Chapter 19: Forty Flames or Aspirations of Love: Offered to the Loving Heart (2)

Fourth Meditation

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Is Our Refuge, Our Oracle, and

Our Treasure

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is Our Refuge

IN THE FEAST we are celebrating our most loving Saviour has given us His Heart, not only as the object of our homage and adoration, but also as our refuge and our shelter. Let us resort to this haven in all our undertakings and seek therein our consolation in our sorrows and afflictions. Let us place ourselves in the shadow of its protection against the malice of the world, against our own passions, and the snares of the devil; let us retire to this shelter of goodness and mercy to shield ourselves from all the perils and miseries of life. Let us seek refuge in the Sacred Heart, in the tower of strength, where we may escape the vengeance of divine justice for our sins which caused the death of the very Author of life. May this most benign and generous Heart be our shelter and our refuge in all our necessities!

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is Our Oracle

Our divine Lord has given us His Heart also to be our oracle. How much more valuable is this gift than the first oracle which was placed in the tabernacle of Moses and afterwards in the temple of

Solomon! The first oracle was confined to one place, but ours is to be found wherever our Saviour i s present. The former was in existence but a few centuries; ours will last until the end of time. The oracle of Old Law spoke by the voice of an angel, but the oracle of the New Law is the very voice of Christ Himself. 0 Jesus, Thou dost speak heart to heart, teaching us Thy will, resolving our doubts, smoothing our difficulties when we have recourse to Thy Sacred Heart with faith, humility and confidence.

If we wish to know what God asks of us upon different occasions, if we have a difficult task to undertake, if we are in doubt or perplexity, let us have recourse to the Heart of Our Lord, celebrating Holy Mass in His honor or else receiving Holy Communion. Thus we shall experience.the consoling effects of His goodness.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is Our Treasure

Our most lovable Redeemer has also given us His most loving Heart to be our treasure. It is an immense and inexhaustible treasure which enriches heaven and earth with infinite blessings. Let us draw from this treasure whatever we need to pay our infinite debts to divine justice for our failings. Let us offer the most Sacred Heart in satisfaction for our numberless sins, offenses and negligences.

If we lack some virtue, we must draw upon the treasure house of all virtues, the Sacred Heart of Jesus. If we need humility, let us beg Him to impart to us a share in His profound humility. If we need charity, let us implore Him by His most ardent charity to give us perfect charity. Likewise we may take each virtue in turn.

When we need a special grace to meet certain circumstances, let us ask Our Lord through His most benign Heart to grant it to us from our treasure house.

If we desire to help the souls in purgatory, let us offer God our precious treasure that He Himself may take from it the price due HIS justice.

When the poor beg for alms, we should ask the Sacred Heart the grace to respond to their appeal and give them a share in our heavenly treasure by saying this prayer: "0 most benign and generous Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon all those who suffer." When people ask to be remembered in our prayers, or make any request of us, we should lift up our hearts to Christ, our treasure, saying with true confidence and with deep humility: "0 loving Saviour, arouse in me the feelings of Thy charitable Heart toward all who come to me for help." The heart of every man is attached to whatever is his treasure. Let us so direct our life that all the affections of our heart may be concentrated on the greatest of all treasures, the most amiable Heart of Jesus.

Ejaculatory prayer: 0 God of my heart, my love, Jesus forever. Deus cordis mei, amor meus, Jesus in aeternum.

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Fifth Meditation

THE Sacred Heart of Jesus Is the Perfect Model and Rule

of Our Lives

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is Our Perfect Model

WE SHALL never be able to understand adequately and esteem at its full value the inconceivable grace Our Lord has granted us in giving us His divine Heart. Let us picture a man who was such a favorite of the king that he could truthfully say: "The king's heart belongs to me." What happiness and joy to be so favored! But we have infinitely more than the heart of an earthly king. We have the Heart of the King of kings, who loves us so ardently that each one of us can truly say: "The Heart of Jesus belongs to me." Yes, this admirable Heart is mine. It is mine because the Eternal Father has given it to me; i t is mine because the Blessed Virgin has given it to me; it is mine because He Himself has given it to me, not only to be my refuge and shelter in my needs, to be my oracle and my treasure, but also to be the model and rule of my life and of my actions. I wish to study this rule constantly so as to follow i t faithfully.

I must consider what the Heart of Jesus hates and what it loves, in order to hate only what i t hates and love only what it loves. The only thing it hates or ever shall hate is sin. Did His gentle Heart feel any hatred for the miserable Jews who persecuted Him so unjustly or for the executioners who treated Him so cruelly? No, He never experienced the emotion of hatred. On the contrary, He besought His

Eternal Father to pardon His executioners and even excused the Most Outrageous of all crimes.

I wish to follow the Divine Rule for love of Thee, my Saviour. I will hate nothing but sin; I will love all that Thou lovest, even my enemies. With the help of Thy grace I will do all the good I can to those who seek to harm me.

Sentiments That Should Fill Our Hearts in Imitation

Of the Heart of Jesus

My rule tells me that I must have in my heart what is in the Heart of Our Lord: Hoc sentite i n cordibus vestris quod et in Christo Jesu. ( 1 ) These sentiments are:

I. His affection for the person and will of His Eternal Father. He so loves His Father that He has sacrificed Himself and is still prepared to sacrifice Himself a hundred thousand times for His glory. His love for the divine will is so great that never once in the course of His life did He prefer His own will but found His entire satisfaction in doing His Father's will: Meus cibus est ut faciam voluntatem ejus qui misit me. ( 2 )

2. Another sentiment of His Heart is horror of sin. He hates evil to such a degree that He delivered Himself to the wrath of His enemies and to the torments of the Cross to crush the infernal monster.

3. A third sentiment is His esteem for the Cross and for suffering which He loves so tenderly that the Holy Ghost speaking of His Passion called it the day of His Heart's joy: In die laetitiae cordis ejus us. ( 3 )

4. His love for His Mother is the fourth sentiment of His divine Heart. He loves her alone more than all His angels and saints together. (1). Phil. 2, 5. (2). John 4, 34 (3). Cant. 3. 11.

5. There is also a sentiment of charity for us. He so devotedly loves us that "it seems," says St. Bonaventure, "that He hates Himself for us." In tantum me diligis, ut te pro me odisse videaris.

6. Lastly there is the sentiment of His Heart towards the world. He hates it as something accursed and outcast, openly declaring that it has no part in His prayers: Non pro mundo rogo,(4)and that His children are not of the world: De mundo non sunt sicut et ego non sum de mundo. ( 5 )

Such are the Divine Rules I wish to observe for love of Thee, my Saviour. I long to love God with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my strength. I long also to find my satisfaction i n following in all things and everywhere His most adorable will. I long so to abominate all kinds of sin, that by means of Thy holy grace I may rather die than ever consent to it. 0 my Jesus, make me love crosses and afflictions that I may seek all my joy in them for the love of Thee and that I may say with St. Paul: Repletus sum consolatione; superabundo gaudio in omni tribulatione nostra. (6) Make me a sharer in Thy very great love for Thy holy Mother that she after Thyself may be the center of m y veneration and fervent devotion. Impress upon my heart the hatred Thou hast for die world. Make me detest it as a veritable antichrist which is always opposed to Thee and has crucified Thee so relentlessly. Grant, I beseech Thee, 0 God of my heart, the grace, that for the love of Thee I may always preserve in my soul an entire and perfect charity for my neighbor. This is the rule of rules: Quicumque hanc regulam secuti fuerint, pax super illos. ( 7 )

Ejaculatory prayer: 0 Sacred Heart of Jesus, law and rule of our heart. 0 Cor Jesu, lex et regula cordis nostri. (4). John 17, 9. (5). John 17, 16. (6). 2 Car. (7). 47 Gal. 6, 16.

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Sixth Meditation

Jesus Has Given Us His Sacred Heart to Be Our Heart

THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS is GIVEN TO US TO BE

Our Heart

THE SUN OF GOD gives us His Heart not only to be the model and rule of our life, but also to be our heart, so that by the gift of this Heart, immense, infinite and eternal, we may fulfil all our duties to God in a manner worthy of His infinite perfections. We have three obligations in regard to God: I. To adore His divine grandeur; 2. To render Him thanks for His unspeakable gifts; 3. To implore Him to grant through His divine generosity all the necessities of soul and body.

How are we able to discharge these duties in a manner worthy of God? We are utterly unable to do so. Even if we had the minds, the hearts and the strength of all angels and men, and if we were to use them to adore, thank, and love God and to satisfy His divine justice, we could accomplish absolutely nothing to discharge our obligations as creatures of God. We have, however, received from our Divine Saviour the gift of His adorable Heart which is the perfect means of fulfilling all these duties. We should employ the Sacred Heart as if it were our Own heart, to adore God fittingly, to love Him perfectly, and to satisfy all our obligations adequately so that our homage and love may be worthy of His supreme majesty. Eternal and infinite thanks be rendered Thee, 0 Good Jesus, for the infinitely precious gift of Thy divine Heart. May all the angels, saints, and all creatures bless Thee forever!

How WE SHOULD MAKE USE OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

What happiness and what wealth to possess the divine Heart of Jesus! What a treasure to have at our disposal! How great is our obligation, 0 my Saviour, because of Thy incomprehensible goodness! Thou dost ask the Eternal Father to make us one with Him and with Thee, as Thou and He are but one. Consequently Thou dost wish to be one in heart with Thee and with Thy Adorable Father. Thou hast willed to be our Head, and hast willed us to be Thy members and to have but one heart. and one spirit with Thee. Thou hast made us children of Thy Heavenly Father; Thou hast given us Thy divine Heart, so that we may love the Father with Thy very own Heart. Thou hast assured us that the Adorable Father loves us even as He loves Thee. Dilexisti eos sicut et me dilexisti.( 1 ) Thou dost love us with the same Heart with which the Father loves Thee: Sicut dilexit me Pater et ego dilexi vos. ( 2 ) Thus Thou dost give us Thy Heart that we may love the Father and Thyself with the same heart and with the same love with which Thou Invest us. We should, therefore, employ Thy Sacred Heart to offer Thee our adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and all our other duties with a reverence and love worthy of Thy infinite greatness.

What must we do to employ the great Heart that God has given us? We must do two things. First, whenever we adore, praise, thank and love God, or practise some virtue, or accomplish some action for His service, we must renounce our own heart which is poisoned with the venom of sin and of self-love. Secondly, we must unite ourselves to the love, charity, humility and all the holy dispositions of His Sacred Heart, so that we may be worthy to adore, love, praise, serve and glorify God with the Heart of God.

0 my Saviour, extend the power of Thy eternal arm to separate me from myself and unite me to Thee. Pluck out my miserable heart and (1). John 17, 23 (2). John 15, 9.

replace it with Thine own, enabling me to say: Confitebor tibi, Domine, in toto corde meo.( 3 ) I will praise Thee and love Thee, my Lord, with my whole heart-with the great Heart of Jesus, which is m y own heart.

0 Heart all lovable and all loving of my Saviour, be Thou the Heart of my heart, the soul of m y soul, the spirit of my spirit, the life of my life and the sole principle of all my thoughts, words and actions, of all the faculties of my soul, and of all my senses, both interior and exterior.

Ejaculatory prayer: 0 Heart all mine, I possess all things in possessing Thee! 0 Cor meum, Cor unicum, in te mihi sunt omnia! (3). Ps. 9, 2.

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Seventh Meditation

The Most Profound Humility of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Self-abasement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

HUMILITY is a virtue including an infinity of degrees because there are innumerable sources of humiliation. There are, however, three principal ones. The first is our nothingness which is a bottomless abyss of abjection and humiliation. The second is the infinite grandeur of God, for all greatness carries with it lowliness in those who are inferior to it, and the greater the elevation, the greater is the demand of humiliation on the part of the inferior. That is why the supreme greatness of the majesty of God should impress on created beings an abasement infinite in itself. The third principal humiliation is sin. The least of our sins is an infinite abyss of abasement, and God could justly annihilate us for our smaller faults.

Self-abasement is the first effect that humility should produce in our heart. It operated prodigiously in the Heart of our divine Saviour because Jesus, as man, understood very clearly that He Himself was nothing and of Himself had only nothingness.

Secondly, His very clear perception of the immense grandeur of God held Him continually in a state of incomprehensible lowliness.

Thirdly, He realized that He was a Son of Adam, and that original sin is an immense ocean of sin. It is the very fountainhead of all the sins past, present and future in the whole world, even if i t should last for thousands of years more. Jesus understood that if He had been merely man and had been born of an ordinary earthly mother, and if He had not been preserved at the moment of His conception, He

would have been as capable, as the other children of Adam, of committing all manner of crimes. This held Him in a state of profound humiliation. Beyond this He saw Himself charged with all the sins of the world as if they had been His own. Peccata nostra sua esse voluit, says St. Augustine, and He saw Himself obliged to bear before God the humiliation of a number of crimes as great as the drops of water and grains of sand in the sea.

0 Jesus, who could understand all the humiliations Thou didst bear on earth to destroy m y pride? How is it possible that after all this, my heart can tolerate for one single instant this frightful monster?

Hatred of the Heart of Jesus for the Glory

And Esteem of the World

To know the second effect of humility in the Heart of our Redeemer, let us see His continual hatred for the esteem and glory of this world during the whole course of His life here below. He is the Only Son of God and is God equal to His Father. He is the King of glory, the sovereign Monarch of heaven and earth, who merits the homage and adoration of all creatures. If He were to display the palest ray of His majesty, the whole universe would fall prostrate at His feet to adore Him. But He permits none of His grandeur to appear, either at His birth or in the course of His life, not even after the Resurrection nor in the most adorable Sacrament where He is glorious and immortal. He fled when the Jews wished to make Him king, and declared that His kingdom is not of this world, so much did He detest the glory and honors of the world.

0 Jesus, impress these sentiments upon my heart and grant that I may learn ever to esteem the praises of the world as poison from bell.

Love of the Heart of Jesus for Humiliation

Recall to your mind all the humiliations, all the confusion, contempt, abjection, opprobrium and ignominies that our most adorable Saviour bore in His Incarnation, in His Birth, in His Circumcision, in His Flight into Egypt, and in all the mysteries of His Passion. All these humiliations constitute a magnificent feast that His divine love has prepared and all the ignominies are as delicious viands, upon which He has feasted and satisfied His extreme hunger for abasement.

Whence did this insatiable hunger proceed, if not from His infinite love for His Heavenly Father and for us? This love gave Him the incredible desire to be humiliated and considered as nothing, to atone for the infinite injury and the inconceivable dishonor the sinner had shown to God. The sinner tears Him from His throne so that he may put himself in His Creator's place, preferring his own satisfactions to God's good pleasure, his own honor to that of God an his own will to the divine will. This injury only a God can perfectly repair by His own abasement.

That is why the incomprehensible love of the Son of God for His Father not only obliged Him to suffer so many humiliations, but also brought Him to the abyss of ignominies to seek his joys and delights, to repair more perfectly the dishonor shown to His Father. His love compelled Him also to deliver us from the eternal pains of hell, to acquire for us everlasting bliss in heaven, to destroy our pride, the source of all our sins, and to establish in our souls that humility which is the true foundation of all virtues.

Infinite thanks, 0 my Jesus, be to Thy holy humility. Everlasting praise to the Eternal Father who exalted Thee as highly as Thou hast been humiliated and has given Thee a name above all other names. May every knee in heaven, on earth and in hell bend to adore and glorify Jesus Christ and may every tongue confess my Saviour, rejoicing in the immense and eternal glory of His Father Ejaculatory prayer: Jesus, meek and humble of Heart, have mercy on us. Jesu, mitis ejus humilis corde, miserere nobis.

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