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Chapter 4
The Five First Saturdays Devotion
As we have seen, on July 13, 1917, in a Message deemed authentic by the Church
and confirmed by an unprecedented public miracle, the Mother of God promised: “I
shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart,
and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.”
True to Her word, on December 10, 1925 Our Lady appeared to Lucy, now Sister
Lucy, at Pontevedra, Spain, where she was then living. Our Lady honored
one part of Her twofold promise by requesting the Five First Saturdays
devotion. She appeared with the Child Jesus by Her side, elevated on
a luminous cloud. Our Lady displayed Her Heart encircled by thorns, and
the Child Jesus said to Sister Lucy:
“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, as Sister Lucy faithfully recounted, the Most Holy Virgin said:
“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 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.”
As Our Lord later explained to Sister Lucy, the devotion involves five Saturdays
because there are five ways in which people offend or blaspheme the Immaculate
Heart:
“There are five types of offenses and blasphemies committed
against the Immaculate Heart of Mary: Blasphemies against the Immaculate
Conception;
- Blasphemies against Her Perpetual Virginity;
- Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity in refusing at the same
time to recognize Her as the Mother of men;
- The blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of
children, indifference or scorn or even hatred of this Immaculate
Mother;
- 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.”
Soon after this apparition, Our Lady would appear again—this time to
keep Her promise concerning the Consecration of Russia.
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