Nine First Fridays — Sacred Heart of Jesus
Communions of reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as asked of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque at Paray-le-Monial (1673–1675). Attend Mass and receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of nine consecutive months, in honor of the Sacred Heart and in reparation for sin. Our Lord’s Great Promise of final repentance is attached to this practice.
Practice and Great Promise: revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque at Paray-le-Monial (1673–1675); the Great Promise is cited in the 1920 canonization bull of Benedict XV.
What Our Lord asks
To fulfil the Nine First Fridays devotion, do the following on the first Friday of nine consecutive months:
1.Go to Confession if needed, so that you may receive Communion in the state of grace.
2.Attend Holy Mass.
3.Receive Holy Communion with the explicit intention of honouring the Sacred Heart of Jesus and making reparation for sin.
The nine First Fridays must be consecutive. If a month is missed, begin the series of nine again. The devotion does not dispense you from living a Christian life; it is a path of grace that helps you persevere.
Source: traditional Nine First Fridays practice as taught from St. Margaret Mary’s revelations and common parish devotion manuals.
Suggested sequence for First Friday
Use this order when you have time before or after Mass. Adapt it to your parish’s schedule (some churches offer Confession, Exposition, or a Holy Hour).
1.Form your intention of reparation (prayer below).
2.Sacrament of Penance, if you are not in the state of grace — or whenever you wish to prepare more carefully.
3.Holy Mass and Communion of reparation.
4.Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart.
5.Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart.
6.Optional: spend a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament (traditionally encouraged the evening before or on First Friday itself).
7.Optional: Litany of the Sacred Heart (see the prayer catalog).
Sequence: SanctumNomen pastoral guide combining the required Communion of reparation with prayers commonly used on First Friday.
Prayers for First Friday
Intention of reparation
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I offer You this Communion and this First Friday
in reparation for all the outrages, indifference, and sins committed against
Your most loving Heart, and for the conversion of sinners.
I desire to honor You, to console You, and to grow in love of You.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You.
Source: SanctumNomen intention formula in the spirit of Sacred Heart reparation (traditional parish usage).
Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart (St. Margaret Mary)
I, (Name), give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ
my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, not wishing to
make use of any part of my being for the future except in honouring, loving,
and glorifying that Sacred Heart.
It is my irrevocable will to be entirely His, and to do everything for His love,
renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him.
I take Thee then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the
protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my
frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as
my secure refuge in the hour of death.
Be then, O Heart of goodness, my justification before God the Father, and
remove far from me the thunderbolts of His just wrath. O Heart of love, I place
my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and
frailty, I hope all things from Thy goodness.
Consume then in me whatever can displease or be opposed to Thee, and may Thy
pure love be so deeply impressed upon my heart that it may be impossible that
I should ever be separated from Thee, or forget Thee.
I implore Thee, by all Thy goodness, that my name may be written in Thee, for
in Thee I wish to place all my happiness and all my glory, living and dying in
very bondage to Thee. Amen.
Source: traditional English of St. Margaret Mary’s Act of Consecration (Raccolta / common Sacred Heart manuals).
Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart of Jesus, animated with a desire to repair the outrages
unceasingly offered to Thee, we prostrate before Thy throne of mercy, and in
the name of all mankind, pledge our love and fidelity to Thee!
The more Thy mysteries are blasphemed, the more firmly we shall believe them,
O Sacred Heart of Jesus!
The more impiety endeavours to extinguish our hopes of immortality, the more
we shall trust in Thy Heart, sole hope of mankind!
The more hearts resist Thy Divine attractions, the more we shall love Thee,
O infinitely amiable Heart of Jesus!
The more unbelief attacks Thy Divinity, the more humbly and profoundly we
shall adore It, O Divine Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy holy laws are transgressed and ignored, the more we shall delight
to observe them, O most holy Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Sacraments are despised and abandoned, the more frequently we
shall receive them with love and reverence, O most liberal Heart of Jesus!
The more the imitation of Thy virtues is neglected and forgotten, the more we
shall endeavour to practice them, O Heart of Jesus, model of every virtue!
The more the devil labours to destroy souls, the more we shall be inflamed
with desire to save them, O Heart of Jesus, zealous Lover of souls!
The more sin and impurity destroy the image of God in man, the more we shall
try by purity of life to be a living temple of the Holy Spirit, O Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Holy Church is despised, the more we shall endeavour to be her
faithful children, O Sweet Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Vicar on earth is persecuted, the more we will honour him as the
infallible head of Thy Holy Church, show our fidelity and pray for him,
O kingly Heart of Jesus!
O Sacred Heart, through Thy powerful grace, may we become Thy apostles in the
midst of a corrupted world, and be Thy crown in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.
Source: traditional Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart (common English parish form).
Optional Holy Hour
Our Lord asked St. Margaret Mary for a Holy Hour of reparation — an hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, uniting yourself to His agony in Gethsemane and consoling His Heart for the ingratitude of men. If your parish has Exposition on First Friday, stay for at least part of it. If not, kneel quietly after Mass, or keep the hour at home before a crucifix or image of the Sacred Heart: silent adoration, the Act of Reparation, a decade of the Rosary, and thanksgiving for Communion.
Source: Holy Hour of reparation as asked of St. Margaret Mary; pastoral suggestions for parish Exposition or private prayer.
The twelve promises of the Sacred Heart
Our Lord made these promises to St. Margaret Mary for those who are devoted to His Sacred Heart. The twelfth is the Great Promise attached specifically to the Nine First Fridays.
1.I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2.I will establish peace in their homes.
3.I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
4.I will be their strength during life and above all during death.
5.I will bestow a large blessing upon all their undertakings.
6.Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy.
7.Tepid souls shall grow fervent.
8.Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
9.I will bless every place where a picture of My Heart shall be set up and honoured.
10.I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11.Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out.
12.I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving their Sacraments; My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.
Source: traditional list of the twelve promises of the Sacred Heart associated with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque; the twelfth is the Great Promise of the Nine First Fridays.
Notes
• Intention matters. Receive Communion for the honour of the Sacred Heart and for reparation — not merely out of routine.
• State of grace. If you cannot receive Communion worthily, go to Confession as soon as you can and continue the series when you are able; do not receive unworthily.
• After the nine months. Many keep First Friday Communion for life as a habit of love and reparation.
• Related prayers in the catalog: Litany of the Sacred Heart; Act of Consecration of Bl. Margaret Mary; other Sacred Heart prayers.