Let us offer our day to Jesus, through Mary’s Immaculate Heart

When I was a child, my family prayed the rosary daily, but during June, the month when we honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we prayed the “Sacred Heart Rosary.” This version substitutes, “Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine,” for the Lord’s Prayer, and “Sweet Heart of Jesus, Be Thou, my Love,” for the Hail Mary. While we otherwise concluded the Marian Rosary with the Litany of Loreto, during June, we recited the Litany of the Sacred Heart.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Apostleship Prayer were instilled in my father by the Jesuits who educated him in India. Before school each morning, my parents had us recite the “Morning Offering,” which includes the words, “O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee my prayers works, joys and sufferings of this day, for all the intentions of Thy Sacred Heart …” They placed a Sacred Heart picture near my bed, and no matter where I lived, I brought that picture and taped it to the wall near my bed.

Most Rev. Earl K. Fernandes, bishop of Columbus, OH  - May 9, 2022

The joy and delight of your heart