543.5 Hours of Adoration
250 / 250 hours
St. Patrick's Parish, Watsonville
Sacred Heart Novena and Consecration
- The Bishops of the USA will consecrate this nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11, and Bishop Ramón invites us to participate by:
- As a parish, completing 250 hours of Adoration and 250 corporal Works of Mercy from June 3-11.
- Consecrating ourselves to the Sacred Heart in Mass on June 12.
- Help our parish reach the goal by:
- Choosing how many hours and works you will complete.
- Entering your phone number to save your goals.
- Entering your hours and works as you go.
- See your progress and that of our parish below.
Our communal progress
Here are our parish's combined totals since the beginning of the Novena.
285 Works of Mercy
250 / 250 works
Mass of Consecration
- On Friday, June 12, our parish will have two Masses where we can consecrate ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus if you wish.
- 5pm English Mass, Friday, June 12.
- 7pm Spanish Mass, Friday, June 12.
- Afterward, as we normally do for all First Fridays, we will have Adoration all night long, closing with the Blessing with the Eucharist at 7:45am Saturday morning. Attendance is optional, and you can spend as little or as much time as you want, whenever you want.
- We will also celebrate the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Saturday, June 6, with an 8am bilingual Mass, which is also optional.
Prayer of Consecration
(to be prayed together during the Mass)
O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus:
You know the longings of our hearts, and you desire that we enjoy friendship with you.
From your pierced side, you have poured out the wellspring of life, for which we thirst.
Your heart burns with a love for all people to return to a right relationship with you.
We celebrate the abundant gifts you have given this nation, founded on the self-evident truths that our Creator has endowed all people with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We make reparation for the offenses against you and against human dignity that have taken place in this nation.
May our hearts be united to yours, so that our families and communities enjoy peace and happiness; may broken relationships be reconciled, injustices repaired, and the wounds of our land be healed.
May your holy Catholic Church serve as a sign, pointing all people to your infinite love.
O Desire of Nations and Center of History, we ask you to bless these United States of America.
Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
(to be prayed each day from June 3-11 by yourself or with others)
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells the fullness of divinity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, obedient to death, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our peace and our reconciliation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the Saints, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O Lord.
V. Jesus, meek and humble of heart.
R. Make our hearts like to Thine.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Your most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which He offers You in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Your mercy, in Your great goodness, grant forgiveness in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with you forever and ever. Amen.
Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart
(to be prayed each day from June 3-11 by yourself or with others)
Most loving Jesus, how great is the love which You have poured out upon the world. How casual and careless is our response! Kneeling before You, we wish to atone for the indifference and the slights which pierce You to the heart.
Praise to the heart of Jesus, our Savior and our God.
We ask forgiveness for our own shameful neglect. We wish to make amends for those who are obstinate in their unbelief, for those who turn away from the light and wander like sheep without a shepherd; and for those who have broken their baptismal promises and reject the gentle yoke of Your law.
Praise to the heart of Jesus, our Savior and our God.
We wish to make amends for the sins of our society: for lust and degradation, for the corruption of the young, for indifference and blasphemy, for attacks against Your Church, for irreverence and even sacrilege against Your love in this Blessed Sacrament, and for the public defiance of Your Law.
Praise to the heart of Jesus, our Savior and our God.
These are the sins for which You died, but now we share in Your Atonement by offering on the altar in union with You the living Sacrifice You made on the Cross, joining to it the sufferings of Your Virgin Mother, and those of all the Saints and the whole Church.
Praise to the heart of Jesus, our Savior and our God.
We promise faithfully that by Your grace we shall make reparation for our own sins and for those of others by a strong faith, by holy living, and by obedience to the law of the Gospel, whose greatest commandment is that of charity.
Praise to the heart of Jesus, our Savior and our God.
We also promise to do our best to discourage others from insulting You and bring those we can to follow You.
Praise to the heart of Jesus, our Savior and our God.
Jesus, Lord, receive this loving act of homage together with the prayers of our Lady, who stood by the Cross, our model in reparation. Keep us faithful, even to the point of death, give us the gift of perseverance and lead us all to our promised land in heaven, where You, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.
Praise to the heart of Jesus, our Savior and our God.
Importance and Meaning
The devotion to the Sacred Heart is a Catholic way of contemplating Jesus through the symbol of his heart: not a separate organ, but the whole person of Christ, especially his human and divine love. The Church teaches that the “Sacred Heart” points to Christ himself, the Word Incarnate, whose love for the Father and for humanity is infinite, merciful, and saving. Its meaning is therefore deeply personal: Jesus loves with a real human heart, suffers for sinners, invites friendship with him, and calls believers to respond with trust, gratitude, conversion, reparation, and love of neighbor.
It is rooted in meditation on the pierced side of Christ on the cross and on the risen Jesus showing his wounds to the disciples. Early Christian writers reflected on the blood and water flowing from Christ’s side as a fountain of grace; in the Middle Ages, saints such as Bernard, Bonaventure, Lutgarde, Mechtilde, and Gertrude deepened this spirituality. Its modern form developed strongly in the 1600s, especially through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who promoted trust in the mercy of Christ’s Heart, while St. John Eudes advanced its liturgical celebration and St. Claude de la Colombière helped spread the devotion. Practices such as consecration, reparation, the Litany of the Sacred Heart, and the First Fridays became lasting expressions of this spirituality.
Pope Francis returned to this devotion in his 2024 encyclical Dilexit nos, “He loved us,” saying it is urgently relevant today. He warned that modern life is often marked by superficiality, frantic distraction, consumerism, and forgetfulness of life’s deeper meaning; for that reason, he wrote that “all of us need to rediscover the importance of the heart.” He also noted that the heart remains, in popular understanding, the “affective center” of the human person, and therefore powerfully signifies Christ’s divine love united forever to his fully human love. The Sacred Heart is a “synthesis of the Gospel,” because it gathers together the mystery of Christ’s love, mercy, incarnation, cross, and mission.
The bishops of the United States will consecrate our nation to the Sacred Heart on June 11, 2026, and parishes throughout the country are encouraged to join in this consecration. On Friday, June 12, our parish will offer two Masses, at 5:00 p.m. in English and 7:00 p.m. in Spanish, in which we can consecrate ourselves to the Sacred Heart, growing in our appreciation and understanding of this devotion. In preparation, let us spend time in Adoration, perform works of mercy, and pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart and prayers of reparation each day from June 3 through June 11.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was a French Visitation nun at Paray-le-Monial who reported a series of mystical experiences of Christ between late December 1673 and June 1675. Pope Francis summarizes them in Dilexit nos as apparitions centered above all on a new “declaration of love”: Christ wanted his Heart to be known as the sign of his burning love for humanity. In her account, Jesus revealed the “wonders” of his love and entrusted her with the mission of making this love better known, especially at a time when many Christians were influenced by a severe, fear-based spirituality.
The first major experience is traditionally dated to December 27, 1673, the feast of St. John the Evangelist. Margaret Mary described being drawn into intimacy with Christ, almost like St. John resting near the Heart of Jesus at the Last Supper. The essential message was not curiosity about a vision, but the revelation of Christ’s personal love: Jesus desired that the “treasures” of his Heart—love, mercy, sanctification, and salvation—be poured out for the world. Pope Francis says the core of the message can be summed up in Christ’s words to her: “This is the heart that so loved human beings” and spared nothing to show them that love.
A second theme in her experiences was reparation: Jesus lamented that his love was often met with indifference, coldness, sacrilege, and ingratitude, especially toward the Eucharist. From this came practices that became central to Sacred Heart devotion: the Holy Hour, in which the faithful spend time with Christ in his agony, and Communion on First Fridays, offered as a response of love to the love of Christ. The older Catholic Encyclopedia records that she was inspired to pray from eleven to midnight on the eve of the first Friday and to receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month. Pope Francis, following her own writings, presents this not as a gloomy spirituality, but as Christ asking for “love for love”: the believer responds to divine love with trust, gratitude, prayer, and conversion.
The most famous apparition came in June 1675. Margaret Mary reported seeing Christ revealing his Heart, radiant and burning with love, while also wounded by humanity’s indifference. From this experience came the request for a special feast in honor of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, with Communion and acts of reparation. This is why the modern Solemnity of the Sacred Heart is tied so closely to the Eucharist: the devotion is not merely about an image, but about Christ’s living gift of himself. The devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us that Jesus’ love is personal, merciful, Eucharistic, and waiting for a response.