The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most widely practiced and well-known devotions in the Roman Catholic Church. It takes the physical heart of Jesus as representation of His Divine love for humanity. This feast has been on the Roman Catholic Liturgical calendar since 1856, and is always celebrated 19 days after Pentecost Sunday and always falls on a Friday. The devotion especially emphasizes the unmitigated love, compassion, and long-suffering of the heart of Christ towards humanity.

From the earliest days of the Church, "Christ's open side and the mystery of blood and water were meditated upon, and the Church was beheld issuing from the side of Jesus, as Eve came forth from the side of Adam. It is in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that we find the first unmistakable indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Through the wound in the side, the wound in the Heart was gradually reached, and the wound in the Heart symbolized the wound of love."

The origin of the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart in the modern form, derived from the French Roman Catholic Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. She learned the devotion from Jesus during a mystical experience and her revelations were numerous. On December 27, 1673, Margaret Mary reported that Jesus permitted her to rest her head upon His heart, and then disclosed to her the wonders of His love, telling her that He desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of His goodness, and that He had chosen her for this work. In July 1674, Jesus requested to be honored under the figure of His heart, also saying when He appeared radiant with love, He asked for a devotion of expiatory love, frequent reception of Holy Communion, especially Holy Communion on the First Friday of the month, and the Observance of Holy Hours.

In the Roman Catholic tradition, devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus has been closely associated with Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ. In his Encyclical, “Miserentissimus Redemptor,” Pope Pius XI stated, “The spirit of expiation or reparation has always had the first and foremost place in the worship given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.” The “Golden Arrow Prayer” directly refers to the Sacred Heart.

THE GOLDEN ARROW PRAYER

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and unutterable name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.