i"\ ( =troV\cis MaVle.te.. IV' olile.d1OV\€ __ _ ADTS;LS7 Manete In Dilectione Mea T'he Heart of Jesus and the Priest Edited By Rev. Francis Larkin, SS.CC First edition: 50,000 Printed and distributed by Our Sunday V181t"lI Huntine-ton. Indiana ~ , "', COVER: COpy of the famous picture used by Garcia Moreno for consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart in 1873. Picture furnished by courtesy of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart.. Imprimi potest: William J. Condon, 88.CC. Provincial Nihil obstat: Rev. Edward A. Miller Censor Librorum Imprimatur: Most Rev. John F. Noll, D.D. Archbishop-Bishop of Fort Wayne Preface FATHER, if you were asked the question, "What is the surest way to know Jesus intimately, to love Him ardently, and to serve Him faithfully?" what would your answer be? Can a categorical answer be given? Certainlyl "DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART" Who is the authority for this statement? None other than Pope Pius XI, in his Encyclical on reparation to the Sacred Heart, Miserentissimus Redemptor. Here is the full quotation: "Are we not to see, Venerable Brothers, in that bless- ed sign (the Sacred Heart) and in the devotion that flows from it, the very substance of our holy religion, as well as the rules to guide us towards a more per- fect form of life, since the Sacred Heart is the road which will most surely lead us to know intimately Jesus Christ and will cause our hearts to love more tenderly and to imitate Him more generously than we have hitherto done?' Did you ever read that terrific assertion before? Have you forgotten it? Well, that's understandable: there are a lot of things about the Sacred Heart we priests don't know, or long since have forgotten, or even have misunderstood. That's the reason for Manete. First written by a contemplative monk, it has been trans- lated into many languages and has gone into innumerable editions. It's that kind of book. It packs a wallop. It has hit many a priest right between the eyes, or, better, in his heart. In other words it seems to have been an instrument of the Heart of Jesus, to win priests to the practice of devotion to the Sacred Heart. For the first time it is being published in the United States, although the book is not unknown to some American priests. We feel confident that it is going to spark them and many others to even greater love for the Sacred Heart and to more zeal in promoting His interests. And how we need that love and that zeal! How else are we to arouse our people from that "lethargy of the spirit, weakness of the will , and coldness of the heart," which as Pope Pius XII said in his little known call for a ":mighty reawakening," of February 11, 1952, is "the root of modem evils" and which has bropght about a situation "which, we 9-0, not hesitate to say, may explode at any mo- men t?" How -else, ex,cept through priests who ar.e fired with love, and bJIming with zeal for the salvation of sOlils? But , the Ilurest way to love is devotion to the Sqcred Heart! --- Therefore we cannot afford not to kno'.v, to love and to practice the "devotion of devotions" and hand it on to others, Our Lord told Saint Margaret Mary: "This is My last at- tempt to win the hearts of men , , , by means of this devotidn I will destroy the empire of satan in the hearts of men, , . \I will reign through My Heart in spite of My enemies." Yes, "in spite of His enemies," be they secularists, m:i- .terialists, or Communists, but note well, as Father Mateo say~, "He never promised he would reign despite His friends . .. despite His priests." "You are My friends if you keep My words." Our Lord has made known His words, His wishes, in the Gospel, but He has also reaffirmed them through the private revelations made to St. Margaret Mary, and approved by the Church. And He seems to be speaking through the author of this little book, pleading with His priests, to become His "faithful servants and perfect friends," and therefore, apostles of His Heart . In order to help priests practice devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus , we have added to the book an appendix, in which is outlined a plan for priests aspiring to become genu- :ine friends of the Sacred Heart. As yet, there is no formal or- ganization, and perhaps there never will be. But it is hoped that the "Friends of the Sacred Heart" will one day constitute an elite corps made up of officers-priests, other Christs-and therefore powerful enough to bring about the social reign of the Sacred Heart in our beloved country. "I will reign through the merciful omnipotence of My - Sacred Heart!" And we might add: " ... through My pr.iests:' Francis Larkin, SS.CC. National Director Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in the Home : , ! Manete In Dilectione Mea The Heart of Jesus and the Priest FATHER, do you hear the sad reproaches issuing from the tabernacles of the world: "Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem" (Matt. 26:39). "0 vos omnes qui transitis per vimn, attendite et videte si est dolor sicut dolo'/' meus" (Lam. 1:12). You know the cause of His grief, the heartrending in- credible apathy of so many Catholics toward Him Who is the central furnace of love and the source of life. "Sustinui qui ~imul contristaretur et non fuit; et qui consolal'etur et non 1nveni" (Ps. 68:21). A great many are cold, some hate this Heart, which has loved men so much and which from the greater number receives in return only indifference and in- gratitude. "Improperium expectavit cor meum et miseriam." Nevertheless the sadness of Jesus in the Blessed Sacra- ment comes, above all, from another cause that touches Him more closely. Must we say it? This deplorable indifference of our people toward the Divine Heart arises to a large extent from the indifference of some of the clergy. Poor Jesus Christ! It is souls consecrated to His service that treat Him thus. He Himself said to His chosen servant at Paray-Ie-Monial that while His enemies strike Him in His Face, His own friends wound Him in His Heart. The words of St. Gregory are still true: '~Causa sunt ruinae populi sacel'dotes." (Ep. 69, P. L. 77) Unhappy Truths . There are but few priests whose devotion toward the "Sacred Heart is true, solid and constant and who sincerely en- deavor to instill it into the souls under their care. We need not look further for the cause of the too numerous faIlings away of Catholics, of the immorality and impiety which flood the land everywhere. Man goes astray because he ;tries to do without Jesus Christ. He tries to do without Jesus Christ be- cause he does not really know Him, because he does not un- derstand His Heart, because "inter nos multi infirmi-et dor- miunt multi" (1 Cor. 11:30). A priest's life ought to be a perpetual give and take be- tween the Heart of God and the heart of man. "Si quis diligit me-et Pater meus dinget eum" (John 14:23). It has been well said that we are chalices which must be filled with Jesus Christ and spill their overflow into souls.1 This double task of absorbing Jesus and giving Him out to the world demands a great love. The Heart of Jesus has done much for His priests in order that they may love Him. He has given them abundant grace jn the protection with which He surrounded their early years, jn the wonderful gift of their vocation, in each step by which they mounted toward the priesthood, in the mystery of their holy ordination. "De tenebris nos vocavit in admirabile lumen suum" (1 Pet. 2:9) . . What shall we say of the confidence God has placed in His priests? He has shown us confidence indeed. He has con- fided to us all His treasures, His Church, souls, His Body, His Blood, His adorable Heart, His Immaculate Mother, the keys of His paradise. In the two highest acts of His ministry He lends us His very personality: Ego te absolvo-Hoc est Corpus Meum. He has lavished on us teaching, counsels, guidance. He has willed to have no secrets from us. "Omnia quaecumque audivi a Patre Meo, nota feci vobis." (John 15:15). The priest, above all, must remember the burning desire which He made known to us at Paray-Ie-Monial: "If you knew how I thirst, how I burn to be loved by men! You, at least, g ive Me this pleasure!" You, at least. As He uttered this moving plea He must have had in mind each one of His priests. For, note well what the Gospel says: "It is just that he to whom more is given should love more" (Luke 7:42). But He who in exchange for His gifts might well demand all we have, asks only for our love. "Dilige et quid vis fac. Manete in dilectione mea." Sad to say, the words of St. Gregory are still true today: "Behold ~ Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey. SS.CC. -6- the world is full of priests, yet true laborers in the harvest field of God are few and far between, because wbile we have taken on ourselves the priestly office we neglect the duties of that office" (Hom. 17 I in Ev. P. L. 76:1139). True laborers are wanting because, as the Imitation of Christ says, there is among us too little of that -love "which makes all burdens seem light and carries them without feeling the weight." I have said that our Lord only asks our love, but it is clear that He cannot be satisfied with any sort of half-hearted, cold, selfish love. He wills to receive from us a burning and intense love which shall reflect the great fire kindled by Him upon the earth. To each of us Our Lord puts this question which sl,lould pierce like a sword-thrust to the bottom of our souls: "Diligis me plus his?" (John 21: 15). Only after an affirmative reply, will He declare us worthy of our ministry: "Pasce agnos meos." Dear Father, He asks you: "Diligis me plus his? ... Ex toto corde tuo? Ex tota anima tua? Ex tota mente tua? ... Ex tota virtute tua?" (Mark 12:30). You who raise daily in your hands the divinp Victim, you who pardon and condemn "as one having power," see these humble men and women in silent prayer in your church, see these young children ignorant of evil, see these aged sinners, laborers of the last hour, devoting to My service the last days of their life built up anew in love. Look long at them and answer Me: "Lovest thou Me more than these . . . more than each one of them . . . more than all together?" The answer is long in coming. Poor Jesus Christl The One Most Forgotten Why do so many priests deliberately hold aloof from the tabernacle? Even when they are obliged to approach it, their heart almost always remains elsewhere where they have an- other treasure. Many priests care more for the noise and bustle of what are perhaps ironically called Catholic activities than for recollection and prayer. Many undertakings, clubs, socie- ties, congresses, conferences, excellent in themselves, give lit- tle support to Christian life, because their center of gravity is displaced. St. Paul, speaking of Our Lord, says "Omnia in Ipso constant" (Col. 1:17). As all in the material world has been -7- created for Him, so all in the spiritual world finds its source in Him and must depend on Him. We cannot violate this ini- mutable law of souls without reversing the order established by Providence, and imperilling the social equilibrium. Jesus Christ is forgotten and the life of our souls suffers: "omnia creatura ingemiscit" (Rom. 8:22) For many of us, dice bam vobis, nunc autem et flens dieo (Phil. 3:18), the sweet Heart of the Redeemer seems to have lost its attraction; our petty personality alone interests us, ou ... trivial projects absorb us; daily we try to set on a pedestal the idol of our selfishness which robs God of His glory and vaunts a ridiculous infallibility. St. Paul might well say of us what he said of the Jews: "Velamen positum est super cor eDt'um" (~ Cor. 3:15). Incredible as it may seem, some even go as far ~.~ to neglect prayer on the pretext of working for souls; they le;t the very foundation of the interior life-crumble away to devote more time to outward activities and think to glorify God therec by. Hear once again the Lord's warning: "Qui ex Deo est verba Dei audit: propterea vas non auditis, quia ex Deo non estis~' (John 8:47). Let us go back once for all to the Sacred Heart. There alone, in that furnace of love, can we renew our exhausted strength. But let us hurry, there is no time to lose. In St. Mar- garet Mary's writings we read these words: "Woe to the souls who remain soiled and athirst beside the source of living waters; for never more shall they be able to be cleansed and satisfied." May this never be said of us. After so many years spent in the most sacred of all ministries, let us not force Our Lord to repeat to us: "Nescitis cujus spiritus estis" (Luke 9:55}. Without further delay, let us go to Him, let us go to His Heart. If Thou Didst Know the Gift of God After all, Father, what do you seek? What attracts you? Knowledge? But in the Heart of Jesus are hidden and stored. up all the treasures of God's Wisdoql. What do you desire? Zeal for souls? H e is the King an« Center of all hearl's. Are there sinners who resist all your ef- forts to win them? He sacIificed Himself for them individual- -8- ly; He is the propitiation for the sins of all souls; He is patient " and most merciful; He is the inexhaustible fountain of life and hoHness. Are your sick embittering their last days by the memory of their faults? The Heart of Jesus is the salvation of those who hope in Him, the consolation of the dying, the gate of Paradise. St. Paul was speaking in ' our name when he wrote: "Nos autem sensum Christi habemus" (1 Cor. 2:16). But for many of us the saying of St. John of the Cross re- mains a dead letter: "The smallest act of pure love has more worth in God's eyes and serves the Church better than all 'other works put together." We must not forget that the ador- able Heart of the Redeemer is the most perfect of created things, the ideal of all beauty and of all grace, the seat of all joy, the wonder of the angels, the bliss of heaven, the charm of creation. The angels and the blessed spend their eternity in contemplating the Sacred Heart. Yet this Divine Heart which delights the court of heaven leaves our hearts cold. We obstinately seek a remedy for our social evils where it cannot be found and disregard the remedy without which all others fail, the one unfailing care, devotion to the Divine Heart. Jesus Himself warns us of our error. To us He may .well say: "Si non locutus fuissem eis peccatum non haberent" (John 15:22). Let us no longer set our trivial excuses and poor pretexts in opposition to His infinitely wise Will. Let us put His teachings into practice, with childlike docility let us give .the Sacred Heart of Jesus to souls in order to give them to Jesus. "H [Ee est autem vita [Eterna ut cognoscant quem . misisti" (John 17:3). See Your Vocation ' What, you doubt it? You are set to teach others and you will not practice what Jesus asks of them. Your excuse must not be ignorance. "Tu es magiste1' in Israel et h[EC ignoras?" (John 3:10), And yet the Spirit of God descended upon you, your hands were anointed with holy oil, to you has been given the power of binding and loosmg, of preaching and consecrating. Years have passed since then: "Tanto tempore vobiscum sum -9 - et non cognovistis me" (John 14:9). Remember that you re- ceived the imposition of hands in the name and by the au- thorization of Jesus; for His glory alone have you been made a priest forever. Do not forget: "Admoneo te ut reSttscites gratiam Dei quae est in te" (2 Tim. 1:6). On the day of your ordination you were consecrated Christ's lieutenant, the apostle of His love. Since that day you are His representative, you are to show forth His virtues, to defend His rights, to promote His honor. Be as He was, gentle, humble, chaste, kind. "The priest is the vicar of Christ's love," says St. Ambrose, the vicar of that love which has its seat in the Heart of Jesus! Think of this, and when you pardon, purify, bless, implore, consecrate, teach, be mindful of your high calling. There is in the heart of the priest, cut by his vow froin family ties, an immense void which only an immense love can fill. Foolish efforts have been made, we know, to stir up pity for the Catholic clergy, and the stupid question has been put: "Why is the priest alone forbidden to love?" If this absurdity were true, the priest's obligation of chastity would be the cruellest and the most useless of sacrifices. Love is the right given to us , a duty laid upon us by nature herself, and woe to him who tramples under foot the sacred rights of nature. But no, for the honor of God, the Church does not think thus. When the Redeemer asks His priests for perfect chastity He, the Eternal Wisdom, knows that the human heart, however pure, however free from all human affection, is all too little to hold a Love Divine. At the foot of the altar Holy Church has heard the priest freely renounce all hope of union with a feeble and imperfect creature. Then she Herself becomes His spouse; as dowry she brings him all the glories of her twenty centuries, all the great examples of her saints, all her unsullied history, the wretched to be consoled, sinners to be led back to God with the tenderness of charity. Do not tell me that a priest is forbidden to love! Yet this universal charity leaves some instincts of the heart unsatisfied. It needs the intimacy of love, open-hearted converse with a friend. God has not forgotten this need; very wonderfully has He provided for us a Friend to understand us, to console us, to delight us. In the silent tabernacles the Heart of Jesus, the most humanly sensitive of hearts, craves, - 10- too, for friendship; this common need must draw together the two hearts, the Heart of God and the heart of the priest. Nothing is so bitter to Jesus as to have our friendship with- held from Him. Listen as He speaks: "Vis amici mei estis .. • Vos autem dixi amicos" (John 15:14-15). He wishes us to be His friends, to have but one heart with Him, that we may be like Him, worthy of Him, capable of worthily carrying on His work of love. Your bosom friend, always faithful, all-sufficing, is the God most loving, is Jesus. The Secret of Success Dear Father, if you did but think, if you were but docile! "Si scifes donum Dei" (John 4:10). You know what the Apostle desired: "In medio nationis prawE et perversm ... lucetis sicut luminaria" (Philip 2:15). But this light is to be found in the Sacred Heart alone: "Ego sum lux mundi. Qui sequitur me habebit lumen vitm" (John 8:12). It is yours to make shine the star of truth, the light of faith before those who do not or will not see, whose minds and hearts are wrapped in dark- ness. If the fact of so many wandering sheep gives us just cause for anxiety, let us open the Gospel: "Quos dedisti mihi non perdidi ex his quemquam" (John 18:9). A priest has no nobler hope than this, to bring to heaven all the souls entrusted to him. But the Sacred Heart makes just this promise to His friends. He says: "I will bless all their undertakings; 1 will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life; they shall have power to win over the most hardened hearts." To win over hearts is the ambition of the apostle. In God's Church there are many preachers but few apostles. "Si decem millia pedagogorum . . . sed non multos patres" (1 Cor. 4:15). There are too few apostles because the true secret of apostleship is unknown to the most part. It is well to know theology, philosophy, all sciences sacred and profane, to possess all the secrets of eloquence, a noble presence, a voice that can charm, control and move the crowd. Yet these are natural gifts and all these put together are of themselves unable to save one soul. "Hmc est victoria qum vincit mun- dum, fides vestra" (1 John 5:4). To lead souls to Jesus we need an art not taught in schools, but to be learned only from the - ·11 - Master's Heart. This art of comn:mnicating the divine; this unction which penetrates, together with the grace of God, unto the innermost recesses of the conscience, this force which breaks and throws down, builds up and plants, is the Divine Love of which the Heart of Jesus is the furnace. These are the flames which have power to set the wo'rld on fire but which first should warm your heart. Let the priest not forget that it is little to flatter the ear with harmonious phrases, to catch the attention of an audience by elevation of thought or beauty of style. In the order of Redemption this is valueless: ' "Prophette fuerunt in ventum locuti" (Jer. 5:13). But Jesus has promised that in His Heart we shall find the secret of converting the most hardened hearts. You are wearied with your day-long searching for the lost sheep, you weep like Jeremias over the empty fold, you await in silence her salvation of God, your ears are forever , assailed with the blasphemy of those who cry: "N olumus hunc regnare super nos" (Luke 19:14). Come, rest on the Master's Heart; come, remembering: "Non est in aliquo alio salus" (Acts 4:12). He is the true shepherd. Even while you sleep, He watches. Watch with Him and the sheep will know your voice and follow you. Go humbly to His school, listen to His teach- ing. He will always be with you even to the consummation of the world. Become the apostle of His love and you will see. You will see the ice of indifference melting as if by magic, you will see flowers and fruit loading the most barren trees; you will see mountains moved, you will see divine love flowing anew through the dry veins of this skeptical and cor- rupt society. In a word, you will see the power and the mag- nificence of His love. Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat used to say to her daughters: "In these unhappy days it seems as if the Blessed Trinity only yielded to the adorable Heart of Jesus-." Unjustified Opposition Even certain priests have dared to call the cult of the Sacred Heart a sentimental devotion. We may well say, with St. Jude: "Qutecumque quidem ignorant . .. blasphemant'" (Jud. 1O). It is as clear as day that ' sentiment has nothing to do' with this devotion rig11tly understood. The Sacred Heart - 12- , is Qnly the Gospel made more present and more alive; it . is the ,Savior closer to His creature; it is His love revealed to our hearts, His power made visible, His promises realized; in a word, it is Jesus better understood and better loved. It is this, neither more nor less. Accordingly, the Congregation of Rites has declared that the end of the Feast of the Sacred Heart is not to commemorate anyone mystery of Our Lord's life but to sum up all the feasts in His honor, since it recalls to us not a special grace but the source of all grace, not a mystery but the principle and inner cause of all mysteries , The motive of this cult is to be found in the fact that all the redemption, before it was worked out in the early life of the Man-God, had already been interiorly and invisibly accom- plished in the sanctuary of His heart; it was already summed up in His first fiat when, before ever time was made, He re- solved to become Man: "Ecce venia ut faciam, Deus, valunta- tem ttlam" (Hebr. 10:7). "Deus caritas est" (1 John 4:16), His Everlasting Healt has always loved; the whol.e theology of the Sacred Heart consists in finding in this eternal love of God the reason for the whole series of revealed mysteries, God loves and wishes to give. He has given us all in the Creation. He who loves wishes to speak to and be understood by the one he loves. God spoke in Revelation; loving, He wished to make Himself like those He loved. This was the Incarnation. To love is to suffer for the beloved, Behold the Redemption. Love draws , us to live closely to the beloved, What but this explains the Eucharist? To love is to be united with him we love. See, here is .communion. To love is to rejoice forever with the beloved. We have Paradise awaiting us . Thus has God loved. And as the Person of Jesus is divine, His created Heart draws into Itself all the ways of love of the uncreated Heart of God and sums up all Its manifestations. It is the living, throbbing expression of all the Catholic mysteries. It is true that under the cloak of this devotion there have slipped in here and there too many over-sugared writings, but these manifestations of morbid piety do but parody love. . Believe me, Holy Church, can show you something very un- ·lik-e all this. Consider the devotion which interests us in the .Encyclicals of the Popes,inthe writings of the Saints; exam- . ineits elements. study it , in . practice, feed your ~heart aRd - 13- mind with tIle doctrine as l"evealed in serious books by men who can speak with authol"ity, and then tell me if anything manlier, greater, more solid, more Catholic, can be found ill the Church of God. Some superficial observers have chosen to confuse the cult of the Sacred Heart with the childish little devotions which find birth one day in some over-heated brain, to vanish on the morrow. They say with disdain, "The Sacred Heart? A fashionable devotion." Yes, thanks to heaven, it is the fashion. Our Lord Him- self predicted that it would be when He declared that He has l"eserved it for the last ages. It is fashionable since it is practiced by millions of souls all over the world, covering the earth, as it were, with a network of holiness. Hundreds of leaflets and booklets, written in all tongues, speak of it to all the peoples. Fashionable-yet if we consider it, not in its modifications of outward form, but in its substance we may say that this devotion dates back to the very origin of Chris- tianity. The Christian people have always recognized and ven- erated the great love that throbbed in the Savior's breast, and all pious souls have, like St. John, felt it a privilege to rest their wearied heads on the Master's Heart. For centur- ies this devotion was like a beautiful far-off dawn; with Mar- garet Mary it was the sun appearing above the horizon; the last century marked its full noon; and this sun will never set since its brightness will shine forth from the Judge of the living and the dead in the valley of Josaphat and will make the light of the blessed in heaven. But let us confine ourselves to the strict fact of history as it speaks of the revelations of Paray-Ie-Monial which did not create but merely confirmed and propagated the devo- tion. They are not of faith; but, in canonizing St. Margaret Mary, the Church has clearly enough shown the value she sets on them. Let us ask ourselves one question. What are we to think of the priest who, when our Lord through St. Margaret Mary offered the world this miracle of love, should reply, "I don't understand all this and 1 don't want to under- stand it. I The symbolism of this heart, these flames, and thorns, this blood, means nothing to me." -.: :14 - Could one imagine anything at once more irreverent and more foolish? \ The Sacred Heart and the Eucharist THe objection may be raised that the base and glory of Catholi2 piety is the Eucharist, that this at least is an old and serious devotion. It is true. Nothing could ever be more true. But there is no line of cleavage between the two devQ- tions. 1 The Sacred Heart is there in the Eucharist. It is Our Lord's expressed will that the cult of the Sacred Heart should take the form of reparation to the Eucharist. This shows why the coldness of many priests toward the Sacred Heart makes them cold and neglectful in regard to the Tabernacle. Do you know why we love the Sacred Heart so little? It is because we do not realize vividly enough that it is a living heart filled with the life of God. You will confess without hesitation that many a time, habit or inattention has led you to spend whole days beside the Blessed Sacrament without being more moved than you would be by the presence of a lifeless relic. Do you always take care to treat the consecrated Host as one treats a per- son? And when you hold It in your hands at Holy Mass and trace on It the Sign of the Cross, when you distribute It to the faithful, when you come close to It as you move about the sanctuary, do you realize the presence of a Person not merely living but divine? Once, in your first ferver, you used to . say with a firm and vivid faith, "In the Sacred Host I have before me the Word of God, the Creator of the Universe, the least sign of Whose will is obeyed alike by the tiny atom and by the resplendent seraph." But this practical indifference, this disrespectful coldness toward the Eucharistic mystery, inconceivable in a priest and yet too common, necessarily finds its echo in the hearts of the faithful and makes them cold to the Sacred Heart. We should indeed have the right to adore the Heart of Jesus even if It were present only in heaven; but since faith shows It to us, through the veil of mystery, present and living in the Con- secrated Host, it is there above all that we must seek for .and 1 Fr. Jean Croiset, S.J., contemporary of St. Margaret Mary says that "devotion to the Saued Heart is nothinjt else than a more warm-hearled devotion to the Blessed Sacrament." I - 15- adore this Heart which has so loved men. If the Eucharist seemed to us lifeless and the taber.nacle more.a tomb. thall/a King's au.dience chamber, ·the Sacred Heart, ·too, would se~m to ~s a dead thing through which no living blood throbbed ~nd, in w.hich no sensitive chord of feeling vibrated. - It l./ ,~ou:ld be sacred still but could do little to call forth 06r out- bursts of faith and confidence. . / We are protected against this fatal reef, which thre~tens all in close and frequent costact with the sacred IIl}'steries, by the devotion .to the Euchar.istic Heart ot Jesus to which If the Church in her motherly' care has given the sanction of her supreme authority. His Holiness Benedict XV, at the request of the Sacred College of Rites, approved the office and Mass of the Euchar- istic Heart of Jesus and assigned the corresponding feast to the T,hursday a(ter the Octave of Corpus Christi. The Holy ,Father, not content with affixing his signature to a decree drawI\ up by others, himself set forth .in this official act the motives that caused . his decision. This decree definitely consecmted not a ne,w devotion but one approved and en- t-couraged by aJI the SoveI;eign Pontiffs~ince Pius l X· and by hundreds ' of bish.2ps. Th~ devotion to tl)e Eucharistic Heart is giving fresh im- pulse to the movement by which souls are today being drawn . toward t!1e sacr~ment of Love, toward "the divinest gift that has welled up from the depths of the Heart of Jesus," (Leo XIII, MinE Caritatis, 1902) and the cult of the Eucharist leads VS deeper into the intimate recesses of the Sacred Heart, "the inexhaustible fountain from which the Eucharistic Blood is- sues to flow forth over the world" (Terrien, Devotion au Sacre Coeur, p. 7) . .. Thus when the Sovereign Pontiffludged it opportune to draw yet closer the bonds which already united these ~o devotions, he wished at tKe same time to show priests, so deserving of help, comfort and protection, the saqred mystery where they could find the living Heart of the Eternal Father us, all should speak of the bOQds which hpld· together the e ' t blessed oevo- tions. . Let us take the sanctuary I mp from nier enary hands into it alwa s ·be rimmed alw s burnin . ·it i'~ a. 'beacon light t fresh and sweet ~mel n flo ers about the Taber- nac e; they image forth Ives broken and sacrificed to the glory' of the3Iivipe Heart. Let the altarcloths, the corporals ~nd aU the altar linen be as fine and as, well kept a6 may b_e; they are the royal raiment of Him Who sets up His throne in Heaven for the joy of the elect and ia our· altars fof, the com- fort ~f tIS who still tuil on earth. But wnat shall I say of the purity that, above all, befits the priest, the minister of the Heart most pure? Ten years of seminary training have see~.,ed to the Church .none too much to infuse into ow souls tHi virtues of the Eternal Priest, to strengthen them against the seductions of .the flesh, to put to the test dispositions of our hearts and to satisfy herself - 17- that our eyes, lips, hands, were not too unworthy of the Hea~/ and Body that we must touch, carry and distribute. It would be strange if this daily contact did not make us daily holier. It is well from time to time to re-read the sacred formulas of our ordination, remembering the solemn moment/ when God's representative pronounced them over us. j Amodo vigiles, amodo sobrii, amodo casti, in vera et catholica fide fundati . . . estote nitidi, mundi, casti, sicut decet ministros Christi."- We have accepted many painful sacrifices, re- nouncements and separations, but it was for the Sacred Heart. "Ut cunctis ca:!lestis vita:! formam pra:!beant, ut S. Ecclesiae ex- emplo sanctitatis consultant, ut se et alios et Dei Ecclesiam illuminent . . . abundet in eis totius forma virtutis, pudor constans, innocentiae puritas. Here is ample material for serious examination. In oui.' difficult ministry, our delicate task of leading souls to the Sacred Heart, we owe them the example of a living and mov- ing faith in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament in order that, as St. Francis of Sales puts it, the crowds "may believe through their eyes rather than their ears." But our soul itself feeds daily on the Sacred Heart! "Oh, how great a Lord does she entertain! how beloved a guest does she bring into her housel how sweet a companion does she receive! how faithful a friend does she welcome!" (Imit. Bk. 4, 3:4). The whole world is in restless movement about us, hell is resolved to make us fall. Yet Jesus wills us to be saints. Courage! "Tantummodo crede, omnia possibilia sunt cre- denti" (Mark 9:22). The Sacred Heart came to you yester- day, this morning. He will come again tomorrow. Resist .. . fight ... flee. It is only for twenty-four hours. Then you will go up again to the altar: you will once more be plunged into the abyss of the Heart of Jesus; once more His blood will redden your lips, His grace protect you as with a shield; all your being will be renewed in love. "Beati oculi qui vident qUa:! vos videtis" (Luke 10:23). St. Charles declared that one soul was diocese large enough for a bishop; the worship of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, that Tabernacle of infinite Love, is e1:tOugh to occupy the priest's whole activity, to giv~ - 18- \ . ployment to all his talents, be they ever so extra- ~dinary, and to make him a saint and an apostle indeed. ~he Long Study and the Great Love (Dante) Le~ us reanimate our faith, 0 ministers of the Lord, let us shake off this lethargy which too often paralyzes our spiri- tual energy and endangers even the friends of our apostolate, let all our life be fragrant with devotion to the Heart of Jesus. "Surge qui dormis et illuminabit te Christus" (Eph. 5:14). One cannot hide the fact that this devotion touches many dogmas and makes necessary a close and diligent study of the principles on which it is based. To silence its enemies, whether they spring from the old rock of Jansensim or be- long to the recent growth of Modernism, we must have clear and precise ideas and be exact in our use of terms. I have been heart-broken at the sight of certain priests who did not know the first elements of the theology of the Sacred Heart. When they spoke of it they were as "blind leading the blind." For those in such intellectual poverty the best service to this devotion is respectful silence. But this is a lamentable alter- native; far better to acquire the necessary knowledge, called by St. Paul, "eminentem scientiam Jesu Christi" (Phil. 3:8). The grace of our priesthood will make the study easy to us, and its hidden marvels will grow clearer as we pray. "They who learn of Christ to be meek and humble of heart profit more by thinking and praying than by hearing and learning." (St. Aug. Ep. 147) It is in prayer, at Holy Mass, in saying our Office, that we seek and find the Sacred Heart. St. Ber- nard bids us rightly: "Seek the Heart of God in the words of God." Above all, our convictions in regard to the Sacred Heart must be practical: "Faith without works is dead." We must not deceive ourselves, the Sacred Heart demands from us a mor~l transformation. To be devoted to th@ Sacred Heart is to know Him and make Him known in order to love Him and make Him loved, to defend His rights, to promote His worship, to preach His glory. It is to seek in the physical Heart of Jesus the love which gave the world the Eucharist, to study at the foot of the tab- - 19- ernacle the .divine charity which revealed the Sacred Hearf to men. This is not all. To be devoted to the Sacred Heart is to practice this devotion with loving enthusiasm; if we ac- cept it half-heartedly it will not bear fruit; it is no fire to smolder under the ashes, but an ardt:nt and joyous flarpe. To be devoted to the Sacred Heart is to bring 'this de- votion to bear on the whole of our lives. It is not enough to love the Sacred Heart, we must live intimately with Him, take no step without consulting Him, hide ourselves in Him with all our talents and desires, that He may be glorified in all our works. "Illum oportet crescere, me autem minui" (John 3:30). We must, moreover, study His virtues, those of His moral life, those of his Eucharistic life, comprehend them, love them, practice them for His love and His glory. We must have for the least word that He has uttered such respect as we show for the least particle of the Sacred Host. We must feel compassion for His sorrows and give our- selves up to the task of reparation, lovingly, efficaciously, constantly, intelligently, generously, in order to expiate the monstrous crimes by which His enemies insult Him, break His laws, profane His sacraments and persecute His Church. We must offer Him compensation, also, for the faults, less grave in their nature, but actually more grievous to Him, committed by those who call themselves His friends . .. If we are . devoted to the Sacred Heart we shall accept willingly the most painful sacrifices with a smiling face, be at peace and even joyful while our heart are bleeding, seek His greater glory in everything and in spite of everything. The apostle of love wrote: "Qui dicit se Hosse eum et man- data eius non custodit mendax est" (John 2:4). Vie shall share His agony and His joys, burn with the desire to make Him known and to extend His reign, to glorify His name, to do His will, to save souls. "Cross the ocean, save a soul, and die," said the Apostle of Oceania, Father Chanel. He who cannot comprehend the sublimity of this word is unworthy of the priestly office. / To be devoted to the Sacred Heart is to have a passion- ate love for the Church which has sprung like a flower from His blood, to be utterly loyal to its teaching and to its ·heart. It ·is to love the hidden .life, silence, recollection, mortification. IUs: to love souls, all souls, alway;s, wholly forgetting our own .. - 20- \ - ideas, tastes and comfort. It is to sacrifice every day a lit1'1e more of the human spirit which drags us down, in order to extend the sway of the divine which raises us up, to renounce more and more absolutely the tyrannous fascination of plea- sure in order to shape our lives by the stern poetry of duty. Thou Shalt Receive a Hundredfold What a current of new life, what treasures of holiness, what unexpected fruits of conversion, the Sacred Heart be- stows upon the priests who make Him known and loved, who are resolved to live by Him, with Him and for Him, every- where and always.1 How I wish I could persuade the ministers of God to take for their own ideal the glory of the Sacred Heart. Outside Him there is nothing worthy of our hearts. "Ad quem ibimusP Verba vitre reternre habes" (John 6:69). Would that I could persuade them to live in close union with this divine Heart Who in the Tabernacle languishes with love for souls and sorrowfully watches the ripening harvest, the. few real labor- ers, the little ones asking for bread and having no one to give it to them. Let me here lay before priests who have charge of souls, a little device that I have found productive of good results. When frequent communicants come to me in Confession I often enjoin on them as penance to communicate on a given day in honor of the Sacred Heart to obtain a special grace. Sometimes I merely formulate this grace in my mind, but if it is prudently possible, I tell them what I am trying to obtain. This practice not merely gives immense glory to the Sacred Heart, but also is of the greatest use to the pastor and his parish. A hardened sinner assailed on the same morning by all the graces won for him by fifty or a hundred Communions offered to the Sacred Heart in his name has little chance of resistance. The Sacred Heart must at last admit him to His me~cy. 1 Since I have consecrated my life to make the Sacred Heart known to prieatl! le.tter!f from my "converts" expr~ss their astonishment and grateful joy. "Ii only I had known sooner:' they write, '·1 no longer know myself r -I have _ ~ become another man-my parish is transformed: I live in trust! I receive lill I ask from the Sacred Heart • , • my interior life has found its true direction I" " , .,- , "I · should never -have -believed·t" etc, And I answer them in Our Sari or's words: "Medicae fidei quare dubitasti? Majus his videbia Z" (Matt. U·:31~. - 21 - Let us live in union with Him, let us love Him without measure. How I wish I could persuade all priests to conse- crate themselves specially and irrevocably to His most loving Heart, themselves, all they are, all they have, all they can do, in a word, their persons, their lives, their activities, their studies, the souls entrusted to them, their sick, all the forms of their sacred mission. Dear Fathers, study the promises of the · Sacred Heart, those royal promises made known to us through St. Margaret Mary. We should be zealous to preach and propagate them; we should believe them with simplicity and thus pay homage to the infinite love which dictated them in order to be an efficacious revelation of God's love. They are universal; every class of society, every situation in life, has its special prom- ise: sinners, tepid souls, the fervent, those in temptation, the sorrowful, those in health, the sick, those engaged in the world's business, those who work for the salvation of souls, homes, families, the whole world. Our Lord has weighed His words carefully in His Infinite Wisdom and He Who is faith- ful above all, will surely keep them. He has promised each of us the graces, all the graces, necessary for his state of life. He has promised those who suffer that He will console them in all their afflictions; He will bless all the enterprises of those who honor Him; to sinners, he offers an excess of mercy; to the just, rapid progress toward perfection; to priests, the gift of converting hearts, even the most rebellious. "All powerful as He is He could give no more; rich as He is, He had no more to give" (St. Augustine). "1 will give"-it is God Who says it. Woe to Him who refuses the gifts of God. As to the representation of the Sacred Heart, we know that Our Lord wishes to see it surrounded with honor, respect and veneration. We have perhaps been too little zealous in propagating this devotion. The image of the Sacred Heart comforts our souls and delights our minds. It is as efficacious as the blood of the lamb on the door-posts of the Hebrews; the Angel of God's Justice recognizes it, adores and passes by, because God's pardon descends more abundantly on that abode where Jesus reigns. Each such image becomes the cen- ter of a special cult, a fitting means of propaganda, a chal- lenge to the hate of Satan. Our dear Redeemer wishes to see His image distributed to · students in schools, enthroned in -22 - families, honored and loved in seminaries, schools and col- leges, solemnly worshipped in churches, enthroned in stores, factories, and institutions. How many holy thoughts each such image has inspired, what tender memories it has recalled, what marvellous and speedy effects it has produced. After long unfaithfulness, in the remorse of a recent fall or amidst the terrible throes with which a profaned soul struggles to free itself from the tyranny of the senses and of sin . . . behold the image of the Sacred Heart appears with the flames that speak of His love, the thorns and drops of blood that recall His sufferings endured for us, His face radiant with love and pity. Then the soul cries out to her Savior: "Jesu, lili David, miserere mei" (Mark 10: 47). If ever we are led astray, if our senses revolt against the soul, if the lying attraction of forbidden pleasure seems about to triumph over reason and faith, then must we turn to the Sacred Heart. We are so dear to Him! Strengthened' by that thought we shall check ourselves after all, take courage and resist again, crying, "Domine, salva nos, perimus" (Matt. 8:25). If your soul is weighed down by suffering, crushed by the pressure of a heavy cross, at grips with despair, if you hate mankind and long only for revenge, stop and look! There is the Heart of Him who loves, forgives, absolves, blesses: "Ego sum, no lite tim ere" (John 6:20). Many souls have been called back to the thought of duty 'by this holy image. It has led them back to the path of virtue, aroused in them the ' longing for heaven. Let us rain down these pictures like roses on this frivolous , Godless world. Then let u3 tr1!st: "Si credideris videbis gloriam Dei" (John 11:40). But, above all, let there not be a single priest so forgetful of his spiritual interests as not to enthrone in his rectory, within sight of his visitors, the most beautiful and inspiring picture or statue of the Sacred Heart he can procure. Why should the rectory alone lie outside this crusade of faith and love that the Church encourages? Why should the priesfs house not share in Our Lord's blessings promised to all homes where His image is honored? Do not tell me that the crucifix equally represents the ,love of Jesus, that it is the official and traditional expression - 23- of it in the Church and consequently suffices you; do not ex- pose one devotion to another. These two forms of the cult can and must exist side by side, for they · are destined not to exclude but to complete one another; our wish is not to put the crucifix aside. How could it be, since we wish only to glorify Jesus? Besides, the divine Master well knows with what honors the Church surrounds the Man of Sorrows; it in no way affects other devotions or symbols that He has bidden St. Margaret Mary to exhibit the image of the Sacred Heart as the most expressive and efficacious representation of His tender love for souls. On the other hand it is evident that, outside churches where the tabernacle is its natural focus, our devotion to the Sacred Heart needs the stimulus of a picture or statue which keeps His memory before us and vividly recalls His love. The New Pentecost Priest of the Lord, the time is cornel Pius XI wrote: "As formerly Divine Goodness wished to exhibit to the human r,ace, as it came from the Ark of Noah, a sign of the renewed covenant between them, 'my bow which appears in the douds,' so in our own so troubled times the most kind"Jesus manifested to the nations His Sacred Heart, unfolding our banner of peace and love to the breeze, an augury of certain wctory in the battle before us. Wherefore Our Predecessor, Leo XIII admiring as he did the great possibilities which de- votion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus contains, with rea- son wrote in his Encyclical {\nnum Sacrum: 'Just as when the' Church lay helpless under the yoke of the Cresars, there appeared in the heavens a cross, at once the sign and cause -of-the marvellous victory which was soon to follow,' so today behold before our very eyes there appears another most happy and holy sign, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, crown- ed by a brilliant cross set among raging flames. In this Sac- ~ed Heart we should place all our hopes; from it, too, we ask and await salvation" (Miserentissimus Redemptor). See how the world has been transformed these last years by the influence of this most blessed symbol. Providence may have yet richer gifts in store. Peace and hope seem to say to men of good will, "He must reign." Let us not answer with -24- St. Thomas: Nisi videro non credam. "Unless I see I will not believe" (John 20: 25). In November 1902, a manifesto posted by the freemasons on the walls of Paris bore witness in its very blasphemy to the marvellous power of the Sacred Heart. A bird of night with features representing the venerable Cardinal Richard brood,· ed over the basilica of Montmartre: the Church of the Sacred Heart shone brilliantly, but cast a heavy shadow on the city below and on the world. Undernearth was the legend "Here is the enemy." The freemasons have understood the power of the Sacred Heart and yet priests refuse to believe. Filii huius saeculi prudentiol'es . . . filiis lucis. "The children of ' this world are wiser . . . than the children of light" (Luke 16:8). It is foolish to close one's eyes, to judge and condemn the confidence felt by souls in this divine remedy, to wish tB be wiser than the Church. Si caeci essetis non haberetis pec- catum: nunc ve'l'O dicitis quia videmus! Peccatum vestrum manet (John 11: 41). Many years in the sacred ministry might well have shown you that the City of God is strongest where the Sacred Heart reigns and there the city of the devil is weak and tottering~ Surely there is evidence enough in the multitude of fervent souls who, all over the world, raise their eyes and hearts to the Heart of Jesus; in the sudden blossoming of 'Saints which is remarked in all classes of society; in the moving frequency- with which cause after cause of beatification is introduced, ,in the legions of voluntary victims who constitute a new pheno~ menon in the annals of the Church, offering themselves as martyrs to the Sacred Heart to hasten the coming of His King~ dom. Is this too little? "Noli esse incredulus sed fidelis" (John 20:27). ," My last argument is this: a divine work is usually marked, and approved by three signs, to wit: contradiction, fruit£ul~ ness, consecration. The cult of the Sacred Heart possesses all three. Contradiction.-For over two centuries there has been continual strife between the love of Jesus and the malice of men, manifested by the opposition to devotion to the Sacred Heart. This strife was foreseen and foretold by the Redeem~ er Himself when He said, "I shall reign in spite of My enemies and of all who oppo,se me." , - - 25- Fruitfulness.-Two centuries have been glorified by a suc- cession of ever-fresh marvels and miracles wrought by divine Love in favor of suppliant misery; the Sacred Heart has splendidly kept the twelve promises which form, as it were, His contract with humanity. Conseeration.-Twenty Popes in succession, a countless legion of holy bishops, have thought it their highest glory to celebrate, promote, advise and insist on this devotion giving the explicit assurance that "nothing is dearer to Jesus, more useful to souls, or better fitted to present needs." We have proved our syllogism and may legitimately draw the conclu'sion that the work is divine:"Digitus Dei est hie" (Exod. 8:19). It is said that we are witnessing a new Pentecost which will enkindle the world with the flames of the Sacred Heart. Many times every day you repeat the petition, "Thy king- dom come." You will assuredly hasten its coming if you con- secrate to the Sacred Heart the infants you baptise, the mar- riages you bless, if, daily, offering the Father the Heart of Jesus in the Host, you place on the paten, on Our Lord's breast, all the souls under your care. Be sure that Jesus will save them. He can save them, He wishes to save them. He has promised to save them and His promises are faithful. "Non est voluntas ante Patrem vestrum, ut pereat unus de pusillis istis" (Matt. 18:14). Infuse into these souls a blind and boundless trust in the infinite love of Jesus. When this devotion takes possession of a soul it makes a saint, when it enters a family it transforms it, when it is welcomed into a community it produces a harvest of virtues, when it spreads in a country it creates intensely Christian life. Through Mary to Jesus If the enterprise seems difficult we need but listen to Jesus on the Cross: "Behold thy Mother." The priest who wishes to become holy and to make others holy as the Heart of Jesus wishes, has but to draw close to Him and share in His life. But he can best do this through the Mother of Jesus who is His mother also. Go then, with full confidence, to Mary, put yourself en- - 26- tirely in her hands and you will see love for the Sacred Heart develop in your heart. To Jesus through Mary! Through Mary's Heart to her Son's Heart! To make us realize this, the Church calls on Mary by the sweet name of Ow, Lady of the Sacred H emt. To Jesus through Mary. St. Margaret Mary saw that the normal way of reaching Jesus was through the Blessed Virgin: "Our Lady will make her true children into perfect di- sciples of the Sacred Heart and will be their special protector to lead them to Him." The holy nun saw the Heart of Jesus offering Himself in sacrifice to His Divine Father on the altar of His Mother's Heart. St. Margaret Mary's one ideal was to enthrone everywhere "the Divine Heart of Jesus living in Mary's heart." May we say with theological precision that the Heart of Jesus is Our Lady's? Suppose for a moment that Mary had refused to pronounce her fiat , as indeed she was quite free to do, would the Word of God have gone else- where for His human heart? If then, the gloriOUS star of the Sacred Heart shines today in the firmament of the Church we owe It to Mary. Formed from her blood, warmed with her love, the Sacred Heart dwelt long months in her immaculate womb, a living Host in a most precious tabernacle; and after this long abode, after the joyful intimacy of Nazareth, after Calvary where she saw Her Son's Heart laid open by the lance, what wonder that Mary, even now that so many centur- ies have gone by, seems to us all fragrant with Jesus. At her feet we feel ourselves close indeed to the Sacred Heart. Confirm Thy Brethren Perhaps till now you have been hesitating, uncertain, cold toward the Sacred Heart. I should be happy indeed if these words of mine could help to inflame you with a love such as He longs for and to change you from the cold disciple that you have hitherto been into a fervent apostle. Do not wish to know who wrote these poor pages; he is a passing shadow, "the voice of one crying." ' Believe, rather, that through my unworthy lips Jesus speaks to your heart and that · through me H e is wishing you perseverance in the devotion He has taught you. He wants you to use my words to warm other priestly hearts. "Ego autem rogavi pro te ut non deficiat -'2:7- fides tua, et tu aliquando conversus, confirma fmtres tuos:'- (Luke 22). , Gain for the Sacred Heart new adorers in spirit and in truth; employ all means human and divine, all the resources that your vocation offers you, all the talents nature lias allotted to you. Argue, blame if necessary, and above all entreat, without wearying. Strive both by action and by prayer, be intelligent and generous, "in all patience and .doc- trine" and if you find ministers of the Lord who "cannot en- dure sound doctrine and turn away their ears from the truth," make yourself an apostle to them. In sanctifying a consecrated soul you indirectly sanctify a whole people. By this you in- deed help to "build up all anew in Christ Jesus." Come Y e Blessed Priests of God who fight the Lord's battles, let me remind you that God's protection is assured to those who fight for the Sacred Heart. "I will bless their undertakings." Let us guide souls by this divine beacon, let us manifest unshak- en, filial confidence in His mercy, let us help Him to carry out His loving plans, to draw all things to Himself. We, too, shall die. Sad indeed will be the death of those priests who short-sightedly criticized His revelations, His pro- mises, His words, and thus condemned His mercy, who met His thirst for love with disdain or indifference. "H orrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis" (Hebr. 10:31). Unhappy men, who, though anointed by the Lord, have yet dared to drive souls away from the Sacred Heart with their captious arguments, and the insolent sophistry of the science that St. Paul brands as false, or with the disastrous example of their own frivolous , dissipated lives. God Himself declared: "Woe to him who scandalizes one of these little ones that believe in Me." Unhappy men! One can but shudder at the thought of their first appearance before their Savior, become their inex- orable Judge. He will say to them with indignation, "I am Jesus Whom thou hast persecuted." Their judgment will be terribly severe. The vengeance of despised Love will . press heavily upon them. "Et tunc confitebor illis, quia nunquam novi vos" (Matt. 8:23). On the other hand, those zealous apostles who have de- fended, honored, preached the symbol of His love will be con- - 28- soled by Jesus. "He will be their refuge in this extremity; they shall not die · out of His favor" and their names, · IOrig written on His Heart "shall never be blotted out." "Neither death nor life shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:39). St. Therese 'Of · the Child Jesus wrote that in the evening of life we shall be judged by love. She said that much will be forgiven to him who has loved much. As we recall our actions and consider them in the light of eternity, after many years of priesthood, our last agony will be filled with anguish and useless regret. We have not always been bright and shining lights. At that Jast terrible moment we shall feel ourselves very little, very empty-handed. But fear not, 0 ye of little faith. Round your bed gather the noble company of souls whom you have led to the Master's Heart, speak to Him with confident grati- hIde. "Vel'ba qUCE dedisti mihi dedi eis . . . et crediderunt ... Ego te clarificavi super terram" (John 17, 8:4). The cohorts of the angels come down, the solemn hour of your reward has arrived, heaven rejoices at your coming, the Viaticum brings you the last earthly embrace of the Sacred Heart. Leave life without regret, faithful servant. You are bless- ed for you have believed, your faults have been washed away by love. Listen once more to St. Margaret Mary as she en- courages you to meet your judge "It is sweet to die when one has had a great and consistent devotion to the Heart of Him Who is to be our Judge." Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee. APPENDIX Friends of the Sacred Heart I NATURE "Friends of the Sacred Heart" are priests united by the common bond of devotion to the Sacred Heart. . II GENERAL AIM To practice and propagate devotion to the Sacred Hea~ in erder to bring about the social reign of the Sacred Heart. f - 29 - III SPECIFIC AIMS 1. Personal sanctification through devotion to the Sacred Heart and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of priests. 2. To increase the priest's love for the Eucharist; espe- cially through the fervent offering of Holy Mass. 3. To propagate devotion to the Sacred Heart among priests and seminarians, and through priests, among religious, the laity, and especially in the family. IV SPIRIT Manly love, generous reparation, zealous apostolate. V SPIRITUAL ADVANTAGES A rich share in the graces and blessings promised by the Sacred Heart to His friends and apostles, namely: -a speedy rise to great perfection (9th promise) -the power of touching the hardest hearts (10th promise) -blessings on all their undertakings (6th promise) -having their names written on His Heart never to be blotted out (11th promise) VI PRACTICAL PROGRAM In order to help seminarians and priests to become the "faithful servants and perfect friends" the Sacred Heart said He was seeking, the following practices are suggested: 1. Study. Read and meditate books on the theology of and devotion to the Sacred Heart. The following are recom- mended: a. Theology of the Sacred Heart: Devotion to the Sacred Heart, by Louis Verhelezoon, S.J., Newman Press, Westmin- ster, Md. This recent book (1955) is probably the most com- plete treatise on the Sacred Heart yet to be published. High- ly recommended. b. History of the devotion: The Sacred Heart, Yesterday and Today, Arthur ~·.1cGratty, S.J., Benziger Bros., N.Y. c. ''''ritings of St. Margaret Mary: Selected Letters of St. Margaret Mary, Henry Regnery Co., Chicago, Ill. In this - 30- important book will be found the principal revelations made by the Sacred Heart. d. For meditations and sermons: Jesus the King of Love, by Father Mateo, SS.Cc., Enthronement Center, Washington 17, D.C. e. Ditto: Friendship With Jesus, by Christian Pesch, S.J. Bruce Publishing Co. , Milwaukee. One of the best books on the Sacred Heart ever published. f. Practical Methods of Apostolate: Enthronement of the Sacred Heart, by Francis Larkin, SS.Cc. Catechetical Guild, St. Paul, Minn . 50c pocket-book, 384 pages. Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Night Adoration in the home, with numerous actual examples; how to make children apostles of the Sacred Heart in their homes; brief practical explanation of devotion to the Sacred Heart; the story of Father Mateo's life, etc. (This book also contains a complete bibliography of books and pamphlets on the Sacred Heart.) 2. Practice of devotion to the Sacred Heart. a. daily: morning offering, renewed during the day by ejaculatory prayers. Suggested : "All for Thee, 0 Sacred Heart," "Sacred Heart of Jesus , Thy Kingdom Come!" "Sac- red Heart of Jesus, I love You," "Sweet Heart of Jesus, be my love, sweet Heart of Mary be my salvation" (cf Raccolta for other prayers). -fervent offering of Mass after serious preparation and followed by a fifteen minute thanksgiving. -fervent visits to the Sacred Heart in the Blessed Sacra- ment. Unite yourself with the Masses being celebrated at that time elsewhere. b. weekly: Holy Hour, if possible at night before the Blessed Sacrament. (Enroll in Night Adoration to gain plen- ary indulgence-National Enthronement Center, Washington 17, D.C.) c. monthly: celebrate the First Friday of the month as a "Feast of the Sacred Heart in miniature:" say the votive Mass of the Sacred Heart, receive Communion in a spirit of repara- tion, make a Holy Hour during the day and, if possible, make the day one of recollection and/or reparation. d. annualZtt: fervent personal celebration of the Feast of the Sacred H eart: Holy Hour on the eve of the feast; - 31 - spend as much time before the Blessed Sacrament as possible; renew personal consecration to the Sacred Heart. -during annual retreat, examination of conscience on practice of devotion to the Sacred Heart, especially on the following points: -am I trying to be a saint? -is my love for the Sacred HeaIt characterized by un- shaken confidence, generous fidelity to duty, priestly love for the Eucharist, and · .zeal in propagating devotion to the Sacred Heart in the families and among all entrusted to my care? . 3. Spread devotion to the Sacred Hemt. a. among individuals, by: badges, medals and images of the Sacred Heart, prayers to the Sacred Heart, personal con- secration, First Friday Communions and other Communions of reparation, morning offering, encouraging them to pro- mote the devotion, etc. b. in families: Enthronement of the Sacred Heart and Night Adoration in the home, frequent renewal of family act of consecration, family Communion, family Holy Hours. c. in the church: urging nine First Fridays, Holy Hours, solemn celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart and that of Christ the King with novena or triduum, consecration of parish to the . Sacred H eart , weekly devotions to the Sacred Heart, frequent preaching on the Sacred Heart and the doc- trine of merciful love, trust, etc. Asked to comment on the above outline, Very Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald, S.P., founder of the Servants of the Para- dete, Jemez Springs, N. M., sent this message: "I am convinced the promulgation of the F1'iends of the Sacred Heart, as outlined to me, will work greatly for the con- solation of the Sacred Heart in our day. All I would add would be a plea for total abstinence on the part of priests in reparation to the Sacred Heart for sins of intemperance." Priests and seminarians are invited to send in their re- action to the idea of "Friends of the Sacred Heart" to: Rev. Francis Larkin, SS.CC. 3 Adams St: Fairhaven, Mass. - 32- A Form of Consecrating Priests to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus LORD Jesus, who art our most loving Redeemer and a Priest for ever, look mercifully on us, Thy humble suppli- ants, whom Thou hast been pleased to call Thy friends and partakers of Thy priesthood. Weare Thine; we wish to be Thine forever: therefore to Thy Most Sacred Heart which Thou hast shown to oppressed humanity as their only safe refuge, we dedicate and devote ourselves wholly this day. Thou who has promised plenteous fruit in the divine minis- try to those priests who are devoted to Thy Sacred Heart, make us, we beseech Thee, fit workmen in Thy vineyard, truly meek and humble, filled with the spirit of devotion and patience, so fired with love of Thee that we shall never cease to enkindle and quicken the same fire of love in the hearts of the faithful. Renew our hearts, therefore, in the fire of Thy Heart, so that henceforth we shall desire nothing save to pro- mote Thy glory and win for Thee the souls whom Thou didst redeem by Thy Precious Blood. Show Thy mercy, good Shep- herd, chiefly to those priests, our brethren, if there be any such, who, walking in the vanity of sense, have saddened Thee and Thy beloved Spouse, Holy Church, by their la- mentable falling away from Thee. Grant us grace to bring them back to Thine embrace, or, at least, to atone for their crimes, to repair the harm they have done, and to lessen the sorrow they have caused Thee, by the consolation of our love. Allow each one of us, finally, to pray to Thee in me, and let the living coal of Thy love burn brightly in my spirit, and grow into a perfect conflagration; let it burn perpetually on the altar of my heart, let it glow in my marrow, let it blaze up in the most secret places of my soul; in the day of my consummation let me be found totally consumed thereby in Thy presence, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reign est one God for ever and ever, Amen." An induhrence of 3 years. An indulgence of 7 years on the day of the monthly retreat. A plenary indulgence on the usual condition at the end of a course of "Spiritual Exercises" (Pius X, Rescript in his own hand, Aug. 17, 1908, exhib. Nov. 14, 1908; S. P. Ap., Oct. 24, 1935).-The Raccolta, Official Edition, Benziger Brothers. I I 827623-001 827623-002 827623-003 827623-004 827623-005 827623-006 827623-007 827623-008 827623-009 827623-010 827623-011 827623-012 827623-013 827623-014 827623-015 827623-016 827623-017 827623-018 827623-019 827623-020 827623-021 827623-022 827623-023 827623-024 827623-025 827623-026 827623-027 827623-028 827623-029 827623-030 827623-031 827623-032 827623-033 827623-034 827623-035 827623-036