“Therefore, the Supreme Pontiff Pope FRANCIS, considering the important evangelical witness they offered in welcoming the Lord Jesus into their home, in listening to him attentively, in believing that he is the resurrection and the life, and accepting the proposal of this Dicastery, has decreed that 29 July be designated in the General Roman Calendar as the Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus.” (DECREE on the Celebration of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus in the General Roman Calendar, 2021)
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“Jesus entered a village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.” (Cf. Luke 10:38)
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 “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)
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“On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer. We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there. One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us.” (Acts 16:13-15)
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Ivonne J. Hernandez Ivonne is a Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament, President of Elisheba House, and author of The Rosary: Eucharistic Meditations. She lives in Trinity, Florida, with her husband, Rick, and their children.

"The dead tend to receive more flowers than the living because regret is usually stronger on us than gratitude." - Unknown

"That we may recover by penance what we have lost by sin." (Excerpt from the Miraculous Medal Novena)
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Rick Hernandez Rick Hernandez is a commonsense Catholic, Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament, and a Director for Elisheba House. He lives in Trinity, Florida, with his wife Ivonne and their children. He also writes for the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament's Daily Eucharistic Reflections and for Catholicmom.com.

“The refinement of friendship. Suffering is often God’s secret for keeping the soul under the mystery of obedience and in the entire immolation of its reason.”  (Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Eymard Library Vol. 6, pg. 321) 

“What remains was already evident when we began our reflections on the text of the «secret»‌: the exhortation to prayer as the path of «salvation for souls»‌ and, likewise, the summons to penance and conversion.”    

“The purpose of the vision is not to show a film of an irrevocably fixed future. Its meaning is exactly the opposite: it is meant to mobilize the forces of change in the right direction.”   

“Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour, the disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:27)
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“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.” (July 13th apparition at Fatima) 

“In the vision, the Pope and the martyrs are also killed. When, after the attempted assassination on May 13, 1981, the Holy Father had the text of the third part of the «secret»‌ brought to him, was it not inevitable that he should see in it his own fate? He had been very close to death, and he himself explained his survival in the following words: «... it was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death»‌”   (May 13 1994).

“That here «a mother’s hand»‌ had deflected the fateful bullet only shows once more that there is no immutable destiny, that faith and prayer are forces that can influence history, and that in the end, prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies.”

A Vision of Hell and Prophecies

As she spoke these words, Mary opened her hands, and rays of light from them seemed to penetrate the earth, revealing to the children a terrifying vision of hell full of demons and lost souls amid indescribable horrors. The children looked up to the sad face of the Blessed Virgin, who spoke to them kindly:

“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace.”
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(WAF/World Apostolate of Fatima July 13, 1917)  

I would like finally to mention another key expression of the «secret»‌ which has become justly famous: «My Immaculate Heart will triumph.» What does this mean? 

The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The fiat of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world because it brought the Saviour into the world - because, thanks to her Yes, God could become man in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God. But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: «In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world»‌ (Jn 16:33). The message of Fatima invites us to trust in this promise.  

Joseph Card. Ratzinger
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith  

Laura Catherine Worhacz ​Laura Catherine Worhacz is a Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament and author of Consecration to Jesus Through Our Lady of The Blessed Sacrament. She is also the Director of Mothers of The Blessed Sacrament. She lives in Trinity, FL with her husband and their two daughters.