Sacred Heart of Jesus: October 2008 Archives

This morning at Matins for the feast of Saint Raphael the Archangel, I read Saint Bonaventure's mystical exegesis of the Book of Tobit. The Seraphic Doctor presents the Archangel Raphael's three remedies for the soul made sick by sin: tears of repentance, the burning Heart of Christ, and greater earnestness in prayer. The following section treats of the burning Heart of ΙΧΘΥΣ, that is, Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Saviour.

The Heart of the Fish

Raphael would deliver us from the devil's bondage by putting us in remembrance of the Passion of Christ. This is set forth in Chapter six of the Book of Tobit under a figure of the heart of the fish which, when it is burning, driveth away all kinds of evil spirits.

The Heart on Fire

And again in Chapter eight, where we are told that Tobias placed the heart on live coals and the evil spirit fled into the utmost parts of Egypt, and the Angel bound him. What is this? Could Raphael bind an evil spirit only when the heart of a fish is set on fire? Did the Angel need a fish to enhearten him with great strength? Not at all. There is nothing worthwhile here except we take it mystically.

The Heart of Christ Burning With Love

Now the fish is a long-used symbol of Christ, because its letters in Greek are the initials of these words: Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Saviour. And so we may understand by the heart of the fish that there is nothing today to free us from the bondage of the devil except the passion of Christ, which same proceedeth from the depth of Himself, namely His Heart burning with love. For the heart is the fervent fountain of all life.

Place the Heart of Christ Within Thee

The Heart of Christ, whence His passion proceeded, is the source of a charity which burneth with love, and so is the cause of devotion in us. But thy memory is often to thee coals of fire. If therefore thou will place the Heart of Christ within thee, upon the dead coals of thy memories, and let them burn with the flames of that Heart, at once the devil will leave thee. Yea, he will be rendered harmless, as though he were bound.

Saint Bonaventure, De Sanctis Angelis, Sermo V

There have been more than 40 million abortions in the United States since 1973.

HEART OF JESUS,
formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
have mercy on this nation soaked in the blood of the innocent.

May that vast army of infants slaughtered mercilessly in their mothers' wombs
raise their voices and plead before Thy throne in glory
for an end to the crime of abortion
that has so rightly merited Thy Father's wrath
and caused our nation to become an abomination in His sight.

Do what Thou must, O merciful Heart of Jesus,
to reveal to all the horror of this sin
and to bring us to repentance.

Immaculate Virgin Mary,
thou who didst bear Thy Son for nine months
in the inviolate sanctuary of Thy womb,
intercede for the United States of America,
which claim thy maternal protection.
Amen.

Today is the first anniversary of my pilgrimage to Paray-le-Monial, la cité du Sacre-Coeur in the company of dear friends. Ma joie demeure.

The Mystical Invasion

Saint Teresa of Jesus died in 1582. Sixty-five years later, in 1647, Saint Margaret Mary was born. The spiritual climate in Europe, following the Council of Trent, was one of extraordinary effervescence. Henri Brémond in his monumental Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux en France speaks of a "mystical invasion." Saint Teresa's Carmel had crossed the Pyrenees, introducing men and women of all states of life to the way of interior prayer. The Jesuits had launched their missions to North America or, as they called it, "New France." Men and women of God, too many to be counted, undertook great things for His glory. It was the golden age of great friendships in God. In 1610, the young widow, Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal, together with Francis de Sales, established at Annecy the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, declaring "that no great severity shall prevent the feeble and the weak from joining it."

The Choice of God

When Margaret Mary Alacoque entered the Visitation Monastery of Paray-le-Monial, it was assumed that she, like so many other women, would disappear into the cloister, leaving behind no more than the sweet lingering fragrance of another life given to Christ. But, as always, "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Cor 1:27-29).

Contemplating the Pierced Side

The icy wind of Jansenism was blowing through the chinks in more than one cloister. It chilled the heart with the fear of a distant and vindictive God, eclipsing the mission of Jesus sent by the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit, "to proclaim release to the captives . . . to set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Lk 4:18). While the hearts of many around her grew cold, Saint Margaret Mary fixed her gaze upon the wounds of Jesus Crucified. Like Saint John the Apostle, like Saints Bernard, Lutgarde, Gertrude, Mechthilde, and countless others before and after her, the humble Visitandine of Pary-le-Monial was compelled by the Holy Spirit to look upon Jesus' pierced Side. "They shall look on Him whom they have pierced" (Zech 12:10, Jn 19:37).

A Priest, A Friend

In the Jesuit priest, Saint Claude La Colombière, Margaret Mary found a friend, one capable of standing with her at the Cross, of listening with her to the murmurings of the Holy Spirit, of gazing with her at the pierced Side of Jesus, and of entering with her to dwell in his Heart. The words of the apostle Paul seem to be those of Saint Claude to Margaret Mary: "It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has commissioned us; He has put his seal upon us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Cor 1:22)

The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus

In contemplating the pierced Side of the Crucified, Saint Margaret Mary discovered what many had forgotten: "the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ" (Eph 3:18). It was given her to "know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge" and fills "with all the completion God has to give" (Eph 3:19). She discovered, moreover, that the open Side of Jesus beckons to all from the adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and that His Eucharistic is, at every moment, ablaze with love.

"Behold this Heart," He said, "which, not withstanding the burning love for man with which it is consumed and exhausted, meets with no other return from the generality of Christians than sacrilege, contempt, indifference, and ingratitude, even in the Sacrament of my Love. But what pierces my Heart most deeply is, that I am subjected to those insults by persons specially consecrated to my service."

Reparation

Reparation, Saint Margaret Mary understood, is an imperative of love. The Side of Jesus remains open in the Most Blessed Sacrament, and men pass it by -- some with a cold indifference, others with a merely formalistic token of acknowledgement, and still others without the slightest indication of grateful adoration -- and among these, alas, are priests and consecrated souls.

In this age of locked churches, of tabernacles forsaken from one Sunday to the next, of the Sacred Species so often handled casually and without reverence, and in the wake of public sacrileges perpetrated against the Blessed Sacrament, reparation to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is, more than ever, necessary.

The Cenacle, the Cross, the Altar

Saint Margaret Mary invites us to re-discover the Heart of Jesus ablaze with love in the Most Holy Eucharist. The Eucharistic Christ, the Christus Passus, abides in our midst as Priest and Victim. There He perpetuates the oblation made first in the Cenacle, and then from the altar of the Cross.

In every age souls, like Saint Margaret Mary, have been polarized by the mysteries of the Cenacle and of the Cross actualized in the Most Holy Eucharist. In some way, the Holy Spirit continually reproduces Saint John's icon of the Church contemplating the pierced Side of Jesus on Calvary: "Standing by the Cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. . . . and the disciple whom He loved" (Jn 19:25-26).

I Look Round for Pity

The Sacred Heart is at the center of the Most Holy Eucharist both as sacrifice and as sacrament. The sacred action of the Mass perpetuates the Sacrifice of Calvary by which Christ, obedient unto death, hands Himself over to His Father and to those who partake of His Body and Blood. The priestly Heart of Jesus that beats with love in the Sacrifice of the Mass where He offers Himself as Victim, lives and burns with the same fire of love in the Sacrament of the Altar. From the tabernacle, as once from the Cross, He seeks souls to console Him, saying in the psalmist's words: "I look round for pity, where pity is none, for comfort where there is no comfort to be found" (Ps 68:21).

The Burning Furnace of Love

One cannot look long at Jesus Crucified without "the eyes of the heart" (Eph 1:18) being drawn to His pierced Side, and without entering, drawn on by the Holy Spirit, through the door of His pierced Side, into what men and women of every age have experienced as a "burning furnace of love." The "unsearchable riches" (Eph 3:8) of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, contemplated "for now, as in a mirror darkly" (1 Cor 13:12), are given us, until the return of the Lord in glory, in the adorable mystery of the Eucharist. And so, we go to the altar and to the tabernacle again and again to taste "with all the saints" (Eph 3:18), the "perfect love that casts out fear" (1 Jn 4:18).

A Family Story

My Irish grandmother's Christian name was Margaret Mary. As one might expect, a framed picture of the Sacred Heart figured prominently in her kitchen. She, like so many Irish Catholics of her generation had an unshakeable faith in the promises of the Sacred Heart to Saint Margaret Mary. In my "Treasury of the Sacred Heart" published in Dublin by Charles Eason, Middle Abbey Street, in 1860, I read the promise in which my grandmother invested her hope: "I shall bless the houses where the representation of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed."

Precious Inheritance

Shortly before her death at the age of 93, Grandma asked me if I wanted anything belonging to her. "Only your picture of the Sacred Heart," I said. She had me write my name on the back of it. The day after she died I took the picture to be reframed; it was placed on her coffin in church. After the funeral, I took the picture home and it stayed with me for about a year.

Give It Away

Some time later, on the eve of my cousin Patrick's wedding, my grandmother came to me in a dream and said, "I want you to give my picture of the Sacred Heart to Patrick as a wedding present." And so, I wrapped it carefully and presented Patrick and Cheryl with it on their wedding day. Patrick took one look at the wrapped package and said, "I know what it is. It's Grandma's picture of the Sacred Heart."

Saint Daniel Comboni

Today is the liturgical memorial of Saint Daniel Comboni, founder of two missionary institutes, tireless worker for the abolition of slavery, and zealous apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pope John Paul II canonized him on October 5, 2003.

Friendship in the Heart of Jesus

It often pleases Our Lord to bring chosen souls together in friendship and in mutual support. This was the experience of Saint Daniel Comboni (1831-1881) and Blessed Marie de Jésus Deluil-Martiny (1841-1884). Before founding the Daughters of the Heart of Jesus, Marie de Jésus Deluil-Martiny propagated the Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart, a movement of reparation and of perpetual adoration of the Heart of Jesus present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar.

Marie du Sacré-Coeur, a Visitandine of the monastery of Bourg-en-Bresse had launched the Guard of Honour on March 13, 1863. The following year the bishop of Belley recognized the movement as a confraternity, and in 1878 Pope Leo XIII elevated it to the rank of an archconfraternity in France and Belgium.

In the beginning, the Guard of Honour obliged its members to spend an hour in adoration and reparation to the Heart of Jesus before the tabernacle. The hours of the day and night were so distributed among the members as to offer the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus an uninterrupted presence of reparation and adoring love. Later on, the manner of carrying out one's assigned hour was modified: no longer was a physical presence before the tabernacle required. One could participate in the Guard of Honour without interrupting one's daily activities, simply by offering an hour of one's day in the spirit of adoration and reparation to the Sacred Heart.

Offering of the Hour of Presence

O Lord Jesus, present in the Tabernacle,
I offer Thee this Hour
to glorify Thy Heart with my love and reparation.
Accept to this end my thoughts, my words, my actions,
my joys and my sorrows.
Receive, above all, my heart.
I give it to Thee without reserve,
and beg Thee to consume it in the fire of Thy pure love.

Most Precious Offering of the Blood and of the Water

Eternal Father, receive as a sacrifice of propitiation
for the needs of the Church
and in reparation for the sins of the world,
the precious Blood and Water that flowed from the Heart of Jesus,
and have mercy upon us.

Saint Daniel Comboni and Blessed Marie de Jésus Deluil-Martiny met at the Visitation Monastery of Bourg-en-Bresse in June 1865. Inspired to make of covenant of mutual support, Father Comboni became the promoter of the Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart in Africa, and Mother Marie de Jésus became the hidden root of the immense Combonian apostolate. A remarkable correspondence ensued.

In 1865, Saint Daniel Comboni wrote to Mother Marie de Jésus:

Love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus

I read your dear letter of 13th June during my journey from Bourg to Geneva. It expresses so vividly the tender love you have for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is only now that I can answer because as soon as I reached Verona I had to go to Vienna in Austria and then to Rome, which I reached on the eve of the feast of St Peter, and then on to Naples. In that period I had too many things to do, which prevented me from writing to you. In the first place I am extremely grateful for the kindness with which you sent me in several parcels one large and one small Cadron, the "Notizia", some news sheets, holy pictures and a few medals of the Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and above all for having granted me the diploma of Special Director of the Association.

The Centre of Communication Between Us: the Heart of Jesus

I must tell you the joy it gave me to find in you a worthy Sister who bestowed upon me the high honour of promoting the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the countries of Central Africa, and also the joy I feel at corresponding by letter with you regarding the interests of the glory of the Sacred Heart which is the centre of communication between us, which must be burning for the salvation of these souls. Providence seems to have chosen me for the most difficult and dangerous apostolate to the Africans. I shall try to respond to this high mission with every possible effort. I am prepared to sacrifice my life for the salvation of Africa. But what good fortune you bring me, my dear Sister, with the help of the Society of the Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart! It is with ineffable joy that I admire the pious instigator of the beloved Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart whose glorious apostolate is the powerful strength which encourages me in the huge undertaking with which the great God of Israel has charged me, his unworthy servant.

Africa Consecrated to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

The Work I am about to found, and that I hope to start already this year with the erection of two great Apostolic Vicariates in Central Africa, which the Holy See will open following my Plan for the Regeneration of Africa, and that I will consecrate to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, links up closely with the Society of the Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of which you are the fervent instigator. You see, dear Sister what an intimate union there must be between you and me. It is for this reason that I shall keep you informed of all the progress made by this great Work which must also be yours, as yours is mine. Recommend this Work to the members so as to propagate prayer for the conversion of Africa, as I shall promote the Society of the Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart, not only in Africa, but in the whole world. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be with us and may we be faithful and joyful in consecrating our lives for the sake of his Glory.

Fear Not

As soon as I have had my Plan for the Regeneration of Africa printed in French I shall send it to you: I want you to know it to multiply the prayer intentions. His Eminence Cardinal De Angelis, Archbishop of Fermo relegated to Turin, who at the 1846 Conclave received the most votes, after Pius IX, in the Papal election, told me: "If you have placed your Work under the protection of the Sacred Heart, fear not: you will succeed". The ardent love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus will burn up the paganism and the fetishism of the African race and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ will be built. However, hoping to introduce the Society of the Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart in the Slav countries, please send me in Rome a diploma of Special Director of the Society for the Very Reverend Fr Vicenzo Basile of the Society of Jesus, a famous missionary who has spent 25 years in the Slav countries, so that he may introduce the devotion and the Society in those vast lands.

A Mission to Fulfill

On December 3, 1867 Mother Marie de Jésus wrote to a Visitandine of Bourg-en-Bresse:

When Don Comboni went to take leave of the Pope and asked of him a special blessing for the Zelatrice of the Sacred Heart, the Holy Father said, "Oh! Tell her that I bless her with all my heart!"

In the same letter, Mother Marie de Jésus writes:

On Friday, November 29th Don Comboni came to say goodbye to me; he said to me these singular words: "Propagate the Guard of Honour. I tell you this because I sense something in my soul about this. You have a mission to fulfill; you must always consider yourself unworthy of it; but you have a mission and you have begun to fulfill it by propagating the Guard of Honour.