This year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Mary Queen of the Universe. Here at the Cathedral, we will offer the following events in preparation for the Consecration on June 12, 2026.
Parish Events
Beginning Friday, February 6, we will have a time of community prayer and observe the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on every First Friday through June at 7:30 AM and 7:00 PM. A booklet and a trifold with information and prayers will be available in the Chapel.
In the spring, we will provide families with a booklet to take home and pray a Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a parish community.
About the Sacred Heart Devotion
When our Lord Jesus was in His agony in the Garden before his arrest He asked His disciples to pray with Him. In fact, Christ’s heart was grieved when Peter, James, and John fell asleep because He desires us to remain with Him, to pray with Him, to console Him. As a Church, we have sought to not only remember Our Lord’s sacrifice, but to be with Him in the midst of His offering of Love. We pray the Stations of the Cross to walk with Him, we pray the Rosary to let Mary show us the mysteries of His life, and at every Mass we participate in the Paschal Mysteries as though we were standing at the foot of the Cross. And so, in this prayer, we console the Heart of Jesus so wounded by sin, so that we may give love to God in return for the love we are receiving. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque received visions in which our Lord asked her to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart so that we may console Him, receive the graces that His Heart burns to give us, and so that we may pray for those who sin against God in acts of reparation. Pope Pius XI wrote in his Encyclical Misserentissimus, that “the necessity of Expiation and Reparation is especially urgent today must be evident to everyone who considers the present plight of the world, ‘seated in wickedness’ [John 5:9]. The Sacred Heart promised to St. Margaret Mary that he would reward abundantly with His graces all those who should render this honor to His Heart.” So we at St. James offer this prayer for a renewal of Faith and service in ourselves, our homes, and our community so that we may receive all that the Sacred Heart of Jesus has for us and give Him thanks.
Consecration Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we adore you and give you praise for the gift of your merciful love. You chose to take on our humanity and to have a human heart which, like our own hearts, experiences brokenness, vulnerability, and weakness. Not only did you become like us, but you allowed your pure and sinless heart to be pierced on the Cross because you desire to pour out your love upon us. You said, upon the Cross, “I thirst.” We desire to quench your thirst by receiving your love, and giving you our love in return. This parish family of St. James Cathedral gives you all of who we are and all we have. We consecrate to you our words and deeds, our hopes and dreams, our desires and needs, our bodies and souls; we place all of our being in Your Heart. May our offering in your Sacramental presence console your heart, bring our brothers and sisters closer to you, and bring all of us into the peace of Your Father’s love. Most Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, help us to love the Heart of Jesus as much as you did when you held him in your arms as a child and as you held him when he was lowered from the Cross.