From the desk of the Tar Heel disciple:
October 15, 2025
The feast of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), now celebrated on the General Roman Calendar on October 16, provides the faithful with yet another opportunity to deepen their devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was, of course, celebrated most recently on June 27, 2025. But this October feast day of the French Visitation nun who reported her visions of Jesus Christ and who did so much by her words and through her suffering to promote the devotion to the Sacred Heart might provide us with a new impetus to renew our own appreciation of the love of God for us and for all men and women.
Saint Margaret Mary entered the Visitation convent at Paray-le-Monial in 1671, when she was 24 years old. She experienced a series of private revelations from Jesus Christ between December 1673 and June 1675. In the course of these mystical experiences, Jesus expressed great sadness because of the lack of gratitude and the cold indifference in the hearts of so many, despite the love He has for us and showed through the sufferings of His Passion. In order to rekindle the hearts of the faithful in the love of God, he outlined certain practices he wished to see begun: the nine First Fridays (in which devotees would receive Holy Communion as an act of reparation), a Holy Hour on Thursday nights (in commemoration of His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane), and the establishment of a feast day in honor of the Sacred Heart (on the Friday after the octave day of the feast of Corpus Christi). For some time, Margaret Mary suffered under the disbelief of her religious superior and many of her fellow religious. She eventually found support from her confessor, a Jesuit priest, Saint Claude de la Colombière. After her death, the Jesuits embraced and propagated this devotion though it remained controversial in many circles. She was canonized in 1920.
As a reminder, the promises of the Lord Jesus made to Saint Margaret Mary for those who embrace this devotion are:
(1) "I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
(2) I will establish peace in their homes.
(3) I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
(4) I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
(5) I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
(6) Sinners will find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
(7) Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
(8) Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
(9) I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored.
10) I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
(11) Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart.
(12) I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment."
Many materials on the Sacred Heart of Jesus are available for children and adults:
https://inhisname.com/search?options%5Bprefix%5D=last&q=sacred+heart+of+jesus
