Contemplative Haven

gabrielle May 27th, 2008

“St. Gertrude was the herald of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus - that sacred cult which has become so dear and which has proved a fountain of consolation and graces to millions of Christians.  Our Divine Savior repeatedly disclosed to her His Divine Heart, the furnace of love, as though for her sake He could not await the time decreed by His eternal wisdom for the revelations of His Heart.  Devotion to the Sacred Heart was the special characteristic of St. Gertrude’s piety.  The mystery of mercy and love contained in that Divine Heart had been revealed to her by the Son of God Himself four centuries before it became an object of special devotion to the Church at large.  St. Mechtilde, a contemporary of St. Gertrude, and also a Benedictine, shared with St. Gertrude this glorious privilege.  Thus the Heart of Jesus had long been an object of adoration and love to the sons and daughters of St. Benedict when, in the 17th century, it pleased God to procure for It, through St. Margaret Mary, that more solemn worship with which It is now surrounded.” 

[Saint Gertrude the Great.  The Herald of Divine Love] pgs. 3-4 

• Sacred Heart of Jesus
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gabrielle May 26th, 2008

After browsing through several of Merton’s journals and other writings, I was beginning to think I would never find anything concerning the Sacred Heart of Jesus, until I came upon this entry for the Feast of the Sacred Heart in 1947 in ”The Sign of Jonas”:

“I ought to know, by now, that God uses everything that happens as a means to lead me into solitude.  Every creature that enters my life, every instant of my days, will be designed to wound me with the realization of the world’s insufficiency, until I become so detached that I will be able to find God alone in everything.  Only then will all things bring me joy….Today I seemed to be very much assured that solitude is indeed His will for me and that it is truly God Who is calling me into the desert.” [pgs. 51-52] 

Upon first and even second reading I was disappointed; I said to myself, “Thomas, tell me about the Sacred Heart.  I want to know what you think about the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Why are you talking about yourself - it is the Feastday; why don’t you write about the Sacred Heart on the Feastday, instead of your own call to solitude?”  And then I realized he was writing about the Sacred Heart - about what It evoked for him and in him; about his experience of It. 

So I did a little more browsing - googling, to be exact, on the Sacred Heart and solitude.  There were some interesting things to be found; for example, The Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Theology of Benedict XVI, by Father Mark D. Kirby, O.Cist.  Father Kirby writes:

“At the core of devotion to the Sacred Heart is a passing-over into the prayer of Christ to the Father, a long apprenticeship to silence by which we begin to let the Heart of Christ speak in us and for us to the Father.” [emphasis mine]  Among other references, Father Kirby uses quotes from [then] Cardinal Ratzinger’s “Behold the Pierced One”, in which he helps us see the links between Jesus’ solitude, our own solitude, the Sacred Heart, prayer, and communication with the Father.

And so Thomas Merton truly is speaking of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as he describes his assurance of an even stronger calling to solitude, for it is not a call to solitude for the sake of solitude - it is a call to enter into the Sacred Heart, into the solitude of Jesus, and in Jesus’ solitude we share in prayer to the Father.    

• Merton , Sacred Heart of Jesus
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gabrielle May 22nd, 2008

From now until the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I would like to have a quiet, prayerful time here at the Haven.  I will be posting a few reflections on the Sacred Heart, which I hope will help in preparing our own hearts for that very special day.  Please consider it a little bit of retreat time; silence in the combox is just fine.

For anyone who is making the novena, Ann, of Poetry, Prayer and Praise posted a lovely, short novena prayer yesterday, and Aeternus has posted the full nine-days. If you are undecided, had not even thought about it, or have never made a novena, why not consider this a little nudge?  Go ahead.  Choose one.  Print it.  Pray it.  Spend some time in reflection, and visit the Blessed Sacrament if possible.

“Consider that the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ was no sooner formed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin than It was inflamed with an immense love for all men; but, as it is the property of love to wish to be always with those loved, a life of thirty-three years appeared to Him too short to satisfy the ardent desire which He had to be always with us…

Why does He return every day to this earth invisibly, if it is not because He cannot separate Himself from men and because His delights are to be with them?  Could we have ever imagined that Jesus Christ would love us to this excess?…

This desire must be very violent when it can continue to exist in Heaven, where all desires are satisfied.”

[The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Fr. John Croiset, S.J.] pgs. 258-259 

• Sacred Heart of Jesus
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gabrielle May 11th, 2008

“God our Father,
let the Spirit you sent on your Church to begin the teaching of the Gospel
continue to work in the world
through the hearts of all who believe.
We ask this…for ever and ever. Amen.”

This is the opening prayer at Mass on this Pentecost Sunday.  The Holy Spirit works through the heart.  This may come as no surprise, but what did come as a surprise to me, when reading St. Gertrude the Great’s entries for the Vigil and Feast of Pentecost, was how much the Sacred Heart of Jesus figured in her Pentecost experience.  There is much, much more than what I am able to put in one post, but just to give you an idea: 

On the vigil of Pentecost, as she was feeling “utter unworthiness” in the face of receiving the Holy Spirit, she felt a cave being created in her heart. “Then she saw a stream of honey coming forth from the Heart of Jesus, and distilling itself into hers, until it was entirely filled. By this she understood that it was the unction and grace of the Holy Ghost which flowed thus sweetly from the Heart of the Son of God into the hearts of the faithful.”

Shortly thereafter there is an experience of breath in which, “His Divine breath entered into her soul”. The Lord told St. Gertrude that, “the respirations of her soul indicated her goodwill, and the breath of Our Lord His acceptance of her good intentions and desires.” The Lord then showed her the different gifts of the Holy Spirit, using images of trees which differed in their fruits. As she approached to receive Holy Communion, the Lord “refreshed her heart by a Divine exhalation, which came forth from His sacred Limbs”. After Holy Communion, she saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a Dove, “descending from Heaven upon the adorable Sacrament, with an impetuous flight like that of an eagle; and seeking the sweet Heart of Jesus, He appeared to enter therein, and find there a most agreeable abode.”

There was more to come.  At Terce, as the sisters began to chant Veni Creator, “Our Lord appeared to her and opened His Heart, full of sweetness and tenderness…”  St. Gertrude rested her head in the centre of His Heart, and the Lord pressed her head into Himself and united her will to His and sanctified it.  Then, during the second verse, Qui, Paraclitus diciris, St. Gertrude placed “the hands of her soul [her actions] in the Heart of Jesus.  At the third verse, Tu septiformis gratia (sic) [Thou Who art sevenfold in Thy Grace] St. Gertrude placed, “the feet of her soul [her desires] in the Sacred Heart…”

From The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great (For the Vigil and Feast of Pentecost) pgs. 396-400) 

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Dear Lord, please send your Holy Spirit to us in the weeks ahead to enlighten our minds, hearts, and souls.  Help us to enter as fully as possible into the true meaning of Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  They come so quickly one upon the other that we can scarcely catch our breath. Breathe your Divine Breath into us.  Help us enter the Mystery.     

• Holy Spirit , Sacred Heart of Jesus , Saints
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