The pilgrim children give me direction.

Francisco sought to console the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Jacinta sought to sacrifice courageously for the souls in danger of Hell

Lucia consoled the Immaculate Heart of Mary and carried the message to the world.

What am I to do? Can I choose one pilgrim to follow?

Might I follow the example of all three?

Yes, my answer must be “Yes!”

I have long been in love with the Nine First Fridays and I will continue the devotion. I have practiced the Five First Saturdays but without much knowledge. During this year of the Fatima's Centennial, I have learned much and hope to share this information and encourage others to celebrate the Five First Saturdays.

This gift of the Church at the direction of Mary offers a great prize, all the Graces necessary for Heaven.

What more could I ask? Nothing.

What I have learned is what Mary now asks of me.

The Five First Fridays in Honor and Consolation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

• Make a Sacramental Holy Confession during the week prior to or following the First Saturday of five consecutive months.

• Receive Holy Communion. (This must be done in a state of grace; thus, receiving Reconciliation before the First Saturday is my preference.)

• Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.

• Keep Mary company for 15 minutes meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary.

All these elements should be honored in a spirit of reparation. The desire to console the heart of Mary includes the meditation on the passion of our Lord, Jesus Christ, her son whom she accompanied in His Passion. As she kept Him company, we are asked to keep her company. The devotion allows the meditation on any or all other the mysteries of the Rosary while we sit and console the heart of Mary surrounded by thorns.

Each month one is to seek to console the pierced Heart of Mary as she is attacked and the Holy Trinity is offended by the following blasphemies:

First Month – Offer solace from the attack against the Immaculate Conception

Second Month - Offer solace from the blasphemies against Mary’s Perpetual Virginity

Third Month - Offer consolation to The Immaculate Heart of Mary in the face of blasphemy against her Divine Maternity as men and women refuse her as Mother of all Mankind given to us by Jesus from the Cross.

Fourth Month – Offer consolation to The Immaculate Heart of Mary as mankind rejects Mary’s love and in the spirit of indifference seek to “foster in the hearts of children indifference, contempt, and even hatred for their Immaculate Mother.”

Fifth Month – Seek to console the Heart of Mary from outrages to her holy images.

Reparation in an effort to console the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary is available in most cases. The Church does offer leniency to an individual who is unable to attend Saturday Mass to offer reparations via this devotion on Sunday. Most might admit that committing to the First Saturday Devotion is possible. Any difficulty might be offered as additional suffering to salve the pierced heart of our Sorrowful Mother.

Mary is a good mother who has never left her children alone. Constantly, her mother’s love has been expressed through the ages. She cries out to her children to heed her message, to turn away from sin, to pray the rosary, and to sacrifice for sinners and souls who have no one to pray for them.

As we begin a new Church Year please consider the First Saturdays as a proper New Year’s Resolution.

If you need additional incentive, Sister Lucia shared the following message:

“[the] final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid, she added because anyone who operates for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be contended and opposed in every way because this is the decisive issue. And then she concluded: however, Our Lady has already crushed its head.”

I find this interesting in that the attack on Mary mirrors in a way the assault on the family. If Our Mother is rejected, how might motherhood be admired? If Our Lady’s imagines are desecrated, how can the scourge of pornography surprise anyone?

Join me in seeking to console Mary's Immaculate Heart.

Mother Mary, please pray for us!