Reparation? This basically means making up for something that someone did to somebody else that hurt them. Like, if you were to break a window, the way you would make reparation for breaking it would be to pay for its repair. So, when we do something with the intention of making reparation for the sins committed against Mary’s Immaculate Heart, we are helping make Mary feel better for all of the terrible hurts that people give her when they sin (especially against her Immaculate Heart).

So, if you do all of these things (Confession, Holy Communion, five decades of the Rosary, and fifteen minutes spent meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary) on the first Saturday of five months in a row, Mary has said, “I promise to assist, at the hour of death, with [all of] the graces necessary for salvation.”

Heaven! Mary has promised that she will get whoever completes the Five First Saturdays to HEAVEN. And Our Lady ALWAYS keeps her promises. Imagine! Heaven just for maybe an hour and a half spent on five Saturdays! An eternity of indescribable happiness for 7 ½ hours total spent the way Mary wishes! What an UNBELIEVABLY generous offer!

So, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Holy Rosary, and meditate for fifteen minutes on the Mysteries of the Rosary on the first Saturday of the month for five months in a row, and Our Lady promises to take you to Heaven.

Now, these are the requirements that Mary gave to complete the Five First Saturdays, but there’s a little bit more to the picture. We can do even more than the Five First Saturdays to make reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We can offer up prayers and sacrifices every day to comfort Mary and console her for all the sins against her Immaculate Heart that many, many people (even ourselves) commit.

What exactly did I mean by all of that? Well, what I’m trying to say here is this: If we truly love Mary and want to show her just how grateful we are to her for the great blessing that the Five First Saturdays are, we would help her tremendously by performing these extra prayers and sacrifices. In the previous paragraph, I was trying to give an example of this sort of situation that you might understand.

Remember, though, that these extra prayers and sacrifices are NOT NECESSARY to complete the Five First Saturdays, but they are greatly APPRECIATED by God and Our Lady. And don’t think that any of the extra things that you do for Mary to console her are a waste of time. Mary will NEVER forget anything good you do, especially if its for her. She notices EVERYTHING you do.

One last thing: always make sure that your Five First Saturdays are done with the intention of making REPARATION to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Make sure that you have this intention when you make your First Saturdays, and make sure that all of the necessary steps are taken fervently and REVERENTLY. For Our Lord said to Sister Lucia that, “It is true, my daughter, that many souls begin the [Five] First Saturdays, but few finish them, and those who do complete them do so in order to receive the graces that are promised thereby. It would please me more if they did five Saturdays with fervor and with the intention of making reparation to the heart of your Heavenly Mother, than if they did fifteen Saturdays, in a tepid and indifferent manner.”

So complete your Five First Saturdays fervently, and with the intention of making reparation for all of the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And make sure to show your gratitude to Mary by frequently offering up prayers and sacrifices to her in reparation for all of the sins committed against her Heart. Do all of these things, and you will have Mary for your best friend; and she is THE BEST friend that you can have.

These extra prayers and sacrifices that we can offer up to Mary in reparation are by no means necessary to complete the Five First Saturdays. But, they certainly are a good way to thank Our Lady for her generous offer of the Five First Saturdays; and even for everything she has done for us or will do for us.

For example, say that you and a friend of yours had been given a job to do, like raking up the leaves in front of your school. Now, your friend only had to rake ¼ of the lawn, while you yourself had to rake the other ¾ of the lawn. Now, both of you had been told that when either one of you had finished raking their part of the lawn, they could: 1) stop raking, and go do whatever else they wanted to be doing OR 2) help the other person who was still raking finish. Well, obviously your friend would finish first, but if he was any kind of a friend, he would stay and help you finish once he was done.

The Five First Saturdays

Everyone wants to go to Heaven. This is because everyone wants to be happy. The Blessed Virgin Mary also wants us to get to Heaven because she loves us very, very, VERY much. Why, she loves us more than our parents could EVER love us. Because she loves us, she wants us to be really, REALLY happy. She wants us to be happy for ever and ever.

Mary is always trying very hard for us to get to heaven. Every single day she is doing everything she can to get us to heaven. NOW, it is important that we don’t think, “Well, Mary loves me, and she is always doing anything she can to get me to Heaven, so I’ll do whatever I want now, and then go to Heaven when I die.” THIS IS A VERY SILLY THING TO THINK.

Why? Well, Mary can open a window, but we have to climb through it. She can’t drag us in through the window. What exactly does this mean? It means that, even though Mary is always providing us with opportunities to work towards getting to Heaven, we have to help her along. She can’t do all the work by herself; we have to do our share.

“What exactly IS our share?” you may ask. Well, one of the many, many, MANY different ways which Mary has provided for us to get to Heaven is the practice of the Five First Saturdays. In fact, some of you may even have made all five of the First Saturdays. Those of you who have indeed completed all five, I congratulate you warmly. It was DEFINITELY a smart choice on your part. As for those of you reading this who have not yet heard of them, let me tell you about them.

Many of you have probably heard of Our Lady’s visit to Fatima in 1917. She had VERY important things to tell the world when she came there. When she came to Fatima she was appearing to three shepherd children - Lucia and her two cousins Francisco and Jacinta. Well Lucia (who was to outlive her two cousins by more than eighty years) entered a convent when she was old enough. There, she received several more visions of Our Lady, and it was among these that she recieved the devotion of which we are speaking. She was told by Mary that, in order to complete the Five First Saturdays, one must, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months: go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Holy Rosary, and then afterwards keep her company for fifteen minutes by meditating on one or all of the mysteries of the Rosary. All of these things must be done with the intention of - that is, the desire of - making reparation to Mary for all of the sins committed against her Immaculate Heart.