Daily Reflections

Wishing you a blessed Feast of the Sacred Heart! The Heart of Jesus chose this era, the last age of the earth, an age of coldness, of loneliness, of selfishness and cruelty, to reveal to us in such a public way the tenderness and love of His Sacred Heart for each soul. Divine Physician that He is, He knows the remedy needed: “Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of Heart.”

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Feast of the Sacred Heart was established in order that the faithful may honour, with more devotion and zeal, under the symbol of the Sacred Heart; the love of Jesus Christ, which induced Him, not only to suffer, and to die for the redemption of mankind, but also to institute the Sacrament of His Body and Blood in commemoration of His Death. thoughthe devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is of great antiquity in the Church, yet it was reserved to the holy Margaret Mary Alacoque, of the Order of the Visitation, to make this devotion public. During the Octave of Corpus Christi, in the year 1690, Our Blessed LORD appeared to His devoted handmaid, and disclosing to her His Heart, said: “Behold is this Heart which, not not withstanding the burning love for men, with which it is consumed and exhausted, meets with no other return from the generality of Christians, than, sacrilege, contempt, indifference, and ingratitude.” But what will it avail us to have listened to these just complaints of our Saviour, if we are not moved with compassion, and generously resolved to testify our sorrow for our past indifference by honouring His Sacred Heart, and by repairing, as far as lies in our power, the insults to which His ardent desire to dwell with the children of men, daily exposes Him in the august Sacrament of His love? If gratitude to the God who suffered such torments for our salvation does not incline us to accept His generous invitation, and to rank ourselves among the number of His adorers, at least let the reconciliation of the many spiritual advantages to be derived from devotion to the Sacred Heart, induce us to pray fervently and humbly, that He, who has Himself declared that it was a last effort of His love for men that induced Him to discover to them the treasures of His Heart, may infuse into our souls, the great gift of True compassion for His Most Sacred Heart.

“The term ‘Sacred Heart of Jesus’ denotes the entire mystery of Christ, the totality of His being, and His person…. Devotion to the Sacred Heart…calls for a fundamental attitude of ­conversion and reparation, of love and gratitude, apostolic commitment and dedication to Christ and His saving work” (Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy #166, 172). “The essential nucleus of Christianity is expressed in the Heart of Jesus; in Christ the whole of the revolutionary newness of the Gospel was revealed and given to us: the Love that saves us and already makes us live in God’s Eternity. Even our shortcomings, our limitations, and our weaknesses must lead us back to the Heart of Jesus. His Divine Heart calls to our hearts, inviting us to come out of ourselves, to abandon our human certainties, to trust in Him and, following His example, to make of ourselves a gift of love without reserve” (Pope Benedict XVI).

ACT OF REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART 

O sweetest Jesus, whose overflowing charity towards men is most ungratefully repaid by such great forgetfulness, neglect, and contempt, see, prostrate before Thy altars, we strive by special honour, to make amends for the wicked coldness of men and the contumely, with which Thy most loving Heart is everywhere treated.

At the same time, mindful of the fact that we to have sometimes not been free from unworthiness, and moved, therefore with most vehement sorrow, in the first place, we implore Thy mercy on us, being prepared by voluntary expiation to make amends for the sins we have ourselves committed, and also for the sins of those who wander far from the Way of salvation, whether because, being obstinate in their unbelief, they refuse to follow Thee, as their Shepherd and Leader, or because, spurning the promises of their baptism, they have cast off  The most sweet yoke of Thy law. We now endeavour to execute all these lamentable crimes together, and it is also our purpose to make amends for each one of them severally: for the want of modesty in life and dress, for impurities, for so many snares set for the minds of the innocent, For the violation of feast days, for the horrid blasphemies against Thee, and thy saints, for the insults offered to Thy Vicar, and to the Priestly Order, for the neglect of the Sacrament of Divine Love, or its profanation by horrible sacrileges, and lastly, for the public sins of nations which resist the rights and the teaching authority of the Church, which Thou hast instituted.

Would that we could wash away these crimes with our own blood! And now, to make amends for the outrage offered to the Divine honour, we offer to Thee the same satisfaction which Thou didst one’s offer to Thy  Father on the Cross, and which Thou dost continually renew on our altars, we offer this conjoined with the expiations of the Virgin Mother, and of all the saints, and of all pious Christians, promising from our hearts that so far as in us lies, with the help of Thy Grace, we will make amends for our own past sins, and for the sins of others, and for the neglect of Thy boundless love, by firm Faith, by a pure way of life, and by a perfect observance of the Gospel law, especially that of Charity; we will also strive with all our strength to prevent injuries being offered to Thee, and gather as many as we can to become Thy followers. Receive, we beseech Thee, O most benign Jesus, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Reparatress, the voluntary homage of this expiation, and vouchsafe, by that great gift of final perseverance, to keep us most faithful until death in our duty and in Thy service, so that at length we may all come to the fatherland, where are Thou with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God forever and ever. Amen.

From a work by Saint Bonaventure, Bishop
(Opusculum 3, Lignum vitae, 29-30.47: Opera omnia 8, 79)

With you is the Source of Life

Take thought now, redeemed man, and consider how great and worthy is He who hangs on the Cross for you. His death brings the dead to Life, but at His passing Heaven and earth are plunged into mourning and hard rocks are split asunder.

It was a Divine Decree that permitted one of the soldiers to open His Sacred side with a lance. This was done so that the Church might be formed from the side of Christ as He slept the sleep of Death on the Cross, and so that the Scripture might be fulfilled: They shall look on Him whom they pierced. The Blood and Water which poured out at that moment were the price of our salvation. Flowing from the secret abyss of Our LORD’s Heart as from a fountain, this stream gave the Sacraments of the Church the power to confer the Life of Grace, while for those already living in Christ it became a spring of Living Water welling up to Life Everlasting.

Arise, then, beloved of Christ! Imitate the dove that nests in a hole in the cliff, keeping watch at the entrance like the sparrow that finds a home. There like the turtledove hide your little ones, the fruit of your chaste love. Press your lips to the Fountain, draw water from the wells of your Saviour; for this is the spring flowing out of the middle of Paradise, dividing into four rivers, inundating devout hearts, watering the whole earth and making it fertile.

Run with eager desire to this Source of Life and Light, all you who are vowed to God’s service. Come, whoever you may be, and cry out to Him with all the strength of your heart. “O indescribable beauty of the Most High God and purest radiance of Eternal Light! Life that gives all life, light that is the source of every other light, preserving in everlasting splendour the myriad flames that have shone before the Throne of your Divinity from the dawn of time! Eternal and Inaccessible Fountain, clear and sweet stream flowing from a hidden spring, unseen by mortal eye! None can fathom Your depths nor survey Your boundaries, none can measure Your breadth, nothing can sully Your purity. From You flows the river which gladdens the city of God and makes us cry out with joy and thanksgiving in hymns of praise to You, for we know by our own experience that with You is the Source of Life, and in your light we see light.

ACT OF CONSECRATION OF THE FAMILY TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

Sacred Heart of Jesus, who didst manifest to Blessed Margaret Mary, the desire of reigning in Christian families, we today wish to proclaim Thy most complete regal dominion over our own. We would love to live in future with Thy life, we would cause to flourish in our midst, those virtues, to which Thou hast promised peace here below, we would banish far from us, the spirit of the world, which so has cursed; and Thou shalt reign over our minds in the simplicity of our Faith, and over our hearts by the wholehearted love with which they shall burn for Thee, the flame of which we shall keep alive by the frequent reception of Thy Divine Eucharist. 

Deign, O Divine Heart, to preside over our assemblings, to bless our enterprises, both spiritual and temporal, to dispel our cares, to sanctity our joys, to alleviate our sufferings. If ever one or other of us should have the misfortune to afflict Thee, remind him, O heart of Jesus, that thou art good and merciful to the penitent sinner. And when the hour of separation strikes, when death shall come to cast mourning into our midst, we will all, both those who go, and those who stay, be submissive to Thy Eternal decrees. We shall console ourselves with the thought that a day will come when the entire family, reunited in Heaven, can sing forever Thy glories and Thy mercies.

May the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the glorious patriarch, Saint Joseph, present this consecration to Thee, and keep it in our minds all the days of our lives. All glory to the Heart of Jesus, our King and our Father.