Consecration to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus
[Composed by St. Margaret Mary]
June 21st, 1992
Brother John Raymond
Margaret Alacoque was born on July 22nd, 1647 in the diocese of
Autun, France. At Confirmation she took the name Mary. She was
raised in a good Catholic home. Life continued rather pleasantly for
Margaret until the death of her father in 1655.
Her father's death left the family in a difficult situation. It
was discovered that their house was jointly owned by her father's
brother who took over the management of the entire property and
treated Margaret's mother practically as a servant. Margaret was
sent as a boarder to the school of the Urbanist Poor Clares of
Charolles.
Margaret was allowed to make her First Holy Communion at the age
of nine, which was then considered rather young. Holy Communion had
a profound effect upon her. She began to feel drawn to prayer and
away from the amusements of her school companions. Also, she was
eager to do everything the nuns did and had an ardent desire to
become a nun.
At eleven she suffered a severe attack of rheumatism which
obliged her to return home. After being bedridden for four years,
she was miraculously cured when she promised the Blessed Virgin that
if she were cured she would one day become one of Her daughters.
Thus in 1662 Margaret was completely restored to health.
Margaret Mary entered the Visitation Nuns on June 20, 1671 at the
age of twenty-four. She was assigned as a nurse's aide in the
convent infirmary. She endured many trials and sufferings. On
December 27, 1673 as she knelt before the Most Blessed Sacrament
Jesus appeared to Sr. Margaret Mary and gave her the title "the
Beloved Disciple of My Sacred Heart."
Two months later she had a vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
which was on a throne of flames and surrounded by a crown of thorns
and surmounted by a Cross. Jesus taught her that the thorns
represented the punctures made in His Heart by our sins. The Cross
signified that His Heart, from the first moment of Its existence,
was filled with all the future sorrows which He would endure. He
wished this Image of His Sacred Heart to be honored by the faithful
by wearing It (ie. a Sacred Heart Badge) and publicly displaying It.
He promised many graces and blessings to those who would do this.
In June, 1674, Jesus further revealed His Heart. He complained of
all He had done for mankind and the ingratitude and rejection shown
Him in return. Our Blessed Lord asked Sr. Margaret Mary to make a
Holy Hour between eleven o'clock and midnight every first Thursday
of the month to make reparation for the terrible anguish He felt in
the Garden of Olives due to this foreseen response of humanity.
Also, He asked her to receive Holy Communion on the First Friday of
every month. (This is now known as the devotion of the Nine First
Fridays. Our Lord promised the grace of final perseverance to
whoever receives Holy Communion on nine consecutive First Fridays in
reparation to His Sacred Heart).
The fourth major apparition occurred shortly after the Feast of
Corpus Christi, 1675. Our Lord specifically complained of the
irreverences, sacrileges, coldness and scorn He receives from men in
the Holy Eucharist. He asked for the institution by the Church of
the Feast of the Sacred Heart to atone for this great ingratitude.
He asked that the faithful make Holy Communions of reparation on
this Feast.
When Sr. Margaret Mary became director of the Novices she
instructed them in devotion to the Sacred Heart. This brought her
much criticism from her community as they incorrectly considered
this devotion new and opposed to the spirit of their Order. She
suffered many humiliations and opposition until 1682. During this
year her spiritual director, Fr. Claude de la Colombiere, died
leaving his writings called "The Spiritual Retreat" which was soon
published. One day the nuns read it during meals. Fr. Claude
described Sr. Margaret Mary without revealing her name and talked
about the revelations made by Jesus to her. After her public
justification by Fr. Colombiere (now a saint) all opposition
disappeared.
St. Margaret Mary's earthly mission for the Sacred Heart was
nearing completion. On October 8th, 1690 St. Margaret Mary was
confined to bed. Doctors examined her but found no symptoms to cause
alarm. Yet, on October 17th, Margaret Mary asked for the Last
Sacraments. She died later on that day.
In 1765 Pope Clement XIII introduced the Feast of the Sacred
Heart at Rome. Finally, in 1856, Pope Pius IX extended the Feast to
the entire Church. (Celebrated June 26th this year)
Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus [Composed by St. Margaret
Mary]
"O Sacred Heart of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to You I
consecrate and offer up my person and my life, my actions, trials
and sufferings, that my entire being may from now on only be
employed in loving, honoring and glorifying You. This is my
irrevocable will, to belong entirely to You, and to do all for Your
love, renouncing with my whole heart all that can displease You.
"I take You, O Sacred Heart, for the sole object of my love, the
protection of my life, the pledge of my salvation, the remedy of my
frailty and inconstancy, the reparation for all the defects of my
life, and my secure refuge at the hour of my death. Be, O Most
Merciful Heart, my justification before God Your Father, and screen
me from His anger which I have so justly merited. I fear all from my
own weakness and malice, and placing my entire confidence in You, O
Heart of Love, I hope all from Your infinite goodness. Annihilate in
me all that can displease or resist You. Imprint Your pure love so
deeply in my heart that I may never forget You or be separated from
You. I ask You in Your infinite goodness to grant that my name be
engraved in Your Heart, for in this I place all my happiness and all
my glory, to live and to die as one of Your devoted servants. Amen."