Sacred Heart of Jesus: May 2008 Archives

The thoughts of His Heart
are to all generations;
He will save their souls from death
and give them to eat in time of famine.
(Psalm 32:11, 19, Introit of the Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus).

To All Generations

The thoughts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are to all generations, touching all, excluding no one. By His death, He rescues us from death; by the mysteries of His Body and Blood, He feeds every hungry heart.

All Priests

On this World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, we recall that the thoughts of the Heart of Jesus embrace all priests from the first ones assembled with him in the Cenacle on the night before He suffered to those who will welcome Him when he returns in glory.

Beset by Sin and Repaired by Love

The Heart of Jesus has willed to have need of priests, weak men beset by sin and repaired by love. The Heart of Jesus sends out his priests for the healing, reconciliation, and restoration of those who, like themselves, stand at every moment in need of mercy. Speaking to a priest, Our Lord said:

"There has never been in all of history a single priest whom I have not destined for a great holiness. My Heart has suffered much because so many of my chosen ones have refused my gifts and, preferring their own ways to mine, gone into the outer darkness where it is night.

My Heart burns to see my priests all ablaze with Eucharistic holiness. The altar is the source of priestly holiness. The kiss given to the altar at the beginning and end of Holy Mass means that the priest recognizes this. By kissing the altar, he makes himself vulnerable to my piercing love. By kissing the altar he opens himself unreservedly to all that I would give him and to all that I hold in the designs of my Heart for his life. The kiss to the altar signifies total abandonment to the priestly holiness that I desire and to the fulfillment of my desires in the soul of my priest.

The holiness to which I call my priests, the holiness to which I am calling you, consists in a total configuration to me as I stand before my Father in the heavenly sanctuary, beyond the veil. Every priest of mine is to be with me both priest and victim in the presence of my Father. Every priest is called to stand before the altar with pierced hands and feet, with his side wounded, and with his head crowned as my head was crowned in my passion. You needn’t fear this configuration to me; it will bring you only peace of heart, joy in the presence of my Father, and that unique intimacy with me that I have, from the night before I suffered, reserved for my priests, my chosen ones, the friends of my Heart."

My Heart Thirsts for You

Mother Marie des Douleurs, writing for priests in the 1930s,
placed these words in the Heart and mouth of Our Lord:

“I have need of this body of priests
who continually will live their Mass,
who will continue my Passion.
My immolation must go on until the end of time;
I must find priests who will hand over to me
their bodies, their souls, their whole being so that in them,
I may be the one whom nearly no one accepts to recognize,
the Crucified.
You whom I have chosen
and marked for this mission glorious above all others,
will you not understand, will you too go away?
My Heart thirsts for you.
Do you not see all the souls torn away from me?
If my priests do not continue me, I am alone and powerless.”

Priests Passionately Loved

Mother's text, like the message of Our Lord to a priest cited above, is almost frightening in its lucidity and crushing in its implications, but it is meant to inspire today in each one a more ardent prayer for all priests, chosen and passionately loved by the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

I was compelled to write this prayer a few years ago. Last February, while preaching a retreat at the Franciscan Convent of Perpetual Adoration in Drumshanbo, County Leitrim, Ireland, I proposed it to the wonderful local people who came every evening to Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. On the final evening of the retreat we recited it together before the Blessed Sacrament exposed. Our Lord responded with the customary divine largesse of His Heart.

Prayer of Reparation to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus

O Lord Jesus Christ present in this wonderful sacrament,
I desire at this hour to make reparation to Thy Eucharistic Heart
and to open myself to Thy Love for the sake of those who refuse or ignore it.

Increase Thou my faith,
that I may believe firmly in the truths and mysteries Thou hast revealed to Thy Church,
for the sake of those who do not believe.

By my attention to Thy Eucharistic Heart, I desire to make up for indifference to Thy Love,
for coldness, and for irreverence in Thy sacramental presence.

By my gratitude to Thy Eucharistic Heart, I desire to make up for ingratitude toward Thee
Who remainest hidden and forgotten in the tabernacles of so many locked churches.

By my trust in Thy Eucharistic Heart, I desire to make up for those who do not trust Thee,
for those who are afraid to trust Thee, and for those whose trust in Thy Love
has been weakened by sins of scandal, by the weight of life’s hardships, or by painful loss.

By my hope in Thy Eucharistic Heart, I desire to help those tempted to despair of Thy Mercy.
Allow me, I beseech Thee, to hope for those who have no hope
and, because Thou didst pour out Thy Blood for them, let not one of them be lost.

In spite of my weakness and inconstancy, I desire, by this humble act of reparation
to obtain for all who yearn for Thy friendship,
a share in the unspeakable sweetness experienced by Thy beloved disciple Saint John
when he rested his head upon Thy Heart
on the night before Thy Sacred Side was opened by the soldier’s lance.

Let my desire to be open to the Love of Thy Eucharistic Heart
serve to repair the brokenness of the most wounded and fragile members of Thy Mystical Body.

By the mysterious workings of Thy Holy Spirit and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
let the reparation and adoration Thou hast inspired me to offer in Thy presence
bring reconciliation to those alienated from Thy Church,
healing to souls in need of Thy mercy,
and choice graces to Thy priests. Amen.

The Father’s love was shown to us
In Christ our Saviour’s open Heart;
Now we are drawn to share his Cross
And in his Passion take our part.

We are the Father’s gift to Christ;
He loved his own until the end.
His burden light we bear with joy
and to his yoke we gladly bend.

Where captive sinners cry for help
The Servant-King will always be;
The strength of mercy’s arm to show;
Love’s Captor leaves the captive free.

His Heart is open to receive
All who a home and refuge seek;
The lance has pierced an open door;
Behold Love’s hospitality!

Lord, open wide to us your Heart;
Let restless hearts find rest in you.
Healed by your love, by love renewed,
Now make us wounded healers too.

Give us to gaze upon your Heart,
That we by faith therein may dwell
Until we see you face to face
Eternally your love to tell.

O Heart of God the Father’s joy,
O Heart of Christ, the Spirit’s lyre,
Receive our evening sacrifice,
Like incense, we await your fire. Amen.

A Hymn for Vespers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
M.D.K., O.Cist.
8. 8. 8. 8.