The United States bishops consecrated their nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11, entrusting the United States to Christ’s merciful love during a solemn Mass as part of their plenary assembly. Source: EWTN News.
“We gather not first to celebrate ourselves, but to consecrate, to entrust … and to place our whole nation into the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ,” Baltimore Archbishop William Lori said in his homily.
The liturgy took place on the final day of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring plenary meeting, during the nation’s 250th anniversary year.
In the hours leading up to the Mass, the bishops concluded their assembly with reflections that centred on the meaning of devotion to the Sacred Heart in contemporary life.
Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, described the devotion as a response to modern forms of spiritual strain, including loneliness and the pressure to measure personal worth by achievement or failure.
Drawing on Pope Francis’s encyclical Dilexit Nos, he said contemporary culture often unsettles identity itself.
“The Sacred Heart of Jesus answers that question decisively,” Archbishop Sample said. “When we know that we are loved by Christ, we no longer need to build our identity on achievements or failures.”
He added that devotion to the Sacred Heart offers freedom from fear, self-centeredness, despair, and superficiality while also calling believers to bring that love into public life.
“The world needs witnesses whose hearts resemble the heart of Jesus,” he said.
Shortly before the Mass, bishops spent time in Eucharistic adoration and benediction and venerated the relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the 17th-century French nun whose visions helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart throughout the Church.
US President Donald Trump also issued a message marking the consecration, calling it “a powerful moment in our national story” and linking it to Bishop John Carroll’s post-Revolutionary consecration of the United States to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He described the moment as part of a broader spiritual inheritance, noting that American history has long been shaped by public expressions of faith.
FULL STORY
US bishops consecrate nation to Sacred Heart of Jesus (By Gigi Duncan, EWTN News)
