We automatically associate the word “devotion” with a non-essential or optional practice of the faith. However, when the Church universally celebrates a devotion within her liturgy, it highlights the way a devotion focuses our attention on an essential mystery of the faith. The Benedictine Blessed Columba Marmion (1858-1923) contends that devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a form of “worship of the Word Incarnate, manifesting His love to us, and showing us His Heart as a symbol of that love.”1
The Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Friday after the second Sunday following Pentecost (in 2026, on June 12). The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart follows two other significant liturgical feasts in the life of the Church: Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi. These three celebrations are all intimately related. Communion with the Blessed Trinity is the end for which we have been made, and the Holy Eucharist enables us to partake of the divine life and love of God. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ is an outward symbol of God’s love for humanity, an expression of the communion between God and man, and the source of grace and mercy for his Bride, the Church.
Recent magisterial teachings of Pope Leo XIV in his Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te (2025) and Pope Francis in his last encyclical Dilexit nos (2024) direct our attention to the significance of the Sacred Heart, so it is very relevant to focus our attention once again on the devotion and liturgical celebrations related to this symbol of the Lord’s love for us.
Image Source: AB/Benjamin Smith, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Behold this Heart
The liturgical development of devotion to the Sacred Heart occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries. St. John Eudes (1601-1680) dedicated himself to the apostolate of popularizing devotion to the Sacred Heart and to the Heart of Mary. Through his efforts, a liturgical cultus developed around the Sacred Heart. St. John Eudes composed various Offices and Masses in honor of the Sacred Heart. This merited him the title of “apostle” of devotion to the Sacred Heart by Pope St. Pius X.2 A feast of the Sacred Heart and a distinct feast in honor of the Heart of Mary were recognized because of the efforts of St. John Eudes.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) was the recipient of a series of apparitions from our Lord between December 1673 and June of 1675 in Paray-le-Monial, France. Christ revealed the great love of his Heart for all of humanity: “‘My divine heart,’ he told me, ‘is so passionately fond of the human race, and of you in particular, that it cannot keep back the pent-up flames of its burning charity any longer. They must burst out through you and reveal my Heart to the world, so as to enrich mankind with my precious treasures.’”
A young Jesuit priest, St. Claude La Colombiere (1641-1682), served as St. Margaret’s confessor. The publication of Blessed Claude’s sermons and retreat notes, which were deeply influenced by the apparitions of Christ to St. Margaret, would be an important catalyst in the further spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart. The contemporary theologian Timothy O’Donnell, who was cited above, outlines the elements of the devotion as it has been shaped by these private revelations to St. Margaret: “the First Friday Mass and Communion of Reparation, the Thursday Night Holy Hour in memory of our Lord’s bitter agony in Gethsemane, the liturgical feast for the Sacred Heart (the highest rank possible), and the heavy emphasis upon consecration and reparation.”
Beginning in the 19th century, popes continued to share the gift of this devotion with the universal Church. Many of them have acknowledged the importance of consecration and devotion to the Sacred Heart and the need to make reparation for sin. Also beginning in this period, liturgical feasts of the Sacred Heart were elevated for the benefit of the universal Church. In 1856, Pope Pius IX extended the Feast of the Sacred Heart to the whole Church at the request of the French bishops. Pope Leo XIII approved the Church’s Litany of the Sacred Heart for the universal Church on April 2, 1899. Less than two months later, on May 25, Leo XIII would also issue an encyclical on the Sacred Heart (Annum Sacrum) which focused on consecration to the Heart of Christ. In 1921, Pope Benedict XV established the Feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus on the Thursday within the Octave of the Sacred Heart. The celebration of this Feast helped to connect the Sacred Heart with the gift of the Holy Eucharist.3 Pope Pius XI established the feast of Christ the King and united it with devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by calling upon the universal Church to make reparation annually on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. In 1928, Pope Pius XI then raised the feast of the Sacred Heart to the highest liturgical rank and added an octave for this feast. Pius XI also issued two encyclicals on the Sacred Heart—Miserentissimus Redemptor in 1928 and Caritate Christi Compulsi in 1932. On May 15, 1956, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical on the Sacred Heart, Haurietis Aquas, the most comprehensive magisterial document on devotion to the Sacred Heart until the most recent encyclical of Pope Francis.
Worship of the Pierced One
The liturgical texts for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart reflect the Church’s theological understanding and appreciation of this devotion. The Roman Rite in both the ordinary and extraordinary forms begins the liturgy with this antiphon from Psalm 33 (32):11, 19:
The designs of his Heart are from age to age,
to rescue their souls from death,
and to keep them alive in famine.
The Psalm reminds us that the notion of the heart as a symbol of God’s redemptive love for humanity is already celebrated in the Old Testament. This theme from the Old Testament is strengthened by the various Old Testament readings used in the revised lectionary.
Collect
In the ancient form of the Roman Rite (the usus antiquior), there is only one collect for the Feast of the Sacred Heart:
O God, through Your mercy we possess the treasures of Your love in the Sacred Heart of Your Son, the same Sacred Heart which we wounded by our sins. May our honor, devotion, and love make reparation to Him for our faults. Through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. [emphasis added]
In the revised form of the Roman Rite there are two different options that can be chosen for the collect:
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that we, who glory in the Heart of your beloved Son
and recall the wonders of his love for us,
may be made worthy to receive
an overflowing measure of grace
from that fount of heavenly gifts.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son….
Or:
O God, who in the Heart of your Son,
wounded by our sins,
bestow on us in mercy
the boundless treasures of your love,
grant, we pray,
that, in paying him the homage of our devotion,
we may also offer worthy reparation.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son… [emphasis added]
Both forms of the Mass offer a collect focused on the need for reparation to atone for sin and the disrespect and irreverence directed toward our Lord’s Sacred Heart. As we have seen above, the notion of reparation is an essential part of the revelation of this devotion from our Lord to St. Margaret Mary. Pope Pius XI called for a solemn act of reparation to be offered to our most loving Redeemer annually on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. The other collect used in the reformed liturgy offers the Church the opportunity to focus on the Sacred Heart as a fount of grace and mercy ordered toward our transformation in Christ.
Readings
The usus antiquior appoints Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19 (Epistle) and John 19:31-37 (Gospel) for the Feast of the Sacred Heart. The Missal of Paul VI offers the following readings for our consideration on this Feast: Deuteronomy 7:6-11, Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 1 John 4:7-16, and Matthew 11:25-30 (Year A); Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9; Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6; Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19; and John 19:31-37 (Year B); Ezekiel 34:11-16; Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6; Romans 5:5b-11; and Luke 15:3-7 (Year C).
Obviously, Year B builds upon the lectionary cycle of the usus antiquior, while there are now two other sets of readings following the reforms to the lectionary. Arguably, John 19 has a particular primacy as it summarizes a central image of the Sacred Heart. The pierced side of Christ in John 19 is recognized by many of the Fathers as the source of the Bride of Christ, the Church, as the sacramental economy flows forth from our Lord’s pierced heart. His Heart is the source of life-giving water and a symbol of God’s love for humanity. The other gospels emphasize different aspects of the love of the Sacred Heart. Matthew 11 emphasizes the Heart as a source of strength and renewal. Luke 15 emphasizes Christ as the Good Shepherd in search of the lost sheep out of love and compassion. In all three sets of readings, the unifying theme is the merciful love of the Redeemer who desires for us to imitate the meekness and humility of his Heart. This theme is emphasized as both forms of the Roman Rite offer this Alleluia antiphon from Matthew 11:29: “Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.”
Communion Antiphon
The Church offers two communion antiphons in the liturgy for the Sacred Heart. The first antiphon is also used in the liturgy of the usus antiquior: “One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out” (John 19:34). The heart of Jesus, which is pierced by the spear, becomes the fount from which water (symbolizing Baptism) and blood (symbolizing the Holy Eucharist) flow. Benedict XVI comments that “Jesus himself is the new temple” whose “open heart is the source of a stream of new life communicated to us” through these sacraments.4 The other communion antiphon comes from John 7:37-38: “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” Benedict XVI comments that faith enables us to “drink the living water of God’s Word” whereby we can be transformed into a wellspring that offers the life-giving water of Christ to the world thirsting for the love flowing forth from Jesus’ heart.5
Postcommunion
In the usus antiquior, the Prayer after Communion is: “O Lord Jesus, let the Blessed Sacrament fire us with a holy fervor, that we may experience the sweetness of Your loving Heart and learn to prefer the things of Heaven to those of earth; who lives and reigns with God the Father…” (emphasis added).
In the ordinary form of the Mass, the prayer after communion reads:
May this sacrament of charity, O Lord,
make us fervent with the fire of holy love,
so that, drawn always to your Son,
we may learn to see him in our neighbor.
Through Christ our Lord (emphasis added).
The postcommunion prayer used by the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in its Divine Worship: The Missal is closer to the usus antiquior: “O Lord Jesus Christ, who has given unto us to taste of the sweetness of thy Gracious Heart: kindle in us by these holy mysteries the fire of the divine charity; that we may learn to despise the things of earth and to set our affections on things above; who livest and reignest world without end” (emphasis added).
In all these forms, there is an emphasis upon the Sacred Heart inflaming our faith with fervor and devotion. The newly composed prayer of the Missal of Paul VI also adds the appellation of the “sacrament of charity” for the Eucharist and the call to see Christ in our neighbor. This is consistent with the Church’s understanding of Christ’s mandatum at the Last Supper: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). The living water, which flows forth from the heart of Christ (John 7:37), should flow forth through the life of every believer toward others. In the words of Pope Benedict, we are called upon to become “a wellspring which gives life to others” by “offering life-giving water to a parched and thirsty world.”5
In view of the relationship between the lex orandi and the lex credendi, we can confidently say devotion to the Sacred Heart is not a mere form of piety that we can take or leave as we see fit. The Church calls us to this beautiful devotion so that our hearts may become like unto his and become inflamed with love for God and neighbor.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon us!
Footnotes
Blessed Columba Marmion, Christ in His Mysteries, trans. Alan Bancroft (Bethesda, MD: Zaccheus Press, 2008), 420.
- See Timothy T. O’Donnell, Heart of the Redeemer: An Apologia for the Contemporary and Perennial Value of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992). This work is an invaluable summary of the history and theology of devotion to the Sacred Heart.
- It is beyond the scope of this essay to address this in more detail, but the Feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus along with the Octave for the Feast of the Sacred Heart were suppressed from the general liturgical calendar following the liturgical reforms and norms issued in 1960–1961. For a summary of the changes, see https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2010/11/compendium-of-reforms-of-roman-breviary_30.html.
- Pope Benedict XVI, “The Lord is My Shepherd,” in Benedict XVI, Lord, I Love You! Homilies Through the Liturgical Year: Volume 1: Lent, Easter, and Solemnities of the Lord, ed. Pietro Rossotti (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2025), 258.
- Benedict XVI, “The Lord is My Shepherd,” 259.
