ORLANDO  |  The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops invites Catholics to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States by acknowledging the spiritual reality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For this special anniversary, the bishops hope this Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will bring truth, charity, and justice to the forefront of American lives.

Although laity is unable to attend the USCCB consecration June 11, 2026, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe in Orlando, the Mass will be livestreamed on the USCCB YouTube channel at 4 p.m. via https://www.youtube.com/live/j1WyC4TSeoo

Laity will have two opportunities to participate in consecrations to the Sacred Heart June 12. Bishop John Noonan invites all the faithful to the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe’s Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday, June 12 at the noon Mass, followed by the consecration and Adoration. The relics of St. Margaret Mary will be available for public veneration until 3:30 p.m. The reliquary holds St. Margaret Mary’s clavicles, two of her ribs, and a small piece of her brain.

The faithful can also attend the Diocese Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Friday, June 12, at 7 p.m. at St. James Cathedral. The relics of St. Margaret Mary will be available for public veneration at St. James Cathedral from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. After the Mass, please join the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary for a Vigil of Adoration until 11 p.m. For other local celebrations, visit https://www.orlandodiocese.org/events/local-heart-jesus/

Born in France in 1647, St. Margaret Mary entered the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary at the age of 24. Over an 18-month period from 1673 to 1675, Jesus revealed the depths of His Sacred Heart, burning with charity and aflame with merciful love, through four major apparitions. The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus derives from Jesus’ words to St. Margaret Mary in June 1675.

“I ask of you that the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi be dedicated as a feast in honor of My Heart, and amends made to it in an Act of Reparation offered to It and by the reception of Holy Communion on that day, to atone for the outrages It has received during the time It has been exposed on the altars. I promise you that My Heart will open wide and pour forth lavishly the influence of Its divine love on all who will render and procure for It this honor.”

Ninety years later, Pope Clement XIII approved the liturgical celebration for Polish bishops, while Blessed Pope Pius IX decreed the then-feast could be celebrated by the universal Church in 1856. St. Margaret Mary was canonized by Pope Benedict XV May 13, 1920.

On June 11, 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated humanity to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He wrote it is “fit and proper that we should consecrate ourselves to His most Sacred Heart-an act which is nothing else than an offering and a binding of oneself to Jesus Christ, seeing that whatever honor, veneration and love is given to this divine Heart is really and truly given to Christ Himself.” (Annum sacrum, 8)

In Pope Pius XI’s 1928 encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, on reparation to the Sacred Heart, he wrote “among those things which properly pertain to the worship of the Most Sacred Heart, a special place must be given to that Consecration, whereby we devote ourselves and all things that are ours to the Divine Heart of Jesus, acknowledging that we have received all things from the everlasting love of God. When Our Savior had taught Margaret Mary… how much He desired that this duty of devotion should be rendered to him by men, moved in this not so much by His own right as by His immense charity for us; she… rendered it the first of all.” (Miserentissimus Redemptor, 4)

The faithful are asked to consider taking part in either of the two diocesan consecrations June 12.

By Lucas Blackwell of the Florida Catholic staff, June 4, 2026