On the occasion of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus let us focus on the development of the Feast and on aids to its proper devotion.
The Devotion
Every year, 19 days after Pentecost the Church celebrates this Solemnity. The Devotion to His Wounded Heart began in the 11th Century as the faithful meditated on the Five Wounds of Christ. At that time a devotion also developed to the Shoulder Wound of Christ. These devotions helped Catholics meditate on the passion and death of Our Lord, and thereby grow in love for Jesus, who suffered and died for us.
It should not escape our attention that today’s 2nd Reading the First letter of John reminds us that not only God is Love, but that we are to love God and love one another.
The Origin of the Solemnity
It was not until 1670 that Fr. Jean Eudes celebrated the First Feast of the Sacred Heart as an intention of a Mass. This must have been God’s will, for in July of 1674, a pious sister Margaret Mary Alacoque, reported visions of Jesus, including His permission to experience Jesus’ love by letting her rest her head upon His Heart.
In 1675, the sister experienced the great apparition where Jesus asked that the feast of the Sacred Heart be celebrated each year on the Friday following Corpus Christi. The feast focused on a reparation for people’s ingratitude toward the sacrifice Christ had made for their salvation.
The Official Papal Proclamations
On May 8, 1873 – nineteen years after Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, he also approved the Devotion to the Sacred Heart for the Universal Church. Pope Leo XIII later urgently recommended the Devotion and approved substantial Indulgences for those who kept it.
The Reparation of Sins by the Indulgences
Continuing the theme that the Feast had its source as a reparation for the ingratitude of Our Lord’s sacrifice, the following indulgences for the reparation of our forgiven sin are approved:
• Plenary indulgence when the “Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart,” is recited publicly on the day of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, usually after Mass. The prayer can be found online.
• Partial indulgence for the “Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart,” when recited any other day.
• Partial indulgence for every devout recitation of the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
• Partial indulgence for recitation of the “Little Office of the Sacred Heart.” Also available online.
• Partial indulgence for any prayer focused on the Sacred Heart.
• Plenary indulgence for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament lasting 30 minutes, focused devoutly on Our Lord present in the Eucharist on any day.
• Plenary Indulgence for each family member, on the day the family is first consecrated to the Sacred Heart. Partial on each anniversary of the consecration thereafter. Online links explain.
Focusing on to Our Lord’s Passion
Any prayer before an image of The Sacred Heart or before a Crucifix is a very pious and holy action. Accordingly, such a reflection on Our Lord’s passion is always encouraged, and also blessed as an indulgence.
[Readings: Deuteronomy 7:6-11; 1 John 4:7-16; Matthew 11:25-30]
