The apparitions of Our Lady in July and August 1917 were all centred on the means she wants us to use for the greatest possible number of conversions of poor sinners.

The great secret of Fatima revealed to the children on 13 July begins with the terrific vision of Hell to make us understand the extreme gravity of the matter and give us an efficacious motivation to employ all possible means to work for the conversion and salvation of souls — and all souls are in imminent danger of getting lost forever in the fires of Hell.

In fact, this duty of being an instrument in the Immaculata’s hand for the conversion and sanctification of all those living in error and sin is the only really important work we have to accomplish in this world and for this world.

In Fatima Our Lady gives us the means to do this work and so to bring to souls true happiness: The devotions to her Immaculate Heart, precisely the First Saturday devotions and the Consecration of our institutions (and especially Russia) to her Immaculate Heart. She insists on our prayers and sacrifices, especially one — the daily Rosary. She also inspired Saint Maximilian Kolbe to found the M.I.: a permanent little army, where the officers have the duty to remind the Knights about their most sublime duty and task to accomplish in this “valley of tears”.

Moreover, she wants the M.I. to be somehow the spiritual “warehouse” where we can find all kind of means to accomplish more easily the “GREAT AND ONLY IMPORTANT TASK OF OUR LIFE”.

In other words: The MILITIA IMMACULATAE is a special gift of Our Lady to keep ourselves close to the burning fire of Love of HER IMMACULATE HEART and inspire us to do always more and always better, what God wants us to do in our short life on earth.

Taken from Editorial of “Knight of the Immaculata” No. 6, Fr. Karl Stehlin

---