Welcome to June! The year is nearly halfway over and the Church in her wisdom offers us a beautiful way to honor Our Lord in a special way during the month of June. We are invited to practice special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Friday following the second Sunday after Pentecost.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart is both historical and scriptural. The feast day was originally approved for specific dioceses by Pope Clement XIII in 1765 and then extended to the universal Church by Pope Pius IX in 1856. In 1889, Pope Leo XIII encouraged Catholics around the world to consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in his encyclical letter Annum Sacrum.

Our Lord revealed His heart to us in subtle ways in sacred scriptures. The two most notable examples are in John 19: 34 when the soldier, confirming that Jesus had died, “pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.” And in John Chapter 20, Jesus appears to the apostles after the resurrection and shows them His side. Later, he invites Thomas to place his hand into the side of Christ to remove all doubt from his mind.

Jesus rekindled devotion to His Sacred Heart when he appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque on December 27, 1673. He revealed to her 12 Promises of the Sacred Heart devotion. Later recalling the beautiful grace she received, she shared Jesus’s compelling words to her, “My Divine Heart is so passionately in love with humanity that it can no longer contain within itself the flames of its ardent love. It must pour them out through [you], and manifest itself to them with its precious treasures, which contain all the graces which they need to be saved.”

When we think of how much Jesus loves us and how little we love Him in return, shouldn’t we respond to the Church’s invitation to venerate His Sacred Heart? Here are a few ideas for us to more fervently live this devotion: