Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

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The entire month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  However, Holy Mother Church especially honors our Lord under the title of the Sacred Heart with a feast day on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi, which is on June 12 this year. 

Jesus spoke to St. Margaret Mary, saying, "Behold this Heart, which has so loved men, as that it has spared nothing, even to the exhausting and wearing itself out, in order to show them its love; and instead of acknowledgment I receive, from the greater number, nothing but ingratitude, by their irreverences and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt wherewith they treat Me, in this Sacrament of love." 

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 With the words of our Lord to St. Margaret before us, may we strive throughout this month and always to love our Lord with our whole being, offering Him adoration and thanksgiving for His love and sacrifice for us. Our Lord yearns to give us His Heart, waiting in silence for us to give ours to Him in return.  We can honor our Lord through prayers, the enthronement of His Image in our homes, and by  fulfilling the First Friday devotion, which Jesus revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. 

During the 17th century our Lord revealed to her that it was His desire that the first Friday of each month be consecrated to the devotion and adoration of His most Sacred Heart. He made twelve promises for those who sincerely practiced this devotion. 

From the writings of St. Margaret Mary, we learn of a few of them.  She wrote, 

"On Friday during Holy Communion, He said these words to His unworthy slave, if I mistake not: I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they will not die under my displeasure or without receiving their sacraments, my divine Heart making itself their assured refuge at the last moment." 

In order to make this devotion of the nine first Fridays, we must receive Holy Communion, with the intention of offering reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Throughout this month of June and each time we venerate His Sacred Heart, we should remember Jesus' great love for us, flowing forth from His Heart.  In return we should strive to express our love and devotion to Him through acts of adoration and repentance. 

Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus 

Hail! O Sacred Heart of Jesus, living and quickening source of eternal life, infinite treasure of the Divinity, and burning furnace of divine love. Thou art my refuge and my sanctuary, O my amiable Savior. Consume my heart with that burning fire with which Thine is ever inflamed. Pour down on my soul those graces which flow from Thy love, and let my heart be so united with Thine, that our wills may be one, and mine in all things, conformed to Thine. May Thy divine will be equally the standard and rule of all my desires and of all my actions. Amen.

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The 12 Promises of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Regarding Those Who Receive Communion on Nine First Fridays 

1. I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life. 

2. I will establish peace in their houses. 

3. I will comfort them in all their afflictions. 

4. I will be their strength during life and above all during death. 

5. I will bestow a large blessing upon all their undertakings. 

6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy. 

7. Tepid souls shall grow fervent. 

8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection. 

9. I will bless every place where a picture of My Heart shall be set up and honored. 

10. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts. 

11. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out. 

12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving their Sacraments; My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

God bless!

+JMJ+