We are living in a time unlike any other.
War, terrorism, and global instability dominate headlines. Nations rise against nations. Families fracture. The dignity of human life is assaulted. The world trembles under the weight of confusion, moral relativism, and spiritual darkness.
Everywhere, people are asking the same questions: Where is hope? What can stop this descent? What can bring peace?
The world is searching for human solutions—but there is no purely man-made solution to the crisis before us.
Yet one hundred years ago, Heaven gave us the answer.
Heaven’s Warning—and Heaven’s Promise
When Our Lady appeared at Fatima in 1917, the world was engulfed in the violence of the First World War. History witnessed the first use of chemical weapons and gas. Russia was collapsing into revolution. Germany had inflicted unfathomable war crimes. The war caused the rapid spreading of a severe pandemic called the Spanish Flu. Humanity had entered an age of unprecedented bloodshed.
Into this darkness, Mary came with “Heaven’s peace plan.” Her request was so simple but so powerful that Sister Lucia, the last living seer of Fatima, told the world of Our Lady’s great promise:
“Whether the world has war or peace depends on the practice of this devotion.” (Sr. Lucia, March 19, 1939)
Think about that. Not military strategy, not political diplomacy, not economic reform. Not even peace treaties or global institutions.
Peace or war, life or annihilation, restoration or destruction…all hinging on whether the world fulfills Our Lady’s request.
Our Lady’s Request
At Fatima, Our Lady made two specific requests:
- That the Holy Father consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart in union with all the bishops of the world—a request fulfilled by Pope St. John Paul II on March 25, 1984.
- That each person would individually make reparation to her Immaculate Heart through the Five First Saturdays Devotion.
The First Request—the consecration of Russia—has already been fulfilled. But the Second Request—the one tied to peace for the world—is the one Heaven still waits for.
On December 10, 1925—100 years ago this month—the Blessed Mother appeared to Sister Lucia with the Child Jesus. Showing her Heart, surrounded by thorns, she said: “Behold this Heart…pierced at every moment by the blasphemies and ingratitude of men. You, at least, try to console Me.” Then she gave this specific request:
On the first Saturdays of five consecutive months…
– Go to Confession
– Receive Holy Communion in a state of grace
– Pray five decades of the Holy Rosary
– Keep Me company for 15 minutes while meditating on any of the mysteries of the Rosary…all with the intention of making reparation to My Immaculate Heart.
And in return, She promised: “Whosoever practices this devotion…I will assist at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for salvation.”
But even more than that: “Whether there is peace or war depends on the practice of this devotion.”
If this sounds too simple to alter the course of history, we must remember: God uses the small things of the world to confound the mighty.
Why the Five First Saturdays Are Heaven’s Strategy for Peace
The First Saturdays request of Our Lady can be remembered with the simple acronym C.A.R.E.S. It embodies the most foundational, essential pillars of the Catholic Faith, which Sister Lucia herself called “a formula for holiness”:
C – Confession (Go to confession at least once a month)
A – Adoration (Keep Mary company for 15 minutes while meditating on any of the mysteries of the Holy Rosary; this is separate to praying the Rosary)
R – Rosary (Pray one Rosary)
E – Eucharist (Receive Holy Communion in a state of grace)
S – Sacrifice (offer all this as reparation, with the sacrifices they entail to fulfill once a month)
The First Saturdays are not complicated. But why are they so powerful?
Because to practice the Five First Saturdays is to live faithfully as a Catholic. It summarizes the very heart of Catholic life into one simple acronym. This is Our Lady’s great plan for the restoration of the Catholic Faith in the world.
Our Lady asks that each of us live a lifestyle of C.A.R.E.S., but even if we cannot practice it everyday—she says that just five consecutive First Saturdays would suffice.
Five.
Five Saturdays can help bring peace to the world.
Imagine the impact if millions of Catholics obeyed this request.
Imagine parishes and schools promoting it worldwide.
Imagine families practicing it together.
Imagine the power of united reparation rising from the earth to Heaven.
Imagine the torrents of grace unleashed on the world.
Five consecutive First Saturdays. Five days that change the world.
This devotion is so powerful that Our Lady promised:
If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she will spread her errors throughout the world (atheistic Communism), causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated.
At Akita, Japan, in 1973, Our Lady reaffirmed her message, saying:
As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead…
The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres…churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.
The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will no longer be pardon for them.
A Decision Point for the World—and for Each of Us
100 years ago, Our Lady requested the First Saturdays Devotion. And 100 years later—we have not yet fulfilled Our Lady’s request.
Let this be a turning point. I offer this challenge to every Catholic reading this, to every Christian who has ears to hear:
- Begin the Five First Saturdays now.
- Consecrate yourself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
- Recruit others—family, friends, Catholic schools, parishes—to join you.
- Let the world know: peace or war, life or annihilation, salvation of souls or loss of souls—depends on the practice of this devotion.
We speak often of wanting peace, we cry out for hope, we long for healing in our families, our nations, our Church.
Heaven has already given us the remedy.
As Fr. Krzysztof, the rector of the Sanctuary of Fatima, once told me during my 2024 visit to Poland: “Our Lady has already given us the medicine.”
In 2005, St. Carlos Acutis had a dream in which Sister Lucia, who had just died, told him, “The fate of the world depends on the First Saturdays of the month.”
On February 15, 1926, the Child Jesus himself once again appeared to Sister Lucia and asked: “Have you spread throughout the world, that which the Heavenly Mother requested?”
As Our Lady of Fatima promised, “If you do what I tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace.”
The First Saturdays are—as Fatima insists—essential to the destiny of nations, of the Church, and of souls.
And yet…so few Catholics even know about the First Saturdays. Even fewer practice them.
Will we do our part?
Image from Wikimedia Commons
