First Friday Devotion

 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 Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final Perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. “MY DIVINE HEART SHALL BE THEIR SAFE REFUGE IN THIS LAST MOMENT.“”

—Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary

O MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS, mercifully accept the prayer which I now make to You for help in the moment of my death, when at its approach all my senses shall fail me.

- When, therefore, O kind and merciful JESUS, my weary and downcast eyes can no longer look up to you, be mindful of the loving gaze which I now turn to You, and have mercy on me, a sinner.

- When my parched lips can no longer kiss Your most sacred Wounds, remember that hour those kisses which I now imprint on You, and have mercy on me, a sinner.

- When my cold hands can no longer embrace Your Cross, forget not the affection with which I embrace it now, and have mercy upon me, a sinner.  

- When my swollen and lifeless tongue can no longer speak, remember that I called upon You now, JESUS, MARY, and JOSEPH, to You I commend my soul.

O DIVINE HEART OF JESUS, filled with infinite love, broken by my ingratitude and pierced by my many sins and yet loving You still, accept this Act of Consecration that I make to You of all that I am and all that I have.  Take every faculty of my soul and body, draw me day by day near and nearer to Your Sacred Heart, and there, as I can bear the lesson, teach me Your blessed way.

O MERCIFUL HEART OF JESUS, Incarnate Son of GOD, Who for our salvation did vouchsafe to be born in a stable, to pass Your life in poverty, trials, and misery, and to die amid the sufferings of the cross, I entreat You, in the hour of my death to say to Your Father in Heaven, "FATHER FORGIVE HIM"; Say to my soul, "THIS DAY, YOU SHALL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE." My God, my God forsake me not in that hour.  "I THIRST"--truly, my God, my soul thirsts after You, Who are the Fountain of living Waters.  My life passes like a shadow; yet a little while and all will be consummated. Wherefore, my adorable Savior, from this moment, and for all eternity, "INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT."  Lord Jesus, receive my soul.

O IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, in memory of your Seven Sorrows, intercede for us with your divine Son and beg Him, in honor of His Precious Blood and Sacred Passion and Death upon the cross, to forgive our sins and grant us the grace of a holy and happy death. Amen.

OUR FATHER, HAIL MARY, GLORY BE!