Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

O Lord, how sweet is thy Spirit, who, to shew thy sweetness to thy children, by most sweet food from heaven, dost fill the hungry with good things, sending the fastidious rich away empty.

A certain man made a great supper, and sent his servant to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for all things are ready.

Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled.

I am the bread of life.

Your fathers did eat manna in the desert; and they died. This is the bread that came down from heaven, that if any one eat of it, he may not die.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.

The merciful Lord hath given food to them that fear him, in remembrance of his wonderful works.

He fed them with the finest of the wheat; and filled them with the honey out of the rock. Alleluia.

The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thy hand, and fillest all things living with thy blessing.

Alleluia.

Laus

ebotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus.

THE object of this devotion is the heart of the God-Man Christ Jesus. As the heart is the seat of all the affections, so the heart of our Lord is especially proposed to our devotion, as being the seat and sanctuary of that love wherewith he loved us, and gave himself for us. While, then, we address ourselves to that Sacred Heart, as it is united to the blessed Humanity, and therefore to the divine Person of the Word, we, in an especial and peculiar manner, honour the love which burned therein for man.

The particular intention of this devotion is, to make reparation for the outrages committed against the heart of Jesus during his mortal life; outrages which continue to be committed against him in the adorable Eucharist, which is the Sacrament of his love.

It was for this end that our Lord revealed to Venerable Sister Mary Alacoque, that he wished the festival and devotion of his Sacred Heart to be instituted in the Church. It is related in the life of this holy nun, that, being one day in prayer before the blessed Sacrament, Jesus shewed her his heart surrounded with thorns, surmounted by a cross, and placed upon a throne of fire; and that he said to her: "Behold the heart that has so loved men, and has spared nothing to testify its love for them, even to the consuming of itself for their sake; but, in return, receives nothing from the generality of mankind but dishonour and ingratitude. What afflicts me most is, that hearts which treat me thus have been consecrated to me." Our Saviour then bade her use her utmost endeavours to procure the celebration of a particular festival in honour of his divine heart, on the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi; and this, for these principal intentions:-1. That Christians might return him thanks for the ineffable gift bestowed upon them in the blessed Eucha

rist. 2. That they might repair, by their homage and adoration, the irreverence and contempt with which he has been treated by sinners in this most holy Sacrament. 3. That they might give him the honour due unto him, but withheld from him in so many churches, where he is so little loved, revered, and adored. He promised to pour out abundantly the riches of his heart on all who should practise this devotion, not only on the feast itself, but on other days when they visited the blessed Sacrament.

Confraternities of the Sacred Heart of Jesus have been established in every part of the Church, and have been enriched by the Holy See with numerous indulgences. The plenary indulgences granted to the associates (with the usual conditions*) are as follows:--1. On the day of admission. 2. On the feast of the Sacred Heart. 3. The first Friday or the first Sunday in each month. 4. On any one day in each month, at choice. 5. At the hour of death, on condition of invoking (at least mentally) the holy name of Jesus. 6. On Christmas-day, Maundy-Thursday, Easter-day, and Ascension-day. 7. On the feasts of the Conception, Nativity, Annunciation, Purification, and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin; on the feast of All Saints, All Souls-day, and on the feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist. 8. On the six Fridays, or the six Sundays, preceding the feast of the Sacred Heart, according as it is celebrated on the Friday or on the Sunday after the feast of Corpus Christi. 9. On the feast of St. Gregory the Great.

The partial indulgences are:-1. Thirty years and their quadragena, on the three days after Christmas-day; on the feasts of the Circumcision and the Epiphany; the Sundays of Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima; Good-Friday, and Holy-Saturday; every day during the octave of Easter; on Low-Sunday, the feast of St. Mark, and the Rogationdays; and on Whit-Sunday, and during its octave. 2. Twenty years and their quadragenæ, on Palm-Sunday. 3. Fifteen years and their quadragenæ, on Ash - Wednesday, the 4th

* 1. To gain the plenary indulgences Nos. 6 and 7, as well as the partial indulgences 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, it is necessary to pay a visit to the chapel of the Confraternity, or to perform some other work of piety enjoined by a confessor, not as a sacramental penance, but as a condition of the indulgence. 2. To gain the plenary indulgence No. 8, and the partial indulgence No. 6, it is necessary to visit a church or chapel of the Confraternity in which is celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

K K

Sunday of Lent, the 3d Sunday of Advent; on the Eve, and at the Midnight and Aurora Masses of Christmas. 4. Ten years and their quadragenæ, on the 1st, 2d, and 4th Sundays of Advent; every day in Lent (except those mentioned above), the Vigil of Pentecost, and the three days of the Emberweeks. 5. Seven years and their quadragenæ, on the Visitation and Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, and on the feasts of the Apostles mentioned above. 6. The same on every day of the novena preceding the feast of the Sacred Heart. 7. Seven years and their quadragenæ, on the four Sundays immediately preceding that feast. 8. The same, at every visit to a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in any church or chapel where it is exposed to public veneration; the conditions being contrition and prayers for the Pope's intentions. 9. Sixty days for every work of piety performed by the members.

These indulgences are applicable to the souls in purgatory. All that is required of the associates, in order to obtain the privileges attached to the confraternity (after admission by a duly authorised priest), is to say every day a Pater, an Ave, and a Credo, with the following aspiration:

O most sweet Heart of Jesus, make me to love thee more and more!

An Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; for the use of the Associates in particular.

O amiable Jesus, only Son of the living God, who, by an incomprehensible effect of thy love, wast pleased to be made man, to be born in a stable, to live amidst labours, to die upon a cross, and to leave us, as a perpetual pledge of thy tenderness, thy own body and blood for the nourishment of our souls, in the ineffable Sacrament of the Eucharist; thou beholdest at thy feet a criminal covered with confusion, who comes, in the spirit of union with all the associates in the adoration of thy divine Heart, humbly to confess his ingratitude, his iniquities, and those of all other men, that he may make reparation for them as far as in him lies.

Alas, O most amiable Jesus, we have sinned against Heaven, and before thee. The injuries, the outrages which thy Sacred Heart has received from the ingratitude

and the malice of men, far surpass in number the stars of heaven, the drops of water, the grains of the sand of the sea. What hath it not suffered on our part in the course of thy sacred life, in thy bitter Passion, and from the moment that thou hast dwelt amongst us in the Sacrament of thy love! Oh, with how much bitterness, opprobrium, and grief have we deluged thy divine Heart! Pardon! mercy! O adorable Heart of Jesus; mercy for me! mercy for all men, and for England in particular!

I detest, with all the sincerity of my soul, and with the most profound and bitter grief, every thing which hath ever offended thee in myself or in others; I detest it for the love thou deservest, and which is supremely due unto thee. I come to make thee an honourable reparation, with the deepest humiliation, and the most absolute annihilation of myself. Oh, that I could efface with my tears, and wash away with all my blood, the injuries which we have done unto thee. Oh, that I could repay thee, by my repentance, by my works, and by my love, all the glory, honour, and satisfaction of which thou hast been robbed by the injuries and outrages that have been committed against thee! Accept at least the earnest desire with which thou inspirest me.

Vouchsafe, O Heart infinitely rich in mercy, to light again in my heart and that of all men, the sacred fire which thou camest to kindle upon the earth. Let it purify them, let it inflame them, let it make of them one heart with thy Heart. Pour down, I beseech thee, thy most precious and abundant benedictions on thy holy Church, and those who govern it; on this diocese, on this town, and on all those who are united with us by the bonds of this association. O Heart of Jesus, live, reign in all hearts, for time and for eternity. Amen.

A short Act of Consecration.

I engage myself with all my heart, for all my life, to the confederation of love and of reparation, formed in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I renew the sacred alliance which I contracted with him in holy baptism, and renouncing Satan anew, his pomps, and all his

« ElőzőTovább »