Enthronement of the Sacred Heart
in homes
Enthronement of the Sacred Heart
in homes
To prepare for an enthronement of the Sacred Heart in the home.
► By kind permission of the French Province of the Congregation of the Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
► Faithful to the spirit of the Church's liturgy, this celebration is intended as a family expression of :
► Through the priest's exhortations, a CATECHESIS of FAITH in the love of God manifested in Jesus Christ, whose open Heart remains the sign offered to men of all times, so that they may draw faith, hope, and charity from it.
► Through the liturgy of God's Word, a RECOGNITION of His LOVE by the family, who solemnly commit to paying homage to Him and to bearing witness to it through all their private, professional, and social activities.
«For Us too, as for Our predecessors, the Enthronement fulfils Our dearest desires. We ardently desire that the charity of Jesus Christ, springing from His Heart, take possession of the private life of men and the public life of peoples. But there is one thing that We desire in particular, and which is moreover the main thing in the work that you have propagated for so long and with such diligence: that Christian families consecrate themselves to the Heart of Jesus. But in such a way that, with his image installed in the most noble place in the home as if on a throne, Jesus Christ Our Lord visibly reigns in Catholic homes. This consecration is not an empty and meaningless ceremony, but asks each and every one that their lives be conformed to Christian precepts, that they burn with a more fervent love for the most holy Eucharist and that they take part, as often as possible, in the heavenly banquet, that they strive by supplications addressed to God and by the works of a holy penance, to provide not only for their own salvation, but also for that of others.»
Letter from Pius XII to Father Mateo, 11 July 1948, in P. Marcel Bocquet, Père Mateo apôtre mondial du Sacré-Cœur, Paris, Téqui, 1963.
1. Rite of welcome
The priest can present his ministry to the family in this way:
Dear friends, you certainly haven't invited the priest to put another print in your home. Enthroning the Heart of Christ means recognising the love with which « He loved us and gave himself for us »This is why you wish to offer the Lord the homage that is due to Him and to strive to live by Him, with Him and in Him: thus the enthronement of the Sacred Heart aims at the profound and permanent Christianisation of the family. By choosing families to make Christ's love present in the world, Fr Mateo rightly insisted that, «Christ be in the place of honour in our hearts, far more than in the place of honour in our homes». It is to remind you that in the name of the Church, I send you Saint Paul's greeting to the Ephesians:
“May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith,
Remain rooted in Love, established in Love,
Then you will be fulfilled and you will enter into the fullness of God.“
The family replies:
Amen
2. The revelation of Jesus' love
The priest:
The meaning of the word « heart » risks terribly of appearing sentimental and mushy. Yet to say of someone that they have « Good heart»r«, which he is " a heart of gold », that he speaks « Open-hearted », it's to designate the whole person and directly qualify them. Thus, in the Bible, the Word of God passing through our human language, it is by the « heart » that God declares his love, comparing it to the love of betrothed couples, to that of spouses, or to that of fathers and mothers. Let us listen, transmitted by the prophets, to God's love announcement for his people.
1st Lecture :
“Word of the Lord to the prophet Hosea: God loves the house of Israel as a husband his wife. Therefore, says the Lord, I will draw her, lead her, speak to her heart and give her hope. Then she will call me «my husband» and no longer «my master». Yes, you will be my bride for ever, in justice, tenderness and love; you will be the bride of faithfulness and you will know your Lord. I will call you, «My people», and you will answer, «My God». God is to his people as a father loves his children. When Israel was a child,“ says the Lord, "I loved him. I called her children out of Egypt, where they were in exile. I took her children in my arms and taught them to walk; but they often did not understand how much I cared for them. Yet I have bound them to me with the bonds of love: I am to them the father who brings his child close to his heart, and I bend down to feed them. How could I abandon them? I am God, not a man; I am the Holy One in your midst, Israel, and I am the guardian of your houses. Word of the Lord".“
The family replies:
We give thanks to God
The Priest continues:
“If the heart of God is learned in the words of God (St Gregory the Great), it is in Jesus that it is definitively discovered. Following the apostles, let us welcome the Epiphany of God, the love of the Father revealed in his Son: Jesus makes it visible and affirms it: «Whoever sees me sees the Father". “..
“Having seen the Lord Jesus live and understood the sign of His open Heart, the Apostle John, in his First Epistle, communicates to us the truth of the love that is in God, the love that is God Himself.»“..
2nd Lecture:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love has not known God, because God is love. This is how God’s love was made evident among us: God sent his one and only Son into the world, that we might live through him. This, then, is love: it is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to atone for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
Everyone says then:
Hallelujah, God so loved the world that he gave his own Son, Hallelujah
The Priest continues:
“God's Gift is therefore not something, but SOMEONE: Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh who dwelt among us. In Him, God's love came to visit us: the entire Gospel tells us this Good News. But the greatest proof of this is given to us at the moment when Jesus, on the cross, loved his own to the very end: this was then the first and true enthronement of the Heart of Jesus.“..
3rd Gospel:
The Priest: The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John
The family: Glory to you Lord
The Priest continues:
”Jesus had just died. As it was Friday, the bodies were not to be left on the cross during the Sabbath, especially as this Sabbath was the great day of Passover. So the Jews asked Pilate to remove the bodies, after breaking their legs. Soldiers therefore went and broke the legs of the first, then the second, of the condemned men who had been crucified with Jesus. When they came to Jesus, seeing that he was already dead, they did not break his legs; but one of the soldiers pierced his side with his lance, and immediately blood and water came out. He who saw it bears witness, so that you too may believe. His testimony is true, and the Lord knows that he tells the truth. All this happened so that the word of Scripture might be fulfilled: Not one of his bones shall be broken. And another passage also says: They shall look upon him whom they have pierced.”
Let us acclaim the Word of God
The family: Praise to you Lord Jesus
3. Since the Lord's love is upon us, our hope is in him.
The priest:
“This certainty of the psalmist (Ps 32), the Apostle Paul shares and makes us share in the Epistle to the Ephesians (Ch 3): “it is our faith in Christ that gives us the boldness to go to God with all confidence.” Founded on the unchanging love of God known in Jesus Christ, hope must permeate our prayer and remain our support even in trial. In the merciful assurance of God, we are never lacking. Let us pray to the Lord. “
This prayer can be made in the silence and secrecy of hearts that confide themselves to the Heart of Jesus; it can also be spontaneously composed by the family itself, which will express its own intentions; or, finally, it can take the form proposed here.
The Priest:
“Lord Jesus, you chose to live the family life in Nazareth and work there until you were 30 years old, direct our lives and our activities according to your love, and keep us in your road, to Truth and you life “..
Everyone says:
“Sure of your Love and strong in our faith, Lord, we pray to you.“.
The Priest:
“Lord Jesus, you accepted the invitation of the bride and groom at Cana and performed your first miracle for them, hear the intercession that Mary, your mother, whom you have given us as Mother, makes to you for us. “..
Everyone says:
“Sure of your Love and strong in our faith, Lord, we pray to you.“.
The Priest:
“Lord Jesus, who came to seek and save the lost, you told Zacchaeus that by welcoming you, his house received salvation; grant us also to find peace in your unfailing forgiveness. “..
Everyone says:
“Sure of your Love and strong in our faith, Lord, we pray to you.“.
The Priest:
“Lord Jesus, you tasted the hospitality of Bethany and offered your friendship to Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus; grant that we may prove our faithfulness to you in joy as in sorrow. “..
Everyone says:
“Sure of your Love and strong in our faith, Lord, we pray to you.“.
The Priest:
“Lord Jesus, you ascended to your Father to prepare a place for us; receive amongst you the departed of our families who placed their hope and faith in You. “..
Everyone says:
“Sure of your Love and strong in our faith, Lord, we pray to you.“.
The Priest concludes the family prayer thus, whatever the chosen form:
“United in the love of God the Father, made known to us by his Son, Jesus, who entered the human family to introduce us into the family of God, we dare to say: Our Father, who art in heaven...”.
All reply:
“Hallowed be thy name“.
The Priest:
”Finally, with the prayer of the Church, let us ask the Lord to bless the sign you have chosen in memory of His Love manifested in Jesus Christ:
Almighty God, our Creator and our Father, who knowest our need for visible signs to help us recognise Thee, dost fully reveal Thy love by giving us Thy Son, the Word made flesh, who dwelt among us. Deign therefore to bless this image (or statue) which will remind those who dwell in this house (or flat) of Thy love, present and offered to the world in the Heart of Jesus, Thy Son, our Saviour. To those who believe in Him and wish to pay Him homage and bear witness, grant, O Father, infinitely good, in the name of Thy beloved Son in whom Thou hast placed all Thy love, Thy grace here below and Thy glory in the life of the world to come. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.Lord Jesus, Thou hast ascended to Thy Father to prepare a place for us; receive with Thee the departed members of our families who placed their hope and faith in Thee. “..
All reply:
Amen
The priest sprinkles the image or statue presented to him with holy water. Then he states:
Dear friends, this is neither a pious formula that would ask for protection, nor a passing act that would ease your conscience. It is in continuity with your baptismal consecration that you are now going to reaffirm your attachment to the Lord Jesus and renew your decision to conform your life to his commandment of love. Paul VI recently echoed Pius XII, recalling that the cult of the Sacred Heart “has as its end to lead us to perfect the love that unites us to God and to other men”. It is in this sense that your consecration to the Heart of Jesus should be lived, whose Charity urges you to extend his Kingdom through all your activities.
The family then slowly reads their consecration rite:
4. Act of Consecration:
charitable life engagement
The priest sprinkles the image or statue presented to him with holy water. Then he states:
Dear friends, this is neither a pious formula that would ask for protection, nor a passing act that would ease your conscience. It is in continuity with your baptismal consecration that you are now going to reaffirm your attachment to the Lord Jesus and renew your decision to conform your life to his commandment of love. Paul VI recently echoed Pius XII, recalling that the cult of the Sacred Heart “has as its end to lead us to perfect the love that unites us to God and to other men”. It is in this sense that your consecration to the Heart of Jesus should be lived, whose Charity urges you to extend his Kingdom through all your activities.
The family then slowly reads their consecration rite:
Deed of consecration
Lord Jesus, by choosing Saint Margaret Mary to remind the world of the love that burns in Your Heart, You showed Your desire to reign over Christian families: we wish today to proclaim Your Kingship over ours
We want to live from You and for You, resolved to become Your witnesses in our Christian community and in our social environment.
May your reign come into our minds: may we remain steadfast in the faith of Your Love, and may our spirits be ever converted to that of Your Gospel.
May your reign come into our minds: may we remain steadfast in the faith of Your Love, and may our spirits be ever converted to that of Your Gospel.
May Your Kingdom come into our hearts: may we draw from Your Word and Your Eucharist the love of God and of neighbour, by which Your true disciples are recognised.
May Your Kingdom come in our wills: may we follow You, docile to Your Spirit, in the mission that You have entrusted to Your Church and in which we must participate.
Lord Jesus, may Your Love preside over our family life, to inspire our spiritual and temporal undertakings, to sanctify our joys and our crosses.
If any of us are ungrateful enough to turn away from you, Lord, remind them that your mercy and forgiveness never fail the penitent sinner.
And when, for one of our own, the time comes to move from their earthly home to the Father's house, keep us, Lord, in the hope that one day the whole family, reunited in heaven, will forever celebrate the benefits of your love.
May the Virgin Mary, Your Mother of the Immaculate Heart, and the faithful Saint Joseph, who lived with You in the holy family of Nazareth, present to You this consecration of our family and keep us in it all the days of our lives.
Long live the Heart of Jesus, our Lord and our God.
Amen
5. With the Virgin Mary, let us give thanks to God
The priest:
Dear friends, in God's plan of love, Mary is inseparable from Jesus. By answering «YES» to God, the Virgin accepted the coming of the Saviour on behalf of all humanity: her consent to be the Mother of Christ was coupled with her gratitude for the love of God that extends from age to age.
For having solemnly welcomed and recognised Him today, you too, say «THANK YOU» to the Lord, as Mary did in her MAGNIFICAT.
All together say or sing:
"My soul exalts the Lord,
My spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour!
He bent over his humble servant; ;
From now on, all ages will call me blessed.
The Mighty One did wonderful things for me; ;
Holy is his name!
His love endures from age to age
on those who fear him.
With the strength of his arm, he scatters the proud.
He casts down the mighty from their thrones, and exalts the humble.
He fills the hungry with good things,
sends the rich away empty-handed.
He raises up Israel his servant; he remembers his love,
of the promise made to our fathers, on behalf of Abraham and his race, forever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever.
Amen."
6. Invocations and Blessing
All together say or sing:
Heart of Jesus,
King and Centre of all hearts, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, generous to all who call on you, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee, have mercy on us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to you.
Saint Joseph, protector of the universal Church, pray for us.
Saint Margaret Mary, pray for us.
The priest concludes the celebration:
May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, descend upon you and remain forever.
All together:
Amen
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