| Devotion Name: | Sacred Heart of Jesus Devotion | Devotion Type: | Devotion | |
| Primary Focus: | Christ | Origin Century: | 17 | |
| Origin Region: | France | Founder or Promoter: | St. Margaret Mary Alacoque | |
| Duration or Frequency: | Daily prayers; monthly First Fridays | |||
| Associated Promises: | Traditionally associated with grace for perseverance, spiritual renewal, and fervor in charity. | |||
| Liturgical Association: | June; First Fridays; Eucharistic devotion | |||
| Feast Day(s): | Feast of the Sacred Heart — Friday after Corpus Christi | |||
| Spiritual Significance: | Centers the Christian life on the personal love of Christ and the need for reparation. | |||
| Virtues Emphasized: | Love|Reparation|Fidelity|Zeal | |||
| Related Saints: | St. Margaret Mary Alacoque|St. Claude de la Colombière | |||
| Related Events: | Sacred Heart revelations|Good Friday symbolism | |||
Summary: Devotion honoring the love of Christ symbolized in His pierced and burning Heart.
Description:
The Sacred Heart devotion contemplates the love of Christ as both tender and wounded: a Heart burning with charity, yet rejected by indifference and sin. Its modern form was shaped by the visions granted to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, though its roots reach much earlier into meditation on the side of Christ opened on Calvary.
This devotion emphasizes reparation, Eucharistic love, and personal consecration. It asks the believer not merely to admire divine love from a distance but to answer it with fidelity, gratitude, and a willingness to console the Heart that first loved mankind.
How to Practice: Make acts of consecration and reparation, display the Sacred Heart image, and observe First Fridays with Mass and Communion.
Spiritual Significance: Centers the Christian life on the personal love of Christ and the need for reparation.
