A Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
June, the month especially dedicated to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, draws to a close. Let's spend these last moments of June meditating on this wonderful mystery - the Sacred Heart of Jesus - to start the new week off right.
Pope Pius XII said devotion to the Sacred Heart is "essentially nothing else than worship of the human heart and divine love of the Incarnate Word and the love which the heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost have for sinful men."
St Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), perhaps the greatest exponent of this devotion, tells us: "When you are plunged into the depths of sadness, take your sorrow to the divine joy of the Sacred Heart, where you will find a treasure that will scatter all your sadness and affliction of spirit. When you are in trouble or distress, plunge yourself into the peace of this adorable Heart, which no man can take from you. If you are overcome with fear, drown that fear in trust in the Sacred Heart; and there fear will give place to love."
And who among us would not seek and embrace such consolation in times of trouble and moments of fear?
But this devotion doesn't only bring us consolation. It calls on us to console Our Lord Himself. That's right. His love for us, and our rejection of that love, causes Our Blessed Lord to call out to us, to shake us from our torpor, our tepidity, our coldness of heart. Here are His words as conveyed to us by St Margaret Mary:
This past week we posted a simple five-minute meditation. that, among other things, calls on the Holy Spirit to enlighten and guide us. Perhaps we can do this right now, and beg for the grace to hear Our Lord, to take His Sacred words to heart, to open our own hearts to His Sacred Heart.
Come, Holy Ghost, send down those beams,
which sweetly flow in silent streams
from Thy bright throne above.
O come, Thou Father of the poor;
O come, Thou source of all our store,
come, fill our hearts with love.
O Thou, of comforters the best,
O Thou, the soul's delightful guest,
the pilgrim's sweet relief.
Rest art Thou in our toil, most sweet
refreshment in the noonday heat;
and solace in our grief.
O blessed Light of life Thou art;
fill with Thy light the inmost heart
of those who hope in Thee.
Without Thy Godhead nothing can,
have any price or worth in man,
nothing can harmless be.
Lord, wash our sinful stains away,
refresh from heaven our barren clay,
our wounds and bruises heal.
To Thy sweet yoke our stiff necks bow,
warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow,
our wandering feet recall.
Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord,
whose only hope is Thy sure word,
the sevenfold gifts of grace.
Grant us in life Thy grace that we,
in peace may die and ever be,
in joy before Thy face. Amen. Alleluia.
Pope Pius XII said devotion to the Sacred Heart is "essentially nothing else than worship of the human heart and divine love of the Incarnate Word and the love which the heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost have for sinful men."
St Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), perhaps the greatest exponent of this devotion, tells us: "When you are plunged into the depths of sadness, take your sorrow to the divine joy of the Sacred Heart, where you will find a treasure that will scatter all your sadness and affliction of spirit. When you are in trouble or distress, plunge yourself into the peace of this adorable Heart, which no man can take from you. If you are overcome with fear, drown that fear in trust in the Sacred Heart; and there fear will give place to love."
And who among us would not seek and embrace such consolation in times of trouble and moments of fear?
But this devotion doesn't only bring us consolation. It calls on us to console Our Lord Himself. That's right. His love for us, and our rejection of that love, causes Our Blessed Lord to call out to us, to shake us from our torpor, our tepidity, our coldness of heart. Here are His words as conveyed to us by St Margaret Mary:
"If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavors to do them good. You, at least, can give Me the happiness of making up for their ingratitude, as much as you can...See how so many of us treat Jesus, whose love for us is infinite, beyond imagining. Who suffered and died that we might live in eternal happiness, cries out to us here. Are we listening?
"Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what is still more painful to Me is that even souls consecrated to Me are acting in this way."
This past week we posted a simple five-minute meditation. that, among other things, calls on the Holy Spirit to enlighten and guide us. Perhaps we can do this right now, and beg for the grace to hear Our Lord, to take His Sacred words to heart, to open our own hearts to His Sacred Heart.
Come, Holy Ghost, send down those beams,
which sweetly flow in silent streams
from Thy bright throne above.
O come, Thou Father of the poor;
O come, Thou source of all our store,
come, fill our hearts with love.
O Thou, of comforters the best,
O Thou, the soul's delightful guest,
the pilgrim's sweet relief.
Rest art Thou in our toil, most sweet
refreshment in the noonday heat;
and solace in our grief.
O blessed Light of life Thou art;
fill with Thy light the inmost heart
of those who hope in Thee.
Without Thy Godhead nothing can,
have any price or worth in man,
nothing can harmless be.
Lord, wash our sinful stains away,
refresh from heaven our barren clay,
our wounds and bruises heal.
To Thy sweet yoke our stiff necks bow,
warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow,
our wandering feet recall.
Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord,
whose only hope is Thy sure word,
the sevenfold gifts of grace.
Grant us in life Thy grace that we,
in peace may die and ever be,
in joy before Thy face. Amen. Alleluia.
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