Second Friday after Trinity Sunday—Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

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The heart is a common symbol of love in our day, used in song and poetry, as well as everyday speech. So, it should be no surprise that the Church has a feast day dedicated to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the one who loves us beyond love. The most significant promoter of the devotion to the Sacred Heart was St. Margraret Mary Alacoque of France in the 17th century. She received apparitions of the Sacred Heart and promoted its devotion. 

The first papal approval came from Pope Innocent VI in 1353 when he instituted a Mass in honor of the Sacred Heart. Pope Pius IX authorized the feast for the whole Church in 1856. Pope Leo XIII decreed a consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1899 as well as First Friday Devotions. Pope Pius XII wrote a letter instructing the Church on the devotion to the Sacred Heart in 1956 and Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the importance of this devotion in 2006. 

Pope Benedict wrote, “When we practice this devotion, not only do we recognize God's love with gratitude but we continue to open ourselves to this love so that our lives are ever more closely patterned upon it. God, who poured out his love ‘into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us’ (cf. Rom 5: 5), invites us tirelessly to accept his love. The main aim of the invitation to give ourselves entirely to the saving love of Christ and to consecrate ourselves to it is, consequently, to bring about our relationship with God. This explains why the devotion, which is totally oriented to the love of God who sacrificed himself for us, has an irreplaceable importance for our faith and for our life in love.”

*https://live.staticflickr.com/2327/2317894926_8585f50d6b_c.jpg

Friday Following the Second Sunday After Pentecost—Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

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“The veneration of the Sacred Heart is a summary of all our religion and, moreover, a guide to a more perfect life. It more easily leads our minds to know Christ the Lord intimately and more effectively turns our hearts to love him more ardently and to imitate Him more perfectly” (Pope Pius XI, 1928). So that is all you need to know.

But wait, there’s more! The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus came from devotion to the humanity of Jesus, but it developed from the devotion to the Passion of Jesus and the Sacred Wounds. Many saints fostered this devotion, including St. Bonaventure, St. John Eudes, and the mystics St. Lutgarde, St. Mechtilde and St. Gertrude the Great. But the saint who promoted it in its modern form is St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. She had a vision of Jesus showing his heart in flames—“a sign of his burning love for the souls He had ransomed with his sacrifice on the Cross.” With the help of the Jesuit, St. Claude de la Colombière, she fostered the devotion to the point where it was liturgically celebrated in 1670, established as a feast for the whole Church in 1856, and raised to the highest rank of solemnity in 1928. Since 2002, it is also a special Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests.

That’s the theology and history, but what about its place in our hearts? Jesus’ Sacred Heart is a sign of his complete love for us. Further, the entire month of June is the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This guides us away from the secular celebration of “Pride” month, pride being the worst of the seven deadly sins! Love is about humility, service, and sacrifice, all of which are shown through Jesus’ Sacred Heart.

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October 16--St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Religious

“From the depth of my nothingness, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, to pay Thee all the homage of love, praise and adoration in my power.  Amen.” 

 So prayed today’s saint of the day, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. She entered religious life near the age of 24 in 1671. She had visions of Jesus in her youth, which she thought was normal. But after her entrance into the convent, she had visions in which Jesus wanted her to establish devotion to His Sacred Heart. She maintained a Holy Hour from eleven till midnight on Thursday before the first Friday of every month. He appointed the Friday after the feast of Corpus Christi as the feast of His Sacred Heart. She died in 1690 and was canonized in 1920.

First Friday devotions, Holy Hours, Devotion to the Sacred Heart; all of these can be attributed to God’s work through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is devotion to the love of Christ. “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16). All the love God has for us has been fully revealed through Jesus, who suffered, died, rose, and ascended into Heaven. God calls us to love him in return. We love him in himself through adoration, prayer, and reception of the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist. But we also love him in one another through the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. We are called to pray and work for the coming of the Kingdom of God. We would do well to follow St. Margaret Mary in her devotion to Our Lord’s Most Sacred Heart.