Thursday, February 6, 2014

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and First Friday




If there is one Catholic devotion that is very close to the hearts of every UNO-Rian, it would be the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Every first Friday of the month, classes are suspended to gather all UNO-Rians —students, teachers and non-teaching personnel, in the Oratory of St. Nicholas of Tolentino for a solemn Eucharistic celebration in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the Eucharist, we gather as one community in singing our praises and adoration and in offering our thanksgiving to our Almighty Father who gave us His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ whose heart overflows with love and mercy for us all, sinners.

This first Friday devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus invites every UNO-Rian to consecrate their hearts to Jesus so that like Him they may live a life of love, mercy and compassion, too.

As a Catholic University, UNO-Recoletos never misses to promote and instill the beauty and value of this devotion as part of the spiritual and moral formation of the members of the academic community. Following the great example of Saint Ezekiel Moreno, one of the University’s patron saints, UNO-Rians are encourage to devote themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and implore His mercy and love for the salvation of their souls and for solidarity, justice, peace and love in the family, community and the whole world.

But how and when did the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus originate?


A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a devotion that focuses attention on the physical Heart is the symbol of His redemptive love. Although tradition often situates the beginning of the practice of the devotion to the year 1000, it might be more accurate to place its birth during the time of the great mystics [St. Anselm and St. Bernard] between 1050 and 1150. By the Medieval Period, because of a strong emphasis on the Passion of our Lord, and because of the efforts of St. Bonaventure and St. Gertrude the Great, the devotion became popularized as a means of worshipping the mystery of Christ, living in the Church.

This devotion was promoted by great Saints, including St. Albert the Great, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Francis de Sales, as well as the great religious orders, such as the Benedictines, the Dominicans, and the Carthusians. However, it must be recorded that the Saint who is most often associated with this devotion is St. Margaret Mary Alacoque [1647-1690]. After she received the Vision of the Sacred Heart, which popularized the devotion, she was scorned by her mother superior who thought her to be delusional. The Saint took ill. Mother superior told St. Margaret Mary that she would believe the miracle of the vision if the Saint were cured. She was and St. Margaret was able to promote the devotion under the guidance of her spiritual director, St. Claude Colombiere. Several books have been published on her extensive letters, sayings and the revelations given to her by Our Lord.

Her private revelations promoted the establishment of a liturgical feast day and the practice of offering reparation for the outrages committed against the Blessed Sacrament on the First Fridays and the Promises of the Sacred Heart.

St. Alphonsus was heavily influenced by St. Margaret Mary in his own devotion to the Sacred Heart.

In modern times it was Pope Pius IX who, in 1856, established the Feast of the Sacred Heart and encouraged the efforts of the Apostleship of Prayer, a confraternity of faithful Catholics who encourage groups, families, and communities to consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart.. In 1928 Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor on reparation to the Sacred Heart. In 1956 Pope Pius XII published his encyclical Haurietis Aquas on the nature of devotion to the Sacred Heart.

The devotion is usually practiced in preparation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart following the Second Sunday after Pentecost. It is also practiced in conjunction with the monthly First Friday observance that is traditional in many parishes.


THE FIRST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

It was the special desire of our Lord Jesus Christ, revealed to Blessed Margaret Mary, that the first Friday of each month be consecrated to the devotion to and adoration of His most Sacred Heart. 

In order to better prepare for it, it would be well to read, the evening before, some book treating of this devotion, or of the Passion of Our Lord, and to make a short visit to the Blessed Sacrament. On the day itself we should, on awaking, offer and consecrate ourselves, with all our thoughts, words, and actions, to Jesus, that His Sacred Heart may be thereby honored and glorified.

We should visit some church as early as possible; and as we kneel before Jesus, truly present in the tabernacle, let us endeavor to awaken in our soul a deep sorrow at the thought of the innumerable offenses continually heaped upon His most Sacred Heart in this Sacrament of His love; and surely we cannot find this difficult if we have the least degree of love for Jesus. Should we, however, find our love to be cold or lukewarm, let us consider earnestly the many reasons we have for giving our hearts to Jesus. After this we must acknowledge with sorrow the faults of which we have been guilty through our want of respect in presence of the Blessed Sacrament, or through our negligence in visiting and receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion.

The Communion of this day should be offered by the adorers of the Sacred Heart with the intention of making some satisfaction for all the ingratitude which Jesus receives in the Most Holy Sacrament, and the same spirit should animate all our actions during the day.

As the object of this devotion is to inflame our hearts with an ardent love for Jesus, and to repair thereby, as far as lies in our power, all the outrages which are daily committed against the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, it is evident that these exercises are not confined to any particular day. Jesus is equally deserving of our love at all times; and as this most loving Savior is daily and hourly loaded with insults and cruelly treated by His creatures, it is but just that we should strive each day to make an the reparation in our power.

Those who are prevented from practicing this devotion on the first Friday can do so on any other day during the month. In the same manner they may offer the first Communion of each month for this intention, consecrating the whole day to the honor and glory of the Sacred Heart, and performing in the same spirit all the pious exercises they were unable to accomplish on the first Friday.

Moreover, Our Lord suggested another feature in this consoling devotion of the first Friday, by the faithful practice of which he led Blessed Margaret Mary to expect the grace of final perseverance, and that of receiving the Sacraments of the Church before dying, in favor of those who should observe it. This was to make a novena of Communions in honor of the Sacred Heart on the first Friday of the month for nine successive months.

  
THE 12 PROMISES OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

The First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is based on a promise made by our Lord Jesus Christ during an Apparition to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. This promise was implicitly approved by the Church in the 1920 canonization of St. Margaret Mary.

The 12 Promises are contained in a letter written in May, 1688, by St. Margaret Mary to Mother Saumaise:

“On a Friday during Holy Communion, [Our Lord] said these words [...], 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 the month consecutively, 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.”

The Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque:
1.    “I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.”

2.    “I will establish peace in their homes.”

3.     “I will comfort them in their afflictions.”

4.     “I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all in death.”

5.    “I will pour abundant blessings 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 effaced.”

12.  “The all-powerful love of my heart will grant to all those who shall receive communion on the first Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under my displeasure nor without receiving the sacraments; my heart shall be their assured refuge in their last hour.”




FIRST FRIDAY DEVOTION PRAYERS TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

 
ACT OF REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

(To be prayed every First Friday of the Month)

                
Adorable Heart of Jesus, glowing with love for us and inflamed with zeal for our salvation! Oh Heart, ever sensible of our misery and the wretchedness to which our sins have reduced us, infinitely rich in mercy to heal the wounds of our souls!  Behold us, humbly prostrate before You to express the sorrow that fills our hearts for the coldness and indifference with which we have so long requited the numberless benefits You have conferred upon us.
                 
With a deep sense of outrages heaped upon You by our sins and the sins of others, we come to make a solemn reparation of honor to Your most Sacred Majesty. It was our sins that overwhelmed Your Heart with bitterness. It was the weight of our iniquities that pressed down Your face to the earth in the Garden of Olives and caused You to expire in anguish and agony on the Cross. But now, repenting and sorrowful, we cast ourselves at Your feet and implore forgiveness.
                
Adorable Heart of Jesus, source of true contrition and ever merciful to the penitent sinner, impart to our hearts the spirit of penance, and give to our eyes a fountain of tears that we may sincerely bewail our sins, now and for the rest of our days. O, would that we could blot them out even with our blood. Pardon them, O Lord, in Your mercy, and pardon and convert to You all that have committed irreverences and sacrileges against You in the Sacrament of Your love, and thus, give another proof that Your mercy is above all Your works.
                
Divine Jesus, with You there is mercy and plentiful redemption. Deliver us from our sins. Accept our sincere desire and our resolution, with the help of Your grace, henceforth to be faithful to You. And in order to repair the sins and ingratitude by which we have grieved Your Most tender and loving Heart, we are resolved in the future, ever to love and honor You in the most adorable Sacrament of the Altar, where You are ever present to hear and grant our petitions and to be the food and life of our souls.
                
Be, O compassionate Jesus, our Mediator with Your heavenly Father whom we have so grievously offended. Strengthen our weakness, confirm our resolution of amendment,  and as Your Sacred Heart is our refuge and our hope when we have sinned, so may it be the strength and support of our repentance, that  nothing in life and death may ever again separate us from You. Amen.


ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque


I, (say your name), give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, my person and my life, my actions, pains and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being except to honor, love, and glorify your Sacred Heart.

It is my unchangeable will to be yours and to do everything for your love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease you.

I take you to be the only object of my love, the guardian of my life, the pledge of my salvation, the remedy of my weakness and lack of faith, the reparation of all my sins, and the secure refuge at the hour of my death.

Heart of goodness, be my mediator before God the Father, and turn away from me the punishment my sins deserved. Heart of love, I place my trust in you. I fear all things from my sinfulness and weakness, but hope all things from your love.

Burn in me everything displeasing to you. Imprint your pure love upon my heart so that I will never forget you or be separated from you.

I implore you, by your goodness, that my name be written in your Heart. I consider it my happiness and glory to live and die as your disciple. Amen.

   
ENTHRONEMENT OF THE SACRED HEART

The center of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart is the Enthronement of the Image of the Sacred Heart in our homes. By this, we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the King of our hearts; and we desire to make Him present daily in our homes and our lives as we pray the Act of Consecration by our whole family.

 
FAMILY CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS


Most Sweet Jesus, humbly kneeling at Your feet, we renew the consecration of our family to Your Sacred Heart. Be our King forever! In You we have full and entire confidence. May Your Holy Spirit penetrate our thoughts, our desires, our words, and our works. Bless our joys, in our trials, and in our labors. Grant us to know You better, to love You more, to serve You without faltering. Help us all together to build up in our land the “civilization of Love.”
             
By the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Peace, set up Your kingdom in our country. Enter fully into the midst of our families and make them Your own through the solemn enthronement of Your Sacred Heart, so that soon one cry may resound from home to home: May the redeeming Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved, blessed, and glorified forever! Honor and glory be to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.  With St. Joseph, we offer this earnest prayer. Sacred Heart of Jesus, be with our families, make them wholly your own. Amen.


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