The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a symbol of Christ's profound love and self-giving for us. It is often represented as a human heart surrounded by thorns, recalling Jesus' suffering and Passion in his life and death on the Cross.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart developed especially in seventeenth-century France through the visions received by Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun. She testified that Jesus showed her his Heart and asked that devotion to it be promoted. Since then, the Sacred Heart has become one of the best-known devotions in the Catholic Church and the subject of many prayers and meditations.
This devotion rests on Jesus' love and mercy and on his desire that every person draw close to him and to the Father. The faithful often pray special prayers and make acts of love and loyalty to Jesus. The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the Friday after the second Sunday following Pentecost.
Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Sacred Heart of Jesus, we place all our hope in you. We know our fragility and trust in your goodness. You are the object of our love, the Savior of our lives, the one who sustains us in weakness, forgives our faults, rescues us when we are overwhelmed, and is our refuge in the hour of death.
Amen.
Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Bernardo de Hoyos
O Heart of my most beloved Jesus, Heart most worthy of all my adoration and love. Desiring to repair and erase the many grave injuries committed against you, and to flee as far as I can from the vice of ingratitude, I give and consecrate entirely to you my heart with all its affections, and myself with all that I am.
I sincerely desire from this moment onward to forget myself and all that is mine, so that, with every obstacle removed, I may enter your most holy Heart, which in your singular mercy you have opened to me, and dwell there in life and in death with your faithful servants.
Consecration to the Sacred Heart by Saint John Paul II
Lord Jesus Christ, Redeemer of the human race, we turn to your Most Sacred Heart with humility and trust, reverence and hope, and a deep desire to give you glory, honor, and praise.
Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, we thank you for all that you are and all that you do.
Most high Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, we praise you for the love revealed through your Sacred Heart, pierced for us and made the source of our joy and the fountain of eternal life.
Gathered in your name, which is above every name, we consecrate ourselves to your Most Sacred Heart, in which the fullness of truth and charity dwells.
By consecrating ourselves to you, we renew our desire to respond with love to the abundant outpouring of your merciful love.
Lord Jesus Christ, King of Love and Prince of Peace, reign in our hearts and homes. Conquer every power of evil and lead us to share in the victory of your Sacred Heart. May we all proclaim and give glory to you, to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit, the one God who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.