SACRED HEART OF JESUS
NOVENA
May 25 - June 2
The Amiable Heart of Jesus
He who shows himself amiable in
everything must necessarily make himself loved. Oh, if we only applied
ourselves to discover all the good qualities by which Jesus Christ renders
Himself worthy of our love, we should all be under the happy necessity of
loving Him. And what heart among all hearts can be found more worthy of love
than the Heart of Jesus? A heart all pure, all holy, all full of love towards
God and towards us; because all His desires are only for the Divine glory and
our good. This is the heart in which God finds all his delight. Every
perfection, every virtue reign in this heart; a most ardent love for God, His
Father, united to the greatest humility and respect that can possibly exist; a
sovereign confusion for our sins, which He has taken upon Himself, united to
the extreme confidence of a most affectionate Son; a sovereign abhorrence of
our sins, united to a lively compassion for our miseries; an extreme sorrow.
United to a perfect conformity to the will of God.
In Jesus is found everything that
there can be most amiable. Some are attracted to love others by their beauty,
others by their innocence, others by living with them, others by devotion. But
if there were a person in whom all these and other virtues were united, who
could help loving him? If we heard that there was in a distant country a
foreign prince who was handsome, humble, courteous, devout, full of charity,
affable to all, I who rendered good to those who did him evil; then, I although
we knew not who he was, and though he knew not us, and though we were not
acquainted with him, nor was there any possibility of our ever being so, yet we
should be enamored of him, and should be constrained to love him. How is it,
then, possible that Jesus Christ, Who possesses in Himself all these virtues,
and in the most perfect degree, and Who loves us so tenderly, how is it
possible that He should be so little loved by men, and should not be the only
object of our love?
O my God, how is it that Jesus, Who
alone is worthy of love, and Who has given us so many proofs of the love that
He bears us, should be alone, as it were, the unlucky one with us, Who cannot
arrive at making us love Him; as if He were not sufficiently worthy of our
love! This is what caused floods of tears to St. Rose of Lima, St. Catherine of
Genoa, St. Teresa, St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, who, on considering the
ingratitude of men, exclaimed, weeping, “Love is not loved, Love is not loved.”
Affections and Prayers
O my amiable Redeemer, what object
more worthy of love could Thy Eternal Father command me to love than Thee? Thou
art the beauty of Paradise, Thou art the love of Thy Father, Thy heart is the
throne of all virtues. O amiable heart of my Jesus, Thou dost well deserve the
love of all hearts; poor and wretched is that heart which loves Thee not! Thus
miserable, O my God, has my heart been during all the time in which it hath not
loved Thee. But I will not continue to be thus wretched; I love Thee, I will
always continue to love Thee, O my Jesus. O my Lord, I have hitherto forgotten
Thee, and now what can I expect? That my ingratitude will oblige Thee to forget
me entirely, and forsake me forever? No, my Saviour, do not permit this. Thou
art the object of the love of God; and shalt Thou not, then, be loved by a
miserable sinner, such as I am, who have been so favored and loved by Thee? O
lovely flames that burnt in the loving heart of my Jesus, enkindle in my poor
heart that holy fire which Jesus came down from Heaven to kindle on earth.
Consume and destroy all the impure affections that dwell in my heart, and
prevent it from being entirely His. O my God, grant that it may only exist to love
Thee, and Thee alone, my dearest Saviour. If at one time I despised Thee, Thou
art now the only object of my love. I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee, and
I will never love anyone else but Thee. My beloved Lord, do not disdain to
accept the love of a heart which has once afflicted Thee by my sins. Let it be
Thy glory to exhibit to the Angels a heart now burning with the love of Thee,
which hitherto shunned and despised Thee. Most holy Virgin Mary, my hope, do
thou assist me, and I beseech Jesus to make me, by His grace, all that He
wishes me to be.
Act of consecration to the Sacred Heart
O Lord
Jesus, I consecrate my heart to you; place it in yours. It is therein I wish to
breathe, to love, to live unknown to men. And known only to you. It is in this
sacred heart I shall derive those loving ardors which should consume mine; it
is there I shall find strength, light, courage, and true consolation. When sad,
it will rejoice me; when languishing, it will animate me; when troubled and
disquieted, it will encourage and uphold me. O heart of Jesus! May my heart be
the altar of your love. May my memory preserve for ever the precious
remembrance of Your mercies. May all in me express my love for your heart, O
Jesus, and may my heart be disposed to offer you every sacrifice. O heart of
Mary, the most amiable, compassionate, and merciful, after that of Jesus,
present to his divine heart my love, my resolutions, my consecration. It will
be moved by my miseries; it will deliver me from them: and, after having been
my protectress on earth, O blessed Mother, you will be my queen in heaven.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment