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Catholic Faith > Our Divine Lord

Catholic Doctrine and Devotion

Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Home

Our life with the Church must lead inevitably to a life of holiness, for it is the mission of the Church to lead all men to salvation. If we faithfully obey her counsels and think with her mind, love what she loves, pray as she prays, we cannot help but grow in grace. In the ages of faith those who lived thus were many, and the Church crowned with the aureole of sanctity men and women of all walks of life. But alas, faith has waned... “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many has grown cold.” What is the remedy? In the thirteenth century, our Divine Lord revealed to St. Gertrude that there was a devotion “reserved for the latter times, that the time-worn world grown cold in the love of God, might be warmed...” This is the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The Sacred Heart is the symbol of that infinite Love surpassing all understanding, the mystery hidden from all eternity and revealed in the living Heart of the Incarnate God. This devotion encompasses all the mysteries of our Faith, for God is love and has created us for one purpose — to share that love, that divine life, with Him for all eternity. For this He revealed It to St. Margaret Mary: “Behold this Heart which has so loved men!” Yet He lovingly complains that from the majority of men He receives only “contempt, irreverence, sacrilege, coldness,” and this, in the Sacrament of His Love....

Jesus so desires our love that He has made many magnificent promises to those who truly honor His Divine Heart: peace in our homes, every grace necessary for our state of life, His blessings upon all our undertakings, above all, His special protection at the hour of death and the crowning grace of final perseverance. “They shall not die in My disgrace, nor without receiving the Sacraments.” Oh, the bountiful Heart of Jesus! Could He have made a more munificent promise or a more loving appeal?

“I will bless every place in which an image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.” This promise of our Divine Lord stirred to its depths the heart of one of His priests in the early 1900’s. Kneeling at the feet of the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius X, Father Mateo, SSCC, received not only approval but a command to undertake the work of the Enthronement. The saintly apostle traversed the earth “preaching Love.” To Fr. Mateo we owe the Enthronement of the home to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as it is known today.

What is the Enthronement? A ceremony, an act of Consecration, yes, but more than this. It is the official, social recognition of the Kingship of the Heart of Jesus in the Christian family, of His loving influence and living Presence in the home. It is more than mere veneration of an image; it is a way of life. The family shares with the Heart of Jesus all its joys, its sorrows, its fortunes good or ill; in all decisions, it is guided by the principles of the Gospel. The home is the one place where the special graces and blessings of the Sacred Heart are needed more than anywhere else, for modern society makes it more and more difficult for the home to be what God intended it to be — namely, a holy and sacred place. “Behind that picture,” wrote Fr. Mateo, “we must have the reality.... The King of Love Himself must preside over the family.”

And what is the Sacred Heart if not the symbol of that substantial, Incarnate Love dwelling in our tabernacles? “We must impregnate our families with the Eucharistic spirit! ....We want to unite the home and the Tabernacle with a bond as strong as death.” Attendance at Mass, nocturnal adoration in the home, family prayer, the rooting out from the home of all that may displease the Sacred Heart, a spirit of Christlike charity, patience, true loving concern for one another; in short, a family united in the Heart of God.

This is the only hope left to society: truly Christian families. The work of the Enthronement is clearly the mission of the Church herself — to conquer the world for Christ. And it will be done if our Catholic families would take the Enthronement seriously and begin to live truly under the shadow and protection of the King of Love.

What of our home — is it all that it ought to be? Are we living our Enthronement to the Sacred Heart? What is lacking in our spirit of prayer, our devotion and veneration of that Heart which should reign supreme in our family? Would we merit the favors He has promised us through His Sacred Heart, we must take care to honor It with a true devotion. If our homes are not yet enthroned, let us begin to make serious preparation for that solemn consecration. God has promised us so much for the little that we give Him! Holy families are happy families — if ours is not a happy family, it is not the fault of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He wants only this: our happiness now and for all eternity. And when we have understood this, then we shall begin to love that Heart as He so desires to be loved. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come!

Parishioners who wish to have their homes enthroned to the Sacred Heart of Jesus should contact the pastor to make necessary arrangements.

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