June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Strengthen your relationship with Christ. Focus on his love and sacrifice for us.
The Feast of the Sacred Heart will be celebrated on Friday, June 27th (always the Friday after Corpus Christi Sunday and the second Sunday after Pentecost). The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus began centuries ago, the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus began to soar in the 1670s after Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque of France, revealing the depth of his love. (Read your June 22nd FaithInWV for more about the feast day and reflections to help your devotion.)
In October, Pope Francis released his fourth and what became his last encyclical “Dilexit Nos” (He Loved Us), which focused on the Sacred Heart of Jesus for a world “which seems to have lost its heart.”
He wrote about how our world today is scarred by war, social unrest, consumerism, and division. He urged humanity to pause, refresh, and rediscover the essential heart – the Heart of Jesus Christ.
During his pontificate, Pope Francis had a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart relating it to the priestly mission and the mission of the Church – each one of us.
He wrote, “For Francis de Sales, true devotion had nothing to do with superstition or perfunctory piety, since it entails a personal relationship in which each of us feels uniquely and individually known and loved by Christ. ‘This most adorable and lovable heart of our Master, burning with the love which he professes to us, [is] a heart on which all our names are written… Surely it is a source of profound consolation to know that we are loved so deeply by our Lord, who constantly carries us in his heart’. With the image of our names written on the heart of Christ, Saint Francis sought to express the extent to which Christ’s love for each of us is not something abstract and generic, but utterly personal, enabling each believer to feel known and respected for who he or she is. (Dilexit Nos 115).
“Christ’s love can give a heart to our world and revive love wherever we think that the ability to love has been definitively lost. (Dilexit Nos 218).
“The Church also needs that love, lest the love of Christ be replaced with outdated structures and concerns, excessive attachment to our own ideas and opinions, and fanaticism in any number of forms, which end up taking the place of the gratuitous love of God that liberates, enlivens, brings joy to the heart and builds communities. The wounded side of Christ continues to pour forth that stream, which is never exhausted, never passes away, but offers itself time and time again to all those who wish to love as he did. For his love alone can bring about a new humanity.” (Dilexit Nos 219)Prayer to the Sacred Heart
O most holy Heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing,
I adore you, I love you and with a lively sorrow for my sins.
I offer you this poor heart of mine.
Make me humble, patient, pure, and wholly obedient to your will.
Grant, good Jesus, that I may live in you and for you.
Protect me in the midst of danger; comfort me in my afflictions;
give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs,
your blessings on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death.
Within your heart I place my every care.
In every need let me come to you with humble trust saying,
Heart of Jesus, help me.
Amen.
