An Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart

What is Consecration to the Sacred Heart? Fr. Peter Scott explains:

Consecration to the Sacred Heart is consequently an act of individuals, of families, of parishes, of nations, and will bring all the more graces as it is clearly understood as an act of re- turning love for love, and is accom- plished fervently by an entire com- munity. What, then, is consecra- tion? It is much more than a formu- la, a passing pious act to be repeated from time to time. It is a complete gift of oneself, in this case to divine love. It is an interior belonging to Christ, that might be accomplished the words of the Apostle: “it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives within me” (Gal 2:20). It is a dona- tion of our whole being and life, as of a victim, to be immolated to di- vine love. It is the living of our bap- tismal vows, by which we re- nounced entirely Satan and his al- lurements to serve Christ our King and Him alone. 

There is no one act of consecration to the Sacred Heart. St. Margaret Mary in fact requested that her novices write their own, as she herself did. How- ever, in a letter of 1684 to one of her superiors, she describes what it must contain: “If you desire to live for Him alone and to attain to the perfection that He desires from you, you must offer to his Sacred Heart the entire sac- rifice of yourself and all that belongs to you, without any reserve, so that you may no longer like anything but what he likes; may act only according to his inspirations, undertaking nothing without first asking his counsel and his aid, giving unto him the glory of all-glorifying Him for every- thing...” (Cf J.B. Bainvel SJ).

Reparation to the Sacred Heart (Miserentissimus Redemptor) by Pope Pius XI in 1928:

“But assuredly among those things which properly pertain to the worship of the Most Sacred Heart, a special place must be given to that Consecration, whereby we devote ourselves and all things that are ours to the Divine Heart of Jesus, acknowledging that we have received all things from the everlasting love of God. When Our Saviour had taught Margaret Mary, the most innocent disciple of His Heart, how much He desired that this duty of devotion should be rendered to him by men, moved in this not so much by His own right as by His immense charity for us; she herself, with her spiritual father, Claude de la Colombiere, rendered it the first of all. Thereafter followed, in the course of time, individual men, then private families and associations, and lastly civil magistrates, cities and kingdoms. But since in the last century, and in this present century, things have come to such a pass, that by the machinations of wicked men the sovereignty of Christ Our Lord has been denied and war is publicly waged against the Church, by passing laws and promoting plebiscites repugnant to Divine and natural law, nay more by holding assemblies of them that cry out, "We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke xix, 14): from the aforesaid Consecration there burst forth over against them in keenest opposition the voice of all the clients of the Most Sacred Heart, as it were one voice, to vindicate His glory and to assert His rights: "Christ must reign" (1 Corinthians xv, 25); "Thy kingdom come" (Matt. vi, 10). From this at length it happily came to pass that at the beginning of this century the whole human race which Christ, in whom all things are re-established (Ephes. i, 10), possesses by native right as His own, was dedicated to the same Most Sacred Heart, with the applause of the whole Christian world, by Our Predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII.”

An Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart from the Raccolta:

I, ______________, give myself and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, my person and my life, my actions, pains and sufferings, so that I may be unwilling to make use of any part of my being, save to honor, love and glorify the Sacred Heart. This is my unchanging purpose, namely, to be all His, and to do all things for the love of Him, at the same time renouncing with all my heart whatever is displeasing to Him. I therefore take Thee, O Sacred Heart, to be the only object of my love, the guardian of my life, my assurance of salvation, the remedy of my weakness and inconstancy, the atonement for all the faults of my life and my sure refuge at the hour of death. 

Be then, O Heart of goodness, my justification before God Thy Father, and turn away from me the strokes of His righteous anger. O Heart of love, I put all my confidence in Thee, for I fear everything from my own wickedness and frailty, but I hope for all things from Thy goodness and bounty. Do Thou consume in me all that can displease Thee or resist Thy holy will; let Thy pure love imprint Thee so deeply upon my heart, that I shall nevermore be able to forget Thee or to be separated from Thee; may I obtain from all Thy loving kindness the grace of having my name written in Thee, for in Thee I desire to place all my happiness and all my glory, living and dying in very bondage to Thee.

Written by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque