Marian Saturdays
Page 21 in "Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church"
Five First Saturdays
By the ninth century, a popular veneration of Mary on Saturdays had developed. As Sunday Mass is a weekly celebration of Christ's death and Resurrection, so Saturday is commonly observed as the day of the week when all but Mary succumbed to doubt and despair. Tradition held that Mary alone firmly maintained her faith in her Son and in God. Saturdays, then, were seen as the most appropriate day to honor Mary's steadfastness and faith in her Lord.
The First Five Saturdays—a devotion recommended in 1925 to Sister Lucia (then the remaining survivor of the three Fatima children) in an apparition from Mary—is similar to a novena (nine days of prayer). The First Five Saturdays devotion is prayer offered to comfort Mary's Immaculate Heart and make reparation for all the wrongdoings of men.
Mary made to Sister Lucia her "Great Promise", saying:
My daughter, behold my Heart in the midst of thorns that ungrateful persons, at every instant, press on, with their blasphemy and ingratitude. At least you console me. Tell all men that I promise to help, in the hour of their death, with graces necessary for salvation whoever on the first Saturday of each month for five consecutive months will go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes in meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.
Fasting on Saturdays
In the very early Christian Church, the practice of fasting continued the Jewish custom of fasting two days each week—on Friday, the day of Christ's death, and Wednesday, the day when Judas made his contract of betrayal with the chief priests of Jerusalem.
In the fourth century, Saturday was added as a weekly fast day, extending the Friday fast, recalling that the Apostles spent the first Holy Saturday in a state of sadness and fasting. This Saturday fast spread through the Latin Church but was not adopted in the East.
The late Father John Hardon explained in one of his talks that his mother never served meat or dessert on Saturdays, an observance that obviously made a favorable and lasting impression on a hungry, growing boy!
Paint It Blue! Blue is the liturgical color of Marian feasts. Many flowers named for Mary are blue. Why not honor Mary by painting your front door blue? Like planting a garden, or creating a family prayer comer, a blue door is a very informal devotion, one easily adapted to any circumstance. But like consciously creating beauty for the glory of God and in honor of Mary, or deliberately setting aside a space in your home for prayer and contemplation, painting your door blue in honor of Mary (and saying so when asked) can have a profound effect on both your family and your visitors.
Mary's Flowers
Carnation The pink or red color of this flower symbolizes love and life, while the spicy fragrance reminds us of the spices the women brought to the tomb of our Lord. The name "carnation" also suggests the Incarnation of Christ.
Rose Considered the "queen of flowers", the rose is the flower most strongly associated with the Queen of Heaven. It is also seen as a symbol of perfect love (as Mary's was and is). The color, fragrance, and thorns remind us of Mary's role in salvation history. She was faithful and pure. Her Son, our Savior, was crowned with thorns and shed His blood on the Cross for love of all mankind. The thorns of a rose bush also remind us of the fiery thorn bush from which God once spoke to Moses. Mary is the new "rose bush", the miraculously and immaculately conceived means through which God spoke to His people by becoming flesh and dwelling among us.
Copyright © 2008 Domestic Church Communications Ltd.
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