EFFICACIOUS NOVENA TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS: DAY 1

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.

(The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was started and made popular by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. She was inspired by visions of Jesus to spread this devotion).

Hymn

1. Sweet Heart of Jesus! Fount of love and mercy,
Today we come, thy blessings to implore;
Oh touch our hearts so cold and so ungrateful,
And make them Lord, thine own forevermore.

Sweet Heart of Jesus! We implore, 
Oh, make us love thee, more and more.

2. Sweet Heart of Jesus! Make us know and love thee.
Unfold to us the treasures of thy grace.
That so our hearts, from things of earth uplifted,
May long alone to gaze upon thy face.

3. Sweet Heart of Jesus! Make us pure and gentle
And teach us how to do thy blessed will;
To follow close the print of thy dear footsteps,
And when we fall, Sweet Heart oh, love us still.

4. Sweet Heart of Jesus! Bless all hearts that love thee,
And make thine own heart ever blessed be.
Bless us dear Lord, and bless the friends we cherish,
And keep us true to Mary and to thee.

OPENING PRAYER

Sweet Heart of Jesus, pure and holy heart, all full of love. Heart filled with all perfections and virtues. You are the center of all hearts and deserve our love. I destroy everything that prevents us from being yours. Jesus, we want to love everything in you and you at all.

O God, who in the Heart of your Son, wounded by our sins, in the infinite concessions of love treasures, grant that we offer a fair reparation, consecrating ourselves to the Sacred Heart all our lives. Grant this through Christ, our Lord. Amen

SCRIPTURAL READING: Deuteronomy 7:6-11

Moses said to the people: ‘You are a people consecrated to the Lord your God; it is you that the Lord our God has chosen to be his very own people out of all the peoples of the earth. If the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, it was not because you outnumbered other peoples: you were the least of all peoples. It was for love of you and to keep the oath he swore to your fathers that the Lord brought you out with his mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know then that the Lord your God is God indeed, the faithful God who is true to his covenant and his graciousness for a thousand generations towards those who love him and keep his commandments, but who punishes in their own persons those that hate him. He is not slow to destroy the man who hates him; he makes him work out his punishment in person. You are therefore to keep and observe the commandments and statutes and ordinances that I lay down for you today.’

The Word of the Lord…

REFLECTION ON THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE (Apostle of the Sacred Heart):

Part 1 (Birth and childhood trauma)

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French Roman Catholic Visitation Nun and mystic, is greatly recognized for her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

She was born on July 22, 1647, in the Diocese of Autun, France as the only daughter of Claude and Philiberte Lamyn Alacoque, the fifth of seven children. Margaret has always shown an intense love for the Blessed Sacrament and preferred silence over typical childhood play. She began practicing severe corporal mortification after her first communion at 9-years-old.

“This Communion shed such bitterness over all my little pleasures and amusements that I was no longer able to enjoy any of them, although I sought them eagerly.” (The Letters of St. Margaret Mary of Alacoque, The Apostle of the Sacred Heart)

 After this, she became extremely ill and was even unable to walk for about four years.

“But I fell into so pitiable a state of ill health that for about four years I was unable to walk. My bones pierced my skin … since no remedy could be found for my illness, I was consecrated to the Blessed Virgin with the promise that, if she cured me, I should one day be one of her daughters.” (The Letters of St. Margaret Mary of Alacoque, The Apostle of the Sacred Heart).

St. Margaret Mary was cured, and in 1671, she joined the Visitation order at Paray-le-Monial; she professed the following year.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus! I adore you; I offer to you all that I am and all that I possess; I consecrate to you my soul with its faculties, my body with all its senses, my heart with all its affections, desiring in all things to honor, love, and glorify you; in thanksgiving for the numberless benefits that I have received from you, especially in the Holy Eucharist; in atonement for my own sins as well as in reparation for all the offenses that are committed against you in the sacrament of your love, and, finally, in humble supplication, that I may henceforth be faithful to you, that I may please you in thought, word, and deed, that I may suffer in patience and in perfect resignation to your holy will, that I may become like to you in meekness and humility, that I may persevere in your love and your grace to the end of my life, and that I may praise you and bless you with the saints and angels in eternity.

We beseech you, also, O good Jesus, by your Sacred Heart, overflowing with sweetness and mercy, to bless our Holy Father, the Pope, and our Holy Mother, the Church; to take under your special protection this congregation [my parish], our homes, our country, our rulers, our legislators, our bishops, our priests, and all Religious Orders. We recommend to you all our concerns, our friends, relatives, benefactors, and all those who have asked us to pray for them; those who are sick and those who are dying, and all who are under any affliction. Cast an eye of compassion on obstinate sinners, [the mistaken], and unbelievers. Give eternal rest to the faithful departed. Bless in particular the apostolic labours of those who are engaged in giving missions and retreats, in propagating the Faith in [mission] lands, in spreading your kingdom on earth, and in fostering devotion to Your Most Sacred Heart and to the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

I. O my Jesus, you have said: ‘Truly I say to you, ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.’ Behold I knock, I seek and ask for the grace of…… (here, name your request) Our Father… . Hail Mary… Glory Be to the Father…

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

II. O my Jesus, you have said: ‘Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.’ Behold, in your name, I ask the Father for the grace of…… (here, name your request) Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be To the Father…

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

III. O my Jesus, you have said: ‘Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away.’ Encouraged by your infallible words I now ask for the grace of… . . (here name your request) Our Father… . Hail Mary… Glory Be to the Father…

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of you, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your tender Mother and ours.

Jesus, meek and humble of Heart, make our hearts like unto Yours (x3)

Immaculate heart of Mary, Pray for us!!!

Hail Holy Queen…

St. Joseph, Pray for us!

 St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us!

Sources:

The Letters of St. Margaret Mary of Alacoque, Tan Books, 1954

The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by John Croiset, Tan Books, 1988

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PS: Have you prayed your Rosary today?