The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

“BEHOLD THIS HEART! Which has so loved men

as to spare itself nothing, even to exhausting and
consuming itself, to testify to them its love, and in
return I receive nothing but ingratitude from the
greater part of men by the contempt, irreverence,
sacrileges, and coldness which they have for me in
this Sacrament of My love.” (Our Lord to St.
Margaret Mary
It was Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself Who
introduced, and asked for the promotion and
practice of this devotion in a series of
apparitions over a two-year period beginning in
1673, whereby He revealed to the world His
Sacred Heart through Margaret Mary Alacoque,
a religious sister of the order of the Visitation of
Our Lady, at Paray-le-Monial in Burgundy, France.

During these visions, Jesus showed her His exposed

Heart, the symbol of his great love for the world, and
gave her twelve great promises to pass along to the
faithful. Our Lord told St. Margaret Mary that those
who devoted themselves to His Sacred Heart would
receive many special graces.
No one believed St. Margaret Mary when she began
to talk about her visions of Jesus, and she suffered
much ridicule and hostility within her own
community.
Finally, her confessor, Blessed Claude de la
Colmbiere, a Jesuit priest came to believe in her
visions and helped assure their authenticity. St.
Margaret Mary died in 1690 and was finally
canonized in 1920.Devotion to the Sacred Heart
spread after her death. In 1856, the Feast of the
Sacred Heart officially was established by the
Church. This special feast always falls on the Friday
following the Feast of Corpus Christi. Pope Leo XII
consecrated the world to the Most Sacred Heart of
Jesus in 1899.
Probably the most popular part of the devotion to the
Sacred Heart is attendance at Mass on the First
Friday of the month for nine consecutive months.

Our Lord promised St. Margaret Mary that those

who received the Eucharist during these Liturgies
would be blessed with the "grace of final repentance.
His desire is that we understand His immense
love for us, and that through the practice of this
devotion we grow in our understanding and love
for Him. Our Lord wishes us to recognize and honor
all the sentiments of tender love which He has for us
in the adorable Sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist –
where He is so little known, and so little loved even
by those who know Him – by frequent adoration, by
acts of thanksgiving and homage, and by reparation
for the indignities and outrages to which His love
has exposed Him during the course of His mortal
life, and to which this same love exposes Him
every day in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. The
devotion to the Blessed Eucharist and the devotion
to the Sacred Heart are not separate devotions,
but one-and-the same devotion blended together,
completing and reciprocally increasing each other.
Devotion to one cannot exist exclusive of
devotion to the other. “If we have devotion to the
Sacred Heart, we will wish to find It [in order] to
adore It and to love It; and where shall we look for It
but in the Blessed Eucharist where It is found,
eternally living? ... The devotion to the Divine
Heart infallibly brings souls to the Blessed
Eucharist; and faith in, and devotion to, the Blessed
Eucharist necessarily lead souls to discover the
mysteries of Infinite Love of which the Divine
Heart is the organ and the symbol.”
(Extract from the Book of Infinite Love by Mother
Louise Margaret – footnoted in the book, The
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Fr. John
Croisset, S.J.)
PURPOSE OF THE DEVOTION
The practice of this devotion to the Sacred
Heart will not bear proper fruit without the
proper motive, which is essential to the
devotion. That motive is love of Jesus Christ
and making reparation, as far as in our power,
for all the indignities and outrages which Jesus
Christ has suffered in the course of the ages and
which He still suffers daily in the Blessed Eucharist
at the hands of sinful men.
FEAST OF THE SACRED HEART
(The First Friday after the Feast of Corpus Christi)It
was during these apparitions to Sister Margaret
Mary that Our Lord requested that the Church
institute the Feast honoring His Sacred Heart. On
this Feast Our Lord asks “that reparation of honor be
made to My Heart, that Communion be received on
that day to repair the indignities which It has
received during the time It has been exposed on
the altars; and I promise you that My Heart will
expand Itself and pour out in abundance the
influences of Its love on those who will render It this
honor.”
In order to ensure that we receive these graces
promised by our Savior, the greatest of which is
the supreme gift of His divine love, this feast day
must be spent in honoring the Sacred Heart of
Jesus. The following is recommended: that on
the day before the feast (the vigil), time be spent
reading and recollecting to remind ourselves of the
motive we should have and of the dispositions
and sentiments which should animate our spiritual
exercises with regard to this devotion. If possible
visit Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and pray the
Rosary and other prayers. On the feast day, the
whole day should be consecrated to honoring the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, and should include go-ing to
Mass, receiving Holy Communion, and visiting
Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Unnecessary
business should be delayed for another day if
possible and sacrifices should be offered as
reparation by denying ourselves all useless
amusement. For religious and others who are able, it
is suggested that they endeavor to make with great
fervor at least four visits – in addition to the
visit for Holy Mass – for a total of five visits to
Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament for the following
intentions (if physical visits cannot be made
then make spiritual visits): The first visit should be
to thank Jesus Christ for the infinite love shown
in instituting the Blessed Eucharist; the second
visit to thank Him for all the times we have received
Holy Communion, and for all the special blessings
that we have there received; the third to make
acts of reparation for all the outrages which He
has received from infidels and heretics; the fourth,
to make reparation (as far as is in our power) by our
profound respect and homage for the irreverences,
impieties and sacrileges which our Savior has
endured from Catholics; the fifth, to adore Jesus
Christ in spirit in all the churches where the
Blessed Sacrament is present, but neglected and
rarely visited or forgotten.

The Practice of the Devotion of the First Friday of

Each Month
Our Lord also asked of Sister Margaret Mary
that the First Friday of each month be designated
as a day consecrated to honoring His Sacred Heart.
The dispositions and motives for the First Friday
Communion are the same as on the Feast of the
Sacred Heart – honoring Our Lord’s Sacred
Heart by making reparation for the outrages
which He has suffered and still suffers daily in
the Blessed Sacrament. The devotional practices
for the First Fridays are similar to those for the
feast of the Sacred Heart:
• visiting (or making a spiritual visit to) the
Blessed Sacrament the night before, reading and
meditating on Our Lord’s Sacred Heart, His love for
us, His Passion and death; • on the First Friday
offering all our actions to Our Lord and consecrating
them to His Sacred Heart;
• visiting Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament (the
five visits recommended for the Feast of the Sacred
Heart should be made if possible and for the
same intentions; if five separate visits are not
possible, then a single visit for the five intentions
may be made); • going to Confession; assisting at
Mass and receiving Our Lord in Holy
Communion;
• reciting the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart
and the Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart;
• other suggested means of making reparation by
honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus are praying
the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
praying the Litany of the Sacred Heart, meditating
on Our Lord’s Passion and death, giving alms and
doing extra penances.
THE GREAT PROMISE OF OUR LORD TO
SISTER MARGARET MARY FOR THE NINE
FIRST FRIDAYS
“I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart
that Its all-powerful love will grant to all those
who receive Holy Communion on the nine first
Fridays of the month, consecutively, the grace of
final repentance; they will not die under My
displeasure or without receiving their Sacraments,
My Divine Heart making Itself their assured refuge
at the last moment.”

The 12 Promises given by Our Lord for those

who Honor His Sacred Heart:
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their
state of life.
2. I will establish peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their difficulties.
4. I will shed abundant blessings upon all their
undertakings.
5. Sinners shall find in My Heart a fountain and
boundless ocean of mercy.
6. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
7. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great
perfection.
8. I will bless every house in which the image of My
Heart shall be exposed and honored.
9. I will be their refuge during life and especially at
the hour of death.
10. I will give to priests the power of touching the
hardest hearts.
11. Those who propagate this devotion shall have
their names written in My Heart never to be blotted
out.
12. I promise in the excessive mercy of My Heart,
that My all-powerful love will grant to all who
receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of the
month for nine consecutive months, the grace of
final penitence; they shall not die in My displeasure
nor without their sacraments: My Divine Heart shall
be their safe refuge in this last moment.

ACT OF REPARATION TO THE SACRED

HEART OF JESUS
Published with the Encyclical Miserentissimus
Redemptor, May 8, 1928, by His Holiness Pope
Pius XI.
O sweet Jesus, Whose overflowing charity for men
is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence
and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thy altar
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 vows
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 determined to make amends for
the manifold offenses against Chris-tian 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 holy-
days, 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 the very 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, O divine Jesus, 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 didst once
make to Thy eternal Father on the cross and which
Thou dost continue 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 unwavering 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 Mary, 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
one day come to that happy home, where Thou with
the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God,
world without end. Amen.
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED
HEART OF JESUS
Issued on October 17, 1925 by His Holiness Pope
Pius XI.
Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look
down upon us humbly prostrate before Thy altar. We
are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but, to be more
surely united with Thee, behold each one of us freely
consecrates himself today to Thy most Sacred Heart.
Many indeed have never known Thee; many too,
despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have
mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw
them to Thy sacred Heart.
Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful
who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the
prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant
that they may quickly return to Thy Father’s house
lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.
Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in
the dark-ness of idolatry or of Islamism, and refuse
not to draw them all into the light and kingdom
of God. Turn Thine eyes of mercy toward the
children of that race, once Thy chosen people. Of
old they called down upon themselves the Blood
of the Savior; may it now descend upon them a
laver of redemption and of life.
Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of
freedom and immunity from harm; give peace
and order to all nations, and make the earth
resound from pole to pole with one cry: “Praise to
the divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be
glory and honor forever.” Amen.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee.

SACRED HEART NOVENA MEDITATION

Devotion to the Sacred Heart, as we know it, began
about the year 1672. On repeated occasions, Jesus
appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a
Visitation nun, in France, and during these
apparitions He explained to her the devotion to His
Sacred Heart as He wanted people to practice it. He
asked to be honored in the symbol of His Heart of
flesh; he asked for acts of reparation, for frequent
Communion, Communion on the First Friday of the
month, and the keeping of the Holy Hour.
When the Catholic Church approved the devotion to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she did not base her action
only on the visions of Saint Margaret Mary. The
Church approved the devotion on its own merits.
There is only one Person in Jesus, and that Person
was at the same time God and Man. His Heart, too,
is Divine --it is the Heart of God. There are two
things that must always be found together in the
devotion to the Sacred Heart: Christ's Heart of flesh
and Christ's love for us. True devotion to the Sacred
Heart means devotion to the Divine Heart of Christ
insofar as His Heart represents and recalls His love
for us.
In honoring the Heart of Christ, our homage lingers
on the Person of Jesus in the fullness of His love.
This love of Christ for us was the moving force of
all he did and suffered for us --in Nazareth, on the
Cross, in giving Himself in the Blessed Sacrament,
in His teaching and healing, in His praying and
working. When we speak of the Sacred Heart, we
mean Jesus showing us His Heart, Jesus all love for
us and all lovable.
Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God's infinite love.
The Human Nature which the Son of God took upon
Himself was filled with love and kindness that has
never found an equal. He is the perfect model of
love of God and neighbor.
Every day of His life was filled with repeated proofs
of "Christ's love that surpasses all knowledge"
(Ephesians 3:19). Jesus handed down for all time the
fundamental feature of His character: "Take My
yoke upon your shoulders and learn from Me, for I
am meek and humble of Heart" (Mt 11:29). He
invited all, refusing none, surprising friends and
rivals by His unconditional generosity. The meaning
of love in the life of Jesus was especially evident in
His sufferings. Out of love for His Father He willed
to undergo the death of the Cross. "The world must
know that I love the Father and do just as the Father
has commanded Me" (John 14:31).The love that
Jesus bore toward us also urged Him to undergo the
death of the Cross. At the Last Supper, He said,
"There is no greater love than to lay down one's life
for one's friends." (John 15:13)The Heart of Jesus
never ceases to love us in heaven. He sanctifies us
through the Sacraments. These are inexhaustible
fountains of grace and holiness which have their
source in the boundless ocean of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus.
NOVENA PRAYER
Divine Jesus, You have said, "Ask and you shall
receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall
be opened to you." Behold me kneeling at Your feet,
filled with a lively faith and confidence in the
promises dictated by Your Sacred Heart to Saint
Margaret Mary. I come to ask this favor:(Mention
your request).To whom can I turn if not to You,
Whose Heart is the source of all graces and merits?
Where should I seek if not in the treasure which
contains all the riches of Your kindness and mercy?
Where should I knock if not at the door through
which God gives Himself to us and through which
we go to God? I have recourse to You, Heart of
Jesus. In You I find consolation when afflicted,
protection when persecuted, strength when burdened
with trials, and light in doubt and darkness.
Dear Jesus, I firmly believe that You can grant me
the grace I implore, even though it should require a
miracle. You have only to will it and my prayer will
be granted. I admit that I am most unworthy of Your
favors, but this is not a reason for me to be
discouraged. You are the God of mercy, and You
will not refuse a contrite heart. Cast upon me a look
of mercy, I beg of You, and Your kind Heart will
find in my miseries and weakness a reason for
granting my prayer. Sacred Heart, whatever may be
Your decision with regard to my request, I will never
stop adoring, loving, praising, and serving You. My
Jesus, be pleased to accept this, my act of perfect
resignation to the decrees of Your adorable Heart,
which I sincerely desire may be fulfilled in and by
me and all Your creatures forever. Grant me the
grace for which I humbly implore You through the
Immaculate Heart of Your most sorrowful Mother.
You entrusted me to her as her child, and her prayers
are all-powerful with You. Amen.
OFFERING
My God, I offer You all my prayers, works, joys,
and sufferings in union with the Sacred Heart of
Jesus, for the intentions for which He pleads and
offers Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in
thanksgiving for Your favors, in reparation for my
sins, and in humble supplication for my temporal
and eternal welfare, for the needs of our holy Mother
the Church, for the conversion of sinners, and for the
relief of the poor souls in purgatory.
LITANY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF
JESUS
V-Lord, have mercy.
R-Lord, have mercy.
V-Christ, have mercy.
R-Christ, have mercy.
V-Lord, have mercy.
R-Lord, have mercy.
V-Jesus, hear us.
R-Jesus, graciously hear us.
(After each petition, the faithful respond“
have mercy on us.”)
God, the Father of Heaven,
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God, the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, One God,
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father.
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the
womb of the Virgin Mother,
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of
God,
Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty,
Heart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven,
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge,
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased,
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all
received,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful,
Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke you,
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness,
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium,
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses,
Heart of Jesus, obedient to death,
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection,
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation,
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in you,
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in you,
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the Saints,
V-Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the
world.
R-spare us, O Lord.
V-Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the
world,
R-graciously hear us, O Lord.
V-Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the
world,
R-have mercy on us.
V-Jesus, meek and humble of heart.
R-Make our hearts like to yours.
V-Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, look upon
the Heart of your most beloved Son and upon the
praises and satisfaction which he offers you in the
name of sinners; and to those who implore your
mercy, in your great goodness, grant forgiveness in
the name of the same Jesus Christ, your Son, who
lives and reigns with you forever and ever. Amen.

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED

HEART OF JESUS
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, filled with infinite love,
broken by my ingratitude, pierced by my sins, yet
loving me still -accept the 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, nearer and nearer to your Sacred
Heart, and there, as I can bear the lesson, teach me
Your blessed ways. Amen.
The Devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Message
of Fatima
During Her third apparition, on July 13, 1917, Our
Lady of Fatima confided to the three children-
seers a Great Secret in three parts. The first
part of the Secret was a vision of hell. Lucia
relates, “Our Lady said to us with kindness and
sadness: ‘You have seen Hell, where the souls
of poor sinners go. To save them, God wills to
establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate
Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will
be saved and there will be peace.” The second part
of the Secret contains a detailed prophecy of events
by which God will punish the world for its
crimes, if people do not cease offending Him.
However, Our Lady put it in the power of the
faithful to forestall these just punishments by
complying with two special requests: “To prevent
this, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of
Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the Communion
of Reparation on the First Saturdays.”
THE FIVE FIRST SATURDAYS COMMUNION
OF REPARATION AND THE GREAT PROMISE
True to Her promise, Our Lady returned on
December 10, 1925 with the Child Jesus Who
said: “Have compassion on the Heart of your
Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which
ungrateful men pierce It at every moment, and there
is no one to make an act of Reparation to remove
them.” Then the Most Holy Virgin said: “Look
My daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with
thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at
every moment by their blasphemies and
ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and
announce in My Name that I promise to assist at
the moment of death, with all the graces necessary
for salvation, all those who, on the First Saturday of
five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy
Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and
keep Me company for fifteen minutes while
meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the
Rosary, with the intention of making Reparation to
Me.” Three and a half years later, on June 13, 1929,
Our Lady appeared again to Sister Lucia,
formally announcing Heaven’s command for the
other great act of reparation to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary: “The moment has come in
which God asks the Holy Father to make, in union
with all the bishops of the world, the consecration
of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to
save it by this means.”
Sister Lucia’s confessor, Father Gonçalves, tried
for seven years to convince the Pope to perform
this Consecration, but without success. Seeing the
futility of these efforts, Sister Lucia asked Our Lord
why He would not convert Russia without the
Pope’s cooperation. Our Lord’s response to her was:
“Because I want My whole Church to
acknowledge that Consecration as a triumph of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that later on
it will put the Devotion to My Mother’s
Immaculate Heart beside the Devotion to My
Sacred Heart.” Those who truly love Our Lord
Jesus Christ will heed His request, honoring His
Mother by practicing the devotion to, and making
reparation to, Her Immaculate Heart.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for
us.