Matthew 3:1-6

In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea [and] saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:

“A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’”

John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is devotion to Jesus Christ Himself, but in the particular ways of meditating on his interior life and on His threefold love -- His divine love, His burning love that fed His human will, and His sensible love that affects His interior life.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart has two elements - consecration and reparation:

• We consecrate ourselves to the Sacred Heart by acknowledging Him as Creator and Redeemer and as having full rights over us as King of Kings, by repenting, and by resolving to serve Him.

• We make reparations for the indifference and ingratitude with which He is treated and for leaving Him abandoned by humanity.

The modern form of the Sacred Heart devotion is the result of the work of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a 17th Century nun and visionary. An earlier awareness of the devotion is evident in the works of St. Gertrude the Great (13th Century).

The husband of Mary, and foster-father of Jesus, St. Joseph makes a brief appearance with the Gospel narratives. This brevity, however, should not be mistaken for a lack of importance. Pope John Paul II described him as Redemptoris Custos, the "Guardian of the Redeemer", and Pope Pius IX declared him "Guardian of the Universal Church".

According to tradition, Joseph died in the arms of Mary and Jesus, making him the model of a pious believer who receives grace at the moment of death.