol of the infinite love which the eternal Father lavishes upon us.
The world is in disorder, in disarray, the world is breaking down, is hopelessly falling apart. The Blessed Mother’s heart is in order to an unparalleled degree. If I give myself to the immaculate heart of Mary, I give myself to personified order, I give myself to an incarnate microcosm of order. The effect will be that my heart becomes ordered too. The effect will be that from my ordered heart order will be restored in my surroundings (if I belong to a community, order in my community) because my environment is the sum total of personified microcosms put in order. Again, if I belong to a community, to a Catholic family, what does the embodiment of peaceful microcosms of order look like? If our Marian devotion, our piety fails to bring about [this type of order], if we live together like cats and dogs and everything is upset… It is the great, great mission expressed in the Song of Songs: He put order into love. In the Blessed Mother, love is ordered in all its ramifications.
Dear Mother Thrice Admirable and Queen of Schoenstatt, transform us into three times admirable children of a constant divine smile amidst the human cry (Game of Love). Transform our hearts through our love for you. Bring order into our hearts, by granting us the three pilgrimage graces from the shrine. Then you can bring order into our world. From this shrine, educate the Catholic faithful of our times. Take us under your protection, educate us, and send us out. Amen. My Queen, my Mother…