As the U.S. prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — and just in time for the progressive festival of Pride Month — America’s Catholic bishops are planning to consecrate the nation to Christ’s Sacred Heart.
I know I am often critical of America’s bishops, but this is an opportunity to celebrate one of their decisions. At its spring plenary assembly in Orland, Florida, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will consecrate the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The consecration is slated to take place during Mass on June 11 and will be led by the president of the USCCB, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City.
The Sacred Heart is also a sign of mercy, a gift which our nation sorely needs.
“We celebrate the abundant gifts you have given this nation, founded on the self-evident truths that our Creator has endowed all people with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” the consecration prayer will read, in part. “We make reparation for the offenses against you and against human dignity that have taken place in this nation. May our hearts be united to yours, so that our families and communities enjoy peace and happiness; may broken relationships be reconciled, injustices repaired, and the wounds of our land be healed,” the prayer will continue. “O Desire of Nations and Center of History, we ask you to bless these United States of America. Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
Parishes and American Catholics throughout the nation are invited by the USCCB to prepare for the consecration through participating in 250 hours of Eucharistic Adoration, 250 works of mercy, and a novena to the Sacred Heart.
There really could be no more fitting way (certainly for American Catholics) to celebrate America’s semiquincentennial than consecrating this great nation to Christ’s Sacred Heart. The Sacred Heart is, first and foremost, an emblem of love. While the flames wreathing Christ’s Heart are indicative of the love of God for man, we may also ask Christ to enkindle in our own hearts a burning love for Him, for our families, and for our nation. The Sacred Heart is also a sign of mercy, a gift which our nation sorely needs.
While I feel no shame in declaring America the greatest nation in the world, it is true that recent decades in particular have seen a host of cancerous sins invade our society and embed themselves in our culture. The most horrific and startling of these, no doubt, is abortion. Since the Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775, more than 666,400 American soldiers have been slain in combat. Since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its disastrous decision in Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973, at least 66 million unborn children have been slaughtered in the womb in the U.S. — nearly 10,000 percent more deaths than all U.S. wars and conflicts combined. Surely, the brave men who crossed the Delaware River and fought at Bunker Hill and Yorktown, or those who shed their blood on the fields of Sharpsburg and Antietam, or those who stormed Omaha Beach did not risk life and limb — and, in many cases, sacrifice both — so that their descendants could be butchered before ever even seeing the light of day.
The blood of millions of innocent, unborn children cries out to Heaven for vengeance, for divine justice to visit upon the U.S. The Sacred Heart offers instead mercy, a chance — a final chance, perhaps! — to recognize the horror of our sins, to repent of them, to make retribution for them, and to reform our ways, never again to allow such a moral travesty to occur.
America is the greatest nation in the world. With the blessing of the Sacred Heart, and with the hearts of Americans turned towards Christ, we can be greater still.
READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy:
Pope Leo XIV’s Fatherly Balancing Act
Why Did the Pope Appoint an Illegal Alien as an American Bishop?
Piety and Patriotism: The Virtue of Loving America
