First Saturday Devotion: what is it, where does it come from, and why do it?

You may have heard of the "First Saturday Devotion", or perhaps this is one of the first times you are encountering the idea/name. For the longest time, it was something that rang a faint bell in my memory from childhood, having seen or heard the phrase but never understanding what it really entailed or why people did it. It wasn't until I was a religious Sister that I read about the details and actually decided to take up the practice myself, realizing both how beautiful and simple it was.

August is the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and as the "First Saturday Devotion" is explicitly related to her Immaculate Heart, and this coming Saturday will in fact be the first Saturday of the month and the first day of August altogether, I thought this could be the perfect moment to shed a little bit of light on and even invite you to participating in this simple, beautiful, private devotion.

The "First Saturday Devotion" goes back to the well known and loved apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. It was something that Our Lady revealed to Sister Lucia, one of visionaries, later in her life. Let's begin with Our Lady's own words and then expand from there. On December 10, 1925, Our Lady told Sister Lucia,

“See, my daughter, My Heart surrounded with thorns with which ingrates pierce me at every moment with blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, make sure to console me and announce that all those who for five months, on the first Saturdays, go to confession, receive Communion, say five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the purpose of making reparation to Me, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls."

So in short, the devotion is one of making reparation for the offenses against the Heart of Mary, and Our Lady promises special graces to those who participate. It is worth noting here, as with all private and personal devotions, that in many ways, participating in such a practice as this will inevitably increase a life of grace within an individual when these practices are taken on with a sincere heart. We don't want to approach these devotions with a spirit of superstition or transaction, but rather with a spirit of humility, authentic love and prayer, and also of gratitude for what the Lord wants to then bless us with through the Heart of Mary. And then, too, it is good to remember that God is God and we are not. He gets to decide if He wants to bless, with particular graces, those who give their hearts to Him in particular ways. So once again in a spirit of humility, there can be a greater openness to such personal and private devotions and the graces that are promised to those who participate.

Back to the devotion itself: when Sister Lucia asked Our Lord why five months, He said in reparation for the five offenses against the Immaculate Heart:

• Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception

• Blasphemies against her virginity

• Blasphemies against her divine maternity, at the same time the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all men

• Instilling indifference, scorn and even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children

• Direct insults against her sacred images

So as you read this, if the Holy Spirit is tugging at your

heart to engage in something new, to participate in a little commitment of love, perhaps this is the month to begin. This coming Saturday is the first Saturday of the month, and this is the month of Immaculate Heart of Mary.

I pray this blesses your own heart in your love with Christ and our Blessed Mother, and that you continue to know with what love God calls to belong totally to Him.