It seems like I have always had the Sacred Heart of Jesus in my life, at home, my parish growing up, schools, seminaries, my parish assignments and now in my residence! I’ve always loved the Sacred Heart – I guess because it is so simple yet profound, theological, which I didn’t know as a child, yet practical. The Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us of God’s intense love for us but also quietly urges us to emulate it, as He calls us to be like him: to be merciful to one another, especially those in need. The Sacred Heart of Jesus offers us comfort in times of distress in our lives, our families, our Church and world. How grateful we are for the Sacred Heart of Jesus!
So, it is an exciting time for us all as we prepare to consecrate our archdiocese, our families and ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the Bishops of the United States will do for our whole country as we mark the semiquincentennial anniversary of the founding of our country. This is an opportunity for us to receive a new life, mercy and healing flowing from the very heart of Jesus. I am grateful to our priests and other parish ministers and staffs for ensuring that we are preparing for the consecration to the Sacred Heart. I am grateful to the faithful of our archdiocese for the way you have responded with such faith and enthusiasm. It is my hope that this consecration will bear great fruit in our local Church and bring us all closer to our Lord who desires to accompany us and our families every day. How we need His help, love and guidance in our lives, Church and world.
We have been preparing throughout the nine weeks prior to the consecration with various common prayer intentions. More immediately, we will prepare by every parish offering a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Thursday June 4, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. I will lead the Holy Hour at our St. Louis Cathedral and hope to see those able to come there.
We have transferred the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart this year so it will be celebrated at all our parish Masses the weekend of June 13 and 14. Each parish has received 8x10 inch images of the Sacred Heart – one for every active household in each parish – which will be blessed and distributed at all Masses on that weekend. Every family is invited then to enthrone the Sacred Heart in their home that same weekend. Instructions, prayers for the enthronement, and a recommended novena are available at nolacatholic.org/sacredheart.
Parishes are sharing this information too. Many parishes have been praying on Sundays the Novena Prayer to the Sacred Heart in preparation for the Home Enthronements.
Following the consecration, we will begin a period of formation and evangelization. In his encyclical on devotion to the Sacred Heart, Pope Pius XII speaks of the three greatest gifts given from the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the world: the Eucharist, the Blessed Mother and the Priesthood (cf. Haurietis Aquas, no. 69). We will concentrate on these gifts during this period of time.
I have already asked my brother priests to join me in renewing our filial devotion to the Blessed Mother through a renewed daily commitment to the Rosary. I see so many of our faithful already doing this, but how wonderful it would be to have more of our lay faithful, religious and deacons join in this too, even if just once a week. I love my daily rosary on my morning walk and it reminds me that our Blessed Mother is with me throughout the day. The Blessed Mother offers us her love and protection, and she always brings us closer to Jesus. May she renew our love for and hope in continuing mission of making her Son’s name more known, loved and served here in Southeastern Louisiana.
Further on the priesthood, I continue to ask you to pray for more vocations to the priesthood, so we have enough shepherds for all our parishes. Also, if you know someone whom you think would be a good priest, ask them. You might be the instrument of the Holy Spirit to open their hearts to discerning it. As part of the consecration to the Sacred Heart, we are including our homebound parishioners by asking them to pray for Vocations offering their illnesses or sufferings for an increase of vocations to the priesthood. We have shared a prayer card for doing this on the website and with our pastors.
The Sacred Heart Apostolate is assisting us in compiling a full list of Adoration chapels and times of Eucharistic Exposition in parishes across our archdiocese. We will promote this in various ways and I encourage you to consider a personal commitment to increased time before the Blessed Sacrament. My time with our Eucharistic Lord in the morning, allows me time to rest in Him, to thank Him for all the blessings I have, but also to present our many needs. We have produced and distributed a one–page guide for Eucharistic Adoration which is available on the website for the consecration. If you are able, please help ensure that every open slot for adorers in Eucharistic Adoration chapels throughout the archdiocese are filled by the end of the nine–week period.
Finally, Welcome Home Sunday the weekend of August 15 and 16 is an invitation to all: those who have not returned to Mass since the pandemic, those who have drifted because of hurt, scandal, or division, those who have felt unseen or unwelcome, those who quietly stopped trying, those who are searching, and even those who have never stepped inside a Catholic Church. On this Sunday, I ask that we intentionally open wide the doors of our churches and our hearts. We do not simply wait – we go out and invite. With the Sacred Heart as our model, we receive each person not as a stranger, but as a beloved son or daughter of God being welcomed home. Please consider inviting someone - a family member, friend, colleague - to join you for Mass on this weekend. What a gift to Jesus you will be making and to the person you invite, reconnecting them with the love of Jesus!
Thanks to all for your generous cooperation in this important moment in our lives, our families and in the life of our archdiocesan family. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus renew us, strengthen us, heal us and draw our whole archdiocesan family more deeply into His love.
May we emulate that love, sharing Jesus with all we encounter each day, renewing the face of our archdiocese into the image God desires it to be. Know of my love, prayers and gratitude for you and please, pray for me.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on all of us and on the whole world!
Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA Archbishop of New Orleans
