First Friday and Saturday Devotions
Jesus Christ: yesterday, today, and forever!
I’m recycling this pastor’s column from six years ago because the subject matter never loses its importance. Devotions, religious practices that are not obligatory, are the surest way to reveal God to us and to deepen our relationship with Him. To that end, I encourage all of you to develop a devotional life to grow in your relationship with God through Jesus Christ and the Communion of the Saints. You will be richly rewarded for your efforts. One of the devotions that I want to encourage is known as: First Friday & First Saturday devotions. I found a website that does a fantastic job explaining these devotions that I include below. We are blessed at Holy Redeemer to have confessions and Mass available every Friday and Saturday, making these devotions possible. I encourage you to start observing them.
In Christ I Love You,
Fr. Thomas Nathe
The Five First Saturdays
The practice of the Five First Saturdays was requested by Our Lady to Lucia [of Fatima fame] on December 10, 1925. Lucia was then a Postulant Sister in the Dorothean Convent at Tuy, Spain. On this occasion Our Lady appeared together with the Child Jesus, Who said to Lucia: "Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, which ungrateful men place therein at every moment, while there is no one who makes an act of reparation to withdraw them for her."
Our Lady then addressed Lucia with these words: "Behold, my daughter, my Heart encircled with thorns, which ungrateful men pierce at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Give me consolation, you, at least; and make known on my behalf that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all who, on the First Saturday of five consecutive months, confess their sins, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for 15 minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the purpose of making reparation to my Immaculate Heart."
There are, therefore, five requirements to fulfill the conditions of Our Lady's promise to obtain for us "at the hour of death the graces necessary for salvation.” On five consecutive First Saturdays, one should do the following:
Go to Confession [within eight days];
Receive Holy Communion [in a state of grace];
Pray a Rosary;
Meditate for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary before a statue of Our Lady with the goal of keeping her company;
All the conditions above should be fulfilled with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
On the occasion of the visit of the Christ Child to Sr. Lucia (February 16, 1926), she asked: “My Jesus, what about those who forget to make the intention?" He answered: "They can do so at their next confession, taking advantage of their first opportunity to go to Confession."
On February 15, 1926, the Child Jesus alone visited Sr. Lucia and asked if the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was being propagated. Sr. Lucia spoke of a difficulty some people have in confessing on the first Saturday, and asked if they might be allowed eight days in order to fulfill Our Lady's requests. The Christ Child answered: "Yes, even more time still, as long as they receive Me in the state of grace and have the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary."
Therefore, one can fulfill the condition of going to Confession with an 8 day grace period before or after the First Saturday. Receiving Communion, saying the ‘terço’ of the Rosary, and meditating on its mysteries before a statue of Our Lady should all be done on the First Saturday.
The Nine First Fridays
At the end of the 17th century Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) and asked her to spread devotion to His Most Sacred Heart.
In a letter written to her Mother Superior in May 1688, St. Margaret Mary set out what is called The Great Promise Our Lord made regarding the Nine First Fridays and what we must do to earn it:
“On a Friday during Holy Communion, Our Lord said these words to His unworthy slave: ‘I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that Its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of the month consecutively the grace of final repentance, and they will not die under My displeasure or without receiving the Sacraments, My Divine Heart making Itself their assured refuge at the last moment.’”
The specific conditions to fulfill the Great Promise are, therefore, twofold:
They must be made on nine consecutive First Fridays of the month;
They must receive Holy Communion; this assumes that the person is in the state of grace.
The communicant should have the intention, at least implicitly, of making reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for all the sinfulness and ingratitude of men.
Our Lord made many promises to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque regarding those who practice the Nine First Fridays and have a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart. The Twelve Promises listed below, which we find in prayer books and devotional cards, includes the Great Promise (n. 12.)
I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
I will establish peace in their families.
I will console them in all their troubles.
They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of their death.
I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
Sinners shall find in My Heart the source of an infinite ocean of mercy.
Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
I will bless the homes where an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored.
I will give to devotees of My Heart the power of touching the most hardened hearts.
Those who propagate this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be effaced.
The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under My displeasure, nor without receiving their Sacraments; My Heart shall be their assured refuge at that last hour.
I hope that now, you may prepare yourself and your family well to fulfill such requirements of Heaven.
Cordially,
Marian T. Horavt, Ph.D.
