OCTOBER DEVOTION: DAY 30 – DEVOTION TO OUR LADY ON SATURDAY

DAY 30 PRAYER INTENTION: Today, pray for Nigeria (mention your nation or/and other nations) in distress. May Our Blessed Lady visit them, assist them, and enlighten them, in order that they be free from distress and corruption and be blessed with good leadership, peace, and unity, to the greater glory of God. Amen (Also add your own intention…)

Now, say the 20 decades of the Rosary…

At the end of the 20 decades, say the following Prayers:

Hail Holy Queen

Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile show us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray

O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal salvation. Grant, we beseech Thee, that while meditating on these mysteries of the most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us! Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! St. Joseph, pray for us!

Litany of Loreto

Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
Christ hear us.
Christ graciously hear us.

God, the Father of heaven,
have mercy on us (Repeat after each invocation)

God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, one God,

Holy Mary,
pray for us (Repeat after each invocation)
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of virgins,
Mother of Christ,
Mother of the Church,
Mother of Mercy,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother of Hope,
Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother inviolate,
Mother undefiled,
Mother most amiable,
Mother most admirable,
Mother of good counsel,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Saviour,
Virgin most prudent,
Virgin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful,
Virgin most merciful,
Virgin most faithful,
Mirror of justice,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honour,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,
Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Solace of Migrants,
Comfort of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,
Queen of Angels,
Queen of Patriarchs,
Queen of Prophets,
Queen of Apostles,
Queen of Martyrs,
Queen of Confessors,
Queen of Virgins,
Queen of all Saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen assumed into heaven,
Queen of the most Holy Rosary,
Queen of families,
Queen of peace.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray
Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord God, that we, your servants, may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body;
and by the glorious intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, may be delivered from present sorrow, and obtain eternal joy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Prayer to Saint Joseph after the Rosary

To you, O Blessed Joseph, we come in our trials, and having asked the help of your most holy spouse, we confidently ask your patronage also. Through that sacred bond of charity which united you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the fatherly love with which you embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg you to look graciously upon the beloved inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by his blood, and to aid us in our necessities with your power and strength.

O most provident guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ. Most beloved father, dispel the evil of falsehood and sin. Our most mighty protector, graciously assist us from heaven in our struggle with the powers of darkness. And just as you once saved the Child Jesus from mortal danger, so now defend God’s Holy Church from the snares of her enemies and from all adversity. Shield each one of us by your constant protection, so that, supported by your example and your help, we may be able to live a virtuous life, die a holy death, and obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.

Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

DAY 30 REFLECTION: DEVOTION TO OUR LADY ON SATURDAY

The Church has the custom of dedicating Saturday in devotion to devotion to Our Lady. The reason for this devotion is simple and is related to the event of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, because on Saturday, after Good Friday, the Virgin Mary was the only person who remained firm in her faith, waiting for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That Holy Saturday was the day that Our Lady remained alone in prayer, without the physical presence of Jesus by her side, and that is why this day was considered the Saturday of solitude, desert, death, and mourning. It was the day that Mary Most Holy wept and suffered for the absence of her Son.

On the Saturday that preceded the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as tradition puts it, only Our Lady, throughout the Earth, personified the Catholic Church, because, as the Gospels tell us, after the death of Christ, the Apostles, and Disciples hesitated in faith, they forgot Christ’s promises concerning His resurrection and locked themselves in their homes for fear of persecution. Therefore, on that Holy Saturday, or rather since Good Friday, Our Lady never wavered in her firm faith. She remained steadfast in the certainty that, being God, Christ would rise on Sunday, heralding a new dawn. Even knowing that the Apostles were experiencing the tragic hour of doubt, the Virgin Mary continued to meditate, in silence and abandonment, waiting for the dawn of the first rays of the Lord’s resurrection.

With the development of Church History, many faithful began to celebrate Saturday with many acts of Christian piety, in honor of the Holy Mother of God. Saint John Damascene, in the eighth century, in his writings, makes reference to the celebration of the Sabbath dedicated to Mary in the Church of the East. Later, we find in the liturgical books of the ninth and tenth centuries masses in honor of Mary on Saturday. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the great theologians, such as Saint Bernard, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Saint Bonaventure, explained the dedication of Saturdays to Our Lady, highlighting the time of Christ’s rest in the tomb. That Saturday, all the disciples had forsaken Christ; only the Virgin Mary continued to believe, so this is her day. In the 16th century, more precisely in 1570, the Roman Missal of Saint Pius V presented a Liturgy of the Mass of Our Lady on Saturdays.

In the middle of the 20th century, in the apparitions of Our Lady in Fátima, on June 13th and July 13th, 1917, Our Lady asked the little seer Lúcia to disclose the custom of dedicating Saturdays in her honor and devotion. She also asked that, especially on Saturdays, we pray the Rosary in reparation for sins: “Jesus wants to establish in the world the devotion of my Immaculate Heart. If you do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. I will return to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the restorative devotion of the First Saturdays”. In response to the requests and claims of Our Lady of Fatima, many Catholic faithful began to include and value the Marian devotions on Saturday, among others, the thousand Ave Marias, the Rosary in the family, the prayer of the Office of the Immaculate, the first Saturdays in devotion to the Virgin, participation in the Eucharist and carrying out works of mercy in favour of others.

The Office of the Immaculate which we pray on Saturdays is the optional Liturgy of devotion to Mary that is prayed by priests, monks, and nuns. In the recitation of the Office of the Immaculate One, we are all called to participate. In this prayer, psalms, readings, hymns, and prayers are recited to honour Holy Mary, Mother of God. Through the exercise of the Rosary prayer, which on Saturdays has a more Marian aroma, we learn from the Virgin Mother to place Christ at the center of our lives and of all things. When we bend our knees and pray the Rosary, we relive the significant moments in the History of Salvation, going through the various stages of Jesus’ life and mission, that is, we participate, in some way, in the conversion of sins and in the construction of peace in the world.

Today, more than ever, the world needs prayers. Today, more than ever, we must turn to Our Lady, for she is the “Full of grace”, who teaches us to walk even in the midst of storms, with the firmness of faith. Together with the Virgin Mother, we learn that whoever asks God for grace must first of all believe that he will be answered. He must have faith that, in due time, God will hear.

Above all, contemplating the person of the Virgin Mary in the solitude of Holy Saturday, we learn that whoever has faith waits, does not waver, does not fear, instead, they love and wait. On that Holy Saturday, she confirmed the solidity of her faith, even in the face of the darkness of death, and that is why she contemplated the night par excellence of faith and hope. While everything was plunged into darkness, the Virgin Mother watched. Watching, when the first rays of the awaited Sunday of the Resurrection arrived, the Blessed Virgin Mary certainly met the living and Risen Christ and effusively participated in the joy of the Resurrection.

Prayer: Beloved Mother, Our Lady of the Sabbath, may we too keep vigil in the silence of the dark nights, believing and hoping in the Word and promises of Christ. Acting in this way, we will find, in the announced time, in the fullness of light and life, our Redeemer, the first fruit of the risen, who reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen!

Blessing
Through the intercession of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, may Almighty God bless + you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.