Free Republic

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...

Featured Term (selected at random):SCAPULAR MEDAL A blessed medal, worn or carried on the person, instead of one or more of the small scapulars. It was authorized as a substitute by St. Pius X in 1910. It bears on one side a representation of the Sacred Heart, and on the other an image of the Blessed Virgin. It replaces any (or all) of the small scapulars in which a person has been invested. Investing in each case must be done with the scapular and not the medal. The medal is to be blessed by a priest who has the faculties...

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus "We the Christians are the true Israel which springs from Christ, for we are carved out of His heart as from a rock." -- St. Justin Martyr (d. 165) "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." -- Matthew 11:29 "There is in the Sacred Heart the symbol and express image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love in return." -- Pope Leo XIII   The heart has always been seen as...

We may say that devotion to the Sacred Heart began on Calvary. When the Heart of Christ was pierced on the Cross, it opened the door to realizing how deeply Jesus loves us. In return, He wants nothing more than for us to love Him with all our hearts. There is nothing that God wants more than for us to love Him without reserve. What God wants more than anything else is for us to love Him more than anyone else in the world. I like the prayer of St. Claude la Colombiere, in which he asks, "O God, what...

Image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, taken from America Needs Fatima blog (The following is excerpted from Chapter LI of the Second Part of "A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture," by Bishop Frederick Justus Knecht, D.D., published by TAN Books.) Ten Memorable Sayings of Our Lord X. "Come to Me all you that labour and are burdened[14], and I will refresh you[15]. Take up My yoke upon you and learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart, [emphasis mine] and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke[16] is sweet, and My burden is...

An Apostolic Mission for the Renewal of theDevotion to The Sacred Heart of Jesus A program for Catholic participation in Sacred Heartprayers and Sacred Heart Devotion practices,available through our free Sacred Heart Prayer Booklet. For all Catholic men and women, families and young people troubled by the many afflictions of modern life.......Discover the greatest source of spiritual and temporal help, graces and blessings for those who truly love the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and practice His requested Devotion with the essential prayers and acts, including the "First Friday"and the "Nine Fridays" promises. (Picture enlargements and prayer cards...

Please join me in saying a Novena to the Sacred Heart for Gov. Sarah Palin and her family, that they receive God's grace and strength in the trying times to come. This Novena is the same one that Padre Pio prayed daily for the intentions of all those who came to him for help. It is entitled "Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart" because of its great power. I know, because I have experienced it. I will start the Novena today, and complete it on September 11th. For those unfamiliar with this Novena, here is a link: http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/heart/sh_novena.htm

The group walked along Route 116 with a red banner bearing a lion and a cross. Some carried rosaries. Some prayed. Some chatted with their friends, while others just quietly reflected It was a 41/2-hour trek, spanning 13 miles. There was plenty of time for all of it. Walking under the hot sun, 13 members of the Spring Grove chapter of Tradition, Family and Property made a pilgrimage Monday morning to Sacred Heart Basilica in Conewago Township.... And, their goal was to pray the rosary for the family structure in America at the country's oldest stone church, and the first...

Madrid, 2008 In 1936, during the great Socialist Terror of the early months of the Civil War, the large monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Cerro de los Ángeles, near Madrid, was attacked and demolished, a symbol of one of the harshest large-scale persecutions of the Church in History. From one of the stones of the demolished statue, a small sculpture of the Sacred Heart was sculpted and placed in the public garden outside the Parish Church of San Antonio de la Florida, in Madrid - otherwise a very famous building due to the extensive paintings of...

Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel   O most holy Virgin, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, you are the joy of the Church Triumphant, the help of the Church Militant, and the comfort of the Church Suffering. Therefore, extend, we pray you, your merciful glance on those numerous souls who suffer in the fires of Purgatory and free them, that they may be admitted to the beatific vision of God as soon as possible. Remember O holy Virgin, to help especially those of my relatives, and those who are most abandoned and devoid of help. O most merciful...

       The First Friday of each month was designated by our Savior Himself as a day to be consecrated to honoring His Sacred Heart…. As the object of this devotion is to make our Savior Jesus Christ ardently and perfectly loved, and to make reparation for the outrages offered to Him in the past, as well as for those which he daily receives in the Blessed Eucharist…Jesus Christ merits our love at all times, but alas! He is despised and outraged in the Sacrament of His love at all times, and so people should at all times make reparation to...

The Heart of the World One of the soldiers thrust a lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (Jn 19:34) June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Perhaps no other devotion can be said to be as central to our Christian faith as this devotion because it is rooted entirely in the central mystery of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus. Truly, the Sacred Heart stands at the very heart of our world and calls to all men to draw near. God did not just stand afar off in heaven...

Origin of the Sacred Heart Badge Our Lord revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque "His wish for her to order a picture of the image of that Sacred Heart for people specifically to venerate and have in their homes and also small pictures to carry with them." She wrote this to her Superior, Mother Saumaise, on March 2, 1686. Thus was born the devotion of wearing the little Badges. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque always kept a badge with her and inspired her novices to do the same. She made many badges and often said this practice was very pleasing to...

June Devotion: The Sacred Heart "And He showed me that it was His great desire of being loved by men and of withdrawing them from the path of ruin into which Satan hurls such crowds of them, that made Him form the design of manifesting His Heart to men, with all the treasures of love, of mercy, of grace, of sanctification and salvation which it contains, in order that those who desire to render Him and procure for Him all the honor and love possible, might themselves be abundantly enriched with those divine treasures of which this Heart is the...

Devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus "Behold this Heart Which has loved men so much that It spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify to them It's love; and in return I receive from the greater number nothing but ingratitude by reason of their irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt which they show me in this Sacrament of Love." --- Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Our Lord stands there, ever waiting to heal our aching hearts,  soothe our griefs, reach out to us with his mercy and bring us...

Friday June 22, 2001 Feast of the Sacred Heart Reading I (Ezekiel 34:11-16) Reading II (Romans 5:5b-11) Gospel (St. Luke 15:3-7) One might wonder why, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, we are hearing all about a shepherd. But in order to understand the love of Our Lord which, of course, is symbolized by the heart, one has to understand the heart of a shepherd. The Lord tells us, in the first reading today, that He Himself will pasture His sheep; He will be the shepherd; He will bring them to the green pastures and the plush grazing ground....