consecration of Ireland to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
- Archbishop Martin receives Pope Leo XIV “pledge of joy and peace” (see blessing below) ahead of Mass in Knock to renew the consecration of Ireland to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
- See below Prayer for the Consecration of Ireland to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
- “How much we need a culture of life; a society where peace, reconciliation and the dignity of every human person are promoted!” – Archbishop Martin
Homily for 3.00pm Mass in Our Lady Queen of Ireland Basilica, Knock
“There are many weighty evils, my dear people, pressing on the Church of God throughout the world, and there are many dangers encompassing and threatening ourselves near home. The spirit of irreligion and infidelity is growing strong every day.”
These words are not mine. They are in fact taken from the pastoral letter of the Irish bishops sent on Passion Sunday 1873 to announce their intention to consecrate Ireland to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Sadly, in many ways the bishops’ words relate to the circumstances of today, in 2025, as we gather here at Knock Shrine to renew the consecration of our country to the Sacred Heart.
There are indeed many weighty evils pressing on the Church of God throughout the world today. Recent research has found that thousands of Christians are victims of harassment, verbal abuse and violence – churches are burnt, believers are abducted, imprisoned and some are even killed for their beliefs – including 200 Christians brutally murdered in Nigeria just over a week ago.
Nearer home many dangers continue to encompass and threaten our communities – like homelessness, hopelessness, the scourge of addictions, suicide and self harm, abortion and pressure for euthanasia. How much we need a culture of life; a society where peace, reconciliation and the dignity of every human person are promoted!
It is a great blessing that we gather here today, joined in prayer by thousands of others in homes, parishes, religious communities and prayer groups across the island of Ireland and beyond, not just today, but throughout June – the month of the Sacred Heart – and for the rest of this Jubilee Year of Hope.
We realise of course that the consecration is not some kind of miraculous panacea for all of the ills and struggles of Church and society. It is not something we passively receive from on high; no, consecration to the Sacred Heart asks for our cooperation – it demands our personal commitment to spread Faith, Hope and Love.
We make this consecration confident in the promises made known to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque 350 years ago – promises of graces, of comfort and blessings, of peace, mercy, and the gift of perseverance in the face of suffering and death. We trust in God that this consecration, and the Sacred Heart Crusade across Ireland which has been accompanying it, will spark a renewal of faith and unleash a powerful rejuvenation of mission to proclaim the good news in our country and beyond.
It is providential that our gathering is taking place today on the Sunday of Corpus Christi, the solemn feast of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Pope Saint John Paul II always said that Sacred Heart devotion is at the same time a Eucharistic devotion.
Today we desire to consecrate to the most Sacred Heart: ourselves, our home, our family, our parish and Ireland our country. We ask the Sacred Heart to have mercy on our suffering world in which He chose to dwell as one of us, to pour out the treasures of His light and love so that, as our late Pope Francis put it, the world may regain the most important and most necessary thing of all – its heart.
For the publication of what was his last encyclical letter in October 2024, entitled Dilexit Nos (He loved us), Pope Francis reminded us that the world can change, beginning with hearts that are close to the heart of Jesus. That is our prayer here today in Knock, in the exalted heavenly company, I trust, of Mary and Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist, who appeared here together in 1879, just six years after the Irish bishops had consecrated our country to the Sacred Heart.
I can’t think of any three hearts closer to the heart of Jesus of Nazareth than those of Mary, Joseph and Saint John. To think of the heart of our blessed mother, pregnant with Jesus – His tiny heart beating to the rhythm of hers; or of Saint Joseph nursing the infant Jesus close to his heart; and of Saint John at the Last Supper, resting his weary head close to the heart of Jesus, drawing, as Saint Augustine put it, from that secret fount of wisdom – dear friends we are in great heavenly company today!
And we can include in that so many other holy men and woman throughout the centuries, who desired to be as close as possible to the beating heart of Jesus – people like Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, Saint Gertrude (who said she felt so close to Jesus that she could hear his heart beating), Saint Therese of Lisieux, Saint Faustina, Saint Charles de Foucault. How much we, like them, long to rest our heads on that Sacred Heart which is on fire with the Holy Spirit and is burning with love for us.
On this Feast of Corpus Christi I think also of Saint John Henry Newman who believed his closest encounter with the living heart of Jesus was when he received or adored the Eucharist. That’s when ‘heart speaks to heart’, he said, and he would pray: “O most Sacred, most loving Heart of Jesus, you are concealed in the Holy Eucharist, and you beat for us still… O make my heart beat with your Heart” (26 DN).
Friends, our consecration today is a heartfelt plea to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus to nourish our lives with His Word and strengthen us with the Sacraments – especially with His Body and Blood in the Eucharist – the sacrament of love.
We ask this grace not only for ourselves but for everyone who is dear to us – and especially those who may have drifted away from practice of their faith – that our names and their names may be written on his heart, engraved in letters of love.
Saint Augustine said that our hearts are restless until they rest in Jesus. That is why we pray for an intimate Heart to Heart encounter with our Lord and Saviour:
– that we might weep to see His wounded heart crowned with thorns and pierced through on the Cross for our sake;
– that we might find comfort in His forgiving heart which lights the way to the home of our merciful Father who loved us first;
– that we might draw life from His compassionate heart from which flowed blood and water – the wellspring of the sacraments and the inexhaustible source of eternal life.
The first message received by Saint Margaret Mary is well worth remembering today. She wrote: “He asked for my heart, which I asked him to take, which he did and then placed myself in his own adorable heart, from which he made me see mine like a little atom consumed in the fiery furnace of his own”.
Dear friends, He asks for our hearts. Let Him have them!
And in return He will give us fresh hearts – a new heart even – a heart transplant! Perhaps that is what our world needs now – a heart transplant!
At the Second Vatican Council it was said that the imbalances affecting the world today are in fact a symptom of “a deeper imbalance rooted in the human heart … And every one of us needs a change of heart” (GS 82).
With God’s help today’s consecration will motivate us to radiate the light of faith, hope and love, especially to the poor, the suffering and those who are most in need. It will set us on fire with the Holy Spirit, it will lift up our hearts, and give us like Saint Therese, “a thirst for souls”.
Dear brothers and sisters, do not be surprised if that is what you feel after today’s consecration, a call to go out and confront those “weighty evils that are pressing on the Church of God throughout the world”, and “the many dangers encompassing and threatening ourselves near home.”
Do not be afraid – today’s consecration will give you a new heart – a heart of love that can in turn give fresh heart to our troubled world. Amen.
ENDS
- Apostolic Blessing of the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV sent by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, Substitute for the Secretariat of State for the Holy See, to Archbishop Eamon Martin:
“His Holiness Pope Leo XIV sends cordial good wishes to all gathered for the Sacred Heart Crusade at Knock Shrine, on 22 June 2025, as Archbishop Eamon Martin renews Ireland’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. His Holiness prays that this solemn occasion will provide a grace-filled opportunity for all participating to deepen their devotion to the merciful heart of Christ, and to grow in zeal for spreading the saving message of the Gospel and promoting Christian charity among their brothers and sisters.
Entrusting all present to the loving protection of Mary, Mother of the Church, the Holy Father imparts his Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
- The Prayer for the Consecration of Ireland to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus can be prayed at Mass and any time by families at home but especially during June, the month of the Most Sacred Heart:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, Saviour of the world,
Gathered together in Your Name, we consecrate to your Most Sacred Heart:
ourselves, our home, our family, our parish, and Ireland our country.
We are in great need of your love and protection.
You have invited us to come to you, especially those who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and you have asked us to remain in your love.
We turn to you today, from the depths of our hearts.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we place all our trust in you.
We desire to be close to your beating heart which is on fire with the Holy Spirit, and is burning with love for us.
We weep to see your wounded heart, crowned with thorns and pierced through on the cross for our sake.
We find comfort in your forgiving heart which lights the way to the home of our merciful Father, who loved us first.
We draw life from your compassionate heart, from which flowed blood and water—the wellspring of the sacraments, of grace in the Church, and the source of eternal life.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, nourish our lives with your Word, with the strength of the sacraments, and especially with your Body and Blood in the Eucharist—the sacrament of love.
Carry us in your heart. May each of our names be written on your heart, engraved in letters of love.
Have mercy on our suffering world in which you chose to dwell as one of us.
Pour out the treasures of your light and love so that our world may regain the most important and necessary thing of all: its heart.
We believe that the world can change, beginning with hearts that are close to your heart.
Be alive and at work in us so that we may radiate faith, hope and love—especially for the poor, the suffering, and those who are most in need.
May your Sacred Heart continue to pour forth the streams of living water that can heal the hurt we have caused, strengthen our ability to love and serve others, and inspire us to journey together towards a peaceful, just, and fraternal world.
Lord Jesus Christ, King of love and Prince of peace, reign in our hearts, our homes, and in Ireland, our country.
Conquer all the powers of evil and bring us to share in the victory of your Sacred Heart.
May all we say and do give glory and praise to you and to the Father and the Holy Spirit, God, living and reigning for ever and ever. Amen.
O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, we offer you all the prayers, works, and sufferings of this day, for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart. O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, transform our hearts to be like yours. Amen.
- Archbishop Eamon Martin is Archbishop of Armagh, Apostolic Administrator of Dromore and Primate of All Ireland