Image: Wikimedia Commons
Biography
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Latin: Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is predominantly used in the Catholic Church, followed by high church Anglicans, and some Western Rite Orthodox. In the Latin Church, the liturgical Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the third Friday after Pentecost. The 12 promises of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are also popular. The devotion is especially concerned with what the church deems to be the long-suffering love and compassion of the heart of Christ towards humanity. The popularization of this devotion in its modern form is derived from a Roman Catholic nun from France, Margaret Mary Alacoque, who said she learned the devotion from Jesus during a series of apparitions to her between 1673 and 1675, and later, in the 19th century, from the mystical revelations of another Catholic nun in Portugal, Mary of the Divine Heart, a religious sister of the congregation of the Good Shepherd, who requested in the name of Christ that Pope Leo XIII consecrate the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Predecessors to the modern devotion arose unmistakably in the Middle Ages in various facets of Catholic mysticism, particularly with Gertrude the Great. The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming heart shining with divine light, pierced by the lance-wound, encircled by the crown of thorns, surmounted by a cross, and bleeding. Sometimes, the image is shown shining within the bosom of Christ with his wounded hands pointing at the heart. The wounds and crown of thorns allude to the manner of Christ's passion, while the flames represent a furnace of ardent love. Historically, the devotion to the Sacred Heart is an outgrowth of devotion to what is believed to be Christ's sacred humanity.
Prayers
Prayer for a Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
novenaDivine Jesus, Who hast said: "Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," behold me prostrate at Thy feet, animated with a lively faith and confidence in these promises, dictated by Thy sacred Heart and pronounced by Thy adorable lips. I come to ask [here mention the request]. To whom can I address myself if not to Thee, Whose Heart is an inexhaustible source of all graces and merits? Where should I seek for graces if not in the treasure-house which contains all the riches of Thy clemency and bounty? Where must I knock if it be not at the door through which God communicates Himself to us and through which we go to God? To Thee, then, O Heart of Jesus, I have recourse; in Thee I find consolation when afflicted, protection when persecuted, strength when overwhelmed with trials, and light in the darkness of doubt. Relying on Thy goodness and power, O my Jesus, I hope to obtain the favor I request. I am not worthy of any special graces, because I have so often offended Thee. But, then, Thou art the God of mercy, and Thou wilt not refuse a contrite heart. I love Thee truly now above all things, and my one desire is to please Thee, and to serve Thee faithfully all the days of my life. Cast upon me a look of mercy, I conjure Thee, and Thy compassionate Heart will find in my miseries and weakness a pressing motive for granting my petition. O Sacred Heart, whatever may be Thy decision with regard to my request, I will never cease to adore, love, praise, and serve Thee. Deign, my Jesus, to accept this, my act of perfect submission to the decrees of Thy adorable Heart, which I sincerely desire may be fulfilled in and by me, and all Thy creatures, forever and ever. Amen.
— Blessed Sacrament Book (F.X. Lasance), 1913 edition, p. 983 (Prayer for a Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus)
Patronages
No patronages on file. (See the documentation/patronage-data-plan.md for the gap-fill plan.)