The promise which the Mother of God makes in establishing the devotion of the Five First Saturdays is among the most powerful ever made. With the full assent and cooperation of Her Divine Son, Our Lady offers all Her children on Earth the absolute certainty of salvation and a place in Heaven for all eternity!

It is indeed a measure of Our Lady's celestial influence and a monument to Her Heart overflowing with love that She asks so little of us in return for fulfilling this great promise of salvation. To those who piously perform this holy devotion of Reparation, She solemnly pledges the gift of Heaven, saying in clear and certain terms: 'I promise salvation.'

But the Queen of Heaven promises us even more ! While the justice of God condemns many souls to hell because of their sins against the Immaculate Heart of His Mother, Our Lady further pledges that our acts of Reparation to Her Heart (and most especially, the Five First Saturdays) will be instrumental and efficacious in saving the souls of many, many others. While we will only know in Heaven how many souls our acts of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart have saved, there can be no question that our devotion and charity will mightily increase the everlasting happiness and glory which God has prepared for His elect.

In my opinion, the enclosed booklet on the Five First Saturdays is the best short explanation of Our Lady's Fatima devotion of Reparation ever published anywhere and in any language. It is truly a joy to read and reread. Even after reading it many times, I still find more marvelous graces each time I pick it up again.

Never before has Our Blessed Mother's promise been so simply, beautifully and compellingly explained. Never before have we had so convenient and complete a description of both the practice and the promise of the Five First Saturdays!

It is a terrible tragedy that so few Catholics know the wonderful promise that God's Mother has made for their salvation and that of their loved ones. For many years, I have hoped and prayed to make this holy devotion better known. And indeed, this new booklet truly is a Godsend in our effort to bring this part of Our Lady's Fatima Message to millions of souls! Deo Gratias!

I have no doubt that, after you read this wonderfu1 booklet, you will agree that it should be read and pondered by millions of souls. Our Blessed Mother has done so much for us. She has suffered so much for you and me and each one of Her children. Indeed, no one, not even the greatest martyr, suffered more than She did at the foot of the Cross, sorrowfully beholding the terrible torments of Her Divine Son as He shed His life's blood for our salvation. Yet stood there She did, to console Him and to cooperate with Him in the great Act of Redemption.

It is through the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ that Heaven was reopened to us and the graces necessary for our salvation were won through the sufferings and sacrifices of Jesus. Yet without Mary's cooperation, Jesus would not and could not have offered up this awesome sacrifice of Himself on the Cross which assured our salvation. It was only through Her "YES" at the moment of the Annunciation that Jesus, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, became man and dwelt amongst us. Only through the free consent of Mary could and did Our Lord assume His human nature in Her womb: "Fiat" "Let it be done to Me according to Thy word" (Luke 1:38). Only at these words of Mary (and not before) did Jesus take on the human body necessary for His sacrifice on the Cross for our salvation. "There is no remission without the shedding of blood" (Hebrews 9:22).

Without the necessary cooperation and assent of Mary, we would not have had a Savior to open the gates of Heaven for us. Our destiny as children of God and inheritors of Heaven would literally have been impossible without Her. Blessed be the name of Mary, the great Mother of God!

Our Blessed Lady's cooperation with God's great plan for our redemption did not stop at the Annunciation or at Bethlehem. As Pope Plus XII taught, God the Father would not have permitted the Crucifixion had not, at the foot of the cross, Our Lady been willing to surrender Her rights as the Mother of Her Divine Son. And indeed, She did freely, if sorrowfully, give up those rights so that our salvation could be effected and countless millions of souls be saved.

When you consider Her sorrow and grief at the sight of Her beloved Son dying in great agony on the Cross, only then can you truly understand how much Our Lady has suffered for our sake and out of true maternal love for the whole human race. As Simeon said in Luke 2:35, Her Heart was pierced with a sword as She watched Her Son die on the Cross. It would have been far, far easier for Mary, His Mother and our Mother, to die in place of Her Son, Whom She loved so tenderly, both as Her Child and as Her God.

Yet out of love for God and out of Her love for us, Her Immaculate Heart allowed Itself to be transfixed with this sword -- so that you and I might gain Heaven and avoid the torments of Hell for all eternity!

How Our Lady loves us! And how much She yearns for us to love Her in return! Her Immaculate Heart remains forever open wide to each one of Her beloved children. It is precisely because She loves us so much that She grants us the power to freely console and comfort Her through making Reparation to Her Immaculate Heart. The tremendous power of the Five First Saturdays is proof positive of Our Heavenly Mother's love and concern for us.

As you will read in this new booklet, Our Lord Jesus Christ has declared that His Blessed Mother's sufferings did not end with His Crucifixion, but continue unabated today through the ingratitude, indifference and outright enmity of people in the world. As hard as it may be for us to accept,there are people who actually hate Our Lady and who work actively to promote that hatred amongst other souls. We can see the dreadful evidence of this enmity (whose roots are satanic) in the flood of blasphemous films, books and television programs that threaten to engulf our civilization as well as in the tragic decline in Marian devotion within the Church itself.

Our Lady has told Sister Lucy that Her Immaculate Heart (the wellspring of so much selfless love and the source of so much mercy) is bitterly and cruelly pierced by the blasphemies and sins of ungrateful men and women. In this new booklet, you will read the actual words of Our Lord concerning the suffering of His Mother and His righteous anger at those who would demean Her Holy Name through indifference or ingratitude.

I believe it is important to note here that the great and abiding love which Our Lady has for each one of us is not merely a tremendous gift, but also a stupendous opportunity for us to win eternal merit in Heaven through consoling and comforting Her Immaculate Heart. The great "secret" of the devotion of the Five First Saturdays is how our sacrifices (as embodied in the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion) can actually remove the thorns that pierce and torment Her Most Immaculate and Pure Heart!

Almighty God leaves the decision to cooperate with Heaven's plan for our salvation and peace in the world to each and every one of us. When, at Fatima, Our Lady showed the three child seers the horrific vision of hell, it was not to frighten them, but rather to encourage and inspire them and us to work, pray and sacrifice all we could for the salvation of souls. She reminded them (and us) that many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray and sacrifice for them.

It is because I believe this small booklet has the power to change many lives and to save many souls that I want to urge you to help distribute it to as many people as possible. Your prayers (especially every Rosary you say) and your financial sacrifices are critically important in this effort. There are millions upon millions of our fellow Catholics who need to know about the great promise that Our Lady has given us in the devotion of the Five First Saturdays. I pray that the words in this little booklet will inspire You always to ever greater love and devotion to Our Blessed Mother's Immaculate Heart and encourage you to redouble your efforts in the struggle to bring Her Fatima Message to the world.

Final Note This magnificent booklet has been awarded the Imprimatur of Bishop Benedict To Varpin, Archbishop of Madang, on June 5, 1995. I hope this little introduction to The Magnificent Promisefor the Five First Saturdays will encourage you and thousands of others to read and re-read, and get others to read it. It is a beautiful full color 32 page booklet. Ask for your own copy and for extra copies to distribute by contacting us at:

In U.S.A: 17000 State Route 30, Constable, NY 12926

In Canada: 452 Kraft Rd., Fort Erie, ON L2A 4M7 Call toll-free 1-800-263-8160

Worldwide Web: www.fatima.org

E-mail: info@fatima.org

Our Lady said, "I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall:

1. Go to confession

2. Receive Holy Communion

3. Recite five decades of the Rosary

4. …and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."

On July 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three children, Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia near Fatima, Portugal. On that day after revealing a vision of hell to the children, Our Lady said with sadness and tenderness, "You saw Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. In order to save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If people do what I ask, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.

"The war is going to end [World War I]. But if people do not stop offending God, another, even worse one will begin in the reign of Pius XI [World War II]…To prevent it, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays.

"If people attend to my requests, Russia will be converted and the world will have peace. If not, she will scatter her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be destroyed.

"In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me; it will be converted, and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world."

On December 10, 1925 Our Lady with the Christ Child appeared to Lucia, who was now a nun, in her convent at Pontevedra, Spain. The Christ Child spoke first, "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."

Our Lady then 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 for me that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."

On February 15, 1926, Lucia was attending to her daily chores. The Child Jesus appeared and said, "And have you spread through the world what our heavenly Mother requested of you?"

Lucia replied, "My Jesus, You know very well what my confessor said to me in the letter I read to You. He told me that it was necessary for this vision to be repeated, for further happenings to prove its credibility, and he added that Mother Superior, on her own, could do nothing to propagate this devotion."

Jesus replied, "It is true that your Superior alone can do nothing, but with My grace she can do all. It is enough that your confessor gives you permission and that your Superior speak of it, for it to be believed, even without people knowing to whom it has been revealed."

Lucia replied, "But my confessor said in the letter that this devotion is not lacking in the world, because there are many souls who receive You on the First Saturdays, in honor of Our Lady and of the fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary."

Jesus replied, "It is true My daughter, that many souls begin the 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 with fervor and with the intention of making reparation to the Heart of your heavenly Mother, than if they did Fifteen, in a tepid and indifferent manner...."

Lucia placed before Jesus the difficulty that some people had about confessing on Saturdays, and asked that if it might be valid to go to confession within eight days.

Jesus replied, "Yes, and it could be longer still, provided that, when they receive Me, they are in the state of grace and have the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

Lucia asked, "My Jesus, what about those who forget to make this intention?"

Jesus replied, "They can do so at their next confession, taking advantage of the first opportunity to go to confession."

On June 13, 1929, Our Lady said, "The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. There are so many souls whom the Justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I have come to ask reparation: sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray."

On May 29 and 30, 1933, Our Lord explained to Lucia the reason why He requested five First Saturdays instead of nine as with novenas or seven in honor of the Sorrows of Our Lady. Our Lord said, "My daughter, the motive is simple. There are five ways in which people offend and blaspheme against the Immaculate Heart of Mary: the blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception; against her virginity; against the Divine Maternity, refusing at the same time to accept her as the Mother of all Mankind; those who try publicly to implant in the children's hearts indifference, contempt and even hatred against the Immaculate Heart; those who insult her directly in her sacred images.

"Here, my daughter, is the reason why the Immaculate Heart of Mary, My Mother, causes Me to ask for this little act of reparation and, due to it, more of My mercy to forgive those souls who had the misfortune of offending her."

On May 18, 1936, Lucia asked Our Lord as to why He would not convert Russia without the Holy Father making the consecration. Our Lord replied, "Because I want My whole Church to acknowledge that consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary so that it may extend its cult later on and put the devotion of the Immaculate Heart besides the devotion to My Sacred Heart."

Lucia answered, "But, my God, the Holy Father probably will not believe me unless You Yourself move him with a special inspiration."

Our Lord answered, "The Holy Father, pray much for the Holy Father. He will do it, but it will be late. Nevertheless, the Immaculate Heart of Mary will save Russia. It has been entrusted to her."

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