Part nine, Chapter 11: Twelve Methods of Practising This Devotion

Twelve Methods of Practising This Devotion

ALL that has been said in. the foregoing pages demonstrates.that the devotion to the most holy Heart of the Blessed Virgin is most firm and well-established, and that we are obliged by a countless number of reasons to render special honor and veneration to this Heart. Therefore we must now seek proper and suitable methods of doing so. Here are twelve principal recommendations:

I. If you wish to afford extreme happiness to the virginal Heart of Our Lady, so zealous for the salvation of your soul, bear and do what our Lord tells you in these words: "My son, give me thy heart;" (1) and "Be converted to me with all your heart (2) To that end make a firm and, true resolution to fulfil your solemn promise to God in baptism; to make a complete renunciation of Satan, of the works of Satan which are synonymous with sin, and of the pomps of Satan which are synonymous with the world; and to follow our Lord in His teaching, example and virtues. And in order to be converted to God not only in heart but with all your heart, cultivate an ardent desire (and ask Him for the grace to fulfil it), to transform all the passions of your heart and turn them toward His Divine Majesty, placing them at the service of His glory. For example, the passion of love should be directed towards loving only God and one's neighbor in God and for God; the passion of hate, towards hating only sin and all that leads to sin; the passion of fear, towards fearing nothing in the world except offending God; the passion of sadness, to the end of letting nothing sadden us except the sins we have committed against God; the passion of joy, towards seeking all our joy in the love and service of God, and in doing His most holy will everywhere and in all things; and so on with the other passions.

2. In order that our Saviour may perfectly possess each heart, listen to these holy words and practise them: Hoc sentite in corde vestro, quod et (1). Prov. 23, 26. (2). Joel 2, 12.

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in Corde Mariae, "Keep in thy heart the feelings which are in the Heart of Mary, the Mother of Jesus." These principal feelings are:

i. Horror and abomination for every kind of sin.

ii. Hatred and scorn for this corrupt world and everything pertaining to it.

iii. The lowest possible esteem, and even of scorn and hatred, toward self.

iv. Profound esteem, respect and love for all the things of God and His Church.

v. Veneration and love for the Cross, that is, for privations, humiliations, mortifications and sufferings, which are one of the richest treasures that a Christian soul can possess in this world, according to the oracle from Heaven: "My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations," (3) so that you may say with St. Paul: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."(4)

3. One of the most useful and important ways of honoring the most worthy Heart of the Queen of virtues is to strive to imitate and to implant in your heart a lively image of her holiness, meekness and forbearance, humility, purity, devotion, wisdom and prudence, patience, obedience vigilance, faithfulness, love and all its other virtues.

4. Offer your heart frequently to the Queen of all hearts consecrated to Jesus, and implore her to take full and complete possession of your heart so that Mary May give it entirely to her Son, fill i t with supernatural sentiments to adorn it with virtues, and mould it according to the Heart of the Divine Son and His Blessed Mother.

5. Assist the poor, widows, orphans and strangers, protect the helpless, console the afflicted, visit the sick and imprisoned, and perform other similar works of mercy. All these acts are most highly pleasing to the most merciful Heart of the Mother of Grace.

6. The greatest joy that we can afford the admirable Heart of Mary, all aflame with love for the souls which cost the Precious Blood of her Son, is to work zealously and devotedly for their salvation. If the hearts of the angels and saints in heaven rejoice for each conversion of a sinner on earth, the Queen of Angels and saints derives infinitely more joy from it than that of all the denizens of heaven combined because her heart possesses more love and charity.

7. Cultivate particular devotion to all the mints who enjoyed some special relationship with the most lovable Heart of the Mother of God, for example, those mentioned in Part Seven, Chapter Three. (3). James 1, 2.. (4). Gal. 6, 14

8. Remember what has been said above: that Our Saviour has given us His own divine Heart, along with the most holy Heart of His Blessed Mother, to be the model and rule of our lives. Make a careful study of this divine rule, therefore, in order to follow and keep it faithfully.

9. Our Saviour has given us His divine Heart, together with the holy. Heart of His Blessed Mother, not only to be our rule, but also to be our very Heart, so that as members of Jesus and children of Mary we may share but one heart with our adorable Head and our incomparable Mother. This privilege should help us to Perform all our actions with the Heart of Jesus and Mary, that is, i n union with the holy intentions and dispositions that motivated Jesus and Mary in all their actions. To this end strive earnestly, at least at the beginning of your principal activities, to renounce yourself entirely and to give yourself to Jesus so that you may become united with His divine Heart, which i s one and the same with the Heart of His Holy Mother; thus may you enter into its love, charity, humility and holiness, so that you may do all things in the holy dispositions which have always filled it.

10. Pay some special honor daily to the royal Heart of the sovereign Lady of the universe. This may be done through an act of devotion or a prayer offered for that intention, in imitation of Blessed Herman of the Order of St. Dominic, who each day used to recite an Ave Maria in greeting to the most amiable Heart of Mary.

Even though, following the example of this holy religious, you were to say only one Ave Maria each day in honour of the admirable Heart of the Mother of God, you would be doing something highly pleasing to her and most advantageous to your own soul, since the great Suarez, that wonder of learning and piety, said that he would rather lose all his knowledge than lose the merits of a single Ave Maria.

11. In all your affairs, necessities, perplexities and afflictions, have rescourse to the most benign Heart of Mary, regarding it as your refuge in every need, and as a refuge, fortress and safeguard which God has given you as a shelter in the midst of all the miseries engulfing man in this valley of tears, this place of exile and banishment. Yes, the most bountiful and gentle Heart of Mary is truly solarium exiIii nostri, "The solace and comfort of our exile." Whoever has recourse to it with respect and confidence will feel the marvellous effects of its incomparable goodness. There glows i n the maternal Heart of our most charitable Mother more love than in all the hearts of the fathers and mothers of all time past, present and yet to come.

Mary's Heart is constantly mindful of us and the little things that concern us. Her Heart is so filled with kindness, meekness, mercy and genrosity

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that never has anyone been known to invoke this Mother of Goodness in humility and confidence without receiving comfort in her presence.

It is a Heart full of wisdom and enlightenment which possesses a perfect understanding of all our needs and of all that is most fitting for us to have. It is a most generous Heart, strong and mighty to fight our enemies, to repulse and crush whatever oppresses us, to obtain from God whatever i t asks of Him, and to shower us with all kinds of blessings.

Finally, it is the Heart of our great Queen, our most bountiful Sister and our most amiable Mother, to whom all power is given in heaven and on earth and who holds in her hands for distribution to men all the treasures of her beloved Son, cui vult, quando, vult et quomodo vult, says St. Bernard; "to whomever she wills, whenever she wills and however she wills."

12. The twelfth means of honoring the admirable Heart of the Mother of Our Saviour is to celebrate its feast, or rather its feasts, with particularly marked devotion. I my "feasts" for there are several feasts of the most august Heart of our Heavenly Queen.

The first is celebrated in the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and in several other places on February 8th, and in a number of other communities and churches on the first day of June. (5)

The second is the feast of the most ardent longing of the virginal Heart for the birth of our Saviour, which is called the feast of the Expectation, and is observed on December 18th.

The third is the feast of the Sorrows of the Pure Heart of the Mother of Jesus, which i s celebrated on the Friday following Passion Sunday.

The fourth is the feast of the Resurrection of the Heart of Mary which was restored to life by the Resurrection of her Divine Son: "(Her) spirit (was) revived," (6) and overwhelmed with the greatest joy imaginable when this beloved Son visited her after His Resurrection. For that reason this feast is observed under the name of the Apparition of the Risen Jesus to His Most Holy Mother, on the first free day after the octave of Easter.

The fifth is the feast of the Joys of the Heart of Mary on July 8th.

There are in addition many others, for all feasts of the Blessed Virgin are really feasts of her Admirable Heart.

The feast of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated on December 8th, (5). The Congregation of Jesus and Mary and the Order of Our Lady of Charity, founded by St. John Eudes, still solemnize the Feast of the Holy Heart of Mary on February 8th. In the Universal Church the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is now celebrated on August 22nd. (6). Gen. 45, 27.

is the feast of the Creation or formation of her most holy Heart, which was fashioned by the almighty hand of God and filled with grace and love from the very first of its creation.

The feast of the Nativity of Mary is the feast of the birth of her Heart, which on that day began to live a life more holy than any other life.

The feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple commemorates the solemn and public dedication of her Heart to eternal Love, which is God Himself.

The feast of her angelic Marriage (7 )with St. Joseph is the feast of the divine betrothal of the two purest of Hearts, two virgin Hearts so closely united that they form but a single heart which loves God more thin do all the hearts of the Seraphim.

The feast of the Annunciation commemorates the greatest miracle of the marvellous Heart of this admirable Mother, which on that day becomes an unfathomable depth of wonders, where greater and more prodigious things take place than have ever happened or ever will happen, no matter how great or worthy of admiration, in all centuries past, present and yet to come.

The feast of the Visitation is the feast of the Magnificat and of the inspired words that came forth on that day from her blessed Heart so filled with the Holy Spirit.

Christmas is the feast of her Divine and Virginal Childbirth, the feast of the delights of her Heart, which is utterly suffused and exalted with joy and love for her lovable Infant upon beholding Him born before her eyes.

The feast of the Purification is the feast of the first public and solemn sacrifice which her Heart made to Almighty God of His Son, her dearest Child. It is also the feast of the humility of her Heart, when she took her place in the temple among the ordinary mothers, and joined the ranks of the poor in offering what the poor were accustomed to offer.

The feast of the Assumption commemorates the triumphs of her Heart, the feast of its most perfect and intimate union with the Heart of the Most Blessed Trinity; the feast of the glorification and crowning of her Heart as Sovereign ruler of all hearts.

Finally, all these solemnities are the feasts of the most holy Heart of the Queen of every heart, because, as we said before, her Heart is the source and origin of whatever is great, holy and admirable in each of these feasts. And thus, the feast of the Holy Heart of the Mother of God, which i s celebrated on February 8th, encompasses all the other feasts of (7). This feat is celebrated in some religious orders; on January 23rd.

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our holy Mother, for it is the feast of her Heart strictly speaking-the feast of this Heart which is the principle of all her holiness, all her holy virtues, all her holy mysteries, and all the glories and grandeurs that she will possess everlastingly in heaven: "All the glory of the King's daughter i s within." (8)

After that, judge for yourself how many great and marvellous things are honored by this holy solemnity of the Admirable Heart of the Queen of the Angels, and with what devotion it ought to be celebrated.

To all the above recommendations add meditation on the virtues, excellences and wonders contained in the admirable Heart of the Mother of the Saviour, which is an excellent way to motivate yourself to love and honorita (8). Ps. 44, 14 (9). Two series of meditations on the Holy Heart of Mary will be found in another volume of The Selected Writings of Saint John Eudes entitled, Meditations on Various Subjects, New York, 1947. P. 231 273-