Dear Catholic Exchange:
What do “First Fridays” have to do with our Catholic faith? I hear a lot about there being some significance attached to the first Friday of every month, but I do not understand this devotion. Can you please help me?
Thanks!
Kathy
Dear Kathy,
Peace in Christ! The First Friday Devotion is a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The object of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart is a “worshipful relationship to the person of Christ and His redeeming love, under the aspect or symbol of His heart,” which may be practiced in specific acts of interior and exterior devotion (Fr. Peter Klein, Catholic Source Book (Dubuque, Iowa: Brown-Roa; 1990, p. 330). Devotion to the Sacred Heart can be traced back to the ninth century. The devotion did not really begin to spread, however, until the late seventeenth century when Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. In her apparitions, St. Margaret Mary was asked to “promote devotion to His Heart, symbolic of his love for all; frequent Communion in a spirit of reparation, especially on the first Fridays of the month; [and] holy hours and other devotions.”
There were twelve promises made to St. Margaret Mary, the last of which serves as the foundation of our First Friday Devotion:
I promise you, in the excessive mercy of My Heart, that My all-powerful love, will grant to all those who [receive Holy Communion] on the First Friday of nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace; nor without receiving their sacraments. My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.
For more information on St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, see the following article about her at Catholic Online Saints and Angels.
If you have further questions on this or would like more information about Catholics United for the Faith, please contact us at 1-800-MY-FAITH (693-2484). Please keep us in your prayers as we endeavor to “support, defend, and advance the efforts of the teaching Church.”
United in the Faith,
David E. Utsler
Information Specialist
Catholics United for the Faith
827 North Fourth Street
Steubenville, OH 43952
800-MY-FAITH (800-693-2484)
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