This year,
the solemnity of
the Sacred Heart
falls on
Friday 7th June 2024.
It is celebrated on the Friday
after the
Corpus Christi Octave.
Why is the month of June dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus?
The feast dates back to 1673 when a French nun named Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque of the Visitandines began to receive visions from Jesus. He revealed to Sr. Margaret Mary his immense love for humanity and the many ways to venerate his Sacred Heart.
As he appeared to her his human heart was
visible (Representing the perfect, divine love which God has for us: and the human love Christ felt in His human nature.)
on fire (A flame of love for mankind. A light no darkness can extinguish.)
and crowned with thorns and cross (Jesus' suffering and death on the cross.)
Jesus said to Sister Margaret Mary,
“I ask of you that the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special feast to honour my heart, by communicating on that day, and making reparation to it by a solemn act, in order to make amends for the indignities which it has received during the time it has been exposed on the altars. I promise you that my heart shall expand itself to shed in abundance the influence of its divine love upon those who shall thus honour it, and cause it to be honoured.”
Sister Margaret Mary had a vision that instructed
an hour devotion each Thursday night, to meditate on Jesus' Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and
to receive the Eucharist on the first Friday of every month.
In the 18 months of apparitions to Sister Margaret Mary, Jesus gives these twelve promises for those who are devoted to His Sacred Heart:
I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
I will establish peace in their families.
I will console them in all their troubles.
They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of their death.
I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
Sinners shall find in My Heart the source of an infinite ocean of mercy.
Tepid souls shall become fervent.
Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
I will bless the homes where an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honoured.
I will give to Priests the power of touching the most hardened hearts.
Those who propagate this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be effaced.
The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance - they shall not die under my displeasure nor without receiving their Sacraments. My Heart shall be their assured refuge at that last hour.
"Our Lord Jesus Chris desires that we should, for sanctifying ourselves, glorify His all - loving Heart; for it was His Heart that suffered the most in His Sacred Humanity."
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.
Sister Margaret Mary died in 1690 and was canonized by Pope Benedict XV on May 13, 1920.
Pope Francis and the Sacred Heart of Jesus
On the 31st May 2024, Pope Francis said that he will publish an apostolic exhortation on the Sacred Heart of Jesus in September. This will be Pope Francis' eighth apostolic exhortation.
In 2013, a few weeks after his election, Pope Francis described the Heart of Jesus as
" the ultimate symbol of God's Mercy. It is not an imaginary symbol; it is a real symbol which represents the centre, the source from which salvation flowed for all of humanity."
Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Merciful Jesus, I consecrate myself today and always to your most Sacred Heart.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus I implore, that I may ever love You more and more.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus I trust in You.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus I believe in Your love for me.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like Your Heart.
Amen.
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