St. Joseph's Catholic Church - Devine, TX

06/08/2026

Ou parish is excited to announce our Vacation Bible School. Sign up your child(ren) now. It will be great fun!

06/08/2026

Catholic American Pilgrimage - Destination #2 ... Portland, Oregon?
What began as the dream of one priest eventually became a national sanctuary visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year.

Leading up to the 250th Anniversary of July 4, we're publishing stories about the history of Catholicism in the United States. Please enjoy this latest entry!

When many people think of Catholic pilgrimage destinations in America, many think of places like Washington, D.C., Wisconsin, or perhaps California’s historic missions.

Portland, Oregon, probably doesn't immediately come to mind.

Yet tucked within the city is one of the most peaceful and remarkable Catholic sanctuaries in the country: the National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother, more commonly known simply as “The Grotto.”

Dedicated to Our Lady under the title of Sorrowful Mother, the sanctuary sits on more than sixty acres of wooded gardens, shrines, chapels, and walking paths built around a dramatic basalt cliff. At the center is a beautiful outdoor grotto containing a replica of Michelangelo’s Pietà, depicting Mary holding the body of her crucified Son.

The story behind the sanctuary is distinctly American.

In the early twentieth century, a Servite priest named Fr. Ambrose Mayer purchased land that had once been part of a quarry and envisioned creating a place of prayer dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. Construction began in 1923, and thousands gathered for the first Mass celebrated there in 1924. What began as the dream of one priest eventually became a national sanctuary visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year.

The title itself invites us into one of the most profound aspects of Mary's life. Catholics often meditate on her Seven Sorrows, from Simeon’s prophecy in the Temple to standing beneath the Cross as her Son died. Mary’s sorrows do not make her distant from human suffering. They make her deeply approachable.

Mary understands grief. She understands uncertainty. She understands what it means to remain faithful when God's plan is not fully understood.

That may be one reason why pilgrims continue to seek out places like The Grotto. In every generation, people carry burdens, losses, fears, and unanswered questions. The Sorrowful Mother reminds us that suffering is not the end of the story and that God is present even in the darkest moments.

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, we can recall that Catholic history is woven into every corner of this nation, including places many people might never expect. Hidden among the trees and stone pathways of Portland, Oregon stands a sanctuary that has invited people to prayer for more than a century.

For pilgrims seeking beauty, reflection, and a deeper devotion to Our Lady, it remains one of the most remarkable Catholic destinations in the United States.

06/08/2026

Pray

As we consider the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Christ’s great love for humanity, we reflect on how we have fallen short of his love and the need to atone for our sins. We also take this moment to repent as a nation for the sins of our country’s past. Let us pray for forgiveness and healing from the harms caused by our nation’s original sins of slavery and racism. A central element of devotion to the Sacred Heart is reparation – the practice of making amends for the wrongs we have done, asking Christ to forgive our sins and convert our hearts to love as he loves. Let us pray with St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorists, as we atone for our sins and consecrate ourselves to the heart of Jesus:

My Jesus, I love You with my whole heart. I am sorry for having so many times offended Your infinite goodness. With the help of Your grace, I purpose never to offend You again. And now, unworthy though I am, I consecrate myself to You without reserve. I renounce and give entirely to You my will, my affection, my desires, and all that I possess.
Learn

While reflections on the heart of Jesus date to the earliest writings of Christianity, the modern deIn Pope Pius XI’s encyclical, Miserentissimus Redemptor (on reparation to the Sacred Heart), the Holy Father connects our love for Christ with the realization that the wounds we inflict on others are the same wounds inflicted on Our Lord on the cross. He states, “Anyone possessed of great love for God, and who looks back to the past, can dwell in meditation on Christ, and see him laboring for man, sorrowing, suffering the greatest hardships, ‘for us men and for our salvation’... The more the faithful ponder all these things the more clearly they see that the sins of mankind, whenever they were committed, were the reason why Christ was delivered up to death” (no. 13).

The image of the pierced heart of Christ has its meaning in our sinfulness, and when we devote ourselves to the Sacred Heart, we are compelled to repair the damage we have done. In a reflection about seeking authentic reparation, Bishop Joseph Perry explores how the Sacred Heart can lead us to reconcile our human hearts to one another. He says, “In the Catholic tradition, reparation is not a transaction, but a sacred offering —one that involves not only words, but gestures. Just as the Sacrament of Penance invites physical expressions of contrition—making the sign of the cross, performing a penance, offering restitution—so too do acts of reparation in communal life require gestures of sincerity, and concrete actions.”

Act

There are many ways we can offer reparation to the Sacred Heart. When we go before Jesus in the Eucharist, Pope Pius XI recommends making a Communion of Reparation or a Holy Hour for the atoning of sins (Miserentissimus Redemptor, no. 12). We also see a lack of fraternal love today, especially in our politics and conversations with one another. Read Pope Francis’ encyclical on fraternity and social friendship, Fratelli Tutti, and reflect on how to build a culture of encounter together.

06/05/2026

Pray

Saint John Henry Newman took the episcopal motto Cor ad cor loquitur (“Heart speaks unto heart”), understanding that the Lord saves us by speaking to our hearts from his Sacred Heart. It was in the Holy Eucharist, the greatest form of praise to God, that Saint John Henry Newman cultivated his deepest encounter with the living heart of Jesus. Let us pray with Saint John Henry Newman so that we might hear the Sacred Heart speak to us when we praise and adore Jesus in the Eucharist.

O most Sacred, most loving Heart of Jesus, Thou art concealed in the Holy Eucharist, and Thou beatest for us still… I worship Thee then with all my best love and awe, with my fervent affection, with my most subdued, most resolved will. O my God, when Thou dost condescend to suffer me to receive Thee, to eat and drink Thee, and Thou for a while takest up Thy abode within me, O make my heart beat with Thy Heart” (Meditations and Devotions, London, 1912, Part III [XVI], par. 3, pp. 573-574).
Learn

Pope Francis reflects in Dilexit Nos that it is in the Eucharist that the ever-present love of the Sacred Heart invites us into union with Christ. At the same time, the Holy Father warns that in the frenetic pace of today’s world, “we forget to nourish our lives with the strength of the Eucharist;” therefore, he recommends that we spend an hour in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament every Thursday. Pope Francis goes on to say, “When we carry [adoration] out with devotion, in union with many of our brothers and sisters and discover in the Eucharist the immense love of the heart of Christ, we ‘adore, together with the Church, the sign and manifestation of the divine love that went so far as to love, through the heart of the incarnate Word, the human race’” (no. 85).

In Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque’s visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we see the light and fire of the Lord of life who transforms our human hearts. One such vision occurred in meditation before the Blessed Sacrament, when Saint Margaret sees Christ’s paschal mystery in all its splendor: “Once, when the Blessed Sacrament was exposed, Jesus appeared, resplendent in glory, with his five wounds that appeared as so many suns blazing forth from his sacred humanity, but above all from his adorable breast, which seemed a fiery furnace. Opening his robe, he revealed his most loving and lovable heart, which was the living source of those flames” (Autobiography, no. 55).

Act

Let us seek to deepen our relationship with the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist. You can take up Pope Francis’ challenge to hold weekly adoration on Thursday using this resource, 250 Hours of Adoration, which encourages parishes to record 250 hours of adoration this year. The Knights of Columbus offer a template for holding a Sacred Heart Holy Hour. You can also commit to attending Mass at a local shrine or parish devoted to the Sacred Heart.

06/04/2026

Planning meeting this Sunday! Be sure to come by and help make this year’s festival one to remember!

06/04/2026

Day 2 - Heart of Jesus, source of justice and love
Pray

When contemplating the Sacred Heart as the source of justice and love, we connect Christ’s love for us with our love for others. As Pope Francis said in Dilexit Nos, “Our best response to the love of Christ’s heart is to love our brothers and sisters. There is no greater way for us to return love for love” (no. 167). As we meditate on the love Christ has for us, let us pray this Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for Love and Mercy.

Lord Jesus, You gave your life for us. Your Sacred Heart is ablaze with love. Your hand extends towards me, and towards all, offering love, mercy, and healing. Sacred Heart of Jesus may your love transform me. Burn away my hesitation that I may become your love and radiate your mercy. Amen.
Learn

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, who reflected on the Sacred Heart wrote, “I received from my God excessive graces of his love, and I felt moved by the desire to respond to some of them and to respond with love for love” (Autobiography, no. 55).

Both Pope Francis in Dilexit Nos and Pope Leo XIV in Dilexi Te teach us that our encounter with the love of Christ’s heart allows us to build up God’s kingdom in this world. Pope Leo emphasizes that “God has a special place in his heart for those who are discriminated against and oppressed, and he asks us, his Church, to make a decisive and radical choice in favor of the weakest” (Dilexi Te, no. 16).

For centuries, the Church has established missions centered on the love of the heart of Christ, such as the Society of the Sacred Heart founded in 1800. The Society states in its constitution: “Caught up as we are in the desires of the heart of Jesus, we want people to grow in dignity, as human beings and as children of God. Our starting point is the Gospel, with all that it demands from us of love, forgiveness and justice, and of solidarity with those who are poor and rejected by the world” (Constitutions of 1982, 7).

Act

Consider who is rejected, vulnerable, or living in fear today. How does the Sacred Heart invite you to respond to the needs and suffering of others? You can get involved with your local Catholic Charities, Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, or a Catholic Campaign for Human Development funded group. You can also use this resource, Catholic Social Teaching Mustard Seed Commitments, to make small, sustainable commitments to care for your neighbors. Finally, consider praying for all elected officials that they may have the guidance and wisdom to create a just, peaceful society that honors the human dignity of all people living in our nation.

06/04/2026

Join us in praying the Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus from June 3 -11 as we prepare for the Consecration of the United States of America to the Sacred Heart.

06/03/2026

06/03/2026

Day 1 - Heart of Jesus, aflame with love for us
Pray

In his prayer intention for June of last year, the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Leo XIV encouraged us, “Let us pray together that each one of us might find consolation in a personal relationship with Jesus, and from His Heart, learn to have compassion on the world.” As we begin this Novena to the Sacred Heart, we join the Holy Father in that prayer.

Lord, I come to Your tender Heart today, to You who have words that set my heart ablaze, to You who pour out compassion on the little ones and the poor, on those who suffer, and on all human miseries. I desire to know You more, to contemplate You in the Gospel, to be with You and learn from You and from the charity with which You allowed Yourself to be touched by all forms of poverty. You showed us the Father’s love by loving us without measure with Your divine and human Heart. Grant all Your children the grace of encountering You. Change, shape, and transform our plans, so that we seek only You in every circumstance: in prayer, in work, in encounters, and in our daily routine. From this encounter, send us out on mission, a mission of compassion for the world in which You are the source from which all consolation flows.Amen.
Learn

While reflections on the heart of Jesus date to the earliest writings of Christianity, the modern devotion to the Sacred Heart began in 17th century France when Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque received visions of Jesus revealing his heart burning with love for humanity. In this revelation, Jesus expressed his desire to be honored in a special way through his Sacred Heart. This devotion grew when Pope Pius IX extended the observance to the universal Church in 1856, and later when Saint Mary of the Divine Heart urged Pope Leo XIII to consecrate the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which he did in 1899 through his encyclical, Annum Sacrum.

There have been four papal encyclicals on the Sacred Heart of Jesus: Annum Sacrum (on consecration to the Sacred Heart), Pope Pius XI’s 1928 encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor (on reparation to the Sacred Heart), Pope Pius XII’s 1956 encyclical Haurietis Aquas (on devotion to the Sacred Heart), and Pope Francis’ 2024 encyclical Dilexit Nos (on the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ).

Act

Take time today to read Dilexit Nos and explore resources to reflect on Pope Francis’ final encyclical. What stands out to you about the Holy Father’s writings on the Sacred Heart? How might this meditation on Jesus’ love for us set your own heart on fire to love others?

https://www.usccb.org/novena-sacred-heart-jesus?fbclid --day-1-heart-of-jesus-aflame-with-love-for-us