The Messenger and the Novena
The Sacred Heart Messenger is bringing out a CD of the Novena to the Sacred Heart, complete with prayers and hymns. John Looby SJ, editor of the Messenger, explains the initiative.
A young school girl, as an article in the June issue of the Sacred Heart Messenger recalls, asked the Archbishop of Paris why there was no month dedicated to the Sacred Heart. And so began the process which led eventually to the establishment in 1856 of the Feast of the Sacred Heart for the Universal Church.
Maybe it took a child to go to the heart of the mystery of Christ. His life and death revealed his love of us human beings. Like anyone who loves and reveals his love he faced the risk of rejection. Through devotion to the Sacred Heart a person acknowledges Christ’s unfailing love and places love and trust in him in return. The prayer ‘Sacred Heart of Jesus I place all my trust in you’ sums up devotion to the Sacred Heart.
The month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart now, and this year the feast falls on the 15th June. The Sacred Heart novena is a popular novena and will be prayed in churches all over the country from 7th June until the Feast Day on 15th June. To assist this time of prayer, for the first time we have produced a CD of the Novena with hymns especially chosen to complement the text, helping to create an atmosphere of prayer and reflection. The CD can be used in many ways – at home or in the car, in groups large or small, on local radio, on parish radio, or with those who meet in prayer in the parish church.
The Messenger is committed to promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart. Perhaps nothing attests more strongly to the strength of this devotion than the fifty thousand letters that come in each year from readers who believe Christ has heard their prayers and answered them in some way. The magazine has a broad variety of articles which speak of what it means to be a Christian today. It frequently reflects on what it means to live to the full the gift of life and resurrection with which Christ has graced us.
The CD of the Novena on the Sacred Heart is available from Messenger Publications: 37 Lower Leeson St., Dublin 2, Ireland.
Phone: 01 676 7491
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.messenger.ie
Cost : €9.99 / £6.99
+ p&p.
