What’s on your “To Do List” for February 6?
Among the many scheduled events and chores, I hope that you have included a reminder to attend a First Saturday Mass in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The First Saturday devotion may not as popular or widely observed as the First Friday devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus but Christ himself invites us to honor the precious heart of His Mother.
On December 1925, the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus by her side appeared to Sister Lucia (Fatima visionary).
Jesus said to her: “Have pity on the heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment and on there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation”.
Then our Lady said to Sister Lucia: “My daughter, look at my heart surrounded with the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it 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 all the graces necessary for salvation all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to Confession and receive Holy communion, recite 5 decades of the rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me”.
The booklet First Saturdays (The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart), answers several question about this devotion.
Why Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary?
Why reparation to Mary? Is not reparation due only to God? Primarily yes, but not only. Every sin is social, we are taught by the Church and Scripture itself. The entire Mystical Body, the Church, suffers from the sin of its members. When people sin it is against the Head and the members. “God has tempered the body together… that there might be no schism in the body… And if one member suffer anything, all the members suffer with it…(1Cor12:25-27)
Jesus is the Head of the Mystical Body and Mary is the Mother. We are the members. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are inseparable. Since all the members suffer from one sinful member, the Head and Mother suffer most. If sin causes all the members to suffer, how much more Mary suffers when her children sin. Thus the most Holy One next to Jesus feels pain in her Heart at the sight of sin. As Mother she is concerned about the salvation of all the members.
What if I cannot get to confession exactly on First Saturday?
So long as one is in th estate of grace when Holy Communion is received and has the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it suffices to go to confession within 8 days or even more time if necessary
If I attend the anticipated mass on Saturday evening, does that count as a First Saturday mass?
The author, Fr. Robert Fox answered the question this way: We ought not to cut corners in making First Saturdays. The requests of our Lady were for special voluntary acts of sacrifice in the form of reparation.
If one can receive Holy Communion in reparation only at a Saturday evening Mass, it would seem in the spirit of genuine sacrifice, reparation and love to participate in Mass and Holy Communion also on Sunday morning. But if Saturday Mass and Holy Communion are impossible under all circumstances, one can request permission from a priest to fulfill the First Saturday requests on Sundays.
Why 5 First Saturdays and not 7 or 9?
The following was revealed to Sister Lucia: “My daughter, the motive is simple: there are 5 ways in which people offend, and blaspheme against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
1. The blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
2. Against her Virginity
3. Against her Divine Maternity, refusing at the same time to accept her as the Mother of all mankind
4. Those who try publicly to implant in the children’s hearts indifference, contempt and even hate against this Immaculate Mother
5. Those who insult her directly in her sacred statues
While the Immaculate Heart will surely triumph in the end, as the Blessed Mary expressed at Fatima, what it needs now is to be consoled. May we be the instruments for that as we offer acts of reparation to Virgin Mother’s pure heart.
If you happen to read this after the 6th of February, I hope you can start the devotion next month. And if you are already practicing the First Saturday devotion, it may be good to join the the dawn procession in honor of the Immaculate Heart in your parish.
(Photo from courageouspriest.com)