Chapter 9: The Sacred Heart of Jesus is One with the: Heart of the Father and the Holy

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is One with the

Heart of the Father and the Holy

Ghost; the Adorable Heart of

Blessed Trinity is a Furnace

Of Burning Love for Us

CHRISTIAN FAITH TEACHES that there are three Persons in the adorable mystery of the Holy T rinity ; three Persons who have but one and the same divinity, one and the same power, wisdom, goodness, one and the same mind, will, and even one and the same heart. Thence it is that our Saviour, as God, has but one and the same Heart with the Father and the Holy Ghost; and as man, His humanly divine and divinely human Heart is but one also with the Heart of the Father and the Holy Ghost, by a unity of mind, love and will. Therefore to adore the Sacred Heart of Jesus is to adore the Heart of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; to adore a Heart that is a burning furnace of love towards us. Into that furnace we must plunge so as to burn there forever. Unhappy they who shall be cast into the terrible furnace of eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels, but blessed are they who shall be thrown into the eternal fire of divine love which enkindles the adorable Heart of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost for our sake. That we may stir ourselves to plunge i n wholeheartedly, let us picture what that fire and that love are.

If you desire to learn the exact nature of the love of the paternal Heart of the divine Father of Jesus, listen to St. Paul: Proprio Filio non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum. "He that spared

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not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all."(1) The Father sent His Only-begotten Son into this world to testify to us His love in a wondrous way. Before sending the Redeemer He knew full well how we would treat Him. He knew that, as Jesus must be born on earth to raise men up to heaven, His divine Mother would seek shelter for His birth and would find no place to lay His infant head. Non erat locus in diversorio.(2) He knew that, as soon as He was born, men would seek to slay Him, and that He would be compelled to flee and hide away in a foreign country. He knew that when He began to teach and preach the word of His Father they would regard Him as a mad man, they would repeatedly take up rocks to stone Him, and would lead Him into a high mountain to attempt to dash Him to destruction. He foresaw that they would bind and shackle Him like a thief, drag Him through the streets of Jerusalem like a criminal, subject Him to endless insults and torments and condemn Him to die the cruellest and most infamous death. After He had risen, they would endeavor to stifle any growing belief in His Resurrection. After He had established the Church and Sacraments to apply to souls the fruits of His Passion and death, even the majority of Christians would misuse these Sacraments, profane them and make them serve to their greater condemnation. Finally, He knew that in spite of His labor, sufferings, and death, too many souls would contemn His Precious Blood, making void and useless all that He accomplished for their salvation, because they would perish miserably. "Thou seest all these things, 0 adorable Father, and yet Thou dost not hesitate to send us Thy W ell - beloved Son. Who hath constrained Thee to do this? It is the utterly incomprehensible love of Thy fatherly Heart for us. 0 Father of mercies, it seems almost as if Thou dost love us more than Thyself and Thy Son (Thy Son being but one with Thee). Seemingly, for love of us, Thou hatest Thy Son, hence Thyself (Thou being but one with Him). 0 exceeding, inconceivable goodness! 0 wondrous love! There is some. thing of that infinite love of the loving Heart of the Eternal Father for us." (I). Rom. 8, 32. (2). Luke 2, 7.

Would you now behold the incomprehensible love of the divine Heart of the Son of God? Hear Him speak: Sicut dilexit me Paler, e: ego dilexi vos. "As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you."(3) My Father so loves you that for love of you He hath surrendered me to death, the death of the Cross; and I so love you that for love of you I abandoned myself to the powers of darkness and to the wrath of my mortal enemies, the Jews: Haec est hora vestra et polestar tenebrarum.(4) 0 m y Saviour, well may I say to Thee, with Thy faithful servant, St. Bonaventure, that Thou so lovest me that seemingly Thou dost hate Thyself for me: Domine, in tantum dilexisti me, ut te pro me odisse videaris.(5)

Let us come now to the love of the Holy Ghost, who is the Heart of the Father and the Son. When this divine Spirit formed the GodMan in the sacred womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary to give Him to us, did He know what we were to do? Did He know all the outrages and cruel deeds that men were to perpetrate against Him? Did He know that men would bend all their energies to destroy His wonderful masterpiece, the God-Man? Yes, He knew it well. Yet He did not hesitate to form Him in Mary's womb, to let Him be born for us, to appear in the form of a dove above His head during His Baptism i n the waters of the Jordan, to make us recognize Him. He did not hesitate to lead His Son into the desert to do penance for our sins, to urge Him to preach the Holy Gospel and to proclaim to us the truths of heaven: Spiritus Domini super me; propter quod unxit me, evangelizare pauperibus misit me.(6) He did not hesitate to sacrifice Him on the Cross for our redemption: Per Spiritum sanctum semetipsum obtulit.(7) 0 love that hath no equa! 0 spirit of love and charity, bear with me when I say that seemingly Thou hast more love for man as sinner and culprit than for the God-Man who is the Holy of holies; for a slave of Satan than for the Only- begotten Son of God; for a firebrand of hell than for the King of heaven. (3). John 15, 9. (4). Luke 22, 53 (5) In stimulo amoris, part ia Cf. Officium D. Cordis, 7th day within the Octave, lesson 4. (6). Luke 4, 18. (7). Heb. 9, 14.

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O wonder without parallel! Who has thus bound Thee in a spell? Pardon me, 0 adorable Spirit, if I speak thus, but is it not true that the exceeding great love Thou hast for us seems to have cast a spell over Thee as well as over the Divine Father and His Only Son? How true is the saying, Amare et sapere vix Deo conceditur!

Even so do the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost love us: Sic Deus dilexit mundum;(8) even thus their divine Heart is a burning furnace of love for us.

What then shall we do to acknowledge such goodness? What dost Thou ask of us, 0 God? Do we not hear His voice calling to us, calling, calling, for so long? Fili, praebe cor tuum mihi: "My son, give me thy heart." (9)

An eminent prelate, John Zumarraga, first Archbishop of Mexico, in the Indies of America (New Spain), wrote to the Chapter of his Order, assembled at Toulouse in 1532. According to the report of Drexelius of the Society of Jesus, the Archbishop narrated that before the inhabitants of the city of Mexico were converted, they worshipped the devil through idols. He exercised such a cruel tyranny that he obliged them to slaughter each year twenty thousand little children, boys as well as girls, and to cut out the heart of each child to be sacrificed to Satan on a fire of red-hot coals as incense. If in Mexico City alone the hearts of more than twenty thousand young children were immolated to Satan, you can imagine how many were sacrificed to him every year throughout the whole kingdom of Mexico.

We worship a God who does not ask of us things so strange. True, He asks for our heart, but He has no desire that it be cut from our body. He is satisfied if we give Him our affections, especially love and hate: our love to love Him above all things, with all our strength; our hate to hate only sin. What is sweeter than to love infinite goodness from which we have received every kind of blessing? What is easier than to hate the most horrible thing in the world and the sole cause of all our evils? Surely, if we refuse to give our heart to the divine Saviour, who asks us constantly for (8). John 3, 16. (9). Prov. 23, 26.

it in a way so gentle and engaging, a heart moreover which belongs to Him for countless reasons, all those pagans who sacrificed to the devil the hearts of their dear children will rise up and condemn us on the day of judgment We shall be utterly cast into confusion when the lawful King of our hearts points to the poor idol-worshippers and says to us: "Behold these people who have torn out their children's hearts of living flesh to offer them to Satan, and you have refused me the love of your hearts." We must not draw this reproach upon ourselves. Let us give our hearts wholly and irrevocably to Him who created them, who redeemed them, and has given to us His own Sacred Heart so many times.

One of the fathers of the Society of Jesus, in his history of the Crusades for the deliverance of the Holy Land, reports the following incident. In the year 1098, Geoffrey de la Tour, a nobleman from Limoges and one of the most valiant of the Christian knights, one day heard the roar of a lion, which sounded like a cry of pain.

Immediately he entered a near-by wood and ran to the spot from which the roaring came. There he saw a horrible sight. A huge serpent had wound its coils around the lion's body and legs, so that it was powerless to defend itself. The serpent was darting its venemous tongue, trying to strike the lion in a vital spot.

Geoffrey rushed forward with his sword and killed the snake without wounding the lion. The poor beast, finding itself freed and recognizing his deliverer, came to thank the knight, by fawning and licking his feet. From then on, the lion attached itself to the man who had saved its life. It followed him everywhere like a faithful dog, never harming anyone, but ready to turn on a man who might attack its master. But what is more wonderful is the sequel. When Geoffrey sailed to return to France after the Crusade, the captain of the ship would not allow the lion to come aboard, so the faithful beast, plunging into the sea, kept on swimming in the wake of the ship until its strength failed and i t sank, thus showing that it preferred to drown rather than to be parted from its benefactor.

It should make us ashamed to have to learn the lesson of true gratitude from a wild animal. Must we Christians be taught by dumb beasts what we owe to God, our Sovereign Benefactor? 0 my

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Saviour, Thou has freed me from the coils of the infernal serpent. Thou hast given Thy life to deliver me from the eternal death of hell, and enable me to enjoy everlasting happiness in heaven. Let me be all Thine; let me live only for Thee; let me follow Thee everywhere. May all the faculties of my soul be linked inviolably to Thy divine will. Let me have no thoughts but Thine; let me have no hate except for sin, no love but for Thee. Let me die many deaths rather than ever be separated from Thee. 46-