The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

THE Solemnity OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS

The Solemnity of The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most widely practiced and well-known devotions in the Roman Catholic Church. It takes the physical heart of Jesus as representation of His Divine love for humanity. The Feast of the Sacred Heart has been in the Roman Catholic Liturgical calendar since 1856, and is always celebrated 19 days after Pentecost Sunday. The feast of the Sacred Heart always falls on a Friday. The devotion especially emphasizes the unmitigated love, compassion, and long-suffering of the heart of Christ towards humanity.

The origin of the devotion

The origin of the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart in the modern form, derived for a French Roman Catholic Saint, St. Marguerite Marie Alacoque, whose feast day is October 16. She learned the devotion from Jesus during a mystical experience.

Her revelations were numerous. On December 27, 1673, Margaret Mary reported that Jesus permitted her to rest her head upon His heart, and then disclosed to her the wonders of his love, telling her that he desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of his goodness, and that he had chosen her for this work.

In July 1674, Jesus requested to be honored under the figure of His heart, also saying when He appeared radiant with love, He asked for a devotion of expiatory love, frequent reception of Holy Communion, especially Holy Communion on the First Friday of the month, and the Observance of Holy Hours.

Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ

In the Roman Catholic tradition, devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus has been closely associated with Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ. In his Encyclical, “Miserentissimus Redemptor”, Pope Pius XI stated, “The spirit of expiation or reparation has always had the first and foremost place in the worship given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus”. The “Golden Arrow Prayer” directly refers to the Sacred Heart.

THE GOLDEN ARROW PRAYER

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.

The REPARATION PRAYER

Eternal Father, turn away Thy angry gaze from our guilty people whose face has become unsightly in Thine eyes. Look instead upon the Face of Thy Beloved Son, for this is the Face of Him in Whom Thou art well pleased. We now offer Thee this Holy Face, covered with shame and disfigured by bloody bruises in reparation for the crimes of our age in order to appease Thine anger, justly provoked against us. Because Thy Divine Son, our Redeemer, has taken upon His Head all the sins of His members, that they might be spared, we now beg of Thee, Eternal Father, to grant us mercy. Amen.