{"id":3090,"date":"2024-06-07T21:43:01","date_gmt":"2024-06-08T01:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/?p=3090"},"modified":"2024-06-07T21:43:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-08T01:43:01","slug":"eight-ways-its-not-too-late-to-grow-in-devotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/2024\/06\/eight-ways-its-not-too-late-to-grow-in-devotion\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight Ways, It’s Not Too Late, to Grow in Devotion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So I wrote this post three days ago and thought I\u2019d scheduled it to be published, but it vaporized into the internet underworld and fortunately, I\u2019d saved some of it.\u00a0 \u00a0I didn\u2019t realize it hadn\u2019t published until I tried to read it.\u00a0 \u00a0So here we are, on the feast of the Sacred Heart.\u00a0 \u00a0I made it to mass because it was my daughter\u2019s end of the school year.\u00a0 She won an award.\u00a0 As a result, I managed my first, first Friday.<\/b><\/p>\n

For those of you who don\u2019t know what that is, keep reading.
\n<\/b>
\nThere are eight ways recommended to help one grow in devotion to the Sacred Heart.\u00a0 Since I\u2019m starting at ground zero, I\u2019m glad to know that this is an ongoing practice where one lets the Holy Spirit direct one\u2019s heart to the heart of hearts.<\/p>\n

#1 Making a Morning Offering.\u00a0 I honestly didn\u2019t know what that meant.\u00a0 Now I do.\u00a0 And the Lord does not place burdens on us, but offers us the opportunity to participate joyfully. God loves a joyful giver.\u00a0 He is not looking for dutifulness, but love.\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\nAt the beginning of each day, make an offering of your whole day to the Sacred Heart through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.<\/b><\/h4>\n**** O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,<\/span><\/i> \n<\/span><\/i>I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day<\/span><\/i> \n<\/span><\/i>in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.<\/span><\/i> \n<\/span><\/i>I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart:<\/span><\/i> \n<\/span><\/i>for the salvation of souls, the reparation for sins, the reunion of all Christians,<\/span><\/i> \n<\/span><\/i>I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer<\/span><\/i> \n<\/span><\/i>and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.<\/span><\/i> \n<\/span><\/i> \n<\/span><\/i>I read it and googled, what are the intentions of Pope Francis for the month of June. <\/span> \n<\/span>For migrants fleeing their homes<\/b> \n<\/b>We pray that migrants fleeing from war or hunger, forced to undertake journeys full of danger and violence, find welcome and new opportunities in the countries that receive them.<\/span> \n<\/span> \n<\/span>Boy do we need to pray for those enduring the chaos, evil and destruction of war.\u00a0 They need sanctuary. \u00a0 <\/span> \n<\/span>Again, God asks us to think of things and to do what we can \u2013He invites us, He does not demand.\u00a0 He asks us to love, to love God and love our neighbor, by putting them in our prayers, in our hearts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n #2\u00a0 Venerating images of the Sacred Heart\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\nWe need holy images in a secular world. \u00a0 We need to see the Sacred.\u00a0 This icon invites us to contemplate the whole of who Christ is, a lover who willingly suffers for His beloved, us.\u00a0 Again, I can do this sort of a thing.\u00a0 I am thinking, I will start with sketching, so that my heart and hand wrap around the image.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n It\u2019s part of my summer plan anyway, to draw or paint every day.\u00a0 It will be my starting point.<\/p>\n #3 \u00a0 Visiting the Blessed Sacrament, going to Adoration\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n We can\u2019t love those we ignore, and going to Adoration, is looking into the heart of God, and spending time knowing, God is looking ino our hearts. \u00a0 Nothing works better at bringing us closer to God, than our bringing ourselves before God. \u00a0 Again, I can do that. The adoration chapel is a mile from my house. \u00a0 What is keeping me from God except me?\u00a0 Aparently I am an obstacle. \u00a0 Must have something to do with being that abyss of ignorance.\u00a0 If I knew, I would get out of my own way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n #4\u00a0 First Friday Devotion <\/span> \n<\/span> \n<\/span>I believe I thought this was the only way, so I\u2019m relieved to know, the Sacred Heart is here, waiting for me in all these ways and this one is lovely \u2013and I\u2019ll honestly try but also know myself.\u00a0 It\u2019s not going to be as constant as it should be. <\/span> \n<\/span>However, by attending Holy Mass and receiving Holy Communion on the First Friday of each month, making reparation for the sins committed against His Sacred Heart and the Holy Eucharist, we venerate the Sacred Heart.\u00a0 I get to do so this Friday, so it\u2019s a start. \n \n<\/span><\/p>\n #5\u00a0 Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus<\/b><\/h4>\nI admit, I don\u2019t know much about enthronement, but there was a handy dandy link when I did my research indicating what to do. <\/b>\u00a0<\/b>Here\u2019s the link.<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n*************** ** You pick a Sunday and attend mass together.\u00a0 <\/span> \n<\/span>You pick an image of the sacred heart and have the priest bless that image. <\/span> \n<\/span>You establish a place (a throne if you will) where the image will be displayed.\u00a0 <\/span> \n<\/span>There are prayers you recite in the three days prior to the mass. <\/span> \n<\/span>And on that Sunday, as you enthrone the Sacred Heart, there are prayers that complete the Enthronement. \u00a0 <\/span> \n<\/span> \n<\/span>This one I felt less certain about \u2013because there are those in my home who would not attend.\u00a0 My own spirit felt a little somehow uncomfortable.\u00a0 I do not know why. \u00a0 That obstacleness revealing itself again?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s that God calls each of us, and what speaks to one, does not quite reach the heart of another, but God uses all the ways at His disposal to court our souls.\u00a0 Was I afraid? Embarrassed? Did I just not know? Did I just not want?\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure, just certain that I was uncertain.\u00a0 \u00a0I will have to reflect.<\/span><\/p>\n ** However, one that does not attend, did come for a little while, for Anna, and was inside the church (admittedly with the dog), for a time during mass.\u00a0 I viewed this as encouragement from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to delve deeper.<\/p>\n ** <\/span><\/p>\n ** #6\u00a0 Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart<\/strong><\/p>\n ** Here\u2019s the prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, today I renew my dedication to Your Sacred Heart. I remember Your love for me. I pledge my love in return, placing You at the center of my heart and my family. I wish to live my life in union with You and to share in Your mission of love to all. Lord, accept this dedication and keep me always in Your Sacred Heart. Amen.\u00a0 \u00a0 You pick a date \u2013I recommend June 7th, so that the consecration to the Sacred Heart is on the feast of the Sacred Heart, or your birthday, so you don\u2019t forget, to give your heart as a gift on your birthday.<\/em><\/p>\n ** #7\u00a0 Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus<\/strong><\/p>\n ** Full disclosure, I\u2019ve always loved litanies. Not sure why, just feel like I\u2019m asking all of Heaven for help, and it always helps.\u00a0 Apparently, there are 33 invocations, one for each year of Christ\u2019s life, and there\u2019s a partial indulgence attached to this litany \u2013another reason to love it.<\/p>\n ** ***************<\/p>\n Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus<\/span><\/h4>\n \n***************** ** Lord, have mercy, \nR. Christ, have mercy,<\/strong><\/p>\n ** Lord, have mercy. \nChrist, hear us, \nR. Christ, graciously hear us.<\/strong><\/p>\n ** God the Father of Heaven,\u00a0R. have mercy on us.<\/strong> \nGod the Son, Redeemer of the world, \nGod, the Holy Spirit, \nHoly Trinity, One God, \nHeart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father,\u00a0R. have mercy on us.<\/strong> \nHeart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, \nHeart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God, \nHeart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty, \nHeart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God, \nHeart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High, \nHeart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven, \nHeart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, \nHeart of Jesus, abode of justice and love, \nHeart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, \nHeart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, \nHeart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, \nHeart of Jesus, King and center of all hearts, \nHeart of Jesus, in Whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, \nHeart of Jesus, in Whom dwells all the fullness of the divinity, \nHeart of Jesus, in Whom the Father is well pleased, \nHeart of Jesus, of Whose fullness we have all received, \nHeart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills, \nHeart of Jesus, patient and most merciful, \nHeart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke Thee, \nHeart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness, \nHeart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, \nHeart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium, \nHeart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses, \nHeart of Jesus, obedient unto death, \nHeart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, \nHeart of Jesus, source of all consolation, \nHeart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, \nHeart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation, \nHeart of Jesus, victim for sin, \nHeart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in You, \nHeart of Jesus, hope of those who die in You, \nHeart of Jesus, delight of all the Saints, \nLamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,\u00a0R. spare us, O Lord.<\/strong> \nLamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,\u00a0R. graciously hear us, O Lord.<\/strong> \nLamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,\u00a0R. have mercy on us, O Lord.<\/strong> \nJesus, meek and humble of heart,\u00a0R. make our hearts like to Thine.<\/strong><\/p>\n ** Let us pray. \nAlmighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Your most beloved Son and upon the praise and satisfaction which He offers You in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Your mercy, do You in Your great goodness, grant forgiveness in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who with You lives and reigns world without end \nR. Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n ** So I can pray most of that thing, think it lovely, and in the next moment be irritated because my son dumped a trash can full of tissues into another trash can and ninety percent of the tissues didn\u2019t make it.\u00a0 Top that with his doing the work because another sibling didn\u2019t want to clean it up\u2026and I\u2019m needing more mercy than I\u2019m giving in the moment as I grumble through cleaning up.<\/p>\n ** \n\u201cAn abyss of unworthiness and ignorance for the accomplishment of this great design,\u201da shipwreck of a soul, yep, that\u2019s me. \n<\/em> *****************\nThe litany which I hadn\u2019t finished, served as a good chastiser of my own soul and its limitations.\u00a0 It thinks beautiful thoughts. However, it doesn\u2019t live up to them.\u00a0 \u00a0Thinking that partial indulgence will be needed frequently.<\/p>\n \n#8\u00a0 The Novena to the Sacred Heart***************** *****************\n<\/strong>This is the thing that got me started on examining the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the reality that I frequently fail when it comes to Novenas.\u00a0 \u00a0Even with helpful email reminders, I fail.\u00a0 \u00a0Even with asking others to pray them with me, I falter.\u00a0<\/a>***************** *****************\nBut if you want to attempt it, and I hope you do better than me, here\u2019s where you can find all the prayers.<\/p>\n Go, enjoy the evening with those who hold your heart, and place your own in the one Heart that loves you no matter how often you fail, at novenas or anything else.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So I wrote this post three days ago and thought I\u2019d scheduled it to be published, but it vaporized into the internet underworld and fortunately, I\u2019d saved some of it.\u00a0 \u00a0I didn\u2019t realize it hadn\u2019t published until I tried to read it.\u00a0 \u00a0So here we are, on the feast of the Sacred Heart.\u00a0 \u00a0I made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4510,"featured_media":3096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,978],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-not-an-apologist","category-sacred-heart-of-jesus"],"yoast_head":"\nEight Ways, It's Not Too Late, to Grow in Devotion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So I wrote this post three days ago and thought I'd scheduled it to be published, but it vaporized into the internet underworld and fortunately, I'd saved\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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I\u2019m married (31 years) to the love of my life and we have ten children, all of whom keep us young and on our toes. I\u2019m organized but not neat. If I don\u2019t write it down, it\u2019s lost forever. My brain resides in my fingertips or in a pen. As to what I write and why, honestly, I\u2019ve always been writing humor and faith stories. Always. Faith and joy, light and family are at the core of almost everything I write. I can do dark and brooding, but I don\u2019t like the aftertaste. I can do angry and sarcastic, but it leaves me seared inside. I love the luminous mysteries but my favorite one is the descending of the Holy Spirit. Sharing whenever I can see the veil being lifted, of when the world seems to almost tremble with joy, those are my favorite types of stories. They don\u2019t happen without suffering, but they do happen. I believe in the power of prayer, that God hears and answers all our prayers even if we don\u2019t see it. I also believe the answer is always a\u201cYes\u201d to something bigger than we ask. It\u2019s also \u201cYes, I love you.\u201d And \u201cYes, I love you even more than you thought.\u201d Enthusiastic about almost everything, with natural prosaic coursing through my veins, supplemented by a generous dosage of diet caffeinated soda and chocolate, I look forward to meeting all of you","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Sherrytex\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sherry-antonetti-ba9aa913\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/sherryantonetti"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/author\/sherryantonetti\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}