Catholicism Explained: The Sacred Heart and why the US Church consecrated a nation

In this episode of Rebel Saints, explore why America's bishops consecrated the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June 2026, and what this radical act of spiritual surrender means for your faith today. Tracing the pierced heart of Christ through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's mystical visions to this historic moment, we ask: what does Catholic spirituality teach us about vulnerability, sacrifice, and belonging in a restless age? 

What does it mean to set a nation apart for God? How does patriotism differ from nationalism? And why might the wounded heart of Christ be the remedy for so much of what is going on in our world right now.

REFERENCES & DEEP DIVES

• “Why the bishops are consecrating the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus” by Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski

• “Consecration 101: What the bishops’ upcoming consecration of the US to the Sacred Heart means” by Simone Orendain

• Catholic Answers Guide — The Sacred Heart of Jesus

• The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

MEDIA & ART CREDITS

• Sacred Heart of Jesus (1767), Pompeo Batoni — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons
• Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Paray-le-Monial — Lloydbaltazar, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
• St. Margaret Mary imagery — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons
• ChurchPOP — Visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
• Cinematic B-roll by David Pickup (Pexels)
• Atmosphere visuals by Ravi Kiran (Pexels)

Original Rebel Saints theme song written by Nicole Olea. Music arranged and produced in collaboration with AI using Suno.

Additional background music licensed via Upbeat.io and Riverside.fm.

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TRANSCRIPT

Hey rebels, welcome back to the Rebel Saints podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Olea, and this is a podcast where I make it my life's mission to prove to you that there is nothing more punk than Catholicism.

Welcome back everybody. I am so glad you are here. I'm humbled that you would even want to spend five minutes hearing me talk about Jesus for real. But you're here and I'm so glad and I'm honored and I just... I want to say if anything I say touches you in some kind of way, you got to blame the Holy Spirit. I blame the Holy Spirit because that is the reason why I'm doing this, okay?

And if you are like me and you're curious about the Catholic faith, you want to grow closer to Jesus, welcome. You are in good company here at the Restless Hearts Society.

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So, I think I mentioned on another episode, you know, my husband and I are photographers and I was like, "I want to do... I can do a video. I have like a camera and I have lights, even just a ring light, right?" And he was like, "Yeah, no, you're going to do this. You're going to do it the right way." And he went and he ordered me a new light kit that would allow me to actually look professional, even though I don't know if I sound professional right now, but I feel like I look pretty good. And then the software involved and the subscriptions involved to host a podcast all cost funds. So if you would like to help support that, I would be humbled. Obviously you don't have to join any of these things, but it would be much appreciated, not necessary.

Today I actually wasn't even planning on talking about this today, but it's just one of those things where I was like, "Nicole, you got to," because this image of the Sacred Heart is so entrenched in when I write these podcast episodes and in the imagery that I'm choosing to put out into the world with respect to this and our restless hearts. It all lands there.

And you know, June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And today, as I speak, or perhaps it's already happened—I'm honestly not sure because today is June 11th—and the US bishops down in Orlando, they're consecrating the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I'm going to talk about that.

Before I do, I actually want to tell you how the Sacred Heart of Jesus even came to be because it's actually a really cool story and it's a beautiful one and it's a beautiful meditation and it all comes from the Gospel and it's just... it's beautiful to see how Jesus works through us and in us.

And so I'm going to stop talking and I'm just going to get on with it, okay?

So picture this if you will. It's like the 1670s. So what is that, like 17th century? There is a small town in eastern France called Paray-le-Monial. I didn't check how... okay. If you're French and I mispronounced it, I'm sorry. But if you visit this town today, you'll find quiet stone buildings, winding streets, and church bells echoing throughout the countryside. It's beautiful, sure, but there's nothing on the surface to suggest it's one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in the Catholic world.

Yet for centuries, pilgrims have traveled there from every corner of the globe because of a woman history might easily have forgotten. She was a Visitation nun named Margaret Mary Alacoque.

Margaret Mary's path to sainthood wasn't marked by public influence or any achievements that stand out, okay? She was just a regular person. Her early years were shaped by illness and family suffering. And as a young woman, she did consider marriage but ultimately discerned a call to the religious life and she joined a cloister, entering the Order of the Visitation at the age of 24.

Now the spirituality of the Visitation Order emphasized humility and ordinary faithfulness. In fact, it was often said that a Visitation sister was not to be extraordinary except by being ordinary. And Margaret Mary seemed perfectly suited to that hidden life. Those who lived alongside her described her as simple, kind, frank, and remarkably patient under criticism. But she also struggled with the formal methods of prayer expected of her. She moved slowly with respect to her chores. And she was even considered clumsy by some of her sisters. I mean, it's like the saints are so relatable. You would think they were human or something. Goodness.

Nothing about her suggested that she would become the instrument of one of the most influential devotions in Catholic history. It's just God using these regular people, ordinary people that society would just overlook. It's amazing.

But it was precisely in that routine of prayer and work that Christ chose to reveal himself, specifically his Sacred Heart. Beginning in the 1670s, Margaret Mary experienced a series of profound revelations. In these visions, Jesus asked that the world come to know the absolute depth of his love symbolized by a heart of flesh.

Over the course of many months, Christ revealed his heart as the ultimate sign of his divine and human love for the world—a love he said that had been met too often with indifference, ingratitude, and neglect. He invited Margaret Mary to respond to the neglect through frequent Communion, especially on the first Friday of each month, and through a holy hour of prayer in remembrance of his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. He also expressed his desire for a brand new feast day dedicated entirely to honoring his Sacred Heart.

Now, you might think that a vision like this would bring immediate admiration, wouldn't you? It didn't. And it typically doesn't. Revelations or visions actually made her quite isolated. Many of her fellow sisters doubted her. People, theologians, priests—they questioned her experiences, dismissing them as mere psychological illusions. To others, she was a dangerous innovator or worse, an outright impostor.

She approached all of this with humility, constantly fearing self-deception, and she submitted herself entirely to the judgment of her superiors. And you know, over time she found a lifeline from a Jesuit priest named Claude de la Colombière who recognized the authenticity of her spirit and actually encouraged her to stay the course.

So Margaret Mary endured years of skepticism and she remained true and convicted that Christ was asking the Church to rediscover something we had managed to forget—and that is the immeasurable, vulnerable love of God. Because the image she received wasn't like a sweet devotional painting. It was a vision of the Gospel itself. A heart burning with love, wounded by rejection, crowned with thorns, and yet somehow still overflowing with mercy for the world.

For more than 300 years, Catholics have contemplated that image. Saints, popes, missionaries, and ordinary families have all found their comfort there. And this week, today specifically, this very same heart became the focus for Catholics anyway—a remarkable moment in American history.

The United States is about to celebrate its 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on our Independence Day, which is July 4th. And so today the US Catholic bishops are gathering—or they've probably already gathered at this point—at the Basilica Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe in Orlando, Florida, which is like my home state, to do something that sounds like a plot from a medieval fantasy novel, right?

They are formally consecrating our entire nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

If you're like me and you kind of like to romanticize everything in your life, I was like, "Oh my God, it's got to be like a Brandon Sanderson novel, right?" Maybe like The Way of Kings or something where Sanderson described monarchs who bind their kingdoms to divine codes and ancient covenants or something to protect their lands from spiritual destruction.

And as beautiful and as fantastical and magical as that, this is not fantastical or magical. On the surface, dedicating an entire modern superpower to the heart of Christ feels like it belongs in another age. It does. I mean, we got to admit that. But the very strangeness is exactly why I think we need to be paying attention to these traditions and to our history, right? These are things that make Catholicism so freaking punk. It does. It's like totally metal.

So, you know, if you grew up Catholic, you've probably spent your entire life surrounded by this image. It hangs in drafty parish hallways. It fades on Catholic school classroom walls. It watches over you from a frame in your grandparents' living room. We pass statues of it all the time until it just becomes like wallpaper, right? You don't even notice it. Familiarity has a way of dulling our senses to the wild, disruptive reality of what Catholicism actually claims, okay?

Because if you strip away that comfort or if you're encountering it for the very first time, the Sacred Heart is genuinely startling. Think about it: a human heart wrapped tightly in sharp thorns, flames bursting from the top, a heavy cross planted into the fire, an open wound sliced into its side. There is something undeniably intense, almost visceral about it, especially if you get one of these realistic versions.

It forces us though to realize that the God who spoke galaxies into existence chose to reveal the fullness of his love through a wounded, bleeding human heart. And so that makes me ask a question: Why this devotion? Why would a group of bishops place my country, the United States of America, under the heart of Christ? What does a 17th-century French mystic in a cloistered convent have to do with the United States in 2026? Why does the Church carry this intense imagery century after century? Because we're metal. Okay. Yeah, fine.

Christ's love is not an abstract idea or a distant theological principle. His love has scars. It bears the mark of sacrifice and it remains visible in the wounded heart that continues to draw humanity to himself.

To understand why this devotion became so beloved by many—like there's a deacon at my church and he is just devoted to this devotion—we got to travel back in time to Calvary. Okay. Again, this podcast has me reading the Bible, people.

In the 19th chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus has just died upon the cross. When a Roman soldier approaches and thrusts a lance into his side, John records that blood and water immediately flowed out. That's a specific detail that the Church Fathers would spend centuries contemplating and interpreting.

They recognized in that moment a mystery of immense significance. The blood pointed toward the Eucharist, the water toward baptism, and the pierced side of Christ became the sign of the very life he pours out for the salvation of the world.

In fact, many early saints saw in that wound the literal birth of the Church itself, brought forth from the side of the new Adam just as Eve had been formed from the side of the first.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart ultimately flows from this rugged biblical mystery. It reveals this selfless gift of God, which is a love that withholds nothing and reserves nothing for itself.

Over the centuries, this understanding has obviously continued to grow as medieval mystics reflected on the wounds of Christ, paving the way for what would eventually unfold in that convent in Paray-le-Monial.

And what began in Sister Margaret Mary's life that was hidden and simple didn't stay within those walls of her cloister. It gradually spread throughout the entire Church. Popes have encouraged it. Religious communities embraced it. And missionaries have carried it to every corner of the globe. In 1856, Pope Pius IX extended the Feast of the Sacred Heart to the universal Church while later pontiffs like Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius XII and St. John Paul II became its greatest champions.

The devotion endures because it directs Christians back to the absolute center of the Gospel—that Christianity begins with God's love and everything else flows from there.

It even gave rise to one of the most beloved Catholic traditions and that's the First Friday devotion where Catholics continue St. Margaret Mary's practice of receiving Holy Communion on the first Friday of nine consecutive months as an act of reparation and love. It's beautiful. I've never done it for nine consecutive months. Maybe we should—maybe that should be our goal this year. We should do it. Rebels, who's with me? You want to do it? First Friday every month, nine consecutive months. So it's only nine times on the first Friday of every month. You go to church and you receive Communion. How hard can that be? Let's do it.

The Sacred Heart has never remained solely private, right? It's not a quiet devotion. Its influence is meant to extend outward into our families, communities, and entire societies.

And that brings us to the very word that prompted this episode: consecration.

So when the bishops decided, "Hey, we're going to consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus," like, okay, but not everybody is Catholic. And it actually doesn't matter. Full transparency, because and I'm going to tell you why.

Catholics—this is completely off the rails of where I was going to go, but I kind of feel like this is also another kind of explanation—so think of your local Catholic church. That local Catholic church has a boundary. The pastor of that church is responsible for all the souls in that boundary. So they pray for them. They offer assistance when they can. Okay? And then it broadens out to the diocese or the archdiocese. So the bishop or the archbishop is responsible, you see, and eventually it covers the entire United States. So as a way to pray for all of the people in their purview and the country in which they live and in which the people of God that are under their care live.

Here comes this: So today they formally consecrated our entire nation to the Sacred Heart. And again I know this consecration—it sounds mysterious and it's not like magic or anything like that. And actually Timothy O'Malley, he's a theologian at the University of Notre Dame, he actually clarified what consecration is not. And I feel like sometimes saying what something is not is a better way than saying what it is.

And he warned that it isn't magic and the bishops aren't performing some kind of spiritual life hack. They aren't attempting to cast a protective spell over the country as though they were characters in a fantasy novel. At the most basic level, consecration simply means setting something apart for God. The Catechism describes it as dedicating a person or a thing to divine service through prayer and blessing. As Timothy O'Malley put it, it means taking something and ordering it entirely toward God.

Dr. Jared Staudt expanded on this, describing consecration as directing something toward its ultimate purpose. Fundamentally, consecration is about belonging. It is acknowledging that everything we have ultimately belongs to the Creator.

This idea runs all the way through Scripture starting in the book of Genesis. When humanity is entrusted with creation, we are called to cultivate, protect, and steward the earth and then offer it back to God. Dr. Staudt points out that Adam's original role in Eden actually carried priestly dimensions. Human beings were always meant to direct creation back toward its Creator. Consecration reflects that exact mission. We consecrate ourselves, our families, our homes, and sometimes the Church consecrates entire nations. Why? Because the people in that nation are under their care and they have to always try to point those people toward God.

See how I brought it all together? Okay.

This isn't because a nation can pray or receive sacraments, but because a nation is made up of people—people made in the image and likeness of God, people called to holiness, and people loved immeasurably by Christ.

Biblical scholar—you might have heard of him—his name is Scott Hahn. You might have heard of him. If you haven't, read his books. He's a convert and he wrote this amazing book, Rome Sweet Home. Check him out on Facebook, YouTube, all those places. The dude is amazing. He adds another layer to consecration through the concept of covenant. A covenant is so much more than a legal transaction or a social contract, right? A covenant creates a sacred family bond.

The Sacred Heart speaks the explicit language of covenant, revealing a God who passionately desires a relationship with his children.

This helps us understand why bishops chose this exact turbulent moment in history to do this. The United States is approaching this massive milestone, right? We are going to be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Anniversaries naturally invite reflection, gratitude, and an examination of conscience. And it's an opportunity to ask: Who are we and who do we hope to become?

Archbishop Thomas Wenski—he's the former archbishop and bishop of Miami, the Archdiocese of Miami, my hometown, and Orlando, the Diocese of Orlando—offered a vision for this milestone. He suggested that the devotion to the Sacred Heart can help Americans reflect on the blessings God has bestowed upon our country while inspiring us to foster true justice, truth, and charity in public life.

That vision of course is rooted in a Christian understanding of what patriotism is. St. Pope John Paul II wrote extensively about this. He described true patriotism as a rightly ordered love of one's country. It's a love that appreciates a nation's history, culture, and traditions while actively seeking the common good and recognizing the dignity of every single human person. Crucially, St. John Paul II noted that real patriotism respects the rights of other nations as well, never descending into selfish nationalism.

And I also want to say that it's not like a form of Christian nationalism. Christian nationalism is something completely different and it's where I don't even want to get into it because I don't think I have anything nice to say about that. You can go look it up, okay? And if you want me to get into that, you're going to have to ask 'cause I don't even have anything right now constructive to say.

That distinction resonates perfectly with the Sacred Heart because the heart of Christ teaches us how to love. It teaches us how to love God, how to love our neighbor, and how to love our country. Archbishop Wenski challenged us with this thought: We should love America as Jesus loves.

Think about that for a second. To love this country the way Jesus loves is the love that's revealed in the Sacred Heart. It's patient. It actively seeks the truth. It relentlessly pursues justice. It works tirelessly for conversion and healing. And it never abandons hope.

When we look out into the despair that I kind of feel is propagating like it's just perpetual in our country right now and this message—doesn't it feel so pertinent to our time? I mean look around at 2026. So many people are carrying around so much anxiety about the future, questions about rapid technology, artificial intelligence, war, political divisions, cultural divisions, race divisions. On top of that, you add in loneliness, financial burdens, and human dignity, right? Like the loss of human dignity dominate almost all of our cultural conversations these days.

But the Church does not respond to these crises with despair. She responds by directing our attention back to the same source she has returned to for centuries. And that's the heart of Jesus. Okay? And that's why when you have joy in the Lord, you can look around and see all this despair and still have a joyful heart.

Through the Sacred Heart, we discover that every person possesses an inherent, untouchable dignity because they were created by God. We discover that mercy remains fully available even when failure, polarization, and suffering seem to have the final word.

St. John Paul II once noted that Christ's love is the only thing that enables humanity to face a crisis of meaning and truly defend dignity. And over time, that insight has become more relevant. What are the biggest questions facing our culture today? They're not actually political or economic. They're questions about love.

Are we loved? Does our life have meaning? Does mercy actually exist? Can broken people really change? Can cultural wounds be healed? And can hope survive disappointment?

The Sacred Heart answers those questions with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For generations, Catholic families have enthroned images of the Sacred Heart in their homes. Every time they pass that image in a hallway or a kitchen, they encounter this reminder that beneath every ambition, every political achievement, every disappointment, and every cultural longing stands an eternal truth: The center of reality is not a system or a government or an empire. The center of reality is a person. A person whose heart still burns with love for the world, whose mercy remains wide open, and who continues to invite humanity into communion.

And so Dr. Jared Staudt observed that the Church always acts for the good of all. In a sense, by kneeling down this week, the bishops are saying to every single person within these borders—whether they're sitting in pews, checking out of religion entirely, or openly hostile to it—"We are bound to your good. We are going to pray for your flourishing, your healing, and your peace. We do this because Christ loves every person, whether they recognize that love or have never encountered it at all."

And so, rebels, as America approaches its 250th birthday, the bishops are inviting us to remember the future of a nation is ultimately shaped by the hearts of its people. And every human heart was created for communion with God. The Sacred Heart of Jesus points us towards that truth. It points us toward his mercy and toward his healing and toward the hope his redemption gives us. Most of all, it points us toward Jesus himself whose heart continues to burn with love for every single person he's ever created, in all time. And so I think we should end with the prayer to the Sacred Heart. I found this on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' website. I'll link it in the show notes and you can find this on rebelsaintspodcast.com too. I think we should pray the prayer that the bishops prayed for our nation when they consecrated it.

Will you join me? In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, you know the longings of our hearts and you desire that we enjoy friendship with you. From your pure side, you have poured out the wellspring of life for which we thirst. Your heart burns with love for all people to return to a right relationship with you. We celebrate the abundant gifts you have given this nation founded on the self-evident truths that our Creator has endowed all people with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

We make reparation for the offenses against you and against human dignity that have taken place in this nation. May our hearts be united to yours so that our families and communities enjoy peace and happiness. May broken relationships be reconciled, injustices repaired, and the wounds of our land be healed. May your holy Catholic Church serve as a sign pointing all people to your infinite love. O desire of nations and center of history, we ask you to bless these United States of America who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Immaculate Heart of Mary, have mercy on us.

Wow... that was beautiful, wasn't it? I almost feel like I want to cry.

Okay, well, rebels, thanks so much for joining me today and spending your time reflecting on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As always, I am humbled that you would decide to spend time listening to me, and I hope it's helped you grow in your faith in even the smallest way. God bless you. I love you, and you are beloved beyond measure by our most beautiful Creator, Jesus.

This is Rebel Saints. It's for restless hearts called to be saints. Restless Hearts, you are welcome here.