Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, feast day June 11

On June 11th, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

In 1673 at Paray-le-Monial, France, Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) began sharing private revelations that she received from God regarding the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In these revelations, Christ asked her to be His instrument to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart. 

Despite skepticism when she first began to reveal her visions, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque stayed faithtul to the instructions she received from Christ. As Novice Mistress at Visitation convent in Paray-le-Monial, she developed this devotion in her convent and in 1688 a chapel devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was built. The devotion spread to other Visitation convents.

St. John Eudes also promoted the devotion to the Sacred Heart, and by 1672, all of the seminaries of his order were celebrating the feast to the Sacred Heart. In 1765, at the request of the bishops of Poland, Pope Clement XIII officially approved the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  In 1856, Blessed Pius IX extended this feast to the universal Church. 

In the early 1900's, with the approval of Pope St. Pius X, Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey, a priest of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart, began a campaign to bring the "entire world, home by home, family by family, to the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For Fr. Mateo, the family was key to sharing Christ's love with the world through the devotion to the Sacred Heart.

There are five elements to the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

1. That people would worship and adore the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the source of love, mercy, grace, sanctification, and salvation for all.
2. That people would believe in the merciful love of Christ's Sacred Heart for all people.
3. That people would generously return Christ's love to Him.
4. That Christ's faithful would love Him more and more to make up for those who do not love Him.
5. That people would have a special love and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque communicated twelve promises from Christ for persons who practiced a devotion to the Sacred Heart. They are

1. They would receive all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. They would have peace in their homes.
3. They would feel Christ's comfort in all their afflictions.
4. Christ would be their refuge throughout life and in death.
5. Christ would shower them with abundant blessings in all of their undertakings.
6. Sinners would experience the source and "infinite ocean" of mercy in the Sacred Heart.
7. Tepid souls would grow fervent.
8. Fervent souls would grow to high perfection.
9. Wherever the image of the Sacred Heart was displayed would be a place of honor.
10. Priests would receive the gift of being able to touch even the most hardened of hearts.
11. They would have their names written on Christ's Sacred Heart, never to be blotted out.
12. Those who receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of nine consecutive months would be granted the grace of final penitence.

Click here for some beautiful prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: http://www.sacredheart.com/SacredHeartPrayers.htm

Sources of information:

• Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices. Ann Ball, editor. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 2003.
• http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=443