Enthronement of the sacred heart

Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
With churches closing or drastically cutting back on allowed attendance due to COVID and the real possibility of other cataclysmic events in the future, making your home a Domestic Church is very important in these times we are all experiencing.

Dating back to the first century AD, the concept of the family as a domestic church (“ecclesia” in Greek) — the smallest, most familiar building block of the faith — was known to be extremely vital in the building up of the Universal Church. Indeed, it is in the home, among the family, that the first seeds of faith and discipleship are sown. If the ground is fertile, Divine Love takes root in our soul. If the ground is barren, our hearts follow suit.

How then, do we create a domestic church that nurtures and cultivates the Faith?  How do we ensure that our smallest building block of civilization has the tools to evangelize and spread the Gospel? Obviously, the simplest answer is “Put Christ at the center of the home.” One particular, beautiful way to make Christ the center of your domestic church is to enthrone Him there. What is that? Simply put, enthronement, or more accurately Enthronement of the Sacred Heart, is a devotion that began in the early 1900s by a South American priest, Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey. Wanting to win souls for Christ and spread the devotion to His Sacred Heart, Fr. Mateo realized that the best place to do so was within the family. To this end, he envisioned a tangible, physical way for the domestic church to provide a throne for their King and offer hospitality to His Sacred Heart. “I will bless every place where the image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored” promised Christ to St. Margaret Mary, and Fr. Mateo took this promise seriously. Families wishing to enthrone the Sacred Heart in their homes follow several steps, laid out by Fr. Mateo in 1907 and approved by Pope Pius X just a year later.

In many ways, Enthronement of the Sacred Heart is the perfect remedy for many illnesses in our present culture. By publicly and mindfully declaring Christ as King of your household, you reject the little gods secular society wants you to hold high. By offering sanctuary and hospitality to the Sacred Heart in your domestic church, you provide a little haven in a world of selfishness and profanity.  By making the wounded heart of Christ a centerpiece in your home, you find healing and strength for yourself and can offer it to others. 

In His appearance to St. Margaret Mary, Jesus made twelve promises to those who honor His Sacred Heart. One of the first promises was that the faithful would receive peace in their families. For as the domestic church goes, so goes civilization. Enthrone the Sacred Heart in your domestic church, and let His love flow outward into your community.
If you are interested in the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in your home, please contact Joan Bickel for more information on the process and join the many other families at St. Gabriel’s who have already made their homes a domestic church.

Blessings,
Sacred Heart Ministry