A Heart for A Nation: U.S. Bishops Turn to Sacred Heart Ahead of America’s 250th Birthday
- Jay Sorgi
- 8 minutes ago
- 6 min read
As the United States of America approaches its 250th anniversary, Catholics are invited to prayer, renewal and a deeper encounter with Christ’s love, a devotion with deep roots in Denver.
The United States of America turns 250 years old on July 4. 23 days beforehand, America’s bishops will consecrate the nation for the fifth time — this time, to a devotion with a powerful connection to Denver.
June 12 brings the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The day before, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will lead Catholics in the collective consecration of our nation to Jesus Christ’s heart.
“The Sacred Heart is having a moment,” said Father Joe Laramie, SJ, the director of the Sacred Heart Jesuit Retreat Center in Sedalia, a published Catholic author and the former national director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network USA, which historically has advocated for devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“Pope St. John Paul II did this in 1999 for the whole world, following up on Pope Leo XIII, who consecrated the world in 1899,” he added.
A U.S. Consecration History
This is the first time the bishops have chosen to consecrate our nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The first four times involved the Blessed Virgin Mary.
1792: Bishop John Carroll, the first U.S. bishop, consecrated America to Mary in 1792, just 16 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and nine years after the end of the Revolutionary War.
1846: The country’s bishops led a national consecration to the Immaculate Conception in 1846, eight years before Pope Pius IX declared it a dogma of the Catholic Church.
1959: Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle, bishop of Washington, D.C., led a national consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1959.
2020: Archbishop José Gomez, currently archbishop of Los Angeles and formerly auxiliary bishop of Denver, reconsecrated America to the Virgin Mary on May 1, 2020, during the COVID-19 crisis.
2026: This year, ahead of the United States’ 250th anniversary, the bishops of the U.S. will consecrate the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the day before that great feast during their spring plenary assembly in Florida. In the Archdiocese of Denver, a local consecration will be held at the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden.
What Consecration Really Means
“The highest ideals of the U.S. as a nation under God are to show power through care for the ‘tired, the poor, the huddled masses’ in the human family,” said Father Phil Hurley, SJ, the current national director for the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network USA. “This consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart seems to me a powerful prayer that we might become more and more a people known for loving and serving as Christ loves and serves.”
“To be consecrated to the Sacred Heart, or to be dedicated to the Sacred Heart in any way, shape or form, it is to become and do what that heart is about,” said Sister Eileen Currie, MSC, a Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, founded by St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, whose shrine is located in Golden.
Sacred Heart Origins
Much of the devotion to the Sacred Heart stems from St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a 17th-century French nun who received a vision of Christ at a time when Catholics were not focusing on the mercy and grace God provided.
“It’s a return to the redemption of Creation as God intended by the Incarnation and the emphasis of mercy and salvation. ‘I desire the salvation of the sinner, not their destruction,’” said Father Eric Zegeer, the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Denver, the spiritual home of Denver’s own Servant of God Julia Greeley.
Draw Near Before Going Forth
But before we can reach out to others in Christian love, Father Laramie said, we must first draw near to Jesus’ Sacred Heart, in relationship and devotion.
“We hear in the Gospels of the appearance of the risen Jesus to St. Thomas, a powerful passage very closely connected to the Sacred Heart devotion. Jesus essentially said, ‘Thomas, look at my heart, this heart wounded for you,’ and invites Thomas to ‘Touch this heart pouring out love for you at this moment,’” Father Laramie said, referencing Jesus’ own words to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.
Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network USA Assistant Director Grace Mazza Urbanski, also a Catholic author, added that such contemplation can help us appreciate the ways Christ endured and continues to endure our hardships.
“The Sacred Heart is the antidote to our loneliness. The Sacred Heart can heal us. The Sacred Heart is such a rich image and devotion for us,” said Mazza Urbanski. “As we keep hearing, our nation feels fragile. It feels wounded. It feels isolated. It feels lonesome. The love of the Sacred Heart is so helpful to behold because the Heart of Jesus is also wounded, and it’s also fragile, yet it is on fire with love for humanity.”
Saints Formed by the Sacred Heart
Saints in recent centuries have drawn their lives and ministries from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, along with St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Padre Pio and Mother Cabrini, who established a camp in Golden for girls from an orphanage in 1914, one that became the Mother Cabrini Shrine.
“She just found her way day after day after day with whatever was present to her, how she could help people know God’s forgiveness and God’s love,” said Sister Currie. “She would use anything and everything to help reach people. She absolutely had to have a sacred fire that came from the heart.”
The Sacred Heart was also vital for Denver’s own Servant of God Julia Greeley, a former slave who is now a candidate for sainthood.
“A phenomenal woman of God for us to contemplate during the national consecration,” Mazza Urbanski said. “Jesus Christ’s torture and abuse were unthinkable, and sadly, it was renewed in a particular way in Greeley. She was tortured and abused and maltreated, [yet] she became a beacon of hope, of light, for the city of Denver.”
Servant of God Julia Greeley entered the sacramental life of the Catholic Church at Sacred Heart Parish in Denver, and regularly attended Mass there, which became a centerpiece of her compassionate faith.
“Boy, this lady had a huge heart,” Father Laramie said. “She would go around the city and hand out these little Sacred Heart prayer badges. She was a working woman. She was single. She worked for families [and] gave money to the folks poorer than her.”
Living the Consecration: Prayer, Mercy, Conversion
In the Archdiocese of Denver, special consecration events will take place at the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden on June 11 and 12. Parishes and individuals are invited to contribute to 250 hours of Adoration and 250 Works of Mercy, uniting prayer and service out of love for God and neighbor. Those Works of Mercy might follow in the footsteps of Servant of God Julia Greeley, who gave generously and secretly to the poor, or St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, who cared for the immigrant and the poor, or in some other worthy way to care for others.
“Our country’s not embodying the values of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a particular generous emphasis for the poor, the immigrant, the widow, the orphan, to be an instrument of peace in the world,” Father Zegeer said. “There’s a lot that needs to change.”
And as the Sacred Heart devotion shows, love for God leads to love for neighbor. It reaches both outward to the world and inward to our own souls.
“‘Will you let me love you?’ Sister Currie said. “Every day, he says, ‘You have another day. Will you let me love you today?’”
“I can bring you my heart, and in you, Lord, you can direct those energies,” said Father Laramie. “Let’s not just complain about the world. Let’s do something good.”
Local Consecration Events
Join us and Catholics around the country as we consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Mother Cabrini Shrine, Golden!
Thursday, June 11
7:30 a.m. Mass
Morning Eucharistic Adoration
12:00 p.m. Prayer Service
Procession to the Sacred Heart statue, followed by benediction
Tune into the bishops' consecration at 2:00 p.m. Mountain Time!
Friday, June 12 | Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
5:00 p.m. Mass, with the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus renewing their vows
Procession to the Sacred Heart statue, followed by benediction
Reception to follow
