Mary Asks Us To Pray For Peace

As most of you know, Our Blessed Mother appeared to three shepherd children, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, in Fatima, Portugal over a period of six months in 1917. The apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima have been crucially important in the recent life of the Church. Her requests focused on what we as the Catholic faithful could do to obtain peace in the world and our own salvation.

Jacinta, before her death, recounted what Our Lady had told her: “Tell everybody...that the Heart of Jesus wishes the Heart of Mary to be venerated at His side. Let them ask for peace through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for God has given it to her.”1 Jacinta further stated Mary told her that “War is a punishment for sin.”2

During the July 1917 apparition at Fatima, Our Lady said to Lucia,“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.” 3 The messages Our Lady imparted to the three children were a recommendation for devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as a way to save souls and bring peace to the world. It predicted an end to the Great War, but predicted a worse one if people did not cease offending God.

Lucia was the only visionary of Fatima to survive to adulthood. She enrolled in a school in Spain at age 14. While a Novice in the Sisters of Sr. Dorothy, Mary visited her. In 1929, Sr. Lucia disclosed that the Virgin Mary had given her a message in 1925 that the consecration of Russia (as a country) would usher in a period of world peace. She also asked for the establishment of the First Saturdays Devotion. This was a more complete instruction than had been given in July 2017. The intention of the devotion is to console Mary’s Immaculate Heart, offer reparation for the blasphemies and ingratitude of unrepentant sinners, and for peace in the world.

Mary promised Sr. Lucia that SHE would be present at the hour of death, with graces necessary for salvation, for all who on the first Saturday of 5 consecutive months meet these 4 requirements:

1. Confession (within an 8 day period before or after Saturday)

2. Receive Holy Communion in a state of grace

3. Pray five decades of the Holy Rosary

4. Meditation for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary.

Mary declared that if her requests were heeded, Russia would be converted, and there would be peace; if not, Russia would spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The vision culminated with a promise that in the end, the Immaculate Heart would triumph.

Mary needs our cooperation for her Immaculate Heart to prevail. Sr. Lucia opined, "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." -Sr. Lucy (March 19, 1939) 4

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, in light of the atrocities being perpetrated on the people of Ukraine, I invite you to practice this First Saturday Devotion. The next first Saturday is April 2. Will you join me at Church at 7:30 a.m. to pray the Rosary and for Mass that morning at 8 a.m.? Our Lady desires our devotion for the peace of the world, but also for our own salvation.

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1 The Message of Fatima, Lucia Speaks, World Apostolate of Fatima, US, edited by John Hauf, 2017, p.29.
2 Ibid.
3 http://www.themostholyrosary.com/appendix2.htm, retrieved March 3, 2022.
4 Ibid.