Sacred Heart

“ O God! who out of thy immense love hast given to the faithful the most Sacred Heart of thy Son our Lord, as the object of thy tender affection; grant, we beseech thee, that we may so love and honour this pledge of thy love on earth, as by it to merit the love both of thee and thy gift, and be eternally loved by thee and this most blessed heart in heaven. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. ”

“ On earth Thou art an exile’s rest,
In heaven the glory of the blest,
O Sacred Heart.
O Sacred Heart!
Thou fount of contrite tears,
Where’er those living waters flow,
New life to sinners they bestow,
O Sacred Heart. ”

“ When you feel yourself touched with a more tender devotion, you may kiss the picture, as though you were kissing the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ. To this Sacred Heart, you must continually endeavour to unite your own, wishing to have no other desires or sentiments, but those of Jesus Christ, persuading yourself that His spirit and His Sacred Heart passes, so to speak, into yours, and that of two hearts there becomes only one. ”

“ DIVINE LORD, we adore Thee, really present in our midst, and we consecrate ourselves to Thy Sacred Heart forever. We are here to ask pardon for all the sins, errors and omissions of our whole lives; we are here to promise reparation and atonement; we are here to offer thanksgiving for every grace and favor, spiritual and temporal, that each soul has received from life's beginnings up to this hour. We are here to pray for all our beloved ones, absent and present, living and dead. ”

“ Finally, O most amiable Jesus, we beseech thee, by the sweetness of thy most Sacred Heart, to convert sinners, to comfort the afflicted, to assist the agonising, and to afford relief to the holy souls suffering in purgatory. Unite our hearts in the bonds of true peace and charity, deliver us from an unprovided death, and grant that we may die in holiness and tranquillity of mind. ”

“ Thou, alone, knowest the future paths and future needs of every child of the Sacred Heart, and of every religious kneeling here, from the youngest to the oldest. Bless each one, guide each one, and save each one. We give ourselves to the Heart of Jesus. ”

“ I offer Thee all the acts of adoration, resignation, patience, and love which Thy Sacred Heart made during Thy mortal life on earth, and still makes, and will make eternally in Heaven, in order that I may adore Thee, love Thee and praise Thee, as far as is possible to me, by means of this Sacred Heart, during the whole time of my life. ”

“ REMEMBER, O most sweet Jesus, that no one who has had recourse to Thy Sacred Heart, implored its help, or sought its mercy was ever abandoned. Encouraged with confidence, O tenderest of hearts, we present ourselves before Thee, crushed beneath the weight of our sins. In our misery, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, despise not our simple prayers, but mercifully grant our requests. ”

“ PRECIOUS prayer, which came from the Sacred Heart, and ought to penetrate mine with the sweet sword of his love. The Heart of God the Father toward us was such as he manifested, who proceeded from his Heart. He who has given us himself, how will he not in himself give us all things? “ What wouldst thou that I should do for Thee?” already he asks. What shall I ask him for? O what treasures St. Francis and St. Gertrude got from his Sacred Heart! His arm is not shortened nor his power diminished, nor his strength exhausted. That Heart is a miracle of goodness. ”

“ Heart of Jesus, wounded for my sins, have mercy on me. Give me, O Jesus, wherewith to pay thee ! Ego vero egenus et pauper sum; Deus adjuva me !
ACT OF REPARATION IN HONOUR OF THE SACRED HEART.
O MOST amiable and adorable Heart of Jesus, centre of all hearts, glowing with charity, and inflamed with zeal for the interests of thy Father and the salvation of mankind! O Heart, ever sensible of our misery, and ever in motion to redress our evils; the real victim of love in the Holy Eucharist, and a propitiatory sacrifice for sin on the altar of the cross ”

“ This rosary was fastened on my arm by a parent’s tender hand, and bathed in Nature’s holiest dew—a parent’s tender tears: hold not the Christians relics, such as these, precious and sacred? Thou hast called thy religion the religion of the heart; will it not then respect the heart’s best feelings?” A deep convulsive sob interrupted her words; all the ties she had broken pressed upon her bosom, and the affections of habit, those close-knit and imperishable affections, interwoven, by time and circumstance, with the very life-nerves of the heart, bore down for the moment, every other passion. ”

“ The veneration we bear the Saints renders their hearts so precious to us, that we look upon them as the most precious of their relics. What, then, must we think of the adorable Heart of Jesus Christ? Its claims to our love are not only higher in degree but different in kind. Where is the heart that was ever animated with dispositions so admirable, and so conformable to our true interests? Where shall we find one whose movements could be a source of so much good to us? It is in this divine Heart that all the designs of our salvation have been formed. ”

“ As the Mass is the sacrifice of love, in which the Heart of Jesus Christ offers Itself for us, and continually immolates Itself to His Father, it is principally in assisting at this mystery, that we should love and adore this Sacred Heart, and especially after the Consecration, considering what thoughts Jesus Christ can entertain of us, and those that He has for us — namely, the disposition of His Heart, His designs, and His desires. ”

“ In adoring the Sacred Heart, then, we adore in a particular manner the love of Christ for sinners; and it is for this reason that he has given us this devotion, knowing that it is only by the thought of the love of his Heart for us that our hearts can be won to the love of him. ”

“ What, then, is the nature of our worship of the Sacred Heart? It is, of course, the same as that which we pay to our Lord himself—that is, the worship which is due to him as God the Son, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. {290} His human nature, united to the divine nature in one Person, is truly worthy of divine worship and honor. God, having become man, his human heart is the heart of God, and must be adored as such. ”

“ Our Lord Himself directs us to His Sacred Heart and invites us to imitate its virtues of love, mercy, gentleness, humility, obedience, patience, fortitude &c. The Heart of Jesus is the model of all virtues and the fountain of all grace, and must therefore be loved and adored by all who love Jesus. ”

“ Then why, my heart, why thus torment thee?
Be tranquil, stay upon thy God;
And think, when hours of grief are sent thee,
Soon he’ll withdraw th’ afflicting rod;
And humbly bow to his decree,
Who proves thee when He chastens thee.
DES CHRISTEN GEBET.
Selig sind, die reines Herzens sind; denn sie werden Gott schauen.
Ein reines Herz, Herr, schaff in mir,
Schleuss zu der Sünden Thor und Thür,
Vertreibe sie, und lass nicht zu,
Dass sie in meinem Herzen ruh.
Dir öffn ich, Jesu, meine Thür,
Ach komm und wohne du bei mir,
Treib all Unreinigkeit hinaus
Aus deinem Tempel und Wohnhaus. ”

“ Let us repay Him love for love, and make reparation for the injuries He daily receives in that most kind Heart. Jesus in His turn will comfort us in all our pains and afflictions. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the source of all charity and love; and through this devotion we will learn to love our neighbor and to sacrifice ourselves for his benefit. ”

“ The sacred oil of salvation is upon you—the sacrament of peace and forgiveness has lightened your soul—the breath of mercy is the breath you're breathin'—the hope of Jesus is in your heart, and the intercession of his blessed mother, she that knew sorrow herself, is before you! ”

“ For, without seeking elsewhere wherewith to nourish and enrich my soul, I find in His Sacred Heart all the helps and graces of which I stand in need, and I find them in so great abundance, and I am so liberally enriched with them, that I am sometimes filled with astonishment, and dread my own negligence in receiving such great graces from this Sacred Heart with so little trouble of my own. ”

“ Besides these exercises of piety, charity towards our neighbour, which is an ordinary effect of the true love of Jesus Christ, obliges all who have a devotion to His Sacred Heart, to pray particularly every month for all, whom the same love unites, in a more strict and special manner, in this Sacred Heart. ”

“ But especially take time to consider the admirable dispositions of His Sacred Heart towards us, and all the sublime virtues of which He is the source, the immense love He has for his Father, His ardent charity for all men, and His eagerness for their salvation. ”

“ And since there is in the Sacred Heart a symbol and a sensible image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love one another, therefore is it fit and proper that we should consecrate ourselves to His most Sacred Heart — an act which is nothing else than an offering and a binding of one’s self to Jesus Christ, seeing that whatever honor, veneration, and love is given to this divine Heart is really and tmly given to Christ Himself. ”

“ Confining ourselves to Our Lord, and keeping in mind that true devotion in its full and perfect meaning supposes love for and imitation of the person to whom we are devoted, we may securely say that the Passion and the Blessed Sacrament are the subjects best suited to create, increase inflame our hearts, first with love, and then with a real desire of imitation. Both are the clearest and strongest proofs of the love of His Sacred Heart for man, and therefore the best to excite love for Him in the heart of man. ”

“ But as we always require, in the practice even of the most spiritual devotions, certain material and sensible objects, which, by the strong impression they make upon us, engage our attention, and thus facilitate the exercise of these devotions, the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been chosen, as the sensible object that is most worthy of our respect, and the best suited at the same time to the end we have in view in this devotion. ”

“ The end that we should propose to ourselves in this Meditation, and which should be its fruit, is to have a most lively feeling of the extreme ingratitude of men, the greater part of whom are insensible to the evident marks of this ardent love, in order to repair, by a return of love, by our adorations, and by every kind of homage, all the insults that the adorable Heart of Jesus Christ has received, until now, in the most Blessed Sacrament. ”