Day 1 — The Heart wounded by love

Meditation

"They shall look on him whom they have pierced" (John 19:37). On the cross, Christ's side was opened by the lance, and blood and water flowed forth: the sign of a Heart given to the end. To Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, at Paray-le-Monial (1673-1675), the Lord showed his Heart crowned with thorns and surrounded by flames, saying: "Behold the Heart that has so loved men, that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love; and in return, from most of them, it receives ingratitude."

Prayer of the Day

O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, aflame with love for us, you who accepted to be pierced upon the cross, open my heart to gratitude and make me answer your love with love, repairing by my life the ingratitude you receive from men. Amen.

Offering to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (for all days)

O most loving Heart of Jesus! I offer you my prayers, my works, and my sufferings, those of this day and all the days of my life, to do all that pleases you, to repair the offenses committed against you, and to beg for the conversion of sinners. Join them to the infinite merits of your Passion, that they may reach the heavenly Father and lift up supplications for the whole world. Heart of Jesus, I trust in you.

(Our Father, Hail Mary, and Gloria.)