of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
“I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you.” Ezekiel 36:26

“I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you.” Ezekiel 36:26

Alleluia! Happy and Blessed Easter!  

As a Catholic Convert, the season of Lent has been a time of great warfare and blessing for me. I recall very vividly, as a Catechumen, times of deep darkness, unlike anything I had experienced before. I would sometimes be paralyzed by fear with the thoughts that would enter my mind. Thoughts of unworthiness, rejection, shame and yes, even despair.

After entering the Church, I became the RCIA Coordinator for many years. God knew I needed more formation, and I certainly could relate to those entering the Church. What I didn’t understand as a Catechumen, I saw clearly as a Coordinator, that when we are giving God our FIAT, moving into a new season of the Spiritual Life, we will become a target for the evil one.

I could see this warfare rise up most fiercely in the RCIA process during the Third, fourth and Fifth weeks of Lent, otherwise known as the Scrutinies. The purpose of the Scrutinies is “to uncover, then heal all that is weak, defective, or sinful” in the hearts of the Elect and to “strengthen all that is upright, strong, and good.” (Quotes from Ritual Text for Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, paragraph #141)

The Scrutinies are about examining our heart and allowing God into those places in us that are wounded, scared, disordered, and maybe even hidden from our minds. They prepare us for The Eucharist banquet, taking us from the darkness of our sin, into the Light of Christ.

It’s amazing to me to see this same type of process and warfare as people come to receive and understand the Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. While it’s not a sacrament and should not be regarded as such, it is a powerful torrent of GRACE. Our Lady says…

“I assure you, my little one, that I have never before given into your hands such a powerful force of grace, the burning flame of the love of my heart. Ever since the Word became Flesh, I have not undertaken a greater movement than the Flame of Love of my heart who rushes to you.”

Page 60 of the Spiritual Diary

People come into this outpouring of grace and become exposed to a new fire, one that will illuminate our need for healing and show us our weaknesses and our defects so as to transform us. Transformation is hard because it requires us to allow God to bring us into His Light and change us. We give our lives to Him so He can Give us His Life. This is the heart of the Christian journey, union with God. But what is very different is that the graces of this Flame of Love truly do blind satan, IF we enter into Mary’s Immaculate Heart. If we try and receive these graces without Mary’s help, we will turn away…and many do because they want the grace without being prepared to receive it. They want the new heart, free of the charge, but they want the “transplant” to be painless and we know that love doesn’t work that way.

Love will call us to transformation and transformation will call us to sacrifice and we will need grace to respond to any of it! The Flame of Love of Mary’s Immaculate Heart is that grace, the grace that we need to repent and amend our lives so that we can make reparation for the sins against God. This is the mission of what Mother Mary called us to at Fatima.

Catholics receive a great gift in the Eucharist, where Jesus Christ enters us and transforms us. I love the sacraments of the Catholic Church and I’m deeply grateful that I was able to respond and persevere with grace in becoming a Catholic. But, not everyone is able to receive the Sacraments and not everyone is receiving them worthily. So Jesus and Mary have made a way, through Divine Mercy and The Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, where mercy and grace flow down from Heaven for all souls who will receive AND share. Grace and mercy are actions and we are missionaries of love.

As a Universal Church, we understand that we are entering into the Passion. I wonder, can we look at this time and this grace with the same efficacy as The Scrutinies? Perhaps it’s a stretch, or just maybe it’s the perfect comparison. It’s for you to discern. But if you are a Christian, no one can deny that Mary is the Mother of God, and that Jesus came to us from her virginal and perfect womb to save us from our sins, and that He rose again to give us a new life. I believe that now, Mary is giving us Christ through Her Immaculate Heart to purify us and prepare the world for His Eucharistic Reign and the Resurrection of the Church.

“The earth has been covered in darkness because of the lack of faith in the soul of humanity and therefore will experience a great jolt. Following that, people will believe. This jolt, by the power of faith, will create a new world. Through the Flame of Love of the Blessed Virgin, faith will take root in souls, and the face of the earth will be renewed, because “nothing like it has happened ever since the Word became Flesh.” The renewal of the earth, although flooded with sufferings, will come about by the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin.”

Jesus – Page 149 of the Spiritual Diary

I encourage us to listen very intently to the Readings tonight during the Great Easter Vigil and reflect upon the state of humanity and the state of our own hearts. What is the profit Ezekiel telling God’s people?! Does it apply to us today?

The Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary blinds satan and resurrects Jesus in our souls! Enter into the fire of the Triune Love and ask Mary to give you the Heart and Spirit of God.

May our feet journey together!

Jill Metz

US National Director, servant, sister, and daughter of Jesus and Mary.

PS… Enjoy your Easter season! I encourage you to stay rooted in the weekly Agenda, daily Flame of Love Rosary and prayers, and the sacrifice of meat on Fridays. Yes, we are an alleluia people AND we are part of Mary’s Special Fighting Force for souls, so keep up the good fight!

“You must dedicate yourselves to blind Satan. The coordinated forces of the entire world are necessary to accomplish this. Do not delay because someday you will be called to account for the work entrusted to you, for the fate of a multitude of souls. I do not want even one soul damned. Satan will be blinded inasmuch as you work against him.”

Mary- page 176 of the Spiritual Diary