Showing posts with label Sacred Heart of Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sacred Heart of Jesus. Show all posts

Friday, June 11, 2010

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; Full text of Pope's homily closing Year for Priests




An Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

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 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 own 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.




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PLENARY INDULGENCE TODAY
You can get a plenary indulgence today, which is the actual closing of the Year for Priests. The decree apparently contained an error, naming June 19th the closing date. It is actually today, the 11th. Here is what the decree reads, in part:

B. The Plenary Indulgence is granted to all the faithful who are truly repentant who, in church or in chapel, devoutly attend the divine Sacrifice of Mass and offer prayers to Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest, for the priests of the Church, and any other good work which they have done on that day, so that he may sanctify them and form them in accordance with His Heart, as long as they have made expiation for their sins through sacramental confession and prayed in accordance with the Supreme Pontiff's intentions: on the days in which the Year for Priests begins and ends, on the day of the 150th anniversary of the pious passing of St John Mary Vianney, on the first Thursday of the month or on any other day established by the local Ordinaries for the benefit of the faithful.

It will be most appropriate, in cathedral and parish churches, for the same priests who are in charge of pastoral care to publicly direct these exercises of devotion, to celebrate Holy Mass and to hear the confession of the faithful.

The Plenary Indulgence will likewise be granted to the elderly, the sick and all those who for any legitimate reason are confined to their homes who, with a mind detached from any sin and with the intention of fulfilling as soon as possible the three usual conditions, at home or wherever their impediment detains them, provided that on the above-mentioned days they recite prayers for the sanctification of priests and confidently offer the illnesses and hardships of their lives to God through Mary Queen of Apostles.



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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Archbishop Vigneron on First Friday Devotions



Te Deum archive photo:
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on August 15, 2009
- Assumption 2009 collection -


It's First Friday and that means there will be Exposition in the parish church all day today.  Please take some time out today and get to an adoration chapel or a church to sit before the Blessed Sacrament.  If you can't do that, set some time aside today for prayer at home.  Back in February of this year, Archbishop Vigneron made it know he wants to renew the practice of First Friday devotions in the Archdiocese of Detroit. 
First Friday devotions developed out of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the 17th century, Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, promising to those people who practiced the First Fridays Devotions that “they will not die in my displeasure,” among other promises, as approved by the Church. A person honoring the devotion goes to Mass each first Friday for nine months and receives Communion.

And, here is Archbishop Vigneron speaking about the subject:

"I have in mind that we should consider working together for a renewal of our practice of devoting the First Fridays especially to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a particular emphasis on joining together – priests and people – to ask the Lord to give our archdiocese priests 'after his own heart,'" the archbishop said in a Feb. 12 letter to priests, in which he cited language from Jeremiah 3:15.


"I see this approach as a particularly effective way to pray for holy priests: for those of us already ordained; and for those whom God is calling to join us, both the men in our seminary and the men who are being invited to enter formation," he continued.


The archbishop said he would be consulting with the Presbyteral Council about how to advance the idea.


Archbishop Vigneron made known his intention regarding the First Friday devotions in addition to announcing his plan for an afternoon of recollection for all priests on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11.


The Friday afternoon event will include "a Eucharistic Holy Hour, during which we can renew the consecration of our priesthood – our lives and our ministry – to Christ, our High Priest, according to whose Priestly Heart the Holy Spirit shapes our hearts," he said in his letter.


"I look forward to this opportunity for shared prayer and a time for fraternity," the archbishop added regarding what he said would become an annual event.


Archbishop Vigneron shared his thinking that led up to the proposals, reminiscing about his days at Sacred Heart Seminary High School in Detroit, and how the priests who taught their strove to instill concepts of priestly life and ministry into himself and his fellow students.


"In the years since First High, I have found myself returning again and again – sometimes more quickly and sometimes less; sometimes more deeply and sometimes not as profoundly as I would like – but, nonetheless, returning again and again to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus as the model for my heart, for me to be the priest I have for all these years aspired to be," he said.


"In looking back on my life, I see that this high ideal of priestliness which the priests at the seminary high school taught us was inextricably bound up with saying, at the end of night prayer every evening, the aspiration: 'Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, model of the priestly heart, have mercy on us,'" the archbishop continued.


While acknowledging there were aspects of life at the high school seminary of which he none too fond, he said he loved the prayer life there. "I was introduced into new ways of communicating with God that were rich and bright with grace. It was like discovering new territory, just the sort of thing a high-schooler wants. This aspiration was part of that 'new territory.'


"I entered the seminary knowing about the Sacred Heart; I knew about making the First Fridays; but I learned there about the Priestly Heart of Jesus, about that being a Eucharistic Heart, and about His Heart being the model for my heart. And the blessing was that the seminary taught me this at the time when my heart was growing from being a child's heart into being the heart of a man," Archbishop Vigneron added.



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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Novena to the Sacred Heart begins tomorrow - Wednesday, June 10th


The Feast of the Sacred Heart, which will open the Year for Priests, is June 19th. The novena of the Sacred Heart begins tomorrow - June 10th.
There are many forms of the Novena. This one is found on EWTN's site.
Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

I. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you." Behold I knock, I seek and ask for the grace of...... (here name your request)
Our Father....Hail Mary....Glory Be to the Father....Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

II. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you." Behold, in your name, I ask the Father for the grace of.......(here name your request) Our Father...Hail Mary....Glory Be To the Father....Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

III. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away." Encouraged by your infallible words I now ask for the grace of.....(here name your request) Our Father....Hail Mary....Glory Be to the Father...Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of you, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your tender Mother and ours.

Say the Hail, Holy Queen and add: St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.

-- St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

More Info:
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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Thursday Night Passio Domini, First Fridays, First Saturdays and the Two Hearts

News broke in recent days that President Obama had declared the month of June: Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Pride month.

As one reader pointed out to me in an email, this is a good time to recall that June is the month of the Sacred Heart, and this is a time to make acts of reparation.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus goes back at least to the 11th century, but through the 16th century, it remained a private devotion, often tied to devotion to the Five Wounds of Christ. The first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated on August 31, 1670, in Rennes, France, through the efforts of Fr. Jean Eudes (1602-1680). From Rennes, the devotion spread, but it took the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) for the devotion to become universal.

In all of these visions, in which Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus played a central role. The “great apparition,” which took place on June 16, 1675, during the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi, is the source of the modern Feast of the Sacred Heart. In that vision, Christ asked St. Margaret Mary to request that the Feast of the Sacred Heart be celebrated on the Friday after the octave (or eighth day) of the Feast of Corpus Christi, in reparation for the ingratitude of men for the sacrifice that Christ had made for them. The Sacred Heart of Jesus represents not simply His physical heart but His love for all mankind. [source]
There is a devotion to the Sacred Heart for the nine consecutive first Fridays and Assumption Grotto offers Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in the main parish Church from 8:30am until around 6:45pm tomorrow, as it does all First Fridays.

It is also good to point out that along with devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Our Lady Establishes the Devotion of the Five First Saturdays


The Apparition of December 10, 1925

On this day Our Lady, holding Her Immaculate Heart in Her Hand, appeared to Lucia, and by Her side stood the Child Jesus on a luminous cloud. The Child Jesus said: "Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them."

Then the Blessed Virgin Mary said to Lucia: "Look, my daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to Me."

On another occasion the Child Jesus reappeared to Lucia and asked that those who practice this devotion, receive Him in Holy Communion when in the state of grace.
Reparation for what?


Catholics have always honored the Blessed Virgin on Saturday because of the pious tradition of her constant faith in Jesus on that first Holy Saturday before the Resurrection. According to Sister Lucia, five first Saturdays of reparation were requested to atone for the five ways in which people offend the Immaculate Heart of Mary [source]:
  1. attacks upon Mary's Immaculate Conception;
  2. attacks against her Perpetual Virginity;
  3. attacks upon her Divine Maternity and the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all mankind;
  4. for those who try to publicly implant in children's hearts indifference, contempt and even hatred of this Immaculate Mother, and
  5. for those who insult her directly in her sacred images.

The Carmelites have their monthly 8:30am Mass at Assumption Grotto on First Saturdays - a time when others can take advantage of the special time (there is only a 7:30am Mass on the other Saturdays, but Fr. Perrone maintained the 8:30am on First Saturday for Carmelites to accomodate those commuting considerable distances.

Also, this is a good time to remind people about the special Passio Domini devotion held on Thursday nights at Assumption Grotto. Here again, is an opportunity to go to Mass at 7:00pm, then to spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament exposed during a Rosary and meditations on Our Lord's passion. It runs until about 9:00pm. Please join us!

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!