A Jubilee for the 350th anniversary of the Apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Paray-le-Monial
The preparation begins on December 27th. The Jubilee will take place from December 27, 2023 to June 27, 2025.
:
To commemorate the 350th anniversary of the apparitions of the Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary at Paray-le-Monial, a one and a half year Jubilee will take place from December 27, 2023, the anniversary date of the first main apparition, to June 27, 2025. , date of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. “Giving back love for love” is the theme of this great moment of pilgrimage, liturgies and encounters.
A preparatory year
On December 27, 2022 began the preparatory year for this great Jubilee. Invitations will be sent to all the dioceses of France, to the Episcopal Conferences around the world, as well as to the communities living by this spirituality of the Sacred Heart. The parishes, churches, chapels or educational institutions placed under the patronage of the Sacred Heart will also be invited to come on pilgrimage. A theological colloquium will be held in 2024 on the theme of the Jubilee, and an artists’ competition will be launched. The final program will be presented in a few months.
Everyone will therefore be invited to travel to Paray-le-Monial, or to organize local events. Routes for discovering devotion to the Heart of Jesus and its topicality will be created especially for this Jubilee. The essence of this approach is to radiate this call to Render love for love in this world which, for many reasons, needs it so much.
A little history
In the 17th century, Christ showed his Heart atAutun. The 3 main apparitions took place on December 27, 1673, the 1st Friday of a month in 1674 and in June 1675.
Why return love for love?
The saint receives her mission in three stages. First of all, Jesus declares his love: my Heart is so impassioned with love for all men and for you in particular. Then he complains because his love is not loved and receives from most “only ingratitude and indifference”. These lacks of love are very noticeable to him in the sacrament of the Eucharist in particular, on the part of those who are consecrated to him. Finally, Jesus asks, in reparation, for a feast to honor his divine Heart.
So that everyone welcomes this superabundant but also wounded love, and that all can respond to its call, this Jubilee is organized in order to render to Christ “love for love”. It is therefore this request that constitutes the theme of this Jubilee of the 350 years of the Apparitions.
By living this devotion, let us enter a path of justice and mercy: Jesus repairs wounded humanity and awaits our collaboration. In Paray, we watch, we pray night and day. To adore God is also to welcome others and make reparation for any injustice.
A mobilization of all local forces for this Jubilee
The animation of the Sanctuary of the Heart of Jesus in Paray-le-Monial, a diocesan sanctuary, is entrusted to the Emmanuel Community. In Paray, the pilgrims live a true journey of healing their faith around the different places: the Chapel of the Apparitions where Saint Marguerite-Marie rests, the La Colombière Chapel where Saint Claude rests, and the Cluniac Romanesque basilica of the 11th century.
Each Christian community works at its own level to bring this site, unique in the world, to life. The parish of the Sacred Heart in Val-d’Or, the community of Emmanuel, the religious communities: that of the Jesuit Fathers, the monasteries of the Visitandines, the Dominicans, the Poor Clares, the Auxiliary Sisters of the Priesthood, the Little Servants of the Heart of Jesus, the Servants of the Sacred Heart, the Saint-François-de-Sales House for the propaedeutes, the Cor Jesu Academy, the Honor Guard Association: there are many of them, with all the Catholic faithful, in carry this mission ardently!
The young people of the diocese of Autun participating in the next WYD in Lisbon in the summer of 2023 will take the relics of Saint Margaret Mary which they will offer for the veneration of young people from all over the world. Jesus had in fact said to the humble nun of Paray: “I want you to serve me as an instrument to attract hearts to my love”. A unique chance to become “apostles of the Heart of Jesus” to all Catholics in the diocese and help them discover the grace of Paray to Sister Marguerite-Marie, nun of the Order of the Visitation in Paray-le -Monial in Burgundy, today department of Saône-et-Loire.