Chapter 12: Beautiful Words on the Love of the Sacred: Heart of Jesus, Taken from the Thirty

Beautiful Words on the Love of the Sacred

Heart of Jesus, Taken from the Thirty

Sixth Chapter of Christian

Welfare(1)

"THOSE WHO HAVE WRITTEN on the devotion to Jesus Incarnate, living and dying for the salvation of all men, esteem it above all others, and assuredly with good reason. No matter what has already been said and might be said to demonstrate the excellence and the holiness of such devotion, it will never be praised according to its merits. Therefore, if you desire to be completely washed of your sins, delivered from all your vices and filled with virtue, cultivate a constant devotion to the person of your adorable Saviour. Lift up ,your heart and mind as often as possible, and plunge them into the loving Heart of Jesus, into that truly divine Heart, since, according to the Apostle, «in him dwelleth all the fulness. of the Godhead corporeally,»(2) and we are all able through this same Heart to have access to the Heavenly Father.

"Acquire the habit of recollecting your spirit within you, to draw it at the same time into the Heart of Him who has said: 'Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you."(3)

"In fact, in the Heart of Jesus are to be found all virtues in their highest perfection. You will find there mercy, justice, peace, grace, (1). St. John Eudes attributes the authorship of this work to Lanspergius, the saintly Carthusian Of Cologne. the book was written by Dom Dominic, a Carthusian of Treves. The passages quoted by St. John Eudes were borrowed from a French translation. tion of Christian Warfare published in 1 6 7 1 - Cf. Bainvel in Etudes, June 5, 1911, p. 606. (2). Col. 2, 9. (3). Man. 11, 28.

eternal salvation, the source of life, perfect consolation, and that true light which lighteneth every man, particularly him who, in his needs and sorrows, comes there seeking help.

"Finally, you may draw from the Sacred Heart all that your soul desires and you will never win salvation or grace except from that source. It is a furnace of divine love, intensely burning with the fire of the Holy Ghost, which purifies, inflames and transforms into itself all those desiring to be united with this most loving Heart. It is in the adorable Heart that are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (4) Therefore cling to it in such a manner that neither place nor company nor circumstance can prevent you from running to it as to a place of refuge where you will find only love and faithfulness, with the certainty that when all the hearts of men deceive and forsake you, and even though they fail in their response to you, the precious Heart of Jesus will never deceive nor abandon you. It is too faithful to commit an act of cowardice; it has too much love for you not to remember you; and the sufferings it endured for you will not permit it to overlook anything to achieve your salvation.

"If you wish to walk with safety in the heavenly Way and enter by the true door, seek none other than this loving Saviour. Rest assured that you will never ascend to the knowledge of His divinity except by way of His sacred humanity, using His Cross as a prop to uphold your steps and sustain your weakness.

"If you wish to acquire even greater spiritual possessions, without much effort on your part , surrender yourself entirely to Him and He will surrender Himself to you. Offer Him all your good works in union with His excellence. Enter into partnership with Him in loving trust. He will be pleased with the exchange. In uniting your merits to His, you will have everything in common, and He will share with you His immense treasures. 0 profitable exchange! 0 unparalleled interchange! What man would not willingly give a small piece of copper for a large mass of gold? Who would not exchange a pebble for a precious stone? You will be able to effect this spiritual exchange if you join all your words, all your actions, all you thoughts (4). COL 2, 3

Words from "christian Welfare" 59

and all your sufferings to those of Jesus. Thus, for instance, you will be able to say to Him: '0 my God and my Saviour, I offer Thee the slumber that I am about to take in union with that which Thou didst take while upon earth.' Or, when you receive some insult, say: '0 my adorable Saviour, I offer Thee this injury which I have just received, and I join it willingly to all the insults which Thou hast suffered on my behalf.' "In this manner, your merits, although very small in themselves, joined to the infinite merits of your Redeemer, will be made more noble and will be absorbed in His, and, as it were, changed into them, as a drop of water is transformed when it falls into wine." 60-