This Friday, February 5th, the Sanctuary of Health and Peace in Belo Horizonte celebrates the Sacred Heart of Jesus with Holy Mass at 4 PM.

As is customary, the Padre Eustáquio church holds Mass on the first Friday of each month. For this Holy Mass, it is necessary to register in advance at the parish office or online., clicking here.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Catholic Church tradition dedicates the first Friday of each month to meditating on the mystery of Christ's Passion, freely given to the sacrifice of the Cross for our love and for our redemption.

However, it is not only a matter of remembering His pain and suffering, but of celebrating His Love lived to the extreme. It is this Infinite Divine Love that Tradition represents in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, dedicating to Him, obviously, every day and every hour, but, in a very special way, the first Friday of each month.

It is a day when the Church invites us to offer Him, in prayer and action, the same thing that God asks of us every day: the totality of our being, but with an even fuller and deeper awareness of how much Jesus gave Himself for us without reservation.

Therefore, it is recommended that, on the first Friday of each month, we dedicate special time to the Eucharist, either by devoutly participating in Holy Mass or by adoring the Blessed Sacrament, with the particular intention of making reparation for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. If it is not possible to do so in person, one can at least make a spiritual communion and spend a moment exclusively in prayer and meditation on the Love of God in Jesus Christ.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus grew significantly among Catholics following Jesus' appeal to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1675.

“Behold this Heart which has so loved mankind. From most I receive only ingratitude, contempt, insults, sacrilege, and indifference. Therefore, I ask you that the first Friday after the octave of the Blessed Sacrament (Corpus Christi) be dedicated to a special feast to honor My Heart, receiving Holy Communion on that day and making due reparation through an act of atonement to repair the indignities it has received during the time it has been exposed on the altars. I promise you that My Heart will expand to pour forth in abundance the influences of Its Divine Love upon those who pay this divine honor and who seek that it be rendered to It.”.

Saint John Paul II cultivated this devotion with great care and encouraged it in all Catholics. On the Feast of the Sacred Heart in 1980, he stated:

“On the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Church’s liturgy focuses, with adoration and special love, on the mystery of the Heart of Christ. Today, I want to direct, with all of you, the gaze of our hearts to the mystery of this Heart. It has spoken to me since my youth. Every year, I return to this mystery in the liturgical rhythm of the Church’s calendar.”.

Over time, popular devotion came to dedicate not only the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but every first Friday of each month.

Source: Aleteia (https://pt.aleteia.org/2020/01/03/por-que-a-primeira-sexta-feira-de-cada-mes-e-dedicada-ao-sagrado-coracao-de-jesus/)