“Our Lady of Fatima” (detail) by Chambers
The Five First Saturdays Devotion
Last week we got to know the Prayers of Fatima. Now let’s look at the devotion of the Five First Saturdays.
In her July 13, 1917 apparition at Fatima, Mary said:
“You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. It is to save them that God wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If you do what I tell you, many souls will be saved… I shall come to the world to ask that Russia be consecrated to my Immaculate Heart, and I shall ask that on the First Saturday of every month Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins-of the world.”
Then on December 10, 1925, Mary appeared to Lucia in Spain and instructed her on how to make the Five First Saturdays devotion:
“Look, My daughter, at My Heart surrounded by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console Me and announce in My Name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all 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.”
So here is what is necessary to receive the promise of Mary to assist you at the moment of your death… On the first Saturday of five consecutive months:
- Make a good sacramental confession (this can actually be done a reasonable number of days before the first Saturday, as long as the person is in a state of grace on the first Saturday).
- Receive Holy Communion.
- Pray a Rosary (5 decades or more) properly – attentively saying the vocal prayers while meditating on the mysteries.
- Spend 15 minutes or more in the company of Mary meditating on one or more of the mysteries of the rosary (this is in addition to praying the rosary in #3).
- All components of this devotion must be done with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for sin.
Not only is the practice of this devotion a very good act that Mary and Jesus desire of you, it is also a means of gaining graces to secure the gift of salvation you have received.
Into the deep…
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Into the Deep by Deacon Mike Bickerstaff is a regular feature of the The Integrated Catholic Life™ and usually appears each Sunday.
Deacon Mike Bickerstaff is the Editor in chief and co-founder of the The Integrated Catholic Life™. A Catholic Deacon of the Roman Rite for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Deacon Bickerstaff is assigned to St. Peter Chanel Catholic Church where he is the Director of Adult Education and Evangelization.
He is a co-founder of the successful annual Atlanta Catholic Business Conference; the Chaplain of the Atlanta Chapter of the Woodstock Theological Center’s Business Conference; and Chaplains to the St. Peter Chanel Business Association and co-founder of the Marriages Are Covenants Ministry, both of which serve as models for similar parish-based ministries.
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