The Devotion to the Sacred Heart Fr. John Croiset, S. J. Originally published in1691; Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, 1959 TAN Books and Publishers Prayers by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Prayers Composed in Honor of the Sacred Heart by St. Margaret Mary (From Monsignor Gauthey's Edition, Paris, 1951).   Act of Love and Perfect Contrition Union with Jesus Immolated Act of Love to the Sacred Heart Prayer of Love to the Sacred Heart Little Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart   ACT OF LOVE AND PERFECT CONTRITION   Humbly prostrate before Thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I adore Thee, I praise Thee, I bless Thee, and I love Thee with all my strength and all the love of which my heart is capable; but do Thou extend its capacity and increase my love, in order that I may love Thee more, and that this love may make me belong completely to Thee forever. This is a grace which I ask for myself and for all hearts capable of loving, and especially for my own rebellious, hardened, unfaithful heart, which has so long abused Thy graces, resisted Thee and continued to offend Thee. I lead a life so cowardly in Thy service that, were it not for the excess of Thy mercy, Thou wouldst have long ago vomited me out of Thy mouth and rejected me as an object of horror and abomination which merits only to suffer eternally all the rigors of Thy just anger. But I implore Thee, O Sacred Heart of my adorable Jesus, by that ardent love and suffering on the tree of the Cross, and which will keep Thee in this state on our altars until the end of time, to grant me, poor, miserable sinner, pardon for all the sins that I have committed: my ingratitude, forgetfulness and infidelity, and the other insults that I have offered to Thee of which I repent with my whole heart. I ask Thy pardon  with all the sorrow  and regret of which I am capable, and I protest that I wish I could shed all my blood by all the torments imaginable, in order to satisfy Divine Justice and to repair the outrages which I have done to Thee. I accept in advance all the pains by which it may please Thee to chastise me in this life, and I beseech Thee not abandon me to myself and to sin, and thus deprive me of Thy love. O Divine and most amiable Heart, do not condemn me to so horrible a torment as not to love Thee. Rather let all the pains of Hell come and torment me, than that I should be for a single moment without loving Thee! O DIvine Heart, Source of love and goodness, how couldst Thou forget Thy mercies and condemn to eternal privation of Thy love a heart which wishes henceforth in time and in eternity to live only to love Thee and to inhale and exhale breath only by this love. Listen, then, O most amiable Heart of my Lord Jesus Christ, to the prayer which I make and to the request which I present in my favor, wretched and unworthy sinner that I am; it is, that Thou wouldst grant me true conversion of heart. I detest all my past sins and I hold them in such horror, that I would choose rather to be sunk in the abyss of Hell than relapse again in the future; and if Thou wishest to condemn me to flames, let it be to those of Thy pure love. Cast me into the abyss of this ardent furnace in punishment for all my perfidy. And when the excess of Thy goodness urges Thee to confer still further graces on me, I ask for no other than that of the sweet punishment of love. But grant, I implore Thee, that I may be consumed in this love and transformed into Thee. And in order to avenge Thyself on me for not loving Thee and for loving myself inordinately, pierce and transfix, a thousand thousand times my ungrateful heart with the dart of Thy pure love, that it may no longer be able to contain earthly and human love, but only the plenitude of Thy pure love, which will leave me no other liberty but that of loving Thee, while suffering and accomplishing in everything Thy holy will. These are the graces that I ask of Thee, O Sacred and most amiable Heart, and I implore Thee to grant them to me and to all hearts capable of loving Thee, and for them I ask Thee that they may live and die in this same love. Amen.   UNION WITH JESUS IMMOLATED O my sweet Jesus, the only love of my heart, the sweet torment of my soul, and the agreeable martyrdom of my flesh and my body, all the grace I ask of Thee in order to honor Thy Divine state of Victim in the Blessed Sacrament is, that I may live and die the victim of Thy Sacred Heart by my bitter disgust of all that is not Thee; the victim of Thy holy Soul, by all the anguish of which my soul is capable; the victim of Thy Body, by keeping far away from everything that can satisfy mine and by my hatred of its criminal and accursed flesh. ACT OF LOVE TO THE SACRED HEART O most loving Heart of my only love, Jesus, not being able to love, honor and glorify Thee according to the extent of the desire which Thou hast given me to do so, I invite Heaven and earth to join with me; I unite myself with the burning Seraphim to love Thee. O Heart all burning with love, mayest Thou inflame Heaven and earth with Thy most pure flames and consume all that they contain, in order that all creatures may breathe only by Thy love! Grant me either to die or to suffer, or at least change me completely and make me all heart in order to love Thee, consuming myself in Thy burning ardor. O Divine fire, O all pure flames of the Heart of my only love, Jesus, burn me without pity, consume me and I will not resist. Oh! why dost Thou spare me since I deserve only fire and since I am fit only for burning? O Love of Heaven and earth, come, come, into my heart and inflame me! O devouring fire of the Divinity, come, descend upon me! Burn me, consume me in the midst of Thy most lively flames which make those live who die in them. Amen. PRAYER OF LOVE TO THE SACRED HEART O Heart of Jesus all inflamed with love and living by love, a Sanctuary of the Divinity, Temple of His Sovereign Majesty, Altar of Divine Charity, a Heart burning with love for God and for me, I adore Thee, I love Thee, I melt with love and reverence before Thee! I unite myself with Thy holy dispositions, I desire most earnestly to burn with Thy fire and to live by Thy life. What joy is mine to see Thee well pleased and content. Thou hast lavished Thy graces upon me and made me share in Thy sorrows and in Thy glory. Oh! how I would willingly die or suffer anything rather than displease Thee! O my heart, you must act only by the impulses from the Sacred Heart of Jesus; before It, you must expire in silence to all that is human or natural. O Divine Heart, I unite myself with Thee, and lose myself in Thee. I do not wish to live any longer but in Thee, by Thee and for Thee. Thus all my employment shall be to remain in silence and respect, annihilated before Thee like a burning lamp which is consumed before the Blessed Sacrament; to live, to suffer and to die. Amen. LITTLE ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS   I, _______________, give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, my person and my life, my actions, penances and sufferings, not wishing to make use of any part of my being for the future except in honoring, loving and glorifying that Sacred Heart. It is my irrevocable will to be entirely His and to do everything for His love, and I renounce with my whole heart whatever might displease Him. I take Thee, then, O most Sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge at the hour of my death. Be then, O Heart of Goodness, my justification before God the Father, and remove far from me the thunderbolts of His just wrath. O Heart of love I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from Thy goodness. Consume then in me whatever can displease or be opposed to Thee, and may Thy pure love be so deeply impressed on my heart that it may be impossible that I should ever be separated from Thee, or forget Thee. I implore Thee, by Thy goodness, that my name may be written in Thee, for in Thee I wish to place all my happiness and all my glory, living and dying in very bondage to Thee. Amen. Contact Us HOME----------------------------------------DIRECTORIES www.catholictradition.org/Two-Hearts/devotion7b.htm