First Saturday Devotion of Reparation to Our Lady

HER CHILDREN ROSE UP, AND CALLED HER BLESSED.” (Proverbs 31:28 Douay Rheims)

As we enter the new year 2016 celebrating the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, I am making a new year’s resolution to complete the Five First Saturday Devotion of Reparation to Our Lady.  I have tried many times in the past and somehow, in one of five months, I forget to pray for this specific intention.

Just last week, we heard how a statue of Our Lady had been desecrated by Satanists on Christmas Eve in front of a Catholic Church in Oklahoma.  When I first heard of it I remembered the message of Our Lord to Sister Lucia about how bad desecrating an image of Our Lady is and I thought of going to pray there, but I remained indifferent since it was so far and I had obligations at work and at the Cathedral.  

The truth is that we have grown cold and indifferent to any attack on Our Blessed Mother.  Imagine if someone would say that on a certain day in public place, for the world to see, they were going to do bad things to an image of our earthly mother.  What son would not defend the honor of their earthly mother?  Would I be indifferent so easily to someone speaking or doing bad things about my earthly mother?  So, why aren’t we defending the Immaculate Heart of Our Mother who is in heaven interceding for us?  I think Jesus can put up with our indifference toward Him, but I think it really offends Him when we remain indifferent toward His beloved Mother.

Why the First Five Saturdays?

One day Sister Lucia, one of three visionaries of Fatima, was asked by a priest why the First Five Saturdays are so important and Our Lord Himself gave the answer to Sister Lucia:

“My daughter, the reason is simple. There are five types of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary :

1. Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception;
2. Blasphemies against Her Virginity;
3. Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize Her as the Mother of men;
4. The blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children, indifference or scorn or even hatred of this Immaculate Mother;
5. The offenses of those who outrage Her directly in Her holy images.

“Here, my daughter, is the reason why the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspired Me to ask for this little act of reparation and due to it move My mercy to forgive those souls who had the misfortune of offending Her.  As for you, try incessantly with all your prayers and sacrifices to move Me into mercifulness toward those poor souls.”

(May 29,1930)

So what is the Five First Saturday Devotion of Reparation to Our Lady?

On December 10, 1925 Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucia holding Her Immaculate Heart in Her Hand, and by Her side stood the Child Jesus on a luminous cloud.  The Child Jesus said: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.”

Then the Blessed Virgin Mary said to Lucia: “Look, my daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at 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,

1.   on the first Saturday of five consecutive months,
2.   shall confess,
3.  receive Holy Communion,
4.  recite five decades of the Rosary,
5.  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 what making reparation, atonement, or expiation means when Our Lady says to make “Reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” (July 13, 1917)

How important is this devotion?  “Whether the world has war or peace depends on the practice of this devotion, along with the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is why I desire its propagation so ardently, especially because this is also the will of our dear Mother in Heaven.” -Sr. Lucy (March 19, 1939)

The truth be known, the devil is running scared, and these acts of desecration against Our Lady’s images and her honor are the punches of a defeated enemy knowing he is going down for the count when all, “Her children rise up, and call her blessed.” (cf:Proverbs 31:28 RSVCE)  He knows that God wins, and she crushes the serpents head.  Satan knows that “In the end, Mary’s Immaculate Heart will triumph!” (cf: Words of Our Lady of Fatima on July 13, 1917)