First Saturday
BITTER
CHOCOLATE WITH ALMONDS DAY
Romans, Chapter 14, Verse 17-19
17
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but of righteousness,
PEACE, and joy in the holy Spirit; 18 whoever
serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by others. 19 Let us then pursue what leads to PEACE
and to building up one another.
Elisha Otis sold his first elevator in 1853 which made rising to the top of high buildings faster and easier. Likewise, this verse has a nugget of wisdom that helps us to find an elevator to spiritual advancement. To quickly rise in grace be righteous, be at peace and be joyful.
Righteousness[1]
The Virtues
1803 "Whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things."62
A virtue is an habitual
and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform
good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward
the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and
chooses it in concrete actions.
The
goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.
I. The
Human Virtues
1804 Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable
dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our
actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and
faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good
life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good.
The moral virtues are
acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts;
they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love.
The
Cardinal Virtues
1805 Four virtues play a pivotal role
and accordingly are called "cardinal"; all the others are grouped around
them. They are: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. "If anyone
loves righteousness, [Wisdom's] labors are virtues; for she teaches temperance
and prudence, justice, and courage." These
virtues are praised under other names in many passages of Scripture.
1806 Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to
discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving
it; "the prudent man looks where he is going." "Keep sane and sober for your
prayers." Prudence is
"right reason in action," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following
Aristotle.67 It is not
to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It
is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it
guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that
immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and
directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue
we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts
about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.
1807 Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and
firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called
the "virtue of religion." Justice toward men disposes one to respect
the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that
promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. The just man,
often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is distinguished by habitual right
thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor. "You
shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness
shall you judge your neighbor." "Masters,
treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in
heaven."
1808 Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties
and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist
temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of
fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials
and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in
defense of a just cause. "The Lord is my strength and my song." "In the world you have
tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
1809 Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will's mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. The temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward what is good and maintains a healthy discretion: "Do not follow your inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart." Temperance is often praised in the Old Testament: "Do not follow your base desires but restrain your appetites." In the New Testament it is called "moderation" or "sobriety." We ought "to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world."
To live well is nothing other than to love God with all one's heart, with all one's soul and with all one's efforts; from this it comes about that love is kept whole and uncorrupted (through temperance). No misfortune can disturb it (and this is fortitude). It obeys only [God] (and this is justice), and is careful in discerning things, so as not to be surprised by deceit or trickery (and this is prudence).
First Saturday[2]
The Five First
Saturday’s devotion is one of the principal points of the Fatima message. It
centers on the urgent need for mankind to offer reparation and expiate for the
many injuries that the Immaculate Heart of Mary suffers from the hands of both
impious and indifferent men.
On the First Saturday during 5 Consecutive
Months, the Devotion consists of:
1. Going to Confession,
2. Receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion,
3. Saying five decades of the Rosary,
4. Meditating for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary.
All this offered in REPARATION for the sins of
blasphemy and ingratitude committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
During the third apparition on July 13, 1917, Our Lady
revealed that she would come to ask for the consecration of Russia to her
Immaculate Heart and for the Communion of Reparation of the Five First
Saturdays. Consequently, she asked for the devotion in 1925 and the
consecration in 1929. While staying at the House of the Dorothean Sister in
Pontevedra, Portugal, Sister Lucia received a vision on December 10, 1925 where
the Blessed Mother appeared alongside a Boy who stood over a luminous cloud.
Our Lady rested one hand on the Boy’s shoulder while she held on the other hand
a heart pierced with thorns around it. Sister Lucia heard the Boy say,
"Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother which is covered with
thorns with which ingrate men pierce it at every moment with no one to make an
act of reparation to pull them out." Our Lady expressed her request in the
following words, "See, my daughter, My Heart surrounded with thorns with
which ingrates pierce me at every moment with blasphemies and ingratitude. You,
at least, make sure to console me and announce that all those who for five
months, on the first Saturdays, go to confession, receive Communion, say five
decades of the Rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes meditating on the
mysteries of the Rosary, with the purpose of making reparation to Me, I promise
to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the
salvation of their souls." A few days afterward, Sister Lucia
detailed this vision in a letter addressed to Monsignor Manuel Pereira Lopes,
her confessor when she resided in the Asylum of Vilar in the city of Oporto,
Portugal.
Why Five Saturdays?
Sister Lucia’s confessor questioned her about the reason
for the five Saturdays asking why not seven or nine. She answered him in a
letter dated June 12, 1930. In it she related about a vision she had of Our
Lord while staying in the convent chapel part of the night of the twenty-ninth
to the thirtieth of the month of May, 1930. The reasons Our Lord gave were as
follows: The five first Saturdays correspond to the five kinds of offenses and
blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are:
1.
Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
2.
Blasphemies against her virginity
3.
Blasphemies against her divine maternity, at the same
time the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all men
4.
Instilling, indifference, scorn and even hatred towards
this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children
5.
Direct insults against Her sacred images
Let us keep the above reasons firmly in our minds.
Devotions have intentions attached to them and knowing them adds merit and
weight to the practice.
Modifications to the Five First Saturdays
Devotion to facilitate its observation
The original request of Our Lady asks one to confess and
receive Communion on five consecutive first Saturdays; to say five decades of
the Rosary; to meditate during 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary for
the purpose of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in reparations
for the sins of men. In subsequent private visions and apparitions however,
Sister Lucia presented to Our Lord the difficulties that devotees encountered
in fulfilling some conditions. With loving condescension and solicitude, Our
Lord deigned to relax the rules to make this devotion easy to observe:
·
Confession may be done on other days other than
the First Saturdays so long as one receives Our Lord worthily and has the
intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
·
Even if one forgets to make the intention, it
may be done on the next confession, taking advantage of the first occasion to
go to confession.
·
Sister Lucia also clarified that it is not
necessary to meditate on ALL mysteries of the Rosary on each First Saturdays.
One or several suffice.
With much latitude granted by Our Lord Himself, there is no
reason for the faithful to hesitate or delay this pious practice in the spirit
of reparation which the Immaculate Heart of Mary urgently asks.
This devotion is so necessary in our days
The culture of vice and sin remains unabated even as one
reads this. Abortion, blasphemy, drug abuse, pornography, divorce and bad
marriages, religious indifference, the advances of the homosexual agenda and
others are just some of society’s many plagues that cut deeply into the
Immaculate Heart of Mary. We must
console Our Lady amidst all these insults and injuries to her and her Divine
Son. She asks for reparation, she pleads for our prayers, she hopes for our
amendment of life. Let us listen to her maternal pleas and atone for the
ingratitude of men. The First Five Saturday’s devotion stimulates the spirit of
reparation; it instills a tender love for the Holy Sacraments of Confession and
the Blessed Eucharist. It nurtures a holy affection for the Immaculate Heart of
Mary and the Rosary. Above all, it is an excellent means to maintain one in the
state of grace while immersed in the daily spiritual battles and prosaic
existence in the neo-pagan world that we live in. Let us not delay in observing
this devotion for it too gives us hope for eternal salvation.
Bitter Chocolate with Almonds Day[3]
This intriguingly specific Day
celebrates a particular combination of flavors – dark, bitter chocolate and
toasted almonds. This is one of the oldest recipes involving chocolate known in
the English-speaking world, featuring as the only chocolate dish in an
18th-century cookbook. This festivity exists mainly as an idea circulated on
the internet. It is sponsored by the National Confections Association, and
celebrated and encouraged by organizations such as food.com, a site which aims
to encourage cooking and the appreciation of food by holding various different
food days. Both the tannins in dark chocolate and the various fatty acids in
almonds have many health benefits, various studies have shown. Bitter Chocolate
with Almonds Day encourages a delicious and nourishing dessert, which
contributes to health and long life. Celebrate by dipping blanched almonds in
the best dark chocolate you can find, and serving to your friends with a glass
of red wine!
Iceman’s 40 hours devotion
It is traditionally believed
that the duration of time from Christ's death until His Resurrection is forty
hours, from 3 p.m. on Good Friday until 7 a.m. Easter Sunday. It is a pious
practice to start this devotion on first Fridays.
Saturday
·
On waking take a
walk and meditate on ways you have been walking
away from God.
·
In the
afternoon spend time with Mary and do the first
Saturday devotion or do a Eucharistic
Stations of the Cross and go to confession. After confession you may consider doing a mikvah or roman
bath
· At sundown break fast (fish and oil) and watch a movie from the Vatican list of movies. (start third fast 2 hours before bed)
Sunday
·
On waking go to Mass
early and do the prayer before
Mass
·
Receive our Lord in
the Eucharist in thanksgiving.
·
Break your fast and
strive to be a soldier for Christ and live the beatitudes
walking with our Lord.
Daily Devotions
·
Saturday
Litany of the Hours Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
·
First Saturday Reconsecration
to Mary-Day 1
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Rosary
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