The devotion to the Sacred Heart

If we have devotion to the Sacred Heart, we will wish to find It, to adore It, to love It, and where shall we look for It but in the Blessed Eucharist where It is found, eternally living?...The devotion to the Divine Heart infallibly brings souls to the Blessed Eucharist; and faith in and devotion to the Blessed Eucharist necessarily lead souls to discover the mysteries of Infinite love of which the Divine Heart is the organ and the symbol.

extract from the Book of Inifinite Love

by Mother Louise Margaret

The Sacred Heart and the Blessed Sacrament

The devotion to the Blessed Eucharist and the devotion to the Sacred Heart are not only two sister devotions. In reality, they are only one and the same devotion. They complete each other and develop each other; they blend so perfectly together that one cannot go on without the other and their union is absolute. Not only can one of these devotions not be prejudicial to the other, but because they complete each other and perfect each other, they also reciprocally increase each other.

Fr. John Croiset, SJ

Spiritual Director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

"By the devotion to the Sacred Heart, we mean the ardent love which we conceive for Jesus Christ at the remembrance of all the marvels which he has wrought to show His tender love for us, especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the miracle of His love; we mean the keen regret which we feel at the sight of the numerous outrages which men commit against Jesus Christ in this adorable Mystery; we mean the ardent desire which presses us to leave nothing undone to make reparation for these outrages by every possible means. That is what we mean by the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and that is what it consists in. It cannot be reduced to merely loving and honoring by special worship this Heart of flesh like ours, which forms part of the adorable Body of Jesus Christ."

Fr. John Croiset, SJ

Spiritual Director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

The Fountain that Cleanses Sins

Blood and Water from the Pierced Heart of Jesus

Jesus, I trust in you!

In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus said, “The Son of Man must endure many sufferings.” I say, “So what?” So what if he has to suffer? Do we not all have to endure suffering? Even Gautama Buddha acknowledged this and made it one of the central truths of Buddhism: “All life is suffering.”

Jesus also said, “He must be put to death.” I say, “So what?” All of us have to die one day. This is the way of all flesh, so the Bible says. And so if he dies, we also will die.

What makes the suffering of Jesus so unique? What makes his death so different? The prophet Zechariah gives us beautiful words for our first reading: “They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one who mourns for an only son, and they shall grieve over him as one grieves over a first born.” Who is this only son? Zechariah is definitely referring to the Lord Jesus. At the River Jordan and at the Mountain of the Transfiguration, God the Father introduced Jesus to all: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Jesus is the Only-Begotten Son of God and our Lord.

Who is this first-born? Again, the prophet is definitely referring to Jesus. St. Paul said that Jesus is the first-born of all creation. He is also the first-born of the dead. It is ion knowing that the prophet was referring to Jesus that we appreciate the prophecy even more: “They shall look on him whom they have pierced.” When our Lord Jesus died on the Cross, a soldier pierced his side with a lance. And out of that wounded side flowed Blood and Water. From the pierced Heart of the Savior came forth in abundance Blood and Water. Thus, the prophet said, “On that day, there shall be open to the house of David and to the other inhabitants of Jerusalem, a fountain to purify from sin and uncleanness.” That fountain that purifies sin and uncleanness is that opened side of Jesus, his pierced heart from which flowed Blood and Water. This fountain of Blood and Water purifies us from sin. This fountain of Blood and Water empowers the Sacraments so that they may have the capacity to bring about the forgiveness of sins. This is why we go to Church. We acknowledge that we are sinners and we wish to draw close to the purifying fountain of our Savior’s heart. This is why I simply scratch my head at people who accuse churchgoers of self-righteousness: “Pasimba-simba pa kayo. Akala mo kung sinong malilinis, eh panay makasalanan naman pala.” “Yang pari ninyo, pamisa-misa pa. akala mo kung sinong malinis, eh makasalanan din naman pala.” Excuse me? They are badly mistaken. The reason why we go to church, the reason why I offer mass is not because we feel righteous but because we acknowledge our sinfulness and so we need to draw close to the fountain of mercy which is the Savior’s heart. To accuse us of self-righteousness is like saying to a person who takes a bath: “Paligo-ligo ka pa. Akala mo kung sinong malinis, eh marumi naman pala.” The reason why we bathe is because we are soiled. When I tell someone to take a bath, the person oftentimes smell his armpits and say, “Father, I don’t smell bad.” Thos who refuse to take a bath are those who think that they are clean. Those who refuse to take a bath are those who think they don’t stink. In like manner, those who refuse to go to church are those who think that they are righteous enough that they don’t need to go.

And so we ask, “Why does the suffering of Jesus forgive sins? Why does his death take away sins? Why do the Blood and Water flowing from his wounded heart wash away sins?” The answer is given by the Gospel reading: Jesus is the Messiah of God. The Lord asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “The Messiah of God!” 

Indeed, You, O Lord Jesus are the Messiah of God. That is why your sufferings bring to us forgiveness of sins. Even if we were to endure all the sufferings that the world can offer, none of us could obtain for the world forgiveness of sins.

You, O Jesus, are the Messiah of God. That is why your death takes away the sins of the world. You are the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Even if we were to die a million times, none of them could take away the sins of the world.

You, O Jesus, are the Messiah of God. That is why the Blood and Water flowing from your opened heart wash away our sins and purify us from uncleanness. Even if we were to wound ourselves and bring out all the blood and water that would bodies can give, none of us can purify the sins of the world.

You, O Jesus, are the only Begotten Son of the Father. You are the first-born of all creation. You are the first-born of the dead. You are the Messiah of God. You are the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us and on the whole world.

O Fountain of life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty yourself out upon us. O Blood and Water that gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in you!   

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Held by Bands of Love

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

The feast of the Sacred Heart this year coincides with the celebration of the Philippines Independence day. As usual, this day glorifies the most valued of all modern day values…which is human freedom. Our present concept of freedoms means unbridled liberty from any control or authority. Thus, we value our right to self-determination because the only authority which most of us are willing to recognize would be our own selves. Nobody tells me what to do. Anyone who attempts to control me is understood to be an oppressor. I decide to what I want.

But the prophet Hosea tells us today: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love…” The Lord today spoke of “bands of love”. In tagalog. A band is “tali” or “pamigkis” which is easily interpreted as a restraint to freedom. Ang nakatali ay tila hindi malaya dahil napipigil o nasusupil ang kalayaang gumalaw. And yet, it is by means of a band or restraint that a child is taught to walk. The father holds the child up through such bands in order to train his legs for walking. In the beginning, the child’s movements seem restrained, but the bands keep the child from falling and support the child until his legs are able to hold up his entire weight. The Lord draws us with human cords, with bands of love. It is when we allow ourselves to be supported by such bands of love, it is then that we are most free to walk.  

God’s bands of love keep us truly free. When we free ourselves of any attachment to God, it is then that we become slaves…slaves to ourselves, slaves to the world, slaves to Satan himself. It is Christ who sets us free from the greatest oppression of all, and that oppression is called sin. By freely accepting suffering and death on the Cross, the Lord Jesus has overcome for us our greatest slavery: the slavery to the devil…the slavery to sin. By the Blood and Water which flowed from his wounded Heart, the Lord Jesus has ransomed us from the devil. He has redeemed us by his Blood. “If the Son has freed you, then you are truly free.”

When we allow ourselves to be bound to the Lord by his bands of love, we become free to be who we were created to be: we begin to possess the freedom of the children of God. This is what it means to be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: we bind ourselves to him. We declare that we desire to belong to him. We declare that we choose to conform our lives to his will. Just as a wife binds herself to her husband in love, so do we bind ourselves to Christ whom we know loves us. And we can entrust ourselves to his love which is always reliable. We know fully well that those who trust the Lord will never be abandoned and will never perish. Christ draws us to himself with human cords…with the cords of his Sacred Heart. Let us confidently abandon ourselves to him. Let us choose to belong to him and say: Sweetly we’ll rest on thy Sacred Heart. Never from thee, oh let us part. Hear then thy loving children’s pray’r: O Heart of Jesus, Heart of Jesus hear!

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

The King is Meek and Humble of Heart

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

In our celebration of the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, we saw that when the Lord Jesus established his Church, he gave St. Peter the keys to his kingdom. When we talk about kingdoms, we often have images of kings and queens, royalty and nobility, palaces and vast territories. There is always something grand in our idea of kingdoms. Thus, we think that those invited into the kingdom should be the best, the brightest, and the strongest. Thus, the words of the Lord might come as a surprise for he invites the humble into his kingdom, he reveals the secrets of the same kingdom to the little ones: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

The Catechism teaches us: “The Kingdom belongs to the poor and the lowly, which means those who have accepted it with humble hearts. Jesus is sent to ‘preach good news to the poor’; he declares them blessed, for ‘theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.’ To them, the ‘little ones’, the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden from the wise and the learned.” (CCC, 544.)

The Kingdom belongs to the poor and the lowly because he, the King himself, is humble, meek, and gentle of heart. He is rich and powerful for “all things have been handed over to (him) by the Father.” And yet, he is “meek and humble of heart.” He is in possession of the most profound secrets for “no one knows the Father except the Son,” and yet, he hides this secret from the wise and the learned and reveals them to little ones. “Jesus shares the life of the poor, from the cradle to the cross; he experiences hunger, thirst, and privation. Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active love towards them the condition for entering his Kingdom.” (CCC, 544.)

Here we see how the mind of God is so much different from the mind of the world. We see here how the way of the Spirit is so much different from the way of the flesh. Power, wealth, influence, pleasure – all these deemed as important by the flesh are unimportant to the Holy Spirit. In fact, these are even dangerous for “if you live according to the flesh, you will die.” Being the little ones to whom the Lord Jesus revealed the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven, we should put to death the deeds of the body and take Christ’s yoke upon ourselves. Christ’s yoke is his humble submission to the Father’s will. He humbled himself, obediently accepting even death on a Cross. And this is the irony: the more we insist on doing our will, the more we live according to the flesh, the more enslaved we become, all the more we become burdened. But when we die to our will and take up the yoke of Christ, the more we find rest for ourselves, all the more do we become truly alive.

Therefore, let us live by the Spirit. Let us take his yoke upon ourselves and learn from him who is meek and humble of heart. Striving to fulfill his will, we have no fear of being burdened. For the Cross which we embrace is his Cross. The will we submit to is His will. His yoke is easy and his burden is light!

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

The Heart that Searches for the Lost

Praised be Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

One of the main themes of the Year of Faith is that of the New Evangelization. The New Evangelization is about preaching the Gospel to the people of the new millennium…most particularly to Christians who have abandoned their faith due to secularism. Many people have the false impression that the New Evangelization is all about new methods and new gadgets. How do we modernize our preaching? Should we use the power point for our homilies? Should we make use of the social networking sites? What gadgets should we use? Pope Francis opens for us a new perspective of the New Evangelization. In the Chrism Mass 2013, he admonished priests: “We need to ‘go out’, then, in order to experience our own anointing, its power and its redemptive efficacy: to the ‘outskirts’ where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters.” “…grace, (which) comes alive and flourishes to the extent that we, in faith, go out and give ourselves and the Gospel to others, giving what little ointment we have to those who have nothing, nothing at all.” The Pope constantly reminds us that the Church must not wait for people to come to her. Rather, the Church should go out to search for and meet people. Before speaking of new gadgets and methods, we must bring the gospel to people by meeting and knowing the people we serve personally. This is a more effective way of evangelizing. This is the way that the Lord Jesus shows us in today’s feast of his Sacred Heart. Today, the Lord shows us that his Sacred Heart is the heart of the Good Shepherd. His Heart is a Shepherd’s Heart that does not only make sure that his sheep graze in good pasture or drink from flowing waters. His Heart is one that searches for the lost. He does not let up in searching until he finds that one that got away and carries it in his arms and places it back within the fold. Frustrated with the negligence of the shepherds of Israel, the Lord declares: I will do it myself. I myself will look after and tend my sheep…I will rescue them from every place where they are scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I will bring them back to their own country. The Heart of Christ is open to accept all people. So must also be the heart of the Church. The Church must open her arms to all people. She must go in search for the lost and welcome those who she finds. In fact, Pope Francis criticizes certain pastoral customs that have made the Church look unwelcoming. He puts as an example certain churches that do not admit to baptism the children born out of wedlock. Why deny children the salvation that Baptism accords simply because their parents are not married. Or consider some parish secretaries who, at first meeting with applicants for weddings, immediately discuss fees and requirements. The Pope asks: should we not first express joy that the couple is coming to Church to get married?  

The Heart of Jesus is an open heart. He searches for the lost and he welcomes those he finds. Our work is to go to the highways and byways of the world in search for the lost. Our work is to search and to bring them back to the fold. It will be the Holy Spirit’s work to bring about the conversion of those we find. Let us not limit the church to the number of the pious and devout. The Church is also for sinners and especially for sinners. It is not for us to look down at people and say: his kind is not for this place. When Christ mounted the wood of the Cross, he stretched out his arms to embrace all men. “Everything given to me by my Father will come to me and no one who comes to me will I ever reject.” Let us open our arms and our hearts as Christ opened his arms and heart.

“The HEART OF JESUS is an open heart. Spend your time there...It is not an ordinary school...It is a school of Jesus where you come to learn. What have we to learn? To be meek and humble; if we are meek and humble we will learn to pray. If we learn to pray we will belong to Jesus. If we belong to Jesus we will learn to believe and if we believe we will learn to love and if we love we will learn to serve." - Bl. Mo. Teresa

Sacred Heart of Jesus, may your kingdom come!

Need for Holiness in the Priesthood

The Feast of the Sacred Heart is the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of the Clergy. This feast gives us the occasion to speak about the relationship between the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the holiness that is demanded of the clergy and of the entire People of God as well.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart allows us to look into the interior life of Christ. The image of the Sacred Heart shows us an exposed human heart – something which seems strange as all of us know that the heart is an internal organ. The iconography of the Sacred Heart thus teaches us that Jesus is the Master, the Teacher of the Interior life. As priests and religious, it is only right that we should concern ourselves with the interior life. It is our task to imitate the beloved apostle who leaned towards the breast of the Lord to learn the secrets of his Heart. It is also our task to testify, like the same beloved apostle, to the gushing forth of blood and water from the opened Heart of the Redeemer. These images of the beloved disciple and the Lord are truly intimate images expressive of the intimate friendship which we priests should enjoy with the Lord. To me, the priest is first and foremost a friend of the Lord. Before all our pastoral duties, we ourselves must first “draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation,” “be strengthened through his Spirit in the inner self,”   and “comprehend…what is the breadth which surpasses knowledge.” In other words, we who share in the priesthood of Christ must lead lives of profound interiority. We must be men who constantly go to our inner rooms to pray to our Father in secret. The Holy Father has time and again reminded us of the necessity of retreating from activity in order to sit at the feet of our Lord and be truly his disciples.

The letter coming from the Congregation of the Clergy reminds us of this: “The expression found in Scripture ‘This is the will of God: your holiness!’ (1 Thess 4:3), though addressed to all Christians, refers to us priests in particular, for we have accepted the invitation to ‘sanctify ourselves’ and to become ‘ministers of sanctification’ for our brothers. In our case, this ‘will of God’ is, so to speak, doubled and multiplied to infinity, and we must obey it in everything we do. This is our wonderful destiny: we cannot be sanctified without working on the holiness of our brothers, and we cannot work on the holiness of our brothers unless we have first worked on and continue to work on our own holiness.” The Sacrament of Holy Orders configures us to Christ. We must acquire not only the mind of Christ, but his Heart as well. If St. Augustine calls the priesthood as amoris officium (Sacramentum Caritatis, 23.), then it is very clear that we must acquire the Heart of Christ. The flock of Christ deserves to be loved by nothing less than the love of the Lord. Thus, the responsory of the Litany of the Sacred Heart should truly be a priest’s prayer: “Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine!” This conversion of our hearts into the Heart of Christ cannot be made possible drawing close to his opened Heart to learn its inscrutable riches. It cannot be made possible without looking upon him whom we have pierced.

St. Claude de la Columbiere, SJ, the spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary, lived in the friendship of Christ’s Sacred Heart. It would be good to end our meditation with his prayer: “My Jesus, You are my true Friend. My only Friend. You take part in all my misfortunes. You know how to turn them into blessings. You listen to me with great kindness when I tell you all my troubles, and You always have something with which to heal my wounds. I find You at any time of the day or night, for I find You wherever I happen to be.  You never leave me. If I change my dwelling place, I find You wherever I go. You never weary of listening to me. I am certain of being loved by You, if I but love You. My worldly goods are of no value to you, but by bestowing Yours on me You never grow the poorer. However miserable I may be, no one more noble, more clever, or even more holy, can come between You and me and deprive me of Your friendship. And death, which tears us away from all other friends will unite me forever to You. All the humiliations attached to old age or the loss of honor will never separate You from me; On the contrary, I shall never enjoy You more fully and You will never be closer to me than when everything seems to conspire against me and cast me down. You bear with all my faults with extreme patience. Even my lack of fidelity and my ingratitude do not wound You to such a degree as to make You unwilling to receive me back when I return to You. O Jesus, grant that I may die loving You and that I may die for love of You.   Amen.”

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine!

Sacred Heart, Precious Blood

The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus this year coincides with what was formerly known as the Feast of the Precious Blood of Jesus. This coincidence emphasizes so much the humanity of the Lord for when you speak of heart and blood, you speak of components of the human body. While we are accustomed to look at the Sacred Heart as the symbol of the love of the Lord, let us not forget that “the proper and direct object of (the devotion) is the physical heart of Christ.” (C. Marmion, Christ in his Mysteries, 423.) And heart and blood belong to each other inasmuch as the heart is the organ that pumps blood to the various parts of the body. Biologically, the beating of one’s heart is actually the pumping of blood. Blood, which is the life force of the human body, flows through the veins by means of the beating of the heart. When the heart stops beating at death, the blood stops flowing through the veins. When the Lord died, his Sacred Heart stopped beating and when it was pierced open by the lance of a soldier, it brought out blood and water. The heart was drained of its blood – this is the mark of the consummation of Christ’s sacrifice and the fulfillment of what St. John said, “He loved his own even unto the end.”

“The Lord has set his heart on you and chose you,” Moses affirmed in the first reading. “God loved us,” John affirmed in the second reading. But with what did God love us? “He has loved us with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation is quite rightly considered the chief sign and the symbol…of that love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings without exception.” (CCC, 478.) He, who in his divinity is so much unlike us in every way, loved us with a human heart, that is, loved us in his humanity which is so much like us in every way except in sin. That is why he tells us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened.” He invites us to draw to him – not as someone who does not understand human toil and burden. He understands our toil and burden because he has his own: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Indeed, the human heart of Christ, as well as his blood, are worthy of our adoration “because it is part of Christ’s human nature, and because the Word united himself to a perfect nature. The same adoration we give to the Divine Person of the Word extends to all that to which he is personally united, all that subsists in and through the Person of the Word. This is true of Jesus’ human nature as a whole; it is true of each of the parts of which it is composed. The heart of Jesus is the heart of one who is God.” (Marmion) The blood of Jesus is the blood of one who is God. Because this is the heart of one who is God, it is the symbol of the love which the Incarnate Word bears for us. Because this is the Blood of one who is God, it is the price of our redemption.

Before this tremendous mystery of the Divinity and the humanity of Christ, let us humble ourselves like little children – for only by doing so will we be the objects of his love: “The Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you are really the smallest of all nations.” He reveals the secrets of his heart to children: “although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to little children.” We toil and bear our burdens like adults. Let us surrender these “adult things” to him who, though is Lord and God, is also meek and humble of heart. From him, let us learn. In him, let us rest “for my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

The Sacred Heart, the Heart of the Good Shepherd

"I myself will look after and tend my sheep" so declares the Lord on account of the neglect of Israel's leaders. "As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered." In Jesus, this promise was fulfilled. Having seen the vast crowd coming toward him, Jesus' heart was moved to pity "because they were like sheep without a shepherd." Jesus' heart was moved because he had a shepherd's heart. The Sacred Heart is a Shepherd's Heart.

How did he look after his sheep? His heart moved with pity, Jesus began teaching them. At the end of the day, he took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread and distributed it for the people to eat. He tends his flock by the light of his word. He feeds his flock by giving them his Body to eat and his Blood to drink. His Heart, being a Shepherd's Heart, moves him to seek out the lost, to bring back the strayed, to bind up the injured, to heal the sick...to shepherd them rightly.

His love appoints men to be priests so that through them, Jesus might continue feeding and tending his flock. Whenever we see priests, we are reminded of Jesus' love for us. Thus St. John Vianney says: "The priesthood is the love of the Heart of Christ."

First Friday of the Year 2010

New Year's Day is also the First Friday of the Year.

To you, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, do we consecrate this year!

"O Heart of love, I put all my confidence in you,

for I fear everything

from all my wickedness and frailty,

but I hope for all things

from your goodness and bounty.

Remove from me

all that can displease you or resist your holy will;

let your pure love

imprint your image so deeply upon my heart

that I shall never be able to forget you

or to be separated from you.

May I obtain from your loving kindness

the grace of having my name written in your heart;

for in you I desire to place all my happiness and glory,

living and dying in bondage to you."

(St. Margaret Mary Alacoque)