First Saturdays At Home-Never More Important!

The observance of the Five First Saturdays are one of the requests of Our Lady of Fatima, to obtain reparation to her Immaculate Heart. As humanity is now engulfed in a difficult and confusing situation, there has never been a more important time to respect this request of Our Blessed Mother. We know not how this will ultimately play out. We much beseech God’s mercy. Trust. Be at peace. But take this as a serious warning. Public masses are shut down. Even confession is gone in some places, which was previously unthinkable. Our Blessed Lord said:

“Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of man.”

Luke 21:36

So we, as Children of God, are at peace.

Normally the First Saturdays are observed in church. Since many are now at home, we can still fulfill this request to the best of our ability. I am sure our dear Mother will accept this. She has requested they be observed for 5 months in a row, but it is not a bad idea to perform them perpetually. Following are the activities (and the substitutions where applicable), based on the World Apostolate of Fatima’s recommendations. This is all done with the intention of making reparation to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart and what a wonderful devotion to do with your family at home during this time!

1) Receive the Sacrament of Penance. At home: Make an intention to receive the sacrament as soon as possible. I might add, to say an Act of Contrition, trying to be sorry for the Love of God (perfect contrition), not just the fear of punishment.

2) Receive Holy Communion. At home: Make a Spiritual Act of Communion (see link below for help with this).

3) Recite the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary (some say the Sorrowful Mysteries during Lent).

4) Meditate on the Mysteries of the Rosary for 15 minutes with Our Blessed Mother. If you are unaccustomed to this devotion, this may be the most challenging aspect for you. Here are some tips: Place yourself in Our Lady’s presence (a picture or statue is very helpful). Ask her to enlighten you further on the Mysteries you just contemplated in the Rosary (I suppose you could contemplate other Mysteries as well). Let your thoughts drift. Imagine the Mysteries visually. Don’t try, just let the inspirations come to you. And they will! As you perform this exercise more, it will get easier. Your relationship with Our Mother will grow and eventually it will no longer be an “exercise,” but an intimate and wonderful conversation!

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Today is a traditional feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us!

Please see the World Apostolate of Fatima’s page addressing the First Saturdays during this time. Lots of great info:

https://www.bluearmy.com/first-saturday-devotion/

The Situation

If you have not read my previous post, please do so now. Thanks……(I have not posted on the current situation till now because I felt what I had written on New Years Day really said it all). I always pray to the Holy Ghost before writing. What made me write those words on New Years Day? Impending judgement upon humanity is on my mind on a daily basis and has been for a long time. So, its not so strange that I wrote that. But it did seem to be a foreshadowing of what was about to happen. What was the main point? To be joyful! So please meditate on that for now and stay tuned for my next post.

There is much I want to say and much I feel I have to offer at this time, so my posts will now become more frequent. However, I cannot write too much right now because I am still in “stabilization mode” in the midst of this situation, its fallout and potential fallout (please note, I am avoiding any emotionally-charged or system-created language-there are reasons for this which I will be discussing). There is emotional stabilizing we all must do and also preparedness stabilizing WHICH DOES NOT INCLUDE HOARDING AT THIS TIME. It is too late to stockpile the things that are not in good supply. That is why we speak of “preparedness.” Once a situation hits, the rules change. And it has hit. Pray for guidance at this time. Many are not exercising good judgement and it is causing needless suffering.

A friend of mine had an incredible insight today. He said something to this effect: “In even the most difficult times, there is a sliver of something rare and precious to be discovered.” With God’s help, may we discover this! God bless you all and your families! CFM

Update on the Winter Wonderland....

A few days later and things are pretty much back to normal. Nothing but sunny days are forecasted for the next week....good. Not that I mind snow, I just mind too much of it.

We were fortunate to have not lost power during the storm, though we've gotten pretty used to it in recent years...even being without power for several days. Even as preppers, its not easy and it helps to have someone else to stay with. The power outages tend to be patchy when they happen, so if you have friends and family nearby, you may be in luck. Also, keep in mind that someone may have to stay with you at a moment's notice. That's probably my worst nightmare...depends who it is and how bad my house is that day.

One of our neighbors let us borrow his snowblower, which was a huge help. The stove decided to start working again and the plumber came yesterday to fix the water heater. So....I don't smell anymore, I'm glad I'm nice to my neighbors and I've learned the importance of keeping up with home maintenance and....checking the snowblower before the storm!

"When It Rains, It Pours...."

...OR...When It Snows...It Snows A Lot!

In the past 24 hours, Long Island (where I live) has been blanketed in several feet of snow, high winds have come roaring through, temperatures have plummeted, thousands have lost power, driving has been banned, trains have come to a standstill, a full moon has caused worse than usual flooding and sadly, a number of deaths have been reported. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!

As for my personal situation, I can't even open my back door right now because it is blocked with so much snow. Not the safest situation, but my husband did shovel the front entrance. On the bright side, it is a beautiful, sparkling winter wonderland. It just makes you want to cozy up, start a fire and make some hot chocolate! Sometimes I envy those who live in areas of perennial paradise, where there is no winter...but, there is something wonderful about the changing seasons, each one possessing unique beauty. If I moved elsewhere, I think I would miss that. When the spring comes and everything returns to life, there is a greater appreciation for it. I think the cold winters and hot summers are part of what makes New Yorkers the tough people that we are. It is a place of extremes and we just take that in stride.

Okay, my friends, I haven't finished (I promise I'm not making this up!)...wouldn't you know, our snow-blower broke....and completely unrelated to the storm, our hot water heater and our oven/stove broke. All on the same day as this whopper of a storm hit. So, completely snowed in, no hot water and we had to move the dinner cooking on the stove to a crock pot. Thankfully, we have not lost power.

Sometimes I think God is trying to prepare me for something! Sometimes I think I hear Him saying, "So, Chiara, you want to prepare for the Apocalypse? You want to be a leader, helping My Church through the coming days? Okay have a go at THIS!" At times, I can't help but laugh at what life throws me. And we should always be lighthearted and never get too down (have you read my last post?). The path we tread leads straight to Heaven and life is just too short to let anything disturb us. Just love and trust-that's it. Be a source of joy to those around you, even in the worst circumstances. And always count your blessings...for instance, I may not have hot water, but at least I have water. I can't take a shower, but I stockpile baby wipes for sponge-bathing and hand-washing (they also have many other uses, even if they dry out). I may not have a big oven or a stove, but I have a toaster oven, a crockpot, a microwave, 2 grills and a fireplace (REDUNDANCY!). I have heat. I have tons of food. The day that concerns me is the day when survival becomes truly compromised, truly in the balance. And I believe that day is coming...for all of us.

This is just one more experience to learn from, in terms of short-term emergency preparedness. As a prepper, I find there is no replacement for actual, real-life experiences. The trick is...make the effort to learn from them. Identify your preparedness weaknesses and make a plan to systematically fix them. Reflect on how you and your family handled it. What was good? What could have been done differently? Taking notes and discussing it with your family is a good idea. These situations are invaluable opportunities which should not be squandered. In a few years, you'll hardly remember the details, so make an immediate effort to examine the experience. Perhaps it was sent to you for a reason.

BTW, today is the beginning of Septuagesima (wow, that came fast!) and the feast of Saint Francis de Sales, patron of writers. Saint Francis de Sales, pray for us!