My Dear Friends:

June is the month of the Sacred Heart, and this coming Friday, June 12, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is even more significant this year because the Bishops of the United States will consecrate our nation to the Sacred Heart in anticipation of our country’s semi quincentennial next month. Allow me to share some words from Archbishop Wenski as we approach this consecration:

On June 11, during their Spring meeting in Orlando, Bishops of the United States will gather at the Basilica Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, to consecrate the United States to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The consecration will celebrate America’s semi quincentennial, that is, the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

In linking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the Bishops invite us to reflect with gratitude on the blessings God has bestow on our nation but, at the same time, devotion to the Sacred Heart demands that we consider how we might foster truth, justice, and charity in American life. Thus, our celebrations around the Fourth of July will foster a constructive and forward-looking patriotism as opposed to a divisive, exclusionary, blind nationalism…

On the eve of our nation’s 250 birthday, we recognize that our American experiment in democracy is still a work in progress. As American Catholics we recognize how far short our nation falls in many areas in forming a more perfect union. But while we recognize flaws and work to correct them, we also acknowledge the blessings of liberty we enjoy in this great country. In spite of extreme polarization, bitter partisanship, and entrenched divisions, we Catholics do not despair of America.

We love America – but let’s love her as Jesus loves, not just with a sentimental, saccharine love but with love in truth – a love that is stronger than sin. A love that names the sin not to damn the sinner but to call the sinner to conversion of heart and mind.For the love that opened its arms on a cross of wood and opened its side to a soldier’s lance piercing his heart is love that believes that the sinner can be redeemed.

While predating our nation’s independence, devotion to the Sacred Heart has developed over the centuries following the experiences of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1643-1690) and the apparitions she witnessed in the seventeenth century. Since then, popes have lauded the practice of consecration of the self, home, and even whole nations to the Sacred Heart. In his encyclical instituting the Solemnity of Christ the King, Pope Pius XI, drawing on the teaching of Pope Leo XIII, commended the “pious custom” of consecrating the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a way to recognize the kingship of Christ.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart, like the more recent devotion to the Divine Mercy, echoes the invitation that Jesus makes in the gospels to those who are “weary and heavily burdened” because of sin and hurt to turn to him for mercy, healing and restoration. Indeed, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and devotion to the Divine Mercy have one and the same message: namely, that humanity is good and is greatly loved by God, and God generously offers mercy to all.

St. John Paul II once said: “It is this love which must inspire humanity today, if it is to face the crisis of the meaning of life, the challenges of the most diverse needs and, especially, the duty to defend the dignity of every human person. (Column of Archbishop Thomas G, Wenski, 6/1/26)

Drawing inspiration from the words of our archbishop, I invite all of you to join in me in a Solemn Mass to the Sacred Heart this Friday, June 12 at 7:00 p.m. where we will also recite the prayer of consecration of our nation. The celebration of America’s 250th birthday is a call to renew our steadfast commitment to the great ideals our nation was founded upon and to pray fervently for a prosperous and compassionate nation that we now entrust to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!