06/14/2026
How do you consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus?
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ, ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ท๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is ancient, finding its inspiration in various passages in the Bible. However, a more focused devotion wasn't fully established until St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century, which included a specific act of "consecration"
The consecration promoted by St. Margaret Mary was intended to unite the Christian faithful more closely to Jesus, looking to the example of St. John the apostle, who "reclined upon [Jesus'] chest during the supper" (John 21:20).
Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Directory on Popular Piety explains the spiritual requirements this devotion entails, specifically the act of consecrating oneself to the Heart of Jesus:
๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ'๐ด ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ: ๐ช๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ.
To consecrate oneself to Jesus Christ is to pledge your life to Jesus Christ, making an intentional promise to reform your life and act with love.
The act of consecration is not meant to be a merely outward event, but a manifestation of a deep interior openness to receive the love of God.
St. John Paul II affirmed this essential ingredient to the devotion, highlighting it in his letter On the 100th Anniversary of the Consecration of the Human Race to the Divine Heart of Jesus:
๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ "๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด", ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ "๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ" ... ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ'๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐บ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ.
For this reason, it is often suggested that Catholics go to confession before performing a formal act of consecration, renouncing sin and embracing the new life of virtue.
Choosing to consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart means that you want to be united to Jesus more intimately and not that you simply want to do a pious devotion that other people have done before.
Besides these more abstract recommendations, there exists several different consecration prayers that put to words your desire to live united to Jesus. Often this prayer is recited while kneeling before an image or icon of the Sacred Heart, helping you to visualize what you are about to do.
Here is a prayer of consecration written by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque that summarizes these basic elements of the devotion, placing your entire self into the Heart of Jesus:
๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต.
๐ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต, ๐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ.
๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต, ๐ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ.
๐ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต, ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ.
Above all, consecrating yourself to the Sacred Heart should not be simply a recitation of a prayer, but a life-long commitment to let Jesus' Heart reign in your heart.
