The Thirty-First Day of the Month of the Sacred Heart

Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Fourth Means of Obtaining Devotion to the Sacred Heart: a Great Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Mary has all power over the Heart of Jesus. She is the Mother of fair love: Mater pulchrae dilectionis. It is to her that we must address ourselves if we would have its flames enkindled in our hearts.

The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary are too much alike and too closely united for one not to lead infallibly to the other. There is this difference: The Heart of Jesus more particularly favors pure souls, while the heart of Mary purifies those which are not so by means of the graces which she obtains for them, and prepares them to be received within the Heart of Jesus. Sinners should never despair of obtaining this grace through Mary. She is the refuge of the miserable, the resource of the whole world. Without a tender love towards this Mother of mercy, we can never hope to obtain an entrance into the Heart of Jesus.

One day as St. Gertrude was repeating with great devotion those words of the Salve Regina: Illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte, "Turn, then, thine eyes of mercy towards us," the Blessed Virgin appeared to her, and showing her the eyes of the Infant Jesus whom she held in her arms, said: "These are the eyes full of mercy which I can turn at pleasure upon those who invoke me." Let us then cherish a tender love for Mary; we shall soon be inflamed with an ardent love for her Son. This is the recompense beyond all price which she obtains for all who are devoted to her. Every good has come and will come, to us through Mary alone: Omnia per Mariam. Whoever has found her has found life and salvation.

There can be no difficulty in approaching this tender Mother, for she tells us herself that she anticipates those who seek her and that she shows herself first to them. Yes, it is she who inspires us with the desire of loving and serving her in order that she may enrich us with all the treasures which are deposited in her hands. It is through her hands that every grace must pass which the Heart of Jesus designs to shed upon us.

Let us address ourselves to Mary and especially to her Heart, the perfect image of the Heart of Jesus; to that Heart which was so constantly united to the Heart of her Divine Son that it shared each moment His feelings, His joys, His labors, sorrows, and His love for us. Never shall we find Jesus without Mary nor Mary without Jesus. Invenerunt puerum cum Maria, Matre Ejus, "And entering the house they found the child with Mary, His Mother" (Matt. ii. 11).

Let us invoke Mary, especially by her Immaculate Conception, her dearest privilege which exempted her from the sad necessity of being for a single instant the enemy of her God, and let us be sure that she will never refuse us anything. Let us never separate the Heart of Mary from that of Jesus in our devotions. Let us honor and love them both from the bottom of our hearts. Let us devote and consecrate ourselves wholly to these amiable Hearts. Let us address our requests to God the Father through the Heart of Jesus and lot us approach Jesus by the Heart of Mary. We shall obtain everything from the Father by the Heart of the Son and everything from the Son by the Heart of the Mother.

Blessed Hermann never passed a day without paying his homage to the Heart of Mary, and every day of his life he received signal favors at her hands.

Blessed Marie of the Incarnation used no other means than this: she had recourse to the Heart of Mary to present her petitions to Jesus and to the Heart of Jesus to present them to the Eternal Father. The Blessed Virgin herself deigned to tell St. Gertrude how pleasing this practice was to her and how meritorious it was in the sight of God. On the eve of Christmas while this saint was reflecting with bitterness of heart that she had allowed the season of Advent to pass by without having done anything specially in honor of the Blessed Virgin, inspired by the Holy Ghost, she offered to Mary in reparation for this negligence the most noble and gentle Heart of Jesus, her Divine Son. The Mother of Mercy gave her to understand that she received this precious gift with gratitude and great joy, and that it incomparably surpassed in merit all other acts that she could have performed to honor Her.

O Mary, Mother of Grace, cast an eye of pity on our miseries and afflictions with which we are overwhelmed in this valley of tears. Pray to Jesus to open His Heart to us, and teach us to bury our sorrows and our pains in His Divine Heart, which while He was on earth was truly a sea of bitterness. Let it be enough for us to look upon this amiable Heart as the Jews once looked upon the brazen serpent, to be at once healed of all the maladies which afflict our souls.

Practice: As often as you assist at Holy Mass, offer to the Heart of Jesus the dispositions of His Blessed Mother as she stood at the foot of the cross. And, when you go to Communion, offer Him in like manner the dispositions of Mary and her holy transports at the moment of the Incarnation. He Himself taught this practice to St. Margaret Mary. You cannot doubt, then, that it is most pleasing to Him and that you can thus repair with great advantage all your coldness and backwardness in those sacred actions, the most important in spiritual life.

Ejaculatory Prayer: O Mary, I will give myself no repose until I have obtained from thee the knowledge and love of the Heart of Jesus.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.