The divine sanctuary ...

Preface

n^HE following meditations upon the Litany of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, are arranged especially for the devotion of the month of June, which is becoming so general in the Church, and among all devout souls. They are, however, appropriate at any time, and can easily be used at Holy Mass, or on the First Fridays of the month. A better understanding of the different petitions of the Litany will serve to kindle our affections, while it illumines our intellects with the truths of faith. In the devotion to the Sacred Heart everything is contained which can enlighten the mind, or quicken the soul in the way of virtue. It would seem as if our blessed Lord, who has spoken so often and in so many ways to the ungrateful world, now speaks by the display of His love and the revelation of His own tenderness. Thus He implores our love, and through our sanctified affections would gain the service of all our faculties. The iv

PREFACE.

devotion to His Heart is a response to His own impulse, and the fruit of the divine Spirit working among men. The author, devoutly thankful to God for the mercy which has permitted Him to pen these meditations, humbly hopes that they may be the means of exciting in others a deeper love and more entire consecration to Him who is the fountain of all our good, the beginning and ending, of our faith and hoi-)e. Conscious that nothing can avail without the especial aid of God's grace, he commits his work to the loving and long-suffering Heart of Jesus. Here, he knows, the divine pity will pardon what is amiss, supply what is wanting, and bless what may be acceptable to His infinite Majesty.

T.S. P.

Feast of the Annunciation, 1878.

Contents

PAGE

Litany of the Most Sacked Heart of Jesus 7 Act of Consecration 10

Part First. The Glories Of The Sacred Heart

I. — The Hypostatic Union with the Word of God 15

IL— The Sanctuary of the Divinity 22

III. — The Temple of the Holy Trinity 28

IV. _ The Abyss of Wisdom 35

V. — The Ocean of Goodness. 41

VI.— The Throne of Mercy 46

VII. — The Treasure Inexhaustible 51

VIII. — The Heart of whose Fulness we have all

Received 5?

IX. — Our Peace and our Atonement 64

X.— The Model of all Virtues 70

XI. — The Heart infinitely loving, and infinitely

worthy of love 76

XII. — The Fountain of Water springing up into

Everlasting Life 82

XIII. — The Heart in which the Father is well pleased 88 vi

CONTEXTS.

Part Second. The Sorrows Of The Sacred Heart

XIV. — Tlie Propitiation for our Sins 95

XV.— The Sorrow in the Garden 102

XVI.— The Revilings of the Sacred Heart 108

XVII.— The Wound of Love 116

XVIII.— The Heart Pierced with a Lance 122

XIX. — The Heart exhausted of Blood upon the

Cross 128

XX. — The Heart crushed with Grief for our

Sins 134

XXL— The Heart still Outraged by Ungrateful

Men in the Sacrament of Love 141

Part Third. The Offices Of The Sacred Heart

XXIL— The Refuge of Sinners 153

XXIII. — The Strength of the Weak 161

XXIV. — The Comforter of the Afflicted 167

XXV. — Our Help in our many and great Tribu-

lations 173

XXVI. — Sweet Support of its Worshippers 160

XXVIL— Perseverance of the Just 187

XXVIIL— Hope of the Dying 194

XXIX.— Salvation of all who trust in Thee 202

XXX.— Delight of all the Saints 210

LITANY

OF THE

MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ Jesus, hear us.

Christ Jesus, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven,

God, the Son, Redeemer of the world,

God, the Holy Ghost,

Holy Trinity, One God,

Heart of Jesus, hypostatically united with the

Word of God,

Heart of Jesus, Sanctuary of the Divinity,

Heart of Jesus, Temple of the Holy Trinity,

Heart of Jesus, Abyss of Wisdom,

Heart of Jesus, Ocean of Goodness,

Heart of Jesus, Throne of Mercy,

Heart of Jesus, Treasure Inexhaustible,

Heart of Jesus, of whose fulness we have all

received,

Heart of Jesus, Our Peace and our Atonement, Heart of Jesus, Model of all Virtues,

LITANY OF THE

Heart of Jesus, Infinitely Loving, and Infinitely Worthy of Love,

Heart of Jesus, Fountain of Water springing up into Everlasting Life,

Heart of Jesus, in which the Father is well pleased,

Heart of Jesus, the Propitiation for our Sins, Heart of Jesus, sorrowful in the Garden even

unto death,

Heart of Jesus, saturated with revilings.

Heart of Jesus, wounded with love,

Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, ^

Heart of Jesus, exhausted of Thy blood upon |

the cross, § Heart of Jesus, crushed with grief for our sins, ^ Heart of Jesus, still outraged by ungrateful men o

in the sacrament of love, ^ Heart of Jesus, Befuge of sinners, Heart of Jesus, Strength of the weak, Heart of Jesus, Comforter of the afflicted, Heart of Jesus, our Help in our many and great

tribulations,

Heart of Jesus, sweet Support of Thy worshippers,

Heart of Jesus, Perseverance of the just, Heart of Jesus, Hope of those who die in Thee, Heart of Jesus, Salvation of all who trust in Thee,

Heart of Jesus, Delight of all the saints,

Lamb of G-od, who takest away the sins of the world,

Spare us, 0 Lord.

MOST SACKED HEART OF JESUS.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,

Have mercy on us, O Lord.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

V. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon us, It. That we may become worthy to love Thee with all our heart.

Let us pray.

Graciously vouchsafe, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, whose glory is the Heart of Thy beloved Son, and who worship in it, the chief benefits which His love hath bestowed upon us, may enjoy these benefits, and draw from thence the fruit of our salvation, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst in a wonderful way unfold the unsearchable riches of Thy Heart, to Thy holy virgin, Blessed Margaret Mary, grant through her merits, and by following her example, that, loving Thee in all things, and above all things, we may in this Heart of Thine deserve to find our everlasting dwelling-place, who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.

Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,

0 most amiable and adorable Heart of Jesus ! O Heart infinitely compassionate and merciful ! our refuge in all dangers, our hope in all trials, our comfort and consolation in all sorrows ! Behold us prostrate before Thee to implore Thy mercy, to claim Thy protection, and to offer ourselves entirely to Thee. Thou seest the dangers that surround us, the storms by which we are assailed. The powers of darkness have arisen against Thy holy Church and against Thy unworthy but devoted servants. They have laid waste Thy inheritance, they have overturned Thy altars, they have persecuted those who love and honor Thy Sacred Name. They glory in the evil which they have done, and vainly boast that they have triumphed over Thee and Thy Holy Church, and they have striven to destroy Thy worship from the face of the earth. But Thou art Almighty, and who shall resist Thee? Thou wilt arise in Thy power, and Thy enemies shall perish from before Thy face. Thou wilt command the winds and the waves, and there shall be a great calm.

Animated with this confidence in Thy power and in Thy love, O Divine Heart ! we present our supplication on this clay of our solemn consecration to Thee.

ACT OF CONSECRATION.

Deign to receive our offering, unworthy as it is, and grant our prayer for the Church and for Thy devoted children who now solemnly dedicate themselves to Thy honor. O merciful Jesus ! ever ready to admit us into the sacred and secure asylum of Thy Sacred Heart, we, Thy unworthy but loving servants, wishing to give Thee a proof of our devotion, and to receive from Thee the assistance and protection which, in these calamitou"s times, we need for Thy Holy Church, for the Apostolic See, and for ourselves, do, on this day, publicly and solemnly consecrate ourselves entirely to Thee ; our lives and our labors, our thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings. We pledge ourselves to Thee as Thy devoted servants for ever. "We consecrate to Thee our Churches, our Missions, our Congregations, and all those for whose spiritual good we labor in Thy service ; that Thy Spirit may reign over them, Thy love sustain them, Thy grace sanctify them and make them at all times pleasing in Thy sight. O sweet and adorable Heart of Jesus ! accept this holocaust which we offer; consume it with the flame of Thy Divine Love, that it may ascend before Thee in the odor of sweetness, and that, united with Thy infinite merits, it may bring down upon us, upon Thy Holy Church, upon our Holy Father the Pope, and upon all the members of our congregations, missions, schools, religious houses, and institutions of charity, the abundance of Thy blessings, the heavenly shower of Thy graces, the rich treasures which Thou hast promised to those who love and honor Thee. Defend us, 0 Lord, Thy servants, with the shield of Thy pro-

ACT OF COXSECEATIOX.

tection ; guard us against the malice of the wicked, who hate Thy Church because it is Thine, and who persecute us because we love and adore Thy Sacred Heart, and defend the honor of Thy Most Holy Eame. Let us find in Thee our refuge, our consolation, our hope. Be Thou, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, our support in life, our confidence in death, our -perfect and eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.

Part First. The Glories Of The Sacred Heart

I

Heart of Jesus, hypostatieally united with the Word of God, have mercy on us.

"And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us." — St. John i. 14.

S~\UR meditations upon the Sacred Heart of Jesus, lead us to lift our thoughts and affections to the infinite love of God, as it has been manifested in the person and work of His Incarnate Son. We know that God is Love, for love is a perfection, and must in its fulness be found in the attributes of our great Creator. " No man hath seen God at any time." No one hath known God, for the infinite alone can comprehend the infinite. Yet in the bosom of the eternal Trinity there is a love as incomprehensible as the divine nature, and far above all our conceptions. A divine person co-equal to the Father and the Son, and proceeding from both is its eternal expression. " The Father is of none, neither created nor begotten ; the Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten ; the Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son, not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding." As St. Bernard says, the Holy Spirit is

THE DITIXE SAXCTUAKY.

" the sacred kiss of the Father and the Son, as their imperturbable peace, their firm coinherence, their undivided love, their indivisible unity." As God alone can know His own perfections, so He alone can worthily love Himself ; and all human thought and language fail to conceive the rapture of the Blessed Trinity, one in essence and three in person. Before this mighty God the creatures of His hand are as nothing. Worlds of light in the unmeasured space roll before Him, obedient to His will. Angels and archangels in their glittering ranks kneel around the throne of His glory. " What then is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest him ? " Love for our race has gone far beyond all the bounds of thought. It has not only made man in the divine image, and mindful of his wants and weakness has visited him with the favor and companionship of the Most Holy; it has caused the Son of the Highest to take our nature and the Word of God to be made Flesh. Thus has God taken a human heart in which may dwell, and by which be manifested His great tenderness to us. We are to lift our adoring gaze to the throne from whence proceeds such wondrous love. Where Cherubim and Seraphim veil their faces, we have found a home. In the breast of no angel nor archangel is our repose. Far beyond their blissful choirs we pass to the uncreated, eternal love of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us." 1

1 I. E. St. John iii. 1.

THE DIVINE SANCTTJAKY. 17

And there on the throne of majesty and power is not only the consuming fire of the Triune God, but a Man like unto us, bearing the emblems of regal honor and seated as an equal. " He must reign until He hath put all enemies under his feet." 1 " The Father hath given all judgment to the Son." 2 That human nature formed of the pure substance of the Immaculate Virgin, by the power of the eternal Spirit, is the nature of God joined inseparably to the person of the Word. The Son is as truly man as He is God. "We have seen His glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." 3 The Life has been manifested in a human form, even that "life eternal which was with the Father and hath appeared unto us.'' 4 And the "Word thus made flesh" turns to us with a heart which is all our own, a human heart which He has taken, that with it he may love us, and through it express the divine sympathy, pity and affection.

The first petition then of our Litany directs our thoughts to the source of all our hopes, and establishes the grounds of our confidence, that one day through the mercy of our Eedeemer we may be made one with Him in whom we trust. That source of hope is His Love, and the grounds of confidence are found in the results of His Incarnation, which has made Him flesh of our flesh, our brother as well as our God. We have no just claims on the forbearance

2 St. John v. 22.

3 St. John i. 14. * I. E. St. John i. 2.

THE DIVIDE SAKCTUAEY.

which has so often been treated with indifference and even contempt. Our race, wandering so far from holiness by sin, original and actual, has lost any right to call God Father, or to hope in His paternal charity. The Angels who sinned were cast down into hell in the very moment of their rebellion, and for them there has been no chance of pardon nor hope of redemption. They were far brighter intelligences than we are, and their act of transgression was the act of an instant. Nearer to God than our first parents, the deeper was their fall. Everlasting chains have bound them in darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 1 And our sins, though in the lower order of creation, have been so much the more offensive to the divine sight, as they are more obnoxious to the infinite purity. Is there for all this guilt a hope of pardon, for all this vileness a means of cleansing ? Shall sinning angels languish in the torments of undying fire, and sinning man have courage to lift his eyes to the throne of an infinite and impartial justice? Yes, for there is a Mediator who has interposed, and love holds back the arm of justice, and all judgment is given to one who bears our nature, and whose human heart pleads for our pardon and restoration. It is not simply our supplication which goes up on trembling accents before the God whom we have offended ; it is a voice far more powerful than ours, a human voice and yet the voice of God. " Father forgive them for My sake, since they are the

1 St. Jude 6.

fruit of My travail, since I have home their griefs and carried their sorrows. They are My own brethren by nature, and My children by adoption and by love, bound to Me by the tie of nature and of blood."" Such a voice is heard in the very splendors of the throne, when in contrition and hope we cry out : " Heart of Jesus, united to the Word of God, have mercy upon us. 3 ' Love pleads for us, and never pleads in vain. Here is a source of hope which rises above all our needs, where our Creator displays to us His own infinite tenderness.

The results of the hypostatic union of the Heart of Jesus to the Word of God, establish the grounds of our confidence on immovable foundations. He who intercedes for us is our brother in humanity, who in that precious body which He took of Mary, has made a full atonement for all our sins.

Let us at the beginning of this sacred month weigh well the gracious meaning of these truths. Why shall we not hope, when for us nothing has been left undone that could be done for our salvation ? It is not an angel who ventures to maintain our cause before the purity which we have offended, or bows, down his face where cherubim may not look up, to > intercede for sinful mortals. It is not a man who by sin original and actual has lost the right to call God his Father, nor one whose burdened conscience tells of broken laws, and speaks with polluted lips. It is a man innocent and pure, flesh of our flesh, and yet one whom sin and Satan have never touched. It is a man who is also God, equal in all things to the Father,

THE DIYIXE SANCTUARY.

whose words of prayer are now spoken where they are words of command.

And they are not simply words spoken by Him who hath the right to reign, since " all things are put under Him," 1 but they are the words of one who by tears and blood hath purchased our j)ardon. "He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed." 2 "This man offering one sacrifice for sins, forever sitteth on the right hand of God ; for by one oblation He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." 3 The atonement is adequate to the offence ; the mediation is complete, worthy of God and all-powerful for man. The sins which His blood washes away are blotted out for ever. The suppliant for whom He speaks shall find mercy and grace equal to every need. The Heart united to the "Word incarnate is a sorrowing and suffering heart, and as in infinite pity it bore our griefs and carried our sadness, it pleads for mercy with tones which move the eternal Trinity, and sound to our sinful ears as the words of our j full and perfect pardon. "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." 4

With hope and the assurance of a gracious answer do we then prostrate ourselves before the throne of the Sacred Heart. While with the tears of contrition we bring our sins before us, and pray above all

2 Isaias liii. 5.

THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY.

for power to repent, we know we shall not ask in vain. We ask to enter into something of God's knowledge of the evil of sin, and to feel how it wounds the divine tenderness, that in the consciousness of our own unworthiness we may fly for succour to the sinner's only refuge, the open side of his Eedeemer. There the weary shall find rest, there the mourner shall find consolation, there where the voice of things created is heard no more, the Heart of Jesus, hypostatically united to the eternal Word, shall have full mercy upon us.

XL

" Heart of Jesus, sanctuary of ths divinity, have mercy on us."

" In Him it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell." — Ep. Coloss. i. ig.

SINCE God was pleased to take our nature and to become in all respects like unto His brethren, it is self-evident that great is the dignity of that humanity which He assumed. Formed of the pure substance of the Immaculate Virgin by the power of the Holy Ghost, it is of necessity the greatest and brightest of all the divine creations. To it belongs every gift and splendor which the loving hand of the Creator could add to it. Man of man, the Word made flesh must be, and so when " He stooped to deliver our race, He did not abhor the Virgin's womb." Yet on Him were all the graces of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit freely lavished. The inspired Psalmist thus pours out the song which celebrates His humanity. "My heart hath uttered a good word. I speak my words to the King. Thou art beautiful in form, above the sons of men ; grace is poured out in thy lips, therefore hath God blessed thee for ever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, 0 thou most mighty. With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously and reign. God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." 1

The Sacred Heart rejoices in this dignity of the humanity of God the Word, and the graces poured out upon it are its especial treasure. Of all human hearts it is the dearest to God, since it is His own ; and its first joy is to rejoice in His perfections. On account of the purity of the human nature of Jesus Christ, there is no created holiness like His. There is the fire which burns in the bosom of the Holy Trinity, because there God lives and moves and feels. All the beauties of the sacred humanity may be said to have here their source and centre; as from the central organ of life, they pass to every part and feature of the precious body. Yet what are gifts and graces, the beams from the throne, or the oil of gladness, compared to God Himself ? The Heart of Jesus is not only the seat of His love and the expression of the divine mercy ; it is with His whole human nature taken up into union with the Most High and made "the sanctuary of the divinity." "In Him it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell." And here in the bosom of the Word made flesh, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost have erected a chosen sanctuary, in which may dwell all that is most dear; where to a human and yet a divine heart may be manifested the glories of the divinity. Here is a heart with human sensibili-

1 Psalm xliv. 1, 8.

THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY.

ties, and yet endowed with a divine power of appreciating and loving; and here may be displayed the uncreated beauties, the divine energies, the inexpressible peace of the three Eternal Persons.

The Sacred Heart may then justly be called the sanctuary of the divinity, since to it hath God manifested Himself as He had not and could not to any other, and since the fruit of this manifestation is a love dearer to Him than that of all creatures.

No one but God can know what God is, and this very knowledge is the incomprehensible bliss of the divine nature. An eternity was filled with this bliss before there was a creature to praise Him, or an intelligence to recognize His hand. To the creature can the Creator draw nigh only in proportion to its capacity for knowing and loving. The angels excelling in strength who are confirmed in grace, according to their capacities, look into the infinite source of all light and beauty. The saints who shall be glorified with the beatific vision shall, like " stars, differ in glory/' " One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars, for star differeth from star in glory." 1 Yet what intelligence can be compared to the sacred humanity of God the Son ? And as the power to love is commensurate with intelligence, what love can equal that of Him who " is in the bosom of the Father," and who in two natures is the one person of the Word ? Not only did the incommunicable perfections of the Deity shine into the heart

THE DIYIKE SANCTUARY.

of the Incarnate Son, but it was a delight of the Holy Trinity there to show forth His greatness, where the infinite capacity of God was allied to human weakness, and where, as never before, He could make known to an understanding and loving intelligence His wonderful beauty. They tell us truly that we can never fathom the holiness of Mary the Mother of God, because, only a creature, she was nevertheless caught up into the arms of her Creator, and made the instrument in His greatest works. How much less can we understand the glory of Jesus Christ, Man and God, or know how exceeding is the loveliness of that heart, to which the uncreated beauty reveals itself, on which ever shines the light of the beatific vision, not simply that vision which shall make glad the saints, but the sight of a nearer and a substantial union.

From this holy sanctuary where all fulness dwells, the chosen place of God's repose, ascends ever a love which is far dearer to the Most Holy than all the loves of angels or men. It is the very love by which the three persons of the eternal Trinity embrace each other in their blissful delight, the love for that which alone is lovely, expressed in and through a human hear!:, and that the heart of God. O wonderful device of the supreme wisdom, thus to build a sanctuary where He whose great glory no tongue can truly tell, may be worthily magnified, where He may show forth His splendor, and receive the adoration which is His clue.

Before this sanctuary we kneel to-day, and our first thought is to rejoice in the unspeakable wisdom of our God which hath built such a temple for His own

THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY.

|3rais8. Our whole being is filled with gladness that there is one Heart which worthily magnifies His great glory, a heart which may speak and act for us, whose words and affections may take up our feeble tribute and make it acceptable before the throne. The Sanctuary of the divinity pleads for us.

And our second thought is the ejaculation of our hope that the love which burns so fervently in the august temple which the Most High hath built for Himself and for us, may be kindled in our breasts. How can we, weak as we are, draw so near the infinite beauty as to be able to love Him ? What are all our hearts with their most fervent affections that He should deign to accept them in so intimate a relation as that of love ? Yet is there nothing else worthy of our love, since we were made in His image, and our souls yearn after our great Creator with a thirst He only can satisfy. Behold it is the heart of a man which has become the sanctuary of the divinity, and that man is our brother as well as our God. Our nature in the Word made flesh will love for us, and so near to the divinity will become our model and our strength. In this fire of divine love all our dross shall be burned away, and from x^urified hearts our prayer and praise shall ascend where, on the lips of our Mediator, they shall not plead in vain. Mercy shall descend like the fertilizing beams of the sun, and in that light our feebleness shall become strong, and even " death shall be swallowed up in victory," as even here on earth " this corruptible puts on incorruption, and this mortal immortality." 1 1 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54.

It is not a prophet who appears unto us with a veil upon the brightness of his countenance, but the Lord Himself with His blessed human face regarding us with infinite tenderness and mercy.

And so "we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory." 1 in.

Heart of Jesus, Temple of the Holy- Trinity, have mercy upon us.

" Bei7tg the brightness of God's glory, and the figure of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power, He sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high." — Heb. i. 3.

rpHE substantial union of the two natures in the person of God the Word, hath elevated the humanity to the throne of the Three Eternal Persons. " As the rational soul and flesh are one man, so God and man are one Christ ; one by no confusion of substance, but by the assumption of humanity into God." The Son hath since the incarnation two natures equally His own, being " God of the substance of His Father, begotten before all ages, and man of the substance of His mother, born into the world.'" 1 Where then the three eternal and coequal Persons live and reign, there is the humanity of the consubstantial and Incarnate Word. And as it is the office of the Word to express the thought and meaning of the Father and the Holy Ghost, so in the Second Person are especially manifested the ways and works of the incomprehensible