Feast Of The Sacred Heart Of Jesus

What is it?

From The Roman Missal, 1962:

The Feast of the Sacred Heart was established in order that the faithful might honour with more devotion and zeal, under the symbol of the Sacred Heart, the love of Jesus Christ, which induced Him not only to suffer and to die for the redemption of mankind, but also to institute the Sacrament of His Body and Blood in commemoration of His death.

Though the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is of great antiquity in the Church, yet it was reserved to the holy Margaret Mary Alacoque, of the Order of the Visitation, to make this devotion public. During the Octave of Corpus Christi, in the year 1690, our Blessed Lord appeared to His devoted handmaid, and disclosing to her His heart, said: "Behold this Heart, which, not withstanding the burning love for man with which it is consumed and exhausted, meets with no other return from the generality of Christians than sacrilege, contempt, indifference and ingratitude." But what will it avail us to have listened to these so just complaints of our Saviour, if we are not moved with compassion, and generously resolved to testify our sorrow for our past indifference by honouring His Sacred Heart, and by repairing, as far as lies in our power, the insults to which His ardent desire to dwell with the children of men daily eposes Him in the august Sacrament of His love? If gratitude to the God who suffered such torments for our salvation does not incline us to accept His gracious invitation, and to rank ourselves among the number of His adorers, at least let the recollection of the many spiritual advantages to be derived from devotion to the Sacred Heart, induce us to pray fervently and humbly, that He, who has Himself declared that it was a last effort of His love for man that induced Him to discover to them the treasures of His Heart, may infuse into our souls the great gift of true compassion for His Most Sacred Heart.

An Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

I give myself and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, my person and my life, my actions, pains and sufferings, so that I may be unwilling to make use of any part of my being other than to honor, love and glorify the Sacred Heart. This is my unchanging purpose, namely, to be all His, and to do all things for the love of Him, at the same time renouncing with all my heart whatever is displeasing to Him.

I therefore take You, O Sacred heart, to be the only object of my love, the guardian of my life, my assurance of salvation, the remedy of my weakness and inconstancy, the atonement for all the faults of my life and my sure refuge at the hour of death.

Be then, O Heart of goodness, my justification before God the Father, and turn away from me the strokes of his righteous anger. O Heart of love, I put all my confidence in You, for I fear everything from my own wickedness and frailty, but I hope for all things from Your goodness and bounty.

Remove from me all that can displease You or resist Your holy will; let your pure love imprint Your image so deeply upon my heart, that I shall never be able to forget You or to be separated from You.

May I obtain from all Your loving kindness the grace of having my name written in Your Heart, for in You I desire to place all my happiness and glory, living and dying in bondage to You.

Amen.