Holy Hour of Thanksgiving, Praise, Reparation, and Petition

by Pope Pius VI. (1717 – 1799)

In the Name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit

Lord, have mercy on me. / Lord, have mercy on me.
Christ, have mercy on me. / Christ, have mercy on me.
Lord, have mercy on me. / Lord, have mercy on me.

God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on me.*
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, *
Holy Spirit, true God, *
Holy Trinity, one God, *

You Who have from all eternity decreed the good which You have done me, have mercy on me.*
You Who for my individual benefit have displayed Your omnipotence, wisdom, and goodness, *
You, Who each instant loads me with new favors, *
You, Who even when I offended You, did not withdraw from me Your liberal hand, *
For creating me in preference to so many others, and making me in Your image, I thank You, O my God. *
For raising me to a supernatural end, and giving me an immortal soul, *
For making me capable of knowing, loving, and possessing You forever. *
For providing me with a healthy body, undeformed limbs, and undisturbed senses, *
For appointing so many creatures to serve me, *
For giving me an angel as my guide and protector, *
For having preserved and nourished me, like a good father, to this day, *
For having redeemed me from hell by the passion, and death of Your Son, *
For having called me to the Catholic Church; for having instituted the seven sacraments for my salvation, and for having afforded me so many other means of salvation, have mercy on me.*
For not having yet rejected nor condemned me after my committing so many offenses, *
For having preserved me from innumerable evils, both spiritual and corporal, for having given such abundant blessing to my affairs, my labors, and undertakings, *
For all Your grace and all Your benefits, natural and supernatural, *
For the pains, exterior and interior, by which You has tried me, for the paternal chastisements and corrections by which You has warned me, *
For all the benefits which I have not yet well considered; for all the graces which I have, alas, abused; for all the graces and benefits which You would have granted me had not my malice prevented, *
For all the graces and all the benefits which You has granted to the holy angels and all Your elect, for all the graces and all the benefits which You has granted to all other men, Your creatures, *
In union with the thanksgiving which the Church militant on earth has rendered You and will render You hereafter, *
In union with the thanksgiving which the Church triumphant in heaven has rendered You and will render You eternally, *

Let us pray: (together)

O God, Who has given to display in me, the most unworthy of Your creatures, Your admirable benevolence, I pray You, by Your tender goodness, to add to Your numberless benefits this grace, that I may in the future be truly grateful for them, and employ them for my salvation and my neighbor’s good, in order that by their good use, and by grateful and reciprocal love I may deserve to arrive where, with all Your Saints, I shall enjoy Your love, and praise You forever. Amen.

Psalm 65: Praise of Creation (together)

¹ Praise is due to you,
    O God, in Zion;
and to you shall vows be performed,
²     O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.
³ When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
    you forgive our transgressions.
⁴ Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
    to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
    your holy temple.
⁵ By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
    O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas.
⁶ By your strength you established the mountains;
    you are girded with might.
⁷ You silence the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    the tumult of the peoples.
⁸ Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds
are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning
and the evening shout for joy.
⁹ You visit the earth and water it,
    you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
    you provide the people with grain,
    for so you have prepared it.
¹⁰ You water its furrows abundantly,
    settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
    and blessing its growth.
¹¹ You crown the year with your bounty;
    your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
¹² The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
    the hills gird themselves with joy,
¹³ the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
    the valleys deck themselves with grain,
    they shout and sing together for joy.

Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O Jesus, divine Savior, deign to cast a look of mercy upon Your children, who assemble in the same spirit of faith, reparation, and love, and come to deplore their own infidelities, and those of all poor sinners, their brethren. May we touch Your divine Heart by the unanimous and solemn promises we are about to make and obtain mercy for ourselves, for the world, and for all who are so unhappy as not to love You.

We all promise that for the future:

For the forgetfulness and ingratitude of men, we will console you O Lord*
For the way You are deserted in Your holy tabernacle, *
For the crimes of sinners, *
For the hatred of the impious, *
For the blasphemies uttered against You, *
For the sacrileges that profane Your Sacrament of Love, *
For the outrages against Your divinity, *
For the injuries of which You are the adorable Victim, *
For the coldness of the greater pare of your children, *
For the contempt of your loving invitation, *
For the infidelity of those who called themselves Your friends, *
For the abuse of Your grace, *
For our own unfaithfulness, *
For the incomprehensible hardness of our hearts, *
For our long delay in loving You, *
For our tepidity in Your holy service, *
For Your bitter sadness at the loss of souls, *
For Your long waiting at the door of our hearts, *
For the heartless scorn that grieves You, *
For Your loving sighs, *
For Your loving tears, *
For Your loving imprisonment, *
For Your loving death, *

Let us pray

O Jesus! Divine Savior, from whose Heart comes forth this bitter complaint, “I looked for one that would comfort me, and I found none,” graciously accept the feeble consolation we offer You, and aid us so powerfully by your grace, that we may, for the time to come, shun more and more all that can displease You, and prove ourselves in everything, and everywhere, and forever Your most faithful and devoted servants. We ask it through Your Sacred Heart, O Lord, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit one God, world without end. Amen.

Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (together)

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I consecrate myself to Your Most Sacred Heart. Take possession of my whole being; transform me into Yourself. Make my hands Your hands, my feet Your feet, my heart Your heart. Let me see with Your eyes, listen with Your ears, speak with Your lips, love with Your heart, understand with Your mind, serve with Your will, and be dedicated with my whole being. Make me Your other self. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, send me Your Holy Spirit to teach me to love You and to live through You, with You, in You and for You. Come, Holy Spirit, make my body Your temple. Come, and abide with me forever. Give me the deepest love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus in order to serve Him with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Take possession of all my faculties of body and soul. Regulate all my passions: feelings and emotions. Take possession of my intellect, understanding and will; my memory and imagination. O Holy Spirit of Love, give me an abundance of Your efficacious graces. Give me the fullness of all the virtues; enrich my faith, strengthen my hope, increase my trust, and inflame my love. Give me the fullness of Your sevenfold gifts, fruits and beatitudes. Most Holy Trinity, make my soul Your sanctuary.

Psalm 76: Praise of His Power (together)

¹ In Judah God is known,
    his name is great in Israel.
² His abode has been established in Salem,
    his dwelling place in Zion.
³ There he broke the flashing arrows,
    the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah
⁴ Glorious are you, more majestic
    than the everlasting mountains.
⁵ The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;
    they sank into sleep;
none of the troops was able to lift a hand.
⁶ At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
    both rider and horse lay stunned.
⁷ But you indeed are awesome!
    Who can stand before you
    when once your anger is roused?
⁸ From the heavens you uttered judgment;
    the earth feared and was still
⁹ when God rose up to establish judgment,
    to save all the oppressed of the earth. Selah
¹⁰ Human wrath serves only to praise you,
    when you bind the last bit of your wrath around you.
¹¹ Make vows to the Lord your God, and perform them;
    let all who are around him bring gifts
    to the one who is awesome,
¹² who cuts off the spirit of princes,
    who inspires fear in the kings of the earth.

Aspirations of Cardinal Bona (together)

I entreat You, dearest Savior, come and reign over my heart. Far from me forever be all other loves but Yours, my supreme God.

Burn me with the fire of Your beauty, O sovereign of my heart; to You I sacrifice all, even my inmost being. Jesus, lord of my heart, mighty and strong, all hail! O Savior, reign absolutely over this heart of mine. Oh! How happy I am to think that Your reign can have no end. Thousands of hearts have loved You tenderly, Thousands of hearts will cherish You in time to come. Would that they were all united with mine to love and cherish You as You deserve. Would that I could make You sought for and loved by all the sons of Adam, Lord who are all lovable!

Triumph, my love, my beginning, and my all! I want You only, desire You alone!

My joy, my great joy is that You are God, a God that is good, perfect, immeasurable, infinite, just, wise, powerful. I love You for Your own sake, and I rejoice in Your favor for the sole reason that they are Yours!

I throw myself into Your arms, Jesus, with all the fervor of my soul. I sing for joy that all the angels and saints adore and praise You. Oh! That I could love You in proportion as You are lovable! But since this is impossible for any creature, let me at least love You as much as I can and ought.

Fill my soul with Your love, my God, so that I may die in its embrace, wholly devoured and burnt up in its flame. How much I repent having loved anything else but You! Oh! Would that I might have my life over again, and drown it in Your love!

Sweet life of my soul, let my heart faint away in You! What else can I desire in heaven, what else can I seek on earth, but You?

I have asked of You one favor alone, and it is all that I shall seek, Lord, at Your hand: to dwell in Your house all the days of Your life. May my last breath be a sigh of love. May I die of Your love, my God. May my life, if it did not begin with love, at least end in it; and let my last act be an act of love.

Short Litany of Aspirations

May I prove to You my love, O heart of Jesus, by a spirit of self-sacrifice for your interests.

May I cheerfully make every sacrifice You demand of me, O heart of my Jesus.*
May the sacrifices You ask of me glorify You, *
May each sacrifice made for Your love draw me nearer to You, *
By increasing in the spirit of self-sacrifice, may I become more like You…*
May the sacrifices I make be agreeable to You,…*
May each sacrifice win one soul to You,…*
May each sacrifice prevent one mortal sin,…*
May each sacrifice earn a special grace for some soul,…*
May each sacrifice merit a holy death for some soul,…*
May each sacrifice relieve a soul in purgatory,…*
May each sacrifice ascend as a prayer to You, O heart of my Jesus.*
May each sacrifice be as a hymn of praise to You,…*
May Your Holy Spirit instruct me more and more in the spirit of self-sacrifice,…*
May the spirit of self-sacrifice increase in our family,…*
May the same spirit be propagated throughout the whole Church,…*
And may it hasten the Church’s triumph.…*

O Lamb of God, sacrificed for us, give us a spirit of self-sacrifice.
O Lamb of God, daily immolating Yourself upon the altar for us, give us grace to immolate our wills for Your sake.
O Lamb of God, dying for us, give us grace to die to all that wounds your Sacred Heart.

Let us pray

O Lord Jesus Christ, whose whole life was one continual sacrifice for the glory of Your Father and the salvation of our souls, grant us the grace to find our joy in making sacrifices for You and for the interests of Your Sacred Heart. Amen.

I Fly to You (together)

I fly to You Sacred Heart of my Savior, for You are for my refuge, my only hope. You are the remedy for all my miseries, my consolation in all my wretchedness, the reparation for all my infidelities, the supplement for all my deficiencies, the expiation for all my sins, and the hope and end of all my prayers. You are the only one Who is never weary of me and Who can bear with my faults, because You loves me with an infinite love. Therefore, O my God, have mercy on me according to Your great mercy, and do with me, and for me, and in me, whatever You will, for I give myself entirely to You, divine Heart, with full confidence that You will never reject me. Amen.

Psalm 146: Psalm of Mercy (together)

¹ Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
² I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
³ Do not put your trust in princes,
    in mortals, in whom there is no help.
⁴ When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
    on that very day their plans perish.
⁵ Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God,
⁶ who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
⁷     who executes justice for the oppressed;
    who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
⁸     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the strangers;
    he upholds the orphan and the widow,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever,
    your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!

Prayer for Health (together)

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I come to ask of your infinite mercy the gift of health and strength that I may serve you more faithfully and love you more sincerely than in the past. I wish to be well and strong if this be your good pleasure and for your greater glory. Filled with high resolves and determined to perform my tasks most perfectly for love of you, I wish to be enabled to go back to and forever continue my duties. Amen.

Golden Arrow (x3) (together)

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most mysterious and unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in heaven, on earth and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the altar.

Psalm 8: Praise of Magnificence (together)

 ¹ O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
²     Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
    to silence the enemy and the avenger.
³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
⁴ what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?
⁵ Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under their feet,
⁷ all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
⁸ the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
⁹ O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Plea to Jesus (together)

Jesus of the Eucharist! Come to us and be our Ruler. All that we have and are is Yours to command, for all that we have is Yours. If our hearts are poor, enrich them with Your Grace. If they have been wretched and stained, accept them purged and cleansed through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Suffering heart of Jesus! To You we confide all the trials of our souls.

Sweet heart of Jesus! To Your care we confide our weaknesses and ask You to accept our sincere repentance.

Compassionate heart of Jesus! We confide our souls to You, tormented by our suffering conscience.

Gentle heart of Jesus! We confide to You the peace and salvation of our families.

Eucharistic heart of Jesus! The world, worried unto death, finds a refuge in Your Heart, where the lance once opened for us the source of Life.

Come, O Jesus! Be our Brother in the pure joy of Christian love!

Come, O Jesus! Be our Friend in the depths of this world’s sorrows. Amen.

Psalm 100: Psalm of Gratitude (together)

¹ Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
²     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come into his presence with singing.
³ Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he that made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise.
    Give thanks to him, bless his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures forever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 111: Praise of Works and Deeds (together)

¹ Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
    in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
² Great are the works of the Lord,
    studied by all who delight in them.
³ Full of honor and majesty is his work,
    and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴ He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds;
    the Lord is gracious and merciful.
⁵ He provides food for those who fear him;
    he is ever mindful of his covenant.
⁶ He has shown his people the power of his works,
    in giving them the heritage of the nations.
⁷ The works of his hands are faithful and just;
    all his precepts are trustworthy.
⁸ They are established forever and ever,
    to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
⁹ He sent redemption to his people;
    he has commanded his covenant forever.
    Holy and awesome is his name.
¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
    all those who practice it have a good understanding.
    His praise endures forever.

Prayer of Louis de Blois (together)

Welcome me, sweet Jesus, I beseech You; press me in the delightful embrace of Your love, and in its warmth let my numbed spirit be thawed to new life. Open, Lord, open at my knock, and admit my orphan soul into the soft recesses of Your divine Heart. Though I am the vilest and most unworthy of sinners, deign, Lord, to open for me the secret chambers of Your love, the inmost shrine of Your Heart. For my soul yearns to be united with You in active love. But never should I have felt this desire of loving You, had You not grafted it in my heart; help me then to fulfil the longing You has planted there. O bright midsummer noon, my God, I thirst for You, sigh for You, faint with love of You. Join me closer to Yourself, O blazing sun, that the soil of my heart, warmed by Your rays, may bring forth blossoms of holy charity. Kindle in me the lamp of Your love; pour Your sweet peace into my breast, and shape me wholly to the pattern of Your grace, so that I may grow pleasing in Your eyes.

My Jesus, clothe me with the bright purple of Your precious Blood, crown me with the garland of Your worshipful death, welcome me into the bridal chamber of Your burning love. Abolish all in me that is not to Your liking. Refashion my evil, soiled, and empty heart in the likeness of Your own. Give me a pure mind and simple affection. Embrace me in the arms of Your charity, press me to Your divine breast, let my soul be melted by the force of Your burning love and sink into the abyss of heavenly delights. Your sweetness, Lord, Your goodness, Your beauty and loveliness, are strong attractions, but I cannot rise to You unless You condescend to me. Stoop then, fount of pity, to my low and wretched level, and enable me to love You with my whole heart, with my whole soul, and with all my strength.

Ocean of sweetness, flood me with the tide of Your loving-kindness. Open the cataracts of that great abyss, and let the waves of Your mercy flow over me. Drown me in the deluge of Your living love; sink me in the deep waters of Your blessed charity. Break down the hateful barrier of my lukewarmness and wrongdoing, and enable me to follow You, Lord, with ardor unquenched. Let the storm wind of love hurl me to You, breathless, lifeless, all unconscious of self. Kiss me with the kiss of Your forgiveness; and with its seal upon me let me never henceforth love any but You, for You are my whole treasure, my whole heritage, everything for which my soul can hope.