First Friday & First Saturday Devotions: "Stand in the Gap"
December 5, 2022
“He pours light into our minds,
arouses our desire
and gives us strength…
As the soul is the life of the body,
so the Holy Spirit is the life of our souls.”~Saint Peter Damian
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the fence, and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.~Ezekiel 22:30
The devil is hard at work trying to steer souls away from the Church Christ left us (Matthew 16:18). It’s our job as Catholics to not lose sight of our role and responsibility to bring people closer to God.
We are not going to do it alone with tired tongues and keyboard strokes. We must rely on prayer and fasting. This Friday (and Saturday) is yet another opportunity to use the turn of the new calendar and the Christmas season to renew our commitments to carry our crosses and do Gods will.
The road to heaven is thin and narrow and few find it (Matthew 7:13) so we must pray for both the living and the dead to help as many get back on course and reach their final destinations. Only God can truly penetrate the hearts of those still here hardened by the devil’s grasp in a fashion we sometimes just can’t move on our own.
It’s a New Year and a new opportunity to participate in the First Friday (nine consecutive months) and the First Saturday (five consecutive months) devotions.
Click here for a short explanation of these two important devotions to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Here is another one. (Also short)
Click here for a detailed explanation. I encourage you to read without distractions.
I’ll just share with you a portion of the reasoning behind the First Saturday Devotion and why it’s imperative. It is God who wants this to be done not the Blessed Virgin Mary. She only wants His Will to be done.
Our Lord appeared to Sr. Lucia on May 29, 1930, and gave her the reason behind the five Saturdays devotion. It is because there are five types of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
1. Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
2. Blasphemies against Our Lady's perpetual virginity
3. Blasphemies against her divine maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize her as the Mother of men
4. Blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children, indifference or scorn or even hatred of their Immaculate Mother
5. Offenses of those who outrage Our Lady directly in her holy images
Never think that Jesus is indifferent to whether or not His mother is honored!1
I encourage all to consider diving deeper this year into this devotion. Now more than ever the world needs to find a way to find peace. That peace is going to come from heaven with our willing participation in prayer (and fasting).
Part of fulfilling the message of Fatima is partaking in the first Saturday devotion and the Brown Scapular , particularly the Sabbatine Privilege.
The Sabbatine Privilege of the Brown Scapular states those who wear the brown scapular and fulfill both remaining chaste according to ones state of vocation and reciting The Little Office of The Blessed Virgin Mary get released from purgatory by the Blessed Virgin Mary as early as the Saturday after their passing. You can find a link to the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary under resources on this site.
If you are reading this and happen to not be Catholic and wonder why Catholics have such a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary maybe this hopefully will enlighten you. We don’t worship Mary and maybe this will help clarify.
"Purgatory forms part of the realm of Mary. There, too, are her children, who in a passing spell of pain await their birth to the glory which will never pass. St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Bernardine of Sienna, Louis de Blois, as well as others, explicitly proclaim Mary to be Queen of Purgatory; and St. Louis-Marie de Montfort urges us to think and act in accordance with that belief. He wishes us to place in Mary's hands the value of our prayers and satisfactions. He promises us that, in return for this offering, those souls which are dear to us will be more abundantly relieved than if we were to apply our prayers to them directly."(Lhoumeau: La Vie Spirituelle a l'Ecole de St. Louis-Marie de Montfort)2
If you want more information on purgatory I encourage you to seek it. There is plenty of information right here on my site. I’ve covered the topic in numerous ways with the hope it penetrates into people’s hearts and souls. There are stories of visits from souls asking for prayers and Masses to be said for their release. There is even a link to a museum with tangible proof that purgatory exists. I’ve also got Bible links to support the notion of purgatory for those who need that as well.
Remember, In the End Her Immaculate Heart Will Triumph but not without everyone’s participation and embracing of it along with enrollment and consistent participation in the brown scapular. I’ll end this by reminding all of the words of Sister Lucia of Fatima “the rosary and brown scapular are inseparable.” These are the two items Our Lady told Saint Dominic would one day save the world. The time is now but we must do the work.
Catholic Company
The Official Handbook of the Legion of Mary (Dublin: Concilium Legionis Mariae, 2005), pp. 104-105. Antoine Lhoumeau, La Vie Spirituelle a l'Ecole de St. Louis-Marie de Montfort (Bruges: C. Beyaert, 1954),