Prayers · Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you — ejaculatory prayer and meditation

The ejaculatory prayer «Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you» is one of the briefest and most dense prayers of Christianity. Attested in the devotional tradition since the 19th century, it was indulgenced by St Pius X by decree of 9 June 1906 with a partial indulgence for devout recitation. It is the concise expression of the Sixth Promise of the Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary: «Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy». This ejaculatory prayer is especially commended: (1) in moments of grave temptation, repeated internally; (2) in moments of trial or affliction, when reason is obscured; (3) before terrible news (accident, grave illness, sudden death); (4) at the hour of sacramental Communion and of Adoration; (5) on falling asleep, as the last word before sleep — anticipation of each night to the final passage. It may be recited 100 times in a row as a proper chaplet, without counting — it is enough to repeat with the rhythm of breathing until it becomes second nature.

The ejaculatory prayer:

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you.

(repeat five, ten, a hundred times — as many as time permits)

Meditation for daily use:

Sacred Heart of Jesus, shelter of returning sinners: at this hour which I am now living — happy or sad, calm or tense, bright or dark — I place my little life within your immense Heart, like a drop within the ocean which it cannot fill but which receives it whole.

I do not trust in myself, because I know how weak I am. I do not trust in the world, because I see that it changes every day. I do not trust in passing feelings, because they deceive. I trust in you, Lord, in your Heart which was pierced for me on the Cross so that I might have where to hide myself.

You said to St Margaret Mary that sinners would find in your Heart «the source and the infinite ocean of mercy». I am that sinner. Here I am. I trust.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you.

Amen.

Source: Traditional ejaculatory prayer attested in Catholic devotion since the 19th century; partial indulgence granted by St Pius X by decree of the Sacred Penitentiary of 9 June 1906; devotional meditation of own composition; reference to the Sixth Promise of the Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary (cf. Twelve Promises in this same phase 3s, prayer #1)

Ecclesiastical approval: Ejaculatory prayer indulgenced by St Pius X (decree of the Sacred Penitentiary of 9.06.1906), maintained in the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum among the indulgenced ejaculatory prayers; commended universally by Catholic tradition as a brief prayer for any moment of the day; especially diffused by the Apostleship of Prayer, by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts and by the Cordimarian Family; links with the devotion of Divine Mercy (St Faustina, 1931) where the parallel ejaculatory prayer is «Jesus, I trust in you» (already present in To the Saints, Phase 3a)

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