The Nineteenth Day of June

The Third Thorn of the Heart of Jesus: the Sacrilegious Soul.

Consider, Christians, that, though all the sacraments emanate from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the one in which His great love for us shines forth the most conspicuously is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, so deservedly called the Sacrament of love. Nevertheless, how does it come to pass that it is the mystery in which Jesus is the most outraged by those whom He has loved to excess? A painful experience proves that sacrileges become more and more frequent in these days, when charity has grown cold, and piety is feeble and more rare. This new passion, as it may be truly called, of our Savior, though more secret and less known, is more cruel to His divine Heart than that which He suffered at Jerusalem and on Calvary. Jesus! what crime can equal that of crucifying Thee afresh and profaning Thy adorable body, by uniting Thy spotless Heart to a heart full of corruption, to tread under foot Thy precious blood, and to renew the treachery of Judas and the plots of the Jews. O what contempt of God, and what a triumph of hell! Angels of the tabernacle, witnesses of these abominations, veil your faces with your wings, and weep bitterly. Christians, represent to yourselves, with horror, the fatal moment when the Eucharistic God enters into a sinful soul, which is like a sepulchre full of corruption. What must be the humiliation, and how sharp a thorn for the Heart of our Jesus! It would seem as though the scene of the night on which He was scourged, and the day when He was be trayed by the infamous Judas, is there renewed, and it lasts so long as the sacred species remain in the breast of the perfidious and sacrilegious traitor. O God! what will be the punishment reserved for so terrible an outrage?

Faithful souls, souls devoted to the Sacred Heart, omit nothing which can make amends to this adorable Heart, for the insults and injuries to which He has willingly exposed Himself, in order to be able to give Himself to you in the most holy Eucharist. Endeavor to repair these insults by multiplying your visits to the Blessed Sacrament; pray, weep, expiate the crimes of these guilty souls; but, above all, testify your love, for the wounds of love are healed by love alone. Hasten to make a fervent communion in the spirit of reparation, and, to supply for your insufficiency, offer the dispositions of Mary when she received the Sacred Host from the hands of St. John. Oh! may you, by the earnestness of your prayers, the ardor of your love, the purity of your heart, and the abundance of your tears, console the Heart of Jesus, for so many sacrileges and profanations. May the sweet Savior be able to reverse in your regard the words of Scripture, and say: "I looked for one that would comfort me, and I have found one." May the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in the Holy Eucharist, be everywhere loved and adored!

EXAMPLE.

A poor man asked an alms of St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola. The prelate, observing that one of the beggar’s hands was withered, asked him the cause. "I am the son of a widow," he answered, in an agitated voice; "from my childhood I was disobedient to my kind mother, and, as I advanced in years, I ran through all her fortune. One day, when she refused to give me the last bit of money that was left her, urged by a diabolical frenzy, I struck her with this hand, which is now withered, and she fell dead. This dreadful crime took place on the night before Maundy Thursday, when I was preparing to receive my Easter Communion. Having hidden the bleeding corpse of my poor mother, I had the audacity to approach the holy table; but, truly dreadful miracle! no sooner had I received the Sacred Host than my hand stiffened, and, with the most terrible pains, became withered. My cries attracted the astonished gaze of the whole congregation, and, overwhelmed with confusion and shame, I fled, to escape being seen by those I knew. From that fatal day, I wander about here and there, bearing with me this withered hand, as the just punishment of my frightful sacrilege. Willingly would I bear this temporal punishment, if I had not to expect the still more fearful pains of hell." Touched by this recital, St. Paulinus said to him; "There is in the Heart of Jesus, whom you have so grievously offended, enough compassion and mercy to pardon you. Do penance, confess your sins with deep repentance, and then make a fervent communion in reparation for your sacrilegious one." A ray of hope illuminated the countenance of the poor sinner, and he followed the advice of the holy bishop; hardly had he received the body of the Lord with all the ardor and devotion of which he was capable, than warmth and life returned to his withered hand: he was cured. O ineffable goodness of Jesus! who pardons every crime on true repentance, and changes a traitor into a friend of His divine Heart.

PRAYER.

O Jesus! I would rather die a thousand times than ever approach Thy sacred table unworthily. Before seating myself at the banquet of angels, I will prove and purify myself from all stains; then, Lord, Thou wilt descend into my soul, reign over it with joy, and find there Thy delights. Amen.

PRACTICE.

Receive Communion in reparation for sins committed against the Most Blessed Sacrament at least once a month, preferably on a weekday.