Introduction
Although our fundamental immersion into the full mystery of God takes place in the Sacrament of Baptism, consecration to a particular aspect of God’s self-revelation can enhance or intensify the influence of that mystery in the life of a person or an institution. It serves to establish or to draw tighter bonds between God and the one being consecrated in regard to some particular divine qualities.1
In our time there is a particular need for each of us to return to the heart.2 Furthermore, our hearts must become more conformed to the mystery of God’s love. That divine love is most fully present in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. It is also found, with the accent of particular human qualities, in the hearts of Mary and Joseph. To consecrate oneself to the Three Hearts, then, is to bring the fullness of divine love in to every area of one’s life, indeed, into one’s own heart. To consecrate a parish, seminary, business or even a nation to the Three Hearts is to draw the heart of that community closer to the heart of redemption so that divine love can heal and transform everything from within.
Practically speaking, this consecration consists of thirty-three days of prayers and readings, following a pedagogy that fosters interior conversion and transformation. The preparation of the heart for consecration takes place first, with a focus on one’s own heart. What is the heart of the person? What is found there? Jesus said that both good and bad can be stored up in the heart and from the heart flows forth that good or bad into other actions, thoughts and decisions. We spend the first five days, then, with the goal of emptying our hearts. We empty our hearts of clutter, confusion, internal strife, pride and other forms of worldliness. Then we spend a week returning to the heart, learning to bring our hearts into all that we do. We connect with our heart as the real self, raise our hearts to God, develop a spirituality of the heart and learn to pray from the heart, particularly in the way of contemplative prayer. Our heart sets us apart and as we learn to develop a truly Christian worldview, we develop it as a vision from our transformed hearts.
Our next week of consecration is dedicated to the heart of St. Joseph. In recent years, this heart has had the title of “Chaste” or “Most Chaste” applied to it. That title for St. Joseph is found in the Divine Praises following Eucharistic Benediction, but here it is applied particularly to his heart. Chastity is a relational adjective, describing the quality of his relationships. Chastity describes the quality of his love, of his friendship, of his goodness for others, starting with his bride and the divine Son entrusted to his fatherly care. Joseph is a father for us. He is also a model of virtue. Integrated by his chastity, his heart also demonstrates the virtues of courage, gentleness, steadfastness, wisdom, kindness, faithfulness, piety, docility and discernment. In this week, we learn from Joseph how to have chaste hearts that can love Mary and Jesus and serve them courageously and faithfully like he did.
Then follows a week of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Mary’s heart is pure and beautiful and filled with divine love. Her heart is particularly marked by her receptivity, her eager Yes to receiving the mystery of God’s Love in the Incarnation. She allowed the grace of redemption that was given to her at the same moment as her conception to shape every moment of her life. Her perfect correspondance with God’s grace means that to see her is always to see God’s will reflected in a human being. St. Maximilian Kolbe called her the quasi-incarnation of the Holy Spirit for this reason. Her personal life story was always a mirror of the divine love story. To consecrate ourselves to her heart is to learn her docility and grow in our own eager Yes to God’s will in our lives.
The final week is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. That burning Heart, crowned with thorns and pierced with a lance, still bears the furnace of God’s love for us. As we meditate on that Heart and draw closer to it, we are warmed and then even ignited, melted and transformed by divine love. The fires of love provide the final forging of divinity in our own hearts and the words of the Litany of the Sacred Heart express our desire for the outcome of this consecration: “Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto yours!”
So let us set out with open hearts and begin with the simple decision to let our hearts be transformed as we consecrate our hearts to the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Table of Consecration Start and End Dates
| Feast Day | Start Date | Consecration Date |
| St. Joseph, Spouse of the BVM | February 14th Leap Year: February 15th | March 19th |
| St. Joseph the Worker | March 29th | May 1st |
| Sacred Heart of Jesus | Monday of the 5th week of Easter | Friday after Corpus Christi |
| Independence Day | June 2nd | July 4th |
| Christ the King Sunday | Tuesday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time | Last Sunday of Ordinary Time |
Part 1: Emptying Our Hearts- Introduction
Prayers for Part 1: Emptying our Hearts
Day 1: Emptying our hearts of the noise of the world and duplicity
Day 2: Emptying our hearts of noise, guarding the spark of God’s love
Day 3: Emptying our hearts of unquiet; becoming focused and intentional
Day 4: The struggle to empty the heart
Day 5: God reveals himself to those with childlike hearts
Prayers for Part 2: Return ot the Heart
Day 6: The heart is where we find the real self
Day 7: The Ascent of the heart to God
Day 8: A spirituality of the heart
Day 9: Learn to pray from the heart
Day 10: Contemplative prayer takes place in the heart
Day 11: My heart sets me apart; I am my heart
Day 12: The Holy Spirit shapes the heart with a supernatural vision of reality
Prayers for Part 3: The Heart of Joseph
Day 13: The pure heart of St. Joseph
Day 14: Strong, courageous, constant, persevering and humble heart of St. Joseph
Day 15: Humility protects the virginal heart
Day 16: St. Joseph’s Most Chaste Heart
Day 17: The Great Love of Joseph’s Heart for Mary and Jesus
Day 18: Joseph is Guardian of the Church and of Each One of Us
Day 19: Protecting and Cherishing the Child and His Mother
Prayers for Part 4: The Heart of Mary
Day 20: Perfect Response: Mary’s Heart of Undivided Love
Day 21: Mary’s Heart: a Model of Contemplation
Day 22: Mary’s Humility of Heart Attracts God’s Kindness
Day 23: Mary’s Heart Makes Room for God’s Greatness
Day 24: Mary’s Heart Smiles with Compassion
Day 25: Mary’s Heart is Immersed in the Word of God
Day 26: Mary’s Yes: A Joyous Desire
Prayers for Part 5: The Heart of Jesus
Day 27: Human Emotions as Sacraments of Divine Love
Day 28: Loving the Heart That Has So Greatly Loved Us
Day 29: Consoling the Heart of Jesus
Day 30: Intimacy with the Sacred Heart as Wellspring of Sacramental Life
Day 31: Loving Others with the Heart of Jesus
Day 32: Intimacy in Suffering that Becomes a Sweet Gift for Others
Day 33: Reparation as Receiving Divine Love and Spreading It
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