'If thou didst know the gift of God' (John 4:10). Reflections on the Sacred Heart of Jesus" by Fr. Ugolini Giugni

In honour of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus during this month of June dedicated to Him, I have translated the article that appeared in the French edition of the journal Sodalitium (December 1998) by Fr Ugolino Giugni, " 'If thou didst know the gift of God' (John 4:10). Reflections on the Sacred Heart of Jesus". The full original article together with the corresponding notes can be downloaded from: https://www.sodalitium.eu/sodalitium/

Why should we speak of the Sacred Heart of Jesus within the pages of Sodalitium? In order to better know "the gift which God" has given us in revealing the devotion to His Sacred Heart. And because it is just to render to this Heart "which has so loved men" our tribute of love and devotion, particularly during the month of June which is consacrated to Him. This article has no other intention than to make a little better known and help spread such a beautiful and consoling devotion so that the divine Heart will be more loved by men; in effect one could also say of the Sacred Heart that which St Bernard applied to the Most Holy Virgin: Numquam satis. The author’s intention therefore is not to write anything new on this subject (because he would be incapable), but to offer readers that which has already been abundantly written, particularly by referring to the writings of St Margarite-Marie Alacoque, the confidante of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

What is the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus?

One could simply say that it is the devotion to Jesus. The Sacred Heart is nothing else than Our Lord Jesus better understood and better loved; the Saviour appearing closer to His creatures, revealing to us His love. The Sacred Congregation of Rites declared in instituting the feast of the Sacred Heart that it did not represent the commemoration of a particular mystery in the life of Our Lord but the summation of all the feasts in His honour. The feast does not remind us of a particular grace, but the very source of all graces; not a particular mystery but the very principle and the inner reason of all mysteries. The ground of this worship resides in the fact that all of the Redemption, before being realized exteriorly during the earthly life of the God-Man, was already accomplished inwardly and invisibly within the inner sanctuary of His Heart. If all the other feasts in honour of the Saviour have to a certain degree as their object the charity of Christ, no other except that of the Sacred Heart wants to honour the totality of His charity by itself, principle of all the mysteries of the God-Man. "God is love, Deus caritas est (I Jn IV, 16). (And one could not find a better definition of God.) His eternal Heart has always loved; to seek within this eternal love of God the reason for the whole succession of the revealed mysteries: this is the theology of the Sacred Heart. – God loves, and loving means giving of oneself. He has given us everything, behold creation. – Loving means speaking, making oneself understood to the one whom we love: thus God has spoken in His Revelation. Loving means making oneself similar to the one whom we love, and therefore behold the Incarnation. Loving means suffering for the one whom we love: therefore behold the Redemption. – Loving means living near the one whom we love: therefore behold the Eucharist. – Loving is becoming united in one together with the one whom we love: therefore behold the Eucharist. – Loving is enjoying forever the company of the beloved: therefore behold Paradise. Sic Deus dilexit.

And since Jesus is a divine person, His created Heart synthesizes all the loves of the uncreated Heart of God and summarizes all of its manifestations... It is the lively and pulsating expression of all the Catholic mysteries." (1)

But in what sense is the word “Heart” to be understood? Or better stated, in what sense is it understood by the Church when she invites us to honour the Heart of Jesus? The object of devotion includes two elements: the sensible, immediate material element that is the physical Heart of Jesus in so far as it is hypostatically united (2) to the person of the Word; if this Heart is considered as a symbol of love it is the formal or spiritual element. The love of Jesus is the principal object of this devotion, but since love is an absolutely spiritual element, it has been necessary to find it a symbol which naturally can be no other but His Heart. Since man is composed of body and soul, these two elements are necessarily reflected in all his activities (even the fact of loving); when the love of man is ordered, this activity which proceeds from the will determines the movement of so many analogous and related movements in the lower appetite, and therefore in the Heart. Now Our Lord Jesus was a perfect man, and more than in any other man His Heart and His sentiments were in completely ordered. Jesus told St Marguerite, "I will make you read inside the book of love" (that is, His Heart), "read in it my suffering love... the feelings of aversion, of terror, the sadness of my mortal life...". This divine Heart is now withdrawn from violent emotions and feelings of pain incompatible with his state of glory, while remaining sensitive to all those feelings which cannot disturb the perfect beatitude of heaven; it is for us a sweet consolation to think that our sacrifices, our love, our affection can act over the Heart of Jesus in order to make it throb with a loving joy.

Love, the spiritual element which has brought the Son of God to accept death and to give himself to us in the Sacrament of the Altar, is far more important than the material element, just as in man the soul is of greater importance than the body. But since the two elements are intertwined, they therefore constitute a single object of devotion. If we consider in the first place the physical Heart of Jesus, its inherent symbolism will lead us directly to the Love of Jesus. Ste Marguerite-Marie described thus the object of this devotion: "My divine Saviour has assured me that He has experienced a great pleasure in being honoured in the figure of His Heart of flesh, in order to move through this means the hardness of men's hearts." It is therefore in this living and true Heart of Jesus which is part of His Sacred humanity, pierced in the Cross and which lives in the Eucharist, that the Church, Ste Marguerite-Marie and the faithful consider when a pious practice in His honour is carried out.

On the other hand the Heart of Jesus is honoured in so far as it is united to His Divine Person by the hypostatic union, while the end of this devotion is always the person of Jesus – uncreated and divine – with His infinite dignity, and His Heart as part of His most Holy humanity. "The Sacred Heart, presented by the Church for public devotion, is therefore Jesus who shows His Heart." Before us we see the Heart of the God-Man who from on high in the cross with His torn chest draws all hearts towards Him (And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself. John XII, 32), with a force that makes one despise martyrdom, exulting in the face of death, and which knows no bounds neither in time or space, neither the hatred of the wicked.

Pius XII thus summarizes the legitimacy of the cult rendered to the Sacred-Heart: "Accordingly, nothing is opposed to our adoration of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus-Christ in so far as participation and a natural and very expressive symbol of this inexhaustible love which our divine Redeemer never ceases to experience with regard to the human race. Even if it [the Sacred Heart] is no longer subject to the vicissitudes of this mortal life, it nevertheless continues to live and beat, being indissolubly united to the Person of the divine Word, and in it and through it, to the divine will. This is why, since the Heart of Christ overflows with divine and human love, and it is filled with the treasures of all the graces which our Redeemer acquired during His life by His sufferings and death, it is the eternal source of this love which His Spirit spreads through all the members of His mystical Body.

The Heart of our Saviour therefore reflects in a certain manner the image of the divine Person of the Word and his double human and divine nature, and we consider Him not only as a symbol, but as the summit of all the mystery of our Redemption. When we adore the most sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, we adore through Him and in Him the uncreated love of the divine Word as well as His human love, his other feelings and his other virtues, since it is these loves which moved our Redeemer to immolate Himself for us and for all the Church, his spouse, according to the words of the Apostle, "Christ loved the church, and delivered himself up for it: That he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life: That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish. (Ephesians V, 25-27)" (3).

The Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Gospels

Where ought we to find this devotion if not in the gospels? Et verbum caro factum est. Et vidimus et credimus... (The Word was made flesh... we have see and because we have see we have believed, John I, 14 cf. I John I, 1-2), so says the beloved Apostle St John the Evangelist, who leaned his head on the Heart of Jesus during the last Supper.

Jesus told his disciples (and therefore to us also), "learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart" (Matthew 11, 29), in order to draw our attention to the internal dispositions of his most holy soul symbolized by His Heart.

Let us therefore open some pages from the Gospel to discover the Heart of God who desired to draw men towards Him with His goodnes and mercy.

Mary Magdalene. Jesus passed through the byways of Galilee and Judea doing good (transiit benefaciendo...) and searching for souls to pardon and redeem. Some came spontaneously to Him in order to be forgiven: one of these was Mary Magdalene, the sinner from Magdala. The weariness of sin had seized her, an inner grace had solicited her heart to return to good; a word from Jesus, perhaps heard by chance, was the last step that vanquished her remaining resistance. Prostrate at the feet of the Master and crying out loud, she made the humiliating confession of her sins by imploring the Lord's forgiveness. This pardon was not long in coming; after having explained to the pharisee that was hosting Him that precisely the one to whom the debt has been forgiven loves even more, he turned with sweetness towards Magdalene, "Woman, your sins have been forgiven" (Luke VII, 48). Indeed, “much was forgiven her because she had loved much” (ibid., 46). The adorable Master recognized in her an ardent and chosen soul, who could be fascinated but not satisfied by a momentary pleasure, and had made it a conquest of His infinite love. From a sinful and lost daughter of Israel, despised by the proud pharisees, Jesus had made a saint, a pearl for His Paradise, a miracle of love, the beloved of His Heart, to the point that it was first to her (after the most Holy Virgin) that Jesus will appear after His Resurrection. Mary Magdalene is the work of the Saviour's merciful forgiveness.

Zacheus. He had sinned by following the broad and easy way, enriching himself through more or less licit means, and enjoyed life without worry and remorse. But one day a secret grace spread in his soul like a vague desire to lead a better life. The noise of Jesus' miracles must have reached him, united to a desire of seeing the Master. To do this, since Jesus arrived at his town, without regard for human respect he climbed onto a sycamore tree, because he was short in stature. "A salutary touch of grace drives him to desire to see Christ. He doesn't want to speak with Him; it seems to him he has nothing to say to Him: he only wants to see Him... As he beholds Him, advancing slowly accompanied by the crowd, he suddenly feels the fixated gaze of Jesus upon him. This profound and sweet look, radiant with light, which penetrates the abyss of souls, moves him in a strange way; and behold he hears himself called by his name, "Zacheus - Jesus said with an infinite gentleness - quickly descend, because today I want to stay in your house." (Luke XIX, 5). In his house... shaken to the utmost depth of his soul by this solicitude of the Master, he could utter nothing. He runs to his house... He ordered everything be prepared... Jesus enter... what is going on in Zacheus' soul? A bright light shows him the injustice of his life. The goodness of Jesus who has deigned to choose him as his host, despite the general contempt in which he is regarded by the Jews, appears to him so merciful and sweet that his heart is profoundly moved. At the sight of Christ poorly clothed, living from alms, doing good everywhere, spreading light and peace, his face serene, the gaze all full of mercy, and the hand always raised to bless, contrasted with those false goods in which he had heretofore placed his happiness.  He understands that his soul is made for something greater, more useful and better. Standing before the Master with a big heart and a will entirely inclined towards goodness, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wronged any man of any thing, I restore him fourfold." (Luke XIX, 8) (...). Who could describe Jesus' joy when he saw Zacheus respond so faithfilly to the promptings of grace! His merciful gazes will therefore not have been fixated over this soul in vain; his loving advances will not have been rejected this time! Considering the sublime work carried out by his mercy, the divine Master exclaims, "This day is salvation truly come to this house... Because he also is a son of Abraham." Then he adds thesse beautiful words, a splendid and divine summary of his own life, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (ibid. 10)" (4)

The Samaritan woman. Jesus did not always find souls so quick to recipocrate as Zacheus, and sometimes he had to fight to conquer them, as was the case with the Samaritan woman. In the village of Sichar there were many souls that needed saving; in his mercy Jesus had seen a sinful woman, and he not only wanted to remove her from evil but also to make her an apostle for her fellow citizens. Jesus, exhausted by the journey, had left his apostles to continue along in their journey and was sitting near Jacob's well. Divine weakness, mysterious weariness, that made him weak under the weight of the sins of the world; He waited for the soul for whom he had already worked so much but who had until then resisted his mercy. The woman approaches to draw water; a disciple of erroneous doctrines in so far as a samaritan, a tenacious character prone to mockery, of a sensual nature, with an aversion to work, all of these were so many obstacles for her return towards goodness. But Jesus, the physician of souls, who had come not to save the healthy but the sick, is right there to save her.

"The divine Master therefore begins with the sinner that sublime exchange which the Holy Gospel has transmitted to us. The respect of Jesus for souls, the rare prudence that accompanies all his words and his acts, his sweetness, his patience, and his humility are no less manifest than his profound knowledge of the hearts of souls. He asks first of all to the Samaritan woman for a small favour. He tolerates, without betraying anything, her impertinent impulses. He enters little by little into her spirit, arousing with a holy skill her natural curiosity. He thus leads her to confess the irregularity of her life. It's only when she of her own accord said, 'I have no husband.' (John IV, 17), that Jesus makes her see that he knows her sinful state of life. But he does it simply without reproaching her, knowing well that she is not yet capable of tolerating them; without striking her with his contempt, without even humiliating her with a harsh word. This admirable gentleness, this divine gaze which she reads in His soul, give this poor woman the confidence to question Jesus. And He, with an incomparable goodness answers her questions, dissipates all doubts, enlightens her intelligence. When He has thus made Himself made the master of her soul, He declares to her His divine mission.

She, in the grip of the most intense agitation, quickly returns to her village. A strange turmoil has seized her soul; thoughts she has never experienced come to assail her. Under the influence of grace, a change takes place within her of which she is not yet aware. Upon returning to Sichar, she felt compelled to tell all those whom she met, 'Come, and see a man who has told me all things whatsoever I have done. Is not he the Christ?' (John IV, 29). She does not yet know whether she should believe; but she understands that the man who had spoken to her on the way - a man of such purity, graveness, and gentleness - is not a vulgar creature. She wants others to judge for themselves.

The evening of that same day, when Jesus entered Sichar called upon by the inhabitants, he again met the sinner, [but this time] transformed by an all-powerful grace. She then went of her own accord to her charitable Saviour, not to confess crimes He was already aware of, but to receive the forgiveness that her faith and contrition demanded, and that the infinitely good Heart of Jesus was anxious to grant her. Mercy had triumphed once again. She was transformed from a miserable creature in which everything seemed impure and corrupted, to a soul enriched by grace, an apostle of truth, a glorious trophy for Christ. She was the recipient of a new miracle [of grace].

And when, two days later Jesus departed from the village, those whom He had drawn to His love, enlightened by His truth and saved by His mercy, unanimously gave Him for the first time the sweet name of 'Saviour.'

For nineteen centuries have these words of the happy Samaritans been repeated, 'This is indeed the Saviour of the world.' (ibid. 42) Perhaps many other centuries will yet repeat them: endlessly reverberating within the echoes of eternity! Yes, Jesus is the Saviour of the world, because He is Mercy: the world has so much need of merciful forgiveness!" (5) It is precisely when speaking with the Samaritan woman that Jesus pronounced those admirable words which can so well relate to His Sacred Heart, "If thou didst know the gift of God, and who he is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water (...). He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever: But the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting." (John IV, 10-14)

There are numerous other passages in the Gospels where we can see more than elsewhere the goodness and mercy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The parables of the good Samaritan, the good shepherd, the adulterous woman and so many others in the Gospel serve as examples, but we will end by only citing the case of the good thief. He is a criminal justly condemned to death for his crimes and who is tortured together with the Lord. Dismas (that was his name) is struck by the meekness of Jesus, who instead of condemning rather forgives his enemies: "Father, forgive them, because they know not what they do." (Luke XXIII, 34). These words of Jesus moved the thief towards conversion since nothing similar had ever been seen or heard before on earth. Moved by emotion, the good thief first of all rebukes his companion; "Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil." (ibid. 40-41); "And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom." These are words filled with a great humility (he only asks that He remember him, he does not consider himself worthy of asking anything else), hope (he speaks of Jesus' Kingdom which he sees not with the eyes of the body; in effect what kingdom could there possibly be on earth for someone dying naked on the cross...), and faith (he calls Him "Lord" and believes in His Kingdom whereunto he will go after death). The response of the Sacred Heart is as always beyond the expectations of the petitioner. To him who only asks that he be remembered, Jesus gives His Kingdom, "Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise." Thus pardons the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. His mercy and goodness is so great that he grants the good thief his last... theft, that of Heaven. But we are speaking of a theft...that enriched the thing "stolen" - Heaven -, and renders the Saviour full of joy for this first soul that His Cross has saved by making it the first member of His Holy Church, after the most Holy Virgin Mary.

The gifts of Jesus: manifestation of His most sacred Heart

The goodness and mercy of the Lord are also manifest in the gifts which He left us before ascending to heaven. Pius XII, to whom the Sacred Heart had appeared in 1954 to heal him from a serious illness (6), two years later wrote the encyclical "Haurietis Aquas", perhaps even in thanksgiving for this grace. There we read, "And when the divine Redeemer was hanging on the Cross, He showed that His Heart was strongly moved by different emotions - burning love, desolation, pity, longing desire, unruffled peace. The words spoken plainly indicate these emotions: 'Father, forgive them; they know not what they do!' (Luke XXIII, 34) 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' (Matthew XXVII, 46) 'Amen, I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.' (Luke XXIII, 43) 'I thirst.' (John XIX, 28) 'Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.' (Luke XXIII, 46). XXVII, 46); “Je te le dis en vérité, aujourd’hui tu seras avec moi dans le Paradis” (Lc 23, 43); “J’ai soif” (Jn XIX, 28); “Père, je remets mon esprit entre vos mains” (Lc XXIII, 46). But who can worthily depict those beatings of the divine Heart, the signs of His infinite love, of those moments when He granted men His greatest gifts: Himself in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, His most holy Mother, and the office of the priesthood shared with us? Even before He ate the Last Supper with His disciples Christ Our Lord, since He knew He was about to institute the sacrament of His body and blood by the shedding of which the new covenant was to be consecrated, felt His heart roused by strong emotions, which He revealed to the Apostles in these words: 'With desire have I desired to eat this Pasch with you before I suffer.' (Luke XXII, 15) And these emotions were doubtless even stronger when 'taking bread, He gave thanks, and broke, and gave to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you, this do in commemoration of Me." Likewise the chalice also, after He had supped, saying, "This chalice is the new testament in My blood, which shall be shed for you." ' (Luke XXII, 19-20). Faites ceci en mémoire de moi’. Et pareillement pour la coupe, après qu’ils eurent soupé, en disant: ‘Cette coupe est la nouvelle alliance en mon sang, répandu pour vous”’ (Lc XXII, 19-20). It can therefore be declared that the divine Eucharist, both the sacrament which He gives to men and the sacrifice in which He unceasingly offers Himself 'from the rising of the sun till the going down thereof,' (St Augustine, De sancta virginitate, 6) and likewise the priesthood, are indeed gifts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 399), ainsi que le sacerdoce (7), sont des dons du Coeur très sacré de Jésus.

Another most precious gift of His Sacred Heart is...Mary the beloved Mother of God and the most loving Mother of us all. Marie, la Mère de Dieu et aussi notre Mère très aimante à tous. She who gave birth to our Savior according to the flesh and was associated with Him in recalling the children of Eve to the life of divine grace has deservedly been hailed [by Christ Himself] as the spiritual Mother of the whole human race." (8)

Origins of this devotion

The devotion to the Heart of Jesus, like numerous dogmas and devotions in the Church, has had throughout the centuries a homogeneous development, reaching its final revelation in the 17th century. Perhaps the first "devotee" of the Sacred Heart was St John who leaned his head over the Saviour's breast during the last Supper; he is indeed the one who relates in his gospel the spear that struck the Lord Jesus, opening and wounding his breast (John XIX, 31s). Most Fathers of the Church in their commentaries on this passage from the gospel do not refer to the true Heart of Jesus but, "to the bosom, to his breast, to the wound on his side. This passage was easy and spontaneous; however, it does not appear that the Fathers fully penetrated its significance. They got a glimpse of the Heart through His torn breast, but they stopped at the threshold of 'the Temple of God.' Even those who expressly spoke of His "Heart" did not however consider it as a symbol or emblem of His love, but as a figure, image, or metaphor of the affections of the soul and therefore also of love. (...) In the wound of His side the Fathers saw the source of the Church and of the sacraments... From their theological and mystical speculations would be born the devotion to the five wounds, from which the devotion to the Holy Side [of Jesus] would later develop: it is precisely this devotion that little by little would reveal to souls the Heart of Jesus and His love. Historically, the wound on His side appears to us as the providential and logical preparation of the devotion to the Sacred Heart." (9)

It is the Middle Ages that marks the beginnings for the framework this devotion. "Christianity, henceforth victorious, is reinforced by peacefully safeguarding its creed and worship. This is the time of the great theologians and the great medieval mystics. The heart of their meditations is still Christ the Redeemer, but it is no longer the Divinity which strikes their intellect and heart more, but the humanity of the Saviour Jesus, especially in His most human mysteries: the Incarnation and the Passion: 'why was God made man?' " (10) Through love... will the devotee of the Sacred Heart answer in the following centuries! St Anselme († 1109) gives us an example of this period when he said, "The sweet Jesus...in his pierced side; a piercing which in effect reveals the bounty of his goodness, that is, the goodness of His Heart for us." (11) St Bonaventure then († 1274) offers us the most precise and complete idea possible for this devotion; he describes its double object, end, spirit, the proper act and various acts of devotion, which is why he could perhaps be placed among the first devotees of the Sacred Heart (the Church takes from him certains lessons in its office for the feast). Thereafter, two benedictine mystics, St Gertrude († 1298) and St Mathilde († 1303) added greater warmth to this devotion to the Sacred Heart by adding a multitude of practical exercises. "The acts of devotion they addressed to the Heart of Jesus were frequent and very diverse: innumerable were the very special favours they received: exchange of the Heart, resting in the divine Heart, spiritual teachings, and above all the revelations constituting the first 'theology of the Sacred Heart' " (12)  A true precursor to St Marguerite-Marie was certainly St Jean Eudes (1601-1680) which the Church [Pope Pius XI] declared "author of the liturgical cult of the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the Father, the doctor, the apostle of this same cult." But the true teacher who by divine mandate was to spread throughout the world the love for the Sacred Heart, was certainly St Marguerite-Marie Alacoque.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart was therefore not discovered or invented by St Marguerite-Marie, the seer of Paray-le-Monial; it preceded her, but it did not yet have a large and lively influence over the mass of faithful and lacked a well-defined content. This was precisely the task and special mission which God entrusted to St Marguerite-Marie: it was reserved to her to make this devotion flourish in a more manifest manner, to accredit it with a quantity of miracles, giving way for a public and universal cult. Even if the devotion to the Sacred Heart already existed before St Marguerite-Marie, it is nevertheless difficult to exactly say how much her "
precursors" influenced over her. With a great probability, if according to the experts in her life she did not read other works and was therefore not influenced, it is because we can conclude that, "the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus-Christ has as its author Jesus-Christ himself. It is He who has revealed it; who has commanded its institution; who has explained its nature; who has taught its practices; who has prescribed its form." (13) St Margarite-Marie was therefore the official apostle chosen by Jesus to make known to all men the abyss of his infinite love and to spread this devotion.

In the autobiographical life of St Marguerite-Marie, which she wrote under obedience, we read, "One time, therefore, being before the Holy Sacrament [27 December 1673] having found for myself some more time for leisure, since the duties I had been assigned hardly gave me any, finding myself all surrounded by this divine presence, but so strongly, that I forgot about myself and the place where I was, and I abandonded myself to this divine Spirit, surrendering my heart to the force of this love. He made me rest for a long time on his divine breast, where he opened up to me the marvels of His love, and the inexplicable secrets of His sacred Heart which He had always kept hidden from me until the time he opened them up for the first time, but in such an effective and sensible manner that he left me no room to doubt it, because of the effects which this grace produced in me.

So this is how it seems to me that the event took place. He told me, "My divine Heart is so passionate with love for men, and for you in particular, that no longer being able to contain in itself the flames of its ardent charity, it is necessary that they be spread through you, and that they be manifest to them in order to enrich them from my precious treasures which I am revealing to you, and which contain the sanctifying and saving graces necessary to remove them from the abyss of perdition; and I have chosen you as an abyss of indignity and ignorance to accomplish this great work, so that I will be its sole author." Afterwards He asked for my heart, which I begged him to take, and placed it within his own, where he revealed it to me as a small atom consumed within this fiery furnace, from where he removed it as an ardent flame in the form of a heart, and returned it from where he had taken it, telling me, "Behold, my beloved, a precious badge of my love, enclosing in your side a small spark of its brightest flames, to serve you as your heart which will consume you until the end;  its ardour will not be extinguished, and will only find a little refreshment from its bleeding, where I will mark the blood of my cross so clearly, that it will be a greater cause of humiliation and suffering than of relief.  That is why I desire you to simply ask for it, both to practice what is commaned you, but also to give you the consolation of shedding your blood on the cross of humiliations. And as a sign that the great grace which I have carried out in you does not arise from your imagination, and is the foundation of all the other ones I have yet to carry out, even when I will have closed the wound on your side, the pain will remain with you forever, and if until now you have only taken the name of a slave, henceforth I call you the beloved disciple of my sacred Heart.

After so great a favour which took place for so long, during which I did not know whether I was in heaven or on earth, I remained several days all ablaze and intoxicated, and so outside of myself that only with force could I return to myself to say a word, and the exertion which I needed for my leisure and to eat was so great, that I found myself at the end of my forces to overcome my sadness; which caused me an extreme humiliation. And I was unable to sleep, because this wound with its dolorous but precious pain, causes such intense ardours that it consumes me and makes me burn alive.  And I experienced such a great fullness of God that I could not express myself to my Superioress as I would have desired to do, such a sadness and confusion did I feel in saying such things, to my great unworthiness. I would rather have preferred a thousand times to confess my sins to the entire world; and this would have been a great consolation, if they had permitted me to make and read aloud my general confession in the refectory, to make known the great depth of corruption within me, so that none of the graces that I receive could be attributed to me.

That which I have just spoken of regarding the pain in my side was renewed the first Fridays of the month in the following manner: the sacred Heart was presented to me as a resplendent sun from a brilliant light, whose burning rays fell vertically over my heart, which initially felt enflamed by such an ardent fire, that it seemed it would reduce me to ashes, and it was particularly at this time when the divine Master taught me what he desired of me, disclosing the secrets of this loving Heart.

And on one occasion, among others when the holy Sacrament was exposed, after feeling completely withdrawn into myself by an extraordinary recollection of all my senses and powers, Jesus Christ, my sweet Master, presented Himself to me, all resplendent in glory with His five wounds, shining like five suns, and from this holy Humanity issued forth flames from everywhere, but above all from his adorable breast, which resembled a furnace; and having been opened, revealed His all loving and most sweet Heart, which was the living source of these flames.

It was then when he revealed to me the ineffable wonders of His love, and the extent to which it had led Him to love men, from whom he only received ingratitude and ignorance. "This is a greater pain", He said, "than everything I suffered in my Passion; so much so that if they offered me but a little love in return I would consider all my sufferings for them as negligible, and would desire, if possible, to partake of even greater sufferings; but they only show coldness and reject all my eagerness to do them good. But, you at least, satisfy me by making up for their ingratitude as much as you are capable." And having protested my helplessness, He replied, "Here, behold that which will supply you with everything that you lack." At the same time, the divine Heart having opened, such an ardent flame came out that I thought I would be consumed because I was entirely penetrated, and when I could bear it no longer I asked him to pity my weakness. "I will be your strength," he told me, "fear nothing, but be attentive to my voice and whatever I ask of you in order to prepare you for the accomplishment of my designs. First of all, you will receive Me in the blessed Sacrament as frequently as you will be permitted under obedience, regardless of the mortification and humiliation that may befall you, which you must accept as pledges of my love. You will moreover receive Communion all the first Fridays of each month. And every night, from Thursday to Friday, I will make you partake of the mortal sadness which I willingly experienced in the Garden of Olives, and this sadness will reduce you - without your being able to understand it - to a kind of agony harder to bear than death itself. And to accompany me in that humble prayer which I presented then to my Father amidst all my sorrows, you will rise between eleven o'clock and midnight in order to prostrate yourself with me for an hour, face down, just as much to appease my divine anger by asking for mercy for sinners, as to mitigate in some way the bitternness I felt in being abandoned my my apostles, which obliged me to reproach them for their inability to keep vigil with me for one hour, and during this hour you will do whatever I teach you. But listen, my daughter, do not believe and trust lightly in any spirit, because Satan is furiously trying to deceive you; that is why you should do nothing without the approval of the superiors leading you, so that under the authority of obedience he will be unable to deceive you, for he has no power over the obedient." " (14) In another apparition, Jesus said, "In the excess of my mercy, I have wished to manifest to men in these last times the infinite treasures of my sacred Heart." The revelation of the Sacred Heart therefore has its origin, according to the same words of Our Lord, in the excess of His mercy for men.

Nature and end of the devotion to the Sacred Heart

Having read the consoling words of the revelation of the Sacred Heart, let us now see its nature. The devotion to the Sacred Heart is essentially, as we have seen, a devotion of love, an adoration to the love of God. Love seeks love in return, "He that loveth not, abideth in death." (1 John III, 14). Only the one who loves truly gives everything, because in loving he gives of himself, and the Heart of Jesus is a human heart which only asks for love. He Himself thus revealed to St Mathilde, "I lack only the Heart of man." In effect, being God He has everything, lacking in nothing and neither can he lack anything; only the heart of man, having been created free, can resist the love of Jesus. The devotion to the Sacred Heart is the revelation of the infinite Love of God to lead men to a reciprocal exchange of love. The popes that have encouraged the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus have taught this truth. Leo XIII said, "Jesus has no more ardent desire than to see kindled in souls the fire of love consuming His Heart. Let us therefore seek Him who, as a prize of His charity, asks nothing of us but to reciprocate His love." (15) Pius IX in the beatification letter of St Marguerite-Marie said, "The author and pinnacle of our faith, Jesus, had nothing else in mind than to excite in the souls of men the flames burning in His Heart, thus we see Him in the Gospel assuring His disciples, "I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?" (Luke XII, 49). Now, as a means of further stirring up this fire of charity, He has desired that in the Church the veneration and the devotion to His most Sacred Heart be established and that it should be propagated. Finally, Pius XII said, "Holy Writ declares that between divine charity, which must burn in the souls of Christians, and the Holy Spirit, Who is certainly Love Itself, there exists the closest bond, which clearly shows all of us, venerable brethren, the intimate nature of that worship which must be paid to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. V, 5) affirment intervenir entre la divine charité, qui doit brûler dans les coeurs des chrétiens, et l’Esprit-Saint, qui est essentiellement Amour, nous dévoile à tous ... la nature intime elle-même de ce culte au très saint Coeur de Jésus-Christ. If we consider its special nature it is beyond question that this devotion is an act of religion of high order; it demands of us a complete and unreserved determination to devote and consecrate ourselves to the love of the divine Redeemer, Whose wounded Heart is its living token and symbol. It is equally clear, but at a higher level, that this same devotion provides us with a most powerful means of repaying the divine Lord by our own.

 requiert de notre part une volonté de nous consacrer à l’amour du divin Rédempteur... de même il est également manifeste, et dans un sens encore plus profond, que ce même culte suppose avant tout que nous rendions amour pour amour à ce divin Amour. Indeed it follows that it is only under the impulse of love that the minds of men obey fully and perfectly the rule of the Supreme Being, since the influence of our love draws us close to the divine Will that it becomes as it were completely one with it, according to the saying, 'He who is joined to the Lord, is one spirit.' (1 Corinthians VI, 17). (16) VI, 17) » (16).

The Sacred Heart wants to reign over the heart of man because in possessing its center, the motor of all activity, He will come into possession of his entire being. "But love can only be conquered through love! Well knowing the depths of the human heart, God was wished to conform Himself to an admirable and universal law of human psychology, 'If you want to be loved, love!' He could force upon us such a love, since it is His right. But He does not force us to love! And therefore God has preferred to choose another way, a path in greater conformity to the very nature of love, 'He has loved us first' (I John IV, 10), 'so that - according to St Agustine - if it was difficult for us to love Him, at least we did not hesitate to exchange His love because love us', because among all the reasons that move one to love, that most efficacious is being warned in love. Certainly he has a very hard heart who, not wanting to admit the gift of His love, even refuses to offer it in return as a payment of debt. When God wanted to rekindle in the heart of men, frozen by the Jansenist heresy, the awareness of His love for him, he again had recourse to the most accessible and persuasive means: to again reveal the immensity of the love of His Heart for him. Love cannot be resisted, 'love bears all' (cf I Corinthians XIII, 7). I Cor. XIII, 7). The devotion to the Sacred Heart (...) is an admirable golden chain that joins and links together the Heart of God and that of man. If it is true that religion is the meeting of two hearts... then Pius XI said with good reason that ours is the 'synthesis of all religion'... reserved by Providence to illuminate and give warmth to all dogma, to all Christian morality.' (17)

If this "unknown" and outraged love of God is the dominant character of devotion to the Sacred Heart, the love which man offers in return must be one that offers reparation. Since Adam, fallen man must consider his sinful nature and therefore in a certain manner, by loving he intends to compensate for the effects of sin, while God in His mercy continues to love man. Mercy is in effect a Latin word signifying heart (the divine Heart) which bends over a natural misery (that of sinful man). In the revelation and requests of the Sacred Heart to St Marguerite-Marie, the act of reparation seems like the first and most essential act of the devotion. The devotion to the Sacred Heart is therefore the Love of God which asks and seeks the repairing love of man.

How this devotion is practiced

How could one practice this devotion without knowing it? We must go out of our slumber and approach Jesus in meditation and prayer, to have "the sentiments which Christ Jesus had in Himself" (Philippians, II, 5), and therefore those of His Sacred Heart. II, 5) et donc de son Sacré-Coeur. Otherwise we would deserve the reproach of Our Lord Himself to the Samaritan woman, "you adore that which you know not..." (John IV, 22). It is by recollecting ourselves in prayer and by participating (or celebrating, in the case of priests) in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that we will find the Sacred Heart. St Bernard says, Disce Cor Dei in verbis Dei: learn about the Heart of God in the word of God. And after having known Him we will be able to conform ourselves to Him, because this devotion must precisely tend towards this conformity.

If God as St Paul says, "has predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans VIII, 29), , what is the image of the Son to whom all those who wish to reach eternal life must conform to, if not the Sacred Heart of Jesus? In effect, the Lord Jesus thus speaks to the faithful, "Everyone cannot imitate my exterior actions, do the miracles I accomplished. The diversity of the various vocations does not even permit all to follow my kind of exterior life: but everyone, both the great and small, the wise and ignorant, can and must imitate the sentiments of my Heart, whatever their station in life. If therefore you wish to be saved, you must become conformed to my Heart; it is necessary that your heart experience the same sentiments as mine. You would have distributed all your goods among the poor, given your body over to the harshest austerities, known all mysteries, carried out brilliant miracles, and yet if your heart did not bear resemblance to mine, you would still be nothing, and all these things would be worthless for eternity. It is on your resemblance to my Heart that you will be judged; it is this that will determine your eternal fate. (...) Therefore, all that you do will be worthless unless you carry it out according to my Heart. (...) The more that you conform your heart to my Heart, the more confident you will be of salvation." (18)

Moreover, it would be a grave illusion to leave this knowledge of the Heart of Jesus which is acquired in conforming oneself to Him to a purely theoretical level. St James (II, 26) in fact warns us that, 'faith without works is dead.'  foi sans les oeuvres est morte”. True devotion to the Sacred Heart requires a reform of the intellect and a moral transformation.

"Being devoted to the Sacred Heart means making Him known to oneself and others, defending His rights, promoting the devotion, preaching His glories.

Being devoted to the Sacred Heart means to seek within the physical Heart of Jesus the love which has given the world the Eucharist; it is to study at the foot of the tabernacle this divine charity  that the Sacred Heart has revealed to men.

But that is not all. Being devoted to the Sacred Heart means practicing this devotion with enthusiasm and love; if one is content with practicing it with something like resignation, it will not bear its fruits; it is not ike a fire which lies hidden under the ashes, but a flame that rises ardently and joyously.

Being devoted to the Sacred Heart means living this devotion. It is not sufficient to love the Sacred Heart: it is absolutely necessary to partake with Him of an intimate life in a sweet familiarity, to not make a single step without consulting Him, to hide ourselves in Him, we, our talents, our desires, so that He will be glorified in all our works 'it is necessary that he grow and that I diminish' (John III, 30). It is also necessary to study His virtues - those of His mortal life, those of His Eucharistic life; to grasp them, love them, and practice them for His love and glory; to profess for all the words that have come out of His divine lips the same respect that makes us adore the smallest fragment of the Holy Host.

Being devoted to the Sacred Heart means sympathizing with His sorrows and devoting oneself to the duty of seeking reparation in a manner that is affective and effective, efficacious and reliable, intelligent and generous, in order to expiate for the monstrous crimes through which His enemies insult His name, violate His commandments, profanate His sacrament of love and persecute His Church; it is offering some compensation for those faults which, although materially less grave, are committed by those who should be His friends.

Being devoted to the Sacred Heart means accepting the most painful sacrifices with a joyful face, to conserve one's peace and joy even if the heart should bleed, to seek in everything and despite everything His greater glory. "He who saith that he knoweth him..." - thus wrote the Apostle of charity - and "keepeth not his commandments, is a liar..." (I John II, 4).

Being devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus means to partake of His agony and joys, to burn with a desire to make Him known and to extend His reign, to glorify His name, to do His will, to save souls (...).

Being devoted to the Sacred Heart means passionately loving the holy Church, the virginal flower which sprouted from His blood, and being united to Her by perfectly adhering to Her teachings and submitting to Her head. It is to love the interior life, the hidden life, silence, recollection, mortification. It is to love souls... to love them always in a continual immolation, one that perpetually and totally offers our desires, our ideas and our wellbeing." (19)

From what has been revealed thus far we can conclude that devotion to the Sacred Heart entails above all practicing a devotion of reparation that we can describe according to certain main acts: to give satisfaction to Jesus for the dishonour given Him and to console Him from the sadness that he receives from sin [affective reparation]; to renew in one's neighbour the life of grace by the zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls [effective reparation].  Ultimately, we will have to atone for our own sins and those of others by submitting ourselves voluntarily to sadness and pain [afflictive reparation]. The passage from one to the other is easy and spontaneous. These are the three rings of the only chain of love, which from affective becomes efficacious and afflictive, meaning that it passes from the heart into works, until it is consumed in the act of immolation, because faith without works would be dead.

The promises of the Sacred Heart. Conclusion

In practicing the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the "promises" that Jesus made to St Marguerite-Marie and to all the devotees of the Sacred Heart deserve a special comment. They constitute a singular fact and Our Lord has certainly desired that they draw men even more towards His infinite love.

In its revelation to St Margarite-Marie, the Sacred Heart did not limit Himself to a general description of the blessings and the marvelous fruits that the new devotion would bear, but He desired to further specify its benefits according to the needs of souls in the henceforth famous and consoling "twelve promises". The Saint remained confused and delighted from so much goodness, a response that all men should emulate. I will limit myself here to describing the twelve "promises" of Our Lord, which will later be the object of a study and commentary in another article on the devotion of the first nine Fridays of the month.

If this article (which certainly could not treat the subject exhaustively) has enkindled in the heart of readers an ardent spark of charity for the infinite love of God, the author will consider himself happy for having reached his originally proposed objective, because then the words of Jesus will be accomplished, "I have come to cast fire over the earth, and what is my will if not that it be set alight?" Let us bear a little more love for this most loving Heart and make others love Him; it will be our consolation in this life and our reward in the next...

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, fiery furnace of charity, make my heart similar to Thine!

THE TWELVE PROMISES OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS granted to those souls honouring His divine Heart.

1. I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.

2. I will establish peace in their homes.

3. I will comfort them in all their afflictions.

4. I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.

5. I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.

6. Sinners will find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.

7. Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.

8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.

9. I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored.

10. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.

11. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart.

12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.