This Friday, June 7 is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. At 5:30 p.m., before the 6:00 p.m. Holy Hour, the Rosary will be recited for the sanctification of priests as part of a worldwide movement for said intention. Please note the evening Mass will be offered at 7:00 p.m. that day.
✝ O Most Holy Heart Of Jesus, Fountain Of Every Blessing, I Adore Thee, I Love Thee And With A Lively Sorrow For My Sins, I Offer Thee This Poor Heart Of Mine. Make Me Humble, Patient, Pure, And Wholly Obedient To Thy Will.
Grant, Good Jesus, That I May Live In Thee And For Thee. Protect Me In The Midst Of Danger; Comfort Me In My Afflictions; Give Me Health Of Body, Assistance In My Temporal Needs, Thine Blessings On All That I Do, And The Grace Of A Holy Death.
Within Thy Heart I Place My Every Care. In Every Need Let Me Come To Thee With Humble Trust Saying, Heart Of Jesus, Help Me. Amen. ✝
Devotion to the Sacred Heart
Devotion which has as its dogmatic foundation the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. On account of the hypostatic union, every part of our Lord’s Human Nature is worthy of adoration. Hence, therefore, we adore His bodily Heart, beating in His Bosom. But besides this adoration, we honor the Heart of Jesus as a reminder, or symbol, of His love for us, and we are moved to make Him a return of love, because He has loved us and He is not loved by men. Love, consecration, and reparation are the characteristic acts of this devotion. – New Catholic Dictionary 1910
Scriptural Sources of the Litany of the Sacred Heart TAKEN FROM THE SACRED HEART IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH By Margaret Williams, R.S.C.J. With Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, A.D. 1957. http://www.catholictradition.org/Litanies/litany8-2.htm
Caritate Christi Compulsi Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the economic crisis and threat of war plaguing the world. He exhorts the Bishops to provide expositions of the Blessed Sacrament for devotion to the Sacred Heart. https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius11/p11carit.htm
THE 12 PROMISES OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS as told in a private revelation to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ says to those who are devoted to His Sacred Heart:
I. “I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
II. I will establish peace in their homes.
III. I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
IV. I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
V. I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
VI. Sinners will find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
VII. Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
VIII. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
IX. I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored.
X. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
XI. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart.
XII. I promise 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.”
Nine Elevations Of The Soul To The Sacred Heart Of Jesus
I. Heart of Jesus, perfect adorer of God, teach me to adore Thy heavenly Father with thee and by Thee.
II. Heart of Jesus, inflamed with love for me, inflame me with Thy divine love.
III. Heart of Jesus, victim alone worthy of God, unite me to Thy divine sacrifice.
IV. Heart of Jesus, overwhelmed with bitterness for the sins of men, break my heart with sorrow for my sins.
V. Heart of Jesus, infinitely humble, annihilate my pride.
VI. Heart of Jesus, perfect model of meekness, inspire me with that salutary virtue.
VII. Heart of Jesus, infinitely pure and spotless, give me an inviolable purity of body, mind, and heart.
VIII. Heart of Jesus, full of zeal for the glory of Thy heavenly Father, animate my heart with an ardent zeal for Thy glory and my own sanctification.
IX. Heart of Jesus, reign forever in my heart, and grant me grace to reign one day with Thee in Heaven.
Source: Manual of the Sacred Heart (A.D. 1866)
An excerpt from one of the letters of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque on the Sacred Heart
“The Sacred Heart of Christ is an inexhaustible fountain and its sole desire is to pour itself out into the hearts of the humble so as to free them and prepare them to lead lives according to His good pleasure. From this Divine Heart three streams flow endlessly. The first is the stream of mercy for sinners; it pours into their hearts sentiments of contrition and repentance. The second is the stream of charity which helps all in need and especially aids those seeking perfection in order to find the means of surmounting their difficulties. From the third stream flow love and light for the benefit of His friends who have attained perfection; these He wishes to unite to Himself so that they may share His knowledge and commandments and, in their individual ways, devote themselves wholly to advancing His glory. This divine heart is an abyss filled with all blessings, and into the poor should submerge all their needs. It is an abyss of joy in which all of us can immerse our sorrows. It is an abyss of lowliness to counteract our foolishness, an abyss of mercy for the wretched, an abyss of love to meet our every need. Are you making no progress in prayer? Then you need only offer God the prayers which the Savior has poured out for us in the sacrament of the altar. Offer God His fervent love in reparation for your sluggishness. In the course of every activity pray as follows: “My God, I do this or I endure that in the heart of Thy Son and according to His holy counsels. I offer it to Thee in reparation for anything blameworthy or imperfect in my actions.” Continue to do this in every circumstance of life. But above all preserve peace of heart. This is more valuable than any treasure. In order to preserve it there is nothing more useful than renouncing your own will and substituting for it the will of the Divine Heart. In this way His will can carry out for us whatever contributes to His glory, and we will be happy to be His subjects and to trust entirely in Him.” – from a letter by Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
A Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart by Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
I (N.N.), give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, my person, my life, my actions, my pains and sufferings, so that I may be unwilling to make use of any part of my being save to honor, love, and glorify the Sacred Heart. It is my unchanging intention to be all His and to do all for love of Him. I renounce at the same time with all my heart whatever can displease Him.
1. I, therefore, take Thee, O Sacred Heart, for the only object of my love, the protector of my life, the pledge of my salvation, the remedy of my weakness and inconstancy, the atonement for the faults of my life, and the secure refuge at the hour of my death.
Be then, O Heart of goodness, my justification before God the Father, and turn away from me the punishment of His just anger. O Heart of love, I put my confidence in Thee, because I fear everything from my own sinfulness and weakness. I hope for all things from Thy mercy and generosity.
Destroy in me all that can displease or resist Thy holy Will. Let Thy pure love impress Thee so deeply upon my heart that I may never forget Thee or be separated from Thee. May my name, by Thy loving kindness, be written in Thee, because in Thee I desire to place all my happiness and all my glory in living and dying in very bondage to Thee. Amen.
The Act of Reparation This Reparational Act was ordered to be solemnly recited once a year on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus [Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi] by Pope Pius XI; it was placed by order in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, Vol. XX, N. 6. http://www.catholictradition.org/Two-Hearts/reparation-txt.htm#1
Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
† Most sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thee, eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject.
Mindful, alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation, not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the promises of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Thy law.
We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are now determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holydays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints.
We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and Thy priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of very the Sacrament of Thy Divine love; and lastly for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.
Would that we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor, the satisfaction Thou once made to Thy Eternal Father on the cross and which Thou continuest to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, for all neglect of Thy great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past.
Henceforth, we will live a life of unswerving faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent others from offending Thee and to bring as many as possible to follow Thee.
O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mother, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to Thee, so that we may all one day come to that happy home, where with the Father and the Holy Ghost Thou livest and reignest, God, forever and ever. Amen. †
St. Mary’s on Broadway’s fresco of Our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appearing to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque to reveal His desire for the Faithful to cultivate devotion to His Sacred Heart.
