Chapter 19: Forty Flames or Aspirations of Love: Offered to the Loving Heart (5)

Eighth Meditation

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Is a Furnace of Love, Purifying,

Illuminating, Sanctifying, Transforming and Deifying

The Sacred Heart of Jesus a Furnace of Love for Us

THE MOST LOVING HEART of our benign Saviour is a burning furnace of most pure love for us; a furnace of purifying love, of illuminating love, of sanctifying love, of transforming love, and of deifying love. His love is a purifying love, in which the hearts of holy souls are purified more perfectly than gold in the furnace; an illuminating love, which scatters the darkness of hell with which the earth is covered and lets us into the wonderful brilliance of heaven; de tenebris vos vocavit in admirabile lumen suum (I) a sanctifying love, which destroys sin in our souls in order to establish there the kingdom of grace; a transforming love, which transforms serpents into doves, wolves into lambs, beasts into angels, children of the devil into children of God, children of wrath and malediction into children of grace and blessing; a deifying love, which makes gods of men, ego dixi dii estis, letting them share in the holiness of God, His mercy, His patience, His goodness, His love, His charity and His other divine perfections: Divinae consortes naturae. ( 2 )

0 divine love of my Jesus, I give myself wholly to Thee; purify me, enlighten me, sanctify me, transform me into Thee, that I may be naught but love for my God. (I). I Pet. 2, 9. (2). 2 Pet. 1, 4.

The Furnace of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Radiates

Love to All Beings

The august Heart of Jesus is a furnace of love which spreads its fiery flames in all directions, in heaven, on earth, and throughout the whole universe. Its fiery flames would have consumed the hearts of the Seraphim and would have enkindled all the hearts of earth, if. the terrible chill of sin had not set in. Those divine fires transform all the hearts of heavenly lovers into so many furnaces of love for Him who is all love for them.

All creatures on earth, even those which are senseless, inanimate and irrational, feel the effects of the incredible goodness of that magnificent Heart, since He loves all things that are and hates nothing that He has made, sin being the only thing that He did not make, the only object of His hatred: Diligis omnia quae sunt, et nihil odisti eorum quae fecisti. ( 3 )

Jesus has an extraordinary love for men, as well for the good as the wicked, for His friends as for His enemies, for whom He has such intense charity that even the overwhelming torrents and floods of their innumerable sins are not able to extinguish it: Aquae multae non potuerunt extinguere charitatem.( 4 ) Not a moment elapses that He does not grant them manifold natural and supernatural favors, corporal and spiritual, even while they are offending Him and dishonoring Him by their misdeeds.

The divine fires of the precious Heart of the Son of God reach even into hell, to the devils and the damned, preserving their being, life, and the natural perfections which He gave them at creation and not punishing them as much as they have deserved for their sins, for which His divine justice might very justly chastise them much more severely than it does: Non est qui se abscondat a calore ejus.( 5 ) (3). Wisdom it, 25. (4). Cant. 8, 7. (5). Ps. 18, 7

0 sacred fires and flames of the Heart of my Saviour, rush in upon my heart and the hearts of all my brethren, and kindle them into as many furnaces of love for my Most Loving Jesus!

Intensity of the Love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Imagine all the charity, all the affections, all the tender and intimate feelings of all the hearts that the omnipotent hand of God might fashion as being collected and united in one heart large enough to contain them. Would they not all be capable of forming one unimaginable furnace of love? But realize that all the fires and flames of such a furnace would not make one tiny spark of the immense love with which the infinitely loving Heart of Jesus is inflamed towards you, 0 Christian soul.

0 furnace infinitely to be desired! Who will grant me to be plunged into that burning fire? 0 Mother of Jesus, 0 all ye angels, 0 all ye holy saints of Jesus, I give myself to you all and to each i n particular, and I give you also all my brothers and sisters in Christ, and all the inhabitants of earth, that you may cast us all into the abyss of that sacred furnace! Attend and hear, 0 vast furnace of love! A tiny straw asks most humbly and earnestly to be plunged, buried, lost, devoured and consumed wholly in thy sacred flames and thy holy fires forever and ever!

Ejaculatory Prayer: 0 fire which ever burnest and is never extinguished. 0 love which is ever fervent and never grows tepid, inflame me wholly that I may love Thee wholly.

0 ignis qui semper ardes et nunquam extingueris. 0 amor qui semper ferves et nunquam tepescis, accende me totum, ut totus diligam te! 136-

Mass

And Office of

On July 29, 1672, St. John Eudes addressed a circular letter to his spiritual children, the Priests of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and the Religious of Our Lady of Charity, enjoining them to celebrate a solemn feast in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on October 20. He sent them for this occasion a special Office and Mass, which he had composed two years before. Both these liturgical documents had been previously approved by the Archbishop of Rouen and by the Bishops of Rennes, Evreux, Bayeux and Lisieux. The Saint was authorized to celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart in the houses of his Orders as a double of the first class with octave. The use of the Office and Mass was also permitted on the first Thursday of the month, unless it was hindered by an office of nine lessons.

The Office of the Sacred Heart is a complete office with lessons for the eight days of the octave. Invitatory, hymns, antiphons, versicles, lessons, responsaries and collect-everything is proper i n this office as in that of the great feasts of the Church. Only the Office of the Feast Day with its English translation is included in this edition. The Latin hymns were composed by St. John Eudes and the other parts were borrowed from Sacred Scripture and from the Fathers of the Church. By combining and adapting them to the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the Saint was able to endow his office with a definite personal character and make it at once highly original and most unified. The dominant thought is that which Our Lord develops in the discourse after the Last Supper, when He reminds His Apostles of the love He has never ceased to show them and exhorts them to abide in His love.

Mass 137

The Mass brings out the same thought as the Office. The Sequence, an imitation of the Lauda Sion, is noteworthy. The author here celebrates, with transports of joy and love, the glories of the Sacred Heart. The depth of thought, the exuberance of feeling, and the perfection of form make it a real masterpiece. Writers who have dealt with both the Office and the Mass arc unanimous in their praise.

"These offices," said Cardinal Satolli in speaking of the two Offices of the Sacred Hearts composed by St. John Eudes, "are marked by such sweet and intense piety that only the heart of a saint can devise such forms." (I)

In his book on La Mère de Saumaise, Father de Curley, S.J., examines the Mass of St. John Eudes. "If we had to give a name to this Mass," he says, "we shall call it the Mass of Fire. It is eternal love breaking forth in notes of affectionate supplication." (2)

After studying this Office and Mass, Father Bainvel writes: "In them we have, indeed, an original work that in parts, by the harmonious blending of its wealth of profound thought, of poetic rapture, of unction and solid piety, all inspired by the Scriptures and the Fathers, recalls the admirable Office of the Blessed Sacrament. With regard to the general sentiments, these breathe the most perfect spirit of devotion to the Sacred Heart, especially the spirit of love, the love of man who would respond to the love of God.... The Mass is wholly a Mass of love, wholly filled with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with His love for God and for us, with our love for Him. It is indeed a sublime and beautiful liturgical work, by means of which Fr. Eudes' influence was extended to the societies most deeply imbued with the spirit of the devotion of Paray, and will continue to be felt therein." (3)

After the establishment of the Feast of the Sacred Heart in the Eudistic Orders in 1672, it was adopted by other religious Congregations, notably the Benedictine Nuns of Montmartre, the Benedictine Nuns of the Blessed Sacrament, and the Religious of Our Lady of Corbeil. The Office and Mass used by these communities were those (1). Quoted by Rev. A. LeDoré in his Circular, January 6, 1909, p. 6. (2). Quoted by Lebrun in Le B. Jean Eudes et le Culte du Coeur de Jésus (Paris, 1917), P. 39 (3). Bainvel, Devotion to the Sacred Heart (London, 1924), P. 269-277.

of St. John Eudes. Even in many convents of the Visitation Order, after the miraculous apparitions of Paray-le-Monial, the liturgical works of St. John Eudes were in use until 1750.(4)

The Eudist Fathers and the Religious of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge and of the Good Shepherd continue to our day to celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart on October 20, with the Office and Mass of their Founder. Only when, in consequence of the vigorous liturgical campaign of Dom Guéranger, it was declared that the Bishops had no right to authorize Dew feasts and offices in their dioceses and that the authorizations granted by them were null and void, did the Eudist Orders have recourse to the Holy See for a special approval. On December 12, 1861, the Congregation of Rites authorized them to preserve the Feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Holy Heart of Mary established by their Founder, and to celebrate them with the Mass and Office composed by him. (4). LeBrun, op. cit., p. 142 et seq. 139-

Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

October 20

Introit Introit Gaudeamus omnes in Domino Let us rejoice in the Lord, while diem festum celebrantes in honorem celebrating this Festival in honor of Cordis amantissimi Redemptoris the Most Loving Heart of our Re nostri Jesu Christi, cujus amorem deemer, Jesus Christ, whose love the adorant Seraphim psallentes in Seraphim adore with one harmoni unum: Ecce cujus imperium manet ous chant. Lo! His Kingdom is es in aeternum. Ps. 110. Confitebor tablished forever. Ps. iio. I will tibi, Domine, in toto corde meo in praise thee, 0 Lord, with my whole consilio justorum et congregatione, heart; in the council of the just, Gloria Patri. Gaudeamus. and in the congregation. Glory.

Oratio Collect Pater misericordiarum, et Deus 0 Father of mercies and God of totius consolationis, qui propter ni- all consolation, who by the exceed miam charitatem qua dilexisti nos, ing love with which T"hou hast dilectissimi Filii tui Cor amantissi- loved us, hast given us with in mum nobis ineffabili bonitate do- effable goodness, the Heart of Thy nasti, ut te uno corde cum ipso per- Beloved Son, so that having but fecte diligamus; praesta, quaesu- one heart with Him, we may love mus, ut cordibus nostris inter se et " Thee perfectly; grant, we beseech cum Corde Jesu in unum consum- Theee, that our hearts, being con matis, onmia nostra in humilitate et sumed in Unity among themselves caritate ejus fiunt, atque, ipso inter- and with the Heart of Jesus, we veniente, justa cordis nostri deside- may perform all our works in His ria compleantur. Per eumdem humility and charity and that by Dominum. His mediation the just desires of

our hearts may be accomplished

through the same Lord

Lectio Ezechielis Prophetae Lesson from the Prophet Ezechiel (c- 36) (c- 36)

Haec dicit Dominus Deus: Sanc- Thus saith the Lord God: I will tificavi nomen meum magnum,ut sanctify my great name that the

sciant gentes quia ego Dominus, Gentiles may know that I am the ait Dominus exercituum, cum sanc- Lord, saith the Lord of hosts, when tificatus fuero in vobis coram eis. I shall be sanctified in you before Tollam quippe vos de gentibus et their eyes. For I will take you from congregabo vos de universis terris among the Gentiles and will gather et adducam vos in terram vestram. you together out of all the coun Et effundam super vos aquam mun- tries and will bring you into your dam, et mundabimini ab omnibus own land. And I will pour upon inquinamentis vestris et ab univer- you clean water and you shall be sis idolis vestris mundabo vos. Cor cleansed from all your filthiness; novum et spiritum novum ponam and I will cleanse you from all your in medio vestri. Et auferam cor idols. And I will give you a new lapideum de carne vestra, et dabo heart and a new spirit within you: vobis cor carneum; et Spiritum and I will take away the stony heart meum ponam in medio vestri. out of your flesh and will give you

a heart of flesh. And I will put

my spirit in the midst of you

Graduale (Gal. 4; Phil. 2; Eph. 5) Gradual (Gal. 5; Phil. 2; Eph- 5)

Quoniam estis filii Dei, misit And because you are sons of God, Deus Spiritum et Cor Filii sui in God hath Sent the Spirit and Heart corda vestra clamantem: Abba Pa- of His Son into your hearts, crying: ter. Hoc sentite in cordibus vestris Abba, Father. Have in your hearts quod et in corde ipsius: et ambulate the sentiments of His Heart; and in dilectione, sicut et ipse dilexit walk in love, as Christ also hath nos. loved us.

V. (Joan. 15) Sicut dilexit me V. (John 15) As the Father hath Pater, et ego dilexi vos: et hoc est loved me, I also have loved you: pracceptum meum, ut diligatis in- and this is my commandment, that vicem, sicut dilexi vos. Manete ergo you love one another, as I have in dilectione mea. loved you. Abide in my love. Alleluia. V. (Ps. 56; 2 Mach.) Alleluia (Ps- 56; 2. Mach.)

Paratum Cor meum, Deus Cor- My heart is ready, 0 God, my dis mei, paratum Cor meum, ut heart is ready to do all that thou quae placita sunt tibi faciam semper, willest, with a generous heart and corde magno et animo, volenti. resolute will. Sequentia Sequence Gaudeamus exultantes, Exultations joyfully upraising Cordis Jesu personantes Songs the Heart of Jesus praising, Divina praecordia. In jubilant ecstasy.

Mass 141

Haec est dies veneranda, This the festal day of beauty, In qua Patris adoranda Bring we to God's Heart our duty: Laudamus praecordia. Offerings and homage suited. Cor amandum Salvatoris, Heart of mercy and of love, Mellis fortem et amoris, Fount of sweetness from above, Corda cuncta diligant. Let all hearts to Thee be movedl Cor beatum summi Regis, Blessed Heart of Sovereign King, Cor et vitam nova legis, Who New Law and life dost bring: Onmes Linguae concinant. Let all tongues unite to singl Sit laus plena, sit immensa, Let our praise be full and boundless, Sit perennis, sit accensa, Be immortal, skyless, groundless, Ardoribus pectoris ! Kindled by the flames of love. Laudet, canat orbis totus, Let the world with praises ring, Color, amet tota virtus Let the powers of mankind sing, Et cordis et corporis! Soul and body now combine. Ora, manus, sensus, vigor, Strength and senses, voice and Fides viva, purus amor, hand, Cor divinunt consonent! Living faith, pure love, command

All to laud this heart divine

Flammis sacris inflammata Kindled by His sacred fire Corda voces atque facta, Hearts and lips and deeds conspire Cor amoris praedicent! Love and praise abroad to spread. Cor mirandum Redemptoris, Heart of our Redeemer wondrous, Coadunans terram coelis, Linking earth to heaven splendrous, Unitatis speculum. Mirror fair of unity[ Digna sedes Trinitatis, Worthy throne of Holy Trinity, Plenitudo Deitatis, Plenitude of the Divinity, Amoris miraculum. Miracle of love supreme. Amoris Evangelium, Loves evangel, conflagration Puri cordis incendium, Of the pure heart's pure elation; Magna Dei gloria. Deity's great glory. Cxli nectar vivificans, Nectar from the skies, vivific, Cordis manna deificans; Manna of the heart deific; Amor et Iaetitia. Charity and joyousness. Cleri sacri praesidium, Shield unto the sacred priesthood, Rector benigne cordium, Ruling hearts from best to least Nostra rege pectora! good,

Us Thy children rule

Fons aeternae Pietatis, Fount eternal, Source of piety, Ardens fornax caritatis, Flaming furnace, love's satiety, Corda flammis devora! With Thy fires our hearts consume! Domus amoris aurea, Golden house of glowing love, Terris amantum flammea, Tower flaming from above, Caetus nostri lex ignea, Law our hearts burn to embrace, Fons perennis gratiae. Fountain of eternal grace. Cor, thesaurus sanctitatis,Heart, of sanctity the treasure, Abyssus humilitatis, And humility's vast measure, Thronus Dei voluntatis, Throne where dwells God's holy Et centrum clementiae. pleasure,

And center of mercy sweet

Paradisus Beatorum, Paradise of all the Blest, Consolator afflictorum, Comforter, affliction's rest, Pax et salus peccatorum, Peace that saves the sinner's fall, Cor omnibus omnia. Loving heart all things to all. 0 Jesu, raptor cordium, 0 Jesus, ravisher of hearts, Amore flagrans mentium, Pierce us with Thy flaming darts, Cor tuum trahat omnium Draw our being all to Thee, Mentes et praecordial Minds and feelings utterly. 0 Cor, summa benignitas, 0 Heart with tenderness supreme, Immensa liberalitas, Boundless, generous, like 2 stream, Incomprehensa caritas, Charity unplumbed we deem. Cordis vera felicitas, Hearts in darkness the true beam, Cor esto supplicibus! Have to suppliants all a heart. Fac nos, Jesu flammescentemMake us, Jesus, follow steadfast Cordis tui caritatem, Thy Heart's burning love in ear Et divinam pietatem, nest, Summam quoque sanctitatem Its most godlike piety Sanctis sequi moribus! And its holy sanctity.

Let our lives but image Thee

0 beata Trinitas, 0 Most Blessed Trinity, Cordis Jesu caritas, Heart of Jesus' Charity, Immensae clementiae To Thy boundless mercy be Immensae sint gratiae, Thanks returned in boundless fee. aeterna sit gloria. Let us all say: Amen, So be itl Amen dicant omnia! God be praised. Fiat. Amen, Alleluia.