The Loving Heart of Jesus
Oh, if we could but understand the
love that burns in the heart of Jesus for us! He has loved us so much, that if
all men, all the Angels, and all the Saints were to unite, with all their
energies, they could not arrive at the thousandth part of the love that Jesus
bears to us. He loves us infinitely more than we love ourselves, He has loved
us even to excess: They spoke of His decease (excess) which He was to
accomplish in Jerusalem. And what greater excess of love could
there be than for God to die for His creatures? He has loved us to the greatest
degree: Having loved His own. He loved them unto the end; since, after having loved us from eternity, for there never was a moment
from eternity when God did not think of us and did not love each one-of
us: I have loved thee with an everlasting love, for the
love of us He made Himself Man, and chose a life of sufferings and the death of
the Cross for our sake. Therefore He has loved us more than His honor, more
than His repose, and more than His life; for He sacrificed everything to show
us the love that He bears us. And is not this an excess of love sufficient to
stupefy with astonishment the Angels of Paradise for all eternity?
This love has induced Him also to
remain with us in the Holy Sacrament as on a throne of love; for He remains
there under the appearance of a small piece of bread, shut up in a ciborium,
where He seems to remain in a perfect annihilation of His majesty, without
movement, and without the use of His senses; so that it seems that He performs
no other office there than that of loving men. Love makes us desire the
constant presence of the object of our love. It is this love and this desire
that makes Jesus Christ reside with us in the Most Holy Sacrament. It seemed
too short a time to this loving Savior to have been only thirty-three years
with men on earth; therefore, in order to show His desire of being constantly
with us, He thought right to perform the greatest of all miracles, in the
institution of the Holy Eucharist. But the work of redemption was already
completed, men had already become reconciled to God; for what purpose, then,
did Jesus remain on earth in this Sacrament? Ah, He remains there because He
cannot bear to separate Himself from us, as He has said that He takes a delight
in us.
Again, this love has induced Him
even to become the food of our souls, so as to unite Himself to us, and to make
His heart and ours as one: He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood,
abideth in Me and I in him. O wonder! O excess of Divine love! It was said by a servant of God, if anything
could shake my faith in the Eucharist, it would not be the doubt as to how the
bread could become flesh, or how Jesus could be in several places and confined
into so small a space, because I should answer that God can do everything; but
if I were asked how He could love men so much as to make Himself their food, I
have nothing else to answer but that this is a mystery of faith above my
comprehension, and that the love of Jesus cannot be understood. O love of
Jesus, do Thou make Thyself known to men and do Thou make Thyself loved!
Affections and Prayers
O adorable heart of my Jesus,
heart inflamed with the love of men, heart created on purpose to love them, how
is it possible that Thou canst be despised, and Thy love so ill corresponded to
by men? Oh, miserable that I am, I also have been one of those ungrateful ones
that have not loved Thee. Forgive me, my Jesus, this great sin of not having
loved Thee, Who art so amiable, and Who hast loved me so much that Thou canst
do nothing more to oblige me to love Thee. I feel that I deserve to be condemned
not to be able to love Thee, for having renounced Thy love, as I have hitherto
done. But no, my dearest Savior, give me any chastisement, but do not inflict
this one upon me. Grant me the grace to love Thee, and then give me any
affliction Thou pleasest. But how can I fear such a chastisement, whilst I feel
that Thou continuest to give me the sweet, the pleasing precept of loving Thee,
my Lord and my God? Love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart. [Matt.
xxii. 37] Yes, O my God, Thou wouldst be loved by me, and I will love Thee;
indeed I will love none but Thee, Who hast loved me so much. O Love of my
Jesus; Thou art my Love. O burning heart of my Jesus, do thou inflame my heart
also. Do not permit me in future, even for a single moment, to live without Thy
love; rather kill me, destroy me; do not let the world behold the spectacle of
such horrid ingratitude as that I, who have been so beloved by Thee, and
received so many favors and lights from Thee, should begin again to despise Thy
love, No, my Jesus, do not permit this. I trust in the Blood that Thou hast
shed for me, that I shall always love Thee, and that Thou wilt always love me,
and that this love between Thee and me will not be broken off for eternity.
MEMORARE
TO THE SACRED HEART
Remember, O most sweet Jesus, that no one who has had
recourse to Thy Sacred Heart, implored its help, or sought it mercy was ever
abandoned. Encouraged with confidence, O tenderest of hearts, we present
ourselves before Thee, crushes beneath the weight of our sins. In our misery, O
Sacred Heart of Jesus, despise not our simple prayers, but mercifully grant our
requests.
Short
Daily Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
O, Sacred Heart of Jesus, filled with Infinite Love,
broken by our ingratitude, and pierced by our sins, yet loving us still, accept
the consecration we make to Thee of all that we are and all that we have. Take
every faculty of our souls and bodies, only day by day draw us nearer and
nearer to Thy Sacred Heart, and there, as we shall hear the lesson, teach us
Thy Holy Way.
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