June 21st

The Sorrows of the Sacred Heart


The Sacred Heart of Jesus is nothing else than a history of continual sorrow. He is termed in Holy Scripture "the Man of Sorrows." Sorrowful He came into the world: in sorrow He grew up to manhood. In sorrow He gazed into the hearts of men, and saw there what He hated most. In sorrow He witnessed their refusal to listen to His Divine call. In sorrow--bitter sorrow--He watched the falling away of one of the chosen Twelve. In sorrow He heard of the denial of St. Peter. In sorrow He was betrayed, mocked, scourged, crucified. Was there ever sorrow like His?

What caused Him the greatest sorrow of all? The ingratitude of man. There is nothing that wounds so deeply as love rejected; and this is what Jesus felt every moment of His life. There was never love such as His, and therefore never such sorrow as when it was rejected. O my Jesus! I, too, have returned Thee unkindness, coldness, neglect. Forgive me the sorrow I have caused Thee, and make me love Thee more and more.

Was it only here and there that the Sacred Heart of Jesus met with this cause for sorrow? Alas! it was a universal sorrow, not a single child of Adam but added to this sorrow. Even the greatest saints did not return love for love as they ought; all caused Christ to sorrow. All save one; the peerless one, the immaculate, the ever faithful Mother of God. O Mary, pray for me, that I may never again cause sorrow to the Sacred Heart!

June 23rd

The Sacred Heart at Gethsemane


During our Lord's Sacred Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, His mental desolation and distress seem to have been more intense, more crushing, than at any subsequent part of His Sacred Passion, save only when on the Cross He cried:

 "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" During the rest of the Passion He seemed almost to rejoice; but in the Garden He was beaten down, full of terror and sadness, scarce able to endure, pale and haggard and ghastly under the agony of soul thai overwhelmed Him. In your desolation think of the utter desolation of the Sacred Heart, and claim its sympathy for you.

Why was our Lord at this time so shorn of His strength and courage? Because then He took upon Himself in detail the sins of the world. His Sacred Heart suffered for them the same blackness of desolation and distress as if they were His own. He voluntarily deprived Himself of every source of comfort, and allowed Himself to feel the effects of sin as none could feel them save one who saw the nature of sin as God sees it.

One of the lessons to be learned from the awful scene of Christ's Agony is the effect of sin when given its full scope, and its power to destroy the beauty and the strength even of God made Man. If it could work such havoc in the Son of God, what must it do in us? If they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

June 25th

The Piercing of the Sacred Heart


When our Lord had breathed forth His Soul into the hands of His Eternal Father, the Sacred Heart could for a time no longer continue its work of love for men. But, as if to show that even in death it loved them still. God ordained that it should be pierced by the centurion's lance, and should shed its last drops of blood for man. It was as if He wliose lifeless Body hung there was not satisfied with suffering even to death, but needs must show how even in death from His Sacred Body grace and mercy poured forth for the healing of sin.

Out of His Heart flowed blood and water. That blood is the source of life to sinful man. It flows into the soul through all the sacraments of the Church. With it the elect are inebriated, and all the saints before the throne of God have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Reflect on these graces conferred by the Precious Blood, and pray that you may wash in it and be clean.

Out of His Heart too flowed water, that living water of which He said: "He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall not thirst for ever." Of that water the redeemed drink in Heaven. Their Lord Himself leads them to the fountains of the water of life. That water now refreshes His servants in this world's weary paths. Jesus, my Lord, give me to drink of that living water that shall make me thirst after Thee, and after naught else but Thee.

June 27th

The Sacred Heart in Heaven


Now that Jesus has returned to His throne in Heaven, has He forgotten His friends on earth? No, He loves them now as much as ever, nay. He loves them, if it be possible, better than ever. As the world grows old, and the love of many waxes cold. He entertains a greater pity and compassion and love for those who remain faithful to Him. His Sacred Heart still beats in sympathy with every one of us, no less than it did for the poor widow who had lost her son, and for Peter when he denied his Master, or for the disciples in their sorrow and desolation during the three days that He lay in the grave.

How is our Lord employed in Heaven? When the Apostle speaks of Him at the right hand of God, he describes His life as primarily that of an advocate for sinful man. He is always living to make intercession for us. (Hebrews vii. 25.) He is continually holding out to His Father His Hands which bear the marks of the Sacred Wounds, and pleading for sinners. His prayer still is. Father, forgive them! What a consolation for us!

He has another work in Heaven which He Himself announced. He told His disciples, "I go to prepare a place tor you." I go to bestow on you the graces necessary to obtain. I go to help you to fight the battle and win the crown. My Sacred Heart will never be satisfied till you are all there with Me, rejoicing for ever before the throne of God. O Jesus, my Lord and my God! grant that I may not fail of my eternal reward.

June 29th

The Confidences of the Sacred Heart


Our Lord for nearly seventeen hundred years endured in silence all the ingratitude of men. Some faithful hearts had been devoted to Him, but from the generality He had received neglect, coldness, indifference--sometimes outrage, insult, sacrilege. He had witnessed the revolt of thousands and tens of thousands from the Church's yoke. Satan had usurped His place in their hearts, and they had heaped every sort of indignity on His servants, on His Church, on Himself in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. They had denied His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament; they had cast off His yoke and persecuted His servants.

At length our Lord found one heart to which He could confide the story of His disappointments. and tell the tale of His sufferings. The Blessed Margaret Mary was unknown, obscure, a poor, feeble woman. But she was so dear to His Heart that He determined to tell her of His griefs, and entrust to her the task of obtaining for Him some comfort and relief in His sorrows. How great a privilege was hers! Would that I had something of her love!

Moved by the devoted love of this faithful servant, our Lord appeared to her, revealed to her the treasures of His Sacred Heart, and complained to her of the cruel treatment He had received from men. Has He not good reason to complain of the way I have treated Him, and am I not one of those who have caused Him so much grief and sorrow?