You are cordially invited to attend the First Saturday devotions at the Divine Mercy Apostolate on Saturday, 6 December (also the feast of St Nicholas!), starting at 1:30 p.m. at 1 Courtfield Gardens, London W13. Bring your family and friends! A light reception will follow.
By Chris Sparks
“I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays” — Our Lady of Fatima, July 19, 1917.
I recently attended a party to mark the 10-year wedding anniversary of some friends. It was a joyous occasion. The couple in question has a gift for hospitality, for befriending a wide range of folks from a variety of backgrounds, and bringing people together for great celebrations and social gatherings. This anniversary party was no exception.
All roads lead to Fatima
In the course of the evening, I fell into conversation with a couple of guys about Our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima. Admittedly, that’s not a rare event for me. I am convinced that the present age of the world is understandable only in light of Our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima, and the later apparitions to Sr. Lucia.
In the middle of the conversation, one of the guys talked about his view of the election year, of the process of culture war that is ongoing, the culture of life against culture of death. But I hesitated to agree.
“I think culture war is a tourniquet on a bleeding wound,” I responded. “But it’s not enough.”
He very reasonably asked me what I thought we needed to do, then, in response to Fatima.
“The First Saturdays,” I responded. I shared the great overview of the First Saturdays put together by Marian Fr Donald Calloway, MIC.
What are the First Saturdays?
Father Calloway explains them in more detail, but the quick rundown: In reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary include the following elements, performed with the intention of reparation for blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart, for at least five consecutive months:
- Confession (shortly before or after the First Saturday — so long as the person receives Holy Communion in a state of grace);
- Holy Communion received on the First Saturday of each month;
- the Holy Rosary, five decades recited sometime during the day; and
- meditating for 15 minutes on the Mysteries of the Rosary (one or more).
Prepare for (spiritual) combat
I told the guys at the anniversary party, “It’s the hardest/easiest devotion you’ll ever do.” By that, I meant: Though the requirements for the devotion are relatively simple — everything you need is offered at most parishes on Saturday — I am all too familiar with the torrent of distractions, excuses, and reasons not to make the devotion that erupt on every First Saturday.
Over the years, I know that if I go to bed meaning to make the First Saturday devotion on Friday night, I will wake up feeling lazy, out of sorts, determined to avoid getting to church if I can. Or I will have good intentions all day till it’s time to go to Confession, and I won’t be ready at all.
If you want a great example of what it’s like, pick up a copy of Perelandra by C.S. Lewis. The description of the friend going to a country house after receiving a message from Dr. Elwin Ransom is the sort of thing I’m talking about.
The First Saturdays are one of the most important devotions we have in the Church today.
Not required, but a great blessing
Now, I have to remind you all that Public Revelation (Scripture and Tradition, as interpreted by the Magisterium) is binding, and private revelation is always optional. I’m not saying the First Saturdays are mandatory for me or anyone else.
I am saying, though, that they are given us by Our Lady of Fatima as part of the answer to the errors of Russia, which have been spreading since at least World War II, and have caused the destruction of many nations, much suffering to the Holy Father, the Church, and the world, and which (I believe) are the powerful, unnoticed assumptions that steer us so badly astray today, until the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
Just around the corner
I write this now because Saturday, 6 December, is a First Saturday. It’s the sort of devotion that we need to keep promoting, and reminding ourselves to make, as well. Christ and His Church face many foes today, and the Mother of God has given us the remedy to defeating the greater part of these enemies strength.
What does it look like when the false ideologies that motivate the enemies of the Church suddenly lose their power? What does it look like when the totalitarian deceptions—communism, fascism, nationalism, anti-semitism, and more —that led to World War II become mere shadows, rather than powerful movements?
So answer Our Lady’s call. She summons us, at the behest of God, to devotion to her Immaculate Heart alongside our Lord’s Sacred Heart, especially through the First Saturdays of reparation.
Let’s answer Our Lady’s call.
Let’s help bring peace to our world today.
Let’s overcome the errors that deceive so many today, and allow the light of truth, shining from the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, to triumph.
