World Priest Day is appropriately celebrated each year on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is a world day of prayer for the sanctification of Priests. Would you have time to pray a Rosary for priests today? Rosary Relay
World Priest Day Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, eternal High Priest, you offered yourself to the Father on the altar of the Cross and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit gave your priestly people a share in your redeeming sacrifice. Here our prayer for the sanctification of our priest. Grant that all who are ordained to the ministerial priesthood may be ever more conformed to you, the divine Master. May they preach the Gospel with pure heart and clear conscience. Let them be shepherds according to your own Heart, single-minded in service to you and to the Church and shining examples of a holy, simple and joyful life. Through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, your Mother and ours, draw all priest and the flocks entrusted to their care to the fullness of eternal life where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen -Pope Benedict XVI
Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The 12 Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to St. Margaret Mary between 1673-1675. Among the words spoken to her, she heard Jesus make 12 promises to those who would respond to the pleading of His Heart and make an effort to return His love.
St. Margaret Mary once said, “I do not know of any other exercise in the spiritual life that is more calculated to raise a soul in a short amount of time to the height of perfection and to make it taste the true sweetness to be found in the service of Jesus Christ.”
- I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
- I will establish peace in their homes.
- I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
- I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
- I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
- Sinners will find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
- Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
- Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
- I will bless every place in which an image of My Heart is exposed and honored.
- I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
- Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart.
- 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.
Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lord, have mercy. – Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. – Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. – Lord, have mercy.
God our Father in heaven – have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world – have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit – have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Son of the eternal Father – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, one with the eternal Word – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, infinite in majesty – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, aflame with love for us – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, source of justice and love – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, well-spring of all virtue – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, worthy of all praise – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, treasure-house of wisdom and knowledge – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom there dwells the fullness of God – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, from whose fullness we have all received – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, desire of the eternal hills – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, patient and full of mercy – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, generous to all who turn to you – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, atonement for our sins – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, overwhelmed with insults – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, broken for our sins – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, obedient even to death – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, pierced by a lance – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, victim of our sins – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, salvation of all who trust in you – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, hope of all who die in you – have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the saints – have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world – have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world – have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world – have mercy on us.
Jesus, gentle and humble of heart. Touch our hearts and make them like your own.
Let us pray.
Father, we rejoice in the gifts of love we have received from the heart of Jesus your Son. Open our hearts to share his life and continue to bless us with his love. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.—from Manual of Indulgences USCCB.org
Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Immaculate Heart of Mary Historically, devotion to the Heart of Mary grew up in parallel, but at a lesser intensity than that of devotion to the Heart of Jesus, only starting to become more prominent during the time of St John Eudes. John Eudes was born in 1601 in Normandy, France. He entered the Congregation of the Oratory of France, founded in 1611 by Cardinal de Berulle and was ordained to the priesthood on December 20, 1625.
St. John brought people to love Christ and the Virgin Mary by speaking tirelessly about their Heart, the sign of the love God shows for us and the communion to which we are called. To offer them liturgical worship, he composed Masses and Offices in their honor and had the first Feast of the Holy Heart of Mary celebrated on February 8, 1648, at Autun (France,) and the Feast of the Heart of Jesus celebrated on October 20, 1672.
He died on August 19, 1680 and was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 31, 1925. Nevertheless, it was not until after the Apparitions at Rue du Bac concerning the “Miraculous Medal” made to Catherine Labouré in 1830, and the establishment of a society dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, at the Church of Our Lady of Victories in Paris in 1836, that this particular devotion became really well known.
Since then devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, has gradually grown more widespread in the Church, particularly since the apparitions at Fatima. The main difference between the devotions to the hearts of Jesus and Mary is that the one concerned with Jesus emphasizes his divine heart as being full of love for mankind, but with this love for the most part being ignored or rejected, while devotion to Mary’s heart is essentially concerned with the love that her heart has for Jesus, for God.
Therefore, it is not an end in itself, so the love of her heart is meant to be a model for the way we should love God. The fact that her heart is immaculate, that is sinless, means that she is the only fully human person who is able to really love God in the way that he should be loved.
Honoring Mary’s Immaculate Heart is really just another way of honoring Mary as the person who was chosen to be the Mother of God, recognizing her extraordinary holiness and the immense love she bestowed on Jesus as his mother, the person who was called to share in and co-operate in his redemptive sufferings.
The aim of the devotion is to unite mankind to God through Mary’s heart, and this process involves the ideas of consecration and reparation. A person is consecrated to Mary’s Immaculate Heart as a way of being completely devoted to God. This involves a total gift of self, something only ultimately possible with reference to God; but Mary is our intermediary in this process of consecration.
Because of the strong analogy between Jesus and Mary, the consecration to Mary’s Immaculate Heart is closely linked to the consecration to Jesus’ Sacred Heart, although it is subordinate and dependent on it. That is, although the act of consecration is ultimately addressed to God, it is an act that is made through Mary.
Obtained from Catholic News Agency June 15, 2020