A Personal Note---------

Dear Friends and Seekers of His Heart of Love,

Unfortunately, the religious fervor of the '50s, '60s and '70s, during which the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was widely practiced by all Catholics in the U.S., and elsewhere in the world has been dissipated in our society by the materialistic pursuit of other than spiritual goals by the vast majority of laity, with, among other things, the consequent loss of interest in and practice of the Devotion in the Churches and by many (but not all) of the clergy. 

Along with that, many of the old, most beautiful, inspiring Prayers to the Sacred Heart and Acts of Reparation to His Sacred Heart were also lost.  Until now.

By what I believe was divine inspiration and the action of His Spirit, I was given, in an unusual, totally implausible way a copy of an old, out-of-print prayer book of this period.  It contains many exquisitely beautiful prayers, which will fill our needs to tell Him of our love for His Heart in truly meaningful, expressive ways, Heart to Heart, from ours to His, and to console Him for the neglect and ingratitude of those who ignore His Eucharistic Presence by never visiting Him in our Churches. They are an AID, but there is much more that we can and should do to live this Devotion and to make it a part of our daily lives:

To receive the graces and blessings of His 12 Promises, which He wishes you to have, try at all times to do the following:

LOVE HIM, fervently.
PRAY TO HIM, constantly.
TRUST HIM, in everything.
VISIT HIM, frequently.
RECEIVE HIM, as often as possible.

He always keeps His Promises, if you do your part.

May the fervent and heartfelt recitation of these prayers and adoption of these practices bring a shower of graces and blessings to you and your families, and bring you ever closer to the total conversion to His Heart of Love that He wishes for us all.

Albert,
Servant of His Heart

Memorare to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Remember, O most kind Jesus, that none who have had recourse to Your Sacred Heart, implored its assistance, or called for mercy, have ever been abandoned.  Filled, and animated by this same confidence, O divine Heart, Ruler of all hearts, I fly to You, and oppressed  beneath the weight of my sins, I prostrate myself before You.  Despise not Your unworthy child, but grant me, I pray, an entrance into Your Sacred Heart.  Sustain me in all my combats and be with me now, and at all times, but especially in the hour of my death.  0 gracious Jesus!  0 amiable Jesus!  0 loving Jesus!

[Reparation for the neglect of the majority of Catholics who have left our Lord alone and abandoned on the altar, never visited, is a key feature of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Following are a number of very beautiful Acts of Reparation to the Sacred Heart, not generally known, which can form a part of one's daily prayer life, particularly when before the Blessed Sacrament.]

Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O Jesus, divine Savior, deign to cast a look of mercy upon Your children, who assemble  in the same spirit of faith, reparation, and love, and come to deplore their own infidelities, and those of all poor sinners, their brethren.

May we touch Your divine Heart by the unanimous and solemn promises we are about to make and obtain mercy for ourselves, for the world, and for all who are so unhappy as not to love You.  We all promise that for the future:

For the forgetfulness and ingratitude of men, *(We will console you O Lord)
For the way You are deserted in Your holy tabernacle,
For the crimes of sinners,
For the hatred of the impious,
For the blasphemies uttered against You,
For the sacrileges that profane Your Sacrament of Love,
For the outrages against Your divinity,
For the injuries of which You are the adorable Victim,
For the coldness of the greater part of your children,
For the contempt of your loving invitation,
For the infidelity of those who called themselves Your friends,
For the abuse of Your grace,
For our own unfaithfulness,
For the incomprehensible hardness of our hearts,
For our long delay in loving You,
For our tepidity in Your holy service,
For Your bitter sadness at the loss of souls,
For Your long waiting at the door of our hearts,
For the heartless scorn that grieves You,
For Your loving sighs,
For Your loving tears,
For Your loving imprisonment,
For Your loving death,

* We will console you, 0 Lord

Let us pray

0 Jesus!  divine Savior, from whose Heart comes forth this bitter complaint, "I looked for one that would comfort me, and I found none," graciously accept the feeble consolation we offer You, and aid us so powerfully by your grace, that we may, for the time to come, shun more and more all that can displease You, and prove ourselves in everything, and everywhere, and forever Your most faithful and devoted servants.  We ask it through Your Sacred Heart, O Lord, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit  one God, world without end.  Amen.

 

  Traditional Prayer of Reparation

Most loving Jesus, when I consider your tender heart and see it full of mercy and tenderness toward sinners, my own heart is filled with joy and confidence that I shall be so kindly welcomed by You.  Unfortunately, how many times have I sinned!  But now, with Peter and with Magdalene, I weep for my sins and detest them because they offend You, infinite Goodness.  Mercifully grant me pardon for them all; and let me die rather than offend You again; at least let me live only to love You in return.  Amen.  (Raccolta n. 255)

  Traditional Prayer of Reparation

My loving Jesus, out of the grateful love I bear you, and to make reparation for my unfaithfulness to grace, I give You my heart, and I consecrate myself wholly to You; and with Your help I purpose to sin no more.  Amen. (Raccolta, n. 260)

  Traditional Prayer of Reparation from the Irish

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on me.
O God, forgive me for all the sins of my life;
The sins of my youth and the sins of my age,
The sins of my body and the sins of my soul,
The sins I have confessed and the sins I have forgotten,
The sins against others in thought, word, and deed,
My sins of omission.
0, my God, I am sorry for all my sins, because you are so good;
And I will not sin again with the help of God.
God be merciful to me, a sinner.
Divine Heart of Jesus, convert sinners, save the dying,
Deliver the holy souls in purgatory.

 

 Contemporary Prayer of Reparation

Lord Jesus, who loves us so much: we have not loved You as we easily might have, nor served You enough in our neighbor as we could have.  We are truly sorry for this unfaithful love and promise to do better in the future.  Because You accept everything that we do in God's grace, when done in a spirit of love and obedience, as reparation, we now offer You and Your Heart our every thought, word, deed, and suffering in union with Your own sufferings.  Join our Reparation to that which You ceaselessly offer to the Father in the Mass and in the silence of the tabernacle.  Help us to suffer lovingly and to aid those who suffer.  Make Your redemptive love fruitful in the hearts of all those who will die today, so that all of us may love You for ever in heaven.  Amen.

 

 Daily Prayer to the Sacred Heart

0 Sacred Heart of Jesus, mercifully accept the prayer which I now make to You for help in the moment of my death, when at its approach all my senses shall fail me.

When, therefore, 0 kind and merciful Jesus, my weary and downcast eyes can no longer look up to You, be mindful of the loving gaze which I now turn to You, and have mercy on me, a sinner.

When my parched lips can no longer kiss your most sacred wounds, remember that hour those kisses which I now imprint on You, and have mercy on me, a sinner.

When my cold hands can no longer embrace Your cross, forget not the affection with which I embrace it now, and have mercy upon me, a sinner.  When my swollen and lifeless tongue can no longer speak, remember that I called upon You now, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, to you I commend my soul.

0 Sacred Heart of Jesus, filled with infinite love, broken by my ingratitude and pierced by my many sins and yet loving you still, accept this act of consecration that I make to You of all that I am and all that I have.  Take every faculty of my soul and body, draw me day by day near and nearer to Your Sacred Heart, and there, as I can bear the lesson, teach me Your blessed way.

0 Sacred Heart of Jesus, Incarnate Son of God, who for our salvation did vouchsafe to be born in a stable, to pass Your life in poverty, trials, and misery, and to die amid the sufferings of the cross, I entreat You, in the hour of my death to say to Your divine  Father, "Father forgive Him"; Say to my soul, "This day you to shall be with  me in Paradise." My God, my God forsake me not in that hour.  "I thirst"-truly, my God, my soul thirsts after You, who are the fountain of living waters.  My life passes like a shadow; yet a little while and all will be consummated.  Wherefore, my adorable Savior from this moment, and for all eternity, "into your hands I commend my spirit."  Lord Jesus, receive my soul.

O Queen of the Holy Rosary and most kind and loving Mother of Perpetual Help, in memory of your Seven Sorrows, intercede for us with your divine Son and beg Him, in honor of His precious blood and sacred passion and death upon the cross, to forgive our sins and grant us the grace of a holy and happy death.  Amen.  (Say one Our Father, Hail Mary, and  Glory Be.)

 

  Prayer for the Forgiveness of Daily Neglects

Eternal Father, I offer the Sacred Heart of Jesus with all its love, all its sufferings of and all its merits:

First-To expiate all the sins I have committed this day and during all my life. (Glory Be)
Second-To purify the good I have done badly this day and during all my life.  (Glory Be.)
Third-To supply for the good I ought to have done and I have neglected this day and during all my life.  (Glory Be.)

 

0 Sacred Heart of Jesus, 
I Place My Trust in Thee

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee,
Whatever may befall me, Lord, though dark the hour may be;
In all my woes, in all my joys, though nought but grief I see,
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee.

When those I loved have passed away, and I am sore distressed,
0 Sacred Heart of Jesus, I fly toThee for rest.
In all my trials, great or small, my confidence shall be
Unshaken as I cry, dear Lord, I place my trust in Thee.

This is my one sweet prayer, dear Lord, my faith, my trust, my love,
But most of all in that last hour, when death points up above,
O sweet Savior, may Thy face smile on my soul all free.
Oh may I cry with rapturous love, I've placed my trust inThee.

 

Offerings

0 Sacred Heart of my savior, I offer you this action (or suffering) for all the intentions for which You offer Yourself at this moment upon the altar to God Your Father.

0 Jesus, who immolates Yourself at this moment upon the altar for the salvation of the whole world, I unite myself to You and (this sacrifice, this sorrow, this cross) to Your holy sacrifice, so that it may glorify Your Father, and be availing for the salvation of the world.

Let us go and die with Him.  Let us lay down at least that portion of our life which He demands of us: some selfish interest, some frivolous pleasure, some perverse inclination, and let us unite this slight sacrifice to the loving immolation of our Jesus mystically dying upon the Eucharistic altar at the very moment we are making our sacrifice, and helping us to make it lovingly.

0 Jesus, immolating Yourself at this moment upon the altar, make us love you more and more.

O Jesus, who immolates Yourself at this moment for the salvation of the whole world, inflame the whole world with the fire of Your love.

 

Prayer to the Sacred Heart for Priests

Remember, 0 most loving Heart of Jesus, that they for whom I pray are those for whom You prayed so earnestly the night before Your death.  These are they to whom You look to continue with You in Your sorrows when others forsake You, who share Your griefs and have inherited your persecutions, according to Your word: That the servant is not greater than his Lord.  Remember, O Heart of Jesus, that they are the objects of the world's hatred and Satan's deadliest snares.  Keep them then, 0 Jesus, in the safe citadel of Your Sacred Heart and there let them be sanctified in truth.  May they be one with you and one among themselves, and grant that multitudes may be brought through their word to believe in You and love You.

 

 Prayer to the Eternal Father

0 eternal Father, through the divine Heart of Jesus, I adore You for all those adore you not; I love You for all those who do not love you.  I go in spirit through the whole world to seek for souls redeemed by the blood of Jesus.  I embrace them in order to present them to You in His Sacred Heart, and in union with your merciful Heart, I ask for their conversion.

Bl. Marie de l'Incarnation

Jesus is the only true friend of our hearts.

St. Margaret Mary

 

Prayer before an Image or Picture of the Sacred Heart

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, pour out Your benedictions upon the Holy Church, upon its priests, and upon all its children.  Sustain the just, convert the sinners, assist the dying, deliver the souls in purgatory, and extend over all hearts the sweet empire of Your love.  Amen.

 

 Prayer To Obtain a Conversion or Any Spiritual Favor

Lord, all hearts are in Your hands; You can bend as You will the most stubborn, and soften the most obdurate.  Do that honor this day to the precious blood, the merits, the sacred wounds, the holy name, and loving Heart of Your beloved Son, of granting a conversion of N.N.  (or of bestowing such a grace, etc..).

 

 Short Litany of Aspirations

May I prove to You my love, O heart of Jesus, by a spirit of self-sacrifice for your interests.
May I cheerfully make every sacrifice You demand of me, 0 heart of my Jesus.
May the sacrifices You ask of me glorify You, *
May each sacrifice made forYour love draw me nearer to You,
By increasing in the spirit of self-sacrifice, may I become more like You.
May the sacrifices I make be agreeable to You,
May each sacrifice win one soul to You,
May each sacrifice prevent one mortal sin,
May each sacrifice earn a special grace for some soul,
May each sacrifice merit a holy death for some soul,
May each sacrifice relieve a soul in purgatory,
May each sacrifice ascend as a prayer to You,
May each sacrifice be as a hymn of praise to You,
May Your Holy Spirit instruct me more and more in the spirit of self-sacrifice,
May the spirit of self-sacrifice increase in our family,
May the same spirit be propagated throughout the whole Church, 0 Heart of my Jesus,
And may it hasten the Church's triumph.

O Lanb of God, sacrificed for us, give us a spirit of self-sacrifice.

O Lamb of God, daily immolating Yourself upon the altar for us, give us grace to immolate our wills for Your sake.

O Lamb of God, dying for us, give us grace to die to all that wounds your Sacred Heart.

* O Heart of My Jesus 

                                                              Prayer

O Lord Jesus Christ, whose whole life was one continual sacrifice for the glory of Your Father and the salvation of our souls, grant us the grace to find our joy in making sacrifices for You and for the interests of Your Sacred Heart.  Amen. 

(St. Bonaventure has said, "There is no devotion without sacrifice."  Making little sacrifices, when offered for an intention as above, proves your love for Him is real, not just words.)