Conclusion.
An important secret for aiding you to carry out the good resolutions you have formed during this month is to learn to enter into the Heart of Jesus, to leave the Heart of Jesus, and to re-enter the Heart of Jesus.
An important secret for aiding you to carry out the good resolutions you have formed during this month is to learn to enter into the Heart of Jesus, to leave the Heart of Jesus, and to re-enter the Heart of Jesus.
1. Enter into the Heart of Jesus by recollection and prayer. Make great account of prayer all your life, and, in it never lose sight of Jesus. Remember how strongly St. Theresa recommends prayer. Enter into it, like her, through Jesus Christ.
2. Leave the Heart of Jesus in order to go and labor for Jesus. Lave it as the Seraphim leave paradise without being absent from it. Preserve at least the desire of entering into it again, as speedily as possible. Live always in His presence. Carry Jesus with you, in order to communicate Him to the hearts of those with whom you converse. Leave Jesus, as the ray issues from the sun, without being detached from it and as Jesus left the bosom of His Father without ceasing to be united to Him.
3. Re-enter the Heart of Jesus as soon as possible. This you may do in two ways. The first is by frequently lifting up your mind and heart to Him. While occupied in your employments raise your heart to Jesus every hour or oftener saying, for example, ‘O Heart of Jesus, Thou art my strength, my joy, my happiness.’ The second manner of re-entering the Heart of Jesus is by examination and penance. Call back your heart from its wanderings and let it suffer some punishment for them. Lay your head at the foot of the Crucifix, and, if you have sinned by pride say to Him: ‘Trample this proud head beneath Thy feet, O Lord’' If by impatience: ‘Would that I had the lance which pierced Thy Sacred Heart that I might pierce my own with it and let forth all its bitterness.’ In every fault that you may have committed, whatever it be, have recourse to our Lord and say to Him: ‘I know well, my Savior, that Thou art also my Judge,.and therefore I would gain Thee, before Thou judgest me. Happy shall I be if I do penance before Thou punishest me, for I know well that Thou wilt not have the courage to punish me twice.’ Enter, leave, and reenter the Heart of Jesus in this manner. It is a means of remaining united to Him all your life.
Nor have you any reason to doubt that you will always be well received under whatever circumstances you have recourse to Him though you may have been guilty of some negligence in recalling Him to mind. One Friday, St. Gertrude turning towards her Crucifix, said with compunction: "Alas, my sweetest Lord, what sufferings you endured for my saltation on this day, and I, ungrateful wretch that I am, engrossed by other cares, have allowed this day to pass without calling to mind all that you deigned to suffer each single hour. You who are the life of my life, who for love of my love condescended to die!" Upon which our Lord replied to her: "I have supplied for all your negligence, for at each instant I have formed in my Heart all those sentiments which should have passed through yours, and my divine Heart waited with impatience for this return of yours towards me, in order to offer to God my Father all the merits that I accumulated and which could not be applied to your soul without this intention on thy part." The Saint added, "In this is manifested the most faithful love of our God who supplies in so admirable a manner for our forgetfulness and who appeases His Father by offering Him the regret which the soul conceives for her negligence.
Practice: There is no better way to close the practices suggested during this month than by one which our Lord Himself proposed to the St. Margaret Mary: "One Friday during Holy Mass, I felt a strong desire to honor the sufferings of my crucified Spouse. Upon this He told me that He desired that I should present myself every Friday a certain number of times day and night to adore Him upon the Cross, the throne of His mercy, and prostrate myself humbly at His feet, in the same dispositions in which the Blessed Virgin stood by the Cross during His Passion, and offer to Him those holy dispositions." Our Lord said also to St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi: "If every Friday you will honor with particular devotion the hour at which I expired on the Cross, you shall receive in return the choicest graces from my soul which I gave up at that moment to my Eternal Father. And though you may not always feel sensibly the effects of this grace, it shall remain constantly present within you."
Ejaculatory Prayer: May I live, no not I, but may the Heart of Jesus live in me!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
3 comments:
The responsorial psalm at Mass on Thursday was similar to your advices here."I will dwell in the presence of the Lord,in the land of the living".I find comfort in those words,a reality of never being alone in what can seem at times,a lonely world.And of course also, it is our response to God's presence.
Thank you for the June posts Father,very encouraging!This is a great blog,like a secret oasis.
Thank you Father for this month's walk! God bless.
Thank you so much for your beautiful blog, I am not Catholic (my grandmother and her family were) but have dreams with The Holy Mother clothed in light and also Jesus bundled in the brightest light. I do not know what any of this means but when I am sad I look at her face or even at her heart as is shown in some of the icons and I feel that her presence somehow has compassion for me. I often feel compelled to attend Mass but I do not know anyone who is Catholic and am quite intimidated. Thank you so much for all the beauty you have shared in the writings and your blog.
caroline grace
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