In Fatima, Our Lady announced that: “;God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.”; (June and July 13th, 1917) This devotion would consist of Communion of Reparation on the Five First Saturdays.
The purpose of this article is to call everyone to embrace devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lady said: “…if what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”;(July 13, 1917) The salvation of souls and peace go together! The triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the triumph of Christ – Prince of Peace – reigning in the hearts of all.
St. Louis de Montfort wrote nearly three centuries ago: “It is in the Heart of Mary that the world will find again true fraternity, it is by the Heart of Mary that it will obtain pardon and mercy of God; it is with the Heart of Mary that the new city will be built in truth, justice and charity; it is for the Heart of Mary, for its honour and glory, that humanity, grateful and free, will in the near future increase its manifestations of love and filial gratitude.”; Cardinal Cerejeira, Patriarch of Lisbon in 1942 said: “We believe that the Apparitions of Fatima open a new era, that of the Immaculate Heart of Mary…With great hope we have confidence that through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, whom we call Mother of Mercy, God is preparing great things for the world…Many might be tempted to expect the approach of the end of the world. Why not rather think, since we believe in Providence and in the maternal Heart of the Immaculate Virgin, that it is the painful birth of a new world?…”.
To Sister Lucia, Our Lady taught the essence of this devotion in a vision on December 10, 1925: “;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 say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with 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 a Mother, who knows what is best for her children, Our Lady asks us to receive the Sacraments, to pray the Rosary and to meditate, all with the specific intention of making reparation to Her Immaculate Heart. Reparation means to make peace. To make peace for our sins and the sins of society.
It is indeed the devotion for today. Our time, so full of errors, tormented by wars and by cruel miseries, will find its salvation in the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is a Mother’s Heart; it knows how to understand and to forgive. By heavenly wisdom and by sorrowful experience, that Heart, which felt so much pain, knows how to console our grief… It is the first time in the history of apparitions that the Most Holy Virgin invites us to meditation. The good Mother knows the characteristic of our times: the lack of reflection on everything that speaks with respect to God and the mania for exterior action…And thus, the most Holy Virgin wants to lead us to the meditation of the Gospel, of the Mysteries of the Rosary – the drama of the Incarnation. Each meditation should be an echo of a divine invitation, a ray of light which casts itself on the Ocean of Truth. Yes, through the Rosary, the Virgin wishes to lead us to Jesus, the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. Therefore, she calls us to keep her faithful company.”;(Fr. Eugenio Fornasari, A Grande Promessa)
Some may wonder why the Blessed Virgin asks for five First Saturdays. As Jesus made known to Sr. Lucia, there are five offenses or blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart of His Mother Mary: 1) Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception; 2) Against Her Virginity; 3) Against the Divine Maternity, refusing, at the same time to receive her as Mother of humanity; 4) Those who seek publicly to implant in the hearts of children, indifference, disrespect, and even hate for the Immaculate Mother; 5) Those who revile Her directly in Her sacred images.
Mary is the one whom God favoured by grace in a special way. Conceived without Original sin, Mary’s redemption was unique. To attack Mary’s privileges of grace is to attack the One Who is the source and author of such graces. Today, in various elements of the mass media, including books, films and advertising, the Blessed Virgin Mary is openly mocked and ridiculed. To console our heavenly Mother and obtain mercy from the Heart of Christ, the need for loving reparation is urgent. Sister Lucia, writing to her godmother in 1930 said: “;…I think…that we will be happy at being able to give our dearest heavenly Mother this proof of love which we know She wishes us to offer Her. As for me, I must confess that I never feel so happy as when the First Saturday arrives. And isn’t it true that our greatest happiness is being all for Jesus and Mary, and loving Them, and Them only, unreservedly?”
Catholicism Pure & Simple 