“In the pierced heart of the Crucified, God’s own heart is opened up; here we see who God is and what he is like. Heaven is no longer locked up. God has stepped out of his hiddenness”, wrote Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy.
The liturgical solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart reminds us that healing and protection is found in the pierced heart of the Crucified. When Christ’s heart was pierced at Calvary, water and blood came forth: new life (John 19:34)! The pierced heart is a portal of grace if we remain open to divine transformation.
What was the prayer of the pierced Sacred Heart at Calvary? Christ’s seven final words from the Cross spoke of forgiveness, Paradise, beholding our Mother, being forsaken, God’s thirst, completion, and entrustment into the Father’s hands. With these words of merciful love, “Heaven is no longer locked up”. The pierced Sacred Heart has become the perpetual baptismal fountain gushing divine blood and water to heal and protect believers.
The Roman soldier’s sword that was violently thrust into the Sacred Heart on Calvary’s Hill cuts open the gateway to Paradise. And the demons howled. “Come down” — they exclaimed through His executioners. Their short-lived victory dance ceased in the realization that the crucifixion opened Heaven’s gate. The divine plan was realized. The place near the throne of God where Lucifer and his cohorts once occupied is now opened for lowly creatures. The pierced heart of Jesus is the defeat of demons, and the protection of the faithful. As Cardinal Ratzinger wrote, “God stepped out of his hiddenness”, thus revealing the truth and power of infinite divine mercy through the cross of Christ.
Cardinal Ratzinger relates, “…the theology of the cross is a theology of the truth and of love; the cross of Christ means that he precedes us and that he accompanies us on the painful way of our healing and salvation.” (The Yes of Jesus Christ, p 96.)
Often in the Church’s ministry of healing and deliverance, whenever a Catholic person, family or their home experiences diabolical harassment, it is recommended that they enthrone their home to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Why? A formal enthronement of the Sacred Heart in a person’s home is not based on superstition as are occult practices. Enthronement of the Sacred Heart is not a superficial act. It is a dynamic declaration of Christ’s kingship. Thus, the home is declared for Christ and no other. It is a profession of faith, an act of entrustment that is honored in the invisible spirit world.
Personal consecration to the Sacred Heart is also a highly encouraged, dynamic protection for individuals. In praying the major rite of exorcism the priest proclaims that the person is first consecrated to God by virtue of their sacramental baptism. The process toward liberation is one of restoring baptismal consecration and connection with God.
5 Prayers for Healing & Protection in the Sacred Heart
1) Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, graciously draw me into your heart so the flames of divine love will cauterize my wounds, heal my memories, restore my health, and enkindle my faith, hope and love so that I am set free to burn with zeal for you and souls. Amen.
2) Heart of Jesus, Infinite Majesty, Sacred Temple of God, Tabernacle of the Most High,
House of God and Gate of Heaven, graciously lead me into the refuge of your sacred temple, protect me in the house of God, and guide me to heaven by means of your infinite charity that heals my sin-sickness. Heal me, Lord Jesus, of all the lesser loves that distract me from real love.)
3) Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, abode of justice and love, full of goodness and love, abyss of all virtues, most worthy of all praise, graciously deliver me from myself and my enemies. Create in me a heart like yours so that I may become forgetful of myself. Grant that I may radiate your Sacred Heart, full of joy, praise, and gratitude.
4) Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses, obedient to death, pierced with a lance, source of all consolation, our life and resurrection, graciously heal my hypersensitive heart; my fears—of failure, of death, and suffering. I look to your heart for consolation amidst the trials of my earthly sojourn. I entrust myself to your heart that I may enjoy the grace of eternal resurrection.
5) Heart of Jesus, our peace and our reconciliation, victim for our sins, salvation of those who trust in you, hope of those who die in you, delight of all the Saints, grant me the grace to love the divine will, to be an instrument of your peace and reconciliation. I humbly entrust myself to your Sacred Heart that is the school of holiness, and the formator of saints. Protect me please from the distractions of the flesh, the world and the devil. Graciously seal me in your heart, my home.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, may your perfect love reign in me, and in all of creation forever.
O Pierced Heart of Jesus, forgive us the times that we thrust the sword of sin into your vulnerable heart.
O Living Heart of Love, I am yours.
Sacred Heart: Vessel of Hope
The pierced, Sacred Heart of Jesus is a living vessel of hope for a world in need of an infusion of Christian hope which is quite distinct from secular optimism. “Hope is the fruit of faith, we have said: in it our life stretches itself out towards the totality of all that is real, towards a boundless future that becomes accessible to us in faith. This fulfilled totality of being to which faith provides the key is a love without reserve—a love that is an immense affirmation of my existence and that discloses the fullness of all being to me in its breadth and depth. In it the creator of all things says to me: ‘All that is mine is your’ (Luke 12:31).” (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, The Yes of Jesus Christ, p 69).
The Sacred Heart is the gift of God; the perfect, incarnational love of God poured into our hearts. In knowing the gift, we are protected. In receiving the gift, we are healed. In giving the gift to others, we are authentic disciples.
image: By The Photographer [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons