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The Feast of the Sacred Heart

The principal feast of the devotion — a movable solemnity falling nineteen days after Pentecost.

Why this practice

The Feast of the Sacred Heart was instituted as a universal feast of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1856, though it had been celebrated locally since the time of St. Margaret Mary. It falls on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi — that is, eight days after Corpus Christi, on the day of the week of the Passion.

It is to this devotion what Christmas is to the Incarnation, or Easter to the Resurrection. The other practices of the year are gathered to a point. If a single day is given to the Heart, this is the day.

How to begin

1Find the date of this year's feast (it changes annually — search for "Feast of the Sacred Heart" with the year).
2Attend Mass — the readings are proper to the feast and rich for meditation.
3Renew your personal or family consecration to the Sacred Heart on this day.
4Pray the Act of Reparation prescribed by Pope Pius XI (see Level VI: Reparation).
5Rest in the joy of the feast — keep it as you would Christmas, in proportion.

This feast is not one among many. It is the gathering of all that has gone before it — the day when the soul lifts up to His Heart what has been growing in it all year.

— Traditional

A prayer for this practice

O Jesus, on this Thy feast, accept the homage of all that I have tried to do this year for Thy Heart, and pardon what I have failed in. Make this year a true beginning, and the next year deeper still.

Amen.

When you're ready

Octave of the Sacred Heart →