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Fulfilling Our Lady’s Request: The Importance of First Saturdays

CC Image courtesy of Marcus Cyron on Wikimedia Commons

Tomorrow is the first Saturday of the month, and since we have been asked by our readers to help them remember the observance of the day, we are reprinting this article with a brief explanation of this devotion, which is of central importance to the life of the Church today. 

On July 13, 1917, during the third apparition at Fatima, Our Lady warned that if mankind did not repent God was “going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father.”

She continued:

“To forestall 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 they heed My requests, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she shall spread her errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecutions of the Church; the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated; in the end, My Immaculate Heart shall triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and some time of peace will be given to the world.”

In 1925 the promise that Our Lady would come to request the Communion of Reparation on First Saturdays was fulfilled. Sr Lucy gave the following account, speaking of herself 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 hour of death, with all graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months, confess, receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep Me company for fifteen minutes meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation to Me.’”

In 1939 Sr Lucy further explained the importance of this devotion:

“Whether the world has war or peace depends on the practice of this devotion, along with the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is why I desire its propagation so ardently, especially because this is also the will of our dear Mother in Heaven.”

Tragically, as Cardinal Burke reminded us recently:

“In fact, the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary did not take place, as she requested, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays did not become the practice of the universal Church.”

Amongst the many terrible consequences of the failure of Catholics to adopt the practice of the First Saturdays, and of the popes to consecrate Russia as Our Lady requested, is the spiritual crisis that is shaking the Church to her foundations and the onslaught against the family, especially the mass killing of unborn children and the systematic corruption of children.

Cardinal Burke further explained:

“As horrible as are the physical chastisements associated with man’s disobedient rebellion before God, infinitely more horrible are the spiritual chastisements for they have to do with the fruit of grievous sin: eternal death. As is clear, only the Faith, which places man in the relationship of unity of heart with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the mediation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, can save man from the spiritual chastisements which rebellion against God necessarily brings upon its perpetrators and upon the whole of both society and the Church.

“The teaching of the Faith in its integrity and with courage is the heart of the office of the Church’s pastors: the Roman Pontiff, the Bishops in communion with the See of Peter, and their principal co-workers, the priests. For that reason, the Third Secret is directed, with particular force, to those who exercise the pastoral office in the Church. Their failure to teach the faith, in fidelity to the Church’s constant teaching and practice, whether through a superficial, confused or even worldly approach, and their silence endangers mortally, in the deepest spiritual sense, the very souls for whom they have been consecrated to care spiritually. The poisonous fruits of the failure of the Church’s pastors is seen in a manner of worship, of teaching and of moral discipline which is not in accord with Divine Law.”

In order to bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart which, as Cardinal Burke stated, “will first be the victory of the Faith, which will put an end to the time of apostasy, and the great shortcomings of the Church’s pastors” we must fulfill Our Lady’s requests as best we can in our own lives. This means observing the five First Saturdays by:

  • Going to confession
  • Receiving Holy Communion
  • Praying the rosary
  • Meditating for fifteen minutes on one or more mysteries of the rosary

All of the above must be done with the intention of making reparation for offences against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

“In the end, My Immaculate Heart shall triumph.”

 

Editor’s note: this post first appeared on the website of Voice of the Family. It has been reprinted here with permission, but we encourage you to visit this important apostolate doing so much good work for the family and the Church. It first appeared on 1P5 on June 2, 2017.

128 thoughts on “Fulfilling Our Lady’s Request: The Importance of First Saturdays”

  1. Thanks for this, Steve.

    Everybody should ask their parish pastors to speak about this devotion at mass and put reminders in the bulletin, as well as the Brown Scapular and the DAILY rosary. After all, *these* are the things that Our Lady of Fatima asks us, the laity, to do.

    Reply
    • Who, instead of lay people, has the obligation to speak about this devotion, if not our Pope, our cardinals, bishops and priests ?

      Reply
  2. Our parish is beginning, tomorrow morning, to have an enhanced celebration of First Saturdays with Benediction and the rosary after morning mass.
    By the way. No one ever comments on the wonderful visual displays frequently seen here at the head of the articles.
    Really well done. Thank you.

    Reply
  3. Sister Lucia was told by our Lord the reason for making the 5 First Saturday Devotion for reparation against the Immaculate Heart of Mary and this is reportedly what Our Blessed Lord revealed to her:

    “My daughter, the reason is simple; it concerns the 5 forms of offenses and blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart of Mary”:

    1-Against her Immaculate Conception.
    2- Against her virginity
    3- Against her Divine Maternity, refusing at the same time to receive Mary as Mother of all humanity.
    4- Against those that publicly instill and induce indifference, hate and scorn towards our Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children.
    5- Against those that insult or directly offend her sacred images.

    “This is why, my daughter, that before the offended and insulted Immaculate Heart, my mercy was moved to request this small reparation in recognition to Her, in order to grant forgiveness to souls who go through this disgrace of offending My Mother. But you, at least, try unceasingly, with your prayers and sacrifices, to move my mercy for these souls.”

    http://www.catholicapologetics.info/catholicteaching/privaterevelation/fatima.htm

    Reply
    • I live in a very rural area with limited public transportation. I do not drive a car and must rely on the availability of others to transport me wherever I go. Are the conditions for participating in the First Saturday devotion flexible as to the timeline, i.e. attendance at Mass and receiving the Holy Eucharist? For some indulgenced practices one may go to confession and receive Communion at Mass within 20 days. Would that apply to First Saturday devotions?

      Reply
      • If you are literally prevented, through no active fault of your own, from Making a Good Confession and Going to communion on those days then I am perfectly confident in Our Lord’s grace to receive your Holy Rosary of reparation with your meditation and making a good confession and holy communion as soon as possible with the intention of making the act of reparation. The Lord never obligates one to something they literally cannot do. The cripple is not commanded to walk with out Our Lord giving him the ability to do so.

        Reply
        • That is such a blessing to hear because i’ve been in a similar situation living in such a rural area. Another priest told me differently and it made me so sad because I dearly wanted to obey our Blessed Mother. I continually try every month- it’s the least we can do! It encourages me to hear this from you! I must ask then is this true also for first Friday devotions as I gave that up since we never have Mass on Friday’s???? We only have daily Mass on Tues. and then we are blessed to have more than 4 come.

          Reply
    • Dear Father,

      Re the second intention: It’s in reparation for blasphemies against Her *Perpetual* Virginity – ante partu, in partu et post partu, as we sing:

      Theotokion, Tone 7: O all-praised treasury of our resurrection, we hope in you,* bring us up from the pit and depth of sin,* for you have saved those subject to sin* by giving birth to our Salvation,* O Virgin before childbirth, and Virgin in childbirth,* and still a Virgin after childbirth.

      She is Ever-Virgin as infallibly defined by the Councils of Ephesus and Lateran I.

      I know you know this; I’m just clarifying it for everyone.

      Reply
      • She is Ever-Virgin as infallibly defined by the Councils of Ephesus

        That’s simply not true, although the sexually perverse PVOM notion did start to slink into Christianity around that time. It is best politely ignored, and hopefully allowed to slink out.

        For a married woman virginity is entirely inappropriate, diminishes her, and in the case of Mary turns a virtuous woman who should be a model for others into a terrible example. Thus the PVOM is a particularly pernicious proposition that goes beyond mere acrobatic theologizing to slandering Mary’s character as a woman who closed her marriage to new life and shirked her responsibilities to her husband.

        Those who are uncomfortable with the thought of Mary enthusiastically giving sexually to St. Joseph, and graciously receiving in return, merely reveal their own inappropriate attitudes toward sex. This can be seen especially with the (almost certainly) homosexual St. Jerome. He was an early vociferous proponent of the PVOM, defending the idea with his characteristic bitchy/petulant style. It’s not hard to see that this is more about sticking it to the straights and devaluing their marriages than any historical fact.

        Reply
        • If I were St. Louis de Montfort I would take you out back and leave you there on the ground in a rumpled heap. You are completely inappropriate in your argumentation and denigrate the Spouse of the Holy Spirit as well as a great Saint. Therefore into the outer darkness with you to wail and grind your teeth.

          Reply
          • She was vowed to perpetual virginity prior to her betrothal to Joseph, which was not an unheard of thing at that time. Women could not support themselves and needed the help of a husband and men needed the help of a wife to care for the home while they worked. You do not understand scripture nor tradition nor history. You are enforcing your modern conception of things upon the past.

          • She was vowed to perpetual virginity prior to her betrothal to Joseph, which was not an unheard of thing at that time.

            If that were true such a significant and unusual fact would surely have been recorded in the Gospels. Instead they leave the opposite impression. Do you even have solid evidence for any Jewish woman of that era behaving so?

            You do not understand scripture nor tradition nor history.

            Quite the contrary, hence the confidence. The first two irreconcilably conflict in this case, which indicates inappropriate innovation and leads to the overly credulous being tripped up by inconsistencies. You just demonstrated this by in effect calling Mary out as a bigamist.

            You are enforcing your modern conception of things upon the past.

            Hardly. What specifically in the following is modern? It all goes back at least to St. Paul, much of it to Genesis. “For a married woman virginity is entirely inappropriate, diminishes her, and in the case of Mary turns a virtuous woman who should be a model for others into a terrible example. Thus the PVOM is a particularly pernicious proposition that goes beyond mere acrobatic theologizing to slandering Mary’s character as a woman who closed her marriage to new life and shirked her responsibilities to her husband.”

          • He is either using a VIP or does not have a static IP (many residential IP’s are not static but generated by their provider at different intervals) because each account had a different IP

          • Yes, he does. He is an unfettered nuisance in the commboxes at Crisis and First Things who can always be counted upon to inject his own notions on how the Church’s teachings on sexual ethics and contraception are wrong at every opportunity.

          • So Mary is a bigamist now? It is you who denigrates.

            Furthermore, your resort to puerile playground threats should tell you several things.

    • That is a wonderful thing to offer at your parish! I pray we could have this offered where I live???????? Some priests promote this more than others???? Bless you for doing this! Thank you for your vocation???? to becoming a priest . I will say a prayer for you????????

      Reply
    • The confession does not have to be made on the First Saturday. It can be done before that day or afterwards.

      From Sister Lucia’s writings:

      “On the 15th [of February 1926], I was very busy with my chores, and I scarcely thought of it [the apparition of the preceding December 10]. I was about to empty the garbage can outside the garden.

      “At the same place, several months previously, I had met a child whom I had asked if he knew the Hail Mary. He had replied yes, and I had asked him to say it for me, in order to hear him. But as he would not say it alone, I had recited it three times with him.

      “At the end of the three Hail Mary’s, I asked him to say it alone. As he remained silent and did not appear capable of saying it alone, I asked him if he knew the church of Saint Mary. He answered yes. I then told him to go there every day and to pray thus: ‘Oh my Heavenly Mother, give me Your Child Jesus!’ I taught him that prayer and departed.

      “Then on February 15, while returning as usual [to empty a garbage can outside of the garden], I found there a child who appeared to me to be the same (as previously), and I then asked him: ‘Have you asked Our Heavenly Mother for the Child Jesus?’

      “The Child turned to me and said: ‘And have you revealed to the world what the Heavenly Mother has asked you?’ And saying that, He transformed Himself into a resplendent Child. Recognizing then that it was Jesus, I said to Him:

      ‘My Jesus! You know very well what my confessor said to me in the letter I read to you. He said that this vision had to be repeated, there had to be facts permitting us to believe it, and that the Mother Superior alone could not spread this devotion.’

      ‘It is true that the Mother Superior, alone, can do nothing, but with My grace, she can do anything. It is enough that your confessor gives you permission, and that your Superior announces this for it to be believed by the people, even if they do not know who it was revealed to.’

      ‘But my confessor said in his letter that this devotion already exists in the world, because many souls receive Thee every first Saturday of the month, in honor of Our Lady and the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.’

      ‘It is true, My daughter, that many souls begin, but few persevere to the very end, and those who persevere do it to receive the graces promised. The souls who make the five first Saturdays with fervor and to make reparation to the Heart of your Heavenly Mother, please Me more than those who make fifteen, but are lukewarm and indifferent.’

      ‘My Jesus! Many souls find it difficult to confess on Saturday. Will You allow a confession within eight days to be valid?’

      ‘Yes. It can even be made later on, provided that the souls are in the state of grace when they receive Me on the first Saturday, and that they had the intention of making reparation to the Sacred Heart of Mary.’

      ‘My Jesus! And those who forget to form this intention?’

      ‘They can form it at the next confession, taking advantage of their first opportunity to go to confession.’

      Reply
    • Yes, you should be in the state of grace to take Holy Communion, but for the sake of the Devotion itself, you are able to make Confession up to 8 days prior or after.

      Reply
    • Much as I commend the NO priest who provides the sacrament of Penance after the daily noon Mass. It strikes me as being backwards ….confession before Mass is more logical…but I am grateful for what he provides.

      Reply
      • Let me say straight out that I am EXTREMELY grateful for any priest that will hear my confession. I don’t care where, I don’t care when, I don’t care if it’s in a room face to face or in a old school private confessional, I love that priest, novus ordo or traditional. But yes, i too really appreciate that priest that is there before the mass to hear confession. There is a Polish mass down the way from me and they have the luxury of two priests serving the Polish immigrant community, there you see the old style method of one priest hearing confessions while the other says the mass. What a luxury, please Lord let us have enough priests one day to have one hear confessions during mass, how awesome would that be to have available?

        Reply
        • The Modernists would not like that …..they are determined to make Mass and Penance separate. Haven’t you noticed how Confession isn’t offered before Mass or after but always arranged so you cannot receive Penance and Holy Communion in one visit. Yes, I am grateful for Confession after the noon Mass….the priest also delays his lunch hour so it is a sacrifice for him.

          Reply
        • I have that luxury at my FSSP parish in my diocese. And I’m incredibly fortunate to only live 25 minutes away. It is a true gift. And on Sunday, usually the priest will be there 30 minutes before Mass, during Mass, and after Mass if there are still penitents. It is truly wonderful.

          Reply
        • I could be completely off on this, but I read somewhere – I want to say it was in one of the FSSP’s recent newsletters, or some other FSSP publication – that it is not the ideal to be going to confession *during* Mass. The author (I think it was Fr. Saguto) said that the only reason that it happens so much at FSSP parishes is because so many people come from further away, or for whatever reason can’t get to church except on Sundays, and so lines are long on Sunday and always run into Mass. But if I remember correctly, he was clear in saying it is not the ideal to be having confession while Mass is going on. Seen in this light, at least, I’m not sure it’s accurate to call it a “luxury” to have confession during Mass; it is indeed wonderful insofar as any sacrament is wonderful in its own right, and it is wonderful that someone is possibly being absolved from a mortal sin and back into a state of sanctifying grace – but again, not the ideal.

          Reply
    • You are implying that everyone making the First Saturday Devotion is in a state of Mortal Sin and needs to make a good Confession in order to receive Holy Communion. This is not true. If someone is in a state of mortal Sin they can always seek the Sacrament of Confession prior to Mass, even a week before and simply make a devotional confession of their venial sins on the First Saturday to fulfill our Blesse Lady’s request.
      I Have confessions after my morning Mass on Saturday’s (because no one came before Mass) and I have them before the Vigil Mass in the Evening, so one could actually go to the devotions in the Morning during the Holy Hour after Mass and go to confession and receive Holy Communion later that evening (if they were in a state of mortal sin in the morning and could not confess prior to the Morning Mass) and still fulfill the requirement.

      Reply
      • My apologies if that’s what it seemed like I was implying, perhaps I should edit that post. A good confession should always be done before mass on the First Saturday devotion if possible but of course it’s not required as we know from Sr. Lucia’s diary.
        That’s disappointing to hear that nobody was showing up for confession before your mass, must be a lot of holy people there. The FSSP chapel I attend for example has confession 1/2 hour before mass and you better show up at least 35 minutes early on a Saturday or you won’t get in, there are only so many confessions a priest can hear in one half hour. The nice thing about the FSSP is rain or shine there is a priest sitting in that box 30 minutes before mass and as a sinner I don’t take that for granted but I sure do appreciate it.

        Reply
        • The Saturday Morning Mass is the only Mass that I have Holy Hour and Confessions after Mass, the other Mass have them before Mass.

          Reply
          • God bless you father, your efforts are appreciated and there are people out here praying for you. When I say my rosary, my thoughts will go to priests I knew over the years going back forty years and I will pray for those priests.

    • Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for posting the checklist. I was going to do it but you beat me to it! (To paraphrase my late dad: I’m a poet and I don’t know it.) 😉

      I have a HP OfficeJet Pro 8600. When I use the HP app to print, it make 3 pages and cuts off the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts.

      Any ideas on how to print it?

      I fnished the Five First Saturdays and am starting a new set of five today (since it’s after midnight and is now Saturday). I’d really love to print this right.

      Reply
    • Every parish that I have been to in our diocese (all Novus Ordo) has confessions before Mass. But you have to get there super early if you want Confession because they tend to run outta time cuz they are too many penitents.

      Though I suppose that’s a good problem to have…

      Reply
      • Before every mass? I find that incredible really coming from my diocese in Florida where not a single novus ordo (except Saturday afternoon) mass has confession before mass. Out of curiosity, which diocese? I want to check out some of their Church weekly bulletins to see if they list the confession before mass. I have lived in about ten different dioceses in the last 20 years and not one had confession before every mass.
        I would be happy, overjoyed if they even had the opportunity for confession on Sundays in my diocese here, only the FSSP does and my local Sunday diocesan TLM and the demand is HUGE so you better show up 45 minutes before mass at least, none of the novus ordo masses have this in my area. I have even witnessed a young guy ask a young novus ordo priest if he could get a confession on a Sunday morning (before our Trad mass in the chapel), he looked at his watch, hemmed and hawed for a few seconds and said “noo, sorry, I can’t right now”

        Reply
        • Diocese of Lake Charles.

          There are TLMs every Sunday in the cathedral and most Holy Days. Our bishop offered a Pontifical High Mass back in June for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, which is also the anniversary of his ordination

          Reply
  4. Too bad Rome doesn’t believe this, as it said in the year 2,000 — the time of the events of Fatima is past.

    Reply
    • No, the events are past, but not our Lady’s prophecies: Since our popes never heeded them seriously, the chastisements have already begun on the RCC first, and then on the world.
      The election to the papacy of Jorge Bergoglio is the main one for now.

      Reply
      • I agree with you, but Rome did try to push Fatima aside forever in the year 2,000. In that Rome failed. My cynicism is showing, but cynicism is better than the sin of schism, although I have to fight against that temptation at times.

        Reply
  5. It is sad to see that our recent popes never promoted the devotion of the five first saturdays. They probably deemed it as obsolete, outdated, ludicrous if not even superstitious.

    Reply
  6. Were there always 4 mysteries with 5 parts to each mystery? If not, when was it changed and why? What was the original mysteries?

    Was the prayer, “O my Jesus …” always a part of the rosary? If not, when was it added and why?

    Was “Hail Holy Queen …” always a part of the rosary? If not, when was it added and why?

    Was the rosary always broken up into the 5 decades or did the original rosary resemble more of the prayer rope in the Eastern Tradition? I thought I read an article on this one time and I am trying to ascertain if the current rosary is what it always has been or changed. If it changed, does anyone know why?

    Eastern and Western traditions have two different versions of Hail Mary. Does either suffice in praying the rosary?

    These are some issues I’ve been researching. Would appreciate any advice or input.

    Reply
    • I don’t know for certain on all of these, but I do know some. I’ll enumerate my answers for ease of references.

      1. No. There were originally 3 mysteries with 5 parts to each. The Luminous Mysteries were a suggested possible addition by Pope St. John Paul II in 2003 to add a more full picture of the life of Jesus. It was never mandated or officially added but has become a common practice in the Latin Church. The other 3 sets (Joyous, Sorrowful, Glorious) have been there since the beginning.

      2. No. That was given by Our Lady at Fatima in 1917. She asked for that to be prayed for all those poor souls lost in sin.

      3. I believe it was. I have never heard from anyone that it was added. It is an ancient Marian antiphon.

      4. The Rosary as a prayer has always had the 5 decades. As for the original prayer rope, I do not actually know the origin.

      5. If you’re a Roman Catholic then you would pray it according to the Western tradition. It is, after all, a Latin devotion. That said, I don’t see any fundamental problem with prayer according to the Eastern prayer. It would certainly be a novelty, and since the other prayers of the Rosary are of a Western origin it might be a little incongruous, so I would say it’s best to pray according to the Western tradition. There isn’t going to be some sort of theological or other problem if you pray according to the Eastern tradition, especially if you are more familiar with that form. It is more important simply to pray than not to, so if you have to pray according to the Eastern formula in order to pray the rosary, then do it.

      I hope this helps!

      Reply
      • I’m Ukrainian Greek Catholic but can pray the Rosary with both forms of the Angelical Salutation:

        Byzantine version:

        Hail Mary, Virgin Mother of God, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast borne Christ, the Savior and Deliverer of our souls. Amen.

        Western version:

        Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

        There’s one thing I’m not certain of: Do I gain all the indulgences attached to the Rosary if I use the Byzantine form of the Hail Mary instead of the Western version? From what I’ve seen, past Popes declared that in order to gain the indulgences, one must use the Western version of the Hail Mary. That’s the main reason why I use the Western version when I pray the Rosary.

        Reply
    • In the Eastern Tradition, the prayer rope is used to help one pray the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.

      The prayer rope is usually 100 knots divided into groups of 10 or 25 (depending on how it’s made). It’s *similar* to a rosary but not the same thing.

      Also, I highly recommend reading The New Rosary by Christopher A. Ferrara. It’s all about RVM and the Luminous Mysteries.

      True trivia tidbit for you: In St. John’s Gospel, the disciples caught *153* fish. In the traditional Rosary – if you do all 15 Mysteries at one time – Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries plus the 3 at the beginning – you say the Hail Mary *153* times . C.f.. The New Rosary (cited above).

      As one priest told us years ago: There’s no such thing as coincidence, only Divine Providence.

      Reply
      • I’m familiar with the prayer rope. The point of my question was that I thought I had read some where the original rosary looked a lot like the longer prayer ropes the monastics of the eastern tradition carry for the Jesus prayer. Thanks for the insight.

        Reply
          • Well that is my question. Is there such thing as a 15 decade rosary? I have been studying whether the current rosary is the one that has always been. If not, what happened to the original or why was it changed? If the one today is the one that has always been then fine.

          • Yes, there’s a 15 decade rosary but usually religious who observe a traditional rule have them.

          • As far as I know JPII did not change the 15 decade rosary but simply recommended the addition of the Luminous mysteries. They remain
            optional.

          • The New Rosary by Christopher A. Ferrara explains the 2003 encyclical on the Rosary. I highly recommend it.

          • Actually, I read JPIIs words years ago…the Luminous mysteries are OPTIONAL…as Mr. Ferrara states in his article. The Luminous mysteries are
            taken from holy scripture. As Bishop Williamson says some people think there is nothing good in the post Vatican II church. Our holy pastor, when
            it was first announced, and I was thinking oh no another change said “I tried them …they’re good”

          • The danger, however, is that the fifth Lluminous mystery which is the establishment of the Holy Eucharist can be separated from the Passion and
            death of Christ contained in the Sorrowful mysteries. The Sacrament must never be separated from the Sacrifice. One needs to put the Last Supper into the first Sorrowful mystery and all will be well.

          • Also, the 15 mysteries have been confirmed by heaven. The Luminous mysteries are not the true Rosary, there is nothing wrong with the contents, but it is still objectively inferior because it was not the will of God. One can argue that by praying the Luminous mysteries in the novel sequence as suggested by pseudo-saint John Paul II you are acutely depriving yourself of the full Rosary on a weekly basis, since you eliminate the saying of one set of Glorious Mysteries. Hence, we have the weakening of the Rosary, especially on Thursdays, the exact opposite of what our Lady of Fatima wished.

          • The Church claims infallibility when canonizing saints. Your repeated references to “pseudo-saint” JPII are offensive in the extreme. And heretical.

          • Infallibility of canonizations is not a dogma of the Faith. Canonizations do not fulfill the
            conditions laid down by Vatican I to guarantee a papal act’s infallibility. The judgment of canonization is not infallible in itself. It lacks the conditions for infallibility, starting from the fact the canonization does not have as its direct or explicit aim, a truth of the Faith or morals contained in Revelation, but only a fact indirectly connected with dogma, without being properly-speaking a dogmatic fact. It is not an accident that the doctrine of canonizations is not contained in the Codes of Canon Law of 1917 and of 1983, nor the Catechisms of the Catholic Church, old and new.

          • The only infallible claim in canonization is that a person is in heaven.
            Now, that doesn’t mean every single person in heaven should be canonized right?
            Therefore, one can be in heaven, but not be a good example to imitate. That is
            exactly what we have here. A person who is in heaven, but should have never
            been canonized because of the bad examples he gave. There is nothing extreme in
            seeing his repeated examples against the faith, unless you have lost your
            ability to reason and think clearly. There is nothing heretical here, once you
            understand the canonization process. May the last worthily canonized Pope, Pius
            X, pray for us. And may Our Lady remove the memory and feast of pseudo-saint
            John Paul II from the Church. Amen.

          • I don’t particularly have any problem with the Luminous Mysteries, but I don’t use them myself. They really mess up the logical progress of Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious through the week. I also wish JP II had refrained because now even the rosary feels politicized and a source of division. Vatican II Catholics pray the Luminous Mysteries and Traditionalists don’t, right?

          • Is this true? I hope so, but in my neck of the woods it would seem that for leading the Joyful Mysteries on a Thursday would give my fellow parishioners a real jolt. I have a feeling that in the long term the Luminous Mysteries will fade from memory along with much of the post-Vatican II legacy.

          • Yes the logical progression is interrupted …if one is not saying the entire Rosary and there is a kind of spiritual division amongst the “communion of saints” for those who recite 5 decades each day. Those are good points.

          • Almost all Catholics took the “suggestion” as a command. I can’t find a book on the Rosary that *doesn’t* have the Luminous Mysteries.

          • Hello Margaret. Actually I have found many that don’t include them. Below is only a partial list, which I hope is helpful.
            1. there is one available from Angelus Press. It even has illustrations for every single Hail Mary. It is really good.
            2. There is one available from Fatima Center.
            3. Another one from Universal Living Rosary Association. They change their booklets one in a while, but even when they change they never include the Luminous Mysteries.
            4. “Pray The Rosary Book VI” from World-Rosary Intercessors, Inc.
            5. There is one available from Leaflet Missal in MInnesota. The illustrations are a bit 1960/1970, but they don’t include Luminous.

          • Thank you! I didn’t realize there were so many traditional ones in print. I have the first two you mentioned; the third, maybe; the fourth I’ve never heard of. Occasionally I shop at two Catholic bookstores near me. Everything they have includes the Luminous Mysteries.

            Re the Luminous Mysteries: I highly recommend The New Rosary by Christopher A. Ferrara. It gives a great explanation of why one should NOT use the Luminous Mysteries. I hope The Remnant Press reprints it. It’s a booklet – short & easy to read.

          • There actually are 15 decade rosaries. They are often part of the traditional habit of various religious orders.

            As for why there are different length rosaries, I think it has to do primarily with practicality. There are 15, 5, and even 1 decade rosaries. 5 are the most common because most people will pray 1 set of mysteries in a given sitting. For those that can’t there are the one decade, and ring rosaries for a decade at a time.

          • This sounds similar to the prayer ropes in the east. Most are 50 knots, while I believe there are 100 or 150 knot ropes. Thanks. I have never seen a 15 decade rosary, any clue where to find one?

          • You could look online at religious goods suppliers. Like I said, aside from as an added decoration on a Marian statue (which I’ve only seen once) I’ve only seen them as part of the habit for religious.

          • There aren’t a lot of 15 decade rosaries available online. The Sisters of Carmel http://www.sistersofcarmel.com/custom-15-decade-rosaries/ sell sturdy looking rosaries and you can custom build a 15 decade one. I like the look of their cord ones. They are not cheap, but few 15 decade rosaries are.

            Etsy sells lots of handmade rosaries, so many that it’ll give you a headache. But you could ask for a custom order if you can’t find a 15 decade one that you like. Word of caution, check their reviews and what they sell. Are they selling occult, secular items? Is it a real rosary? And if it does seem to be a good seller, how are the joins made? Some rosaries can look quite fancy but if a joint goes would you have a pile of beads in your hands or all over the floor? Could it go into your pocket nicely? Some rosaries are made on jewellery wire and while flexible aren’t up to being put in pockets.

            Or you could make your own cord rosary. Just google it, also try youtube.

            Also consider whether you need a 15 decade rosary. If you haven’t prayed the rosary before try 5 decades daily first on a five decade rosary. When you can do this, do 10, then the 15, by going around your 5 decade rosary the necessary times. When you are praying the 15 decades daily then go buy your 15 decade rosary.
            Something to think on any way 🙂

          • Thanks. I am researching the history of it and this discussion came up so the responses I’ve received have been helpful. The best rosary story I heard lately was from a guy somewhere in the middle east chained up in jail and he used the links of the chain to pray.

          • Shortly after occupying undefended and unprepared Fire Support Base Coral (South Vietnam) the First Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR) was attacked following an intense rocket and mortar barrage at 3.30 am on 13 May 68. The attack was eventually beaten off with a cost of eleven Australians killed and 28 wounded.

            Three battalions of the North Vietnamese Army attacked again at 2.30 am on 16 May. The 1 RAR mortar platoon position was overun as well as a 102 Field Battery gun position with the loss of one howitzer (now on display at the Australian War Memorial).

            Part of A Coy was overrun and the attack was finally repelled with a further 5 Australians killed and 19 wounded. Lt Bob Sutton, OC 2 Platoon A Coy started praying the Rosary in a lull in the battle and, not having Rosary Beads he used ten cigarettes laid out on his weapon pit. He later related that he wished he had a cigar for the Our Fathers. Bob survived the battles of FSB Coral and subsequent operations to return safely home.

            Being a slow learner, I did not follow his example. I was severely wounded on Anzac Day 1969. Lesson learned; say the Rosary every day (with Rosary Beads not Marlboros) which I have done since Vietnam.
            c/s Sunray 41 1 RAR

          • I use a 15 decade Rosary – a very old one which I think may have come from my Grandfather’s brother who was a Priest but it’s older than that. It’s worn almost smooth on the medals so has ‘felt’ a lot of praying! Try E-Bay for one.

      • That’s the reason why I don’t recite the “Luminous mysteries” that John Paul II added. They burden the Rosary uselessly while, being prayed after the Glorious mysteries, have no logical continuation with these last ones.
        Our Lady asked Pope JPII to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart, not to amend Her holy Rosary.

        Reply
        • Re your last sentence: Russia must be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Holy Father in union with all the bishops of the world.

          Otherwise, I agree with you. ????

          Reply
        • Why would anybody pray the Luminous mysteries after the Glorious mysteries ? I would keep the sequence of events…I agree on the continuation point.

          Reply
        • I do pray the Luminous mysteries; but largely only because I only pray 5 decades per day anyway, and so it doesn’t “mess up” any sort of daily number of Hail Marys or whatever it is that people are so worried about with the addition of the Luminous mysteries. I imagine that if I had the goal of praying 15 decades per day, I wouldn’t pray the Luminous mysteries (and probably wouldn’t make it a goal to pray 20 decades to include them). In any case, I have to say that if one is going to criticize praying the Luminous mysteries, then your reason of “continuation” is not a very weighty one. Lol. Maybe I’m just doing everything wrong, or being flippant about an idea that deserves some special respect, but when I get to the Luminous mysteries on Thursdays after having prayed the Glorious mysteries on Wednesdays, I’m not thinking where I left off the day before and being really worried about whether the mystery I’m contemplating follows the last one I said!

          If the argument is that saying the Luminous mysteries violates some sort of conditions for benefits or whatever which are promised for praying the rosary, well then, I thought that any such conditions would have already been violated by not saying the full 15 decades daily anyway. I really don’t know, to be honest; but I get the impression that most people praying the Luminous mysteries (such as myself) are not saying more than 5 decades per day.

          Anyway, that’s just a long way of saying – I suppose if one is saying more than 5 decades per day, and especially for saying 15 decades per day, then it makes perfect sense to stick with the traditional three sets; if one is saying any less than that, particularly the 5 decades per day, the Luminous mysteries seem perfectly fine to me to meditate upon with our Lord and our Lady once per week, as adding a set of mysteries to meditate upon in this case (i.e. 5 decades per day) would not mess up a long-established sequence/set of 15 decades.

          Reply
          • As I understand it, Our Lady gave the 15 decades/mysteries to St Dominic. Also the 150 Ave Marias take the place of the 150 Psalms so the Luminous Mysteries are NOT part of the Rosary. I prayed the Luminous ones for a VERY short time, feeling really uncomfortable about it, then learnt the truth and dropped them the same day! Felt much better – the truth is, we shouldn’t try to know better than Our Lady because we don’t. If She had wanted us to meditate on these events as part of the Rosay, She would have included them. That’s why they ‘violate’ something – Our Lady’s instructions!

          • I understand that Our Lady gave St. Dominic 15 mysteries. I also understand/have heard that the 150 Hail Marys represent the 150 Psalms.

            Regarding the latter, I don’t think that’s a good argument for refusing to pray the Luminous mysteries. I’m not calling into question the validity of that representation, but I’m wondering, where did that idea originate (150 Hail Marys = 150 Psalms)? Is it a given that, whether someone knows it or not, they are representing the 150 psalms by their recitation of the rosary? Is that representation inherent to the rosary? Is there some connection of the Psalms with our Lady’s revelation of the Rosary to St. Dominic, something specific? What if I don’t need to represent 150 Psalms with 150 Hail Marys, since I already say the Breviary every day? What if I’m simply praying the rosary in order to meditate on a certain mystery of Our Lord’s (or our Lady’s) life, and to offer love to and console the Hearts of Our Lord and Our Lady? I don’t know – maybe I’m just a crazy modernist that wants to ruin the rosary – but did our Lady, when giving the 15 mysteries to Dominic, stipulate exactly how the rosary must be said (I really don’t know, which is why I’m asking)? Is there some sort of definitive source that condemns various ways of praying the rosary? Is there something prior to 2003 that makes it clear that the only mysteries allowed to meditate upon are the 15 mysteries that Our Lady gave St. Dominic? If I want to meditate on, say, the Transfiguration (i.e. the 4th Luminous Mystery), am I supposed to believe that I haven’t actually said a decade of the rosary simply because I didn’t meditate upon one of the 15 given to St. Dominic? Let’s be real – some people don’t meditate on the particular mystery at all, except for a brief second while they mention the mystery before the decade! I know I know, one can’t make an argument based on exceptions/failures to do what is supposed to be done. But I see no reason to be so worried, per se, about saying the Luminous mysteries. Again, maybe I’m just a wacko modernist who wants to ruin the rosary (lol), but I just can’t see our Lady upset about devout recitations of the rosary. Actually I believe it would be safe to say that she is more upset over hurried and/or merely habitual recitations (no, I’m not saying that is in itself bad, but it is certainly not the ideal) of the 15 decades she gave to St. Dominic, than over someone saying the 5 Luminous mysteries with due devotion and meditation.

            So please tell me what I’m missing here – why should I be so worried about saying the Luminous mysteries?

            Is there a promise to the faithful, the fulfillment of which is based specifically/precisely on reciting/meditating upon the traditional 15 decades? When Our Lady gave the 15 decades to St. Dominic, did she make it clear that meditating upon anything else was not a “valid” recitation of the rosary, or was somehow an inferior way of saying the rosary? Maybe she did – again, I really don’t know. Maybe I’ll do some research later today.

          • Thank you Charles for being charitable in your response : ) I replied with this to only find out you deleted your post! lol! Why? It was great : ) Any way, I wanted the half hour I collectively spent writing to have not been for nothing : )

            Some
            of the other liturgies I was thinking of were yes the EF, but also the
            Ukrainian Catholic (Divine Liturgy) and Anglican Ordinariate (Much more
            engaged but there were some relaxing a bit too much). Personally, while
            I do love and have attended the TLM, the sweet spot for me between the
            NO and the TLM is the Ad Orientum liturgy of the Anglican
            Ordinariate..very beautiful…think TLM looking, but HIGH Novus Ordo w/
            extras in performance.

            But you CAN tell as you suggested when
            someone is praying and ‘participating’ in the Mass versus when they look
            like they’re waiting for their flight at an airport : )

            Just for
            clarification sake, my post is not pro-Novus Ordo but rather pro Novus
            Ordo attendee. I’m 38 with a wife and four kids who home-school’s and I
            support and defend the TLM liturgy as well as those who attend the
            Novus Ordo but not so much the liturgy of the Novus Ordo. We switched
            from TLM to the Ordinariate while also still attending a Novus Ordo
            parish part-time for a particular young traditionalist priest. My wife
            is a Novus Ordo cradle Catholic who just didn’t get the TLM but is still
            very devout and much more of a saint than I’ll ever be..I’m a convert
            from atheism who PREFERS the TLM but can’t deal with it with four kids,
            lol..

            Anyway, Between 95% and 99% of the Church is Novus Ordo,
            and that reality seems to escape many trads who live and breath on the
            internet in the TLM bubble. Meanwhile, life is going on for millions of
            other Catholics who are JUST as devout in every way as TLM attending
            Catholics. The divide must end. And to avoid scandalizing millions of
            Catholics, the Novus Ordo must evolve UP, and the TLM devolve down to
            basically look very much like the Ordinariate Mass but with Latin
            included but the vernacular still present as well. That’s just reality.
            No pope will flip the switch off on the Novus Ordo overnight or even
            over a year or two. Can’t pour diesel into an unleaded-gasoline engine
            while the car is driving down the road. In the grand scheme of things
            were only a brief 60 years post-Vatican II and if things can change
            within the next ten years to get us back on track, in another hundred
            years or so this will all just be a bad memory and a dark detour we will
            have learned from. Personally I’d rather the Lord return and end it
            all, lol..

            Here’s a pic of the altar of the ONLY TLM we have in
            Delaware. Followed by the altar of the Anglican Ordinariate parish we
            attend an hour away north in PA.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b72dadd1bea510eaf0da2aa7517fa69bc5836b5e01f8ebcbdef556ffa076c832.jpg
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7adbe28544cd14c7b3fe489a1ddae3ae8365a9b1031d5b6c4bff5076e9229221.jpg

          • Hello NICK, I do *try* to be charitable…it is easy to *not* do so when one is just making an anonymous post online! And likewise, even when one is not intending to be uncharitable, one reading an anonymous comment can easily perceive it as uncharitable when he doesn’t have the person in front of him to allay such an impression!

            I found out my comment was marked as spam – my only guess for the reason why is that it was too long! Hahaha. But I don’t know. In any case, thank you for the reply.

            All I can say is basically to reiterate the points I made in the previous post. It is so, so sad that it comes down to “I prefer this liturgy or that lilturgy” – if this has ever happened in the history of the Catholic Church (I don’t think it has, although to be honest, I’m not sure), it certainly hasn’t happened within the *same rite!* The liturgy isn’t ours to say what we “prefer” – it’s ours to come to know, love, understand, cherish, and *pass on for the next generation to do the same!*

            Any potential reform of the 1962 Missal has to be made *after* it has been publicly admitted by the Church that the intentions of those who created the Novus Ordo were…less-than-honorable, and certainly not faithful to the Catholic tradition and were not interested in unapologetically proclaiming the truths of the Catholic faith through the liturgy. And that therefore, any new reforms of the 1962 Missal would be *clearly* shown to be in complete harmony with the traditions and unchanging, sublime truths of the Church which she has always intended to show through her Liturgy!

            Such could only be done by someone whose life has clearly been transformed by our Lord and is immersed in the sacred traditions of our Holy Mother Church. And thus I can close with a point I know I made in my previous comment – I think one will find, if he makes an objective look at the past 50 years (and beyond – the current divide in the Church stretches much further back than the 1960s) and is honest with himself and with the facts, this: that what was truly needed in the 1960s was not a change in the Liturgy (or at least, not any major changes such as were made), but rather a change in hearts and a rediscovery of what had already been handed down in its full beauty and splendor. May our Lord grant the Church such converted hearts to heal the wounds which His bride suffers violently today!

            P.S. – not by any means exquisite altars, those pictures which you posted, but nonetheless, beautiful in their own ways. You’re fortunate that you have such churches to attend! May God bless you and your family. Seems like you are certainly doing the best you know how – may you always come to know our Church’s traditions and teachings in their full splendor, always seeking to encounter our Lord and allow Him into the depths of your soul, through the intercession of His blessed mother and all of the saints!

            -Charles

  7. Our Lady’s requests were too simple, too humble for our human pride. We couldn’t comply with them. It’s the same today in the Church. We look for complex solutions to simple problems.

    As in the Book of Kings when Naaman the Syrian became angry when told to go wash seven times in the Jordan to cure his leprosy because the cure was not elaborate enough, not ceremonious enough for him, the Church needs to listen to the words of Naaman’s servants:

    “His servants came to him, and said to him: Father, if the prophet had
    bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it: how
    much rather what he now hath said to thee: Wash, and thou shalt be
    clean? Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times: according to
    the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored, like the flesh
    of a little child, and he was made clean.”

    Reply
  8. I think that we the laity should seriously consider Our Lady’s request and act accordingly, conscious that the future of the Church and of the World depends on it. Why wait for our Priests and Bishops for instructions? Instead of, or together with, the organizing funds raising programmes, social activities and the like, we should, in every parish in the world, organize ourselves into groups with the specific task of the first Saturdays devotions.

    Reply
    • Yes, but you need a priest to say Holy Mass and hear confessions. Together with a group of twenty faithful we cordially asked a devoted priest by letter to make this available at our parish. He responded that he didn’t think petitions were the Catholic way and because he didn’t like the approach wouldn’t consider the request. I never considered that it was written as a petition, simply a letter signed by enough people that he would know people would show up. But, our Lord has a sense of humor and only months later I saw this priest’s name on an online petition to the Holy Father. Unfortunately, for me, it was the beginning of a prolonged diabolic attack from which my family has not recovered. Fortunately, I am now at a chapel that offers all of this and more.

      Reply
      • Sorry to hear of your predicament, Scholastica. However may I suggest that for confession each member may go to any priest in any church of his/her convenience. As for the Mass you just need to find a Parish / Church where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated on Saturday. The essential thing, correct me if I am wrong, is that the group is considered as a “family” where each member encourage and sustain eachother in this particular endeavour to respond to the request of Our Lady.

        You’re in my prayers

        Reply
        • Thank you for your prayers. Yes, and in fact I personally have never had a problem keeping first Saturdays as we have been at parishes with religious orders that always have a Saturday morning Mass, though my understanding is that a Saturday evening vigil Mass will suffice if no morning Mass is offered. That is the case at most parishes in this diocese. In this particular situation we are a small mission parish of the larger religious parish. Our parishioners asked to have it available at the mission to avoid the 45 minute drive for most to the main parish. Also, there were typically 4-5 priests concelebrating the main parish Mass, so it wasn’t an issue of priest availability. Only one other of that group has made the sacrifice to make the drive and keep first Saturdays, though many would have had it been more convenient and manageable with other family duties. Just sad. The main point is that we can’t rally the troops as lay people to keep first Saturdays without the availability of the sacraments.

          Reply
          • I understand you difficulties Scholastica but do not give up and keep on with your devotions just the same, Our Lady knows what’s best in our intentions. Thank you!

    • We certainly also cannot be unaware that the though the west did not adopt a communist economic system, cultural Marxism dominates: Faith forced into the inner sanctum, abortion, no fault divorce, atheism, normalization of homosexuality and other disordered desires, open marriages, pornography…..we’re the Soviets except we have money to spend….

      Reply
  9. Remember to pray the full Rosary: Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries. Pseudo-saint John Paul II’s suggestions detract from the fullness of the Rosary and they remove Mary’s Glories from the first Saturday devotions (Saturday should be the Glorious mysteries).

    Reply
    • Well, from those who had committed themselves to praying a full Rosary every day Saint John Paul the Great’s addition of the five Luminous decades drew five more decades of the Rosary every day. This is bad?

      Reply
      • Yes. Heaven has ordered us to pray the 15 decades. Even our lady at Fatima said to mediate on the 15 mysteries. These were given to us by God via St. Dominic as well. There is nothing about anything beyond 15 mysteries. Further, 15 is a correlation of 150 Ave Marias which is supposed to reflect the 150 Psalms.

        Additionally, like I was inferring above, by praying the Luminous pseudo-mysteries one detracts from the Rosary given to us from heaven. How? Because you now pray one less Glorious Mystery (given to us by heaven) and in its place, you pray a man-made novelty. Further, Saturday is a day for the glories of Mary which are in the Glorious Mysteries. This has been replaced by the Joyful Mysteries. But, again, the most dreadful feature of the Luminous pseudo-mysteries comes from saying one less mystery per week – Thursday is now a day where the powers of hell are most likely strongest as a result.

        Pseudo-Saint John Paull the-accommodates-pagans-in-breaking-the-first-commandment-Small made another huge mistake.

        Reply
  10. Silly question: I have a very nice little leather bound prayer book that’s been a blessing to me. I have never done the first Satudays but would like to. My book says pray the Rosary for Saturday (Joyful), meditate upon the 15 mysteries, go to confession and receive communion. Some here seem to indicate that one should pray the Joyful, Glorious and Sorrowful mysteries in full whilst my book indicates that one simply meditates on the fifteen mysteries.

    Which is it?

    Reply
    • I say the Glorious Mysteries (they’re designated for Saturday) and meditate on all 15 mysteries before the Blessed Sacrament at the Adoration chapel near my house.

      I have a hard time concentrating, so it takes me longer to meditate on all 15 mysteries, but imo it’s worth it spending extra time with Our Lord. ????

      Reply
    • As far as I know and have been instructed, praying any part of the Rosary, either the Joyful, Sorrowful or Glorious mysteries and meditating at least 15 minutes upon the mysteries fulfills the obligation. Either praying the rosary and then meditating on the mysteries for 15 minutes afterwards or meditating for at least fifteen minutes (not simply taking 15 minutes to say the one part of the Rosary) while praying the rosary suffice.

      Reply
  11. Thanks for the reminder Steve. First Saturday devotion and the Rosary is probably the most effective way to fight the evils in the Church. We spend countless hours writing, reading and commenting on the faults of the Pope and the Bishops.. If just a little of that time were used to spread devotion to Our Lady much more progress would be made.

    We should all try to set up First Saturday devotion in each of our parishes. This is an action most of us can at least attempt. Let us try to do it. Our Lady would be pleased. Our Lady will help us.

    Reply
  12. disjointed comments and rant:

    -Voter groups have a “get out the vote” campaign… can we get a “get out the house to 1st Saturday mass” campaign? Would it be SO bad for priests to remind their parishes like the Sunday before? I mean, c’mon, folks. I was up till 0130 am pulling ticks off my body after a particularly satisfying day sighting in my newest boom-boom stick (memo o myself; a drop in temp to the 60s does not mean ticks have begun to hibernate!), and we STILL managed to get all four rug rats up and dressed (kind of) for mass this morning. Granted, you didn’t want to get within smelling range of personal hygiene and one of the kiddos had two different shoes on but……

    -First Fridays:
    I attended a Novus Ordo mass, yesterday, in order to make it to first Friday. This was the “kids” school mass.
    wow.
    notgonna-lie, folks. My wife and I suffered a bit, brothers and sisters. I don’t think it’s a sin, but my passive aggressive response to the 15 minutes of asking kiddos what we should pray for, and the intentions for our climate and such, was to attempt all responses in (pretty loud) Latin and call out praying for the murdered children as a priority over the environment.

    But, you know, I used to feel like I was burning on fire and not be able to concentrate in similar situations. But I actually was able to just try and inwardly pray the TLM along with the NO and used my own discomfort to really think about the reality of what discomfort our Lord is feeling leading up to, and during, Consecration.

    Dear brothers and sisters (BTW, what is UP with the inversion to the really awkward, PC-pandering of “my beloved sisters and brothers” that seems to be a thing at the NO?!), we know that this is still truly Jesus, our Lord, crucified on the altar of a NO mass. Moreover, I thought of my entire life, the many MANY times I attended mass, NO or TLM, and still don’t adequately prepare for reception, either sacramental or spiritual. The so many times I have not received worthily or focused my mind on the fact that Jesus’s passion is taking place before me, and I’m thinking about some comparably worthless thing. God forgive me for the times I was an altar server (at a fairly conservative Cathedral parish) and shamed myself and dishonored the Lord on his very altar. I feel sick even typing it out, and I don’t think my young age at the time is an excuse.

    I have lately realized that the chasm between my attitude in approaching Jesus–despite every grace I have received to really KNOW how to receive Him and attend mass, and despite the blessing of discovering the depth of the TLM and still not properly assisting at mass as I know I should–well, how offensive and hurtful my attitude at times must be to God when I KNOW better and have been given so much grace. Surely this hurt must be deeper and more repugnant than the hurt of those who attend the NO and a kids’ mass in blind, simple faith and suffer from ignorance of never being taught by a post-Vatican II world. Perhaps their hand clapping and bongo drums, while not appropriate, are at least understandable to a gasping Christ on His cross, and a loving and perfect Father who is trying to move all his children back into his Church and arms despite the obstinate will of certain prelates and clergy caught up in the zeitgeist of a wacky VII spirit?

    But how about this “remnant” in the traditional community I hear us so gloriously shout into our echo chamber? What is our excuse? Aren’t we a bit like the goody goody, squeaky clean, dutiful older son in the prodigal son parable, who looks down and asks why his bongo bonging novus ordo, I mean, um, prodigal brother, gets the fan fare and party? We trads KNOW, I mean we really KNOW better. We attend the closest thing to Paradise, right alongside Adoration. We have (and boldly trumpet) the beauty of 2,000 years of Tradition and infinite years of planning by the Holy Trinity. We get the holy bells and smells. We are honored to be God’s special agents, right here, right now, at this most awesome moment in time, entrusted with grace to understand and be the pointy tip of the spear for the Church Militant. And look at us.

    What would the early Christians think about US? What do our truly courageous brothers and sisters being persecuted around the world think about US and OUR approach to mass, both before, during, and after? Where is our sacrifice of love? Pope Francis may say some—–confusing—-things, but he hits the nail on the head (sometimes). Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway must be closet TLM Catholics because they were inspired in their song “Where is the Love?”.

    I can’t speak for others, but before I get too frustrated and uppity during a “kids” mass, I am well-served to remember I have often failed to really assist at mass and share Christ’s love before, during, and after even a TLM. I have a new “thing” that helps me, lately. I go to priests after mass and thank them for a beautiful mass, even tough NO masses, because there’s nothing more beautiful than Our Lord in the Eucharist and His beauty overpowers the silly, weird things we arrogant humans do (liturgically and internally). The more progressive priests don’t have to guess too hard that my family leans traditionally. The shock on their face that a trad-looking family comes up and genuinely says, “thank you” is very disarming to these priests, and I think goes a long way towards the synthesis that Cardinal Sarah is trying to move the Church towards.

    Maybe if the TLM works on its love and we are humbled by some of the ways we, too, fall short of God even at the TLM, we may just find ourselves in the new Marian age a little faster (and easier) than we think.
    And I won’t have to listen to a guitar chord rip-off of “Counting Crows” meets “Dave Matthews Band” during the Communion song.

    Rant. over.

    Reply
  13. For those of you who want to really honor Jesus and Mary, there are actually First Friday AND First Saturday devotions offered every month in reparation for the sins against Our Savior and Mary’s Immaculate Heart. The group which sponsors this devotion is called “Alliance of The Two Hearts” and, as I understand it, this group has chapters around the world. I am in Georgia and can only speak of the group I attend here, but you can probably get more information from Georgia’s director if you are interested. http://www.allianceoftwoheartsgeorgia.com/ This is the group which sponsored the traveling Our Lady of Fatima statues around the world this year.

    Basically, the Communion of Reparation starts on Friday night where we have a solemn Mass at 9 pm which is followed by prayers until the second Mass, which is held after midnight — typically around 12:15 – 12:30 a.m. (YES, you read that correctly! We celebrate First Friday devotions late on Friday night and then have a Mass for Our Lady after midnight so that it falls on Saturday! Our Masses are beautiful and last well over an hour, so we typically don’t leave until close to 2 a.m.)

    It REALLY is beautiful with confessions offered between Masses as well as Benediction and all four rosaries recited as well as a Eucharistic Procession at midnight around the outside of the church.

    Mary has asked us to make reparation and offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and for reparation for the incomprehensible outrages which both She and Her Beloved Son suffer. One evening a month is a small price to pay and the beauty of this evening is quite uplifting spiritually. I am going tonight and have been going almost every month for several years now. I definitely find this type of reparation much easier than hair shirts or other forms of mortification!

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      • It is. They have the opportunity to join their Third Order, which I don’t belong to. They are very welcoming and our Masses are like a league of the United Nations. We have between 5-7 churches who hold their own Reparation Masses each month around the Archdiocese. The difficulty lies in finding Priests who are willing to say a Mass at 9 p.m. and then after midnight — AND deal with Confessions between the two Masses.

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