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The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary are beautiful devotions in the Catholic Church deeply rooted in Scripture and tradition.

The hearts of both Jesus and Mary are referenced in the Bible. Luke wrote that Mary pondered many things “in her heart” (Luke 2:19). It was also prophesied in Luke 2:34-35 that “a sword will pierce [Mary’s] soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Jesus refers to Himself as “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). At Christ’s passion, “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear” (John 19:34).

The liturgical feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the Friday following the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, and the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is celebrated the Saturday after that. You can pray either novena leading up to the liturgical celebrations; however, you can also pray the novenas at any time!

The Sacred Heart

The Sacred Heart of Jesus has been revealed to many saints before being made widespread by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. 

St. Gertrude the Great experienced many mystical encounters with the Sacred Heart of Jesus as well and wrote this prayer to the Sacred Heart:

“I salute thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, living and vivifying source of eternal life, infinite treasure of the Divinity, ardent furnace of Divine love; Thou art the place of my repose and my refuge. Enkindle in my heart the fire of that ardent love with which Thine own is all inflamed; pour into my heart the great graces of which Thine is the source, and grant that my heart may be so closely united to Thine, that Thy will may be mine, and that my will may be eternally conformed to Thine, since I desire that henceforth Thy holy will may be the rule of all my desires and all my actions. Amen.”

In 1673, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque received a vision and revelations from Jesus including the image of Jesus’s Sacred Heart as well as the 12 Promises to those who honor His Sacred Heart.

1.       I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.

2.      I will establish peace in their families.

3.      I will bless every house in which the picture of My heart shall be exposed and honored.

4.      I will console them in all their difficulties.

5.      I will be their refuge during life and especially at the hour of death.

6.      I will shed abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.

7.       Sinners shall find in My heart a fountain and boundless ocean of mercy.

8.      Tepid souls shall become fervent.

9.      Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.

10.   I will give to priests the power of touching the hardest hearts.

11.     Those who propagate this devotion shall have their names written in My heart never to be blotted out.

12.   I promise thee, in the excessive mercy of My heart, that My all powerful love will grant to all who communicate on the first Friday of the month for nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My displeasure nor without the sacraments: My divine heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

In 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated all mankind to Jesus’s Sacred Heart, and since God is outside of time, that means you’ve been solemnly consecrated to His Sacred Heart too!

You can pray the Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to unite and conform your heart to Christ’s and devote yourself to Him. Devotion to Jesus’s Sacred Heart is something you can continue to cultivate long after you’ve completed this novena; simply by reading the 12 promises, we can see how much Jesus wants us to rest in Him and His Sacred Heart. There are prayers, litanies, and consecrations to the Sacred Heart you can pray as well.

Immaculate heart

The devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as we know it today began with the Marian apparition in Fatima in 1917. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta and told them: “[Jesus] wants to establish in the world the devotion of my Immaculate Heart.” The children recounted that they saw Mary dressed in white and holding a heart in her hand surrounded by thorns.

Seven years later in 1925 when Lucia was a postulant in the convent, Mary revealed to her the first five Saturday devotion which would serve as a way to make reparation for blasphemies and sin against the Heart of Mary. Mary said “I promise to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall:

(1)    Confess,

(2)   Receive Holy Communion,

(3)   Recite five decades of the Rosary,

(4)   And keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”

When Lucia asked the Lord in prayer why the devotion required five Saturdays, He responded that “there are five types of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” These are: (1) blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception; (2) blasphemies against her virginity; (3) blasphemies against her Divine maternity; (4) blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children indifference, scorn, or hatred of the Immaculate Heart; and (5) blasphemies of those who outrage her directly in her holy images.

The devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary does not begin and end with the First Saturdays devotion, even though it is a practice worth completing (after all, Our Lady explicitly asked us to)! There are various prayers you can pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, including of course, the Novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Our prayers and efforts might seem small to us, but God magnifies them and they become powerful! Cultivating a devotion to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart can merit graces and mercies for sinners while also consoling the heart of Mary.