A Reflection on Love: Novena to the Sacred Heart 2026
Our 2026 Novena to the Sacred Heart has come to an end, and it is with truly grateful hearts that we thank everybody who helped to make it such a special occasion for all involved.
This year’s Novena took place from Thursday, June 4th to Friday, June 12th, at the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork. We were delighted to see so many familiar faces join us during the Novena, and of course to welcome new friends along too. An astounding 13,500 people joined us in prayer on our live stream over the course of the nine days, from close to home and across the world, reminding us in such a lovely way that we are all very much interconnected and part of something bigger, part of a great community of faith, wherever in the world we may be located.
MSC Novena to the Sacred Heart 2026 – Fr John Fitzgerald MSC introduces Fr John H. Walsh OP at the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork.
It was a joy and a privilege to have this year’s Novena to the Sacred Heart celebrated by Fr John H. Walsh OP. Born in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, Fr John entered the Order of Preachers in Cork after leaving school. Having been educated in Maynooth, Oxford, and Rome, Fr. John has served as a preacher of parish missions and retreats, and was also promoter for the Rosary Apostolate and a superior of Dominican communities in Ireland. Currently, he is the director of the St. Martin Apostolate in Dublin and the editor of the St. Martin magazine, as well as promotor for itinerant preaching for the Irish Dominicans.
Having been welcomed by our own Fr John Fitzgerald MSC, Fr John Walsh opened the Novena with some lovely words. “It’s a great honour to be asked to preach this Novena,” he said. “It’s a great honour for a Dominican to come down here to this Church of the Sacred Heart and to lead you in these nine days, and to remind you of the love of God. It’s a great honour for me to be with you and I look forward to these nine days here on the Western Road.” This set the tone for the nine days ahead, and we were extremely grateful to Fr John for leading us through this special time of prayer and reflection with such an open, loving heart.
Fr John H. Walsh OP (left) and Fr John Fitzgerald MSC (right) mark a day of healing at the Sacred Heart Church Hall on the Western Road, Cork.
A reflection on love
“There’s only one word in English for love, you know, and that’s love,” reflected Fr John at the opening Mass of the Novena. “There’s only one word we use, it’s this love, but it’s kind of fluid in many ways – there are differences in love, aren’t there? What the Lord is asking us on this first day of this Novena, is, he’s asking the question, what have we to do? You have to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Continuing with this thought, Fr John spoke about the picture of the Sacred Heart in so many Catholic homes. “Why do we have the Sacred Heart picture?” he asked. “It was to remind our mothers and our grandmothers, who spent most of their days in their houses, that they weren’t alone.”
“It was to remind them that they were loved. And you are loved. You might feel unloved, and we struggle with that as humans, we struggle with love… And that’s why I want to spend these nine days with you, is to show you that love.”
Fr John Fitzgerald MSC and Fr John H. Walsh OP celebrate Mass at the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork.
Going to on speak about love, and the importance of loving your neighbour, Fr John explained, “You can love the Sacred Heart all you like, and you can love your God all you like, but in order to love him fully as the Gospel says today, you have to love your neighbour. You might say, ‘Who’s my neighbour, Father?’ Your neighbour might be the cat at home. It’s the next person you meet. It’s the person you meet in the shop, and you hold the door for them… I don’t know the person, but I have to see in the person and each person, God, to see that Sacred Heart in them. It’s hard, it’s difficult, people ignore you, people blank you out – but we have to love them. St. John of the Cross said, if you want to find love, put love into it, and therefore you’ll find it. You’ve to go out of yourself, and that what Jesus is asking every one of us today. Go out of yourself. A simple smile won’t crack our face, does it? No. You mightn’t feel like smiling, but that’s what Jesus is saying – you will find me if you go out of yourself. Go out of yourself. Hold the door, be patient.”
“You don’t know what a person is carrying… You never know what another person is carrying.”
“It’s a small thing, this is how you love others as you love God.”
“It’s for us Christians to go out of ourselves, and that’s how we change the world, that’s how we’ve always changed the world, because we went to incredible strengths to do things. And you’re asked to do the same today. I’m not asking you to be a Missionary of the Sacred Heart – your mission is at home, or your mission is in the car park, or holding the shop door… Go out of yourself for love.”
Fr John H. Walsh OP and Fr John Fitzgerald MSC celebrate Mass at the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork.
Celebrating the Feast of the Sacred Heart
“The Feast of the Sacred Heart is a feast of not just something Jesus did, but something who Jesus is, his love, his infinite love for each one of us,” said Fr John on the final day of the Novena, and the Feast Day of the Sacred Heart.
“Isn’t it amazing, you never know what you live with, or what you live among, and you never know what another has suffered for you, and that’s what we celebrate in the heart of Jesus, and the wounded hands. This is how much I love you, that I would die for you to save you – and to know that you’re loved. You just think back on your own lives, the love of your parents and your grandparents and your neighbours and your friends, and all those who have done so much for you, that you could have life.”
Fr John H. Walsh OP (left) and Fr John Fitzgerald MSC (right) mark a day of healing at the Sacred Heart Church Hall on the Western Road, Cork.
Pausing in the love of the Lord
In a beautiful moment of peaceful reflection, Fr John invited all those gathered in the Sacred Heart Church, and watching on the live stream, to pause for a moment of prayer.
“Feel your pulse,” he said. “You know, I often sit in prayer, and that’s all I do. I listen to my heartbeat. Feel your pulse, your heart is beating out that blood. And if you close your eyes and just think of the love of Jesus for you, that’s what we’re celebrating for nine days here, the heart of Jesus that beats out of love for you.”
“The beauty of our faith is that heart didn’t just stop on Calvary, it continues to beat for you. So if you feel lonely, if you’re under stress, if you feel insulted or hurt or abandoned by your family, abandoned by your world, even by those whom you love most, and yet you keep pouring it out, check your pulse. Just close your eyes, and say Lord, that’s your heart too, beating for love of me. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? You could spend hours listening to your pulse. If it stops, good luck to you! But if you do feel lonely sitting at home, and if you’re feeling depressed or anxious, angry or hurt, just close your eyes or look up at your Sacred Heart picture, check your pulse, and sit and listen to that rhythm – I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you above all things, and I would die for you. It’s what we all need, don’t we?”
“No matter what you’re going through, or whatever pain that you’re undergoing, return love, not hatred, not vengeance. Jesus is the opposite.”
MSC Novena to the Sacred Heart 2026, led by Fr John H. Walsh OP at the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork.
With heartfelt thanks
We are profoundly grateful to Fr John Walsh, who provided us with great pause for thought in his daily reflections, helping us to look ever deeper in our spiritual reflection and healing, and leading us down useful, interesting, and healing paths of prayer. “You brought the power of the Sacred Heart so close to us that it’s just straight in front of our eyes and in our hearts, and we are privileged to have you with us,” said Fr John Fitzgerald as the Novena came to a close.
“We will leave this place, and there’s a bit of a sadness always when we leave a nine-day thing like this, when we’ve come together,” said Fr John F. And with that slight regret at the ending of such a special time, comes a great hope.
“There’s a letter here from one of the priests in 1975, and he said that the Sacred Heart Novena was on its way out because everyone was in their 50s and 60s and 70s,” recalled Fr John F. “This is when we were slips of boys and girls back in the 60s and 70s – and of course how wrong he was.”
“I remember here, there might be a little basket of petitions – and now there are thousands of petitions all around, and still some to come, so it is far from a dead Novena.”
With so many mission friends and parishioners joining us from near and far at the Sacred Heart Church each day, and thousands of others tuning in from around the world, it is clear that the Novena to the Sacred Heart is as powerful and beloved as ever.
We are truly grateful to all who contributed to making this year’s Novena such a resounding success, as we take with us such a powerful and great message of love. The time and effort that went into the many details, from flowers, music, and readings, to the teas and coffees and socialising, and the planning of all the details in between, is always hugely appreciated. To all who joined us in prayer, be it in person or online, your presence has been a blessing and a gift. God bless you all.
MSC Novena to the Sacred Heart 2026, led by Fr John H. Walsh OP and accompanied by MSCs Fr John and Fr Tijo at the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork.
