Sacred Heart of Jesus peirced

God Keeps His Promises…Devotion to the Sacred Heart

Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in your home and your family

When I was in the seventh grade, my parents sold our home and we moved into another house.

I learned so much from that move.

Quietly, I watched my mom and dad re-create home in a totally foreign place where I knew no one at all.

The first thing they did was to enroll us in another Catholic school. This helped to bring stability back into our lives. Unpacking our things also helped. The beautiful statue of Our Lady of Lourdes which was given us as a gift so many years before was dusted off and placed back on the top of the television set, sitting once again on my mother’s magnificently embroidered doily.

Our rosaries found their way to their special places on the night stands in our bedrooms. And we continued our magnificent, once-a-week Sunday breakfast, followed by Mass, Sunday monopoly and scrabble games and other special times together. Little by little, we acclimated to our new surroundings.

In the classroom of my new Catholic school, under the window were two, long, full shelves of saint books. We were free to check them out, read them, and return them with a book report for “extra credit.” As I hadn’t made many friends yet, and I was and still am, an avid reader, I learned about many, many saints. I led the class in “extra credit” points.

One of the books I read was the story of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Reading this book changed my spiritual life. I met Jesus on a deeper, more personal level. I think it was one of the first times that I understood that Jesus is a real Person and that He truly cares for me individually. I received, or at least became aware of, my vocation to the consecrated life while reading these wonderful books.

St. Margaret Mary received revelations from Our Lord about the love of His Sacred Heart. She saw and heard Christ during her visions. As I read what He revealed to her, it was the twelve promises of the Sacred Heart that touched me profoundly. Several of the promises spoke directly to my young twelve-year-old heart. I’m referring to the ones that address families.

For, you see, I didn’t tell you that the reason we moved to a new home in during my seventh grade was because of serious family troubles. So, when I read, “I will give peace in their families” and “I will console them in their troubles,” and “I will bless the homes in which the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored,” my soul rebounded in hope.

I shared the book with my mom and dad and we placed a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (and another of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) on the wall.

I can’t tell you that the many issues were resolved right away, because they weren’t. Nor can I say that all members of my family understood this devotion to the Sacred Heart, because they didn’t.

But I can say that, in time, every issue was resolved. And to my way of think that was a miracle of the first class!

If you haven’t read a good biography of St. Margaret Mary or learned very much about the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, think about doing so. The hands of Christ point to His heart, which is afire with His love, as He says “Come to me all you who are heavily burdened and I will give you rest,” while we respond, “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.”

If you don’t know how to consecrate your home to the Sacred Heart, you will find many sample ceremonies on line. Here is a link to the Apostleship of Prayer’s Enthronement of the Sacred Heart and Family Consecration. http://apostleshipofprayer.org/consecration.html.

Our Lord wants all to know the depth of His love for us.  Growing in our devotion to His Sacred Heart is about learning to let Him love us.  Learning to listen to His promises to us.  Learning to recognize the fulfillment of His promises in our lives.  When we truly believe in His love and allow Him to love us, we will desire to spread this devotion so that as many people as possible can experience the profound gift of love and mercy flowing from His Sacred Heart.  And He will keep His promises.

 

The Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
As given by Our Lord to Saint 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 all their afflictions.
  4. I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
  5. I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
  6. Sinners will find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
  7. Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
  8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
  9. I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed 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.
  12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

Jun 1, 2014 | Faith, template-updated

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