Reminder.
Today is a 1st Friday, the first of a new Year of Grace.
Do you keep 1st Fridays in special way as the Sacred Heart of Jesus urged?
Do you engage in the Saturday devotions which Our Lady asked for at Fatima?
Do our times suggest that it would be good to begin if you haven’t already?
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Please clarify for me, Father. If I attend 5:30pm Mass on Saturdays, does that fulfill the 1st Saturday requirement? Or, should I attend the 08:00 Saturday Mass and then the 17:30 Saturday Mass?
On First Fridays we have a brief period of adoration and Benediction after our Morning Mass.
During Adoration, we renew our parish consecration to the Sacred Heart, Pray the Litany and the Consecration of the human race to the Sacred Heart. Then we conclude with Benediction
On First Saturdays, we pray the Litany of Loreto after Mass
Occasionally, I have no sins to confess(!). How do I fulfill the First Friday obligation? I understand that Confession bestows a strengthening beyond removing sin(s). My confessor has displayed irritation with me in the past when I show up in the confessional without sins. It makes me want to smack him in the back of his bald head. Can I use that as a confessable sin? :/
Glennonite says: Occasionally, I have no sins to confess
It is okay to confess something previously confessed and absolved. It is true that once you confess something and you are absolved, the sin is gone. However, previously confessed sins can be the matter for the sacrament of penance.
Also, remember that one of the effects of the sacrament of penance is not only forgiveness of sins, but also strengthening for the future.
Since someone is concerned an which Mass counts for First Saturday, for both devotions there is no actual requirement for attending Mass. The requirement is to receive communion, which would normally be during Mass. Back when Mass was only permitted in the mornings, shift workers such a railroad workers and miners used to keep the First Friday devotion, but priests would hold communion services for them in the evening when they got off their shift. There is a rite for receiving communion outside of Mass in the Roman Ritual.
Attending a Saturday “vigil mass” DOES indeed fulfill the requirement for the 1st Saturday devotion, even if that mass also fulfills one’s Sunday obligation.
Each first Friday we have a Mass in the evening — traditional Latin — followed by all night Eucharistic adoration. It is almost always the Mass of the Sacred Heart, unless impeded as sometimes is the case. Overnight, we have a group of parishioners who are devoted to the “Two Hearts,” and there are prayers and devotions that they offer through the night, which I begin. We conclude the time of adoration just before the morning Mass. Confessions are offered before the Friday evening Mass and after the Saturday morning Mass (these are actually every week).
Glennonite:
Based on my reading, receiving Holy Communion anytime on first Saturday fulfills our Lady’s request. I seem to recall her telling the visionary that if Saturday communion was impossible, Sunday communion sufficed.
Awesome reminder… but what does all that entail exactly? I mean… I’ve read it and I forget, and yes I can go searching for it, I probably will, but a refresher would make for an awesome post that can be forwarded to family and friends. Think of the good to all the souls!
@Glennonite: You want t0 smack Father’s “bald head”?!
Glennonite: as Fr. Fox says, receiving at anytime on the First Saturday will fulfill the condition, as I see it, be it a morning “First Saturday” Mass or the evening Mass, which will usually be the Sunday Vigil Mass. But, if it’s a Vigil Mass, one should I think also attend Mass on the Sunday, if possible, as one would naturally do if one attended a Saturday morning Mass, not being a Vigil Mass that fulfills the Sunday obligation. That’s only my personal opinion. Nevertheless, why shouldn’t we attend, if possible, as many Masses as we can?
My local Dominican church has a “Fatima”
Mass on First Saturdays – it’s the normal Saturday morning Mass but a Votive of Our Lady, with Rosary and Fatima devotions directly after. They’ve had a strong Fatima apostolate for years, and the great thing is that the younger Friars there are really strong about it. How fortunate we are.
Thank you Father Z, and all who responded to my questions; y’all were very helpful.
Each First Friday our parish hosts a family potluck followed by Holy Hour with rosary, the Litanies of Loreto and of the Sacred Heart, silent reflection and Benediction. Our Moms’ Group set up the potluck as a way to encourage young families to attend the Holy Hour together. It’s beautiful to see upwards of 30 children ranging from infants to teenagers attending Adoration with their parents. Sometimes it gets a little boisterous, but I think it does Jesus’s Heart good to see His little ones there.
First Saturday means a Traditional Mass in the EF at 10am. Father is very “Vatican I” so even our NO masses are beautifully reverent and employ liberal use of Latin. My husband and I converted Easter 2016. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our Lord led us to this parish. Had we gone pretty much anywhere else in the diocese…we wouldn’t have felt the need to convert. The other Masses we’ve attended have been so protestantized, we wouldn’t have seen enough difference to matter. The beauty, the reverence, the chant, everything…was exactly what our spirits were thirsting for.
I daily thank the Lord for godly priests like you Fr. Z and our parish priest Fr. Ligouri. Prayers are ascending for you constantly.
Jaykay, Glennonite:
Attend Holy Mass often as you want, by all means!
That said, and lest there be any confusion…
If you receive Holy Communion at a Saturday evening Mass, which proper authority deems to satisfy your obligation to attend Holy Mass on Sunday, then you can rest assured that (a) you have received communion in such a way as to satisfy our Lady’s request at Fatima regarding the Five First Saturdays, and (b) you have satisfied your Sunday obligation. There is no problem if one action accomplishes both objectives.
RE Fr. Fox’s post:
I would think I had died and gone straight to heaven if I had access to services such as these.
I can hardly even imagine such joy.
Our parish offers absolutely nothing for First Friday nor for First Saturdays.