First Friday october 4, 2024 

Guards of Honor 1st Friday / October 2024 Fr. David Bellusci, OP 

“My Heart has expected reproach and misery and I looked for one who would grieve together with Me, but there was none; and for one that would comfort me, and I found none!” (Ps. 68)

“We place all the intentions of our members in the Loving Heart of Jesus and ask Him to bless them.”

Short Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart

When Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque writes to Sister Félice-Madeleine de la Barge at Moulins in 1686, we are given the Short of Act of Consecration that the Saint writes for her Visitandine Sister at Moulins. The words in this Short Act of Consecration reflect the central elements of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The consecration begins with “I” and the person’s name, “I…X give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart...” This tells us that the person acts in two ways: to “give” and to “consecrate”: our entire being is given and consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what does this mean when we “give” and “consecrate”? It means we offer ourselves, placing ourselves before the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He makes us “sacred” by His own Heart. So, what we are doing in fact, is allowing Jesus to penetrate our Heart with His.

Jesus is the centre of this act of consecration, “my person and my life, my actions, trials and sufferings…” because each day we choose Jesus to be our all: when we have difficult choices, when we face challenging trials, and especially endure suffering: the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the one to be honoured, loved, and glorified, and that becomes the sole purpose of our being, only to “honour, love, and glorify Him.” This is consistent with the first words, “I…X…” because in the consecration we are giving ourselves, our complete being, there is nothing left behind or excluded. Love is generous, not selfish. Love does not hold back, love gives all. This is what the consecration to

the Sacred Heart teaches us: giving all our being to Jesus.

The meditation on St. Margaret Mary’s Short Consecration will continue next month.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, teach us to grow in fortitude so we are yours

Prayer to Renew Our Fidelity and Devotion 

Divine Jesus, my Saviour and my King, with all my heart I renew the promise which I have made to love, to glorify and to console Your adorable Heart as a member of the Guard of Honor. Grant O good Master, to make me daily more loving, more devoted and more faithful. I ask this same grace for all the Associates through the Immaculate Heart of Your Mother. AMEN