Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] The Sacred Heart: Synthesis of All Catholic DoctrineThe Sacred Heart is not a simple devotion of sentiment - it is not even a special isolated dogma. It is the synthesis of all Catholic doctrine, of the whole Catholic moral law summed up in the love of Jesus Christ for us and of our love for Jesus Christ. There is then for us a theology of the Sacred Heart. This theology, according to Saint Augustine and Bossuet, from the consideration that God is the eternal Heart -- God is love (1 Jn 4:8) -- finds in this charity the...

[Catholic Caucus] Day of Reparation for Crimes Against the Most Holy EucharistOctave Day of Corpus ChristiJoin the crusadePrayer of the Crusade of Reparation to the Eucharistic Heart of JesusMy God, I believe, I adore, I trust, and I love you! I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not trust and do not love you. (3 times)O Divine Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, behold us prostrate with a contrite and adoring heart before the majesty of your redeeming love in the Most Blessed Sacrament. We declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation, not only for...

A Catholic Louisiana farm owner has reportedly lost two-thirds of his business for daring to take a stand against the LGBT community. As most people are already aware, June is so-called “Pride” month. But June is also something else — it’s the month of the Catholic Church’s Sacred Heart of Jesus devotion. On June 2nd, farm owner Ross McKnight of the Backwater Foie Gras farmstead published an Instagram post essentially urging Catholics to ignore “Pride” month and instead stick to the Sacred Heart devotion. View the post below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Backwater Farmstead (@backwaterfoiegras)...

(LifeSiteNews) — Catholics have erected billboards across Florida reminding Americans that June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The initiative was started by a Catholic couple who gathered donations from fellow Catholics to rent three billboards in Florida that read, “June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Christ is King.” “It seems most people have forgotten what the month of June is truly dedicated to for the last few centuries, and this is just meant as a reminder for those who may have forgotten,” Ruby Galatolo wrote on Facebook. The billboards are located on highways across...

June 28 2019 Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Reading 1 Ez 34:11-16 Thus says the Lord GOD:I myself will look after and tend my sheep.As a shepherd tends his flockwhen he finds himself among his scattered sheep,so will I tend my sheep.I will rescue them from every place where they were scatteredwhen it was cloudy and dark.I will lead them out from among the peoplesand gather them from the foreign lands;I will bring them back to their own countryand pasture them upon the mountains of Israelin the land's ravines and all its inhabited places.In good pastures will...

June 8, 2018 « Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Reading 1 Hos 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9 Thus says the LORD:When Israel was a child I loved him,out of Egypt I called my son.Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,who took them in my arms;I drew them with human cords,with bands of love;I fostered them like onewho raises an infant to his cheeks;Yet, though I stooped to feed my child,they did not know that I was their healer. My heart is overwhelmed,my pity is stirred.I will not give vent to my blazing anger,I will not destroy Ephraim...

Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy? Q. I wanted to know if there is a connection between the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Divine Mercy. The painting of the Divine Mercy reminds me a lot of the Sacred Heart, or am I off-base? Also, what is a good source to understand the Divine Mercy better? Diane, via e-mail A. The devotions are distinct historically but are obviously related since they point to the one and same Lord Jesus, our merciful and great High Priest. But they also have in common the desire to emphasize that, although Christ will...

June 23, 2017 Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Reading 1 Dt 7:6-11Moses said to the people:"You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God;he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earthto be a people peculiarly his own.It was not because you are the largest of all nationsthat the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,for you are really the smallest of all nations.It was because the LORD loved youand because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers,that he brought you out with his strong...

HAURIETIS AQUAS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XII ON DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART MAY 15, 1956 Venerable Brethren: Health and Apostolic Benediction. 1. "You shall draw waters with joy out of the Savior's fountain."[1] These words by which the prophet Isaias, using highly significant imagery, foretold the manifold and abundant gifts of God which the Christian era was to bring forth, come naturally to Our mind when We reflect on the centenary of that year when Our predecessor of immortal memory, Pius IX, gladly yielding to the prayers from the whole Catholic world, ordered the celebration of the feast of...

June 3, 2016 Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Reading 1 Ez 34:11-16 Thus says the Lord GOD:I myself will look after and tend my sheep.As a shepherd tends his flockwhen he finds himself among his scattered sheep,so will I tend my sheep.I will rescue them from every place where they were scatteredwhen it was cloudy and dark.I will lead them out from among the peoplesand gather them from the foreign lands;I will bring them back to their own countryand pasture them upon the mountains of Israelin the land's ravines and all its inhabited places.In good pastures will...

All of us know, that when you love someone very much you want to be with the one you love. A Mother can hardly wait to hold her newborn infant. A Father's Joy is to be with his children. Friends treasure the moments they spend together. Sweethearts love so deeply they find it painful to part. We know that the more one loves, the more one wants to be with the object of one's affection. This explains the very mystery of our catholic faith the mystery of the "Real Presence". Jesus Christ stays with us day and night in the...

June 12, 2015Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus    Reading 1 Hos 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9 Thus says the LORD:When Israel was a child I loved him,out of Egypt I called my son.Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,who took them in my arms;I drew them with human cords,with bands of love;I fostered them like onewho raises an infant to his cheeks;Yet, though I stooped to feed my child,they did not know that I was their healer. My heart is overwhelmed,my pity is stirred.I will not give vent to my blazing anger,I will not destroy Ephraim again;For...

Introduction: The Feast Day of Corpus Christi (The Body of Christ) was requested by Our Lord himself. It was not a feast day that the Church in its wisdom decided to include in the liturgical calendar. It was a feast day, rather, that Jesus Christ requested through extraordinary means by appearing to his servant Saint Juliana and showing her a Moon that he said was symbolic of the feast day that was needed, that he wanted, that he requested, the feast day of Corpus Christi. And Saint Juliana said "But Jesus, we have a feast day Holy Thursday". And Our...

Featured Term (selected at random:TWELVE PROMISES The promises made by Christ to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun, in the convent chapel at Paray-le-Monial, France, between 1673 and 1675. They occurred during revelations she received on devotion to the Heart of Jesus, and have been encouraged by the Church as worthy of pious belief. They have been translated into more than two hundred languages. Although the total number is larger, the following are the most important promises made by Christ to those who are devoted to the Sacred Heart: 1. I will give them all the graces necessary in...

Featured Term (selected at random:FIRST FRIDAYS The customary observance of the first Friday of each month, encouraged by the Church, based on a promise made to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-90), that special favors, such as the grace of final perseverance, would be given to those who received Holy Communion on nine successive first Fridays. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is an image etched deeply in the minds of many Catholics. The devotion emphasizes the perfect, redeeming love of Jesus, and the living water which flows from His heart (cf Jn 7:37-39). The origins of this longstanding piety lie in the Medieval period.  It was promoted by, amongst others, the Flemish Mystic St. Lutgarde of Aywieres (1182-1246) and St. Gertrude the Great (1256-1302). It was not until the seventeenth century, however, that the devotion became more widespread in its popularity through its promotion by the two notable individuals, and the Society of Jesus more...

A friend of mine was showing a Southern Baptist neighbor around the Catholic Church. She explained the Stations of the Cross, the crucifix, the image of the Blessed Mother and the saints.Then they came to the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Baptist was bemused.“Why do y’all have a statue of Jesus with his heart on the outside?”“Well,” said the Catholic lady sweetly, “You Baptists like to ask Jesus into your heart right?”“That’s right.”“We like to ask Jesus to take us into his heart.”Perfect apologetics. Welcoming and kind and working from what the other person knows to what...

Featured Term (selected at random):LEAGUE OF THE SACRED HEART See: APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is as old as Christianity. When the side of Christ was pierced on Calvary, there immediately flowed out blood and water. The Church has interpreted this to mean the outpouring of grace through the Church, which began the moment that Christ expired on the Cross.Over the centuries, the gratitude of the faithful for this manifestation of divine love has centered on the physical Heart of Jesus as the symbol of God’s love for man. We may therefore say that devotion to the Sacred...

  The First Friday Devotion in the Catholic Church History of First Friday First Friday devotions among Catholics are related to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ. First Friday practices date to the last decades of the 17th century, when Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and spoke to her of His Sacred Heart. Among the promises Our Lord revealed to St. Margaret Mary, the 12th specifically referenced practices for Fridays: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...