Bookmark and Share

Novena to the Sacred Heart

This Totus2us novena to the Sacred Heart includes a daily novena prayer & the Litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

It was recorded in 2014 to begin on the Feast of Corpus Christi and lead up to the Feast of the Sacred Heart. It was offered in particular for all our priests and seminarians. 

Many thanks to Fr Rob Galea for the gift of his music - ℗ 2011 Robert Galea - used with permission. For much more, visit Fr Rob's website.

You can subscribe to this Novenas podcast here from the xml feed or here on itunes. To download the free mp3 Totus2us audio recordings individually, right/double click on the play buttons.

Day 1 - Novena to the Sacred Heart      

Meditation: Because prayer is a relationship of love, Jesus always leaves us free to respond or not. He asks each of us what it is we really want. To those who really want to find him, he says 'Come, and meet me in real prayer, and open your hearts to me.'

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you are saying to each of us 'Come and see.' Help us to meet you truly in prayer, and to discover the joy of coming to know and love you. Teach us how to spend time with you every day.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, open our hearts to you.

Day 2 - Novena to the Sacred Heart      

Meditation: If we are busy that we do not have even 15 minutes each day to feed our spirit in prayer, then we are too busy. Our human nature longs for the truth, beauty and love that are in God, and for the joy and peace to be found in being with him.

Prayer: Lord, help us to hear your invitation to take our time out each day to turn aside and rest in your company. Teach us to speak to you in our own words, and teach us how to listen to you in our hearts.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, stay with us always.

Day 3 - Novena to the Sacred Heart      

Meditation: In prayer, we come as loved and forgiven sinners to meet Jesus. He told us that he came to call sinners to repentance, and that he would give his life for love of them. He sought out their company, as he did Zacchaeus, and changed their lives.

Prayer: Lord, you came to invite sinners to be your friends. Help us to recognise our need for your healing and forgiveness. When you forgive, you also forget our sins. Help us to do the same for ourselves and others.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, heal us in body and spirit.

Day 4 - Novena to the Sacred Heart      

Meditation: It is especially when we are in difficulties that our prayer life becomes a source of strength and peace for us. In every crisis we face, Jesus is bidding us come across the troubled waters to him. Through each event of our lives, our God is shaping us for a future of happiness.

Prayer: Lord, it is so hard for us to recognise you in the difficult times in our lives. Yet you are always there in the midst of them, ready to reach out your hand to hold and save us. Help us to grow in trust of you.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

Day 5 - Novena to the Sacred Heart      

Meditation: It is the Master who is calling us now to come to him in prayer. In every human heart, there is a deep longing for God, because we are all made for him. We need to take time out for prayer.

Prayer: Lord, grant that our personal meetings with you in prayer may become the joy of our lives. Every moment spent in your company changes us slowly. Give us grace to allow you to love us, and to transform our lives. 

Sacred Heart of Jesus, help us grow in prayer.

Day 6 - Novena to the Sacred Heart      

Meditation: It is true that from our earliest days Jesus has stood knocking at the door of our hearts, and will do so until the end of our lives, with infinite patience. It is never too late to open the door to our hearts and to invite him in.

Prayer: Lord, we do not understand why you love us so much and are so patient with us. It can only be because you are love itself, and so want only the joy and happiness of the beloved. Help us to be open to you.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, help us to listen to you.

Day 7 - Novena to the Sacred Heart      

Meditation: One of the main fruits of faithfulness in prayer is the gradual opening of our eyes, so that we learn to take Christ at his words. Very few Christians really believe that our God lives within hearts that truly seek him. How different our lives would be if we could accept this.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us truly to believe in your words. While on earth, your greatest happiness was to encounter real faith. Teach us in prayer to recognise your presence within us, and how to really live our faith.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, increase our faith.

Day 8 - Novena to the Sacred Heart      

Meditation: True friends do not desert each other in times of sorrow and trouble. Jesus invited his disciples to stay with him in his passion. By uniting our crosses with his, we can enter more deeply into his life, and become more like him.

Prayer: Lord, help us to pray each Friday on your passion and death, and so to stay with you in your real human suffering. Help us to realize that you are close to us, especially in our times of suffering.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, stay with us in our suffering.

Day 9 - Novena to the Sacred Heart      

Meditation: Jesus has promised to come and take us to heaven when our life's journey is over. We were made for a life of complete fulfilment and happiness forever. Our prayer life is meant to prepare us for this.

Prayer: Lord, you gave us life so that we could be with you in heaven forever. Help us to persevere in a life of heart-prayer, no matter how little progress we seem to be making.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, make us ready for heaven.

Novena Prayer
Lord Jesus, your Sacred Heart is always is open in love to each of us, and especially when we are suffering. To all who come to you seeking your help, you show your compassion and your healing power. You care for us when we are lost, sympathize with us in loneliness, and comfort us in mourning. You are closest to us when we are weakest. You reach out your hand to us when we stumble and have most need of your help. I ask you to listen to my prayer during this novena, and grant what I ask, (make your request silently .... ). But is what I ask is not for my own good and that of others, grant me always what is best, that I may build up your Kingdom of love in our world. Amen.

Litany to the Sacred Heart
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the World, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, wonderfully united to the eternal word, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, never-ending source of all virtues, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, worthy of all praise, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in which are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in which dwell all the fullness of the Divinity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in which the Father is well pleased, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, deepest desire of the human heart, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, patient and abounding in mercy, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, generous to all who call upon you, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, fount of life and holiness, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, atonement for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, which suffered rejection for our sake, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, made obedient unto death, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, victim of our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in you, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in you, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord,
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto yours.

Let us pray, Almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of your well-beloved Son and the praises and sacrifice He offers you in the name of sinners; being pleased with His holy obedience, pardon those who implore your mercy and give us a share in His resurrection, in the name of the same Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.