The last two remedies: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Here are extracts from an interview Sister Lucia of Fatima (one of the three children to whom the Virgin Mary appeared in Portugal in 1917) gave to Father Augustin Fuentes in 1957:

"Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:

"The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground.

"The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.

"And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world, He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation: His Blessed Mother.

"If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us, because we will have committed a sin that the Gospel calls a sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists in openly rejecting — with full knowledge and will — the salvation that is put in our hands.

"Also, since Our Lord is a very good Son, He will not permit that we offend and despise His Blessed Mother. We have, as obvious testimony, the history of different centuries where Our Lord has shown us, with terrible examples, how He has always defended the honor of His Blessed Mother.

"Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is—be it temporal or above all spiritual — in the spiritual life of each of us or the lives of our families, be they our families in the world or Religious Communities, or even in the lives of peoples and nations.

"I repeat, there is no problem, as difficult as it may be, that we cannot resolve at this time by praying the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord,and obtain the salvation of many souls.

"Then, there is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Most Holy Mother, holding her as the seat of mercy, goodness and pardon, and the sure door to enter Heaven."