Day Two, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, First Saturday, May 2, St. Athanasius

FIRST SATURDAY DEVOTION:

The First Saturday Devotion was requested by Our Lady for three primary reasons: 

• To console the Immaculate Heart of Mary;
•  To obtain peace for the Church and the world; 
•  To bring down God’s mercy on sinners,to move the Heart of her Divine Son to mercy for sinners and to obtain their conversion. 

No greater explanation can be given than that of Our Lady of Fatima and her Divine Son to Sr. Lucia herself:

Words of Our Lady at Fatima, July 13, 1917

If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI. When you see an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and the Holy Father.

To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.

On the evening of December 10, in the convent of Pontevedra, the young Sr. Lucia received a visit from the Child Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The following is taken from the account of Sr.

Lucia herself, who wrote it in the third person:

On December 10, 1925, the Most Holy Virgin appeared to her, and by Her side, elevated on a luminous cloud, was the Child Jesus. The Most Holy Virgin rested Her hand on her shoulder, and as She did so, She showed her a Heart encircled by thorns, which She was holding in Her other hand. At the same time, the Child said:

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 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.

Jesus to Sr. Lucia:

See, My daughter, the motive for which the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspired Me to ask for this little Reparation, and in consideration of it, to move My mercy to pardon souls who have had the misfortune of offending Her. As for you, always seek by your prayers and sacrifices to move My mercy to pity for these poor souls.