Catholic Prayer: Explanation of the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart

Description:

Rev. Schmiedeler gives the significance and a brief history of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. He also explains how to enthrone the Sacred Heart within your home.

Prayer:

A religious practice that is growing considerably in popularity in this country today is the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart. It grew out of a promise made by Christ to Margaret Mary Alocoque: "I will bless every house in which an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored."

The idea of the Enthronement is that "in the Christian home a throne of love and veneration is erected for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and that His sovereign rights over the family be thereby recognized." The practice is an external recognition of the fact that Christ is the real head of the home. It is not merely a passing act of consecration to the Sacred Heart but a permanent state of devotion and love.

The Enthronement itself is a simple procedure. A picture (or image) of the Sacred Heart is secured. On a chosen day, the pastor is invited to the home to read the Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart for the family and to bless the picture and the home. It is then "enthroned" in a prominent place in the home. The names of the members of the family, living and deceased, are customarily inscribed on a scroll and placed with the picture. The Act of Consecration should be renewed by the family members monthly, and on special occasions.

Prayer Source: Your Home, A Church in Miniature by Compiled by The Family Life Bureau in the early 1950s, The Neumann Press, Long Prairie, Minnesota, 1994