Jesus, Mercy Incarnate

this is capable of being augmented. It is augmented whenever He is afforded a new joy. For if He is no longer liable to suffer- ing and sorrow, He can still feel joy. Now it is certain that each act of reparation is for Him the source of a new joy. If He suffers no longer on account of the harm done to Him, He is certainly not insensible to the good done to Him, nor to the tokens of love given to Him. Thus we have the consoling certainty that by our acts of reparation we really rejoice His Heart and increase His happiness. 36 St. Alphonsus, The Passion , 113, 36. 37 St. Faustina, Diary , no. 1664, p. 590. 38 Ibid. , no. 310, p. 143. 39 Ibid., no 1058, p. 399. 40 On this see Verheylezoon, Devotion, “Introduction,” p. xxxviii, and Timothy O’Donnell, Heart of the Redeemer (San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1989), 137-145. 41 St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, The Autobiography (Rockford, IL: TAN, 1986), no. 55-56, p. 70-71. Other holy souls who have believed and writ- ten of the reality of the retroactive consolation of the Heart of Jesus include the Ven, Bernard de Hoyos, St. Alphonsus Liguori, the Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich, St. Faustina, and Bl. Dina Bélanger. 42 Pope Pius XI, Miserentissimus Redemptor, no. 13, in Claudia Carlen, ed. The Papal Encyclicals: 1903-1939 (Raleigh: Pierian Press, 1990) 325. Notable theologians have seconded papal teaching in this regard. One of these was Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., in his essay (cited above) “Consolare il Cuore di Gesù?” (p. 31-32): During his earthly life, and particularly while in Gethsemane, Jesus suffered from all future acts of profanation and ingratitude. He knew them in detail with a superior intuition that governed all times ; He could see themmuch better than the saints, who sometimes can read the secret plagues of the human heart. Thus, his suffering encompassed the present instant and extended to future centuries. “This drop of my blood, I shed it for you.” So, in the Garden of Olives, Jesus suffered for all, and for each of us in particular, because he foresaw our ingratitude; but in that painful hour he was also consoled by the sight of those souls, who would take part with Him, for Him, and in 95 Saint Faustina and Devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ