27 JUNE – THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS

In 1875 Blessed Pius IX consecrated the Catholic Church to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and in 1899 Pope Leo XIII dedicated the whole of mankind to the Sacred Heart, raising the Feast of the Sacred Heart to the rite of Double of the First Class. Finally, in 1929 Pope Pius XI composed a new Office and Mass for the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

Our Lord made the following promises to those who practice devotion to His Sacred Heart:

I will grant them the graces necessary for their state of life.

I will establish peace in their families.

I will comfort them in their afflictions.

I will be their safe refuge during life, and especially at death.

I will give abundant blessings on all their undertakings.

Sinners will find a fountain and a boundless ocean of mercy in My Heart.

Tepid souls will become fervent.

Fervent souls will quickly achieve great perfection.

I will bless every place where the picture of My Sacred Heart is exposed and honoured.

I will give to priests the power to touch the hardest hearts.

I will grant to all those who receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance.

They will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments, and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

A new ray of light shines today in the heaven of holy Church, and its light brings warmth. The divine Master given to us by our Redeemer, that is, the Paraclete Spirit, who has come down into this world, continues His teachings to us in the sacred Liturgy. The earliest of these His divine teachings was the mystery of the Trinity. And we have worshipped the Blessed Three: we have been taught who God is, we know Him in His own nature, we have been admitted by faith into the sanctuary of the infinite Essence. Then, this Spirit, the mighty wind of Pentecost (Acts ii. 2), opened to our souls new aspects of the truth which it is His mission to make the world remember (John xiv. 26), and His revelation left us prostrate before the sacred Host, the Memorial which God Himself has left us of all His wonderful works (Psalms cx. 3).

Today it is the Sacred Heart of the Word made flesh that this Holy Spirit puts before us that we may know and love and adore It. There is a mysterious connection between these three Feasts, of Trinity, Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart. The aim of the Holy Ghost in all three is this: to initiate us more and more into that knowledge of God by faith, which is to fit us for the face-to-face Vision in Heaven. We have already seen how God being made known to us by the first in Himself, manifests Himself to us by the second in His outward works — for the Holy Eucharist is the memorial here below in which He has brought together, and with all possible perfection, all those His wondrous works. But by what law can we pass so rapidly, so almost abruptly, from one Feast, which is all directly regarding God, to another which celebrates His works, done by Him to and for us? Then again: how came the divine thought, how came, that is, eternal Wisdom, from the infinite repose of the eternally blessed Trinity to the external activity of a love for us poor creatures which has produced what we call the Mysteries of our Redemption? The Heart of the Man-God is the solution of these difficulties. It answers all such questions and explains to us the whole divine plan.

We knew that the sovereign happiness which is in God, we knew that the life eternal communicated from the Father to the Son, and from these two to the Holy Ghost, in light and love, was to be given by the will of these Three Divine Persons to created beings. Not only to those which were purely spiritual, but likewise to that creature whose nature is the union of spirit and matter, that is, to Man. We are of this lower nature, and a pledge of this life eternal was given to us in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. It is by the Eucharist that Man, who has already been made a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter i. 4) by the grace of the sanctifying Spirit is united to the divine Word, and is made a true member of this Only Begotten Son of the Father. Yes: though it had not yet appeared what we will be, says Saint John, still we are now the sons of God. We know that when He will appear we will be like Him, for we are called to live as the Word Himself does, in the society of that eternal Father of His, for ever and ever.

But the infinite love of the sacred Trinity which thus called us frail creatures to a participation in Its own blessed life would accomplish this merciful design by the help and means of another love, a love more like what we ourselves can feel. That is, the created love of a human soul evinced by the beatings of a heart of flesh like our own. The Angel of the great Counsel who is sent to make known to the world the merciful designs of the Ancient of days, took to Himself, in order to fulfil His divine mission, a created, a human form. And this would enable men to see with their eyes, yes, and even touch with their hands, the Word of life, that life eternal which was with the Father, but appeared even to us (1 John i. 2). This human nature which the Son of God took into personal union with Himself from the womb of the Virgin-Mother was the docile instrument of infinite love, but it was not absorbed into, or lost in, the Godhead. It retained its own substance, its special faculties, its distinct will, which Will ruled, under the influence of the divine Word, the acts and movements of His most holy Soul and adorable Body. From the very first instant of its existence, the human Soul of Christ was inundated, more directly than was any other creature, with that true light of the Word, “which enlightens every man who comes into this world” (John i. 9). It enjoyed the face-to-face vision of the divine essence, and therefore took in at a single glance the absolute beauty of the sovereign Being and the wisdom of the divine decree which called finite beings into a participation of infinite bliss. It understood its sublime mission, and conceived an immense love for man and for God. This love began simultaneously with life and filled not only His soul, but impressed its own way the Body too — the Body which was formed from the substance of the Virgin Mother by the operation of the Holy Ghost. The effect of His love told, consequently, upon His Heart of true human flesh. It set in motion those beatings which made the Blood of redemption circulate in His sacred veins.

For it was not with Him as with other men, the pulsations of whose hearts are at first the consequence of nothing but the vital power which is in the human frame, and later on when age has awakened reason into act, the ideas so produced will produce physical impressions on us which will, now and then, quicken or dull the throbbings of these our hearts. With the Man-God it was not so: His Heart, from the very first moment of its life, responded, that is, throbbed, to the law of His soul’s love, whose power to act upon His human Heart was as incessant and as intense as is the power of organic vitality — a love as burning at the first instant of the Incarnation, as it is this very hour in Heaven. For the human love which the Incarnate Word had, resulting as it did from His intellectual knowledge of God and His creatures, was as perfect as that knowledge and therefore as incapable of all progress; though, being our Brother, and our model in all things, He day-by-day made more manifest to us the exquisite sensibility of His divine Heart.

At the period of Jesus’ coming on this Earth man had forgotten how to love, for he had forgotten what true beauty was. His heart of flesh seemed to him as a sort of excuse for his false love of false goods: his heart was but an outlet by which his soul could stray from heavenly things to the husks of earth, there to waste his power and substance (Luke xv. 13). To this material world which the soul of man was intended to make subserve its Maker’s glory — to this world which by a sad perversion kept man’s soul a slave to his senses and passions — the Holy Ghost sent a marvellous power, which, like a resistless lever, would replace the world in its right position: it was the sacred Heart of Jesus, a Heart of flesh like that of other human beings, from whose created throbbings there would ascend to the eternal Father an expression of love which would be a homage infinitely pleasing to the infinite Majesty, because there was in that love of that human Heart the dignity of its union with the Word. It is a harp of sweetest melody that is ever vibrating under the touch of the Spirit of Love. It gathers up into its own music the music of all creation, whose imperfections it corrects, and supplies its deficiencies, and tunes all discordant voices into unity, and so offers to the glorious Trinity a hymn of perfect praise. The Trinity finds its delight in this Heart. It is the one only organum, as Saint Gertrude calls it, the one only instrument which finds acceptance with the Most High. Through it must pass all the inflamed praises of the burning Seraphim, just as must do the humble homage paid to its God by inanimate creation. By it alone are to come upon this world the favours of Heaven. It is the mystic ladder between man and God, the channel of all graces, the way by which man ascends to God and God descends to man.

The Holy Ghost, whose masterpiece it is, has made it a living image of Himself. For although in the ineffable relations of the divine Persons He is not the source of love, He is its substantial expression or, in theological language, the term. It is He who inclines the Holy Trinity to those works outside Itself, which first produce creatures and then, having given them being (and to some, life,) He (the Holy Spirit) pours out on them all the effusion of their Creator’s love for them. And so is it with the love which the Man-God has for God and Man — its direct and, so to say, material expression is the throbbing it produces on His sacred Heart. And again, it is by that Heart that, like the Water and Blood which came from His wounded Side, He pours out onto the world a stream of redemption and grace which is to be followed by the still richer one of glory.

“One of the soldiers,” as the Gospel tells us, “opened Jesus’ Side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water” (John xix. 34). We must keep before us this text and the fact it relates, for they give us the true meaning of the Feast we are celebrating. The importance of the event here related is strongly intimated by the earnest and solemn way in which Saint John follows up his narration. After the words just quoted he adds: “And he that saw it, has given testimony of it, and his testimony is true. And he knows that he says true, that you also may believe; for these things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John xix. 35, 36). Here the Gospel refers us to the testimony of the Prophet Zacharias who, after predicting the Spirit of grace being poured out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Zacharias xii. 10) says: “They will look on Him whom they pierced” (Zacharias xii. 10, as quoted in John xix. 37).

And, when they look on his side thus pierced, what will they see there but that great truth which is the summary of all Scripture, of all history: “God so loved the world, as to give it his Only Begotten Son; that whoever believes in him, may not perish, but may have eternal life” (John iii. 16). This grand truth was during the ages of expectation veiled under types and figures. It could be deciphered by but few, and even then, only obscurely. But it was made known with all possible clearness on that eventful day when on Jordan’s banks (Luke iii. 21, 22) the whole sacred Trinity manifested who was the Elect, the Chosen One, of the Father — the Son in whom He was so well pleased (Isaias xliii. 1). Yes, it was Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary. But there was another revelation of deepest interest to us which had still to be made: it was how, and in what way, would the eternal life brought by this Jesus into the world, pass from Him into each one of us?

This second revelation was made to us when the soldier’s spear opened the divine source, and there flowed from it that Water and Blood which, as the Scripture tells us, completed the testimony of the Blessed Three. “There are three,” says Saint John, who give testimony in Heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost: and these Three are One. And there are three that give testimony on earth: the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood”: and these three are one, that is, they are one, because they concur in giving the one same testimony. “And, this,” continues Saint John, “is the testimony: that God has given to us eternal life, and that this life is in His Son” (John v. 7, 8, 11). These words contain a very profound mystery, but we have their explanation in today’s Feast which shows us how it is through the Heart of the Man-God that the divine work is achieved and how, through that same Heart, the plan which was conceived from all eternity by the Wisdom of the Father, has been realised.

To communicate His own happiness to creatures by making them, through the Holy Ghost, partakers of His own divine nature (1 Peter i. 4), and members of His beloved Son — this was the merciful design of the Father. And all the works of the Trinity outside itself tend to the accomplishment of that same. When the fullness of time had come, there appeared upon our earth He that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ —not by water only, but by water and blood. The Spirit who, together with the Father and the Son has already on the banks of Jordan given His testimony, gives it here again, for Saint John continues: “And it is the Spirit which testifies that Christ is the truth” (1 John v. 6), and that He spoke the truth when He said of Himself that He is Life (John v. 26). Yes, the Spirit, as the Gospel teaches us (John vii. 37-39), comes forth with the water from the fountains of the Saviour (Isaias xii. 3), and makes us worthy of the Precious Blood which flows together with the water. Then does mankind, thus born again of water and the Holy Ghost, become entitled to enter into the kingdom of God (John iii. 5), and the Church, thus made ready for her Spouse in those same waters of Baptism, is united to the Incarnate Word in the Blood of the sacred Mysteries. We, being members of that holy Church, have had the same union with Christ. We are bone of His bones, and flesh of His flesh (Genesis ii. 23; Ephesians v. 30). We have received the power to be made adopted Sons of God (John i. 12) and sharers, for all eternity, of the divine life which He, the Son by nature, has in the bosom of the Father.

On, then, you [the people of the Old Testament] who are ignorant of the nuptials of the Lamb, give the signal of their being accomplished. Lead the Spouse to the nuptial bed of the Cross. He will lay Himself down on that most precious wood which His mother, the Synagogue, has made to be His couch. She prepared it for Him on the eve of the day of his alliance when, from His Sacred Heart, there is to come forth his Bride, together with the Water which cleanses her, and the Blood which is to be her dower. It was for the sake of this Bride that He left His Father and the bright home of His heavenly Jerusalem. He ran as a giant in the way of His intense love. He thirsted, and the thirst of the desire gave Him no rest. The scorching wind of suffering which dried up His bones was less active than the fire which burned in His Heart, and made its beatings send forth in the agony in the Garden the Blood which, on the morrow, was to be spent for the redemption of His Bride. He has reached Calvary, it is the end of His journey. He dies, He sleeps, with His burning thirst upon Him. But the Bride, who is formed for Him during this His mysterious sleep, will soon rouse him from it. That Heart, from which she was born, has broken that she might come forth. Broken, it ceased it beat, and the grand hymn which, through it, had been so long ascending from Earth to Heaven, was interrupted, and creation was dismayed at the interruption. Now that the world has been redeemed man should sing more than ever the canticle of his gratitude. And the strings of the harp are broken! Who will restore them? Who will rewaken in the Heart of our Jesus the music of its divine throbbings?

The new-born Church, His Bride, is standing near that opened side of her Jesus. In the intensity of her first joy she thus sings to God the Father: “I will praise you, Lord, among the people, and I will sing to you among the nations” (Psalms cvii. 1-4) Then, to her Jesus: “Arise, you, my glory! my psaltery, my harp, arise!” And He arose in the early morning of the great Sunday. His Sacred Heart resumed its melody, and with it sent up to Heaven the music of holy Church, for the Heart of the Spouse belongs to His Bride, and they are now two in one flesh (Genesis ii. 24; Ephesians v. 31).

Christ being now in possession of her who has wounded His Heart (Canticles iv. 9), He gives her in return full power over that Sacred Heart of His from which she has issued. There lies the secret of all the Church’s power. In the relations existing between husband and wife, which were created by God at the beginning of the world and (as the Apostle assures us), in view of this great mystery of Christ and the Church — man is the head (1 Corinthians xi. 3) and the woman may not domineer in the government of the family. Has the woman, then, no power? She has power, and a great power. She must address herself to her husband’s heart, and gain all by love. If Adam, our first father, sinned, it was because Eve used, and for evil, her influence over his heart by misleading him, and us in him. Jesus saves us because the Church has won His Heart , and that human Heart could not be won without the divinity also being moved to mercy. And here we have the doctrine of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as far as regards the principle on which it rests. In this its primary and essential notion, the devotion is as old as the Church herself, for it rests on this truth which has been recognised in every age — that Christ is the Spouse, and the Church is His Bride.

The Fathers and holy Doctors of the early Ages had no other way than the one we have been putting before our readers, when expounding the mystery of the Church’s having been formed from Jesus’ side. And the words they used — though always marked by that reserve which was called for by so many of their hearers being as yet uninitiated — were taken as the text for the sublime and fearless developments of later Ages. “The initiated,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “know the mystery of the Saviour's fountains: from those, that is, from the Blood and the Water, the Church was formed; from those same came our Mysteries so that, when you approach the dread chalice, you must come up to it as though you were about to drink of that very Side of Christ.” “The Evangelist,” says Saint Augustine, “made use of a word which has a special import, when he said the soldier opened Jesus’ Side with a spear. He did not say, struck the Side, or wounded the Side, or anything else like that; but he said, he opened Jesus’ Side. He opened it, for that Side was like the door of life. And when it was opened, the Sacraments (the Mysteries) of the Church came through it... This was predicted by that door which Noah was commanded to make in the side of the Ark, through which were to go those living creatures which were not to be destroyed by the deluge. And all these things were a figure of the Church.”

“Enter into the rock, and hide in the pit” (Isaias ii. 10), says Isaias. And what means this, but “enter into the Side of your Lord?” as the expression is interpreted in the thirteenth century by Guerric, a disciple of Saint Bernard, and Abbot of Igny. Saint Bernard himself thus comments the verses 13 and 14 of the second Chapter of the Canticle: “Come, my dove, in the clifts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall” (Canticles ii. 13, 14): “O beautiful clifts of the rock in which the dove takes safe shelter, and fearlessly looks at the hawk that hovers about!... And what may I see through that opening? The iron has pierced his soul, and his Heart has come near; so that, through the clift, the mystery of his Heart is made visible, that great mystery of love, those bowels of the mercy of our God.. "What else are you, Lord, but treasures of love, but riches of goodness?... I will make my way to those full store cellars. I will take the Prophet’s advice, and will leave the cities. I will dwell in the Rock, and be like the dove that makes her nest in the mouth of the hole in the highest place (Jeremias xlviii. 28). Sheltered there, like as Moses was in the hole of the Rock (Exodus xxxiii. 21), I will see my Lord as He passes by.” In the next century, we have the Seraphic Doctor, Saint Bonaventure, telling us in his own beautiful style how the new Eve was born from the Side of Christ when in His sleep, and how the spear of Saul was thrown at David and struck the wall (1 Kings xviii. 10, 11) as though it would make its way into Him, of whom David was but a type, that is, into Christ, who is the Rock (1 Corinthians x. 4) the mountain-cave where are salubrious springs, the shelter where doves build their nests.

Our readers will not expect us to do more than give them this general view of the great mystery, and tell them how the holy Doctors of the Church spoke of it. As far as Saint Bernard and Saint Bonaventure are concerned, the devotion to the mystery of Christ’s side opened on the Cross is but a part of that which they would have us show to the other wounds of our Redeemer. The Sacred Heart, as the expression of Jesus’ love, is not treated of in their writings with the explicitness with which the Church would afterwards put it before us. For this end, our Lord Himself selected certain privileged souls through whose instrumentality He would bring the Christian world to a fuller appreciation of the consequences which are involved in the principles admitted by the whole Church.

It was on the 27th of January in 1281, in the Benedictine Monastery of Helfta near Eisleben in Saxony, that our Divine Lord first revealed these ineffable secrets to one of the Community of that House, whose name was Gertrude. “She was then twenty years of age. The Spirit of God came upon her, and gave her her mission... She saw, she heard, she was permitted to touch, and what is more, she drank of, that chalice of the Sacred Heart, which inebriates the elect. She drank of it, even while in this vale of bitterness. And what she herself so richly received, she imparted to others who showed themselves desirous to listen. Saint Gertrude’s mission was to make known the share and action of the Sacred Heart in the economy of God’s glory and the sanctification of souls. And in this respect, we cannot separate her from her companion Saint Mechtilde. On this special doctrine regarding the heart of the Man-God, Saint Gertrude and Saint Mechtilde hold a very prominent position among all the Saints and mystical writers of the Church. In saying this we do not except even the Saints of these later ages by whom our Lord brought about the public, the official, worship which is now given to His Sacred Heart. These Saints have spread the devotion, now shown to it, throughout the whole Church, but they have not spoken of the mysteries it contains within it, with that set purpose, that precision, that loveliness, which we find in the Revelations of the two Saints, Gertrude and Mechtilde.

It was the Beloved Disciple, who had rested His head upon Jesus’ breast at the Supper, and perhaps heard the beatings of the Sacred Heart — the Disciple who, when standing at the foot of the Cross, had seen that Heart pierced with the soldier’s spear — yes, it was he who announced to Gertrude its future glorification. She asked him how it was that he had not spoken in his writings in the New Testament of what he had experienced when he reclined upon Jesus’ Sacred Heart: he thus replied: ‘My mission was to write for the Church, which was still young, a single word of the uncreated Word of God the Father, that uncreated Word, concerning which the intellect of the whole human race might be ever receiving abundant truth, from now till the end of the world, and yet it would never be fully comprehended. As to the sweet eloquence of those throbbings of His Heart, it is reserved for the time when the world has grown old, and has become cold in God’s love, that it may regain favour by the hearing such revelation.’” (The Legate of Divine Love. Bk. iv. Ch. 4)

“Gertrude was chosen as the instrument of that revelation, and what she has told us is exquisitely beautiful. At one time, the divine Heart is shown to her as a treasure which holds all riches within it. At another, it is a harp played upon by the Holy Spirit, and the music which comes from it gladdens the Blessed Trinity and all the heavenly court. It is a plenteous spring whose stream bears refreshment to the souls in Purgatory, strength and every other grace to them that are still struggling on this Earth, and delights which inebriate the blessed in the heavenly Jerusalem. It is a golden thurible from which there ascend as many different sorts of fragrant incense as there are different races of men, for all of whom our Redeemer died upon the Cross. It is an altar on which the Faithful lay their offerings, the elect their homage, the Angels their worship, and the eternal High Priest offers Himself as a Sacrifice. It is a lamp suspended between Heaven and Earth. It is a chalice out of which the Saints, but not the Angels, drink, though these latter receive from it delights of varied kinds. It was in this Heart, that was formed and composed the Lord’s Prayer, the Pater noster: that Prayer was the fruit of Jesus’ Heart. By that same Sacred Heart are supplied all the negligences and deficiencies which are found in the honour we pay to God and His Blessed Mother and Saints. The Heart of Jesus makes itself as our servant, and our bond, in fulfilment of all the obligations incumbent on us. In it alone,do our actions derive that perfection, that worth, which makes them acceptable in the eyes of the divine Majesty, and every grace which flows from Heaven to Earth passes through that same Heart. When our life is at its close, that Heart is the peaceful abode, the holy sanctuary, ready to receive our souls as soon as they have departed from this world. And having received them, it keeps them in itself for all eternity, and beatifies them with every delight!” (Preface to the Revelations of St. Gertrude, translated into French, from the new Latin Edition, published by the Benedictine Fathers of Solesmes).

By thus revealing to Gertrude the admirable mysteries of divine love included in the doctrine which attaches to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was, so to say, forestalling the workings of Hell which, two centuries later on, were to find their prime mover in that same spot. Luther was born at Eisleben in the year 1483. He was the apostle, after being the inventor, of theories the very opposite of what the Sacred Heart reveals. Instead of the merciful God as known and loved in the previous ages, Luther would have the world believe Him to be the direct author of sin and damnation who creates the sinner for crime and eternal torments, and for the mere purpose of showing that He could do anything, even injustice! Calvin followed. He took up the blasphemous doctrines of the German apostate and rivetted the protestant principles by his own gloomy and merciless logic. By these two men the tail of the dragon dragged the third part of the stars of Heaven (Apocalypse xii. 4). In the seventeenth century the old enemy put on hypocrisy in the shape of Jansenism, changing the names of things but leaving the things unchanged, he tried to get into the very centre of the Church and there pass off his impious doctrines. Ad Jansenism which, under the pretext of safeguarding the rights of God’s sovereign dominion, aimed at making men forget that He was a God of mercy, Jansenism was a favourable system with which the enemy might propagate his so-called Reformation. That God “who so loved the world” (John iii. 16) beheld mankind discouraged or terrified, and behaving as though in Heaven there was no such thing as mercy, still less, love. This Earth of ours was to be made to see that its Creator had loved it with affectionate love, that He had taken a Heart of flesh in order to bring that infinite love within man’s reach and sight, that He made that human Heart which He had assumed do its work, that is, beat and throb from love, just as ours do, for He had become one of ourselves, and, as the Prophet words it, had taken “the cords of Adam” (Osee xi. 4): that Heart felt the thrill of joy when duty doing made us joyous. It felt a weight and pang when it saw our sorrows. It was gladsome when it found that, here and there, there would be souls to love Him in return.

How were men to be told all this? Who would be chosen to fulfil the prophecy made by Gertrude the Great? Who would come forth, like another Paul or John, and teach to the world, now grown old, the language of the divine throbbings of Jesus’ Heart? There were then living many men noted for their learning and eloquence, but they would not suit the purpose of God. God, who loves to choose the weak (and often it is that He may confound the strong) (1 Corinthians i. 27), had selected for the manifesting of the mystery of the Sacred Heart a servant of His of whose existence the world knew not: it was a Religious woman who lived in a monastery which had nothing about it to attract notice. As in the thirteenth century, He had passed by the learned men, and even the great Saints, who were then living, and selected the Blessed Juliana of liege as the instrument which was to bring about the institution of the Corpus Christi Feast — so in this present case: He would have His own Sacred Heart be glorified in His Church by a solemn Festival. And He imparts and entrusts his wish to the humble Visitandine of Paray-le-Monial, now known and venerated throughout the world under the name of Blessed Margaret-Mary. The mission thus divinely given to her was to bring forward the treasure which had been revealed to Saint Gertrude and which, all the long interval, had been known to only a few privileged souls. Sister Margaret Mary was to publish the secret to the whole world, and make the privilege cease, by telling every one how to possess it. Through this apparently inadequate instrument, the Sacred Heart of Jesus was a heavenly reaction offered to the world against the dullness which had settled on its old age: it became a touching appeal to all faithful souls that they would make reparation for all the contempt, and slight, and coldness, and sins, with which our age treats the love of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus.

“I was praying before the Blessed Sacrament on one of the days during the Octave” (of Corpus Christi, June 1675), says the Blessed Margaret, “and I received from my God exceeding great graces of His love. And feeling a desire to make some return and give Him love for love, He said to me: ‘You can not make me a greater, than by doing that which I have so often asked of you.’ He then showed me His divine Heart and said: ‘Behold this Heart which has so loved men as that it has spared nothing, even to the exhausting and wearing itself out, in order to show them its love. And instead of acknowledgement, I receive from the greater number nothing but ingratitude by their irreverences and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt with which they treat me in this Sacrament of love. But what is still more deeply felt by me is that they are hearts which are consecrated to me, which thus treat me. It is on this account, that I make this demand of you: that the first Friday after the Octave of the Blessed Sacrament be devoted to a special Feast in honour of my Heart. That you will go to Communion on that day and give it a reparation of honour by an act of amendment, to repair the insults it has received during the time of its being exposed on the Altar. I promise you also that my Heart will dilate itself, that it may pour forth, with abundance, the influences of its divine love upon those who will thus honour it and will do their best to have such honour paid to it.’” By thus calling His servant to be the instrument of the glorification of His Sacred Heart, our Lord made her a sign of contradiction, just as He Himself had been (Luke ii. 34). It took more than ten years for Blessed Margaret to get the better, by dint of patience and humility, of the suspicions with which she was treated by the little world around her, and of the harsh conduct of the Sisters who lived with with her in the same Monastery, and of trials of every sort. At last, on the 21st of June in 1686, the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi, she had the consolation of seeing the whole Community of Paray-le-Monial kneeling before a picture which represented the Heart of Jesus as pierced with a spear. It was the Heart by itself. It was encircled with flames and a crown of thorns, with the Cross above it, and the three Nails. That same year there was begun in the Monastery the building of a Chapel in honour of the Sacred Heart, and Blessed Margaret had the happiness of seeing it finished and blessed. She died shortly afterwards, in the year 1690. But all this was a very humble beginning: where was the institution of a Feast, properly so called? and there its solemn celebration throughout the Church?

So far back as the year 1674, our Lord had in His own mysterious way brought Margaret-Mary to form the acquaintance of one of the most saintly Religious of the Society of Jesus then living — it was Father De la Colombiere. He recognised the workings of the Holy Spirit in this His servant, and became the devoted apostle of the Sacred Heart, first of all at Paray-le-Monial, and then later on in England where he was imprisoned by the heretics of those times and merited the glorious title of Confessor of the Faith. This fervent disciple of the Heart of Jesus died in the year 1682, worn out by his labours and sufferings. But the Society, in a body, inherited his zeal for the propagation of devotion to the Sacred Heart. At once, numerous confraternities began to be formed, and everywhere there began to be built Chapels in honour of that same Heart. Hell was angry at this great preaching of God’s love. The Jansensists were furious at this sudden proclamation, at this apparition, as Saint Paul would say, “of the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour” (Titus iii. 4), and the men who were proclaiming it were aiming at restoring hope to souls in which they, the Jansenists, had sowed despondency. The big world must interfere, and it began by talking of innovations, of scandals, of even idolatry. At all events, this new devotion was, to put it mildly, a revolting dissecting of the sacred Body of Christ! Erudite pamphlets were published, some theological, some physiological, to prove that the Church should forbid the subject! Indecent engravings were circulated, and witticisms, such as indignation can make, were made, in order to bring ridicule upon those for whom the world had coined the name of Cordicoloe, or Heart-Worshippers.

But, human wisdom, or human prejudice, or even human ridicule, cannot withstand God’s purposes. He wished that human hearts should he led to love, and therefore worship, the Sacred Heart of their Redeemer. And He inspired His Church to receive the devotion which would save so many souls, though the world might not take Heaven’s view. The Apostolic See had witnessed all this and, at last, gave its formal sanction. Rome had frequently granted Indulgences in favour of the devotions privately practised towards the Sacred Heart. She had published innumerable Briefs for the establishment of local Confraternities under that title. And, in 1765, in accordance with the request made by the Bishops of Poland and the Arch-Confraternity of the Sacred Heart at Rome, Pope Clement XIII issued the first pontifical decree in favour of the Feast of the Heart of Jesus, and approved of a Mass and Office which had been drawn up for that Feast. The same favour was gradually accorded to other Churches until, at length, on the 23rd of August, 1856, Pope Pius IX of glorious memory, at the instance of all the Bishops of France, issued the Decree for the inserting the Feast of the Sacred Heart on the Calendar, and making obligatory its celebration by the universal Church.

The glorification of the Heart of Jesus called for that of its humble handmaid. On the 18th of September 1864, the Beatification of Margaret-Mary was solemnly proclaimed by the same Sovereign Pontiff who had put the last finish to the work she had begun, and given it the definitive sanction of the Apostolic See. From that time forward, the knowledge and love of the Sacred Heart have made greater progress, than they had done during the whole two previous centuries. In every quarter of the globe we have heard of Communities, Religious Orders and whole Dioceses consecrating themselves to this source of every grace, this sole refuge of the Church in these sad times. There have been pilgrimages made of thousands from every country to the favoured sanctuary of Paray-le-Monial, where it pleased the Divine Heart to first manifest Itself in its visible form to us mortals.

20 JUNE – SAINT SILVERIUS (Pope and Martyr)

Silverius succeeded Pope Saint Agapetus to the See of Rome in 536 AD. During his papacy the emperor Justinian recovered Rome and most of Italy from the Ostrogoths. Silverius resisted interference in religious affairs by the empress Theodora and for that he was expelled from Rome and persecuted. After having been taken to Constantinople, he was exiled to the Italian island of Pandataria which had become infamous as a place of banishment to which the enemies of pre-Christian emperors had been sent. Here Pope Silverius died in 538 AD at the hands of his enemies.

Silverius was the son of Pope Saint Hormisdas who had been married before becoming a bishop. Silverius entered the Church as a subdeacon upon the death of Pope Saint Agapetus and succeeded him to the See of Peter in 536. During his pontificate the emperor Justinian recovered Rome and most of Italy from the Ostrogoths. The empress Theodora sought to have Pope Silverius enter into communion with the heretical Monophysites but he resisted and for that he was persecuted and exiled on the island of Palmarola in the Bay of Naples where he died in 537.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the demise of St. Novatus, son of the blessed senator Pudens and brother of the saintly priest Timothy, and of the holy virgins of Christ Pudentiana and Praxedes, who were instructed in the faith by the Apostles. Their house was converted into a church and bore the title of Pastor.

At Tomis in Pontus, the holy martyrs Paul and Cyriacus.

At Petra in Palestine, St. Macarius, a bishop who suffered much from the Arians and was banished to Africa where he rested in the Lord.

At Seville in Spain, the holy virgin Florentina, sister of the holy bishops Leander and Isidore.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

7 JUNE – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Constantinople, the birthday of St. Paul, bishop of that city. For the Catholic faith he was often expelled from his see by the Arians and restored to it by the Roman Pontiff St. Julius. Finally, the Arian emperor Constantius banished him to Cucusum, a small town of Cappadocia, where, by the machinations of the Arians, he was barbarously strangled and thus departed for the heavenly kingdom. His body was conveyed to Constantinople with the greatest honour in the reign of emperor Theodosius.

In Egypt, St. Licarion, martyr, who was lacerated, scourged with heated iron rods, and, after other horrible torments, was crowned with martyrdom by a stroke from the sword.

At Cordova, the holy martyrs Peter, priest, Wallabonsus, deacon, Sabinian, Wistremundus, Habentius and Jeremias, monks.

In England, the abbot St. Robert, of the Order of Citeaux.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

24 MAY – SATURDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

  Dom Prosper Guéranger:

On this day which is sacred to Mary let us open the holy Gospel according to Saint John. There, in the second chapter we find these words: “There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there” (John ii. 1). The sacred text goes on to say that Jesus also and His disciples were among the guests, but the Holy Spirit, who guided the Evangelist’s hand, would have him first make mention of Mary. It was to teach us that this our Blessed Mother extends her protection to those who enter on the married life with worthy dispositions, that is, with such dispositions as to draw down upon themselves the blessing of her divine Son.

Marriage is a sacred state, for it was instituted by God. The first marriage was celebrated in the earthly Paradise between Adam and Eve when yet they were innocent. It was God Himself who dictated the conditions of marriage. Unity was to be its very basis. In other words, the wife was to have but one husband, the husband was to have but one wife. It was the type of a still more glorious unity, which was not to be revealed till a later period. The Mystery of Unity typified by marriage being part of the Christian Revelation, we deem it a duty to put it before our readers by the following considerations.

The Angels were all created at one and the same time: but the members of the human race were to be born, each indeed from their respective parents, but yet so as that Adam and Eve were to be the common parents to whom all were to owe their origin. Such was our Creator’s design, and marriage was the means He selected for its fulfilment. An immense multitude of the Angels having fallen, the places destined for them in Heaven were to be filled up by the elect of Earth. Again, it was marriage that was to provide these citizens for Heaven. Hence, God blessed marriage at the very commencement of the world, and with a blessing which was to be permanent for, as the Church teaches us in the Liturgy, “it was not recalled, either by the punishment inflicted on original sin, or by the sentence which destroyed the world by the deluge” (Missale Romanum. Praefatio Super Sponsam).

Even before this second great chastisement came upon the Earth, “all flesh had corrupted its way” (Genesis vi. 12). Marriage had fallen from the elevated dignity given to it by the Creator. The end for which He instituted it was forgotten. It was debased into a mere sensual gratification. It lost the sacred Unity, which was its glory. Polygamy and Divorce destroyed its primitive character, and two frightful evils ensued: family ties were at an end, and woman’s position was degraded into that of a being which must minister to man’s passions. The lesson intended to be conveyed by the Deluge was soon lost sight of. The world again became depraved, so much so indeed, that when the Mosaic Law came with its reforms, it had not power to restore to marriage the dignity of its first institution.

To effect this it was requisite that God Himself should descend upon the Earth. When the miseries of humanity had reached their height, the Word, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, assumed our human nature and dwelt amongst us. He called Himself the Bridegroom (Matthew ix. 15). The Prophets and the Canticle of Canticles had foretold that He would take to Himself a Spouse from among mortals. This Spouse is the Church, that is, the human race purified by Baptism and enriched with supernatural gifts. As a dowry, He gave her His own Precious Blood and Merits, and then united her to Himself forever. This Spouse is One: He affectionately calls her His Only One (Canticles vi. 8). On her part, she has no other but Him. Here we have revealed to us the divine type on which Marriage was formed, and which, as the Apostle teaches us, derives its holiness and dignity from its resemblance to the union existing between Christ and His Church (Ephesians v. 32). The two unions are for the same end, and bear a mutual relation to each other. Jesus loves His Church with the tenderest affection, but His Church is the issue of human marriage, for it is marriage that provides the Church with her Children, and thus perpetuates her existence upon the earth. Let us not be surprised, therefore, that Jesus restored marriage to its primitive condition, and that He honours it as being His powerful aid in the accomplishment of His designs.

We have already seen on the second Sunday after the Epiphany how He selected the Nuptial Feast at Cana as the occasion of His working His first public miracle. By His accepting the invitation to assist, in company with his Blessed Mother, at the marriage, it is evident that He wished to honour, by His divine presence, the sacred engagement which was to unite the two spouses. It is evident that He intended to renew, in their persons, the ancient Blessing given in Paradise. Having, by His miracle at Cana, proved himself to be truly the Son of God, He began His public life and preaching. His object being to reform fallen man to the noble end for which he had been created, He frequently made marriage the subject of His instructions. He spoke of its being divinely instituted on the basis of unity. He authoritatively repeated the command given at its first institution: “They will be two in one flesh” (Matthew xix. 5; Genesis i. 24), two, and only two. Speaking of the indissolubility of the marriage tie, He told His hearers that no power on earth, not even the unfaithfulness, however criminal, of the husband or wife, could sever the bond. These were his words: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Matthew xi. 6). Thus did He restore marriage to its normal state. Thus did He abrogate the degrading liberty, or more correctly, the libertinism, of polygamy and divorce — those sad proofs of the hardness of man’s heart (Matthew xi. 8) and of the need he had of a Redeemer. Thus did the New Law bring back to Marriage its primal blessing and make it, once more, a holy state, which so far from its being an obstacle, is a means to virtue, and peoples both Earth and Heaven with Elect.

But our Risen Jesus would do more than repair the injuries brought upon Marriage by human frailty. He raised to the dignity of a Sacrament the solemn and irrevocable contract by which a man and woman take each other for husband and wife. The moment that two Christians are thus irrevocably united, a Sacramental grace descends upon them and cements their union, which there and then becomes a sacred thing. The Apostle, speaking of Christian Marriage, says: “It is a great Sacrament; but I speak in Christ, and in the Church” (Ephesians v. 32) The meaning of these words is that marriage is the type of the union which exists between Christ and His Spouse the Church. There is one and the same object and end in the two Unions — in that of Christ with the Church, and in that of the Husband with his Wife: this object, this end, is to people Heaven with Elect. Hence it is, that the Holy Ghost puts his Divine seal on both these unions.

But the grace of the seventh Sacrament does more than cement the indissoluble union of husband and wife. It gives them every help they stand in need of for the fulfillment of their sacred mission. First of all, it infuses into their hearts a mutual love which is strong as death, and which many waters cannot quench (Canticles viii. 6, 7), so long as they make religion the ruling principle of their lives. This love is mingled with a sentiment of chaste respect, which serves as a check upon evil concupiscence. It is a love, which time, far from impairing, makes purer and stauncher. It is a love calm like that which is found in Heaven. When sacrifices are to be made, it makes them almost without an effort, and is intensified by the making.

The sacramental grace also fits the husband and wife for the great duty of educating their children. It gives them an untiring devotedness for their welfare, an affectionate patience with their faults, a supernatural discernment for treating them according to their age and dispositions, a ceaseless remembrance of these dear ones being created for Heaven and, finally, a deep-rooted sentiment of their belonging to God more truly than to the parents through whom he gave them life.

Thus was the married state transformed by the grace of the Sacrament of Matrimony. The Christian Law restored to it the dignity of which the vile egotism of pagan passion had deprived it. After so long a period of degradation, mankind was again brought to the knowledge of what marriage really is, namely, Love surrounded by Sacrifice, and Sacrifice prompted and aided by Love. Truly, a Sacrament was needed for the bringing about such a change as this! The change came, and admirable indeed it was. Two centuries had not elapsed since the promulgation of the Gospel, and paganism was still powerful. And yet we find a writer of those days giving the following description of a Christian husband and wife:

“How shall I find words to describe the happiness of a marriage whose tie is formed by the hands of the Church, which is confirmed by the sacred Oblation, sealed by the Blessing, proclaimed by the Angels, and ratified by the Heavenly Father? How wonderful a yoke is that which is taken up by two of the faithful united together in the same hope, in the same law, in the same duty! They have the same God for their Father, they serve the same Master, they are two in one flesh, they are one heart and soul. They pray together, they prostrate together, they fast together. They instruct each other, they exhort each other, they encourage each other. You see them together in the Church, and at the Holy Table. They share in each other’s trials, persecutions and joys. There are no secrets between them, no such thing as shunning each other, or being wearied of each other’s company. They have not to hide from each other, in order to visit the sick or the needy. Their alms excite no disputes. They approve of each other’s sacrifices. They interfere not with each other’s practices of piety. They have no need to make the sign of the Cross stealthily, " neither are they afraid to give way, in each other’s presence, to feelings of love and gratitude for their God. They sing together the Psalms and Canticles, and if there be any rivalry between them, it is which of them will best sing the praises of God. Oh! These are the marriages which gladden the eyes and ears of Christ. These are the marriages to which He imparts His blessing of Peace. He has said that He would be where two are united together. Therefore, He is in such a house as the one we are describing, and the enemy of man is not there” (Tertullian, Ad uxorem. Lib. ii., cap. ix.)

What a picture! And how great must be the Sacrament which can bring about such results as this! Here is the secret of the world’s regeneration: it was our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who created the beautiful existence of a Christian family and implanted it on our earth. Long ages passed, and this was the type which, in spite of human frailty, was the only one acknowledged either by the consciences of individuals or by the public laws of nations. But the pagan element — which may be repressed, but which never dies — strove to regain what it had lost and, at length, the time came, when it succeeded in falsifying, in the majority of Christian countries, the notion of marriage. Faith teaches us, that this contract now become a Sacrament comes under the jurisdiction of the Church in what regards the bond, which constitutes its very essence: but the modern world looks on the Church as a power incompatible with the progress of liberty and enlightenment, and therefore the State takes the Church’s place, as often as it is deemed good for society! — and marriage has been debased into a civil act. The immediate consequence of this has been that the State can legalise divorce and therefore paganise society. The influence exercised over the world by the long predominance of the Christian spirit has not been entirely removed by this iniquitous secularisation of marriage. Still, from the principles laid down by our modern governments we have this logical and practical result: that a marriage may be indissoluble and sacramental in the eyes of the Church, and null in the eyes of the civil power. And again, a marriage held to be legal by the State, may be counted as invalid by the Church, and therefore not binding on the conscience. The rupture between Church and State is therefore consummated.

And yet, that which Christ has appointed cannot be effaced by man. What Jesus has instituted is to last to the end of time. Therefore, let Christians fear not: let them continue to receive from their mother, the Church, the doctrine of the Sacraments. Let them continue to look on marriage as a divine institution, such as we have been describing it to be, and thus they may save society and re-Christianise it — or, if that cannot be, they will save their own and their children’s souls.

The close of this week, and these reflections on the divine Sacrament of Matrimony, lead us to think of you, dear Mother of Jesus! The Marriage-feast at Cana which was honoured by your presence and blessing, is one of the great facts of the holy Gospel. Why, O the purest of Virgins, who would have refused the dignity of being Mother of God had it called for the sacrifice of the Treasure already conferred on you — why were you present at these Nuptials, if not to teach a sublime lesson? This lesson is, that holy and perfect continence is a state far superior to that of marriage. It is a lesson which exercises an immense influence on the married life, inasmuch as it secures to it its Christian dignity and happiness. Who, then, could have been more appropriately chosen by God than you, to bless a union which is so holy in itself, and instituted for such a sublime end? Shield it with your protection now more than ever, for the world’s laws have legislated for its ruin, and sensualism has destroyed in thousands of Christians the sense of right and wrong. There are exceptions: there are some who receive this sacrament with the holiest of dispositions. Upon these, O Mary, lavish your blessing. They are the inheritance of your divine Son. They are the salt of the earth, to keep it from universal corruption. They are the pledge of a better future. They are your children, sweet Mother! Then watch over them, add to their number, that so the world may not perish.

23 MAY – FRIDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

We have reverently followed our Redeemer in His institution of the Sacramental helps by which man is placed and kept in the state of sanctifying grace, from his first entrance into this life to his leaving it for the eternal enjoyment of the beatific vision. We must now speak of that sublime Sacrament which was instituted by Jesus as the source whence mankind is to receive the other Sacraments.

This Sacrament is Holy Orders, and it is so called because of its being conferred in several distinct degrees upon those who receive it. As in Heaven the Angels are arranged in different ranks according as they have been endowed with a greater or less degree of light and power, in such wise, that they who are higher act upon those that are lower: so is it in the Sacrament of Holy Orders. There is order in the several ranks, and the higher act upon the lower by the communication of light and power. It is this that constitutes the hierarchy of the Church. Hierarchy means Sacred Government. It comprises three degrees: the Episcopate, Priesthood, and Diaconate, in which last are included the Orders below it. This is called the Hierarchy of Order, to distinguish it from the Hierarchy of Jurisdiction. This second, which is entrusted with the government of the Church, is composed of the Pope, of the Bishops, and of the inferior Clergy to whom the Pope and Bishops delegate a part of their power of government. We have already seen how this hierarchy takes its origin from that sovereign act by which our Lord Jesus, the Shepherd of men, gave to Peter the Keys of the Kingdom of God. The Hierarchy of Order is intimately connected with the first, and its object is the sanctification of men by the administering to them the treasures of grace confided to its keeping. As we have already said, Jesus appeared to His Apostles on the day of His Resurrection, and said to them: “As the Father has sent me, I also send you” (John xx. 21).

Now the Father sent His Son that He might be the Shepherd of men, and we have heard Jesus bidding Peter to feed His lambs and His sheep. The Father sent His Son that He might be the Teacher of men, and we have seen Jesus entrusting to His Apostles the truths which were to be proposed to us as the object of our faith. But the Father sent the Son that He might also be the High Priest of men. Jesus must therefore leave this same Priesthood on earth, that it may be continued among us to the end of time. Now, what is a Priest? He is the mediator between heaven and earth. He reconciles man to his God by offering a Sacrifice that gives infinite honour to God and atones for man’s sin. He cleanses the sinner’s conscience and makes him a just man. He, in a word, unites man to his God by the mysteries of which he is the dispenser.

Jesus exercised all these functions of Priest, agreeably to the mission given Him by the Father, but the Father would have them to be continued, even after His Son should have ascended into Heaven. For this it was necessary that Jesus should communicate His Priestly character by a special Sacrament to a few chosen men, just as by Baptism He conferred on all His faithful the dignity of being His members. Here again it will be the Holy Ghost that will act, and in each stage or degree of the Sacrament. It was by His divine operation that the Incarnate Word entered into Mary’s womb. It is His action that will imprint on the souls of them that are presented the Priestly character of this same Jesus our Lord. Hence, after using the words just cited, Jesus breathed on His Apostles and said to them: “Receive the Holy Ghost!” hereby showing, that it is by a special infusion of Him who is the Spirit of the Father and the Son, that men are fitted for being sent by the Son, as the Son was sent by the Father.

And yet, the Apostles and their successors are to confer this Sacrament, not by a breath — that is the prerogative of the Word, the author of life — but by the imposition of hands. It is at the solemn moment of the imposition of the Bishop’s hands over them who are to be ordained that the Holy Ghost comes down upon them. Thus will be transmitted the heavenly gift from generation to generation. It will be conferred in its several degrees, according to the will of the Hierarch, by and with whom the Holy Ghost acts. So that when Jesus comes on the last day to judge the world, He will find on Earth the sacred character which He conferred on His Apostles when He gave them the Holy Ghost.

Let us attentively and devoutly contemplate the mystic ladder of the Hierarchy established by our Jesus, by which we might ascend to Heaven. At the very summit is the Episcopate, holding in itself the plenitude of Holy Orders, and having the power to produce other Pontiffs, and Priests, and Deacons. He holds the Keys of which our Lord speaks when He says: “Whatever you will bind upon Earth, will be bound also in Heaven, and whatever you will loose on Earth, will be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew xviii. 18). He can administer all the Sacraments. The consecration of the Chrism and Holy Oils belongs to his office. He can not only bless, he can also consecrate.

Next comes the Priest, who truly looks upon the Bishop as his spiritual Father, seeing that it was by the imposition of the Bishop’s hands that he received the dignity and character of Priesthood. The Priest, however, does not possess the plenitude of Jesus’ Priesthood. His hands, though most holy, have not the power to produce other Priests. He blesses, but he does not consecrate. He must look to the Bishop for holy Chrism, for he himself cannot make it. Notwithstanding this, his dignity is great, for he has power to offer the Holy Sacrifice, and his offering is the same as that of the Bishop. He forgives the sins of those whom the Bishop has put under his care. The solemn administration of Baptism is entrusted to him when the Bishop himself does not perform it. And as to Extreme Unction, it is essentially a Priest’s function.

The next lower Order is that of Deacon, who is, as the Greek name implies, the servant of the Priest. Not having the Priesthood, he cannot offer Sacrifice, nor remit sins, nor give Extreme Unction to the dying but he assists and serves the Priest at the Altar, and stands by his side during the solemn moment of Consecration. He reads the holy Gospel from the ambo to the people. The Blessed Sacrament is entrusted to his care and, failing a Priest, he is He has the power of offering up the holy Sacrifice, allowed to distribute it to the faithful. In similar circumstances, he could solemnly administer Baptism. He has also the power of preaching the word of God to the people.

These are the three degrees of the Hierarchy of order. They correspond, as the great Saint Denis teaches, with the three degrees whereby man attains to union with God: namely, purification, illumination and perfection. The Deacon prepares the Catechumen and the sinner, by instructing them in the word of God, which will purify their minds from error, and incite them to the repentance of their sins and to a desire of being freed from them. The Priest enlightens these same by the illumination of holy Baptism, by the remission of their sins, and by admitting them to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Bishop pours out upon them the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and raises them, by their seeing his own super-eminent prerogatives, to union with Christ. Such is the Sacrament of Holy Orders. It is the essential means established for the salvation of mankind, the channel through which God has ordained that the infinite graces of the Incarnation should flow upon the earth, and the medium by which is perpetuated among us the presence and action of our Redeemer.

Let us give thanks to our Jesus for this unspeakable blessing. Let us honour the Priesthood of the New Law: it is Jesus who inaugurated it in His own person, and who afterwards entrusted it to men chosen by Him for continuing the mission given to Him by His Father. The Sacraments are the true life of the world. But who are the ministers of these Sacraments? The Priests of the Church. Let us pray for those who are in Holy Orders, for their responsibilities are great, their dignity is divine, and yet they themselves are but men. They are not a tribe or a caste, as were the Priests in the Old Law, but they are taken from every race and family. Finally, a Priest, though inferior to the Angels by nature, is, by the office he holds, superior to these blessed Spirits.

22 MAY – THURSDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

By the first four Sacraments our Saviour provided for the several spiritual necessities of man during this mortal life. Baptism gives him spiritual birth, Confirmation arms him for the battle, the Eucharist is his food, Penance is his cure. But the last moment of life — that most important and terrible of all, and on which depends eternity — does it not seem to require a special sacramental aid?

Could it be that our Redeemer, after so lovingly supplying us with a Sacrament to meet our other wants, would leave us unprovided when we are dying, that is, when we are passing from this to another life and are weighed down with bodily and mental sufferings? No: he has provided a Sacrament for the Dying. The grace of Redemption puts on a new form that it may visit and fortify us in our last struggle.

Even before His Passion He gave us some idea of the Sacrament He intended to institute for the help of the dying. When He sent His disciples before Him, that they might prepare the people for His preaching, He commanded them to anoint the sick with oil: they did so, and the result was the cure of them that were thus anointed (Mark vi. 13). But after His Resurrection, when our Redeemer was preparing the dowry of His Church, He gave her a Sacrament with which this Mother was to administer special grace and consolation to her children when in danger of death.

Oil is the symbol of strength: hence, the wrestlers of old used it as a means for acquiring activity and nerve. Our Saviour chose it as the matter of the Sacrament of Confirmation by which our souls, after being regenerated by Baptism, are strengthened for their future combats. The hour of death is a combat, but one so terrible that it stands apart by itself. It is then that Satan, seeing how the long-coveted prey is soon to be beyond his reach, redoubles his efforts to make it his own forever. The dying Christian, standing as he does on the brink of eternity, is exposed to two temptations: presumption and despair. In a few moments he will be before the Judge, whose sentence is irrevocable. The remnants of sin are still upon him, and clog his soul. How will he comport himself in that last combat on which depends the final success of all the previous ones of his life?

Is not this an occasion for a special Sacrament by which our Jesus may provide his combatant with the help so urgently needed? Yes, and here again it is oil. The first anointing was that of Confirmation, and it gave strength: and the last, or as it is called, Extreme Unction, is equally rich in power: it is the last application made to mankind of the Redeemer’s blood, “which flows in such abundance with this holy oil” (Bossuet, Oraison funebre de Madame Henriette).

Let us consider the effects of Extreme Unction, of which the Apostle Saint James speaks to us in his Epistle. What he there tells us, he had received from Jesus’ own lips. First of all, this Sacrament brings forgiveness of sins (James v. 15), forgiveness of those sins which the conscience, however diligent it may have been in its examination, had overlooked and which, nevertheless, injure the soul: and forgiveness of those remnants of sin, which continue after the guilt of sin has been remitted, like wounds which, though cured, are not quite closed and keep the patient weak. The holy oil anoints each of the senses, each has been the source of sin. Each now receives its special purification. These doors, which, up to this moment had been open to the world, are now closed, so that the soul can be all intent upon eternal things. Let the enemy come now, if he will. His attacks can do no harm. He expected to find his adversary the poor earthly-minded creature of old on whom he had inflicted hundreds of wounds, but lo! he finds a soldier of Christ, vigorous and brave. It is Extreme Unction that has worked the change.

But the effects of this Sacrament do not stop here. Though primarily instituted for imparting strength to the soul, yet has it the power of restoring health to the body. We learn this from the same Apostle Saint James. His words are these: “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up” (James v. 14, 15). The sacred formula which accompanies each anointing in this Sacrament has therefore the power of restoring bodily health, at the same time that it drives away the remnants of sin, which is the chief cause of all man’s miseries, whether of soul or body. Such is the interpretation put by the Church on the words of Saint James, and we have continual proofs that our Divine Master has not forgotten the promise of two-fold efficacy which He gave to this Sacrament. Hence it is, that after having anointed the several senses of the sick person, the priest addresses God in earnest prayer, that he would restore strength of body to him or her whose soul has received the efficacy of the heavenly remedy.

Nay, the Church looks upon the restoration to bodily health as so truly a Sacramental effect of Extreme Unction, that she does not consider as miracles, properly so called, the cures produced by its administration. Let us, then, offer to the Conqueror of Death the homage of our thanks for this fresh proof of His compassionate love. He would Himself experience all our miseries, not excepting even death or the agony that precedes it. When on His Cross, and enduring every anguish, as though he were a poor dying sinner and not the Saint of Saints, He thought of our deaths and mercifully blessed our last agony with an outpouring of His Precious Blood. This was the origin of the beautiful Sacrament of Extreme Unction which He gave to his Church after His Resurrection, and for which we offer Him today our humble thanks.

17 MAY – SATURDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Saturday brings us once more to the dear Mother of our Jesus. Last Saturday, when closing our week’s considerations upon the establishment of the Church, we reverently drew a parallel between these two Mothers — Mary and the Church. During the present week we have been considering how our Saviour confided His Doctrine, that is, the object of our Faith, to His Apostles: let us devote this last day to a loving remembrance of the dogmas which Jesus revealed to them regarding the dignity and office of Her, whom he chose for his own and our Mother.

Holy Church teaches us several truths concerning Mary, and these truths are the object of our faith on the same ground as the other articles contained in the Catholic Creed. Now they could not be the object of our faith, except inasmuch as they were revealed by the lips of our Divine Lord Himself. The Church of our days has received them from the Church of past ages, just as this last named received them from the Apostles to whom Jesus first confided them. There has been no new revelation since our Saviour’s Ascension. Consequently, the manifestation of all the dogmas transmitted to the Church and promulgated by her to the world, dates from the teaching given by Jesus to His Apostles. It is on this account that we believe them with theological faith, a faith which can only be given to truths directly revealed by God to man.

How beautiful is the affection here shown by the Son of God to His Mother! He revealed to His Apostles the impenetrable secrets of the Divine Essence, the Trinity in Unity, the eternal generation of the Word in the Father’s bosom, the eternal procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, the union of the two Natures in one Person in the Incarnate Word, the Redemption of the world by the Blood of the Man-God, the restoring of fallen man and the elevating him to a supernatural state by grace. But this same Jesus also reveals the prerogative of His dearest Mother, and we are to believe them, and with the same Faith, as we do the dogmas which relate to God Himself! Jesus, the Wisdom of the Father, the Conqueror of death, has revealed to us Mary’s dignity with the same lips that taught us what He Himself is we believe the two revelations with equal faith, because He spoke both.

Jesus said to His Apostles, and they, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, communicated His teaching to the Church: “Mary, my Mother, is a daughter of Adam and Eve, but the stain of original sin was not upon her. The decree that every human being should be conceived in sin was suspended in her regard. She was full of grace from the first moment of her Conception. Jeremias and John the Baptist were sanctified in their mother’s womb. Mary was Immaculate from the first moment of her existence.” Jesus also said to His Apostles, and commanded them to repeat His words to the Church: “Mary is truly Mother of God, and must be honoured as such by all creatures, for she truly conceived me and gave me birth, according to my human nature, which forms but one Person with my divine nature.” Jesus also said to His Apostles, and commanded them to repeat His words to the Church: “Mary, my Mother, conceived me in her chaste womb without ceasing to be a Virgin, and she gave me birth without her Virginity suffering any injury.”

Thus, Mary’s Immaculate Conception, which prepared her for her sublime office — her divine Maternity and her perpetual Virginity, are three dogmas of our faith which were revealed to the Apostles directly by our Lord. Holy Church merely repeats them after the Apostle, just as the Apostles repeated them after hearing them from their Divine Master.

But did not Jesus reveal other prerogatives of His august Mother, prerogatives which are consequences of the three magnificent gifts just mentioned? Let us ask the Church what she believes on this subject, and what she teaches, both by her doctrinal utterance, and by her equally infallible practice. Every development, which is produced in her by the action of the Holy Ghost, is based on the Word of God, which was spoken at the beginning. Thus, it is impossible to doubt but what our Saviour made known to His Apostles His intention of raising His Blessed Mother to the dignity of Queen of the universe, of Mediatrix of men, of Mother of grace, of Co-operatrix of our Redemption. Had she not, by the three unparalleled gifts just mentioned, already been raised above all other creatures? No, we cannot doubt it — these glories of the Mother of God were known, revered and loved by the Apostles. And we, who have received from the Church these same sublime and consoling truths, we, too, prize and love our knowledge. Should we not be offering violence to every noble feeling of our nature, were we to believe that Jesus ascended into Heaven without having made known to the world the glories of His Mother, whom He loved both as her Son and her God?

What must have been your sentiments, O Mary, you most humble of creatures, when Jesus unveiled your glories to the Disciples! They already reverenced you, but they could never have known the grand gifts bestowed on you by God, unless that God Himself had revealed them. What glorious things were said of you, City of God! (Psalms lxxxvi 3) If your humility was troubled when the Archangel called you full of grace and blessed among women, how must you not have shrunk from the homage paid you by the Apostles when they were first told that you were the Mother of God, the ever spotless Virgin, Immaculate from your very Conception! But no, Blessed Mother! You cannot shun the honours that are richly your due. The prophecy spoken by yourself in Zachary’s house must be fulfilled: All generations will call you Blessed! (Luke i. 48) The time is at hand: in a few days hence, the preaching of the Gospel will have commenced. Your name, your ministry, your glories are an essential part of the Creed which is to be carried throughout the world. Up to this time, you have been shrouded in a veil of mystery. That veil must now be drawn aside — Jesus will have it so — and you must be known as Mother of the God who, when He came to save us, disdained not to assume our human nature in your chaste womb. Dearest Mother! Queen of Angels and Men! Suffer us to unite our fervent homage with that which the Apostolic College gave you when Jesus first revealed to them your glories.

16 MAY – SAINT JOHN NEPOMUCEN (Martyr)

 

John was born at Nepomuk in Bohemia (from which he took the name of Nepomucen) and of parents who were advanced in years. His future sanctity was foretold by the appearance of bright rays miraculously shining over the house in which he was born. When an infant he was seized with a dangerous illness but was delivered from death by the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom his parents considered themselves indebted for his birth. He was blessed with an excellent disposition, and received a pious training in keeping with the indications given from Heaven. He spent his boyhood in the practice of religious exercises, among which it was his delight to be frequently at church and serve the priests when saying Mass. He went through the humanities at Zatek, and the higher studies at Prague, where he took his degrees in philosophy, theology and canon law. He was ordained a priest and being, by his proficiency in the science of the Saints, well fitted for gaining souls, he devoted himself entirely to preaching the word of God.

In consideration of the great fruits produced by his eloquence and piety which extirpated vice and brought sinners back to the way of salvation, John was made a Canon of the Metropolitan Church of Prague. Being afterwards chosen as preacher to King Wenceslaus IV, he so far succeeded that the king did many things through his advice and had a great regard for his virtue. He offered him several high dignities but John peremptorily refused to accept them, fearing that they would interfere with his preaching the divine word. He was entrusted with the distribution of the royal alms to the poor, and Queen Jane chose him as her own spiritual director. Wenceslaus having given himself up to vices which disgraced both his kingly and Christian character, and being displeased at the entreaties and counsels of his wife, he even dared to insist on John revealing to him the secrets, told to him as priest, by the queen in the sacrament of Penance. The minister of God courageously resisted the king’s impious request, and neither bribes, nor tortures, nor imprisonment, could make him yield.

Seeing that the king had got to such a pitch of rage that the laws of neither man nor God made him relent, the soldier of Christ plainly foretold in one of his sermons his own approaching death, and the calamities that were to befall the kingdom. He then set out for Buntzel, where is kept an image of the Blessed Virgin that has been venerated for centuries. There in in fervent prayer John implored Heaven to grant him the assistance he needed in order to fight the good fight. As he was returning home on the evening before the Vigil of the Ascension, the king, who was standing at the palace window, saw him and sent him word that he was to repair to the king. The king was more than ever urgent in his demand and threatened John with immediate drowning if he continued to refuse compliance. John was not to be conquered and showed the king that he was not afraid of his threats. By the King's orders John was thrown that same night into the river Moldau which flows through Prague, and he obtained the glorious crown of martyrdom. The sacrilegious crime, thus privately committed, was miraculously revealed, as was also the martyr’s great glory.

As as soon as life was extinct, and the corpse of John began to float down the stream, flaming torches were seen following on the surface of the water. The next morning the Canons went and took the body from the sand on which it lay, and heedless of the king’s displeasure, they had it carried with much solemnity to the Metropolitan Church, and gave it burial. The memory of this courageous priest became gradually most venerable, both by the miracles that were wrought, and by the devotion of the Faithful, of those especially whose good name is injured by evil report. After upwards of 300 years, a juridical examination was made of his body (which, during all that time, had lain under the ground) and his tongue was found to be incorrupt and as though it were that of a living man. Six years later on the tongue was shown to judges delegated by the Apostolic See when, by a fresh miracle, it immediately resumed the fullness of life and, from being of a brownish colour, it became perfectly red. These and other miracles having been authentically proved, John was canonised by Pope Benedict XIII on 19 March 1729 as the defender of the Sacramental Seal, and the first martyr who shed his blood for the maintenance of its holy secrecy.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

To the martyrs who were slain because they refused to adore false gods, to the Martyrs whose blood was shed by heretics, there is added today another brave soldier of Christ who won his crown in a very different sort of combat. The Sacrament of Penance by which sinners regain the Heaven they had lost claims John Nepomucen as its glorious defender. A holy secrecy shrouds the reconciliation made between God and the Penitent. This Sacramental secrecy deserved to have its martyr. When Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Penance — that second Baptism in which the Blood of our Redeemer washes away the sins of the Christian soul — he willed that man should not be deterred from confessing his humiliations to his spiritual physician by the fear of their ever being revealed. How many hidden martyrdoms have there not been, during these [two thousand] years, for the maintenance of this secret which, while it gives security to the Penitent, exposes the Confessor to obloquy, injustice and even death! But the martyr we honour today was not one of these hidden sufferers. His testimony to the inviolability of the Sacramental Seal was public. He gave it amid cruel tortures. It cost him his life. All praise, then, to the brave and faithful priest!

Right worthy was he to hold in his hands the keys that open or shut the gate of Heaven! In this great fact of the observance of the Seal of Confession on which depends the salvation of millions of souls we have a permanent miracle. But there was one thing wanting to it —the glory of martyrdom. The holy priest of Prague gave it that glory, and he offers the fair palm to our Risen Jesus whom we have seen, during these days between His Resurrection and Ascension, mercifully instituting the Sacrament of Penance in which He communicates to men His own power of forgiving sin.

* * * * *

How great, glorious Martyr, was the honour reserved for you by the Son of God when He chose you to be the one who was to attest, by laying down his life, the sacredness of the secret which protects the Sacrament of Penance! Other priests, as well as yourself, have bravely suffered persecution for the sake of the secrecy of the mystery of Reconciliation. But you were the one chosen by Heaven to give a solemn testimony of priestly discretion. Your sufferings were known to more than to Angels. Your martyrdom was a public one, and the faithful honour your courage as an eloquent proof of how truly our good Shepherd, Jesus, removes every difficulty that could deter the strayed sheep from returning to the fold.

We address ourselves to you, holy Martyr, on this the day of your triumph, and we beg of you to intercede for sinners. Admirable minister of the Sacrament of Penance, you see how many Christians there are who neglect to avail themselves of the means of salvation prepared for them by our Risen Saviour. Instead of laying hold of this “second plank after shipwreck,” they let themselves be carried on to the deep abyss by the tide of their sinful habits. There are thousands who have turned a deaf ear, even this Easter, to the call of holy Church who invited them, as an affectionate Mother, to approach the tribunal of mercy and Reconciliation. We beseech you, intercede for these blind, these unwary, these ungrateful men. Get them that grace which will lead them to the feet of the God of Mercy who is ever ready to grant pardon.

There are others, again, who go to Confession but who have not the dispositions requisite for receiving the grace of the Sacrament —the justification of their souls. Pray also for these that they may see the danger they thus incur of profaning the Blood of Christ. Obtain for all them who approach the holy tribunal an honest avowal of their sins and contrition of heart, that thus the life of our Risen Jesus may be imparted to them, and that they may never again lose it. By your powerful intercession, raise up zealous and faithful ministers of this great Sacrament of which you were the martyr. Draw down on their arduous labour the blessing of Heaven: then will the number of the children of God be increased and the grace of the Holy Ghost triumph in souls that have long been dead in sin.

Cast, too, an eye of compassion on your fatherland of Bohemia where there are so many faithful hearts that love and honour thee. Alas, there are tares which disfigure that portion of the Church. The enemy came, not many years after your glorious martyrdom and sowed the baneful weeds of heresy in your native land. The good seed claims your protection, but take pity also on the cockle, for even it may be turned by the True Faith, into wheat and be garnered into the House of our Heavenly Father.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Isauria, the birthday of the holy martyrs Aquillinus and Victorian.

At Auxerre, the passion of St. Peregrinus, first bishop of that city. He was sent into Gaul with other clerics by the blessed Pope Sixtus, and having accomplished his work of preaching the Gospel, he merited an everlasting crown by being condemned to capital punishment.

At Uzalis in Africa, the holy martyrs Felix and Gennadius.

In Palestine, the martyrdom of the holy monks massacred by the Saracens in the monastery of St. Sabas.

In Persia, the holy martyrs Audas, a bishop, seven priests, nine deacons and seven virgins who endured various kinds of torments under king Isdegerdes, and thus gloriously consummated their martyrdom.

At Amiens in France, the bishop St. Honoratus.

At Le Mans, St. Domnolus, bishop.

At Mirandola in Æmilia, St. Possidius, bishop of Calamae, discple of St. Augustine, and the writer of his glorious life.

At Troyes, St. Fidolus, confessor.

In Ireland, St. Brendan, abbot.

At Frejus, St. Maxima, virgin, who rested in peace with a reputation for many virtues.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

 

Thanks be to God.