Saturday, April 6, 2019

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent-First Saturday

Joshua, Chapter 24, Verse 14

“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve him completely and sincerely. Cast out the gods your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

Joshua was telling the Israelites that it was a day for decision-making, a day for clarifying what they worship and to what they will give their ultimate allegiance.

In a sermon by Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas she states:

“Put away the gods that your ancestors served...” Joshua declares. Doing that requires an act of self-examination.

·         What are the gods that I serve?

·         What does my bank statement or my credit card statement say about my values?

·         What does the way I spend my free time say about what matters most to me?

·         How does the way that I treat family-members and co-workers, neighbors and friends show which gods I serve?

·         To what do I give my best, most focused attention and care?

·         What do I Really care about?

·         What motives really drive me?

·         What goals really draw me forward?

·         Are there compulsive patterns of thought or behavior to which I am excessively attached?

You and I can go to church and say very sincerely that we worship God, but in the hurly-burly of daily life there are all kinds of lesser gods that tug at us and clamor for our attention and our devotion.[1]

Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 5:3)

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent[2]

Prayer. MAY our devotion be made fruitful by Thy grace, we beseech Thee, O Lord, for the fasts we have undertaken will be come profitable to us only if they are pleasing to Thy mercy.

EPISTLE. Isaias xlix. 8-15.

Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed : that thou mightest say to them that are bound : Come forth : and to them that are in darkness : Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain. They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for He that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters He shall give them drink. And I will make all My mountains a way, and My paths shall be exalted. Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and from the sea, and these from the south country. Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth; ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted His people, and will have mercy on His poor ones. And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee, saith the Lord Almighty.

GOSPEL. John viii. 12-20.

At that time: Jesus spoke to the multitudes of the Jews, saying I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees therefore said to Him: Thou givest testimony of Thy self: Thy testimony is not true. Jesus answered, and said to them: Although I give testimony of Myself, My testimony is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go: but you know not whence I come, or whither I go. You judge accord ing to the flesh: I judge not any man. And if I do judge, My judgment is true; because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me. And in your law it is written, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that give testimony of Myself: and the Father that sent Me, giveth testimony of Me. They said therefore to Him: Where is Thy Father? Jesus answered: Neither Me do you know, nor My Father: if you did know Me, perhaps you would know My Father also. These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, teaching in the temple: and no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come.

First Saturday Devotion^[3]

The practice of the First Saturday devotion was requested by Our Lady of Fatima, who appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, multiple times starting in 1917. She said to Lucia, the oldest of the three children: “I shall come to ask . . . that on the First Saturday of every month, Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins of the world.” Years later she repeated her request to Sr. Lucia, the only one still living of the three young Fatima seers, while she was a postulant sister living in a convent in Spain: “Look, my daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me at very moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me, and say 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 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.” 

Conditions to Fulfill the First Saturday Devotion

There are five requirements to obtain this promise from the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On five consecutive first Saturdays of the month, one should:

1. Have the intention of consoling the Immaculate Heart in a spirit of reparation.
2. Go to confession (within eight days before or after the first Saturday).
3. Receive Holy Communion.
4. Say five decades of the Holy Rosary.
5. Meditate for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary with the goal of keeping Our Lady company (for example, while in church or before an image or statue of Our Lady).

Read How to Make Your First Saturday Rosary Meditation According to Sr. Lucia

Why Five Saturdays?

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!

Daily Devotions

·         Drops of Christ’s Blood

·         Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

·         Universal Man Plan

·         Nivevah 90-Total Consecration Day20

·         Manhood of Christ Day 4, Fifth Week.

Please pray for the soul of my sister donna marie pursell who rested in the lord 2 april

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[1] http://www.holyhunger.com/sermons/message20090823.php

[2]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896

[3]https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/what-is-the-first-friday-and-first-saturday-devotion/