In the presence of the relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Welcome to the
Journey to the Heart
into the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist
A guided path from the relics of a saint to the living Heart of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
Before we begin
What Is It to Venerate
a Relic?
A relic is a physical remnant connected to the life of a saint — a sign that holiness was not an idea, but a life actually lived in a human body, in a particular time and place.
The Church distinguishes three kinds: first-class relics are part of the saint's body; second-class relics are something the saint personally owned or used; third-class relics are objects that have touched a first-class relic.
Veneration, not worship
We do not worship relics, and we do not worship the saint. Worship (latria) belongs to God alone. Relics receive veneration — an honor shown to a person in whom God's grace was visibly at work, and through whom we are drawn closer to Christ.
To venerate a relic is to say, in effect: this life shows me that holiness is possible, and that the love of Jesus can truly transform a human heart.
How to approach them
- Approach quietly and reverently, as you would approach someone you respect deeply.
- You may bow, make the Sign of the Cross, or simply pause in stillness.
- Touching or kissing the reliquary is a traditional gesture of honor — it is welcome, never required.
- Ask for the saint's intercession in your own words, and let the relic turn your heart toward Jesus, whom the saint loved above all.
A saint is someone whose heart was gradually conformed to the Heart of Jesus. What is one grace I want to ask for through this encounter?
Present with us today
Relics of St. Margaret
Mary Alacoque
Today we are in the presence of first-class relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), the Visitation nun of Paray-le-Monial to whom Jesus revealed the love of His Sacred Heart.
These are the very bones that carried a woman through years of hidden prayer, humility, and suffering — and the mind through which Christ chose to speak His message of merciful love to the whole world. To be near them is to be near a body that was, in a real and particular way, given over entirely to the Heart of Jesus.
This was an ordinary body, made holy by love. What might Jesus want to do with mine?
In her own words
Messages From Jesus to
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque,
Autobiography
Between 1673 and 1675, Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and revealed the love of His Heart — a love especially wounded by indifference toward Him in the Blessed Sacrament.
"My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular, that being unable any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its burning Charity, It must needs spread them abroad by thy means..."
"Behold this Heart, which has so loved mankind that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, to prove its love for them; and in return I receive from most only ingratitude, by the irreverence and sacrileges they commit against me in this Sacrament of love."
"I thirst, but with a thirst so ardent to be loved by men in the Blessed Sacrament, that this thirst consumes me; and I find no one who strives, according to my desire, to quench it by returning some love to me."
It is above all in the Eucharist — His "Sacrament of love" — that Jesus said He suffers most: not from those who do not know Him, but from the coldness of those who are closest to Him.
What part of my life do I find hardest to believe is loved by Jesus?
The message delivered at Paray-le-Monial · I
A Heart Passionate
with Love
Three great apparitions of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary, between the end of December 1673 and June 1675, form the heart of the message of Paray-le-Monial. Three dimensions unfold within it: a declaration of love, a complaint, and a request.
It is in the first great apparition that this declaration of love is most fully expressed. Jesus says:
"My divine Heart is so passionate with love for mankind, and for you in particular, that being unable any longer to contain within itself the flames of its burning charity, it must pour them out through you, and manifest itself to them, to enrich them with the precious treasures I now reveal to you."
And Margaret Mary testifies:
"He revealed to me the wonders of his love, and the inexplicable secrets of his sacred Heart, which he had always kept hidden from me until then, when he opened it to me for the first time — but in so real and tangible a way that he left me no room to doubt it."
Margaret Mary describes the second great apparition thus:
"It was then that he revealed to me the inexplicable wonders of his pure love, and to what an excess he had carried his love for mankind."
The best-known expression of this love is found in the third great apparition. Jesus says:
"Behold this Heart which has so loved mankind that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, to prove its love for them."
The message delivered at Paray-le-Monial · I (continued)
Aspects That Nourish
Our Prayer
Jesus reveals to Saint Margaret Mary the secrets of his Heart and the wonders of his love, to the point that she could never doubt them again. This is a grace we can ask for at Paray-le-Monial. It is the grace received by Saint Margaret Mary; it is the grace thousands of pilgrims to the shrine have received; and it is the grace we can ask for in the presence of her relics, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament; it is the grace of the Heart of Jesus: to encounter Jesus' personal love for me.
Margaret Mary lives this grace through two very expressive gestures:
- She rests for several hours on the breast of Jesus, in the manner of Saint John, the beloved disciple (Jn 13:23).
- She hears the Heart of Jesus. She hears his love. And she lets herself be seized by it.
Jesus takes her heart and plunges it into his own, inflamed, before returning it to her, all aglow.
We may not live this experience in the same way, but we can ask for the same grace: to rest on the Heart of Jesus so that he may reveal his passionate love, for me in particular, and to ask that he plunge my heart into his own, to set it ablaze with his charity.
The message delivered at Paray-le-Monial · II
He Loves and
Is Not Loved
From the second great apparition, Jesus expresses the pain that his so great love does not receive in return:
"Only ingratitude and indifference, coldness and contempt, in return for all my eagerness to do them good... which is far more painful to me than all I suffered in my Passion."
This complaint is developed further in the third great apparition. She rests for several hours on the breast of Jesus, in the manner of Saint John, the beloved disciple (Jn 13:23). She hears the Heart of Jesus. She hears his love. And she lets herself be seized by it.
"...their irreverence and their sacrileges, and through the coldness and contempt they show me in this Sacrament of love. But what is most painful of all to me is that it is hearts consecrated to me that treat me this way."
Let us ask here for the grace to become aware of Jesus' thirst to be loved; that each person's love matters to him; that every lack of love is a suffering to him.
"I thirst, but with a thirst so ardent to be loved by men in the Blessed Sacrament, that this thirst consumes me; and I find no one who strives, according to my desire, to quench it by returning some love to me."
Jesus reveals that it is the attitude toward the sacrament of the Eucharist, his "sacrament of love," that causes him the greatest suffering — on the part of those "consecrated" to a particular vocation, but also through the consecration that is baptism.
What part of my life do I find hardest to believe is loved by Jesus?
The message delivered at Paray-le-Monial · III
Return Love
for Love
Jesus in fact expresses several requests, which could be summed up as: At least you, love me. This is returning love for love, as Saint Margaret Mary attests:
"I received from my God excessive graces of his love, and felt moved by the desire to make some return, and to return love for love."
To make this concrete, Jesus asks her:
Jesus is not asking for perfection — only for love returned. What is one way I can return love to Him today?
Our response
Encounter Jesus' Sacred
Heart in the Eucharist
From these messages, Jesus asks something concrete of us — a way to return the love He offers. This is His invitation to Eucharistic Adoration:
Suggested steps to enter into prayer
- Kneel or sit peacefully and recollect yourself.
- Make the Sign of the Cross slowly and consciously.
- Greet Jesus in your own words, aware that He is truly present.
- Repeat quietly: "Jesus, I believe that You are really here."
- Contemplate His pierced Heart, and His words: "I thirst."
- Simply stay. Let Him look at you with love.
"What is our Lord doing in the holy tabernacle? He is waiting for us."
Can I stop striving for a few minutes, and simply let Jesus love me?
To close our journey
Consecration Prayer to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, to Thee I consecrate and offer up my person and my life, my actions, trials, and sufferings, that my entire being may henceforth only be employed in loving, honoring, and glorifying Thee. This is my irrevocable will: to belong entirely to Thee, and to do all for Thy love, renouncing with my whole heart all that can displease Thee.
I take Thee, O Sacred Heart, for the sole object of my love, the protection of my life, the pledge of my salvation, the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, the reparation for all the defects of my life, and my secure refuge at the hour of my death. Be Thou, O Most Merciful Heart, my justification before God Thy Father, and screen me from His anger which I have so justly merited.
I fear all from my own weakness and malice, but placing my entire confidence in Thee, O Heart of Love, I hope all from Thine infinite Goodness. Annihilate in me all that can displease or resist Thee. Imprint Thy pure love so deeply in my heart that I may never forget Thee or be separated from Thee.
I beseech Thee, through Thine infinite Goodness, grant that my name be engraved upon Thy Heart, for in this I place all my happiness and all my glory, to live and to die as one of Thy devoted servants.
Amen.
— St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Having walked from the relics to the message of His Heart, let this prayer be your own act of love in return — the beginning, not the end, of your time with Him.
Message of Paray-le-Monial, Sanctuaire du Sacré-Cœur, Paray-le-Monial · Consecration Prayer, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, from "Devotion to the Sacred Heart"