Fatima: the 5 First Saturdays of the month, a powerful weapon against evil – What Our Lady promises.

A powerful practice of reparation, which Our Lady at Fatima entrusted to the visionary Sister Lucia, and through her to all of us. 

Those who think that the one linked to Fatima is a now dated, outdated devotion, or those who delude themselves to fight certain battles, including the Coronavirus, with only human forces are wrong. Prayer is the tool that in every circumstance allows us to draw on the love, the support of God, and which unites us with each other, giving us strength.

When Our Lady asked Sister Lucia for the 5 First Saturdays

The first time during the apparition of June 13, 1917 :  “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wants to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. To those who practice this devotion, I promise salvation ” .

And then again, on December 10, 1925, when Lucia was a postulant in Pontevedra , Spain, the Child Jesus appeared to her side by side supported by a luminous cloud. Our Lady placed a hand on her shoulder and showed her, at the same time, a Heart surrounded by thorns that she held in the other hand. At the same time the Child Jesus said to her:  

“ Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother surrounded by thorns that ungrateful men stick to Her every moment, without anyone doing an act of reparation to remove them ”.  

And then Our Lady said to her: 

“ See, my daughter, my Heart surrounded with thorns that ungrateful men stick to me every moment with their blasphemies and their ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me and tell all those who, during five consecutive months, on the first Saturday, will confess and receive Holy Communion, will recite a Rosary and keep me company for fifteen minutes, meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, in a spirit of reparation, I promise to assist them in the hour of their death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their soul ”.

The devotion of the 5 First Saturdays is not only desired by Our Lady but also by Jesus . It was he himself who asked Sister Lucy and renewed the urgency of this devotion (on February 15, 1926, Jesus appeared to her while carrying the rubbish in the shop: ” Did you spread in the world what the heavenly Mother had asked of you?”.

The 5 First Saturdays are very necessary

That of the 5 First Saturdays is a practice of reparation today more than ever necessary  given the urgency of reparation and of returning to God.

The practice of the 5 First Saturdays gives us the great opportunity to collaborate with Mary to make amends for our sins, which are none other than all the shortcomings, all our behaviors, which distance us from the love of God, and make our Mother suffer who he sees us, his children, getting lost on wrong paths. Just think today of the unprecedented attack on life, on the family, on the innocence of children.

What to benefit from the Great Promise of Our Lady

To all those who practice this devotion, combined with an authentic Christian life founded on the sacraments and the Word of God, Our Lady made a Great Promise, she promised eternal salvation, the most precious Good.

What we are asked to do on the first Saturday of the month, for 5 consecutive months, and in this period of emergency, we propose to do it together against the Coronavirus (we can also combine an intention that we particularly care about) is:
– a good Confession : we can confess eight days before or after, but when we receive communion on the First Saturday we must be in God’s grace;
– receive the communion of reparation which is the central act of the devotion of the 5 First Saturdays;
– recite a part of the Rosary (the Mysteries of Joy);
– keep company with the Immaculate Heart of Mary by meditating on one or more mysteries of the Rosary.
All four of the conditions listed above must be fulfilled with love and fidelity, in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Why are Saturdays 5?

A confessor of Lucia of Fatima asked her why the number five.
She asked Jesus, who replied: “Above all, it is a question of making amends for the five offenses directed at the Immaculate Heart of Mary”.
1 – The blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception.
2 – Against his Virginity.
3 – Against her divine Maternity and the refusal to recognize her as the Mother of men.
4 – The work of those who publicly instill indifference, contempt and even hatred against this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of the little ones.
5 – The work of those who offend her directly in her sacred images.

It is also easy to think that Saturday was indicated precisely because it is the day of the week that Christians have chosen to honor the Madonna since the early centuries .  St. Thomas Aquinas said that “we venerate the Sabbath in honor of the glorious Virgin who even on that day kept faith in Christ, although, as a man, he knew he was dead”.

Also an opportunity to dedicate oneself to her

The devotion of the 5 First Saturdays of the month requested at Fatima is also an excellent preparation path for the consecration to her Immaculate Heart. What does it mean to consecrate oneself to Our Lady ? The word itself says it, making our life sacred, offering it to God through Mary, entrusting ourselves totally to her.

We learn to involve her at 360 degrees, in every aspect of our life: emotional, family, working. We create a truly filial relationship with her, we learn to turn to Mary with trust, both for small and big things.  Furthermore, with the consecration we rediscover and live more consciously and deeply the promises received at Baptism.

La Costola Rosa and the diffusion of the 5 First Saturdays of the month

La Costola Rosa – a movement of women: brides, mothers, single, married, consecrated women, women who live in the world  but are not of the world, and look to Mary as a model, is committed to spreading the practice of the 5 First Saturdays in Italy , and also in France and Belgium, to which individuals, families and parishes can join.

The 5 First Saturdays of the month are a wonderful opportunity to collaborate all together in the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We are all called to do our part. And when our heart, even through the help of this devotion, becomes similar to her maternal Heart, then love will triumph and therefore her heart and the heart of Jesus!

Simona Amabene