The Sixth Day of June

The Present State of the Devotion to the Sacked Heart.

"Our Lord gave me to understand," said St. Margaret Mary, "that He desired His Sacred Heart should be known at the present time as the mediator between God and man, averting the punishments which our sins have drawn down on us. Oh! how all powerful is this Sacred Heart to appease divine justice provoked by our iniquities, and to obtain mercy for us! The Sacred Heart is indeed necessary to the Church in this century when, as St. Paul says: "Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, ungrateful wicked, without affection, without peace, unmerciful, lovers of pleasures more than of God" (2 Tim. iii. 2).

The whole world is rotten to the core, and to escape destruction the faithful must seek fresh life at the fountain-head by entering into the Heart of the King of Heaven. "The society of our days," exclaimed the illustrious Pius IX., of holy memory, "can be saved by the Sacred Heart alone;" and a learned prelate has pronounced that: "The worship of the Sacred Heart has been reserved to these latter ages as a pledge of divine love, which desires to manifest itself more abundantly as the end of the world approaches. This devotion is the shield of faith and the food of piety in the midst of the errors and disorders of this century." In corroboration of this, have we not seen a general movement amongst the faithful to practise this providential devotion; only a few years ago a hundred thousand pilgrims, of all ranks, and of every nation, knelt at the tomb of St. Margaret Mary, at Paray-le-Monial; the banner of the Sacred Heart has been unfurled on the field of battle by the devout children of the Church; many bishops have consecrated their dioceses to the divine Heart; France made a solemn vow to raise a glorious shrine in Its honour in Paris on the smouldering ruins of Montmartre; finally, the much-loved Pius IX, yielding to the solicitations of the entire Catholic world, ordained that the whole Church should be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the 16th July, 1875, the anniversary of the apparition to Blessed Margaret. What a powerful motive have we not, then, for confidence in this devotion, and let each of us repeat those words that have so often been said: "the Heart of Jesus will save us!"

Let us be animated with a like faith, for it is the way of salvation. Would it not be closing our hearts to a universal and Catholic instinct, if we were to take no share in this great devotion? Rather let us unite in offering to the Sacred Heart of Jesus our fervent prayers and good works, and thus hasten the deliverance of the Church, and the conversion of our country.

God of mighty power,
Take Thy Vicar’s part ,
Oh, save him in this hour
For Jesus Sacred Heart.

EXAMPLE.

We read a very remarkable incident in the life of St. Gertrude, whose soul was so wonderfully enlightened by Almighty God, and to whom He revealed many sublime truths. On the feast of St. John she was favored with a miraculous vision; the beloved disciple appeared to her as at the Last Supper, leaning on the breast of the Redeemer, and at the same moment it was vouchsafed to her to experience something of the ineffable delights which flowed from the Sacred Heart of Jesus unto that of His Evangelist. St. Gertrude addressing him, said: "Apostle of love, you who had the inexpressible happiness of reposing on the bosom of Jesus, and listening to the beatings of His Heart, why, in your Gospel, did you not speak of the sentiments and adorable riches of this divine Heart?" "My daughter," replied St. John, "know that to me was confided the charge of instructing the infant Church concerning the person of the Incarnate Word, in order that she might transmit this fundamental truth to future ages. But God has reserved for these last times the knowledge of the delights and riches of the Heart of Jesus, so that by this means the world, when becoming old and chilled by the universal indifference of mankind, might be renovated by the fire of divine love."

Christians, we now live in the midst of those unhappy times of which the beloved disciple speaks. Alas! the fire of charity is extinguished in nearly all hearts; but let us take courage, devotion to the Sacred Heart will rekindle it. Then from all hearts will arise that cry which will be re-echoed by the whole Catholic world: "Glory to the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

PRAYER.

O Jesus 1 our loving and adorable Redeemer, in past ages the treasures of Thy Sacred Heart were but little known; this favor Thou didst reserve to these days, when by a wondrous act of Thy love, it has pleased Thee to make known to men the riches of this divine Heart. We will bless and praise for all eternity this Thine infinite mercy, aud beg of Thee the grace to profit by it. Amen.

PRACTICE.

Do some charitable deed today in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.