Margaret Mary Alacoque's visions at Paray-le-Monial in 1673–75 spread devotion to the Heart of Jesus. Her act of consecration is prayed each of the nine days.
Friday after Corpus Christi (June 4, 2027)
Families
Reparation
The feast of the Sacred Heart falls on the Friday after the second Sunday after Pentecost, so the date moves each year; in 2027 it is June 4. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun, reported that Christ asked for a feast in honor of his Heart. Pius IX extended the feast to the whole Church in 1856. Her act of consecration appears in the Raccolta and is used here for each day.
Leo XIII consecrated the whole human race to the Sacred Heart in 1899.
Margaret Mary was canonized in 1920.
The First Friday devotion, nine months in a row, comes from her revelations.
A novena is nine days of prayer for one intention, modeled on the nine days the apostles and Mary prayed between the Ascension and Pentecost (Acts 1–2). Pray this each day:
Day 1. I, N.N., give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being for the future except in honouring, loving, and glorifying that Sacred Heart. It is my irrevocable will to be entirely his, and to do everything for his love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him. I take Thee then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge in the hour of death. O Heart of love, I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from thy goodness. Amen.
Day 2. I, N.N., give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being for the future except in honouring, loving, and glorifying that Sacred Heart. It is my irrevocable will to be entirely his, and to do everything for his love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him. I take Thee then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge in the hour of death. O Heart of love, I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from thy goodness. Amen.
Day 3. I, N.N., give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being for the future except in honouring, loving, and glorifying that Sacred Heart. It is my irrevocable will to be entirely his, and to do everything for his love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him. I take Thee then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge in the hour of death. O Heart of love, I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from thy goodness. Amen.
Day 4. I, N.N., give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being for the future except in honouring, loving, and glorifying that Sacred Heart. It is my irrevocable will to be entirely his, and to do everything for his love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him. I take Thee then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge in the hour of death. O Heart of love, I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from thy goodness. Amen.
Day 5. I, N.N., give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being for the future except in honouring, loving, and glorifying that Sacred Heart. It is my irrevocable will to be entirely his, and to do everything for his love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him. I take Thee then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge in the hour of death. O Heart of love, I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from thy goodness. Amen.
Day 6. I, N.N., give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being for the future except in honouring, loving, and glorifying that Sacred Heart. It is my irrevocable will to be entirely his, and to do everything for his love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him. I take Thee then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge in the hour of death. O Heart of love, I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from thy goodness. Amen.
Day 7. I, N.N., give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being for the future except in honouring, loving, and glorifying that Sacred Heart. It is my irrevocable will to be entirely his, and to do everything for his love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him. I take Thee then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge in the hour of death. O Heart of love, I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from thy goodness. Amen.
Day 8. I, N.N., give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being for the future except in honouring, loving, and glorifying that Sacred Heart. It is my irrevocable will to be entirely his, and to do everything for his love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him. I take Thee then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge in the hour of death. O Heart of love, I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from thy goodness. Amen.
Day 9. I, N.N., give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being for the future except in honouring, loving, and glorifying that Sacred Heart. It is my irrevocable will to be entirely his, and to do everything for his love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him. I take Thee then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge in the hour of death. O Heart of love, I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from thy goodness. Amen.
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from Sacred Heart's story, and a nudge to keep going.
[Affiliate placeholder: Catholic Company Novena to the Sacred Heart medal]
Image: Pompeo Batoni, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Act of consecration of St. Margaret Mary to the Sacred Heart (no. 157), The Raccolta, or Collection of Indulgenced Prayers (London: Burns & Oates; New York: Benziger, 1910), public domain.