Our Lady’s power will especially shine forth in the latter times, when satan will lie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and her poor children whom She will rouse to fight against him. Who will these chosen souls be?

 
The Virgin with the Child Jesus crushing the devil -
St. Peter’s Cathedral, Vannes (France)
The salvation of the world began through Mary and through Her it must be accomplished. Mary scarcely appeared in the first coming of Jesus Christ so that men, as yet insufficiently instructed and enlightened concerning the person of her Son, might not wander from the truth by becoming too strongly attached to Her. This would apparently have happened if She had been known, on account of the wondrous charms with which Almighty God had endowed even her outward appearance. So true is this that St. Denis the Areopagite tells us in his writings that when he saw Her he would have taken Her for a goddess, because of her incomparable beauty, had not his well-grounded faith taught him otherwise. But in the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and openly revealed by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known, loved and served through Her. The reasons which moved the Holy Spirit to hide His Spouse during her life and to reveal but very little of Her since the first preaching of the Gospel exist no longer.

Mary must be better known to humanity

God wishes therefore to reveal Mary, His masterpiece, and make Her more known in these latter times:
  1. Because She kept herself hidden in this world and in her great humility considered herself lower than dust, having obtained from God, His apostles and evangelists the favour of being made known.
  2. Because, as Mary is not only God’s masterpiece of glory in Heaven, but also His masterpiece of grace on earth, He wishes to be glorified and praised because of Her by those living upon earth.
  3. Since She is the dawn which precedes and discloses the Sun of Justice Jesus Christ, She must be known and acknowledged so that Jesus may be known and acknowledged.
  4. As She was the way by which Jesus first came to us, She will again be the way by which He will come to us the second time though not in the same manner.
  5. Since She is the sure means, the direct and immaculate way to Jesus and the perfect guide to Him, it is through Her that souls who are to shine forth in sanctity must find Him. He who finds Mary finds life, that is, Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. But no one can find Mary who does not look for Her. No one can look for Her who does not know Her, for no one seeks or desires something unknown. Mary then must be better known than ever for the deeper understanding and the greater glory of the Blessed Trinity.
  6. In these latter times Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, power and grace; in mercy, to bring back and welcome lovingly the poor sinners and wanderers who are to be converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power, to combat the enemies of God who will rise up menacingly to seduce and crush by promises and threats all those who oppose them; finally, She must shine forth in grace to inspire and support the valiant soldiers and loyal servants of Jesus Christ who are fighting for His cause.
  7. Lastly, Mary must become as terrible as an army in battle array to the devil and his followers, especially in these latter times. For satan, knowing that he has little time – even less now than ever – to destroy souls, intensifies his efforts and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate to stir up savage persecutions and set treacherous snares for Mary’s faithful servants and children whom he finds more difficult to overcome than others.
Mary and the Holy Spirit Museum of Religious Art, Cusco (Peru)

The most fearful enemy of the devil

It is chiefly in reference to these last wicked persecutions of the devil, daily increasing until the advent of the reign of anti-Christ, that we should understand that first and well-known prophecy and curse of God uttered against the serpent in the garden of paradise. It is opportune to explain it here for the glory of the Blessed Virgin, the salvation of her children and the confusion of the devil. “Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius; ipsa conteret caput tuum, et tu insidiaberis calcaneo eius – I will place enmities between you and the Woman, between your race and her race; She will crush your head and you will lie in wait for her heel” (Gn 3:15). God has established only one enmity – but it is an irreconcilable one – which will last and even go on increasing to the end of time. That enmity is between Mary, His worthy Mother, and the devil, between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and followers of Lucifer. Thus the most fearful enemy that God has set up against the devil is Mary, His holy Mother. From the time of the earthly paradise, although She existed then only in His mind, He gave Her such a hatred for His accursed enemy, such ingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the ancient serpent and such power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud rebel, that satan fears Her not only more than Angels and men but in a certain sense more than God himself. This does not mean that the anger, hatred and power of God are not infinitely greater than the Blessed Virgin’s, since her attributes are limited. It simply means that satan, being so proud, suffers infinitely more in being vanquished and punished by a lowly and humble servant of God, for her humility humiliates him more than the power of God. Moreover, God has given Mary such great power over the evil spirits that, as they have often been forced unwillingly to admit through the lips of possessed persons, they fear one of her pleadings for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats more than all their other torments. What Lucifer lost by pride Mary won by humility. What Eve ruined and lost by disobedience Mary saved by obedience. By obeying the serpent, Eve ruined her children as well as herself and delivered them up to him. Mary by her perfect fidelity to God saved her children with herself and consecrated them to His divine majesty.

The race of the Virgin fighting against the race of the serpent

God has established not just one enmity but “enmities”, and not only between Mary and satan but between her race and his race. That is, God has put enmities, antipathies and hatreds between the true children and servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and slaves of the devil. They have no love and no sympathy for each other. The children of Belial, the slaves of satan, the friends of the world, – for they are all one and the same – have always persecuted and will persecute more than ever in the future those who belong to the Blessed Virgin, just as Cain of old persecuted his brother Abel, and Esau his brother Jacob. These are the types of the wicked and of the just.
Our Lady of Help, by Bernardino Mariotto –
Civic Museum of Morrovalle (Italy)
But the humble Mary will always triumph over satan, the proud one, and so great will be her victory that She will crush his head, the very seat of his pride. She will unmask his serpent’s cunning and expose his wicked plots. She will scatter to the winds his devilish plans and to the end of time will keep her faithful servants safe from his cruel claws.

In the eyes of the world little, but great in holiness

But Mary’s power over the evil spirits will especially shine forth in the latter times, when satan will lie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and her poor children whom She will rouse to fight against him. In the eyes of the world they will be little and poor and, like the heel, lowly in the eyes of all, down-trodden and crushed as is the heel by the other parts of the body. But in compensation for this they will be rich in God’s graces, which will be abundantly bestowed on them by Mary. They will be great and exalted before God in holiness. They will be superior to all creatures by their great zeal and so strongly will they be supported by divine assistance that, in union with Mary, they will crush the head of satan with their heel, that is, their humility, and bring victory to Jesus Christ. Finally, God in these times wishes His Blessed Mother to be more known, loved and honoured than She has ever been. This will certainly come about if the elect, by the grace and light of the Holy Spirit, adopt the interior and perfect practice of the devotion which I shall later unfold. Then they will clearly see that beautiful Star of the Sea, as much as faith allows. Under her guidance they will perceive the splendours of this Queen and will consecrate themselves entirely to her service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience her motherly kindness and affection for her children. They will love Her tenderly and will appreciate how full of compassion She is and how much they stand in need of her help. In all circumstances they will have recourse to Her as their advocate and mediatrix with Jesus Christ. They will see clearly that She is the safest, easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching Jesus and will surrender themselves to Her, body and soul, without reserve in order to belong entirely to Jesus.

True apostles of the latter times

But what will they be like, these servants, these slaves, these children of Mary? They will be ministers of the Lord who, like a flaming fire, will enkindle everywhere the fires of divine love. They will become, in Mary’s powerful hands, like sharp arrows, sicut sagittæ in manu potentis, with which She will transfix her enemies.
Pentecost - Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel,
Genazzano (Italy)
They will be as the children of Levi, thoroughly purified by the fire of great tribulations and closely joined to God. They will carry the gold of love in their heart, the frankincense of prayer in their mind and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They will bring to the poor and lowly everywhere the sweet fragrance of Jesus, but they will bring the odour of death to the great, the rich and the proud of this world. They will be like thunder-clouds flying through the air at the slightest breath of the Holy Spirit. Attached to nothing, surprised at nothing, troubled at nothing, they will shower down the rain of God’s word and of eternal life. They will thunder against sin, they will storm against the world, they will strike down the devil and his followers and for life and for death, they will pierce through and through with the two-edged sword of God’s word all those against whom they are sent by Almighty God. They will be true apostles of the latter times to whom the Lord of Hosts will give eloquence and strength to work wonders and carry off glorious spoils from His enemies. They will sleep without gold or silver and, more important still, without concern in the midst of other priests, ecclesiastics and clerics, inter medios cleros. Yet they will have the silver wings of the dove enabling them to go wherever the Holy Spirit calls them, filled as they are with the resolve to seek the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Wherever they preach, they will leave behind them nothing but the gold of love, which is the fulfilment of the whole law. Lastly, we know they will be true disciples of Jesus Christ, imitating His poverty, His humility, His contempt of the world and His love. They will point out the narrow way to God in pure truth according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world. Their hearts will not be troubled, nor will they show favour to anyone; they will not spare or heed or fear any man, however powerful he may be.
St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort -
Private collection
They will have the two-edged sword of the word of God in their mouths and the blood-stained standard of the Cross on their shoulders. They will carry the crucifix in their right hand and the rosary in their left, and the holy names of Jesus and Mary on their heart. The simplicity and self-sacrifice of Jesus will be reflected in their whole behaviour. Such are the great men who are to come. By the will of God Mary is to prepare them to extend His rule over the impious and unbelievers. But when and how will this come about? Only God knows. For our part we must yearn and wait for it in silence and in prayer: “I have waited and waited.” (Ps 39:2). ◊  
Taken from: True Devotion to Mary. In: God Alone. Bay Shore, NY: Montfort Publications, 1987, p.303-307.