Chapter 19: Forty Flames or Aspirations of Love: Offered to the Loving Heart (1)

Forty Flames or Aspirations of Love

Offered to the Loving Heart

Of Jesus

1. 0 wondrous Heart of my Jesus, what joy it gives me to behold in Thee all the grandeur, all the riches and wonders of all beings created and uncreated!

2. 0 divine Heart, first object of the Eternal Father's love, as well as of Thine own, I give myself to Thee to be plunged deep into the abyss of that love forever.

3. 0 adorable Heart of the Only Son of Mary, my heart is filled with joy to see that Thou hast more love for that Blessed Virgin than for all created things, and that her love for Thee i s greater than for all created things together. I give my whole heart to that mutual love of Son and Mother.

IV. 0 most loving Heart of my Saviour, I offer Thee all that love which rises to Thee like a flame from the hearts of the divine beloved, begging them to kindle my heart with theirs.

V. 0 Jesus, lawful King and Lord of all hearts, be Thou the King of my heart, and let me be naught but heart and love towards Thee as Thou art to me naught but a Heart of love.

VI. 0 Jesus most good, whither shall I flee from Thy justice unless Thou hide me in Thy Heart?

V11 0 wonderful Heart, Thou source of my life, let me live only in Thee and by Thee!

VIII. 0 most loving Heart, how dearly have I cost Thee, seeing Thou hast bought me with the last drop of Thy blood! How my heart would rejoice to give Thee its last drop!

IX. 0 Heart most good, Thou hast laden me with graces and favors. Let all my heart-beats be so many acts of love and praise of Thee!

X. 0 most gentle Heart, Thou hast always loved me. Let my heart not have a breath of life except to love Thee!

X1. 0 most charitable Heart, who hast died to give me life, let me live with Thy life and die by Thy death for love of Thee!

X11. 0 Jesus, Thy Heart is aflame with most pure love for me; let me also love Thee, not for any temporal or eternal interest, but purely and solely for love of Thee!

XIII. 0 my Jesus, Thy Divine Father hath put all things in Thy hands, and Thy love holds them ever open to give me all. May all that I have and all that I am be also entirely Thine forever!

XIV. 0 God of my heart, may the love which caused Thee to die for me make me also die for Thee!

XV. 0 Heart so great, what is there greater than Thou? Who shall tell me that there is aught, either on earth or in heaven, than that to which I have given my heart?

XVI. 0 Heart of Jesus, it is Thou who hast given me Jesus to be my treasure, my glory, m y life, my all; let me also be all to Him!

XVII. 0 Only Son of God, how is it possible, being the Son of so good a Father, that Thou didst will to have so wicked a brother as I, who have so grievously offended Thy Most Loving Father?

XVIII. 0 Heart, full of wisdom and light, thinking of me and all the infinitesimal things that concern me, let my mind and my heart be also equally attached to Thee, and let me serve Thee faithfully in the smallest as well as in the greatest things!

XIX. 0 Heart most mighty, employ Thy divine power to destroy in my heart all that offends Thee!

XX. 0 Heart so great, loving me everywhere in Thy omnipresence, let me also love Thee everywhere and in all things!

XXI. 0 Heart most faithful in Thy love, who lovest Thy friends in adversity more than i n prosperity, make me love Thee more in times of affliction than of consolation!

XXII. 0 Heart of the King of the lowly, veritable abyss of hu-

Forty Flames of Love 81

mility, crush in me everything that is contrary to that holy virtue, and make it rule absolutely i n my heard!

XXIII. 0 Heart most obedient, who hast preferred to lose Thy life rather than disobey, make me love obedience, for without it I cannot please Almighty God!

XXIV. 0 Heart infinitely purer than the hearts of angels, the source of all purity, imprint on my heart a very special love of purity and a vivid horror of all that is contrary to it!

XXV. 0 Heart and furnace of flaming charity, destroy and consume in us all that is opposed to divine charity, and make it rule in all the children of God!

XXVI. 0 divine Heart, who could fathom the infinite hatred Thou hast for sin? Imprint it upon our hearts and make us hate nothing in the world but that infernal monster, which is the sole object of Thy hate.

XXV11. 0 Father of Jesus, love Thy Son Jesus for me. Make me share in that love Thou bearest Him!

XXVIII. 0 Jesus, love Thy Divine Father for me, and enkindle my heart with the love Thou hast for Him!

XXIX. 0 adorable Spirit, who art all love and charity, do Thou love my Most Gracious Father and my Most Loving Jesus for me, and transform my whole heart into love for Them!

XXX. 0 Jesus, Only Son of God and Only Son of Mary, love Thy divine Mother for me, and enkindle my heart with Thy wondrous love for her.

XXXI. 0 Mother of love, do thou love Thy Jesus and my Jesus for me, and make me share in the love Thou hast for Him.

XXXII. 0 blessed St. Joseph, St. Gabriel, St. Joachim, St. Anne, St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, St. Lazarus, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Martha, all ye holy apostles and disciples of Jesus, all ye holy martyrs, all ye holy priests and levites, all ye holy virgins and all ye other saints, especially ye beloved of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, do ye love Jesus and Mary for me, and pray them to model me after their example and to number me among the children of their Heart, and to associate me in your love for them forever and ever.

XXXIII. 0 my Jesus, since Thy Father hath given me all in giving me Thee, all the hearts of the universe belong to me; therefore I include them all in the desire to love Thee with all the love of which they were capable when Thou didst create them to love Thee.

XXXIV. 0 my Jesus, hast Thou not said that Thou didst come to cast fire upon the earth, and that Thou hast no greater desire than to kindle all hearts? How is it then that the whole earth is full of hearts like ice? Sin is the sole cause of man's frigid soul. 0 cursed sin, how gladly would I be reduced to nothingness that you might be annihilated in every soul!

XXXV. 0 Heart of my Jesus, great furnace of love, send Thy sacred flames into all hearts of the universe, to enlighten them with heavenly fire and enkindle them with Thy divine sparks!

XXXVI. 0 Good Jesus, who hast so loved the Cross for love of me, that Thy Holy Spirit calls the day of Thy great sufferings the day of Thy Hearts joy, make me love and embrace with my whole heart all the crosses that are in store for me out of love for my most precious Crucified!

XXXVII. 0 most loving Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who are but one Heart in the unity of mind, will and affection, make your most unworthy child have but one heart with you and with all hearts that are yours!

XXXVIII. 0 Heart of Jesus, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort hath given Thee to me and Thou art really my heart. Do Thou love for me everything that I should love and in the way that my God wills that I should love it.

XXXIX. 0 Heart of Jesus and Mary, inestimable treasure of manifold good, be my one treasure, my refuge and my protection! To you I have recourse in all my needs and necessities. When the hearts of all men deceive and abandon me, I have full confidence that the most precious and faithful Heart of my Loving Jesus and of His most sweet Mother will not deceive me and never will abandon me.

XL. Attend and hear, 0 vast furnace of love I It is but a tiny straw asking most humbly and earnestly to be immersed, absorbed, lost, swallowed up and consumed in Thy sacred flames for ever and ever!

Live Jesus and Mary

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For the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

First Meditation

The Vigil of the Feast

Dispositions Required for the Worthy

Celebration of This Feast

The First Disposition for the Feast of the Sacred Heart

OF JESUS IS A BURNING DESIRE To CELEBRATE IT DEVOUTLY

CONSIDER that the adorable Heart of Jesus is the principle and source of His Incarnation, B irth , Circumcision, Presentation in the Temple, and of all the other mysteries and states of His life as well as of all His thoughts, words, deeds and sufferings for our salvation. His heart burning with love prompted Him to perform all these things for us. Thus it is that we owe honor and love to this most amiable Heart for countless reasons, and to show our affection we must celebrate this Feast with all possible devotion.

Let us offer our hearts to the Holy Ghost, and earnestly beg Him to enkindle us with a burning desire to celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart with as much devotion as though we were to celebrate it only once on earth. This great desire constitutes the first requisite in preparation for this solemn Feast.

THE SECOND DISPOSITION is HUMILITY

The second disposition is one of deep humility. We must acknowledge our infinite unworthiness to take any part in the celebration of such a holy solemnity:

I. Because it belongs to heaven rather than to earth; and because the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a feast of the Seraphim rather than of sinful men.

2. Because, through our negligence, God's blessings have not borne the fruit they should have in our souls, although we have celebrated this Feast many times.

The divine Heart is the source of every grace that we have received from heaven throughout our lives; yet our ingratitude and faithlessness have rendered these precious gifts fruitless and ineffectual.

May these thoughts inspire us to profound humility. Let us enter again and again into a true spirit of penance, which will prompt us to detest our sins, to excite genuine contrition in our souls, and to make a good confession to purify our hearts so that we may become worthy recipients of the light and grace necessary for a holy celebration of this Feast.

The Third Disposition is Union with the Three Divine

Persons of the Blessed Trinity, the Blessed Virgin

Mary, and the Angels and Saints

As the third disposition we must offer ourselves to die Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to all the angels and saints, especially to our guardian angels and our patron saints. We must implore them to prepare our hearts and to invite the heavenly Court to celebrate this Feast with us. Let us ask them to make us

their associates and sharers in their ardent love for the most adorable Heart of Jesus.

Ejaculatory prayer: Thanks be to Thee, Lord Jesus, for the ineffable gift of Thy Sacred Heart. Gratias tibi, Domine Jesu, super inenarrabili dono Cordis tui.

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Second Meditation

The Day of the Feast

The Gift of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Us

JESUS HAS GIVEN Us His SACRED HEART

ADORE and consider our most lovable Saviour in the excess of His goodness and in the generosity of His love towards us. Consider attentively His boundless beneficence. He has given us life and all the benefits that spring from the gift of life. He has given us His Eternal Father to be our True Father, His most holy Mother to be our dear Mother, His angels to be our protectors, and His saints to be our advocates and intercessors. He has given us His Church, our second Mother, together with all the sacraments of His Church for our salvation and sanctification. He has given us all His thoughts, words, actions and mysteries, all His sufferings, and His very life which He spent and sacrificed for us, even to the last drop of His Precious Blood.

Moreover, He has given us His most lovable Heart, the principle and source of all other gifts. The charity of His divine Heart impelled Him to emanate from the adorable bosom of His Father, and come upon earth so that He might give us all these priceless favors. This Heart, humanly divine and divinely human, merited these graces by His sufferings, endured for us on earth.

We Should Give Our Hearts to Jesus

How shall we repay our loving Redeemer for so much love? We must render love for love. I n return for the gift of His Sacred Heart we must give Him our hearts without reserve. To return Our Lord love for love, we must offer our love wholly and completely to Him. He has given us His Heart for all eternity; we must give Him ours forever. He has given us His Heart with infinite love; let us give Him ours in union with His infinite love. He is not satisfied with giving us His own Heart, He has also given us the Heart of His Eternal Father, the heart of His most holy Mother and the hearts of all His angels and saints. He even gives the hearts of all mankind who are commanded under pain of eternal damnation to love us as He has loved us: Hoc est praeceptum meum ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos. ( 1 )

Let us also offer Him in thanksgiving the Heart of His Eternal Father, the Heart of His holy Mother, the hearts of all the angels and saints and of all men; these are ours to give as though they belonged to us. St. Paul assures us that with the gift of His Son the Eternal Father has given us all things: Omnis cum ipso nobis donavit,( 2 ) and that all things are ours: Omnia vestra sunt. (3) But above all let us offer Him His own Heart; He has given it to us; therefore it is ours and is the most acceptable offering we could make to Him. It is His own Heart and at the same time the Heart of His Eternal Father, one by unity of essence. It is also the heart of His most holy Mother, whose Heart i s one with His by unity of will and affection.

Ejaculatory prayer: Let us give thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for his ineffable gifts. Gratias infinitas super inenarrabilibus donis ejus. (I). John 15, 12. (2). Rom. 8, 32. (3). 1 COR- 3, 22 90-

Third Meditation

The Gift of This Feast Is a Great Favor from Our Lord

Excellence of the Feast of the Sacred Heart

LET US ADORE the incomprehensible goodness of our most loving Redeemer in giving us this holy Feast. It is, indeed, an extraordinary grace.

To understand it at all adequately, we must remember that the feasts celebrated by Holy Church during the course of the year are fountains of sanctification and blessings, but this Feast is a veritable sea of grace and holiness. The Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus constitutes an immense ocean of feasts, because it commemorates the principle of all the other feasts celebrated by Holy Church. It also is the festival of the prime source of everything that is great, holy and venerable in each of the other feasts.

It is our duty, then, to render infinite thanks to our Saviour for His goodness, and to invite the Blessed Virgin, all the angels and saints and all creatures to unite with us to praise, bless and glorify Him for this ineffable favor.

We should also dispose our souls to receive the graces He wills to communicate to us during the solemnity of this wonderful Feast. We must make a strong resolution to do everything in our power and to employ all our affections and every means possible to continue to celebrate i t appropriately and devoutly during the Octave.

Our Duties TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

Why has the King of all hearts given us this Feast of His most lovable Heart? Solely that we may perform our duties to Him. We have four principal duties to fulfil.

The first duty is adoration. Let us adore the Heart of Jesus with all our heart and all our strength. It is infinitely worthy of adoration because it is the Heart of God, the Heart of the O nlybegotten Son of the Eternal Father and of God made man. Let us adore this precious Heart, offering I t all the adoration ever accorded to It in heaven and on earth. 0 my Saviour, may the whole universe unite in adoration of Thy divine Heart! I willingly consent to be reduced to nothingness now and forever, by means of Thy grace, so that the Sacred Heart of Jesus may be incessantly adored by the whole universe.

Our second duty is to praise, bless, glorify and thank His infinitely generous Heart for Its tremendous love for the Eternal Father, His most holy Mother, all the angels, all the saints, and all creatures, especially ourselves. Let us also thank Him for all the gifts, favors and blessings poured out from this immense sea of graces upon all things created, particularly upon us. 0 most sublime Heart, I offer Thee all the praise, glory and thanksgiving rendered Thee in heaven and on earth, i n time and eternity. May all hearts praise and bless Thee forever!

The third duty is to ask pardon of His kind Heart for all the sorrow and suffering endured for our sins, and to offer in reparation all the satisfaction and joys given to Our Lord by His Eternal Father, by His Blessed Mother and by all ardent and faithful hearts. Let us accept out of love for the Sacred Heart all the trials, sorrow and affliction which may come upon us.

The fourth duty is to love this divine Heart with all possible affection and fervor in the name of those who do not love It and to offer It the entire love of all hearts that belong to It. 0 Heart all - lovable and all-loving, when shall I begin to love Thee as I should?

I am under countless obligations to love Thee; yet, alas, I realize that I have not even commenced. Grant me the grace to begin straightway to love Thee. Destroy in my heart whatever is displeasing to Thee and establish instead the reign of Thy holy love.

Ejaculatory prayer: God of my heart, my portion, Jesus forever. Deus cordis mei, pars mea, Jesus in aeternum. 93-