What can we expect from First Fridays Devotion?

[ethereality]

How can I expect to benefit from first fridays devotion?

I asked my French priest and he said more or less in Japanese, “God’s not a banker making calculations; the important point is to come freely.” He gave me the impression that my life would not change as a function of keeping this First Fridays devotion.

What does the third promise mean? I am interested in this promise, because I am suffering so much and I desperately want it to stop. I am wondering if God will heal me or improve my life if I keep the First Fridays devotion.

 

[pianistclare]

When we attend any Mass with love and fervent prayer yes, our lives are transformed.
It’s not a coupon type thing as your priest wisely stated.
Don’t go for the promise, go for conversion of heart and true Love of Christ.
But yeah. 9 First Fridays are highly beneficial when we are properly disposed.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

You benefit from demonstrating love for Jesus.

 

[Edward_H]

If the devotion is done with great love, without “expecting anything”…then more holiness and less selfishness.

 

[anon64350612]

https://www.americaneedsfatima.org/Our-Lord-Jesus-Christ/the-nine-first-fridays-devotion.html

 

[Vico]

…
What does the third promise mean? I…

I will comfort them in all their afflictions.

To comfort is to encourage, soothe, and inspire. Or, to console: to alleviate or lessen the grief, sorrow, or disappointment of; give solace or comfort.

Haydock Bible Commentary 2 Cor. 1

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation: that we also may be able to comfort them who are in all distress, by the exhortation wherewith we also are exhorted by God.

Ver. 4. Wherewith we also are exhorted by God. The Latin interpreter sometimes translates the same Greek word by exhorted, sometimes by comforted: so the sense may be, with which we are comforted by God. (Witham)

— St. Paul knew that his former letter had afflicted them exceedingly; here he comforts them by telling them that God had filled him with consolation in order to comfort them. The Greek rather signifies, by the consolation with which we are comforted. Either explanation is sufficiently clear, though the latter is stronger. We may here remark the great tenderness St. Paul had for the Corinthians, since he here insinuates that he had received comfort from God merely to communicate it to them. (Calmet)

 

[OsculeturMeOsculo]

The promise of the First Fridays is that one would not die without the sacraments. Devotion to the Sacred Heart has a list of promises made to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque including the one you mention. This devotion consists of love for Christ particularly through making reparation for the sins of others. Holy Hours spent before the Blessed Sacrament are good ways of increasing fervor. The spiritual director of Saint Margaret, Father John Croiset wrote a good book explaining the devotion and its practices.

 

[Reuben_J]

I will comfort them in all their afflictions.

To the OP. If anything, this may be your reason to go for the mass.

And nowhere else can you be near your God who loves you, like a Father who loves His child, who would not want His child to suffer or be sad.

When I was a kid, my father would hold me when I was sick, not that he could heal me, but how he knew the pain I experienced and he was there holding me, experiencing it as well, perhaps even more. …

How much more it is then for your Father in heaven who can do all things.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

What does the third promise mean? I am interested in this promise, because I am suffering so much and I desperately want it to stop. I am wondering if God will heal me or improve my life if I keep the First Fridays devotion.

All of your posts seem to have this “God as a gumball machine” mentality. "If I do X for God, then will he finally do Y for me? "

You need to approach these devotions in the spirit of, “I want to be closer to God. I want to grow in holiness. I want to love God more. I want to have a true, deep relationship with God.” And also, “I want to honor God. I want to give Him a gift”, not all about “me me me, God gimme this” all the time.

Not “If I do this, will God make me suffer less? If I fulfill this part of the bargain, will God keep the Nth promise on his list of 12 promises I found?”

The First Friday devotion is for people who want to love Jesus. That is why we do it (I am mostly through the 9 as of this point and when done with those 9 I will do them again), to show Jesus we love him. Not in hopes that if we check off 9 First Fridays then Jesus will all of a sudden do something to improve our earthly lives. If you truly love Jesus, then the growth in your relationship with Him is a big benefit. Other than that, your priest is right and your life may not change.

 

[ethereality]

How do your relationships with others work? Are you married? Do you have friends? Family? Do you have a job with coworkers? Do you always do things for them and never ask anyone to do anything for you ever? If you ever ask someone to do something for you, are you “treating them like a gumball machine”? If they don’t clearly respond to your asking something of them, do you just shrug it off?

How are we supposed to have a relationship with a being who is silent, absent, and does not directly communicate? Your post suggests to me that you see God as ‘Creator’ and ‘Faraway King’, not as a Father or Brother or Friend that you can expect to do anything. Consequently I don’t see that it takes into account Jesus’ revelation (that God is these things) and so I don’t see what there is to learn from your post. (In other words, your theology appears Mohammedan, not Christian — about submission, not relationship. Relationship, as I understand it, is a ’two-way’ affair.) Please elaborate and clarify.

 

[ethereality]

Yet when I go to Mass it’s just sitting in a cold room with Bible readings I’ve already heard dozens of times, a priest saying something vacuous about helping other people, and then I eat a bread wafer, sit in silence some more, and leave. I’m tired of “failing to encounter God” every time I go to Mass.

 

[Reuben_J]

Yet when I go to Mass it’s just sitting in a cold room with Bible readings I’ve already heard dozens of times, a priest saying something vacuous about helping other people, and then I eat a bread wafer, sit in silence some more, and leave. I’m tired of “failing to encounter God” every time I go to Mass.

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails,
and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold,
and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me tread upon the heights.
Habakkuk 3:17-19

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You are wrong about my relationship with God. He is my good friend. But I don’t give my friends some love and then expect them to do something for me. I can see you don’t understand what it means to love God because it’s just some weird alien concept to you if he’s not there doing what you want. I hope someday you can understand better because I am at a loss to further explain. You’re not getting it. God bless, good luck and good bye.

 

[Crusaderbear]

You will feel renewed. I try and avoid expecting something special every time I pray. Often I just try to pray for others…I know the Lord has my back ALWAYS!

Likewise, you only get what you put in to it.

 

[Limoncello4021]

If I were you, I’d start to study to understand the Mass so that you appreciate it. It doesn’t appear that you know the significance of every part of it, its history, etc. It also doesn’t appear you believe that you are really witnessing Jesus’ sacrifice for our salvation, kneeling before the Creator who made you, and taking his very self into your body. The Mass is meaningless to you because you aren’t opening yourself to its meaning. Take it seriously. Have the humility to go to Mass, every week, and pray to God constantly that he may draw you closer to himself. He will, but humility and trust are needed.

 

[ethereality]

I’ve studied that and I try to tell myself that meaning. The problem is that I am being forced to believe this teaching in spite of my experience, and even in direct contradiction to it. Arguing with a skeptic, the evidence appears on his side, but we are obliged to say that ‘it’s Jesus Body and Blood, not bread and wine’. Again, if it is Jesus’ Body and Blood, why doesn’t 1 Cor 11 apply today?

27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.

Haven’t we all heard of those studies reporting the number of Americans who don’t believe the Eucharist is Jesus Body and Blood? Yet apparently this isn’t happening any more. Why not?

I find it irrational, and hence contrary to God’s will, to believe something contrary to evidence as is apparently happening here. Hence I wonder if Mohammedanism or Judaism is correct after all. But I’ve read the Quran and found it abhorrent, whereas Judaism seems to have stagnated since God apparently prevented rebuilding the Temple, so I’m “stuck” not sure what is true.

 

[Reuben_J]

I’ve studied that and I try to tell myself that meaning. The problem is that I am being forced to believe this teaching in spite of my experience, and even in direct contradiction to it. Arguing with a skeptic, the evidence appears on his side, but we are obliged to say that ‘it’s Jesus Body and Blood, not bread and wine’. Again, if it is Jesus’ Body and Blood, why doesn’t 1 Cor 11 apply today?

It still applies today. Nothing has changed.

27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.

Haven’t we all heard of those studies reporting the number of Americans who don’t believe the Eucharist is Jesus Body and Blood? Yet apparently this isn’t happening any more. Why not?

Yes, many of them have not believed.

Not sure about your question. What is not happening anymore?

Receiving the Body and the Blood of Jesus unworthily is a sin. There is of course consequences for that but it is between the sinners and God. What we need to know is that we must be in a state of grace to receive Holy Communion.

I find it irrational, and hence contrary to God’s will, to believe something contrary to evidence as is apparently happening here. Hence I wonder if Mohammedanism or Judaism is correct after all. But I’ve read the Quran and found it abhorrent, whereas Judaism seems to have stagnated since God apparently prevented rebuilding the Temple, so I’m “stuck” not sure what is true.

No evidence is necessary if you believe and if you don’t, no evidence is necessary.