Meditation on the Life of Grace of the Sacred Heart in the Blessed Sacrament

ON THE LIFE OF GRACE OF THE SACRED HEART IN THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT.

(For the Second Day of the Novena.)

He who lives in a foreign country to trade or to learn some science, is said to be leading there a life of traffic or of study. Jesus Christ wished to remain on this earth, although it no longer suited His state of glory, in order that He might promote the interests of divine grace. Thus the life that He leads here amidst us in the Sacrament, may be called a life of grace.—We will meditate the sentiment of His divine Heart on this subject, and the sentiments He requires from our hearts on it.

Preparatory prayer.—As usual.

First Prelude.—Imagine you behold Jesus Christ in the most holy Sacrament, who with His breast open, shows you His divine Heart, from which bursts a torrent of most clear water, signifying the graces He desires to shower upon all who present themselves.

Second Prelude.—Present yourself before Him as a poor unclean leper, and languishing with thirst, and beg of Him to cure, cleanse, and restore you by His grace.

POINT I.

Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament lives a life of grace. What are the sentiments with which this life inspires His Heart?

i. What were His sentiments during His mortal life, when He healed the sick, and for this purpose sought them out Himself; when He gave sight to the blind, raised the dead to life, and conferred His numerous miraculous favours? All these sentiments of pity, tenderness, mercy, and liberality, He now feels at the same moment in this state, which is a compendium of all His wonders. With what sentiments did He encounter so much fatigue, want, and torment! All this charity and infinite love He now feels in this state in which He continues to renew every day the work of our redemption.

ii. A great flame confined in a narrow furnace, how does it gain strength and rage! You may imagine the same of this divine Heart. Think, to speak after our way of understanding things, that this infinitely loving Heart is in a kind of inexpressible suffering, through the excessive fulness of the graces it contains, and to which it cannot give vent through want of persons to receive them. One day Jesus said to a beloved soul as He showed her His Heart, as in an abyss of fire,—“My Heart, my daughter, can no longer support its desire to communicate itself to souls. Do thou assist me, my daughter, to lessen this fire. Publish and cause it to be published over all the world, that I will set no limits to my graces, for those souls that come to seek them in this my Heart.”

2. Now you are one of these cold souls, so reserved with the Heart of this loving God. Have you ever well pondered and understood these sentiments of His Heart? What do you think of Him, now that you know them? what do you think of yourself? O Heart of infinite liberality and charity, why have I not known Thee before? Why have I hitherto been so destitute of grace, so diffident with Thee, so timid in praying to Thee, so reserved in my requests?—Admiration, thanksgiving, confidence, resolutions.

POINT II.

1. What sentiments does the Heart of Jesus Christ require from you by this life of grace, in which He remains for you in this Sacrament?

i. First, you ought practically to make this divine Heart your only place of refuge in all the wants of your heart. You have not done so hitherto, since this loving Heart has been the last to which you have had recourse. Had you practically believed that in this divine Heart there was a true remedy for all your temptations, fits of melancholy, doubts and weaknesses, you would not have sought it from creatures, from your senses, and even from your passions.—Examine yourself with sincerity on the wrongs you have done in this to the most tender and powerful of all hearts, and begin immediately to repair them.

ii. Secondly, you ought to have recourse to this divine Heart with a sincere and strong desire of the graces of which you stand in need. Ah! that divine Heart is perfectly acquainted with your most secret sentiments, and sees how weak is your desire to love Him, even in the very act of begging the grace of His love; that you fear to have the grace effectually to break that attachment to creatures; that while you beg the grace with your lips, you have a secret horror of self-hatred, of love of contempt, of an entire renunciation of the indulgence of your senses. Your best means of deserving the graces of Jesus Christ is by the sincerity and greatness of your desires. Compare your desires with those which you have meditated in the Heart of Jesus Christ. Blush, seek pardon, and begin by asking as a first grace such a desire of being cured by His graces, as may be worthy of the desire He has to communicate them to you.

iii. Thirdly, you ought to have recourse to the Heart of Jesus Christ with an humble, but loving confidence; that is, with a kind of affectionate familiarity which, in this Sacrament, God allows and wishes you to have with Him. O soul! unmindful of your happy lot! I might almost call this forgetfulness a greater wonder than the love of this Heart for man; for this is the God of majesty and glory, before whom the Seraphim tremble in heaven, who here on earth wishes to converse confidently with us. You give the closest confidence of your heart to creatures sometimes more vile than yourself, and who perhaps, dishonour and betray you; and are reserved and close of heart with God, who condescends to abase Himself so much for you. Ah! it is not humility that influences you; it is the little love you entertain for Him, and the superficial nature of the persuasion which you have of His excessive love for you. O divine Heart, infinitely amiable and loving, it shall be so no more!

2. Open your whole heart to the heart of Jesus, relate to it your pains, your wounds, your wants. He knows not how to resist a heart that is wretched, be it but anxious and confiding.