NOVENA BEFORE THE SOLEMITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS
Texts from “Heart of hearts – Meditations for the month of June by St. John Paul II,” Krakow, 1987.
Day 1
Fountain of Life and Holiness
Let everyone who thirsts come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture says: Rivers of living water will flow from within him.
We all desire to drink from the Divine Heart, which is the fountain of life and holiness.
In It we are given the Holy Spirit who is constantly given to all who draw near to Christ, to His Heart, with adoration and love,
To draw near to the fountain means to approach at the Source. There is no other place in the created world from which we can draw holiness in human life, other than in His Heart which has loved so much. Springs of living water have welled up in so many hearts, and continue to do so today. The saints of all ages bear witness to it.
Let us pray. Our Mother and Queen, you were always the way for us to the Heart of your Son. On the Cross, this Heart, pierced by a lance, became for all the fountain of life and holiness. Draw people, families and communities, to the Divine Heart, since this Heart, obedient unto death, is the propitiation for our sins.
Through the intercession of Mary our Mother, may the Heart of our Savior never cease to be King and center of all hearts, especially the King and center of His Servants. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness.
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 2
Sacred Temple of God
Inconceivable is the mystery of the Heart of Jesus which is the Sacred Temple of God and Tabernacle of the Most High. This Heart is also the true Tabernacle of God with us, because Jesus embraces all people in the inner Temple of His Heart.
Everyone lives there, embraced by eternal love. To everyone in the Heart of Jesus can be applied the words of the Prophet, with age-old love I have loved you; therefore I have drawn you to myself.
May the attraction by the eternal love which is in the Divine Heart of Jesus today be granted especially to us.
Let us pray. Lord God, form us after the pattern of the Heart of your son, and ignite in us Hhis love, that we may be conformed to Him, and become participants forever in the Redemption. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 3
Burning Furnace of Charity
The Heart of Jesus is embraced by the living flame of love which is never extinguished. It is love for the Eternal Father and also love for people.
Heart of Jesus, burning Furnace of Charity! As it burns, the furnace illumines the darkness of the night and warms the bodies of frozen people.
We desire to ask today, that on the horizon of the life of each one of us, the Heart of Jesus may never cease to burn – burning furnace of charity, that it may reveal in as the love which is never extinguished and never diminishes, the love which is eternal, that it may illuminate the darkness of the earthly night and warm our hearts.
Let us pray. We thank you, God the Holy Spirit, for making the Heart of Our Lord a burning fire of charity for the Father and for all of us. Inflame our hearts with that same fire of Love which Jesus cast on the earth, with ardent desire for it to burst into flames. You live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 4
Abode of Justice and Love
This Justice comes to us through love. Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. And indeed with this giving of himself through a love more powerful than death, he has justified us.
Each human heart is called to beat with a rhythm of justice and love. From it is measure the true Dignity of man.
Let us pray. Almighty God, we give honor to the heart of your beloved Son and glorify the great gift of his love grant that we may receive abundance braces from this source of God's goodness. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 5
Heart Full of Goodness and love
The living Heart of the Risen and glorified Redeemer is full of goodness and love, infinitely and superabundantly overflowing. Such was this Heart already during the days of his earthly life. The fullness of charity manifests itself through goodness; the goodness of their hearts shown and diffused itself on all –first of all on the suffering and the poor, on all according to their need and their truest expectations.
Let us pray. God our Father, grant that enlivened by the love of the Most Sacred Heart of your Son, we may give witness to this Heart through the goodness which we show to our needy brothers and sisters. Grant this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 6
Abyss of All Virtues
The heart determines the depth of a person. This divine-human depth of the Heart of Jesus is the depth of the virtues, of all the virtues. As a true man, Jesus expresses the interior language of his heart by means of the virtues. This Abyss, this depth, signifies a special degree of perfection of each of the virtues and its precise power. This depth and power of each virtue proceeds from love. The more all the virtues are rooted in love, the greater is their death.
Let us pray. God the Father, grant that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, that we, rooted and grounded in love, may know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and be filled with the fullness of God. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 7
Heart in Whom the Father Was Well-Pleased
This delight also means love. The eternal delight of the Father accompanied the Son when He became man, when He accepted the messianic mission to be carried out in the world, when He said that His food was to do the Father's will. Christ fulfilled this will to the end, making Himself obedient, even to death on the cross.
Therefore, on this Heart, on the Heart of Jesus, the Father's delight is concentrated.
Let us pray. God the Father, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, so loved your Will that he called it His food, we ask that you would make our hearts like His heart, that we may develop a love for your Will and that your delight may also rest on us. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 8
Propitiation for Our Sins
The Heart of the Redeemer enlivens the whole Church and draws all who open their hearts to the immeasurable richness of that one Heart, bruised for our sins.
Adorers of the Divine heart become people with a sensitive conscience. When they communicate continually with the Heart of our Lord and Master, a desire for reparation arises within them to atone for the sins of the world, for the indifference of so many hearts, and for their own negligence.
Oh what great need the church has for many vigilant hearts who will not let the love of the Divine heart remain abandoned and unreturned!
Let us pray. O God, who gives us inexhaustible treasures of love in the Heart of your son, wounded by our sins, help us to prove our grateful love and to make amends for sins. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 9
Meek and humble of heart
Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart. This is most likely the only time in which Jesus referred to his heart. Only one thing did he emphasized an underline, meekness and humility, as if he would like to say that only in this way does he desire to conquer Man. By meekness us and humility he would be the King of Hearts. The whole mystery of his reign is expressed by these words.
Meekness and humility veil all the riches of the Heart of the Savior, the Riches of which Saint Paul wrote to the Ephesians. In a way, only meekness and humility most fully reveal these riches, permitting us to know and to accept them, making these riches an object of admiration, admiration for the riches of the heart of Christ.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, we turn to your most Sacred Heart with humility and trust, with adoration and hope, and with a deep desire to honor you and to proclaim Your Glory. King of Love, Prince of Peace, be the Lord of our hearts. Conquer all the powers of evil and give us a share in the victory of your most Sacred Heart. May all our words and actions proclaim your glory and the glory of the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God who lives forever and ever. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, King and center of all hearts,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Act of Offering on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we your Servants today consecrate and entrust ourselves anew to your mercy. You will be our only Lord, Teacher, and Spouse.
We give to your most Sacred Heart our entire Congregation, its concerns and hopes, placing in Your Divine hands its present and future development. May you alone lead, purify, and sanctify us, that participating in your redeeming Mission, we may be a visible sign of your gospel in today's world, and an effective help to the church.
We commend to you our superiors that you may be light and strength for them. Help them to perceive the intentions of your heart and direct their actions.
Embrace also with love, all our professed Sisters especially the elderly and sick who are sharing in your cross, missionary sisters, all Junior sisters, novices and postulants, who are preparing themselves for total consecration to you by religious profession, and the girls who come to us. May our example strengthen them in their vocation and may they be inspired to live a zealous and devout life.
Teach us to live each day in the spirit of love and forgiveness sacrifice and reparation, direct us in daily duties to embrace each person with our hearts, help us to persevere in silence and recollection, and in prayer to draw graces from the treasury of your heart. May this Spirit penetrate and enliven all convents and houses of the congregation, wherever they are. May we be thus united in the love of your Most Sacred Heart, contribute more effectively to your glory, and extend throughout the whole world your Kingdom of love, justice, and peace.
In you, O Divine Heart of Jesus, we place all our trust, waiting with hope for the coming of your Kingdom, and for union with you forever in heaven. Amen
Devotional Renewal of Vows
For the greater glory of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, also for my more faithful following of Christ, I renew my vows to live in Chastity, poverty and obedience, according to the Constitutions of the Congregation of the Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. By this I desire to commit myself more fully to the service of God and the church in this our religious family so that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary Our Father Saint Francis, and our father St. Joseph Sebastian, I may attain perfect charity and participate in the saving mission of Christ.
Litany to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God our Father in heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God
Heart of Jesus, Son of the eternal Father,
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother,
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God.
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty,
Heart of Jesus, sacred temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven,
Heart of Jesus, burning Furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
Heart of Jesus, in whom there dwells the fullness of God,
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased,
Heart of Jesus, from whose fullness we have all received,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the eternal hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and full of mercy,
Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke you,
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness,
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium,
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses,
Heart of Jesus, obedient unto death,
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection,
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation,
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in you,
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in you,
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the saints.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Jesus, meek and humble of Heart,
Make our hearts like to Yours.
Let us pray.
Let us pray, Almighty and Eternal God, look upon the Heart of Your most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which He offers You in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Your mercy, in Your great goodness, grant forgiveness in the Name of the same Jesus Christ, Your son, who lives and reigns with You forever and ever. Amen.
Texts from “Heart of hearts – Meditations for the month of June by St. John Paul II,” Krakow, 1987.
Day 1
Fountain of Life and Holiness
Let everyone who thirsts come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture says: Rivers of living water will flow from within him.
We all desire to drink from the Divine Heart, which is the fountain of life and holiness.
In It we are given the Holy Spirit who is constantly given to all who draw near to Christ, to His Heart, with adoration and love,
To draw near to the fountain means to approach at the Source. There is no other place in the created world from which we can draw holiness in human life, other than in His Heart which has loved so much. Springs of living water have welled up in so many hearts, and continue to do so today. The saints of all ages bear witness to it.
Let us pray. Our Mother and Queen, you were always the way for us to the Heart of your Son. On the Cross, this Heart, pierced by a lance, became for all the fountain of life and holiness. Draw people, families and communities, to the Divine Heart, since this Heart, obedient unto death, is the propitiation for our sins.
Through the intercession of Mary our Mother, may the Heart of our Savior never cease to be King and center of all hearts, especially the King and center of His Servants. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness.
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 2
Sacred Temple of God
Inconceivable is the mystery of the Heart of Jesus which is the Sacred Temple of God and Tabernacle of the Most High. This Heart is also the true Tabernacle of God with us, because Jesus embraces all people in the inner Temple of His Heart.
Everyone lives there, embraced by eternal love. To everyone in the Heart of Jesus can be applied the words of the Prophet, with age-old love I have loved you; therefore I have drawn you to myself.
May the attraction by the eternal love which is in the Divine Heart of Jesus today be granted especially to us.
Let us pray. Lord God, form us after the pattern of the Heart of your son, and ignite in us Hhis love, that we may be conformed to Him, and become participants forever in the Redemption. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 3
Burning Furnace of Charity
The Heart of Jesus is embraced by the living flame of love which is never extinguished. It is love for the Eternal Father and also love for people.
Heart of Jesus, burning Furnace of Charity! As it burns, the furnace illumines the darkness of the night and warms the bodies of frozen people.
We desire to ask today, that on the horizon of the life of each one of us, the Heart of Jesus may never cease to burn – burning furnace of charity, that it may reveal in as the love which is never extinguished and never diminishes, the love which is eternal, that it may illuminate the darkness of the earthly night and warm our hearts.
Let us pray. We thank you, God the Holy Spirit, for making the Heart of Our Lord a burning fire of charity for the Father and for all of us. Inflame our hearts with that same fire of Love which Jesus cast on the earth, with ardent desire for it to burst into flames. You live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 4
Abode of Justice and Love
This Justice comes to us through love. Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. And indeed with this giving of himself through a love more powerful than death, he has justified us.
Each human heart is called to beat with a rhythm of justice and love. From it is measure the true Dignity of man.
Let us pray. Almighty God, we give honor to the heart of your beloved Son and glorify the great gift of his love grant that we may receive abundance braces from this source of God's goodness. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 5
Heart Full of Goodness and love
The living Heart of the Risen and glorified Redeemer is full of goodness and love, infinitely and superabundantly overflowing. Such was this Heart already during the days of his earthly life. The fullness of charity manifests itself through goodness; the goodness of their hearts shown and diffused itself on all –first of all on the suffering and the poor, on all according to their need and their truest expectations.
Let us pray. God our Father, grant that enlivened by the love of the Most Sacred Heart of your Son, we may give witness to this Heart through the goodness which we show to our needy brothers and sisters. Grant this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 6
Abyss of All Virtues
The heart determines the depth of a person. This divine-human depth of the Heart of Jesus is the depth of the virtues, of all the virtues. As a true man, Jesus expresses the interior language of his heart by means of the virtues. This Abyss, this depth, signifies a special degree of perfection of each of the virtues and its precise power. This depth and power of each virtue proceeds from love. The more all the virtues are rooted in love, the greater is their death.
Let us pray. God the Father, grant that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, that we, rooted and grounded in love, may know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and be filled with the fullness of God. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 7
Heart in Whom the Father Was Well-Pleased
This delight also means love. The eternal delight of the Father accompanied the Son when He became man, when He accepted the messianic mission to be carried out in the world, when He said that His food was to do the Father's will. Christ fulfilled this will to the end, making Himself obedient, even to death on the cross.
Therefore, on this Heart, on the Heart of Jesus, the Father's delight is concentrated.
Let us pray. God the Father, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, so loved your Will that he called it His food, we ask that you would make our hearts like His heart, that we may develop a love for your Will and that your delight may also rest on us. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 8
Propitiation for Our Sins
The Heart of the Redeemer enlivens the whole Church and draws all who open their hearts to the immeasurable richness of that one Heart, bruised for our sins.
Adorers of the Divine heart become people with a sensitive conscience. When they communicate continually with the Heart of our Lord and Master, a desire for reparation arises within them to atone for the sins of the world, for the indifference of so many hearts, and for their own negligence.
Oh what great need the church has for many vigilant hearts who will not let the love of the Divine heart remain abandoned and unreturned!
Let us pray. O God, who gives us inexhaustible treasures of love in the Heart of your son, wounded by our sins, help us to prove our grateful love and to make amends for sins. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Day 9
Meek and humble of heart
Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart. This is most likely the only time in which Jesus referred to his heart. Only one thing did he emphasized an underline, meekness and humility, as if he would like to say that only in this way does he desire to conquer Man. By meekness us and humility he would be the King of Hearts. The whole mystery of his reign is expressed by these words.
Meekness and humility veil all the riches of the Heart of the Savior, the Riches of which Saint Paul wrote to the Ephesians. In a way, only meekness and humility most fully reveal these riches, permitting us to know and to accept them, making these riches an object of admiration, admiration for the riches of the heart of Christ.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, we turn to your most Sacred Heart with humility and trust, with adoration and hope, and with a deep desire to honor you and to proclaim Your Glory. King of Love, Prince of Peace, be the Lord of our hearts. Conquer all the powers of evil and give us a share in the victory of your most Sacred Heart. May all our words and actions proclaim your glory and the glory of the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God who lives forever and ever. Amen.
V/ Heart of Jesus, King and center of all hearts,
R/ Have mercy on us.
Act of Offering on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we your Servants today consecrate and entrust ourselves anew to your mercy. You will be our only Lord, Teacher, and Spouse.
We give to your most Sacred Heart our entire Congregation, its concerns and hopes, placing in Your Divine hands its present and future development. May you alone lead, purify, and sanctify us, that participating in your redeeming Mission, we may be a visible sign of your gospel in today's world, and an effective help to the church.
We commend to you our superiors that you may be light and strength for them. Help them to perceive the intentions of your heart and direct their actions.
Embrace also with love, all our professed Sisters especially the elderly and sick who are sharing in your cross, missionary sisters, all Junior sisters, novices and postulants, who are preparing themselves for total consecration to you by religious profession, and the girls who come to us. May our example strengthen them in their vocation and may they be inspired to live a zealous and devout life.
Teach us to live each day in the spirit of love and forgiveness sacrifice and reparation, direct us in daily duties to embrace each person with our hearts, help us to persevere in silence and recollection, and in prayer to draw graces from the treasury of your heart. May this Spirit penetrate and enliven all convents and houses of the congregation, wherever they are. May we be thus united in the love of your Most Sacred Heart, contribute more effectively to your glory, and extend throughout the whole world your Kingdom of love, justice, and peace.
In you, O Divine Heart of Jesus, we place all our trust, waiting with hope for the coming of your Kingdom, and for union with you forever in heaven. Amen
Devotional Renewal of Vows
For the greater glory of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, also for my more faithful following of Christ, I renew my vows to live in Chastity, poverty and obedience, according to the Constitutions of the Congregation of the Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. By this I desire to commit myself more fully to the service of God and the church in this our religious family so that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary Our Father Saint Francis, and our father St. Joseph Sebastian, I may attain perfect charity and participate in the saving mission of Christ.
Litany to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God our Father in heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God
Heart of Jesus, Son of the eternal Father,
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother,
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God.
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty,
Heart of Jesus, sacred temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven,
Heart of Jesus, burning Furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
Heart of Jesus, in whom there dwells the fullness of God,
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased,
Heart of Jesus, from whose fullness we have all received,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the eternal hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and full of mercy,
Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke you,
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness,
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium,
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses,
Heart of Jesus, obedient unto death,
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection,
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation,
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in you,
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in you,
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the saints.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Jesus, meek and humble of Heart,
Make our hearts like to Yours.
Let us pray.
Let us pray, Almighty and Eternal God, look upon the Heart of Your most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which He offers You in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Your mercy, in Your great goodness, grant forgiveness in the Name of the same Jesus Christ, Your son, who lives and reigns with You forever and ever. Amen.
