Between 1673 and 1675, Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun at Paray-le-Monial in France, showing her His Heart burning with love for mankind and asking for a devotion of love and reparation. This act of consecration, which comes from her writings, gives everything to the Sacred Heart: our person, our life, our actions, and our sufferings, so that our whole being may be used to love and glorify Him. Pray it on the Feast of the Sacred Heart (the Fr

Honor the Blessed Trinity with this traditional act of adoration. The Prayer O everlasting and Triune God, I adore Thee profoundly, and I thank Thee for the grace of Baptism, by which I was made a child of God. Grant that I may always live as Thy child, loving Thee above all things and my neighbor as myself, for Thy sake. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Amen. Traditional prayer to the Trinity; classic manuals, public domain. If these prayers hel

The Act of Love, also called the Act of Charity, is one of the four traditional "acts" every Catholic once learned by heart, along with the Acts of Faith, Hope, and Contrition. It expresses the greatest commandment: to love God above all things, with our whole heart and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Because charity is the queen of the virtues, the saints recommended making this act often. Pray it each morning as part of your daily offering,

The Act of Hope is one of the traditional "acts" of the theological virtues that Catholics have learned by heart for generations. Hope is the virtue by which we trust that God will give us eternal life and the grace we need to reach it, relying not on our own strength but on His goodness, His promises, and the merits of Jesus Christ. Pray it each morning, when you feel discouraged or anxious about the future, when you are tempted to despair after sin, or at the bedside of som

The Act of Faith is a short profession of the truths God has revealed: one God in three Persons, the Incarnation, and the redemption won by Jesus Christ. It is one of the traditional "acts" that Catholics have learned by heart since childhood. By praying it we assent to everything the Church teaches, not because we understand it all, but because God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived, has revealed it. Pray it as part of your morning or evening prayers, before Mass, in t

When unable to receive sacramentally, this act of desire expresses longing for Jesus in the Eucharist. The Prayer My Jesus, I believe that Thou art present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love Thee above all things, and I desire to receive Thee into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace Thee as if Thou wert already there and unite myself wholly to Thee. Never permit me to be separated from Thee. Ame

This traditional act accepts God's holy will in joy and sorrow, a classic prayer of trust. The Prayer O Lord my God, I now, at this moment, readily and willingly accept at Thy hand whatever Thou dost ordain for me concerning my life and my death, with all their circumstances and sufferings. And I now, with all my heart, resign myself wholly to Thy most holy will. Amen. Traditional Act of Resignation; classic prayer books, public domain. If these prayers help you, you can supp

This second traditional form of the Act of Contrition is found in many older prayer books and is suitable for Confession and daily examination. The Prayer O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen. Traditi

An Act of Contrition turns the heart back to God after sin. It is used in Confession and anytime we need sincere sorrow and a firm purpose of amendment. Pray it honestly: love of God, hatred of sin, and trust in grace to begin again. The Prayer O my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and deserving of all my love

The Suscipe ("Take, Lord, and receive") is St. Ignatius of Loyola's prayer of total offering. Traditional English translations appear in classic spiritual books. The Prayer Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me; to Thee, O Lord, I restore it. All is Thine; dispose of it according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is enough for me. St. Ignatius of Loy

This act of consecration offers the whole day, and every day of our lives, to God's honor and glory. In union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it gives God all our prayers, works, and sufferings for the same intentions for which Christ offers Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: thanksgiving, reparation for sin, our own needs, the needs of the Church, the conversion of sinners, and the relief of the souls in purgatory. It is closely related to the Morning Offering of the

An Act of Reparation offers love to the Sacred Heart for sins and coldness. Traditional English forms appear in Sacred Heart devotionals. The Prayer O sweet Jesus, Whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence, and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thee, eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject. Mindful, alas! that we ourselves have had a share for man