Consecration
How to Enthrone the Sacred Heart in Your Home
Marian consecration · 8 steps
The family enthronement of the Sacred Heart: choosing and placing the image, inviting a priest or preparing as a family, the blessing, the reading and act of consecration, and keeping the image honoured afterwards.
8 steps · About 30 minutes
The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart is the solemn placing of an image of the Sacred Heart in a place of honour in the home and the consecration of the family to him, so that Christ is acknowledged as the King and Friend of the household. It was begun by Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey in 1907 with the blessing of Saint Pius X and spread through the whole Church; Pius XII commends devotion to the Sacred Heart in Haurietis Aquas, and the Directory on Popular Piety lists family consecration to the Sacred Heart — the family dedicated to Christ 'so that he might reign in the hearts of all its members' — among the devotions explicitly approved and recommended by the Apostolic See. It is ideally led by a priest, but where none is available the head of the household leads the family prayer.
What you need
- An image or statue of the Sacred Heart, and a place of honour for it (a shelf, a small table, the main room)
- A priest or deacon invited to bless the image and lead the ceremony, or the family's own preparation to lead it
- The text of the act of consecration of the family to the Sacred Heart, and the Litany of the Sacred Heart
- Candles and flowers for the place of enthronement; a Bible
- The whole family present, with any friends who are invited
When to pray it
Any day; often on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, on a First Friday, in June, or at a moment of family importance such as moving into a new home.
Steps
Step 1: Choose the image and the place
Choose a worthy image of the Sacred Heart, painted or carved, and decide where it will stand: a place of honour in the room where the family gathers. Prepare the place with a clean cloth, candles and flowers before the ceremony. The image is not yet put in place; it is enthroned during the prayer.
Tips
- The image should stand somewhere the family actually lives, not a corridor; the point is that the Lord shares the household's daily life.
- Keep the ceremony short enough for children; the meaning is carried by the act of consecration and the blessing, not by length.
- If some family members are absent or estranged, name them in the prayers; the enthronement is for the whole family.
- Renew the family's consecration each year on the anniversary or on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart.