DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART (2024)

TheDevotion to theSacred Heart
Fr. John Croiset, S. J.

Prayersby St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Prayers Composed in Honor of the SacredHeart by St.Margaret Mary
(From Monsignor Gauthey's Edition, Paris,1951).

Prayer to the BlessedVirgin Mary
Prayer to the Sacred Heart of OurLordJesus
St. Margaret Mary's Litany ofthePassion
Prayer for Mercy
Prayer to Our Lord in His QualityasAll-Powerful Physician

PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

O most holy, most amiable and most glorious Virgin,Mother of God,Mistressand Advocate to whom we are all vowed and consecrated, making it ourgloryto belong to thee as children, servants and slaves for time andeternity,behold! with common accord, we throw ourselves at thy feet to renew ourvows of fidelity and servitude to thee and to pray thee that as webelongentirely to thee, thou wouldst offer, dedicate, consecrate and immolateto the Sacred Heart of our adorable Jesus, ourselves and all that weare,all that we shall do and suffer, without reserving anything forourselves.We wish to have no other liberty except that of loving Him, no othergloryexcept that of belonging to Him as slaves and victims of His pure love,no other will or power but that of pleasing Him and contenting Him ineverything,even at the price of our lives. And since thou hast all power over theamiable Heart of thy Divine Son, grant, O most charitable Mother, thatHe may receive and accept this consecration which we make today in thypresence, and through thy mediation, with the protestations of ourfidelity,relying on His grace and thy help, which we beg thee not to refuse us.

O, our sweet Hope, make us feel thy power over theamiable Heart ofJesus,and use thy influence on our behalf to lodge us there always. Pray Himto exercise His sovereign empire over our souls, making His love reignin our hearts, in order that He may consume us and transform usentirelyinto Himself May He be our Father, our Spouse, our Protection, ourTreasure,our Delight, our Love and our All in all things; may He destroy andannihilatein us all that is of ourselves and put in place of it all that is ofHimself,in order that we may be able to be pleasing to Him. May He be thesupportof our powerlessness, the strength of our weakness, the joy of all oursadness.

PRAYER TO THE SACRED HEARTOF
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Place me, O my sweet Savior, in Thy Sacred Side, and inThy adorableHeart which is a burning Furnace of pure love, and I shall be insafety.I hope, O my Jesus, My Sovereign Good, that Thou wilt bring me inthither,since I love Thee, not for the recompenses which Thou dost promise tothosewho love Thee, but purely for the love of Thyself. I love Thee aboveallthings lovable, above everything good, above everything beautiful,aboveevery pleasure, and in fine, above myself and everything that isoutsideof Thee, and I protest in the presence of Heaven and earth that I wishto live and die in Thy holy love, purely and simply, and that even iftolove Thee in this manner, I must suffer persecution and torments andevenendure death, I am quite content, and will say with St. Paul: "Nocreatureshall ever be able to separate me from the love of the Sacred Heart ofJesus, whom I love and wish to love eternally."

O most amiable Heart, Thou art my strength, my support,myrecompense,my safety, my refuge, my love and my all. O most holy Heart of Jesus,Heartmost august, Master of all hearts, I love Thee, I adore Thee, I praiseThee; I thank Thee, I wish to be all Thine. O Heart of love, dwell withme and in me; govern me, save me, change me entirely into Thee. O mostexcellent and most Sacred Heart, the eternal enjoyment of which willbe,without surfeit, the Source of enjoyment and the Recompense of theblessed,how desirable, how lovable Thou art! O Divine Heart, come to me, ordrawme to Thee. O Heart most sublime, the Delight of Divinity! I saluteTheefrom exile where I am; I invoke Thee in my sorrow; I call on Thee astheremedy for my frailty. Oh! most merciful Heart, compassionate andgenerousHeart of my Father and my Savior, do not refuse Thy help to my unworthyheart, destroy in me the reign of sin and establish in me that ofvirtuein order that Thy image may be completely perfected in me and that itmayone day be an ornament in Thy Heavenly palace. Amen.

ST. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE'S
LITANY OF THE PASSION

Humbly prostrate at the foot of Thy holy Cross, I willoften say toThee,
in order to excite Thy compassion and obtain mercy and pardon:

Jesus, unknown and despised,
Have mercy on me.
Jesus, calumniated and persecuted, Etc.
Jesus, abandoned by men and tempted,
Jesus, betrayed and sold for a paltry sum,
Jesus, blamed, accused and unjustly condemned,
Jesus, clothed with a garment of opprobrium and shame,
Jesus, buffeted and mocked,
Jesus, dragged with a rope round Thy neck,
Jesus, scourged unto blood,
Jesus, reputed to be a fool and to be possessed by a devil,
Jesus, to Whom Barabbas was preferred,
Jesus, shamefully stripped of Thy garments,
Jesus, crowned with thorns and saluted in derision,
Jesus, laden with the Cross, and disowned by Thy people,
Jesus, overwhelmed with insults, sorrow, and humiliations,
Jesus, sorrowful unto death,
Jesus, insulted, spat upon, beaten, outraged and scoffed at,
Jesus, hanged on the infamous tree in company with robbers,
Jesus, set at nought and deprived of honor before men,
Jesus, overwhelmed with all kinds of sorrow,

O Good Jesus, Who has suffered an infinity of insultsandhumiliationsfor love of me, imprint deeply on my heart a great love andappreciationfor them, and the desire to endure them willingly for Thee. Amen.

PRAYER FOR MERCY

Behold, O compassionate Father, this prodigal who hassinned againstThee by dissipating the treasures with which Thou hast enriched him. Ithrow myself at Thy Feet and cry for mercy. Do not reject me and do notforget Thy mercies. Exercise them over my poor soul, although it isunworthyof them. Do not permit that it be lost before Thine eyes, since ThySacredHeart has given birth to it with so much pain. Do not refuse me thetitleof child of Thy Heart, for I desire to die unto myself and unto sin, inorder to live henceforth only by the life of submission and obedience.In this spirit I wish to do all my actions, uniting my obedience withthatwhich Thou dost render to the priest, whether he be good or bad,withoutshowing the pain it costs Thee to enter into the hearts of sinners. Inlike manner, I will repress my repugnances so that they will have noothereffect on me but to make me sacrifice them to Thee, saying: Jesus wassilent;Jesus was obedient even unto death; I wish to obey until I breathe mylastsigh. Amen.

PRAYER TO OUR LORD IN HISQUALITY OF ALL-POWERFULPHYSICIAN

O Jesus, my love, in memory of the Sacrifice of Thyselfwhich Thoudidstoffer on the Cross and which Thou dost still offer in the BlessedSacrament,I beg of Thee to accept that which I make of my whole being, immolatedand sacrificed to Thy adorable designs and wishes. Receive me in thespiritof penance and sacrifice. O Heavenly Physician of my soul, SovereignRemedyfor my evils, I present myself to Thee as a sick person without hope inany other but in the charitable Heart of my Savior, who alone knows mymaladies and can cure me of them.

I hope for this favor from Thy bounty, since in thisamiableSacramentThou hast made Thyself my medicine, my healing balm. My cowardice andmycoldness in Thy love have been the cause of all my infirmities; butThoucanst, if Thou wilt, cure me, for I am ready to suffer anything inorderto be cured. Cut, burn, amputate; provided that I love Thee and besaved,I will submit to everything. On my part, I am ready to apply the ironandfire of entire mortification and crucifixion of myself to cure thewoundswhich pride and self-love have caused to my soul.

Apply Thyself then to my poor languishing heart as abalm of love. Omy charitable Physician, have pity on my weakness and deliver me fromitfor the glory of Thy name. Amen.

www.catholictradition.org/Two-Hearts/devotion7f.htm