Consecration to the Sacred Heart

A bit of context

To consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart is to say one thing, plainly. I am Yours.

It is not a magic formula but a handing over, where your life, your work, your fears, your family, and your failures are all placed inside the Heart that already loves you. The prayer below was written by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, under what she believed was the inspiration of Jesus Himself, and she thought it so important that she asked for it not to be left out of the book about His revelations.

You can pray it once, as a turning point, or renew it often, the way many people do, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, on a First Friday, or quietly each morning. However you come to it, come as you are, because He is not waiting for you to be worthy first.

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Let's Pray

1. Settle your heart. 

Take a breath, and remember who you are speaking to, not a distant judge, but a Heart that was pierced for love of you.

2. Pray the Act of Consecration, slowly, and mean it.

I give myself and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person, life, actions, pains and sufferings, so that I may be unwilling to make use of any part of my being other than to honor, love and glorify the Sacred Heart.

This is my unchanging purpose, namely, to be all His, and to do all things for the love of Him, at the same time renouncing with all my heart whatever is displeasing to Him.

I therefore take You, O Sacred Heart, to be the only object of my love, the guardian of my life, my assurance of salvation, the remedy of my weakness and inconstancy, the atonement for all the faults of my life, and my sure refuge at the hour of death.

Be then, O Heart of goodness, my justification before God the Father, and turn away from me the strokes of His righteous anger. O Heart of love, I put all my confidence in You, for I fear everything from my own weakness, but I hope for all things from Your goodness. Amen.

3. Then, in your own words, hand Him something specific. 

Name one thing you have been carrying alone, say it out loud, place it in His Heart, and leave it there.

4. Close with the prayer of trust. 

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.