Have you ever done the First Saturdays devotion? If not, you will love this devotion because the First Saturdays devotion will bring you closer to Jesus. It’s sort of a bootcamp for your prayer life, especially if you do it in conjunction with a consecration to Mary, especially the one created by St. Louis de Montfort.
It should be understood that the First Saturdays devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is connected to the First Fridays devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. These two devotions are done in unison. Both devotions will assist you in your spiritual life by helping you grow in virtue and to deepen your interior life.
These devotions will orient your heart toward love of neighbor, as they focus on uniting with Christ in his passion and in joining His mother in praying for the conversion of sinners. You will develop a deeper love for Christ as you pray month after month in reparation for the blasphemies and sacrileges and outrages that are done in the world against His Sacred Heart and against His mother’s Immaculate Heart.
You become oriented toward recognizing these blasphemies. And when they occur it hurts you to witness them. You become unable to participate in sacrileges that seem to be happening around you. There is a movement of your heart. You are struck with a desire, compelled, to obey that still small voice reminding you that Jesus is to be revered.
The church teaches that when Jesus was dying on the Cross He turned to John his disciple and gave Mary to be his mother. This act appointed Mary to become the mother of all men. She became at that moment our intercessor, our spiritual mother.
Mary’s pierced and wounded heart is a symbol of her suffering love for mankind. She has a pure heart that desires to only do the will of God, and in her love and obedience to God’s call, she has a tremendous holy love for all mankind.
When you are committed to the First Saturdays devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary you honor her. You pray for lost souls, for God’s mercy on sinners, for the conversion of sinners. In these petitions you ask Mary to pray for you to grow in virtue so that you may do God’s will. You desire to live your life much as she did, with purity and humility.
A First Saturdays devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is practiced in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and in obedience to the will of God. You share in her love for both God and mankind. You think and act in ways that aid a broken world and desire to do ‘whatever He tells you” to save lost souls.
It is not necessary to do both the 9 First Fridays and the 5 First Saturdays simultaneously, but it can be done.
How to do the First Saturdays Devotion
For 5 consecutive months on the first Saturday of the month and in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart:
- Go to Confession within 8 days of the First Saturday. The purpose is for you to receive Holy Communion in a state of grace.
- Receive Holy Communion.
- Pray 5 decades of the Holy Rosary.
- Meditate for 15 minutes on one or more of the Mysteries of the Rosary.
A Little History Behind the First Saturday Devotion
When Our Lady of Fatima appeared to the shepherd children a second time she held the child Jesus in her arms. Her heart was exposed and it was pierced with thorns.
The Child Jesus spoke: “Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother which is covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment with no-one to extract them with an act of reparation.”
Then Our Lady of Fatima spoke: “Look, my daughter, My Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me at every moment with blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, make sure to console me and announce that all those who for five months, on the first Saturdays, go to Confession, receive Communion, say five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary, with the purpose of making reparation to Me, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls.”
My daughter, my Heart encircled by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you, at least, strive to console me. Tell them that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the … mysteries of the Rosary.
Bring Peace to the World Through Prayer
Our Lady of Fatima has asked us to commit to the First Saturdays devotion and in order to bring peace to the world
Do the following:
- Pray the Rosary daily for peace in the world.
- The Pope should consecrate Russia to Mary’s Immaculate Heart
- We must consecrate ourselves to Mary’s Immaculate Heart.
- Do all daily activities in our vocation and domestic life with love.
- Dedicate everything to God.
- Make reparation for the sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary by observing the Five First Saturdays.
There are five kinds of offenses and blasphemies spoken against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
- First: blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
- Second: against her Virginity
- Third: against the Divine Maternity, refusing, at the same time, to receive her as the Mother of mankind
- Fourth: those who seek publicly to implant, in the hearts of children, indifference, disrespect, and even hate for this Immaculate Mother
- Fifth: those who revile her directly in her sacred images
One Response
May your Blessings be abundant, for the materials you supply us with!