Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you

A Catholic thinker once wrote, “God is charity, and hence the mere enunciation of the most holy name of Jesus recalls the idea of love.” It is this all-encompassing love that led our Lord to become a man. 

It also led to the passion with which he lived in abject poverty the first 33 years of his life. The love with which he blessed, cured and healed during three grueling years of evangelization, reaping mostly ingratitude in response. The passion with which he instituted the Holy Eucharist. The love with which he died on the cross for our salvation. And, finally, the love with which he bestowed on humanity the supreme grace of a Heavenly Mother.

When the Church venerates the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it is rejoicing in his love for us. Devotion to the Sacred Heart, according to the “Catholic Encyclopedia,” began to grow strongly in the 11th and 12th centuries and reached a peak in the 1600s due to the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690). 

Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary several times. He allowed her to rest her head upon his heart and asked of her a series of observances dedicated toward honoring, loving and making reparation to his Sacred Heart. The ingratitude of humanity wounded Jesus’ heart despite all the love and mercy Jesus had extended them. 

The Catholic Encyclopedia informs us that Jesus asked that we honor him under the figure of his heart of flesh. He requested frequent communion on the first Friday of each month, and he asked for Eucharistic Adoration during a holy hour (11 p.m.-12 a.m.) on each Thursday before the First Friday of each month. Additionally, Jesus requested the celebration of a feast of reparation (Feast of the Sacred Heart) on the Friday after the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi. 

The Lord revealed to Margaret Mary the following 12 promises to those souls who would honor His Sacred Heart:

1. I will give them all the graces necessary to their state in life.
2. I will establish peace in their homes.
3. I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
4. I will be their secure refuge during life and above all in death.
5. I will bestow a large blessing upon all their undertakings. 
6. Sinners shall find in my heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls will grow fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
9. I will bless every place where a picture of my heart shall be set up and honored.   
10. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my heart, never to be blotted out.
12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of my heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the first Friday in nine consecutive months, the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace nor without receiving their sacraments; my divine heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment. 

St. Margaret Mary wrote an “Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”  We, in our quest to find our true vocation in life (the priesthood, the consecrated life, married life, or single life), we will do well to pray this Act of Consecration and ask the Sacred Heart of Jesus to guide us as we strive to do His holy will and to make the most important choice of our vocation in life. 

Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus St. Margaret Mary  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 commitment to the Sacred Heart of Jesus 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 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.