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Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Third Friday after Pentecost

The Feast of the Sacred Heart was established in order to stimulate the faithful to honor with more devotion and zeal, under the symbol of the Sacred Heart, the love of Jesus Christ, which induced Him not only to suffer and to die for the redemption of mankind, but also to institute the Sacrament of His Body and Blood in commemoration of His death.

Though the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is of great antiquity in the Church, yet it was reserved to the holy Margaret Mary Alacoque, of the Order of the Visitation, to make this devotion public. During the Octave of Corpus Christi, in the year 1690, our Blessed Lord appeared to His devoted handmaid, and disclosing to her His Heart, said: “Behold this Heart, which, notwithstanding the burning love for man with which it is consumed and exhausted, meets with no other return from the generality of Christians than sacrilege, contempt, indifference and ingratitude.” 

But what will it avail us to have listened to these so just complaints of our Savior, if we are not moved with compassion, and generously resolved to testify our sorrow for our past indifference by honoring His Sacred Heart, and by repairing, as far as lies in our power, the insults to which His ardent desire to dwell with the children of men daily exposes Him in the august Sacrament of His love! If gratitude to the God who suffered such torments for our salvation, does not incline us to accept His gracious invitation, and to rank ourselves among the number of His adorers, at least let the recollection of the many spiritual advantages to be derived from devotion to the Sacred Heart induce us to pray fervently and humbly, that He, who has Himself declared that it was a last effort of His love for man that induced Him to discover to them the treasures of His Heart, may infuse into our souls the great gift of true compassion for His Most Sacred Heart.

*Those who shall visit a church or public chapel, where the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is held, can gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions and with a prayer for the intention of His Holiness.

Updated Wednesday, March 12, 2003