May 30 2008
Feastday of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
In the recent Sacred Heart Reflection No. 2, we saw that the Heart of Jesus is a place of solitude, a place wherein we may enter and share in His prayer to the Father.
But prayer to the Father is only a portion of the divine activities of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
One day, when St. Gertrude was too ill to attend Mass and regretted missing the pleasure of hearing the sermon, Our Lord asked her if she would like Him to teach her Himself. “Then Our Lord made her rest on His Heart, so that her soul touched it; and as she remained there some time, she felt two most sweet and admirable movements therein.”
Jesus explained that the two movements of His Sacred Heart operate the salvation of humanity, and that each of the two movements operate in three different manners:
The first movement of His Sacred Heart operates the salvation of sinners, in the following three manners:
- Jesus converses continually with His Eternal Father, appeasing the Father’s anger against sinners and inclining the Father to show them mercy;
- Jesus speaks to His Saints, excusing sinners to them and urging them to intercede with God for them, with the zeal and fidelity of a brother;
- Jesus speaks to sinners themselves, calling them mercifully to penance and awaiting their conversion with ineffable desire.
The second movement of His Sacred Heart operates the salvation of the just, in the following three manners:
- Jesus invites His Father to rejoice with Him, that He has poured forth His Precious Blood so efficaciously for the just, in whose merits He finds delight;
- Jesus invites all the heavenly host to praise His providences, give Him thanks for all the benefits He has given them, so that He may grant them more in the future;
- Jesus speaks directly to the just, giving them many salutary caresses and warning them to profit faithfully by them, from day to day and hour to hour.
Jesus then told St. Gertrude:
“As the pulsations of the human heart are not interrupted by seeing, hearing, or any manual occupation, but always continue without relaxation, so the care of the government of Heaven and earth, and the whole universe, cannot diminish or interrupt for a moment these two movements of My Divine Heart, which will continue to the end of ages.”
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, help us love You more, to the end of ages.
[From: The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great] pgs. 227-228
What an extraordinary account. Make me, Lord! Make me!!
You have sparked an interest with me in her part in the Sacred Heart devotion.
Thanks for sharing.
Carol, St. Gertrude does that to a person.
Ann, I’m certain that you would find the Life and Revelations very worthwhile. I go back to it again and again, because she has such an amazing range, and so much to teach us.
teresa, yes, you’re right; if you take a glance at my Sacred Heart Reflection #3, it was four hundred years before St. M.M., and they say that St. Gertrude was the herald of the Sacred Heart devotion, with St. Mechtilde by her side!
That little one seems to be quite content, huh?
http://livingmonstrance.stblogs.com/the-sacred-heart/
Jerome
http://livingmonstrance.stblogs.com/the-sacred-heart/
Jerome
I’ll be back after I go look at your link. Thank you so much.
That little dove does look very content and very much at home. I’ve just been thinking about how wonderful it must have been for that Little Brother to have taken his final vows on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
If you read this, Jerome, I have a question I thought you might be able to answer, or anyone who reads this also, if anyone has a thought on it: In the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, there is one description of the Heart of Jesus that I love in particular: “desire of the everlasting hills”. I was just wondering if this line is taken from the Bible, from one of the Psalms, perhaps, or does anyone know what significance it might have?
Re the other we spoke of, I ran out of time tonight; forgive me – will try Wed. evening.
As for the dove, I am in love. What a sweet graphic, and more.
“The desire of the everlasting hills”… These blessings all looked forward towards Christ, called the desire of the everlasting hills, as being longed for, as it were, by the whole creation. Mystically, the patriarchs and prophets are called the everlasting hills, by reason of the eminence of their wisdom and holiness.
So, Gabrielle, perhaps God is showing you that you hold a special place with the patriarchs and prophets? …
That is really excellent commentary from the Bible that you found, Jerome, re the patriarchs and the prophets being referred to as the everlasting hills. Along with wisdom and holiness, perhaps it encompasses their longing as well. As for holding a special place with them, I don’t know about being a patriarch (and I won’t be getting into matriarchy here)
but I hope I will be granted a place with the prophets, and that the Holy Spirit will always help me, and all of us, in living our Baptismal promises – priests, prophets and kings (maybe as Baptismal kings, that covers the patriarchy).
Carol, thank you for the St. Gertrude link. I will be looking at it shortly. (comments with links are going into moderation now, hence the delay). It’s a sad statement on society, but I gotta do it.