Meditations for the Feast and Octave: of the Holy Heart of Mary: The Vigil of the Feast (7): The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Temple

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Temple

Of Divine Love

THE Holy Ghost, love uncreated and eternal, built this magnificent temple and fashioned it of the virginal blood of the Mother of love. It is dedicated to eternal love. It is infinitely more sacred, more noble, and more venerable than all the temples material and spiritual in heaven and on earth. In this temple, God receives worship praise and glory worthy of His infinite greatness. In this temple, the supreme Preacher continually teaches us most eloquently. It is an everlasting temple that shall have no end. It is the centre of all holiness, incapable of any profanation. It is adorned with all the Christian virtues in the highest degree, and with all the perfections of the divine nature, as with so many living images of the Eternal Godhead.

Let us rejoice in the vision of all the splendors of this wonderful temple and all the glories there rendered to the divine majesty.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus the Altar

Of Divine Love

The Heart of Jesus is not only the temple, but it is also the altar of divine love. On this altar, the sacred flame of omnipotent love burns night and day. On this altar, the great High Priest Jesus continually offers to the Most Holy Trinity manifold sacrifices and supreme oblation.

First, He offers Himself as a sacrifice and victim of love, the most holy and precious victim that ever was or can be. He sacrifices utterly and entirely His body, His blood, His soul, His whole life, all His thoughts, all His words, all His actions and all that He suffered on earth. Moreover, He makes that sacrifice perpetually, with a love that is boundless and infinite.

Secondly, He sacrifices everything the Heavenly Father has given Him, namely, all rational and irrational creatures, animate and inanimate beings, which He immolates as so many victims i n praise of His Father; but, above all, He sacrifices human beings, the good and the wicked, the blessed and the reprobate. The good He offers as victims of love to His divine goodness. The evil He immolates as victims of the wrath of God, to His awful justice: "Every victim shall be salted with salt" (Mark 9 , 48). Thus, the great High Priest sacrifices all things to the glory of His Father on the altar of His Heart. Therefore, He alone may rightly say: "I have joyfully offered all these things" (I Par. 29, 17)

Let us offer ourselves to Him and beg Him to rank us with the victims of His love, to consume us as holocausts in the divine flames burning incessantly on the altar of His Sacred Heart.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Censer

Of Divine Love,

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is not only the temple and the altar, but also the censer of divine love. It is the golden thurible described in the eighth chapter of the Apocalypse, which St. Augustine interprets as the loving Heart of Jesus. In that precious censer all the worship, praise, prayers, desires and affections of all the saints are placed, like so many grains of incense to be offered to God in the Heart of His Well beloved Son, ascending as a most pleasing odor to His divine majesty. There we also must place all our prayers, all our desires, all our devotions, and all the pious affections of our hearts, yes, our very hearts themselves, with all that we do and all that we are, beseeching the King

of all hearts to purify and sanctify all these things, and to offer them to His Father as a heavenly incense of sweet fragrance.

Thus, the Sacred Heart of our divine Lord is the temple, the altar, the censer, the priest, the victim of divine love, all for our sake, performing on our behalf the functions of those divine offices. 0 love so abundant! 0 my Saviour, how wonderful arc Thy loving kindnesses! Ah, what reverence and praise I should give to Thy loving Heart in return! 0 most blessed Heart of my Jesus, let me be naught but heart and love towards Thee and let all hearts on heaven and earth be immolated to Thy praise and glory!

Ejaculatory prayer:

Hail, priest of hearts and victim, hail! Alone Thou equal art to God. Most worthy Temple, Holy Grail, And Altar, holiest to laud. Ave, Sacerdos cordium, Ave, Deo par Victima, Templum Deo dignissimum, Et Ara sacratissima.

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The Sacred Heart of Jesus Loves Us with an Everlasting

and a Boundless Love

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Loves Us

With an Everlasting Love

THE divine Heart of our Saviour is filled with eternal love for us. To realize this truth, one should understand two truths about eternity: first, that it has neither beginning nor end: secondly that i t comprised in itself all ages, past, present and future; all the years, months, weeks, days, hours and moments of the past, present and future, and that it comprises them in a fixed and permanent manner, holding all those things united and joined together in one indivisible point. That is how eternity differs from time. Time runs on incessantly; as one moment arrives, another elapses and i s left behind, and so one never sees two moments of time together. But in eternity everything i s permanent; whatever is eternal always remains of the same extension.

That is why the eternal love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for us comprises two elements. First, this incomparable Heart has loved us from all eternity, before we were and could have known and loved it, even in spite of the vision and knowledge that it had of all our offenses which were present to its vision as they are now. Secondly, the amiable Heart of Jesus loves us at every moment with all the love wherewith it has ever loved us and shall love us throughout all eternity. Thus, we can see the difference between God's love and ours. Our love is a passing act; the love of God is constant. The love that God has exercised towards us for a hundred thousand years remains in His Heart together with that which He will dispense a hundred thousand years from now. Eternity implies that in God there i s nothing past nor

future, but all is present, so that God loves us now with all the love wherewith He has loved us from all eternity and wherewith He will love us forever.

0 eternity of love! 0 eternal love! If I had existed from all eternity, I should have been bound to love Thee from all eternity; and yet, my God, I have not begun to love Thee as I should. At least, let me begin now, 0 my Saviour, to love Thee as Thou wouldst be loved. 0 God of my heart, I give myself to Thee to be united to Thy ceaseless love for me from all eternity. I surrender myself to Thee to be united to the love wherewith Thou lovest Thy Father before all centuries, so as to love the Father and the Son with an eternal love.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Loves Us with

A Boundless Love

The loving Heart of Jesus loves us with a boundless love. The divine and uncreated love which possesses that adorable Heart, is nothing else but God Himself. Now, since God is unlimited, His love is also unlimited. Since God is everywhere, His love is everywhere, in all places and in all things. Therefore, the Sacred Heart of Jesus loves us not only in heaven, but He also loves us on earth. He loves us in the suit, in the stars and in all created things. He loves us in the hearts of all the denizens of heaven and in the hearts of all persons that have some measure of charity for us on earth. All love for ourselves existing in the hearts in heaven and on earth is a participation in the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Moreover, He loves us even in the hearts of our enemies despite the hatred they bear us. I even make bold to say that He loves us in hell, in the hearts of the devils and the damned, in spite of all their wrath and hatred, since the divine love is everywhere, filling heaven and earth like the presence of God.

0 boundless love, I plunge myself into thy fires and flames that fill all created beings, i n order to love my God and my Saviour in all places and in all things. 0 Jesus, I offer Thee all the boundless love of Thy Heart, of the adorable Heart of Thy Divine Father, the lovable Heart of Thy holy Mother, and of all the hearts that love Thee in heaven and

on earth. I ardently desire that all creatures of the universe be transformed into flaming fires of love towards Thee.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"How late have I loved Thee, 0 Goodness so ancient and yet so new, how late have I loved Thee." Sero te amavi, bonitas tam antiqua et tam nova, sero te amavi.

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The Sacred Heart of Jesus Is the Source of the Life of the God

man, of the Mother of God and of the Children of God

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Source

Of the Life of the God-man

THE adorable Heart of our Saviour is the source of the life of the Godman, and consequently is the source of all the thoughts and feelings of the Son of God on earth, of all the words He pronounced, of all the actions He performed, of all the sufferings He endured, and of the incomprehensible love wherewith He did and suffered all things for our salvation. Therefore, it is to Thy loving Heart, 0 m y Jesus, that our obligation is due. What shall we do to thank Thee? We can do nothing more pleasing to Thee than to offer Thee Thy most divine Heart. I offer it then to Thee, my Saviour, in union with the infinite love wherewith it hath accomplished so many wonderful things for our Redemption.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Source of

The Life of the Mother of God

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the source of the life of Mary, the Mother of God. When that admirable Mother was carrying her Beloved Son in her blessed womb, her virginal Heart was the source of the natural bodily life of her divine Child, but the Heart of that adorable Child was, at the same time, the source of the spiritual and supernatural life of His most worthy Mother. Hence the divine Heart of the Only Son of Mary was the source of all the pious thoughts and

feelings of His Blessed Mother, of all the sacred words she spoke, of all the good deeds she performed, of all the virtues she practised, and of all the pains and sorrows she suffered in order to cooperate with her Beloved Son in the work of our salvation.

Praise eternal, 0 my Jesus, to Thy divine Heard 0 my Redeemer, I offer Thee also i n thanksgiving for the great wonders of grace that Thy filial Heart hath wrought in Thy glorious Mother, I offer her maternal Heart flaming with love for Thee.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is Source of Life

Of the Children of God

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the source of life of all the children of God. Since it is the source of the life of the Head, it is also the source of life of the members; and since it is the source of life of the Father and the Mother, it is the source of life of the children. That is why we should regard and honor that benign Heart as the source and origin of all the good thoughts in the minds of all Christians, of all the holy words that have issued from their lips, of all the virtues that they have practised, and of all the toil they have borne for their sanctification as Christians.

0 my Saviour, may all these things be transmuted into immortal praise to Thy Most Sacred Heard 0 Jesus, since Thou hast given me that very Heart to be the source of my life, let it be, I beseech Thee, the sole source of all my feelings and affections, of all the faculties and functions of m y soul, and of all the use I make of my interior and exterior sensed In fine, let it be the soul of my soul, the spirit of my spirit, and the Heart of my heard Ejaculatory prayer:

"0 Heart of Jesus, source of all good, to Thee be praise and glory for ever.

0 Cor Jesu, Principium omnium bonorum, tibi laus, tibi gloria in aeternum!

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Three Hearts of Jesus Which Are But One Heart

The Divine Heart Of: Jesus

WE HAVE three Hearts to adore in our Saviour which, nevertheless, are but one single Heart by virtue of the hypostatic union.

The first is His divine Heart existing from all eternity in the bosom of His Adorable Father, which is but one Heart and one love with the love and Heart of His Father, and which, with the Heart and love of His Father, is the source of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when He gave us His Heart, He also gave us the Heart of His Father and of His adorable Spirit, hence His marvelous words: "As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you" (John 15, 9).

He simply means: "I love you with the same Heart and the same love wherewith I love m y Father. My Father loves Me with an eternal, boundless and infinite love; I love you also with a love that is eternal, boundless and infinite. My Father causes Me to be what I am, God like unto Himself and Only Son of God; and I make you to be by grace and participation what I am by nature and essence, that is to say, gods and children of God, seeing that you have but one and the same Father as I, a Father who loves you with the same Heart and the same love wherewith He loves Me: 'Thou hast loved them, as thou hast also loved me (John 17, 23)- My Eternal Father has constituted Me universal heir of all His goods: 'He hath appointed him heir of all things' (Heb. 1, 2); and I make you My c o - heirs: 'Heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ' (Rom. 8, 17); I promise to give you possession of all My treasures: 'He shall place him over all his goods' (Matt. 24, 47)- My Father finds all His pleasure and delight in Me; and I take My delight and pleasure in you: 'My delights were to be with the children of men"' (Prov. 8, 30

0 goodness! 0 love! 0 God of love, how is it possible for the hearts of men to be so hard and cold towards Thee who art all aflame with the fire of love towards them? 0, let all my joy and delight be in thinking of Thee, in speaking of Thee, in serving and loving Thee! 0 my All, let me be wholly Thine, and do Thou alone possess all that is in me.

The Spiritual Heart of Jesus

The second Heart of Jesus is His spiritual Heart, which is the will of His holy soul, a purely spiritual faculty, whose function is to love what is lovable and to hate what is hateful. But the divine Saviour so perfectly sacrificed His human will to His Divine Father that He never exercised it while on earth and will never exercise it even in heaven, but He sought uniquely and solely His Father's will, according to those words of His: I seek not my own will, but the will of him that sent me" (John 5, 30). I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me" (John 6 , 38). Now, it is out of love for us that Our Lord renounced His own will, in order to perform the work of our salvation solely by the will of His Father, in particular when He prayed to Him in the Garden of Olives: "Father, not my will, but thine be done!" (Luke 22, 42).

0 God of my heart, if for love of me Thou didst sacrifice Thy utterly holy and divine will, how much more should I renounce my own will for love of Thee, wholly depraved and corrupted as it is by sin! Ah, let me renounce it with all my heart forever, imploring Thee most humbly, 0 my adorable Redeemer, to crush it like a serpent full of venom and to establish in its place the rule of Thy divine will.

The Corporeal Heart of Jesus

The third Heart of Jesus is the Sacred Heart of His deified body, a furnace of love divine and of incomparable love for us. Since the corporeal Heart is hypostatically united to the Person of the Word,

320- Meditations 0n Various Subjects

It is enkindled with flames of infinite love for us. Its love is so intense that it constrains the Son of God to bear us continually in His Heart; to fix His eyes ever upon us; to take such a great interest i n the smallest details concerning us that He verily numbers all the hairs of our head, allowing not one of them to perish; to ask His Father that we might make our eternal abode within His bosom: "Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given me may be with me" (John 17, 24); and to assure us that, if we vanquish the enemies of His glory and of our salvation, He will make us sit with Him on His own throne, and will let us enter into possession of the same kingdom and the same glory that His Eternal Father has given Him.

Oh, how abundant and rapturous is the love of Jesus for such faithless and ungrateful'men as we! 0 Jesus, my love, either take away my life or let me live only to love Thee, to praise and glorify Thee unceasingly. Let me die a thousand deaths rather than willingly do anything to grieve Thee! Thou hast three Hearts which are but one and the same Heart, a Heart wholly devoted to loving me continually. Would that I possessed all the hearts in the universe that I might consume them in Thy holy love!

Ejaculatory prayer:

"I love Thee, 0 most loving Jesus, I love Thee, 0 infinite goodness, I love Thee with my whole heart and I wish to love Thee more and more." Amo te, amantissime Jesu, amo te, bonitas infinita, amo te ex toto corde meo, et magis atque amare volo.

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The Miracles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus