Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From the Missal:
The Feast of the Sacred Heart was established in order that the faithful might honor with more devotions and zeal, under the symbol of the Sacred Heart, the love of Jesus Christ, which induced Him not only to suffer and to die for the redemption of mankind, but also to institute the Sacrament of His Body and Blood in commemoration of His death.
Though the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is of great antiquity in the Church, yet it was reserved to the holy Margaret Mary Alacoque, of the Order of the Visitation, to make this devotion public. During the Octave of Corpus Christi, in the year 1690, our Blessed Lord appeared to His devoted handmaid, and disclosing to her His Heart, said: “Behold this Heart, which, notwithstanding the burning love for man with which it is consumed and exhausted, meets with no other return from the generality of Christians than sacrilege, contempt, indifference and ingratitude.” But what will it avail us to have listened to these so just complaints of our Savior, if we are not moved with compassion, and generously resolved to testify our sorrow for our past indifference by honoring His Sacred Heart, and by repairing, as far as lies in our power, the insults to which His ardent desire to dwell with the children of men daily exposes Him in the august Sacrament of His love? If gratitude to the God Who suffered such torments for our salvation, does not incline us to accept His gracious invitation, and to rank ourselves among the number of His adorers, at least let the recollection of the many spiritual advantages to be derived from devotion to the Sacred Heart, induce us to pray fervently and humbly, that He, Who has Himself declared that it was a last effort of His love for man that induced Him to discover to them the treasures of His Heart, may infuse into our souls the great gift of true compassion for His Most Sacred Heart.
If you have not yet enthroned the Sacred Heart of Jesus in your home, today would be an excellent day to do it.
Daily Prayer to the Sacred Heart
0 Sacred Heart of Jesus, mercifully accept the prayer which I now make to You for help in the moment of my death, when at its approach all my senses shall fail me.
When, therefore, 0 kind and merciful Jesus, my weary and downcast eyes can no longer look up to You, be mindful of the loving gaze which I now turn to You, and have mercy on me, a sinner.
When my parched lips can no longer kiss your most sacred wounds, remember that hour those kisses which I now imprint on You, and have mercy on me, a sinner.
When my cold hands can no longer embrace Your cross, forget not the affection with which I embrace it now, and have mercy upon me, a sinner. When my swollen and lifeless tongue can no longer speak, remember that I called upon You now, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, to you I commend my soul.
0 Sacred Heart of Jesus, filled with infinite love, broken by my ingratitude and pierced by my many sins and yet loving you still, accept this act of consecration that I make to You of all that I am and all that I have. Take every faculty of my soul and body, draw me day by day near and nearer to Your Sacred Heart, and there, as I can bear the lesson, teach me Your blessed way.
0 Sacred Heart of Jesus, Incarnate Son of God, who for our salvation did vouchsafe to be born in a stable, to pass Your life in poverty, trials, and misery, and to die amid the sufferings of the cross, I entreat You, in the hour of my death to say to Your divine Father, “Father forgive Him”; Say to my soul, “This day you to shall be with me in Paradise.” My God, my God forsake me not in that hour. “I thirst”-truly, my God, my soul thirsts after You, who are the fountain of living waters. My life passes like a shadow; yet a little while and all will be consummated. Wherefore, my adorable Savior from this moment, and for all eternity, “into your hands I commend my spirit.” Lord Jesus, receive my soul.
O Queen of the Holy Rosary and most kind and loving Mother of Perpetual Help, in memory of your Seven Sorrows, intercede for us with your divine Son and beg Him, in honor of His precious blood and sacred passion and death upon the cross, to forgive our sins and grant us the grace of a holy and happy death. Amen. (Say one Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.)
