First Saturday Devotions

Oct. 12, 2025

Part of the Fátima message is that God is asking us to make reparation for the sins of the world. The Angel in 1916 taught the children prayers of reparation and asked them to do penance. The Blessed Virgin also called for prayers and acts of reparation, and, on July 13, 1917, she promised that she would return to request a special kind of reparation. She did this in 1925, appearing to Lucia, now a novice in a Spanish community.

“Look, my daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.” This is a request that is ongoing, and one as needed today, if not more so, than in 1925. It is also one within the reach of every Catholic. And in fulfilling it, we please Our Lord, who like any son is pleased by others coming to the defense of his mother’s honor.

For five consecutive first Saturdays of the month and with the intention of making reparation for the offenses against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we are asked to:

• Go to Confession (may be 8 days before or after, if you are in a state of grace)

• Receive Holy Communion (can be received at a Saturday evening anticipatory Mass)

• Pray five decades of the Rosary

• Keep Our Lady company for 15 minutes while meditating on one or more of the mysteries of the Rosary.

Our Lord told Sister Lucia that there are five ways that people offend and blaspheme against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

• Offenses against Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception – by denial or ridicule

• Offenses against Our Lady’s Perpetual Virginity

• Offenses against Our Lady’s Divine Maternity, refusing to accept her as the Mother of all mankind

• Those who implant in children’s hearts, indifference, contempt and even hate against this Immaculate Mother

• Insults directed against her sacred images – ridicule and the infliction of damage to them.

Our Lady promised to assist all those who will practice the devotion of the first Saturday on five consecutive months with the graces necessary for salvation at the hour of their death.

One other thing we can do is to add the novena which was authored by Cardinal Burke and is directly connected to this devotion and the100th anniversary of the apparitions in which the Blessed Virgin Mary requested this along with her Divine Son. Copies of that are available in the vestibule.

God love you, . Anthony