First Friday Devotion

THE NINE FIRST FRIDAYS DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

This devotion is based upon one of the twelve promises made by Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary: “I promise thee, in the excess of the mercy of My Heart, that Its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Communion on the First Friday of every month, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence, and that they shall not die under My displeasure, nor without receiving the Sacraments, and My Heart shall be their secure refuge at that last hour.”

THE TWELVE PROMISES OF THE SACRED HEART

1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.

2. I will establish peace in their families.

3. I will console them in all their afflictions.

4. I will be their assured refuge in life, and more especially at death.

5. I will pour out abundant benedictions on all their undertakings.

6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.

7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.

8. Fervent souls shall advance rapidly to great perfection.

9. I will bless the house in which the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.

10. I will give to priests the gift of moving the most hardened hearts.

11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names inscribed in My Heart, never to be effaced from It.

12. I promise thee, in the excess of the mercy of My Heart, that Its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Communion on the First Friday of every month, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence, and that they shall not die under My displeasure, nor without receiving the Sacraments, and My Heart shall be their secure refuge at that last hour.

ACT OF REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART

Adorable Heart of Jesus, consumed with love for men and thirsting for their salvation, Heart so loving yet so little loved, deign to accept this act of reparation that we eagerly offer to make amends to Thee for the outrages, the irreverences and profanations which Thou dost receive in the adorable Sacrament of the Altar. Pardon, O most Sacred Heart, the forgetfulness and ingratitude of men, the abandonment and indifference with which they repay Thy immense love! Forgive us all, forgive all poor sinners! Remember not our innumerable faults, and from the open wound of Thy Sacred Side let floods of grace and mercy descend upon us. Guard and protect us, hide us in this divine wound till that happy moment comes, when in our heavenly country we repeat with the angels throughout eternity: “Glory, love, gratitude, and unceasing praise be to the most loving Heart of our Saviour!”

THE SACRED HEART AND EUCHARISTIC REPARATION

By Fr. Albert Tesnière, S.S.S.

REPARATION is one of the essential characteristics of the worship of the Sacred Heart. The Saviour declares it in express terms. There are three special sins against the Holy Eucharist which it is called upon to repair. On this subject we shall hear the repeated declarations of the Revelations of the Sacred Heart, and we shall see reasons that render such reparation urgent and necessary. What strength, what help, what means for its perfect accomplishment does the devotion of the Sacred Heart afford! We feel ourselves urged, as it were, to respond to the touching and pressing appeal made to Margaret Mary: “Do thou, at least, try to console Me by making Me some return!”

ADORATION