May 26, 2026 // Bishop
Reviving Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
As Our Nation’s Bishops Prepare to Consecrate the U.S., Bishop Rhoades Explains Why Turning to the Heart of Christ Is Vital for the World Today.
This past November at the 2025 plenary assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore, I presented a proposal on behalf of the USCCB Committee on Religious Liberty that we consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus during our June assembly in 2026, the 250th anniversary of our nation’s Declaration of Independence. My brother bishops enthusiastically endorsed this proposal.
In consecrating our nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus during the semiquincentennial anniversary, we will be entrusting our nation to the love and care of Jesus, the Redeemer of the World. At the same time, the consecration will be a reminder to Catholics of our task to serve our nation by “perfecting the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel,” as taught by the Second Vatican Council.
A Tradition of Consecration
In his fourth and last encyclical, Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis brought devotion to the Sacred Heart to the forefront of Catholic life as the ultimate symbol of “the human and divine love” of the Heart of Jesus. And in his first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te, Pope Leo XIV invites us to contemplate Christ’s love, which moves us to mission in our suffering world today. Pope Leo’s predecessor and namesake, Pope Leo XIII, had taught that “there is in the Sacred Heart a symbol and a sensible image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love one another.” He encouraged individuals to make an act of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus when he consecrated the whole world to the Sacred Heart in 1899. Leo XIII reminded all that “whatever honor, veneration and love is given to this divine Heart is really and truly given to Christ Himself.” Drawing on the teaching of Pope Leo XIII, Pope Pius XI referred to the “pious custom” of consecrating the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a way to recognize the kingship of Christ.
The consecration of our nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 2026 is an opportunity to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart in our families, parishes, schools and other institutions. This devotion has profound spiritual and theological depth. The Heart of Jesus expresses the very core of Christianity, the Good News of God’s passionate love for humanity revealed in the Incarnation of His Son and in His redemption of humanity by loving us “to the end” (Jn 13:1). The Heart of Jesus, pierced by the soldier’s spear, became the fountain of life and holiness communicated to us in baptism and the Eucharist, “the two fundamental sacraments by which the Church lives.” In Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis proposed to the whole Church “renewed reflection on the love of Christ represented in His Sacred Heart. For there we find the whole Gospel, a synthesis of the truths of our faith, all that we adore and seek in faith, all that responds to our deepest needs” (No. 89).
A Heritage of Faith
Catechesis for people of all ages is important in our efforts to renew devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at this time. I would like to share the place of the Sacred Heart in my personal spiritual journey as a way to illustrate the benefits and fruits of this devotion.
My earliest memories of the Sacred Heart are from my childhood, both at home and in my Catholic grade school. Sacred Heart devotion was a natural part of the spiritual life of the Catholic side of my family, my mother’s side, specifically my maternal grandmother, Sarah, who was of Irish ancestry. In fact, I was given a Sacred Heart badge that her father, Bernard (my great-grandfather), always carried in his pocket and which I now carry in my pocket. This is not a superstitious amulet; it is a sacramental reminder of the Lord’s love in the daily affairs of life. Bernard had a hard life as a coal miner in the mountains of Pennsylvania, where I was born. He and his wife, Anna, raised Sarah and her siblings in a loving home in which the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was enthroned. In their poor and humble circumstances, they were rich in what matters most: the gifts of faith, hope, and love, the foundational virtues of the Christian life.
Sarah married an immigrant from Greece named Kiriakos (“Carl” in English), who was of the Greek Orthodox faith. They, too, enthroned the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in their home, raising my mother and her siblings in the Catholic faith. Though the Orthodox do not have an explicit, formalized devotion to the Sacred Heart as a spiritual or liturgical focus, they have a rich tradition of liturgy and prayer that honors the love and mercy of God that the Sacred Heart symbolizes. Our Orthodox brothers and sisters, like our Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters, venerate the pierced side of Jesus in icons and also view the blood and water flowing from it as profound symbols of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, the outpouring of God’s grace upon the Church.
My heart is filled with gratitude when I reflect on the faith of my ancestors. My mother, along with her brothers and sisters, received and beautifully passed on this faith as well. I am grateful to all of them for teaching their children, by word and example, to trust in the goodness and love of the Heart of Jesus. I pray that, like our ancestors in the faith, we, too, will pass on such firm faith and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, “aflame with love for us, source of justice and love, and fountain of life and salvation” (Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus).
A Deepening Devotion
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was also a prominent part of the spiritual life of the Catholic elementary school I attended in the 1960s, St. Mary’s School in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The Sisters of St. Joseph instilled in us this devotion. Every day began with the recitation of the Morning Offering, a prayer that has remained with me since first grade. We would look at the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in our classrooms as we offered our “prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of the day for all the intentions of His Sacred Heart,” and we did so “through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” I learned from that early age to understand the Immaculate Heart of Mary as intimately linked to her Son’s Sacred Heart.
I remember with much gratitude also the strong Catholic education I received at Lebanon Catholic High School in the early 1970s. Though it was a confusing time for the Church, especially liturgically, we were already firmly grounded in our faith. And while it became less common to pray to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the devotion remained, and we still had Sacred Heart statues and images to remind us of the Lord’s love. At my 50th high school class reunion last summer, while reminiscing about our grade school and high school years, I initiated a conversation with some classmates about the spiritual formation we received. Many shared that they still pray the Morning Offering at the beginning of the day.
In college, while I was discerning the vocation to the priesthood, I began to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which remains to this day my favorite litany, especially to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. Each invocation and its biblical root can be an object for spiritual reflection.
In the seminary, I was introduced to theological works and papal encyclicals on the Sacred Heart of Jesus by my Jesuit professors at the Gregorian University in Rome. The Society of Jesus is renowned for promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart, beginning with St. Claude de la Colombiere, the Jesuit spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the humble Visitation nun who received apparitions of Jesus and His Sacred Heart in the 17th century. St. Claude defended the authenticity of these apparitions and explained and spread the messages St. Margaret Mary received about the overwhelming mystery of Christ’s divine and human love.
Through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Claude was already steeped in the tradition of contemplation of Christ’s love through meditation on the Gospel accounts of Our Lord’s words and actions, culminating in meditation on the Crucifixion and the wounded side of Jesus crucified. Pope Francis wrote: “St. Ignatius brings his contemplation to a crescendo at the foot of the cross and invites the retreatant to ask the crucified Lord with great affection, ‘as one friend to another, as a servant to his master,’ what he or she must do for Him” (Dilexit Nos, No. 145).
Invitation and Reparation
One of my favorite places to pray as a seminarian and young student priest in Rome was before a famous image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in a side chapel of the Jesuit Church of the Gesu. It is an 18th-century painting by Pompeo Batoni that depicts Jesus holding out His pierced right hand toward His enflamed heart, which He holds in His left hand as it emits a luminous glow. His heart has a little cross on top and is surrounded with a crown of thorns. I find it consoling to pray before this image and to listen in my heart to Jesus’ words: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Mt 11:28–20). These words of Jesus are a call to friendship with Him and to discipleship. Devotion to the Sacred Heart deepens this friendship.
Reparation is an essential part of the Sacred Heart devotion. We must remember that Christ’s Heart “was pierced for our sins,” as the prophet Isaiah foretold about the Suffering Servant (Is 53:5). And St. John quotes the messianic prophecy of Zechariah in his account of the Crucifixion: “They will look on Him whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:37; cf. Zec 12:10). Devotion to the Sacred Heart encourages contemplation of the wounded, loving Heart of Jesus and fosters a desire to make reparation for sins. Our Savior’s pierced Heart invites us to return to Our Father’s love with repentance.
Through His death on the Cross, Jesus, the new Adam, “[makes] amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 411). As members of His Body, the Church, we join with Him in making amends for sin — our own sins and those of others. We make amends to His Sacred Heart by uniting our sufferings, prayers, and penitential acts with His perfect atonement on the cross. I remember when growing up how this was emphasized in our observance of Fridays, the day of Our Lord’s death. It is a practice I hope we can revive today. Pope Francis wrote: “In union with Christ, amid the ruins we have left in this world by our sins, we are called to build a new civilization of love. That is what it means to make reparation as the heart of Christ would have us do. Amid the devastation wrought by evil, the heart of Christ desires that we cooperate with Him in restoring goodness and beauty to our world” (Dilexit Nos, No 182). In this semiquincentennial of the United States of America, with our consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, may we cooperate with Jesus in restoring goodness and beauty to our nation, which has been harmed by sins of violence, racism, greed, and disregard for the dignity of the unborn and immigrants. May our prayers and acts of reparation also help heal the harmful divisions in our political and media culture.
The Miracle Man of Notre Dame
One of the many blessings of my ministry as bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend is serving the University of Notre Dame. It is well-known both that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the patroness of the university (its French name, “Notre Dame du Lac,” means “Our Lady of the Lake”) and that there is a strong tradition of Marian devotion there. What is perhaps less known is the deep devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus throughout the history of the university. The beautiful church adjacent to the campus’s Main Building was named in honor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Notre Dame’s founder, Father Edward Sorin, in 1875, and was consecrated by Fort Wayne Bishop Joseph Dwenger in 1888. Pope St. John Paul II designated the church a minor basilica in 1992.
Father Sorin considered the Lady Chapel (also called the Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), located in the apse of the church, to be the heart of the university, “the center of all campus devotions and the source of all blessings” at Notre Dame. The stained glass windows of the chapel depict biblical scenes associated with the Sacred Heart of Jesus as well as scenes of the apparitions to St. Margaret Mary. One window depicts the consecration of the city of Marseilles to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1720 during a terrible outbreak of the bubonic plague. During this time, the bishop of Marseilles distributed Sacred Heart badges, and new cases of the illness reportedly stopped. These badges became popular in France and around the world as reminders of our Lord’s love and protection.
The Sacred Heart badges became very popular at Notre Dame due to their distribution by a humble Holy Cross religious, Brother Columba O’Neill. Born John O’Neill, he was raised by his Irish immigrant parents in a very small town in the coal regions of Pennsylvania, near to my own birthplace. His father was a coal miner like my ancestors. Undoubtedly, John also imbibed the Sacred Heart devotion from his parents. He was not able to work in the mines due to his being born with deformities of his feet, so he became a cobbler instead. Called to the religious life, he entered the Congregation of Holy Cross at Notre Dame in 1874. After his final vows, Brother Columba worked at an orphanage in Lafayette, Indiana, for nine years, then returned to Notre Dame, where he worked repairing shoes until his death in 1923.
When students and others in the community would come to Brother Columba for new shoes or to get their shoes repaired, he would give them badges he had made of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and he would encourage them to pray certain prayers. Cures and favors began to be reported by those who had prayed with the Sacred Heart badges he had given them. Word spread beyond South Bend. People from near and far in need of healing or other graces would visit or write to Brother Columba asking for Sacred Heart badges and prayers.
The archives of the Brothers of Holy Cross at Notre Dame contain some 8,000 letters written to Brother Columba, many testifying to physical, spiritual, and psychological healings following his instruction to pray to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Just as St. André Bessette, another Holy Cross brother, was known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal” through his prayers and devotion to St. Joseph, Brother Columba O’Neill became known as the “Miracle Man of Notre Dame” through his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Brother Columba’s confreres in Holy Cross and others who knew him witnessed his exemplary religious life of poverty, chastity, and obedience, his humility, his boundless trust in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, his devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and his love and compassion for all who came to him with their needs. I accepted the petition of the Congregation of Holy Cross to pursue the cause for his canonization and opened the diocesan inquiry into his cause in April of 2025. We have already seen much interest in his cause, including among many Notre Dame students who not only wish to learn more about Brother Columba but are also eager to learn more about the Church’s doctrine and Catholic theology regarding the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Several are now carrying Sacred Heart badges and praying that Brother Columba will become Notre Dame’s first canonized saint.
The Sacred Heart for a Living Mission
I cannot help but see all that is happening at this time as providential: Pope Francis’ encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the opening of Brother Columba’s cause for canonization, and the upcoming consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart. And all this is happening immediately after the Eucharistic Revival here in our country. This is significant since devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is intrinsically Eucharistic. As Pope St. Paul VI taught, the Eucharist is “the outstanding gift of the Heart of Jesus” (Investigabiles Divitias Christi). The Holy Eucharist is the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross made present for us on the altar, the sacrament of His love “unto the end.” Pope Leo XIII, commenting on the image of the Sacred Heart, said that the love of Christ “moves us to return love for love” (see Dilexit Nos, No. 166). When we receive Jesus’ body and blood in holy Communion, He gives us the grace to do so.
Given the confusion and the hopelessness of an increasing number of people today — including young people who are searching for meaning and purpose in life — devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a true remedy. Forty years ago, Pope St. John Paul II sent a message to the Society of Jesus that is perhaps even more needed today: “From the Heart of Christ, man’s heart learns to know the genuine and unique meaning of his life and of his destiny, to understand the value of an authentically Christian life, to keep himself from certain perversions of the human heart, and to unite the filial love of God with love of neighbor.”
In evangelization and catechesis, it is important that we guide students to contemplate the mystery of God’s love revealed in Christ. Teaching, fostering, and promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus helps them to arrive at the conviction of St. John: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” (1 Jn 4:16). We come to this knowledge and faith not primarily through study but through an encounter in our hearts with the Heart of our Redeemer. It is through friendship and prayer that we come to know and believe in Christ’s love. It is a gift we receive when we open ourselves to Him who pours out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (cf. Rom 5:5).
Beholding the Heart that loves us so greatly impels us to be witnesses of His love in the world. Jesus calls us to spread the goodness and love of His Heart to others, especially to the poor and suffering. Pope Francis wrote of our Christian mission as “a radiation of the love of the Heart of Christ” (Dilexit Nos, No. 209).
In our mission of evangelization and catechesis, teaching true devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a beautiful way to help our students discover the source of truth and goodness for their lives. As the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus teaches us, the Heart of Christ is the “wellspring of all virtue,” and the “delight of all the saints.” May we all grow in this devotion and spread it! In doing so, we are spreading the truth and beauty of the Gospel.
This article from the April 2026 edition of Catechetical Review, Online Edition ISSN 2379-6324, Issue 12.2, is reproduced here with the permission of its publisher, Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, USA. The article originally appeared on pages 17-28 of the printed edition.
Local Celebration of the Consecration to the Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart Parish in Warsaw invites the faithful throughout the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend to join its celebration as the U.S. bishops consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus during their annual spring plenary assembly in Orlando on Thursday, June 11 to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Sacred Heart in Warsaw will hold celebrations from Wednesday, June 10, through Saturday, June 13, “as we come together in prayer, fellowship, and joy.” The celebration will include 40 Hours of Adoration on June 10-12, offering a special opportunity to spend time with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. A consecration Mass will be celebrated on Friday, June 12, at 5:30 p.m., with a family parish picnic potluck afterwards. (Pulled pork sandwiches will be provided; bring a dish to share). On June 13, the parish will host a Fun Walk/Run at 9:30 a.m. That evening, adults are invited to join a Pachanga dinner/dance at 6:30 p.m.
Visit sacredheartwarsaw.org to learn more.
Additional Resources for America at 250
As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. bishops will mark the occasion by consecrating the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Thursday, June 11. The bishops invite all the Catholic faithful and parishes to participate through Eucharistic adoration, works of mercy and a special novena to the Sacred Heart. To learn more, visit diocesefwsb.org/america-250.
NOVENA TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
June 3-11
Promoted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, this Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus draws its daily devotions from the Litany of the Sacred Heart. Each day reflects on the wisdom of saints and pontiffs on the Sacred Heart and offers opportunities for prayer and action, framed by Pope Francis’ encyclical Dilexit Nos (“He Loved Us”) and Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”). Join the U.S. Church from June 3-11 in praying this Novena to the Sacred Heart, which will conclude with the consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For the complete novena, visit usccb.org/novena-sacred-heart-jesus.
Day 1 — Heart of Jesus, Aflame with Love for Us
In his prayer intention for June, the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Leo XIV encourages us, “Let us pray together that each one of us might find consolation in a personal relationship with Jesus, and from His Heart, learn to have compassion on the world.” As we begin this Novena to the Sacred Heart, we join the Holy Father in that prayer.
Lord, I come to Your tender Heart today,
to You who have words that set my heart ablaze,
to You who pour out compassion on the little ones and the poor,
on those who suffer, and on all human miseries.
I desire to know You more, to contemplate You in the Gospel,
to be with You and learn from You
and from the charity with which You allowed Yourself
to be touched by all forms of poverty.
You showed us the Father’s love by loving us without measure
with Your divine and human Heart.
Grant all Your children the grace of encountering You.
Change, shape, and transform our plans,
so that we seek only You in every circumstance:
in prayer, in work, in encounters, and in our daily routine.
From this encounter, send us out on mission,
a mission of compassion for the world
in which You are the source from which all consolation flows.
Amen.
Day 2 — Heart of Jesus, Source of Justice and Love
When contemplating the Sacred Heart as the source of justice and love, we connect Christ’s love for us with our love for others. As Pope Francis said in Dilexit Nos, “Our best response to the love of Christ’s heart is to love our brothers and sisters. There is no greater way for us to return love for love” (no. 167). As we meditate on the love Christ has for us, let us pray this Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for Love and Mercy.
Lord Jesus,
You gave your life for us.
Your Sacred Heart is ablaze with love.
Your hand extends toward me, and toward all,
offering love, mercy and healing.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, may your love transform me.
Burn away my hesitation that I may become your love and radiate your mercy.
Amen.
Day 3 — Heart of Jesus, Worthy of All Praise
St. John Henry Newman took the episcopal motto Cor ad cor loquitur (“Heart speaks unto heart”), understanding that the Lord saves us by speaking to our hearts from His Sacred Heart. It was in the holy Eucharist, the greatest form of praise to God, that St. John Henry Newman cultivated his deepest encounter with the living heart of Jesus. Let us pray with St. John Henry Newman so that we might hear the Sacred Heart speak to us when we praise and adore Jesus in the Eucharist.
O most Sacred, most loving Heart of Jesus, Thou art concealed in the Holy Eucharist, and Thou beatest for us still. … I worship Thee then with all my best love and awe, with my fervent affection, with my most subdued, most resolved will. O my God, when Thou dost condescend to suffer me to receive Thee, to eat and drink Thee, and Thou for a while takest up Thy abode within me, O make my heart beat with Thy Heart.(Meditations and Devotions).
Day 4 — Heart of Jesus, Patient and Full of Mercy
Perhaps the most well-known reflection on the merciful heart of Jesus can be found in the Divine Mercy devotion. St. Faustina Kowalska, a 20th-century Polish sister, revealed that Jesus appeared to her with rays emanating from his heart and instructed her to paint his image with the signature “Jesus, I trust in you,” and that all who venerate the image of Divine Mercy will not perish. Trusting in the endless mercy of Jesus, let us pray with Saint Faustina from the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen.
Day 5 — Heart of Jesus, Fountain of Life and Holiness
The love poured out from the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a constant source of renewal for the missionary spirit of the Church and our call to universal holiness. Servant of God Father Jules Chevalier, who founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1854, recited this daily prayer to remain close to the Sacred Heart.
Lord Jesus,
Saviour of the world and source of holiness, look with kindness on all whom you have chosen to be missionaries of your loving Heart. Ask your heavenly Father to keep us in your love, and sanctify us in the truth so that you may be glorified in us and we may reflect your goodness. Ask your Father to keep us from evil that we may always be united in bonds of love. As you are one with your Father, so may we be one with each other in your divine Heart, whose sentiments shall forever be ours and to which we consecrate ourselves in time and for eternity. Amen.
Day 6 — Heart of Jesus, Atonement for Our Sins
As we consider the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Christ’s great love for humanity, we reflect on how we have fallen short of his love and the need to atone for our sins. We also take this moment to repent as a nation for the sins of our country’s past. Let us pray for forgiveness and healing from the harms caused by our nation’s original sins of slavery and racism. A central element of devotion to the Sacred Heart is reparation — the practice of making amends for the wrongs we have done, asking Christ to forgive our sins and convert our hearts to love as he loves. Let us pray with St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorists, as we atone for our sins and consecrate ourselves to the Heart of Jesus:
My Jesus, I love You with my whole heart. I am sorry for having so many times offended Your infinite goodness. With the help of Your grace, I purpose never to offend You again. And now, unworthy though I am, I consecrate myself to You without reserve. I renounce and give entirely to You my will, my affection, my desires and all that I possess.
Day 7 — Heart of Jesus, Source of All Consolation
In Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis describes the consoling nature of devotion to the Sacred Heart as “flesh and blood in the Church’s pilgrimage through history” — a mutual sharing of suffering between Christ and us (No. 157). Because Christ bore our sin in the wounds of His passion and death on the cross, we console Him for our affronts. Because we also raise up our suffering to Christ, we ask him to console us. Let us ask the Sacred Heart of Jesus for strength and increased faith with this prayer by Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J.
I believe, O Lord, but strengthen my faith …
Heart of Jesus, I love Thee; but increase my love.
Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee; but give greater vigor to my confidence.
Heart of Jesus, I give my heart to Thee; but so enclose it in Thee that it may never be separated from Thee.
Heart of Jesus, I am all Thine; but take care of my promise so that I may be able to put it in practice even unto the complete sacrifice of my life. Amen.
Day 8 — Jesus, Gentle and Humble of Heart
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, “the Little Flower,” profoundly understood the gentle and humble heart of Jesus. In contemplating how to be transformed by Christ’s love, she reflected that “What pleases [Jesus] is that he sees me loving my littleness and my poverty, the blind hope that I have in his mercy. … The weaker one is, without desires or virtues, the more suited one is for the workings of this consuming and transforming Love” (Letter 197 to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, September 17, 1896). Let us join with St. Thérèse in praying for our hearts to be humble like Jesus.
O Jesus! When You were a Pilgrim on earth, You said: “Learn of Me for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” O Mighty Monarch of Heaven, my soul finds rest in seeing You, clothed in the form and nature of a slave, humbling Yourself to wash the feet of Your apostles. … I beg You, my Divine Jesus, to send me a humiliation whenever I try to set myself above others. I know that You humble the proud soul, but to the one who humbles one’s self, you give an eternity of glory. … To obtain this grace of Your infinite mercy, I will very often repeat: “O Jesus, gentle and humble of heart, make my heart like Yours!”
Day 9 — Consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Today, we [the bishops of the United States] consecrate the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Parishes and individuals around the country are encouraged to join the U.S. Catholic bishops in this historic occasion, beginning with this Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus written for the consecration.
O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus:
You know the longings of our hearts, and you desire that we enjoy friendship with you.
From your pierced side, you have poured out the wellspring of life, for which we thirst.
Your heart burns with a love for all people to return to a right relationship with you.
We celebrate the abundant gifts you have given this nation, founded on the self-evident truths that our Creator has endowed all people with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We make reparation for the offenses against you and against human dignity that have taken place in this nation.
May our hearts be united to yours, so that our families and communities enjoy peace and happiness; may broken relationships be reconciled, injustices repaired, and the wounds of our land be healed.
May your holy Catholic Church serve as a sign, pointing all people to your infinite love.
O Desire of Nations and Center of History, we ask you to bless these United States of America.
Who live and reign with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Source: usccb.org
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