First Friday Devotion - You still have a few hours left

St. Margaret Mary's vision of Sacred Heart

Today is the first Friday of the month, so if you go to Mass today and receive communion, and keep that up for nine consecutive Fridays, you will not only receive the grace of final repentance, you won't die under God's displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; the Sacred Heart of Jesus will be your assured refuge in your last hour.

That is a promise St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647 AD - 1690 AD) received from Jesus Christ himself.  This promise was given in a vision; from her youth, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque had been granted many visions of Jesus (she at first assumed everybody got them).  In the course of these visions St. Margaret Mary received from Our Lord many tender expressions of his great love for mankind, along with many promises of graces to those who  practiced devotion to his Sacred Heart.

At the age of 9, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque had made a vow to enter religious life, but she did not enter a Visitation convent until she was 24 (after having been reproached by Jesus, in a vision, for not keeping her vow).  According to her fellow novices, St. Margaret Mary was humble, simple and frank, but above all kind and patient.  Jesus seems to be drawn to this type.  St. Margaret Mary was assigned to the infirmary,where she wasn't very good at her tasks.   Jesus also doesnt seem to care much whether you're a superstar at your job or not.

Her lifelong visions continued in the convent, but St. Margaret Mary had a lot of trouble convincing her superiors to take these visions seriously.   They eventually did, though a panel of theologians which investigated the visions did not consider them authentic.  St. Margaret Mary's own religious community shared the theologians' skepticism, and they made her life miserable for many years.   Finally, St. Margaret Mary visions found support among influential religious persons, in particular the Jesuits, who began to foster the devotion to the Sacred Heart taught by Jesus to St. Margaret Mary, and this devotion began to grow.

However, for nearly a century, the teachings and revelations of St. Margaret Mary, as well as her own personal qualities, continued to undergo a severe scrutiny.  At last, in 1928, St. Margaret Mary's visions and revelations received official approval in Pope Pius XI's encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor (Most Merciful Redeemer).   In the words of the encyclical:

"[T]here is surely no reason for doubting, Venerable Brethren, that from this devotion piously established and commanded to the whole Church, many excellent benefits will flow forth not only to individual men but also to society, sacred, civil, and domestic, seeing that our Redeemer Himself promised to Margaret Mary that "all those who rendered this honor to His Heart would be endowed with an abundance of heavenly graces."

Other promises Jesus made to those who practice devotion to the Sacred Heart here; I like this one very much:

I will give peace in their families.

First Fridays and the Sacred Heart

I confess there was a time when devotion to the Sacred Heart was mainly a source of embarrassment to me.  I associated devotion to the Sacred Heart with florid holy picture cards, examples of which (like the one above), could be found in every Catholic home and even most Catholic automobiles when I was a wee laddie.  These cards reflected the seemingly unsophisticated, mechanical and somewhat musty piety which, in those heady Vatican II days, the more advanced type of Catholic was abandoning in favor of fuller engagement with the wondrous Modern World.  For fifty years the Church has pursued post-Vatican II style engagement with the Modern World, while largely disengaging itself from traditional devotions such as the Sacred Heart.   Florid holy picture cards, rarely seen now in Catholic homes, are instead ironic kitsch items.  Having observed that the fruits of this program are meager, to put it mildly, it occurs to me that perhaps the time has come to reconsider the value of those discarded devotions   Even a cursory examination of devotion to the Sacred Heart will reveal the power and value of this devotion to be very great indeed.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart was propagated chiefly under the influence of a movement begun by the celebrated visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 17th century France.   However, devotion to the Sacred Heart is much more ancient than this, and moreover does not depend upon the authenticity of St. Margaret Mary's visions.   We have posted about devotion to the Sacred Heart many times , noting its great richness (see also here) and beauty, and examining how the Jesuits, though once the great apostles of this devotion, (see also here), have since 1975 largely abandoned devotion to the Sacred Heart.  The consequent collapse in Jesuit vocations is perhaps not a coincidence.
  
In the course of his apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Our Lord revealed the form and features of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.  In the twelfth apparition, Our Lord made the following promise:

"[M]y all powerful love will grant to all those who will 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."


As today is the first Friday of January, this is an excellent occasion to begin performing the conditions required to take advantage of Our Lord's promise.  It certainly can't hurt, and maybe it will lead to the image of the Sacred Heart again being a common item in Catholic homes.  Perhaps, in the interest of engagement with the modern world, this time the images will be more tasteful and less florid.    

Fr. John Croiset, SJ and Devotion to the Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Fr. John Croiset, SJ was spiritual director to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the great apostle and visionary of devotion to the Sacred Heart.   St. Margaret Mary told Fr. Croiset that it was Jesus's ardent wish that he assist her in making devotion to the Sacred Heart, until then a private devotion of chosen souls, generally known to all of the faithful.  After St. Margaret Mary's death, Fr. Croiset duly compiled an account of her revelations concerning the Sacred Heart, together with her prayers concerning this devotion, into a volume entitled The Devotion to the Sacred Heart which was  published in 1691 AD.  In 1704, due to Fr. Croiset's failure to observe certain formalities, the book was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books, where it remained for two centuries.    During this time Fr. Croiset's book was nearly forgotten.  However, a certain bishop, wishing to call attention to devotion to the Sacred Heart within his diocese, came upon the text, and finding that it had been placed upon the Index, called for the Sacred Congregation of the Index to re-examine the book.  The Sacred Congregation determined that no error could be found in the work, and so it was at last removed from the Index.   The following is taken from a meditation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart found it Fr. Croiset's "The Devotion to the Sacred Heart:"

The ardent desire of Jesus Christ to unite Himself to us.

Consider that union of hearts is the ultimate effect towards which love tends.  This union of hearts was the object which Jesus Christ had in mind when he instituted the Eucharist.  In this adorable Mystery, He acts like one passionately inflamed with love for men, since in It love makes Him in a manner go out of Himself in order to live only in the object of His love.  "At this holy Table," said St. Augustine, "Christ has consecrated the Mystery of union with us. . . ."
"I will love Thee, O most Sacred Heart of Jesus that was wounded for me, wounded on the Cross for my sins, wounded in the Blessed Sacrament with love for me.  I will honor Thee for the rest of my life, I will consecrate Thee the days that remain; Thou shalt be my place of repose, my dwelling place and my place of refuge.  "This is my place of rest, here will I dwell."

Love of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

"St. Margaret Mary Contemplating the Sacred Heart of Jesus," Giaquinto

The Church traditionally devotes the month of June to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The following is taken from "A Prayer of Love to the Sacred Heart" composed by the great visionary and apostle of devotion to the Sacred Heart, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647 AD - 1690 AD):

"O Heart of Jesus all inflamed with love and living by love, O Sanctuary of the Divinity, Temple of His Sovereign Majesty, Altar of Divine Charity, O Heart burning with love for God and for me, I adore Thee, I love Thee, I melt with love and reverence before Thee!  I unite myself with Thy holy dispositions, I desire most earnestly to burn with Thy fire and to live by Thy life.  .  .  .
O Divine heart, I unite myself with Thee, and lose myself in Thee.  I do not wish to live any longer but in Thee, by Thee and for Thee."

June is the month of the Sacred Heart

"Sacred Heart,"  Georges Rouault

For centuries, the Church has devoted the month of June to the Sacred Heart.  St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the visionary and great apostle of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (see Catholic Encyclopedia article here), composed many prayers to the Sacred Heart.  The following is taken from a prayer of St. Margaret Mary's called "Prayer to Our Lord in His Character of King in the Blessed Sacrament":

"Come, O my sovereign King, break my bonds, deliver me from this wretched slavery and establish Thy empire over my heart.   I wish to reign in Thine by ardent charity towards my neighbor, speaking of him only with charity, bearing with him, excusing him, doing to him only what I would wish to be done unto me, never sullying my heart or my tongue by any slander or resentment; and I will not allow anything to trouble me in order that my King may find in me an empire of peace."

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Part 14)

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  We have been paying particular attention to devotion to the Sacred Heart throughout the month of June.  See a review of previous posts here and here.

The following is taken from a meditation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque:

"This Sacred Heart shall be my dwelling place, It shall be my nourishment, in It I will repose after all my toils, and burning with the same fire of love with which It burns, I shall love in It and with It, and the Object of my love shall be this Sacred Heart of Jesus."

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Part 13)

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  We have been paying particular attention to devotion to the Sacred Heart throughout the month of June.  See a review of previous posts here and here.

The following is taken from a meditation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque:

"Consider that union of hearts is the ultimate effect towards which love tends.  This union of hearts was the object which Jesus Christ had in mind when he instituted the Blessed Eucharist.  In this adorable Mystery, He acts like one passionately inflamed with love for men, since in It love makes Him in a manner go out of Himself in order to live only in the object of His love.  "At this holy Table," said St. Augustine, "Christ has consecrated the Mystery of union with us."

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Part 12

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  We have been paying particular attention to devotion to the Sacred Heart throughout the month of June.  See a review of previous posts here and here.

The following is taken from a meditation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque:

"Consider that Jesus Christ, who is the Source of all blessings, has condescended to remain always among us because He wishes to be present at all times in order to share His treasures with us.  And not only has our loving Saviour graciously consented to share with us in this august Sacrament all the blessing of which He is the Source, but by giving Himself to us, he has willed to give us the very Source of these blessings:  "I will show you every kind of blessing; but in what other place except in the Blessed Eucharist, can you find every kind of blessing!" (St. Bernard)."

Devotion to the Sacred Heart (Part 6)

                   How Jesus Christ chose the day for the feast of the Sacred Heart

Since June is specially dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus we have been paying particular attention to this devotion throughout the month.  The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a moveable feast, and will actually take place this year  in July (July 1). 

In "The Devotion to the Sacred Heart," by Fr. John Croiset, SJ, which was commissioned by Our Lord Himself, through St. Margaret Mary, Fr. Croiset tells us that the obstacles to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus may be reduced to four: "great tepidity in the service of God, self-love, secret pride, and certain passions which people have not taken care to mortify from the beginning of their conversion."

We have also seen that, according to Fr. Croiset, there are two principal means of overcoming these obstacles.  The first is true mortification and the second is humility, which we discussed here and here. 

We also saw here the seven means suggested by Fr. Croiset for acquiring perfect love of Jesus Christ and a tender devotion to His Sacred Heart. 

In addition, we have considered here what Fr. Croiset tells us are proper motives and sentiments with which Devotion to the Sacred Heart ought to be practiced. 
Next, we will see how, according to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and Fr. Croiset, Our Lord chose the day for the feast of the Sacred Heart.

"When one day during the octave of Corpus Christi, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, under the inspiration of a very special grace, was filled with the desire to make some return to our loving Saviour by giving love for love, the Son of God Himself appeared to her and said:  "You cannot give Me a greater return of love than by doing what I have so often demanded."  Then He revealed to her His Sacred Heart and said: "Behold this Heart which has so loved men even to exhausting and consuming Itself to testify to them Its love; and in return, I receive from the generality of men nothing but ingratitude through the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness which they show Me in the Sacrament of My love; but what is still more painful to Me, is that there are hearts consecrated to me that treat Me thus.  For that reason I demand that the First Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special feast to honor My Heart; that, on this day, reparation be made to It with special solemnity, that the faithful receive Holy Communion in reparation for the indignities which It has received on the altars; and I promise that My Heart will expand to pour out in abundance the treasures of Divine love on those who render It this honor."

Saintly Thought for Today

Since June is specially dedicated to the Sacred Heart, we will pay particular attention this month to saints who are important in the history of this devotion.  We again have an excerpt from a prayer composed by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647 AD - 1690 AD), Visitation nun and great visionary of the Sacred Heart:

 

Prayer to Our Lord in His Quality of All-Powerful Physician

O Jesus, my love, in memory of the Sacrifice of Thyself which Thou didst offer on the Cross and which Thou dost still offer in the Blessed Sacrament, I beg of Thee to accept that which I make of my whole being, immolated and sacrificed to Thy adorable designs and wishes.   Receive me in the spirit of penance and sacrifice.  O heavenly Physician of my soul, Sovereign Remedy for my evils, I present myself to Thee as a sick person without hope in any other but in the charitable Heart of My Saviour, who alone knows my maladies and can cure me of them.

Saintly Thought for Today

Since June is specially dedicated to the Sacred Heart, we will pay particular attention this month to saints who are important in the history of this devotion.  We again have an excerpt from a prayer composed by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647 AD - 1690 AD), Visitation nun and great visionary of the Sacred Heart:

I find in the Sacred Heart of Jesus all that is wanting to my poverty, because It is filled with mercy.  I have found no remedy so efficacious in all my afflictions as the Sacred Heart of my adorable Jesus.  In It I sleep without care and repose without anxiety.  There is nothing hard or grievous which is not softened by the amiable Heart of Jesus.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Jesuits (cont.)

Since the month of June is specially dedicated to the Sacred Heart, we continue our examination of this devotion, paying particular attention to the role of the Society of Jesus.  From the time of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the great mystic teacher of devotion to the Sacred Heart, the Jesuits were instrumental in spreading this devotion.  In recent years, however, the Jesuits appear to have dropped this mission, having privately determined the devotion to be outmoded.

In one of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's letters to her spiritual director, St. Claude de la Columbiere, SJ, she relates that Our Lord Himself had confided to her that "it is principally by means of the Fathers of the Company of Jesus that He wishes to establish everywhere this solid devotion [to the Sacred Heart of Jesus]."  To this end, Our Lord, through St. Margaret Mary, commissioned Fr. John Croiset, SJ , to publish a book concerning devotion to the Sacred Heart.  Fr. Croiset duly published "The Devotion to the Sacred Heart" in 1691 AD.  The book enjoyed a large circulation, and devotion to the Sacred Heart spread quickly.  However, in 1704 Fr. Croiset's book was cited by the Congregation of the Index for the omission of certain formalities, and was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books.   Consequently, Fr. Croiset's book fell into obscurity. 

In another of her letters, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque had foreseen this fate for Fr. Croiset's book, predicting further that since the book was in perfect accord with the expressed wish of Jesus Christ Himself, no error would be found in the text, and after a period suitable to Our Lord's purposes, the book would be restored to circulation.   This is precisely what happened.  Early in the 20th century, the first Archbishop of Sarajevo, wishing to consecrate his archdiocese to the Sacred Heart, and considering Fr. Croiset's book the finest available regarding devotion to the Sacred Heart, requested the Sacred Congregation of the Index to re-examine the work.  The Congregation did so.   Finding no error in the text, and without making any revision, the Congregation removed the book from the Index, and permitted its publication.

The following is taken from "The Devotion to the Sacred Heart" by Fr. John Croiset, SJ:

[I]t is easy to see what is meant by the devotion to the Sacred Heart: by this devotion we mean the ardent love which we conceive for Jesus Christ at the remembrance of all the marvels which He has wrought to show His tender love for us, especially in Sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the miracle of His love; we mean the keen regret which we feel at the sight of the outrages which men commit against Jesus Christ in this adorable Mystery; we mean the ardent desire which presses us to leave nothing undone to make reparation for these outrages by every possible means.

Saintly Thought for Today

Since June is specially dedicated to the Sacred Heart, we will pay particular attention this month to saints who are important in the history of this devotion.  Today we have a prayer composed by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647 AD - 1690 AD), Visitation nun and great visionary of the Sacred Heart. 

From the Catholic Encyclopedia (full article here):

In the first great revelation,  [Jesus] made known to [St. Margaret Mary] His ardent desire to be loved by men and His design of manifesting His Heart with all Its treasures of love and mercy, of sanctification and salvation. He appointed the Friday after the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi as the feast of the Sacred Heart; He called her "the Beloved Disciple of the Sacred Heart", and the heiress of all Its treasures. The love of the Sacred Heart was the fire which consumed her, and devotion to the Sacred Heart is the refrain of all her writings. In her last illness she refused all alleviation, repeating frequently: "What have I in heaven and what do I desire on earth, but Thee alone, O my God", and died pronouncing the Holy Name of Jesus.

From St. Margaret Mary's "Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ:"

I love Thee, above all things lovable, above everything good, above everything beautiful, above every pleasure, and in fine, above myself and everything that is outside of Thee.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Jesuits

About twenty years ago I tagged along with a friend making a visit to a Jesuit priest who resided in an infirmary for elderly Jesuits on the campus of Fordham University in the Bronx.  I noted with surprise that the infirmary was one of the more imposing buildings on the campus.  I learned from my friend that the infirmary building previously had housed the offices and printing plant of a magazine called "The Messenger of the Sacred Heart."  The Messenger was published by an organization founded and run by Jesuits known as the Apostleship of Prayer.  As the size of its former offices would suggest, the Messenger had once been very popular.  In the 1920's, when the building was erected, the Messenger had a circulation of 350,000 in the United States.  However, it has since become defunct.  The Apostleship of Prayer survives; indeed it claims 40 million members worldwide.  Moreover, 50 different Messengers of the Sacred Heart are still published around the globe.   However, it appears from their website that devotion to the Sacred Heart has been somewhat de-emphasized. 

From its earliest days, the Society of Jesus had promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart.   For example, in 1691 Jesuit Father John Croiset wrote the highly popular "The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus," and Fr. Joseph de Gallifet, a Jesuit who had also been a student of Fr. Colombiere, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's confessor, helped promote the devotion in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.   As recently as the 1950's,  Jesuits such as Carl J. Moell assisted in editing Papal encyclicals relating to the Sacred Heart.  These days, however, one senses that the Jesuits' ardor for this devotion has markedly diminished.

Whatever the current Jesuit view of Sacred Heart devotions may be, the following words of Carl J. Moell, S.J. remain as true today as when they appeared in the Jesuit magazine "America" in 1956 (full article here):

Underlying all these statements is the recurring theme: devotion to the Sacred Heart is an extraordinary remedy providentially given to us to meet the extraordinary evils of the modern world. Prayer alone is not enough; we must use all natural, human and social means at our disposal to bring about a lasting peace and a better world order. But all natural means will fail of their goal unless we give the primacy to the supernatural, unless we recognize the inadequacy of merely human means and, in the words of Leo XIII, look to that "most happy and holy sign, the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, crowned by a brilliant cross set among raging flames. In this Sacred Heart we should place all our hopes; from it too, we ask and await salvation."

June is the month of the Sacred Heart

Devotion to the love of God has always been present in the Church, but a specific devotion to this love under the figure of the wounded Heart of Jesus did not take definite form until the eleventh century AD.  This devotion appears to have arisen in monasteries, and was then adopted widely throughout the Church.  However, it remained an individual and private devotion until the 17th century, when St. John Eudes added a public character to Sacred Heart devotion by providing it with an Office, and by helping to establish a Feast of the Sacred Heart.  Also in the 17th century, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun, was granted a series of visions in which Jesus revealed to her His desire that the wonders of His great love be made known to all mankind, that He wished to be honored under the figure of the Sacred Heart, and that He wished certain devotions to be adopted by the Faithful, promising numerous benefits to those who practiced these devotions.  Accounts of St. Margaret Mary's visions and descriptions of the devotions requested by Jesus were spread widely by means of books written by St. Margaret Mary's confessor and others close to her.  Many Popes have promoted these devotions.  For example, Pope Pius IX extended the Feast of the Sacred Heart to the entire church, and Pope Leo XIII consecrated the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

Here are the 12 promises Our Lord made to St. Margaret Mary for those that are devoted to His Sacred Heart.

1.I will give them all the graces necessary for their state in life.

2.I will give peace in their families.

3.I will console them in all their troubles.

4.They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of death.

5.I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.

6.Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.

7.Tepid souls shall become fervent.

8.Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.

9.I will bless the homes in which the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honoured.

10.I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.

11.Those who propagate this devotion shall have their name written in My Heart, and it shall never be effaced.

12.The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under My displeasure, nor without receiving their Sacraments; My Heart shall be their assured refuge at the last hour