June is the Month of the Sacred Heart. This year the Solemnity falls on Friday, the seventh, and along with the next day’s Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it marks the end of the annual liturgical feasts that move because they are calculated from the Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord, that is, from Easter. That’s the original meaning of the phrase “movable feast.” Move as however it might, the Feast of the Sacred Heart always falls in June.
June is the Month of the Sacred Heart. You will notice our Mary Altar of May (Mary’s month is May, the month of mothers) is now occupied by our small Sacred Heart statue; our large one is over the main doors of the church, visible as you leave.
June is the month of the Sacred Heart; it is a time for us to reflect on the reality of God’s love for us in Christ, and the nature and requirements of that love that He has commanded us to emulate, and made it possible for us to emulate. Love one another as I have loved you.
It is good to be Catholic, to have the divine reality arrayed across the calendar in ways that make it possible for us to understand, to remember, and to celebrate all that God is and does. Other people associate certain months with other things, none of them as true and beautiful as life in Christ.
Mark this month by exploring the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by entering into the mystery of God’s love enfleshed and inflamed. Below are two prayers that have helped me grow in my devotion to the Sacred Heart. From His pierced Heart flow blood and water that give life to the world, the font and wellspring of the Church’s sacraments. Pray these prayers to explore the mystery of reparation, which characterizes our participation in the Divine and redeeming love, during June, the month of the Sacred Heart.
Monsignor Smith
Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
(said by St. Padre Pio for his intentions)
I. O my Jesus, You said “verily I say to You, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you”, behold I knock, I seek and I ask for the grace of…
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I put all trust in Thee.
II. O my Jesus, You said, “verily I say to You, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give to you”, behold in your name I ask the Father for the grace of…
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I put all trust in Thee.
III. O my Jesus, You said, “verily I say to You, heaven and earth shall pass away but My words shall not pass away,” behold I encouraged by your infallible words, now ask for the grace of…
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I put all trust in Thee.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus to whom one thing alone is impossible, namely, not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of Thee through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your and our tender Mother.
Salve Regina. St. Joseph, Foster Father of Jesus, pray for us.
Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Oh most holy Heart of Jesus,
fountain of every blessing,
I adore you, I love you,
and with a lively sorrow for my sins,
offer you this poor heart of mine.
Make me humble, patient, pure,
and wholly obedient to Your will.
Grant, good Jesus,
that I may live in You and for You.
Protect me in the midst of danger;
comfort me in my afflictions,
give me health of body,
assistance in my temporal needs,
Your blessing in all that I do,
and the grace of a holy death.
