June. Month of the Sacred Heart.

<---May the month of the Virgin Mary.
Curé D´Ars. Model Priest.--->


Prayers for June. Priest Gerard of Sacred Heart Church.
Catholic Prayers for the Month of the Sacred Heart.

By tradition, the Catholic Church dedicates each month of the year to a certain devotion. In June, it is the Sacred Heart of Jesus (the feast of which normally falls in this month). The Sacred Heart represents Christ's love for all mankind, and our devotion to it is an expression of our faith in His mercy.

On June 1, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI urged Catholics everywhere to renew their devotion to the Sacred Heart during the month of June. Some or all of the following prayers to the Sacred Heart can be incorporated into our daily prayers during this month.

This devotion is often said in June or around the Feast of the Sacred Heart or anytime of the year.
Remember that the Heart of God is always waiting us. In it, we unite ourselves fully to the Heart of Christ, asking Him to purify our wills so that everything we do may be in line with His Will—and, if we fall in sin, that His Love and Mercy may shield us from the righteous judgment of God the Father.

History:

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus goes back at least to the 11th century, but through the 16th century, it remained a private devotion, often tied to devotion to the Five Wounds of Christ.

The first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated on August 31, 1670, in Rennes, France, through the efforts of Fr.
Jean Eudes (1602-1680). From Rennes, the devotion spread, but it took the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) for the devotion to become universal.

In all of these visions, in which Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus played a central role. The “great apparition,” which took place on June 16, 1675, during the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi, is the source of the modern Feast of the Sacred Heart.

In that vision, Christ asked St. Margaret Mary to request that the Feast of the Sacred Heart be celebrated on the Friday after the octave (or eighth day) of the Feast of Corpus Christi, in reparation for the ingratitude of men for the sacrifice that Christ had made for them. The Sacred Heart of Jesus represents not simply His physical heart but His love for all mankind.

The devotion became quite popular after St. Margaret Mary’s death in 1690, but, because the Church initially had doubts about the validity of St. Margaret Mary’s visions, it wasn’t until 1765 that the feast was celebrated officially in France.

Almost 100 years later, in 1856, Pope Pius IX, at the request of the French bishops, extended the feast to the universal Church. It is celebrated on the day requested by our Lord—the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, or 19 days after Pentecost Sunday.

Jesus-man, has He a human Heart like us?

Yes, of course, the question lies between the material, the metaphorical, and the symbolic sense of the word heart; whether the object of the devotion is the Heart of flesh, as such, or the love of Jesus Christ metaphorically signified by the word heart; or the Heart of flesh, but as symbol of the emotional and moral life of Jesus, and especially His love for us.

We reply that worship is rightly paid to the Heart of flesh, inasmuch as the latter symbolizes and recalls the love of Jesus, and His emotional and moral life. Thus, although directed to the material Heart, it does not stop there: it also includes love, that love which is its principal object, but which it reaches only in and through the Heart of flesh, the sign and symbol of this love.

Devotion to the Heart of Jesus alone, as to a noble part of His Divine Body, would not be devotion to the Sacred Heart as understood and approved by the Church, and the same must also be said of devotion to the love of Jesus as detached from His Heart of flesh, or else connected therewith by no other tie than that of a word taken in the metaphorical sense.

Hence, in the devotion, there are two elements: a sensible element, the Heart of flesh, and a spiritual element, that which this Heart of flesh recalls spiritual element, that which this Heart of flesh recalls and represents.
But these two elements do not form two distinct objects, merely co-ordinated they constitute but one, just as do the body and soul, and the sign and the thing signified.

Hence it is also understood that these two elements are as essential to the devotion as body and soul are essential to man. Of the two elements constituting the whole, the principal one is love, which is as much the cause of the devotion and its reason for existence as the soul is the principal element in man.

Consequently, devotion to the Sacred Heart may be defined as devotion to the adorable Heart of Jesus Christ in so far as this Heart represents and recalls His love; or, what amounts to the same thing, devotion to the love of Jesus Christ in so far as this love is recalled and symbolically represented to us by His Heart of flesh.

Always remember that Jesus is God, but also He feels like a human, He understands our daily suffering.
His Heart is so human like is our heart. And exactly in his pasion and agony of the cross, He entered the Garden of Gethsemane on Mount Olivet. He said to His Apostles: "My soul is sorrowful even unto death".
He shows us the terrible suffering that He bore the pain like a human being.
Give your heart to God, He understand all your pain. He suffered and died for you.


St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

Religious of the Visitation Order. Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, born at Lhautecour, France, 22 July, 1647; died at Paray-le-Monial, 17 October, 1690.

Her parents, Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, were distinguished less for temporal possessions than for their virtue, which gave them an honourable position.
From early childhood Margaret showed intense love for the Blessed Sacrament, and preferred silence and prayer to childish amusements.
After her first communion at the age of nine, she practised in secret severe corporal mortifications, until paralysis confined her to bed for four years.

At the end of this period, having made a vow to the Blessed Virgin to consecrate herself to religious life, she was instantly restored to perfect health.
The death of her father and the injustice of a relative plunged the family in poverty and humiliation, after which more than ever Margaret found consolation in the Blessed Sacrament, and Christ made her sensible of His presence and protection.

He usually appeared to her as the Crucified or the Ecce Homo, and this did not surprise her, as she thought others had the same Divine assistance.
When Margaret was seventeen, the family property was recovered, and her mother besought her to establish herself in the world.
Her filial tenderness made her believe that the vow of childhood was not binding, and that she could serve God at home by penance and charity to the poor.

Then, still bleeding from her self-imposed austerities, she began to take part in the pleasures of the world. One night upon her return from a ball, she had a vision of Christ as He was during the scourging, reproaching her for infidelity after He had given her so many proofs of His love.

During her entire life Margaret wept the faults committed in those time of pleasure she had in her past life the wearing of some superfluous ornaments and the waste time in the night life.

On 25 May, 1671, she entered the Visitation Convent at Paray, where she was subjected to many trials to prove her vocation, and in November, 1672, pronounced her final vows.
She had a delicate constitution, but was gifted with intelligence and good judgement, and in the cloister she chose for herself what was most repugnant to her nature, making her life one of inconceivable sufferings, which were often relieved or instantly cured by our Lord, Who acted as her Director, appeared to her frequently and conversed with her, confiding to her the mission to establish the devotion to His Sacred Heart.

These extraordinary occurrences drew upon her the adverse criticism of the community, who treated her as a visionary, and her superior commanded her to live the common life. But her obedience, her humility, and invariable charity towards those who persecuted her, finally prevailed, and her mission, accomplished in the crucible of suffering, was recognized even by those who had shown her the most bitter opposition.

Margaret Mary was inspired by Christ to establish the Holy Hour and to pray lying prostrate with her face to the ground from eleven till midnight on the eve of the first Friday of each month, to share in the mortal sadness He endured when abandoned by His Apostles in His Agony, and to receive holy Communion on the first Friday of every month.

In the first great revelation, He made known to her His ardent desire to be loved by men and His design of manifesting His Heart with all Its treasures of love and mercy, of sanctification and salvation.
He appointed the Friday after the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi as the feast of the Sacred Heart; He called her "the Beloved Disciple of the Sacred Heart", and the heiress of all Its treasures.

Jesus complains bitterly

Devoting oneself to Jesus all loving and lovable, one cannot fail to observe that His love is rejected. God is constantly lamenting that in Holy Writ, and the saints have always heard within their hearts the plaint of unrequited love. Indeed one of the essential phases of the devotion is that it considers the love of Jesus for us as a despised, ignored love. He Himself revealed this when He complained so bitterly to St. Margaret Mary.

One of the main spiritual insights are the words that The Sacred Heart say to St Margaret during the octave of Corpus Christi, 1675, probably on June 16, the vision known as the “great apparition” reportedly took place, where Jesus said,

“Behold the Heart that has so loved men…instead of gratitude only receive from the greater part (of mankind) despises and ingratitudes...”.

These words were written in Heart of Margaret Mary Alacoque. The love of God who is so big and instead we love him so little, he gave his life for us and instead we give him not the best of us but just leftovers.

The love of the Sacred Heart was the fire which consumed her, and devotion to the Sacred Heart is the refrain of all her writings. In her last illness she refused all alleviation, repeating frequently: "What have I in heaven and what do I desire on earth, but Thee alone, O my God", and died pronouncing the Holy Name of Jesus.

The discussion of the mission and virtues of Margaret Mary continued for years. All her actions, her revelations, her spiritual maxims, her teachings regarding the devotion to the Sacred Heart, of which she was the chief exponent as well as the apostle, were subjected to the most severe and minute examination, and finally the Sacred Congregation of rites passed a favourable vote on the heroic virtues of this servant of God.

In March, 1824, Leo XII pronounced her Venerable, and on 18 September, 1864, Pius IX declared her Blessed. When her tomb was canonically opened in July, 1830, two instantaneous cures took place. Her body rests under the altar in the chapel at Paray, and many striking favours have been obtained by pilgrims attracted thither from all parts of the world. Her feast is celebrated on 17 October. [Editor's Note: St. Margaret Mary was canonized by Benedict XV in 1920.]


THE HOLY HOUR

If the holy hour is so important, it is well to know how to make it, at least to have some framework within which to pray before the Blessed Sacrament.

What here is exposed is only a suggestion. It recognize that "as a soul advances in the spiritual life, all formal framework becomes less important."
Still, it is useful for a priest, or anyone person, to have some method available, for himself and for others whom he urges to under take this basic Eucharistic devotion.

One method is based on the four word aspiration and prayer, "Adoro Te Rex Gloriae", (I adore Thee, King of Glory).
The idea is to divide one's holy hour into four quarters:
"You spend the first quarter in adoration;
you spend the second quarter in give thanks to God;
you spend the third quarter in reparation;
and finally you spend the last quarter in giving something to God."

Adoration.

Every prayerful posture of the soul before God should begin with adoration. In fact every prayer, no matter what other form it may take, is basically a form of adoration.

The soul abases itself before the Divine Majesty and repeats quietly either verbally or in its own depths that offering:
‘Adoro Te – I like the repetition: Adoro Te – adoro Te -- devote. I adore You – I adore You – I adore You – with devotion. "My God."
Now if a man has any depths of intellectual concept he does not need to get beyond that word God. My God! Thou Who hast brought me out of nothingness.

All around us, in the world of nature, are countless reasons for adoration. Or better, all around us the universe of space and time is adoring its Maker.
We see the majesty of the mountains round about us: we have our ear gradually attuned to the harmonies and symphonies that are going around – even down into the insect world.
There is the whole voice of nature and it is a harmonious voice: little robins breaking their hearts with joy in the morning and saying thanks to God in the evening when they sing their vespers and compline.

The majestic beauty of the moon as it moves – a symbol of the Mother of God, taking its light as Mary takes all from God, taking all its light from the sun – Mary takes her glory from the Son of God – and casting it into the dark; the beauty of the stars set as so many candles upon the altars of the universe.

So it is. "All except God's rational creatures, do adore, according to their nature, even the stars singing in their orbits as they obey with exactitude the law of their Creator."
Sublime thought, but also terrifying, that "All but men and angels, all but fallen men and fallen angels obey the rule of their Creator, the raison d'etre of their being."

This brings us back to the first purpose of the holy hour, to adore the Divine Majesty. Why should adoration before the Blessed Sacrament specially and, be commanded to God's priests?
The reason is not far to seek. It is hidden in the mystery of the Incarnation.

Petition.

If adoration is the first attitude of a believing soul in the presence of the Word Incarnate, petition is the logical second.
As a person realizes whom he is addressing, that it is the Lord of the Universe, here in human form; and he pauses to reflect on his own great misery, almost without reflection he will ask the Savior to give him what he needs. Where to begin?
Begin by asking Jesus, Who is God, for His love.

What is the most precious thing that a man can have?

To love Jesus. Without any doubt, without any qualification. To love God is God's greatest gift. As a matter of fact, the man who truly loves God with the proper motive, loves God for Himself, already possesses God and is already sure of heaven.
For to love God is heaven – it is to possess heaven by anticipation. And not to love God is the commencement of hell. That is why there is so much unhappiness in the world.

So ask above all for the grace to love God and that will please Our Lord very much. It surprises Him for so many people to come to Him and ask Him so many things. Like the father in a family or a mother – the little ones come in during the day: Mother can I have a cookie – Mother, can I do this, Mother, can I do that?

But suppose one little precocious child, very sweet and very thoughtful, didn't ask anything and the mother or dad said: All the others have asked for something, what do you want? And the little one said: Daddy, I just want to love you – I don't want anything except your love.
Where is the father that would not catch up the little one and hold it tight to his heart? Where is the mother who would not be touched to the depth of her being by her little son or daughter who wanted nothing but to be loved?

This is the better gift, this is the gift that harmonizes with the philosophy and spiritual program of St. Theresa: she was avid and she was asking for the better grace, and the supreme grace is caritas – to love God. "In the bosom of the Church my Mother," she said, "I will be love." That is what she aspired to.

But the prayer should be not only for priests, but for everybody. "Ask for your brothers and sisters in the world, ask for non-Catholics the grace of conversion, ask for dying sinners the grace that they make a little act of faith, perfect charity in their hearts."

Then on a personal note, "Pray for the next one of your dear ones to die. Then when the telegram comes saying that someone has died suddenly, what a consolation. You don't know who, but you leave it in the hands of God."

Reparation.

The next stage in the holy hour, which may actually pervade the whole sixty minutes, is the practice of reparation. (According to Father Gerad)

Preoccupied as he was with the moral failures of priests, we specially urged pray for priests (and all the faithful) to offer their prayers and trials for priests.

What reparation (is needed) for the sins of priests. O how precious to Christ is a priest who comes to Him and offers with his bare soul to wipe the terrible spittle and filth that unworthy priests cast each day upon Our Lord.

It is true that the physical sufferings of Our Lord are at an end: but the source of those physical and mental anguishes that He bore in the Passion are today and tomorrow and all the tomorrows till the end of time.
And it is effectively true that if I make reparation today, Jesus will see that reparation together with Veronica's reparation as He went the Way of the Cross. I went with the angel of consolation to Gethsemane.
– I went with Simon of Cyrene and lifted the cross from His aching shoulder – I was in the consolation that His Mother spoke to Him as He passed by – I was in the eyes of John when John lifted his lily face as a chalice to meet the eyes of Divine Love.

Learn the art of reparation and then the very little things that bother you, the little trivia of human limitations around us, the little contradictions and disappointments, can all be gathered up and offered in reparation – they become the myrrh of life.

This art of reparation is mainly the practice of resignation. We resign ourselves to the trials and difficulties God sends us, and thereby expiate for the offenses committed against Him.
Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament serves the purpose of motivating our wills and prayerfully uniting ourselves with Christ in the Eucharist, whose very presence on earth is a form of reparation.

Love.

The final disposition of heart with which to keep the holy hour is affective charity.
Gratitude and love are almost the same. We love God because He has so loved us.
We thank Him for His goodness to us by our "goodness" to Him, that is by giving Him our hearts.

Speaking to priests bound to a life of celibacy, the exhortations to the love of Christ in the Holy Eucharist take on a special significance.
"When you give your love to God you give Him that for which He created your heart: the reason He refused to give that heart up to the daughters of men." As a priest prays before the tabernacle, he is exercising his liberty in a way that no irrational creature can.

It is true the stars give their light and glory, but they cannot do otherwise. The birds sing their songs, but they cannot do otherwise; the flowers cannot help but be beautiful; the orchards cannot but be fruitful according to a fixed law.
But you and I, dear Brothers, we can voluntarily, willingly give something to God. And what can a man give to God that He does not already possess? We can give Him our love?

This is consistent with the Church's traditional understanding of the four ends of the Mass: adoration, petition, reparation and grateful love. Worship of the Holy Eucharist reserved on the altar should take on the same four ends.
As a priest gets into the habit of making his daily holy hour, his daily Mass will take on a deeper meaning. It will also gain for him, other priests, and the faithful the graces that the Redeemer intends to confer through the sacrifice-sacrament of the Mass.

MEDITATION IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE.

Second Method. The Agony in the Garden;
Christ sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, is one of the great texts in Scripture.
We see in Luke 22, Matthew 26 and Mark 14. Many will know it as one of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. It’s also one of the major Christian icons, one that’s just etched into our psyche.
That’s because it’s a deep text, one loaded with meaning. In this meditation, we must image how is Jesus’ suffering with this sacred space can be a key for our own encounter with the sacred.

It’s a moment, the few hours after the Last Supper, that Jesus had to prepare for his death. That’s a lot of pressure, the kind that brings life sharply into focus. What would you do if you knew you were in your final hours? Or, better yet, how could that type of insight affect the choices you make between now and then?

What Jesus experimented in his body, in his mind. And all the feeling of bitterness face to the death who is coming.
That’s what the Agony in the Garden is all about.

In that moment of agony, we’ll meditate at three major aspects of the scriptural text. First, we’ll meditate about the Passion of Christ, the context for the Agony in the Garden.
Then meditating, we want to enter with Jesus into the Garden, suffer with Him, like He did.

What is the real drama of the Garden of Gethsemane?

Jesus is going to die. But not only is going to die. He is going to suffer, and suffer a lot. In a merciless way, as if he was a criminal.
And He does for me, for everybody. And he´d do it again, by only one soul, if it were necessary.
Finally, we’ll meditate at some of the deeply moving images that are written into the holy text.

The Meaning of Agony.

The word agony is not just a pious term from the Rosary or other traditions; it’s a term from Scripture.
In Greek they talk about Christ’s agonia. We know what agony means in English, but in Greek, at the time of Jesus, it was also a technical term for what athletes did warming up for the Olympic Games.
During that warm-up, the Greek athletes would produce a certain sweat which would warm up their muscles and ready them for coming combat. That sweat, that lather, was called their agonia.

Luke is telling us that Jesus does an agonia to get ready for his passion.
In essence, Luke is saying, we don’t move from being self-pampering to dying on a cross without some preparation. The Agony in the Garden is the warm-up, the readying, the agonia for the Passion that follows.

But what is the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ?

The English word passion gives you a false image. In English the word passion refers to something that’s very deep in terms of feeling love. But although you certainly can have passion and love, you also can have passion and suffering. When we think of Christ’s Passion, we think of all the suffering that Jesus did. It’s more a sense of passivity, or passiveness.

In Jesus’ passivity he gives his death for us, unlike during all his active life up until the Agony in the Garden, when he gives his life for us. We often lump these together and miss the distinction. Christ gave his life and his death for us. We give our lives for each other in our activity; we give our deaths for each other in our passivity.

When blood and water poured out of the crucified Jesus (see John 19:31-37), we see not only a sign of Baptism and Eucharist, though clearly that is part of the story. We see also another sign.

What are blood and water?

Blood is the life principle that flows between us, it makes us alive. Water washes us. So what the evangelist is saying at another level is that Jesus died in such a way that it makes us freer. We’re able to live life; life flows more easily and we’re able to live cleanly. That is when we are free of guilt.

Drama of the Garden.

Do you ever wonder why that drama happens in a garden? It’s the Agony in the Garden, it’s not the Agony in the Temple, the Agony in the Synagogue, or the Agony on a Mountaintop, or in the Boat at Sea.
In Scripture, where something takes place is always much, much more than geography. At a deeper level, the geography is spiritual; it’s a place in the heart.

Why the garden?

Gardens don’t appear that often in Scripture, but they’re very important. In spirituality, gardens have nothing to do with cucumbers, radishes, garlic. Gardens are where lovers go. That’s very important in getting to the drama of the Agony in the Garden. This is a drama inside of love. That’s why the beginning, where Scripture opens up, we’re in the Garden of Eden. In the garden you can be naked. There’s no shame in the garden.

Note that the evangelists emphasize the whips, the beatings, the thorns, the blood, the nails on the cross. They emphasize he was alone, betrayed, humiliated, hung out to dry. Nobody stood up for him.

When you read Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is saying in the Last Supper that he is dreading what’s going to happen. He speak about the suffering that the Son of Man must suffer a lot and must die.
He says, “You’re all going to betray me. I’m going to be alone".

Is explained that Jesus’ sweating blood as a kind of pious moment for a Jesus who knew how everything would turn out.
But it’s more than that. Sweating blood in the Garden is about the drama inside of love—the drama that’s deepest inside of your loneliness.
What’s happening in the Garden is a test of love. In essence there are really three tests that tie together into one test in the Garden:

the first part of the major drama in the Garden of Gethsemane is that Jesus has to give himself over to this death, which is hard, which is suffering, which is sacrificial. But he has to do it without resentment. He has to carry the cross and not send the bill.

Jesus was going to die anyway. But his great gift was that he could die, he gave his life over without bitterness, without price tag, without anger, without resentment, with complete forgiveness. The Resurrection is all about forgiveness. Jesus came back and he never challenged anybody with, “Where were you when I needed you?”
He came back just in pure grace, transforming suffering into deeper compassion.

Sacrifice for the Greater Good.

Jesus had to die at age 33. That’s not easy to do: It’s not easy to die at any age. Yet to give his life over in trust for something long-range, where it wasn’t going to pay off today, is the opposite of despair. That’s what real hope is.

So many of our sins are sins of despair. They’re not sins of malice; rather, they’re what I call practical despair. They’re sins where we say, “Given my life, I’m going to settle for second-best or third-best because ‘first best’ is never going to happen for me anyway.” My dad wasn’t very educated, but he knew the Agony in the Garden. There was always a picture hanging in our house of Jesus in Gethsemane.

What we get in the Garden of Gethsemane, is Jesus, deeply. That’s because Jesus is our model. He is the person we all look up to when we suffer—we know we’re not praying to somebody who didn’t taste it in all its darkness.

Remember the old translation of the Our Father? In place of “and lead us not into temptation,” we used to say, “and do not put us to the test.” What is the test?
We’re telling God something like, “God, in my life I know you can test me the way you tested Jesus. I know you can make me sweat blood, but cut me a little slack.
It’s not the test of our physical capacity to withstand pain.

That’s why we need to move beyond the scourging metaphor of the Stations of the Cross. There’s much more to the Stations. The Passion is not about the blood and the ropes and the whipping and how much Jesus endured. It’s about something we’re meant to imitate.

When Jesus left the Last Supper room, he couldn’t do it. That was the great transition. Only after he had broken down, had sweated the blood, had told his Father many times, “I don’t want to do this,” he finally broke down and accepted it. How many of us, in our own way, experience that frustration, that same sense of abandonment?
Yet, at the moment of acceptance, God’s liberating grace flows. As Luke says of Jesus in the Garden, the angel comes. That’s a deep theology of grace.

ACT OF REPARATION OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.

It is a very good devotion recite it all the month of June or anytime.

O Jesus, Divine Saviour, deign to cast a look of mercy upon Your children, who assemble in the same spirit of faith, reparation, and love, and come to deplore their own infidelities, and those of all poor sinners, their brethren.

May we touch Your Divine Heart by the unanimous and solemn promises we are about to make and obtain mercy for ourselves, for the world, and for all who are so unhappy as not to love You. We all promise that for the future:

For the forgetfulness and ingratitude of men, we will console You, O Lord.

For the way You are deserted in Your holy tabernacle, we will console You, O Lord.

For the crimes of sinners, we will console You, O Lord.

For the hatred of the impious, we will console You, O Lord.

For the blasphemies uttered against You, we will console You, O Lord.

For the sacrileges that profane Your Sacrament of Love, we will console You, O Lord.

For the outrages against Your divinity, we will console You, O Lord.

For the injuries of which You are the adorable Victim, we will console You, O Lord.

For the coldness of the greater part of your children, we will console You, O Lord.

For the contempt of your loving invitation, we will console You, O Lord.

For the infidelity of those who called themselves Your friends, we will console You, O Lord.

For the abuse of Your grace, we will console You, O Lord.

For our own unfaithfulness, we will console You, O Lord.

For the incomprehensible hardness of our hearts, we will console You, O Lord.

For our long delay in loving You, we will console You, O Lord.

For our tepidity in Your holy service, we will console You, O Lord.

For Your bitter sadness at the loss of souls, we will console You, O Lord.

For Your long waiting at the door of our hearts, we will console You, O Lord.

For the heartless scorn that grieves You, we will console You, O Lord.

For Your loving sighs, we will console You, O Lord.

For Your loving tears, we will console You, O Lord.

For Your loving imprisonment, we will console You, O Lord.

For Your loving death, we will console You, O Lord.

Let us pray:

O Jesus! Divine Saviour, from whose Heart comes forth this bitter complaint,
"I looked for one that would comfort me, and I found none,"
graciously accept the feeble consolation we offer You, and aid us so powerfully by your grace, that we may, for the time to come, shun more and more all that can displease You, and prove ourselves in everything, and everywhere, and forever Your most faithful and devoted servants. We ask it through Your Sacred Heart, O Lord, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit one God, world without end. Amen.


LITANY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.

In 1899 Pope Leo XIII approved this Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for public use. This litany is actually a synthesis of several other litanies dating back to the 17th century.

Father Croiset composed a litany in 1691 from which 17 invocations were used by Venerable Anne Madeleine Remuzat when she composed her litany in 1718 at Marseille. She joined an additional 10 invocations to those of Father Croiset, for a total of 27invocations.

Six more invocations written by Sister Madeleine Joly of Dijon in 1686 were added by the Sacred Congregation for Rites when it was approved for public use in 1899. This makes a total of 33 invocations, one for each year of life of our Lord Jesus Christ. A partial indulgence is attached to this litany.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.

God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, in whom are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells the fullness of divinity, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke Thee, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, obedient to death, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, our peace and our reconciliation, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in Thee, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, delight of all the Saints, have mercy on us.


Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,

V. Jesus, meek and humble of heart.

Almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Thy most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which He offers Thee in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Thy mercy, in Thy great goodness, grant forgiveness in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee forever and ever. Amen.

Act of Consecration to the Sacred heart of Jesus.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I consecrate myself to Your Most Sacred Heart. Take possession of my whole being; transform me into Yourself.
Make my hands Your hands, my feet Your feet, my heart Your heart. Let me see with Your eyes, listen with Your ears, speak with Your lips, love with Your heart, understand with Your mind, serve with Your will, and be dedicated with my whole being. Make me Your other self.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, send me Your Holy Spirit to teach me to love You and to live through You, with You, in You and for You.


Come, Holy Spirit, make my body Your temple. Come, and abide with me forever.
Give me the deepest love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus in order to serve Him with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength.
Take possession of all my faculties of body and soul. Regulate all my passions: feelings and emotions. Take possession of my intellect, understanding and will; my memory and imagination.
O Holy Spirit of Love, give me an abundance of Your efficacious graces.
Give me the fullness of all the virtues; enrich my faith, strengthen my hope, increase my trust, and inflame my love. Give me the fullness of Your sevenfold gifts, fruits and beatitudes. Most Holy Trinity, make my soul Your sanctuary.

THIRTY-FIVE SALUTATIONS TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.

Hail, Heart of Jesus! Save me.

Hail, Heart of my Creator! Perfect me.

Hail, Heart of my Savior! Deliver me.

Hail, Heart of my Judge! Pardon me.

Hail, Heart of my Father! Govern me.

Hail, Heart of my Spouse! Love me.

Hail, Heart of my Master! Teach me.

Hail, Heart of my King! Crown me.

Hail, Heart of my Benefactor! Enrich me.

Hail, Heart of my Pastor! Guard me.

Hail, Heart of my Friend! Caress me.

Hail, Heart of my Infant Jesus! Draw me to Thee.

Hail, Heart of Jesus, dying on the Cross! Ransom me.

Hail, Heart of Jesus! in all Thy states! Give Thyself to me.

Hail, Heart of my Brother! Dwell with me.

Hail, Heart of incomparable goodness! Pardon me.

Hail, Magnificent Heart! Shine forth in me.

Hail, Most amiable Heart! Embrace me.

Hail, Charitable Heart! Operate in me.

Hail, Merciful Heart! Answer for me.

Hail, Most Humble Heart! Repose in me.

Hail, Most Patient Heart! Bear with me.

Hail, Most Faithful Heart! Atone for me.

Hail, Most Admirable and Most Worthy Heart! Bless me.

Hail, Peaceful Heart! Calm me.

Hail, Most Desirable and Excellent Heart! Enrapture me.

Hail, Illustrious and Perfect Heart! Ennoble me.

Hail, Sacred Heart, Precious Balm! Preserve me.

Hail, Most Holy and Profitable Heart! Make me better.

Hail, Blessed Heart, Medicine and Remedy of our evils! Cure me.

Hail, Heart of Jesus, Solace of the afflicted! Console me.

Hail, Most loving Heart, burning Furnace! Consume me.

Hail, Heart of Jesus, Model of perfection! Enlighten me.

Hail, Heart of Jesus, Origin of all happiness! Fortify me.

Hail, Heart of eternal blessings! Call me to Thee.

O most Divine, most adorable and amiable Heart of Jesus, behold me humbly prostrate before Thee to adore, praise, bless and glorify Thee, and to recognize the rights of Thy sovereignty over me, by confessing and acknowledging my subjection and by my protestation of love and fidelity towards Thee.

I have a most ardent desire to love and please Thee, but to accomplish this is above my strength; do Thou help my weakness, and in Thy love and mercy, grant me the graces necessary to do it perfectly and the graces to pray and act and suffer in the purity of Thy love.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You!
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You!
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You!


PROMISES OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.

Of the many promises Our Lord Jesus Christ did reveal to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in favor of souls devoted to His Sacred Heart the principal ones are as follows:

1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.

2. I will give peace in their families.

3. I will console them in all their troubles.

4. I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.

5. I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.

6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.

7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.

8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.

9. I will bless those places wherein the image of
My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.

10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.

11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall
have their names eternally written in my Heart.

12. In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.

SACRED HEART OF JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU!