A Call of Love and Reparation for Our Times
(10 December 1925 – 10 December 2025)
Today, 10th December 2025, the Church joyfully commemorates the Centenary of the Apparition of Our Lady at Pontevedra, Spain — a moment that completes, illuminates, and deepens the Message of Fatima.
On 10 December 1925, while a postulant with the Dorothean Sisters, Sister Lúcia dos Santos received a visit from the Child Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady revealed Her Immaculate Heart, encircled by thorns, and said:
“Look, my daughter, at My Heart surrounded with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console Me… I promise to assist at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for salvation those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries, with the intention of making reparation.”
Thus began the Devotion of the Five First Saturdays — Heaven’s gentle remedy for sin and indifference.
A few months later, on 15 February 1926, the Child Jesus appeared again to Sr. Lúcia, asking how the promotion of the devotion was progressing. When she shared her struggles, Jesus replied tenderly that souls who complete the Five First Saturdays with fervour bring great joy to His Mother’s Heart. This showed Heaven’s deep desire that the devotion be known and practiced throughout the world.
Then, in May 1930 at Tuy, as Sr. Lúcia prayed before the Blessed Sacrament, Jesus explained why there were Five Saturdays — to make reparation for the five kinds of blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart: against Her Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, Divine Maternity, Her sacred images, and the sins that turn children away from Her.
Why It Matters Today
Though a century old, this message speaks powerfully to our age. In a world wounded by division and moral confusion, the Five First Saturdays offer a path to peace, conversion, and healing through four simple acts performed with love, and in reparation.
To learn about the devotion, read Sr. Lúcia’s writings, subscribe to “First Saturdays” Newsletter of the WAF – Goa Archdiocese (8459318425) or join your parish’s WAF-led Meditative Rosary or Prayer (Rosary) Cell.
To live it, families can practice it together monthly, making it a moment of grace and reconciliation. Through the weekly meditative Rosary, the First Saturday Devotion, participation in WAF activities, and especially by living the WAF Pledge, members grow in faith and holiness through steady spiritual formation.
To spread it, parish leaders can form Prayer (Rosary) Cells, share testimonies, and personally invite others — just as Mary pleaded: “You, at least, try to console Me.”
A Vatican Jubilee Indulgence: A Sign of Enduring Value
In honour of this centenary, the Holy See has granted a Jubilee Year to the Shrine of the Apparitions at Pontevedra, from 10 December 2025 to 10 December 2026. Pilgrims who visit the shrine and fulfil the usual conditions (Confession, Communion, prayer for the Holy Father, and detachment from sin) may obtain the Jubilee Indulgence.
This papal recognition is more than a privilege — it is a sign of the Vatican’s esteem for the Pontevedra Apparition and an indirect endorsement of the Five First Saturdays. It confirms that this little-known message holds great promise for the Church’s renewal today.
The World Apostolate of Fatima (WAF) — a Public Association of the Faithful approved by the Holy See — continues to champion this devotion worldwide with over 20 million members in 110 countries. In Goa, nearly 70 parishes have embraced it, uniting hearts in reparation and intercession for peace. Saints have testified to its power: St. Padre Pio practised reparation, St. Teresa of Calcutta signed the WAF Pledge, and St. John Paul II called Fatima “more relevant today than ever before.”
As we mark this 100-year milestone, Our Lady’s plea echoes anew:
“Do not offend the Lord our God any more, for He is already too much offended.”
When you make the Five First Saturdays, you not only console your Holy Mother’s Heart — you draw peace into your heart, grace into your family, and mercy upon the world.
Console Her Heart… and find peace for your own.
Ave Maria !
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