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Emily Jaminet explains the spiritual benefits of enthroning your home to the Sacred Heart.

enthronements

Here I am, my afternoon pick-me-up coffee in hand, my cell phone buzzing from my back pocket with texts regarding the evening sports logistics and reminders to pick up milk, bread, and sports cleats for the son who had outgrown his by two sizes. As I jump in my car to begin my evening "mom-taxi driver" routine to and from practices, sporting events, and the grocery store, I am tempted to turn on the radio.

Instead, I pause, take a deep breath in, and offer a prayer. This breath is not just one of stress relief but also a moment of renewal: a breath that calms my heart slows my pace and reminds me that the real priority at this moment is not to look like a supermom, but rather to unite my life to Christ. As I exhale, I offer this simple prayer from my heart: “Jesus I trust you; I give it all to you. Sacred Heart of Jesus, heal, help and renew my family!”

One of the most life-giving events in my spiritual life happened five years ago when my family gathered under our 100-year-old Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart images with both my parents and my husband’s, and we enthroned our home to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

This Act of Enthronement is one that generations of my family have done before, and yet it took more time than I’d like to admit for me to accept the graces associated with this practice and take time out of my busy life to pursue this powerful spiritual boost!

Sacred Heart Enthronement is a ceremony where Jesus is invited into your home or institution and is given the authority to reign. Through doing so we “seek to draw from His open heart the saving, healing love that is so necessary for families today to build a civilization of love” (St. John Paul II, 1995, The Church of America).

In the Gospels, we learn that “If anyone loves me, my Father will love him and We will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). My husband and I did not choose to have our house enthroned because our marriage or family is perfect. Instead, we enthroned it so that the Lord could begin to work with our family in a new way and reveal what He wanted us to see. In this dark culture, we need extra grace to remain faithful to our vocation.

In Romans 5:20 it states, “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” or in another version “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” The fact is we need more graces in our life to counter the darkness! The Enthronement to the Sacred Heart comes directly from Jesus, who shared this devotion with St. Margaret Mary of Alacoque.

We celebrate the feast day of the Sacred Heart this year on June 8. Jesus told St. Margaret Mary that He would bless each home where a picture of the Sacred Heart is exposed and honored. Jesus asks us to honor Him like children should their parents. Honor is a word rooted in understanding the value and significance of the situation at hand. For example, if a child honors his parents, on some level he recognizes that they are essential in his life, appreciates their wisdom and understands that a “no to something might be a yes to something else.” This is true when a home is Enthroned to the Sacred Heart; we are taking time out of our busy lives to declare that Christ is the King of our home and we will strive to honor His presence in our day-to-day life. In return for this act of faith, Christ offers something in return.

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Special Promises For Those Who Honor the Sacred Heart:

12 Promises were revealed to St. Mary Margaret for those who are willing to respond to the request of the Heart of Jesus and make an effort to return His love. We are confident in a few things related to these Promises. First, they have been approved by the Catholic Church. Second, they have been fulfilled many times in the lives of ordinary people around the world. Third, They are nothing else, but an extension of the promises of Christ found in the Gospels. Father Karl Rahner expanded on this idea when he said,

“Take their entirely, these promises affirm and offer no more than Our Lord Himself promised in the Gospel to absolute faith (Mt. 17:20, 21:21, Mk 16:17, Jn 14:12). What is new in these promises is therefore not their content, but the circumstances of their fulfillment, the fact that what has already been promised in substance in the Gospel is now attached precisely to devotion to the Sacred Heart.”

These promises depend upon our ability to carry them out with faith and devotion.

The first promise: “I (Jesus) will give them all of the graces necessary for their state in life.”

These promises are the correct medicine for the culture in which we live, the pace we keep and the lives we live. No matter if you live under a rock, in a high-rise, a farmhouse, a suburban subdivision, a condo, a patio home or a trailer home, we all need the graces we need to live faithfully for our state in life! I can tell you that by enthroning my home and honoring the Lord’s heart, little miracles are happening daily and I am a better parent for it! For many of us, the place we struggle the most is with our loved ones. We need extra graces to not only remain faithful but to handle the crosses associated with our state in our life every day.

I don't know a Catholic who would not agree that it is difficult to be a practicing Catholic, raising a family, in this culture. We all could use these graces associated with honoring Our Lord's Sacred Heart. So, if you could use a spiritual boost or want to discover a new source of graces for your state in life or a painful situation, turn to the Sacred Heart and consider honoring Our Lord in this particular way so that He can rule in your life. To learn more about Enthronement to the Sacred Heart, check out Enthronements.com.


Copyright 2018 Emily Jaminet
Images copyright 2018 Emily Jaminet, all rights reserved.