In my bedroom as a child, there hung an 8.5-by-11-inch framed picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I am not sure how it got there (I think it also hung in my father’s bedroom when he was a child), or where it is today, but it is a significant part of my early spiritual journey.
There was something about that image looking over me that gave me consolation, peace and inspiration – knowing that Jesus’ Sacred Heart was loving me, forgiving me and, ultimately, calling me.
The power of images is real, especially when we are young, to communicate supernatural truths that on their surface may be hard to understand. Why would Jesus be so passionate about loving me?
The bishops of the United States dedicated our entire country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11. In the days just prior to the celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday, my brother bishops and I entrust ourselves and all the people of this great nation to the merciful and loving care of Jesus. We realize that the more we all focus our attention on Jesus’ heart of love, the more likely we all are to seek His love and mercy and then share His love and mercy with a world so much in need.
To entrust us all to Jesus’ loving heart is to recognize, like the beloved disciple St. John, that we are most at home and at peace when our heads rest on the chest of Jesus, hearing the beat of the truest loving heart. This moment invites us to place our heads to rest on His Sacred Heart and experience the connection that is essential for our lives as beloved and our lives as lovers.
There are two lines in the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that have always stood out to me: “Heart of Jesus, salvation of all who trust in you… Have mercy on us; Heart of Jesus, hope of all who die in you… Have mercy on us.” The promise of a saved life every time we trust in Jesus, and the promise of eternal life when we die in Him, are the important moments of this life that make Jesus’ Sacred Heart beat on in ours.
Check your pulse and hear the beat of a heart that is now and forever dedicated to and connected with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and know that His mercy and love can and will transform us – and those with whom we share His powerful heart in this great land now consecrated to Him forever.
— Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv., leads the Diocese of Charlotte.
Watch the replay, get prayer resources and learn more: Consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
6 things to know about the Sacred Heart devotion
As the U.S. bishop prepare to consecrate the United States to Jesus' Sacred Heart June 11 during their spring meeting in Orlando, Florida, here are six things to know about devotion to the Sacred Heart.
1. The devotion has ancient roots. When the Roman soldier struck the crucified Jesus with his sword, blood and water flowed from his side. That blood and water have long been understood to symbolize an outpouring of God's grace. Over the centuries, saints and theologians produced writings reflecting on the Sacred Heart, but it remained a personal devotion.
2. The devotion spread due to the visions of a young French nun. Beginning in 1673, Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque of the Visitation order at Paray-le-Monial, France, experienced a series of visions of Jesus over the span of 18 months. In those visions, Jesus displayed his Sacred Heart as a symbol of his love, and he told her to work to universalize devotion to his heart. These visions are the basis for the First Friday devotions and the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus we have today. The image of the Sacred Heart as a wounded heart afire, encircled by a crown of thorns and surmounted by a cross, also came from those revelations. St. Margaret Mary was canonized in 1920.
3. The devotion is rooted in prayer, liturgy and acts of reparation. St. Margaret Mary said Jesus told her that despite loving mankind so much that he gave his life for them, he was being treated with irreverence, coldness and ingratitude. He wanted the world to recognize the love he continually poured out for them symbolized by his Sacred Heart and for mankind to make amends for their ingratitude. Jesus urged St. Margaret Mary to begin a personal devotion to his divine heart by receiving holy Communion every first Friday and spending an hour in prayer the night before, both focused on seeking his pardon and making prayerful reparations for mankind's desertion of his love.
4. The devotion includes 12 promises. Jesus shared with St. Margaret Mary 12 promises he pledged to those who developed and shared a devotion to his Sacred Heart. They are: I (Jesus) I will give them the graces necessary for their state of life; I will establish peace in their homes; I will comfort them in all their afflictions; I will be their strength in life and especially in death; I will bless their undertakings; sinners shall find in my heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy; tepid souls shall grow fervent; fervent souls shall quickly advance toward perfection; I will bless every place where an image of my heart is honored; I will give priests the gift of reaching even the most hardened hearts; those who promote this devotion will have their names written in my heart; those who receive Communion on nine consecutive First Fridays will receive the grace of final perseverance."
5. Jesuits helped the devotion gain official approval. When St. Margaret Mary first attempted to explain the visions, many around her were skeptical. It was St. Claude de la Colombiere, her Jesuit spiritual adviser, who recognized her holiness, fervor and sincerity. However, even when she was believed, as a cloistered nun there was little she could do to foster her visions outside of her order. The devotion was also promoted by the non-Jesuit priest St. John Eudes, a former Oratorian who founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and Sisters of Charity of the Refuge. Universal approval eventually came from the Vatican in August 1856 during the reign of Pope Pius IX. In 1899, Pope Leo XIII, encouraged by Catholics around the world, consecrated the human race to the Sacred Heart. The Jesuit order officially decreed in 1883 that its members had a particular role in promoting Jesus' Sacred Heart, and in 1915, it linked this work to the Apostleship of Prayer, now known as the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, which is entrusted to the order.
6. The annual feast of the Sacred Heart occurs in June. The solemnity of the Sacred Heart falls on the third Friday following the feast of Pentecost, this year June 12. In one vision, Jesus asked St. Margaret Mary to establish a Church feast day to honor his Sacred Heart. On that day, those faithful to Jesus would attend Mass, receive holy Communion, profess their love and offer reparations for the way he had been insulted by mankind. A solemnity is the highest ranking feast on the Church calendar. The Church also dedicates First Fridays and the month of June to the Sacred Heart.