François Joseph Gaston de Partz de Pressy

“ Inexpressible, we know, was the bitterness which the multitude of our sins brought upon thy tender heart; insufferable the weight of our iniquities which pressed thy face to the earth in the Garden of Olives; and unsurmountable thy anguish, when expiring with love, grief, and agony, on Mount Calvary, in thy last breath thou wouldst reclaim sinners to their duty and repentance. This we know, O dear Redeemer! and would most willingly redress these thy sufferings by our own, or share with thee in thine. ”

“ What obligation then can be more urgent for us than to pay all kind of respect which we are capable of, to a heart which is deserving of infinitely more than we can offer? — What more just than to endeavour to atone by our respect and reiterated homage, for the irreverences, abuses, and sacrileges with which we have perhaps to reproach ourselves with regard to this divine heart? But we must not stop here; we must moreover have a lively sense of the offences and ingratitude of others, and endeavour to atone for them as much as lies in our power. Nor must we be satisfied with our own atonement ”

“ At parting, leave your heart as a pledge at the foot of the Cross, unite it to the heart of the God of love, who resides on the altar as on the throne of his mercies, to receive our tribute of adoration, and to distribute his grace. ”

“ It is two-fold: there is a material object, which is the cross itself, and there is a spiritual object, namely, Jesus Christ crucified, and consummating on the cross the sacrifice of our redemption. The spiritual object communicates to the cross its dignity, and by its union renders it worthy of the great honours which are solemnly paid to it by the church. But the festival does not take its name from this spiritual object, but from the material, and it is called the feast of the cross. In like manner the devotion to the wounds of Jesus Christ, has two objects indivisibly united! ”

“ In every devotion and every festival which regards the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ, there are two objects, the one sensible and material, the other spiritual and invisible, which are closely united and indivisibly honoured, from the communication we have just now mentioned. But it is the sensible material object which gives the denomination to a devotion or festival. ”

“ O that I could love thee as thou deservest, and as thou art loved by the angels and saints in heaven; at least with a love if not corresponding to thy favours, equal however in some measure to the greatness of the obligations I lie under. ”

“ Consider, first, that the heart of Jesus, by its infinite union with the Divinity, and on account of its own divine perfections, draws all the complacency of the eternal Father, and is worthy of the respect and adoration of all creatures. ”

“ This would be a gross illusion and a fatal abuse, ever disallowed by true devotion. But, on the other hand, because devotion is misused, it is no reason why it should be condemned or suppressed; for the best things are liable to be misused. The abuse, indeed, ought to be checked, but the devotion itself, wholly saintly and solid, should ever be preserved.
These general notions being once premised, let us now consider in particular the devotions to be practised in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. ”

“ The interior practice consists in the inward acts of faith, adoration, love, hope, confidence, gratitude, and the like. The exterior practice consists in outward and visible acts, such as are meant to denote outwardly the inward devotions. Of this sort are prayers, novenas, confessions, and communions, visits to Jesus Christ in the blessed sacrament, associations, confraternities, fasting, penances, and generally all pious and edifying acts, which are performed to honour the adorable heart of our blessed Redeemer. ”

“ Go thither with a view to honour, and glorify this divine heart to obtain the graces necessary to keep you from sin, to practise virtue, and to attain to that degree of sanctity to which Almighty God means to raise you. ”

“ The zealous clients of this devotion, who endeavour to procure for themselves a more plentiful flow of heavenly graces, are not satisfied with honouring this divine heart once a-month; they moreover consecrate the Friday of every week to its honour, by the performance of some acts of devotion, some good works, or small mortifications, interior or exterior, in order to testify their gratitude, and repair by their love the ingratitude of men to Jesus Christ. ”

“ Let each one ask from time to time, through the merits of the Sacred Heart, that God would protect their fellow associates from all evils, spiritual and temporal, and that he would pour down his choicest blessings on them, not in life only, but more particularly at the hour of their death. ”

“ How happy should we be, if, incapable as we are of offering him any thing which is not infinitely inferior to what he has done for us, we knew how to benefit by his goodness, which induces him to be satisfied with the sincere offering up to him of our own hearts and yet by a monstrous ingratitude we refuse even to grant him what he asks, when it is not in our power to grant him what he deserves. ”

“ Let each recite daily, and offer up to God the acts he has taken; nothing can be more agreeable to the amiable and offended heart of your divine Saviour, or more satisfactory for so many offences daily committed against him. ”

“ Every associate should have in his house or chamber, a picture of the Sacred Heart. The advantage amongst others is this: should any one in particular be hindered from visiting the blessed Sacrament, he may before this picture acquit himself of the obligation he has involuntarily taken upon himself. Jesus Christ has given us an instance and proof of how great merit this practice is in his sight. ”

“ That Jesus Christ wishes to establish a particular devotion to his sacred heart. This it what his words express, this is what he asks of this holy soul. He declares that nothing can be more agreeable to him. He therefore commands her to address herself to his servant, and desire him to do all that he can to establish this devotion. He will have it to be a particular festival, and appoints a day for its celebration. ”

“ I am much pleased with the devotion the faithful show for my heart, and for this reason I desire the picture thereof may be drawn and exposed, that by this so amiable a representation the hearts of men may be softened into repentance. ”

“ And whereas a confraternity of the Sacred Heart, erected in the church or domestic chapel of the English Fathers of the society of Jesus, at Bruges, has applied to us, through its solicitor in Rome, Signor Joseph Monionelli, in order to obtain leave to be thus associated to ours, and to share in all its privileges and grants ”