FEAST OF THE SACRED
HEART OF JESUS
(The Friday after the
Octave of Corpus Christi.) A celebration of God's love for all men, made
manifest from Advent to Corpus Christi, and a thanksgiving for all the divine
favors we have received.[1]
The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those
who fear him.
Judith, Chapter 11, Verse 1
Then Holofernes said to her: “Take courage, woman! Have no fear in your heart! I have never harmed
anyone who chose to serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of all the earth.
Beauty meets the beast while
he is reclining in bed. He wants her almost as much as Jerusalem.
Two Speeches[2]
Holofernes, servant of
the King of Assyria, tells the apple of his eye assuming she serves his king to
take courage. He is blinded to the fact that she serves the King of Kings, the
Lord of Lords and is a servant of Yahwah. Holofernes promises good treatment for
a servant of Nebuchadnezzar. Judith answer is a mixture of cunning and truth.
She states, “If you follow the words of your maidservant, God
will successfully perform a deed through you, and my lord will not fail to
achieve his designs.” She flatters and he loves it. In truth she states:
·
As for Achior’s speech in your council, we have
heard it…So then, my lord and master, do not disregard his
word, but bear it in mind, for it is true. Indeed our people are not punished,
nor does the sword prevail against them, except when they sin against their
God.
·
But now their sin* has
caught up with them, by which they will bring the wrath of their God upon them
when they do wrong; so that my lord will not be repulsed and fail, but death
will overtake them. Because their food has given out and all
their water is running low, they have decided to kill their animals, and are
determined to consume all the things which God in his laws has forbidden them
to eat.
·
They have decided that they would use the first
fruits of grain and the tithes of wine and oil, which they had consecrated and
reserved for the priests who minister in the presence of our God in
Jerusalem—things which the people should not so much as touch with their hands.
·
As soon as I, your servant, learned all this, I
fled from them. God has sent me to perform with you such deeds as will astonish
people throughout the whole earth who hear of them.
As the Israelites did indeed
hunger and thirst for food and water; let us hunger and thirst for our Lord in
the Eucharist.
Sacred Heart of Jesus[3]
ALTHOUGH many pious
souls had been accustomed, in the silence of their secluded lives, to venerate
the sacred Heart of Jesus with great devotion, still our divine Savior desired
that the boundless love of His Heart might be known by all men, and that a new
fire of love should thereby be kindled in the cold hearts of Christians. For
this purpose He made use of a frail and little-known instrument in the person
of Margaret Mary Alacoque, a nun of the Order of the Visitation, at
Parayle-Monial, France. One day, when, according to her custom during the
octave of Corpus Christi, she was deeply engaged in devotions before the
Blessed Sacrament, the divine Savior appeared to her, showed her His Heart burning
with love, and said: “Behold this Heart, which has so loved men that it has
spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its
love. In return I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their
irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in
this sacrament of love. And what is most painful to Me is that they are hearts
consecrated to Me. It is for this reason I ask thee that the first Friday after
the octave of Corpus Christi be appropriated to a special feast to honor My
Heart by communicating on that day and making reparation for the indignity that
it has received. And I promise that My Heart shall dilate to pour out
abundantly the influences of its love on all that will render it this honor or
procure its being rendered. Margaret obeyed, but met everywhere the greatest
opposition, until finally, when she became mistress of novices, she succeeded,
by the help of her divine Spouse, in animating her young charges to venerate
the sacred Heart of Jesus. But this was not sufficient for her zeal. She
persevered until she softened the opposition of the nuns, and kindled in all an
equal devotion towards the most sacred Heart. Thence the devotion spread to the
adjoining dioceses, where confraternities in honor of the most sacred Heart of
Jesus soon sprung up. Pope Clement XIII., after having instituted a most
rigorous examination of the whole affair, commanded that the feast of the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus should be solemnly celebrated throughout the whole
Catholic Church every year, on the first Friday after the octave of Corpus
Christi.
The Devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus
1. Object
of this Devotion.
In the divine Heart of
Our Savior we must not imagine an inanimate
heart, separated from the person of Christ, but the living heart of the
God-Man, the center of all His affections, the fountain of all His virtues, the
most touching emblem of His infinite love to man. The Church venerates the
cross, the blood, and the wounds of the divine Savior, by feasts which have their
proper masses and lessons, in order, by meditation upon these objects, to
awaken in us a more fervent devotion to the Redeemer. How much more worthy,
then, of our devotion is the sacred Heart of Our Savior, since all its
thoughts, movements, and affections aim at our salvation, and it is always
ready to receive truly penitent sinners, to pardon them, to restore them again
to God s favor, and make them partakers of eternal happiness!
2. Excellence
of this Devotion.
It is, writes the
venerable P. Simon Gourdan:
a.
A holy devotion, for therein men venerate in Christ
those affections and motions of His Heart by which He sanctified the Church,
glorified His Heavenly Father, and showed Himself to men as a perfect example
of the most sublime holiness.
b.
An ancient devotion of the Catholic Church, which,
instructed by St. Paul, the great apostle, has at all times acknowledged the
great beneficence of the divine and sacred Heart of Jesus.
c.
An approved devotion, for the Holy Scriptures
everywhere admonish us to renew the heart, by changing our lives ; to penetrate
it with true sorrow, to inflame it with divine love, and to adorn it by the
practice of all virtues. When, therefore, a new heart is promised us, by which
to direct our lives, that can be no other than the Heart of Jesus, which is to
us the pattern of all excellence, and which we must follow if we would be
saved.
d.
A perfect devotion, as being the origin of all other devotions.
For the Heart of Jesus is the inexhaustible treasury from which the blessed
Mother of God, and all other saints have derived their graces, their virtues,
their life, their spiritual goods. Filled first with treasures from this
source, different servants of God have instituted and established other
devotions.
e.
A profitable devotion, for thereby we have brought
before our eyes the very fountain of life and grace, and can draw directly from
it, increasing in ourselves all virtues, by adoring this divine Heart,
meditating on its holy affections, and endeavoring to imitate them.
f.
A devotion pleasing to God, for thus we adore God, as Christ
requires, in spirit and in truth, serving Him inwardly in our hearts, and
endeavoring to please Him. Finally it is:
g.
A useful devotion, since its whole object is to unite
us most intimately with Christ as members of Him, her head, to make us live by
and according to His spirit, to have one heart and soul with Him, and through
grace finally to become one with Him, which is and must be the object of all
devotions.
As this devotion is, then, so
excellent, we cannot sufficiently recommend it to all who are anxious for their
salvation. While everyone can practice this devotion, and adore the sacred
Heart of Jesus, by himself, there is a greater blessing when pious souls unite
and form a confraternity for practicing the devotion. Hesitate not, Christian
soul, to engage in this devotion, and to join in the adoration of that sacred
Heart of Jesus in which all men find propitiation, the pious, confidence;
sinners, hope; the afflicted, consolation; the sick, support; the dying, refuge
; the elect, joy and delight.
An Offering to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Whoever says the following prayer
before the image of the most sacred Heart of Jesus, with sincere sorrow for his
sins, gains each time an indulgence of one hundred days; and by saying it daily
for a month, he can on any one day gain a plenary indulgence, if he makes his
confession, receives communion, and prays according to the intention of the Church:
“My loving Jesus, I (N.N.) give Thee my
heart; and I consecrate myself wholly to Thee, out of the grateful love I bear
Thee, and as reparation for all my unfaithfulness; and with Thy aid I purpose
never to sin again.”
International
Widows’ Day[4]
International Widows' Day serves to recognize
widows and their unique situations worldwide. Widows are women whose husbands
have died. After their husbands have passed, many widows are forced to fight
for their human rights and overcome many obstacles to ensure their social and
economic development. It is estimated that there are over 245 million widows
worldwide, nearly half of which live in extreme poverty and are subject to
cruel violence.
International Widows' Day was declared by the United Nations and first celebrated on June 23, 2011 in an effort empower widows and help them to regain their rights, which have long been ignored and violated.
International Widows' Day was declared by the United Nations and first celebrated on June 23, 2011 in an effort empower widows and help them to regain their rights, which have long been ignored and violated.
Today do something to help a widow or single
parent. Check out www.flyingscarfs.com
St. John Bonfires[5]
St. John’s bonfire is traditionally lit on the night before the Feast. The mood surrounding this solemn vigil is merry, since the day was regarded as a sort of summer Christmas. The Roman ritual even includes a special benedictio rogi, or blessing of the bonfire, for the birthday of the Baptist:
Lord God, Father
almighty, unfailing Light who is the Source of all light: sanctify this new
fire, and grant that after the darkness of this life we may be able to come
with pure minds to Thee who art Light unfailing. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Domine Deus,
Pater omnipotens, lumen indeficiens, qui es conditor omnium luminum: novum hunc
ignem sanctifica, et praesta: ut ad te, qui es lumen indeficiens, puris
mentibus post hujus saeculi caliginem pervenire valeamus. Per Christum Dominum
nostrum. Amen.
The bonfire, incidentally, is an excellent symbol for John, the untamed
prophet who lived outside the city both literally and figuratively. It also
makes an interesting contrast with the Paschal candle. On Easter vigil, a
similarly "wild" fire representing Christ is made outside and is used
to light the Paschal candle, which is then carried into the church.
Significantly, in the Exultet the deacon praises this candle as the product
of a beehive, symbol of a virtuous and harmonious city. The idea seems to be
that Christ is also an outsider, though he succeeds through his death and
resurrection in bringing the light of truth into the very citadel of darkness.
On the other hand, John, who never lived to see Christ's triumph, can only bear
witness to the light from the outside.
Fitness Friday
Recognizing that God the
Father created man on Friday the 6th day I propose in this blog to
have an entry that shares on how to recreate and renew yourself in strength;
mind, soul and heart.
Daily Devotions/Prayers
The Global Rosary Relay for Priests begins at the stroke of midnight on June 23, this year, commencing in East Asia as it begins its journey around the world. We thank you for making this worldwide prayer event a success in the past as we now look forward to sharing in a greatly enhanced event for 2017, when over 100 lead shrines in more than 50 countries around the world will pray the rosary in their local language at their allocated time.
Here is a message to all priests for this important day: The Priesthood Is the Love of the Heart of Jesus and the Prayers for Priests, both for priests to say for themselves, and for lay people to say for priests.
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