PINE BLUFF — This year we are observing the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, Portugal, from May to October 1917.
Central to the messages given by the Blessed Virgin Mary during those apparitions, and then for years afterward to one of the seers at Fatima, Lucia, was the urgent need of the faithful to do penance and make reparation for sins committed by humanity against Mary’s Immaculate Heart.
Promises of Mary
The Mother of God said that if her requests were heeded, many disasters could be avoided.
She also made the promise of divine assistance at the time of death to all the faithful who would make the Five First Saturday Devotion, which Pope St. Pius X had approved in 1904.To respond in a special way to Our Lady’s request and promise, at St. Mary Church in Pine Bluff there will be for five months — from June to October — an explicit and convenient opportunity to help people fulfill the Five First Saturday Devotion specifically requested by the Mother of God.
First Saturday Devotion
The conditions for the First Saturday Devotion include:
1) Confession of sins before or within eight days of receiving Holy Communion.
2) Holy Communion within 24 hours of the first Saturday of the month with the conscious intention of making reparation for sins which offend Mary’s Immaculate Heart.
3) Recitation of a chaplet (five decades) of the Holy Rosary with the intention of making reparation for sins.
4) Fifteen minutes of meditation on one, some, or all of the Mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation for sins.
First Saturdays from June to October
The devotion will take place on the following dates: June 3 — Vigil of Pentecost; July 1 — Feast of the Most Precious Blood; August 5 — Feast of the Dedication of St. Mary Major; September 2 — Votive Mass of Immaculate Heart; October 7 — Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary
On each Saturday from June to October, St. Mary in Pine Bluff will hold Confessions before Mass at 7:30 a.m., Mass in the Extraordinary Form at 8 a.m., a 15 minute reflection on the Mysteries of the Rosary following Mass, recitation of the Rosary, and Confession.
Printed material about the Devotion and a special checklist card will be available. Rosaries will also be available for use.
The Five First Saturday devotion can be undertaken alone or with a group. The conditions for the Devotion are not difficult.
Nevertheless, the initiative at St. Mary Parish is intended to make the undertaking as convenient and explicit as possible during this 100th anniversary year for the sake of gaining many graces and answering the unambiguous call for reparation for sins from the Mother of God herself.