Sacred Heart 2019 - Infinite Love of Jesus Christ

“There is in the Sacred Heart a symbol and a sensible image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love one another.” So wrote, Pope Leo XIII in his 1899 encyclical, Annum Sacrum, in which the Holy Father consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Devotion to the Sacred Heart had been spreading throughout the world for about two hundred years, after the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, when Our Blessed Lord appeared to this visitation nun, and tasked her with making known his desire that devotion to His Sacred Heart be practiced by members of His Church.

In his encyclical, Pope Leo called to mind the “abundance of evils…which pressingly call upon us to seek for help from Him whose strength alone they can be driven away”. All the evil in the world, and all the evil in the church, can be said to be a failure of mankind to learn and adopt the love of the Sacred Heart. It is our task to allow the infinite light and love of the Sacred Heart to penetrate our lives, and to spread that same light and love through word and deed. To quote St. Margaret Mary, “we need nothing, but to lose ourselves in the Heart of Jesus.”

As promised to St. Margaret Mary, those with devotion to the Sacred Heart, Jesus says, -I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life. -I will give peace in their families. -I will console them in all their troubles. -I will be their refuge in life and especially in death. -I will abundantly bless all their undertakings. -Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy. -Tepid souls shall become fervent. -Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection. -I will bless those places wherein the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated. -I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts. -Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart. -In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.”

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have Mercy on us. For the Glory of God and Salvation of souls.

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We bring our needs to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

That the Church may be continually cleansed and sanctified by the blood and water that gave us new birth.

For all who have fallen away from the Church, for those who lack faith, and in reparation to the Sacred Heart for all sin and all blasphemy.

For all those who are sick or burdened in any way, may come to know and experience the refreshment of Christ’s love.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord