Each First Friday and First Saturday of the month, we must make a Communion of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That’s what Jesus and Mary have asked of us: to repair the sins of the world with prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners and for peace throughout the world.
By Fr. Joseph, MIC
Look at the mess the world is in right now — morally, politically, spiritually, economically, socially, environmentally. Why are we in such a mess? Because humanity has been doing things our way. It’s time we do things our Lord’s way and Our Lady’s way.
The remedy for (and rejoinder against) our troubled world is, dare I say, blindingly evident.
Reparations
Each First Friday and First Saturday of the month, we must make a Communion of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That’s what Jesus and Mary have asked of us: to repair the sins of the world with prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners and for peace throughout the world.
I’m pleased to invite you to practice these devotions with us — the Marian Fathers. We are livestreaming special prayer services from the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy. Tune in this First Friday, June 7, at 8:00 p.m. (EST) for a talk and devotions; and First Saturday, June 1, at 11:00 a.m. (EST) for a talk by the Very Rev. Chris Alar, MIC, followed by devotions, right here at TheDivineMercy.org, on YouTube at our channel Divine Mercy (Official), and on our Facebook page Divine Mercy (Official).
You can also watch on our streaming site, DivineMercyPlus.org.
Why are we going to this effort? Let’s review.
In order to rekindle the fire of love in the hearts of the faithful, Jesus introduced the First Fridays through revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Jesus said to receive Holy Communion on each First Friday in honor of and in reparation to His Sacred Heart. He made the following promise attached to this pious exercise:
I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays of nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their Sacraments. My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.
As to the First Saturdays devotion, it comes to us as a result of Our Lady’s apparitions to Servant of God Lucia dos Santos and her cousins at Fatima in 1917. In the secret of Fatima, given July 13, 1917, we read:
You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. ... 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 ... .
We still haven’t seen the fulfillment of Our Lady’s promise that “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
According to Sr. Lucia, Pope St. John Paul II consecrated Russia to Mary’s Immaculate Heart on March 25, 1984. The USSR fell shortly afterwards. And yet there’s still not peace in the world. Why? Have we been faithful to her requests, especially the First Saturdays of Reparation? No, we have not.
More to do
Mary said, “I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months:
- Go to Confession
- Receive Holy Communion
- Recite five decades of the Rosary
- Keep Mary company for 15 minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary”
This reparation is for the blasphemies against Mary’s Immaculate Heart, so join us each month in earnestly praying for the swift Triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the reign of the Sacred Heart in the world. Jesus and Our Lady didn’t ask us for much. I urge you to make these devotions a part of your life of prayer each month.
Let’s do it together!
{shopmercy-ad}
