“Voilà ce Cœur qui a tant aimé les hommes. Il n’est qu’amour et misericorde.” This saying is found on so many French prayer cards dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It means, “Behold this heart which has so loved men. It is all love and mercy.” Today, and the entire month of June, we contemplate this Heart of Our Lord which has loved men so much. Throughout his earthly life, Jesus’ heart burned with love for the souls of those to whom the Father had sent him. Even further, he desired to spread that fire of love to the all the hearts in the world which is apparent when he says, “I am come to cast fire on the earth: and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). At the scene of the road to Emmaus, we see the two disciples saying after they finally realize it is Jesus and he vanishes from them, “Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in the way, and opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Jesus desires that our hearts, too, would be inflamed with the fire of his love as the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Sadly, few hearts burn with love for Jesus. In his apparitions to Saint Mary Margaret Alacoque, He said, “Behold the Heart that has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify to Its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege.” Perhaps the world’s ingratitude and lack of love in return for the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is more apparent now than it ever has been. In the Church, we see so few souls going to confession before coming to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion and receiving Him irreverently, the authorities of the Church bowing to every wish of the secular state, and priests and bishops using their status to push a secular agenda in the Church contrary to the Gospel of Christ, therefore committing spiritual assault on the faithful in addition to the sexual assault which far too many have suffered at the hands of clergy, the one’s whose hearts are meant to burn the hottest for Heart of Christ through the gift of Holy Orders. In the world, the examples are far too great that I won’t even try to list them. However, it is no coincidence that the secular world, at the hand of Satan, has dedicated what was for Catholics the month of the Sacred Heart as the month of the first deadly sin, celebrating the perversion of love, and now even the perversion of the most basic human characteristic of gender. This is extremely telling of the society we now find ourselves in, a society which is no longer satisfied with denying the Sacred Heart of Jesus through living in sin, but which now must be “proud” of it and shout it to the whole world. Even further, the secular (or rather, Satanic) society wants to instill this same pride in you, and your children. Don’t believe me? Just look to the calls for “LGBTQIAXYZ History” education in schools or the library drag queen reading hours. The world is descending deeper and deeper into degeneracy and it is now not content with living in its disgusting state but it now seeks to pull even more souls into its cold abyss and away from the burning love of the Sacred Heart. As Catholics of good will, therefore, we must resist this degeneracy with all our strength and the strength of Our Lord. We need to do so by entering into and dwelling in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that our cold hearts hardened by sin will be warmed and melted by the fire of His self-giving love and our souls inebriated with faith by the Precious Blood which pumps through it. Even further, we need to seek to make up for the ingratitude to which the Sacred Heart is too often subject. Jesus said to Saint Mary Margaret Alacoque, “Do you at least console Me by supplying for their ingratitude, as far as you are able.” Our Lord faces so much torment at pouring out his love only for it to be denied by so many. Let us not, then, spurn His Love but instead accept it with deepest gratitude by consecrating ourselves to His Sacred Heart this day. Let us console him through fasting, penance, and making frequent acts of reparation for not only our own individual sins, but also the sins of the whole world. I implore you, not because I have so perfectly loved the Sacred Heart for, in fact, I have also failed in gratitude through my sinfulness. Rather, I implore you to join the battle that we all burn with love for Christ and one another and strengthen each other in the fight, united in a world which seeks to separate and devour us. Start today; consecrate (or reconsecrate) yourself to the Sacred Heart, make acts of reparation, and assist at mass and reverently receive Our Lord if you are able to, or make a spiritual act of communion before Our Lord in the tabernacle if you are not. And finally, us dwell in that beautiful and glorious Heart where is found true love and peace and which is our true pride and joy. Cor Jesu sacratissimum, miserere nobis. Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart Most sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence, and contempt, behold us prostrate before you, eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which your loving Heart is everywhere subjected. Mindful alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask your pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation, not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow you, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the promises of their Baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of your law. We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against you; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in indecent dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holydays and for the shocking blasphemies uttered against you and your Saints. We wish also to make amends for the insults to which your Vicar on earth and your priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very Sacrament of your divine love, and lastly for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which you have founded. Would that we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of your divine honor, the satisfaction you once made to your Eternal Father on the cross and which you continue to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of your Virgin Mother and all the saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of your grace, for all neglect of your great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past. Henceforth, we will live a life of unswerving faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent others from offending you and to bring as many as possible to follow you. O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mother, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to you, that we may all one day come to that happy home, where with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, for ever and ever. Amen. Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart Most Sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thine altar. We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united to Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates ourselves today to Thy Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known Thee; Many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart. Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful children, who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children, who have abandoned Thee; Grant that they may quickly return to their Father’s house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger. Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that there may be but one flock and one Shepherd. Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism, and refuse not to draw them into the light and kingdom of God. Turn Thine eyes of mercy towards the children of the race, once Thy chosen people: of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may it now descend upon them a laver of redemption and of life. Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry; praise to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; To it be glory and honor forever
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About MeAn Iowa-raised convert to Catholicism seeking to live my life entirely for Jesus and His Church with all the saints. Archives
August 2021
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