Don't forget! First Saturday is coming up this week. I think practice of this devotion is extremely important in our time.

-- jake (jake__@msn.com), July 03, 2002

Answers

My small rural parish (about 25 attend weekly Mass) started a First Friday Mass last month, specifically for the intention of spiritual renewal in our parish and families. This is an amazing step for a long-time lukewarm parish, served by a mission priest who came out for Mass twice a month for over 10 years. We currently have a priest who comes out once a week to celebrate Mass. But no resident priest; the priests who serve us live 30 miles away in a larger town. There are several of us in the parish who have been praying for renewal and revival in our church family...and look at this initial fruit organized by one of the older parishioners!

Cindy Brown (this is my home email address)

-- Cindy Brown (cindybrown@gorge.net), July 04, 2002.

I believe Jake is referring to the First “Saturday” devotions made in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Many of the faithful on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, in compliance with a request made by Our Blessed Mother at Fatima, come together as a family to render atonement to her loving Immaculate Heart for our own transgressions and the crimes of humanity, notably the great evil of abortion. We ask her too, for peace - peace in our lives, our homes, our country and throughout our beleaguered world. We come to her on this day, as well, to make ourselves worthy of her great promise of salvation made at Fatima to those who are properly disposed and who fulfil her conditions of the five First Saturday Reparations.

The all-powerful importance of the First Saturday Reparations is best explained in the words of Our Lady, herself. For this we must go back to a date some eight years after she had appeared to three shepherd children in the Portugese village of Fatima in 1917. The date is now December 10th, 1925; Lucia dos Santos, the principal seer of the Fatima apparitions is now a postulant in the congregation of Saint Dorothy and is located in the Dorothean Convent in the Spanish town of Ponte Vedra. Alone in the convent chapel, Lucia is privileged to receive yet another visit from our Blessed Mother, who is this time accompanied by Our Blessed Lord. Our Lord indicates to His sorrowful mother’s heart encircled with thorns and says to Lucia: “Have pity on the heart of you most Holy Mother.” It was at this point that Our Blessed Mother extended that which has become known as Fatima’s Great Promise of Salvation. These are her words:

“Look, my daughter, at my heart encircled with thorns which ungrateful men have pierced therein at every moment by their blasphemies and their ingratitude. You at least try to console me, and I announce that I promise to assist at the hour of death will all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, (the recipient must be properly disposed to receive the grace - my words), on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the Divine Mysteries - all with the intention of making reparation to my Immaculate Heart”.

A minimum of five decades of the (scriptural) Rosary are recited. We began this devotion in our local old folks home several years ago. We pray three decades prior to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in a tiny chapel and we pray 2 decades afterwards. It is done in this manner so that the Eucharist is at the very center of our Devotions. We open our devotion with a suitable hymn (usually Immaculate Mary) then we recite the Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, The Most Holy Rosary Preparation Prayer and then we proceed with the First Mystery.

I recommend this Devotion to all who have an affinity for the Blessed Mother, and particularly those who feel a need to help others. It can be conducted in hospitals, nursing homes, rest homes, and parish churches. The Devotion is completed with the recital of the Hail Holy Queen, the Memorare from St. Bernard, and another hymn sang in tribute to Our Blessed Mother.

You are asked to bear in mind that Our Blessed Mother has clearly stated that confession is the essential third condition toward completion of each of the five consecutive first Saturday Reparations. Attendance at this sacrament, according to Church regulation, must take place within a period of seven days before or after each of the five first Saturdays.

God bless,

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), July 04, 2002.

Hello again all! Jake touched on a devotion that is very near and dear to my heart. If I may, I'd like to let you read a true story about how I started these devotions at a local retirement home:

THE SUNFLOWER

One Saturday a few years ago, after mass and First Saturday devotions to Mary, I dropped in to see my mother at the local nursing home. She was sitting in the lounge with two other residents. After exchanging pleasantries she asked me where I had been. I told her I had just completed the First Saturday devotion at our parish church. After one of the ladies asked me about the devotion, I explained in detail about Mary’s promise of salvation at Fatima to the three shepherd children and later to the rest of the world.

The ladies enjoyed my story and expressed disappointment that they could not participate in such a beautiful devotion as they were not mobile enough and couldn’t get out of the rest home to go to Church. I suggested that it would be no trouble at all to start First Saturday devotions right there at the rest home since the home had a chapel and a retired priest celebrated mass there every Saturday morning at 9:30 anyway. The ladies expressed a bit of interest at the idea and I said I would think about setting it up.

I put the idea out of my mind thinking I was just getting carried away again. You see, I have a tendency at times, to give people things they don’t always want. Two weeks later while visiting my mother, one of the ladies asked if I had set anything up yet. Again I thought she was just being polite and I promised to look into it, not really thinking she was serious about wanting this devotion at the home. Two weeks after that I encountered the other lady and she too asked how my plans for First Saturday devotions at the rest home were coming. At this point I thought I had better look into this idea; I still had my doubts, I was still concerned that I might be forcing something on these ladies they might not want; but how would I know for sure?

At the time I was reading Wayne Weible’s book, “Medjugorje, The Message” and in the book Weible struggles with the fact that our Blessed Mother has asked him, a Lutheran who teaches Sunday School, to go on the road and begin preaching around the country about Medjugorje and the visions the children are having concerning the Blessed Mother. Weible thinks he must be going crazy to be imagining that our Blessed Mother can’t find a good Catholic somewhere in the country to do this work for her and can’t figure out why she is pestering him. He owns a few small weekly newspapers in the Myrtle Beach, S.C. area and for him to begin preaching, would mean he would have to sell his businesses and convince his wife, also a devout Lutheran to go along with this pipe dream. I identified with Weible because I too had lived in Myrtle Beach, S.C. for a time and all the places he mentioned in the book had special meaning to me. In addition, and coincidentally, my son and I owned and operated a small weekly newspaper in Eastern Ontario.

At one point in the book Weible is so torn between doing what Our Blessed Mother wants and keeping his businesses and his life the way it is, that he offers Mary a deal. Big mistake! He offers to do what Mary is asking if she gives him a definite sign that he can be sure this is what she wants him to do and that she will help him to accomplish all that she asks of him. He tells Mary that if she sends him one single rose the next day, not just any bouquet, but a single solitary rose, he will take this as a sign from her and he will give up his businesses and go to work for her. Well, the next day guess what happened? Yes! It turns out that it is some kind of “National Bosses Day” in America and Weible’s secretary surprises him with one single solitary rose in a vase in appreciation for the great boss that he is.

I was at this point in the book when the second lady asked me what I had done about my plans for First Saturday devotions. So, I decided that I too, will offer Mary a deal. My deal is going to have two conditions. The first is that Mary has to show me a special sunflower the following day, not just any sunflower (it’s August and I’m traveling the countryside selling advertising for my newspaper and I see thousands of sunflowers everyday). I want a special sunflower from Mary the next day that I can recognize as confirmation that I am not being over-zealous and that she does indeed want me to begin First Saturday devotions at the nursing home. I make it even tougher for Mary. In the second condition, I stipulate that the priest, who celebrates mass at the home and who hates change as much as anyone, must agree to allowing us to begin First Saturday devotions in his chapel around the 9:30 Saturday morning mass on the first Saturday of every month. Poor Mary, I’ve stacked the deck against her, or so I thought. I know the priest will never agree to this. I know what he is like. However, if Mary can pull these two conditions off, I promise her I will start the devotions on the first Saturday in September.

The following day just before the 7:30 a.m. mass at our parish church is about to begin, two ladies who come to daily mass and always sit about five pews in front of me, enter the church. The lady that sits directly in front of me each morning is wearing a plain white baseball cap this morning, no crests or insignias on it; and as she turns to enter the pew and kneel, to my utter astonishment, on the back of that white baseball cap is a - you guessed it - large yellow plastic sunflower. She has never worn this hat to church before and today of all days, she has decided to wear it. Unbelievable! There’s my special sunflower! It took me awhile that sunny August morning to compose myself. It’s not very often that Our Blessed Mother enters into direct communication with me. But wait a minute, the deal is not done yet, I still have to approach Father V. at the rest home with my request. I know there is little or no chance that he will go along with this.

I can only hope Father doesn’t keel over from laughter when I present him with my request. I rehearse my short speech and then proceed to call on him. I’ve got my mind made up that I am not going to pursue the matter if I encounter the least bit of resistance. I will drop the idea if Father voices even the slightest bit of opposition or concern. At this point, it’s like I’m looking for a way out of this. After approaching Father and proposing we begin First Saturday devotions at the chapel in the rest home he had but two words to say, “No problem!”

I’m stunned and flabbergasted; but I’m also convinced that Our Blessed Mother is telling me something. First Saturday devotions began Sept./1997 and have been on-going at the home ever since. We probably get 50-60 of the elderly to come out to them and the joy and consolation they get from our Blessed Mother and her Son, is written on their faces.

Since then, through Mary’s guidance, and with the help of friends, we have produced a 6-volume video for a missionary who conducts retreats all over North America and who was looking for a way to raise more funds for his ministry to help keep it going. We started a Marian Movement of Priests Cenacle, and from Mary’s gentle prodding in that cenacle, came the inspiration to open a perpetual Eucharistic adoration chapel. I’m proud to say our chapel has been operating for close to four years now.

The sunflower has become, for me, a symbol of Mary’s love for all of us. Since that day she has showered me with many sunflowers at important junctures in my life, each a story in itself. With each sunflower she sends I am reminded of a mother’s love and concern for her children, of her yearning to do all that is good for those she treasures so dearly.

God bless,

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), July 04, 2002.

Hi Ed,

What a beautiful, magnificent story! Thank you so much for sharing that.

It's funny I should be reading about Sunflowers. While doing my hospital ministry yesterday, I stopped in to give communion to a new mom in the maternity ward and she had received the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen - huge sunflowers were among them! I had not seen sunflowers like that since I was a kid and my uncle used to grow them. I just don't see sunflowers in anyone's gardens any more, at least not around here.

I could not stop looking at them. It turns out that this little baby was a 'miracle' baby. The mom had 6 miscarriages, tried almost everything, and was just about to try some very invavise, costly procedure to see what she could do about her situation. She was on all kinds of prayer lists, and someone put her in touch with Mother Teresa's sisters who prayed for her every day - the result of all those prayers - a bouncing baby boy and two very happy parents.

This story has nothing to do with Mary, but made me think of the sunflowers in that room and the miracle birth.

Sometimes, it is just as we are about to 'give up' that the Lord sends a miracle!

MaryLu

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), July 04, 2002.

Thanks for sharing your "sunflower" story MaryLu. I respectfully disagree with you about your story not having anything to do with Mary. I believe it has all to do with Mary. When you mentioned “prayer lists”, I see Mary's handiwork all over this story. I can see Our Blessed Mother interceding on this woman's behalf to her Son, to answer all these prayers and to bring joy into this woman's life. Jesus cannot refuse His mother. The sunflowers in the bouquet are merely Mary's calling card after a job well-done!

God bless,

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), July 04, 2002.

Forgive me, Ed, you are right. My story does have a lot to do with Mary because I am sure lots of rosaries were said for this mom!

I will always think of your beautiful story now whenever I see a sunflower! I never really thought of sunflowers as a 'beautiful' flower, but now I will look at them in a whole different way! I will always think of Our Lady and your 'sign' when I see a sunflower.

I have another nice story to share about Our Lady and her 'signs.' I was very devoted to Our Lady growing up. As the years went by and I got older, for some reason I strayed from her. Maybe it had to do with guilt - during my young adult years, I stopped going to church. I am ashamed to admit that, but for a while I did. When I went back, I felt so guilty about that and felt that I hurt Our Lady because I hurt her son.

I know, as a mother, if anyone hurts one of my children they hurt me.

I just could not look at her without feeling guilt. One day I talked to her and told her how sorry I was that I had stopped going to church and asked her forgiveness for hurting her son that way. I asked her to give me a sign if she was listening and if she forgave me.

I passed by a church and stopped in for a prayer - right in the middle of the altar was a life-sized statue of Our Lady with her hands reaching out as if to say come to me, I have heard you! I couldn't believe it!

That night, I stopped by the grotto of Lourdes to say the rosary. The grotto is outdoors. I went inside the church and there on the altar was another life-sized statue of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel! That statue was never there before, ever!!

I brought my friend back with me to the church the next day to see Our Lady of Mt. Carmel because she is very devoted to her and wears the scapular all the time - the statue was gone!

I think Our Lady was telling me that she forgave me and accepted my sincere sorrow, don't you?

MaryLu

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), July 04, 2002.

That is a beautiful story Ed...........I know I'll look at sunflowers in a whole new way!!

God Bless,

-- Kathy (sorry@nomail.com), July 04, 2002.

Absolutely beautiful stories!!! I also will look at sunflowers in a whole new light!

Can anyone give me some suggestions about how to make 5 consecutive First Saturdays? Please, serious answers only. It's been very difficult to try to do this for me, as I get 2 or maybe even 3 Saturdays in, and then I run into a Saturday where I just can't go. It does not help that my husband does not share this devotion, and I have little other support in trying to keep this devotion. I know it is easy to just say "well, just clear your calendar", but in practice there are many obstacles. Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas for getting past the obstacles?

Thanks for your help

cksunshine

-- cksunshine (ck_sunshine@hotmail.com), July 04, 2002.

MaryLu, I agree with you, I think Our Lady was reaching out to you. She does this very often to many people. She has a heart like Jesus’. Problem is, many people aren’t aware that she longs to intercede for them and help them find her Son. Now there is a saying that goes something like, “If we only stop and take time to smell the “sunflowers”... :-) Our Lady has touched me many times. Why? I am not really sure, I have done nothing worthy of her attention. I suppose it’s because I ask her to help me often. You know, she won’t help if she is not asked. She can also be very determined. To show you what I mean, I will post another true story about her on the “Perpetual Adoration” thread since it deals with our chapel.

God bless

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), July 04, 2002.

Not to straytoo far off topic, but I just found this website and wanted to share it with you. It's information I never knew was out there regarding the tilma of (soon to be) St. Juan Diego.

My family and I are excited about Juan Diego's elevation to the altars. Please pray for our Holy Father's safe arrival and return from his trip to the Americas, of whom Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness.

-- jake (jake__@msn.com), July 04, 2002.

Hi, Ck.

Your question is a tough on to answer, I would think. I would say keep praying to the Blessed Virgin about it. You will get it done, just don't stop trying. And when that one is finished maybe you could try a First Friday devotion.

Maybe, you could plan your hour of Eucharistic Adoration right before a Saturday Mass is celebrated. That way you would be right there ready to go to Mass.

God Bless you.

David

Ed, Would I be correct in thinking, that the Saturday Vigil Mass could not count for this since it is actually a Sunday Mass?

Thanks in advance.

David

-- David (David@excite.com), July 04, 2002.

Jake, I forgot to say, Thanks for that link. David

-- David (David@excite.com), July 04, 2002.

Sorry for the three posts in a row.

CK,

I was just wandering if you are familiar with the 15 St. Bridget Prayers, and the promises that come with saying them everyday for one year? If you are not, I can pull up a old thread in here for you.

Sorry about jumping off topic in your thread, Jake!

David

-- David (David@excite.com), July 04, 2002.

David, no, I don't think an anticipated Sunday Mass would serve the purpose of fulfilling the five First Saturday devotion. First of all, it is clear to me, that in carrying out the devotion, Our Lady wanted us to make a sacrifice, albeit a small one, while making reparation to her Immaculate Heart. By listing “five consecutive Saturdays” as a condition, it would seem to indicate it requires a concerted effort on the part of the pilgrim. On this point, I think Ck would agree! :-) This is the idea in carrying out any form of penanace - you offer any inconvenience, pain or suffering it might pose, up to Jesus and place it at the foot of the Cross for Him to use as He chooses. It is a selfless act of love for another which speaks to the Heart of God and gives Him glory. I am sure this is what Our Lady intended. Secondly, back in 1925, you will no doubt agree there were no "Sunday" Masses on Saturday. Had she preferred Sunday to Saturday, I am sure Our Lady would have told us so. She is not shy when it comes to these things (hehehe). Thirdly, when Rosaries are prayed, unless they are prayed before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, in order to gain any formal graces given by the Church, as in a plenary indulgence for example, She requires they to be prayed aloud with others in a church, chapel or prayer room. Rosaries are not usually recited at a Sunday Mass as there are too many people are rustling about both before and after Mass. This time is usually reserved by the congregation to share in fellowship and I don’t think Our Lady’s intent was to prevent pilgrims in sharing fellowship at the Eucharistic Banquet, after all, that is what the Mass is all about.

Also, I would like to thank Jake (belatedly) for the site he posted and note this site has mentioned an 8-day limit for confession as one of the requirements in fulfilling the devotion.

St. James and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.

-- Ed Lauzon (grader @accglobal.net), July 05, 2002.

Yes. You can go to confession within 8 days before or after first Saturday to fulfill that part of the requirement. That leaves: communion, the Rosary, and 15 minutes of miditation on the mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation.

Believe me when I say I understand about busy schedules. If First Saturday Mass is not offered in the parish (or nearby parish) of someone who wants to make this devotion, may I suggest a call to the pastoral care dept. of your local hospital? Even in non-Catholic hospitals, Mass is generally offered daily.

While it's clear to me that Our Lady intended this devotion to be carried out apart from our Sunday obligation (as has been correctly pointed out, when this devotion was instituted in 1925, there was no vigil Mass that "counted" for Sunday), I doubt she would hold back any of the graces to a soul who did everything he/she could to fulfill it.

-- jake (jake__@msn.com), July 05, 2002.

Thank you for the suggestions. Yes, I think that I need to start asking Mary to help me with this concern. I was doing what I so often do, try to do it on my own!

David, yes I have heard of those prayers. I think I have it in a devotion booklet in my prayer basket. I don't know much about it though. A friend of mine in my Moms group was trying to do it, but I think that she quit after a month or so. Do you have any experience with it? Please do pull up the old thread, I think that would be good for me, and others too!

One question, to whomever. Is a communion service sufficient or do you have to attend an actual mass? I think that our parish has just a communion service associated with First Saturday.

cksunshine

-- cksunshine (ck_sunshine@hotmail.com), July 05, 2002.

Our Lady's requirement was for Communion, not Mass speciffically, so I imagine that receiving Holy Communion at a Communion service would be enough to satisfy the requirement.

-- jake (jake__@msn.com), July 05, 2002.

Hello, Ed

Thanks for such a detailed explanation. If you ever have extra time please say a Hail Mary for my family, please? Your love for Our Lady shines in your posts.

From ancient times the Holy Church has considered Saturday a day especially dedicated to intesifying Christains devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Many people used to consecrate the first Saturday's of the month to the Blessed Mother for this very intention and for making rearation for the blasphemies and outrages against her by sinners and FALSE teachers. Pope St. Pius X on June 12, 1905 issued a decree in which he praised this practise and offered indulgences for it.

That same year in the month of November, the Holy Father again blessed and indulgenced and traditional practise of the Sons of the Heart of Mary, to dedicate the first Saturdays of the months to the practise of this devotion with the purpose of making reparation to the Immaculate, Heart of Mary.

Hi, Mrs Sunshine

Yes I say the St. Bridget prayers everday. It only takes 18 minutes. I have never been able to say them for a year. This is my fifth time trying in about 18 months. I will make it sooner or later with God's grace. My Mom, and another Lady are the only people I know personally that made a year with out ever missing a day with the prayers.

I love the prayers. They are my favorite prayers in the world. :-). Each prayer starts with a Our Father and a Hail Mary. I think two Popes have approved the prayers. I know one Pope that approved them was Pope Pius IX. Beautiful things will happen when these prayers are prayed. I pray them before the Blessed Sacrament every week to, and I can feel God loves these Prayers. They are in honor of the over 5000 blows Our Lord received in His passion for us. They have 15 promises that interested me.

I will look for that old thread and see if I can rember where it is. It was probably close to a year ago, but Mr Gecik put a link up with the prayers and promises with his opinion. Mr. Chavez gave me his opinion as well about the prayers.

If you have Non-Catholics in your family or Catholics that left the Church. These prayers could be some help. I mentioned them because a busy Mom can say them in the comfort of there own home.

I was able to complete the First Friday devotion before, and the first Saturday devotion. These prayers are a real challenge. You can miss a day with good reason, but they have to made up the next day.

My Prayers are in the Pieta prayer book. Do you have one?

God bless you

David

-- David (David@excite.com), July 06, 2002.