Marian Helper • Summer 2022 • Marian.org 21 Heart even as a child, enduring poverty and crippling illness with patience and faith. But this time, something was different; it was like the calm before a great storm. She wrote in her recollections: I saw this divine Heart as on a throne of flames, more brilliant than the sun and transparent as crystal. It had its adorable wound and was encircled with a crown of thorns, which signified the pricks our sins caused Him. It was surmounted by a cross which signified that, from the first moment of His Incarnation, that is, from the time this Sacred Heart was formed, the cross was planted in It … Two more times over the next 18 months, her beloved Jesus would appear to her and unveil to her the secrets and desires of His Heart, especially His plan to dethrone the prince of darkness by manifesting His love for all of humanity. Return love with love If we were to read through her autobiography, and all her many letters to her spiritual directors and fellow sisters in religion, we would find a whole panoply of things that Jesus evidently hoped to achieve through His revelations to this humble sister of the Visitation Order. Above all, He wished humanity to return His love with love; to make reparation to His Heart for our many failures to return His love; to place all our trust in His Heart; to honor Him through the sign and symbol of His Heart; and to grow to love His Heavenly Father more and more. Jesus sought to pour out upon humanity all the treasures of grace that flow fromHis Sacred Heart, and to inspire Catholics to work to establish the social reign of His Heart over families and nations everywhere. A radiant vision … a beautiful ideal … and a heartbreaking tragedy! For if we look upon the state of the world and the Catholic Church now, 350 years later, we see almost the exact opposite of this dream being hammered into reality, day by day. Instead of the reign of the Sacred Heart, a culture of death and a denial of Divine Love holds sway in society, and our Lord’s own prophecy seems to be coming true: Authentic love in the hearts of many is growing cold (see Mt 24:12). Sanctified by fire So was the whole thing a total failure? No! For the past 350 years (and even well before that), the Heart of Jesus has been a refiner’s fire of love for those willing to respond to our Lord’s invitation to draw near and take refuge in it. Many of the greatest saints have been sanctified in the burning furnace of His Sacred Heart, including St. Gertrude the Great, St. John Eudes, St. Claude de la Colombiere, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Faustina Kowalska, St. Padre Pio, and St. Teresa of Calcutta (just to name a few!). Howmuch good has been done for the Church and for souls even by the relative few who have given themselves totally to His Heart of Love! That is one reason why the popes, the successors of St. Peter, continue to commend this devotion to the faithful, saying it points us to the heart and center of the Catholic faith. As the saying goes: “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” For many centuries, great saints have been forged in this devotional furnace of love because it kept them centered on what matters most: the love of Jesus for us all, and His call to love Him back with the help of His grace. In this new series of articles on TheDivineMercy.org starting June 20, we will do our best to call the minds and hearts of Catholics back to the tremendous gifts and graces offered to us in the Sacred and Merciful Heart of our Savior. No doubt the history of Western Civilization would have been vastly different if the response to these revelations of Divine Love had been anything close to what Christ had intended. ‘What do you fear?’ Jesus promised St. Margaret Mary at one point, “I shall reign in spite of My enemies and of all those who oppose this devotion,” and again: “What do you fear? I shall reign in spite of Satan and whatever else stands in the way.” Indeed, in His Heart, even now, He is fashioning saints so on fire with love for Him that even if the whole world seems to have forsaken our Lord and all hope for the earthly triumph of the Catholic faith seems to have vanished, yet still they will love Himwith all their hearts, and obey Him to the end, until His return. When there are enough souls in the world like that, even if they are few in number to begin with, Satan will be rendered powerless, and his kingdom of darkness cannot stand. The devotion to the Heart of Jesus is all about fashioning saints in the Church filled with this heroic love. Walk with us in this series as we rediscover the one great Heart that truly is “more brilliant than the sun.” In this new series of articles on TheDivineMercy.org starting June 20, we will do our best to call the minds and hearts of Catholics back to the tremendous gifts and graces offered to us in the Sacred and Merciful Heart of our Savior.
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