works, I devote to the adorable Heart of my divine Master, and of his most holy Mother, all that I am and all that I have, for time and for eternity. Amen. Meditation on the Love of our Lord Jesus. Yet Oh, that we understood the love of our Lord Jesus towards us! So tenderly has he loved us, that if all the men, all the angels, and all the saints, were to unite with all their strength, they could not attain to the thousandth part of the love our Lord Jesus bears towards us. He loves us infinitely more than we love ourselves; he loves us to excess. For what greater love, than that God should die for us, his own creatures! He has loved us to the end. (St. John xiii. 1.) There has not been a moment from eternity in which God has not loved us, and thought of us, one by one. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." He afterwards became man for the love of us; and for our sake chose a life of suffering, and the cruel death of the cross. Hence, after sacrificing all to shew his love for us, he has loved us more than his own honour, repose, and life. Oh, excess of love, at which even the angels are astonished! this is not enough; for, through his exceeding love, he is further pleased to stay with us in the blessed Sacrament of the altar; there he abides, motionless, and, as it were, senseless; he appears to do nothing but to love men. Love induces a desire of the constant presence of the object beloved. Hence our Lord Jesus is pleased to remain constantly with us in the blessed Sacrament. It seemed to him too little to stay with men three-andthirty years on earth; hence he is pleased to tarry with them, in the blessed Sacrament, from age to age. It is true that while on earth he completed the work of redemption; why, then, should he continue to remain with us? Surely, it is to prove his exceeding love for us; he cannot endure to separate himself from us, for his delights are with the sons of men." (Prov. viii.) This love leads him to make himself the food of our souls, in order to unite himself with us, and make our hearts and his Heart one and the same. "He that eateth my 66 66 flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him." (John vi.) Oh, excess of divine love! A servant of God used to say: My amazement about the mystery of the blessed Eucharist is not, how bread becomes flesh, or how our Lord Jesus is in many places at once, and confined within so small a compass; for all things are possible with God. But this is my wonder, how Jesus loved man so, as to become his food; when I think hereof, I own I am confounded, and have but to say that it is a truth of faith passing my comprehension. O love of Jesus, make men know you, make them love you!" An Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, do I devote and offer up my life, my thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings. May my whole being be no longer employed but in loving, serving, and glorifying thee. O Sacred Heart, be thou henceforth the sole object of my love, the protector of my life, the pledge of my salvation, and my refuge at the hour of my death. Justify me, O blessed and adorable Heart, at the bar of divine justice, and screen me from the anger which my sins deserve. Imprint thyself like a divine seal on my heart, that I may never be separated from thee. May my name also be ever engraven upon thee, and may I ever be consecrated to thy glory, ever burning with the flames of thy love, and entirely penetrated with it for all eternity. This is all my desire, to live in thee. One thing have I sought of the Lord, and this will I seek, that I may dwell in the Heart of my Lord all the days of my life. Amen. A Prayer to the Eternal Father. O eternal Father, let me offer up unto thy mercy the Sacred Heart of thy well-beloved Son, even as he offered himself up a sacrifice to thy justice. Accept, on my behalf, all the thoughts, sentiments, affections, motions, and all the actions of this Sacred Heart; they are mine, because it was immolated for me; they are mine, because for the future I am resolved to admit nothing into my heart but what hath place in thine. Receive, then, O God, the merits of this Sacred Heart in satisfaction for my sins, and in thanksgiving for all the benefits conferred upon me. Receive them, O Lord, as so many motives for granting my petitions. Give me, O Lord, for their sake, all the graces I need, but especially the gift of final perseverance. Receive them as so many acts of love, adoration, and praise, which I now offer to thy divine majesty. This Sacred Heart, this Heart alone, can love, honour, and glorify thee as thou deservest. Amen. The faithful are invited to make, at fixed times in the day, according to their opportunities, one or more of the following aspirations of love to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I love thee, and desire to love thee more and more! O Heart of Jesus, burning with love of us, inflame our hearts with the love of thee! O Sacred Heart of Jesus, mayest thou be known, loved, and adored throughout all the world! O Heart of my dear Redeemer, may the love of thy friends supply all the injuries and neglects which thou sustainest! An Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. O dearest and most loving Lord, who dost invite me to give thee my heart, and commandest me to love thee with my whole heart, I most earnestly desire to perform thy will. For whom have I in heaven but thee? There is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee. For thee my heart and my flesh have fainted away. Thou art the God of my heart, and my portion for ever. Thou art the source of all perfection, whom the angels delight to behold. Thou hast thought of me from all eternity, and hast bestowed on me in time this excellent being, a little lower than the angels." Thou dost sustain me every moment, lest I should fall back into my original nothingness. When I was lost in my sin, thou, the co-equal Son of the eternal Father, didst give thyself for me, taking upon thee my feeble nature, that thou mightest suffer in my stead. Oh, what bitter sufferings didst thou undergo for me in the garden and on the cross! [Here pause awhile to meditate briefly on some principal sufferings of our Lord, especially such as may in any way resemble your own; for instance, loss, or ingratitude of friends, calumnies, reproaches, desolation of spirit, &c.] O my bountiful and most loving Lord, can it be that such excess of love should not move me to such poor return as I can make thee! Yes, Lord, I will love thee, because thou didst first love me. I will try to love thee, as thou hast commanded, with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, and all my strength. I protest before thee, that henceforth neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor life, nor death, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate me from thee, my beginning and my end. Quench, then, by thy Holy Spirit, all love of the world and of myself which still reigns within me; enable me to bear thy sweet yoke, that I may learn of thee to be meek and humble of heart. Pierce my soul with a deep sense of my own wretchedness, that so I may learn to esteem others better than myself. O meek and humble Heart of my Jesus! O Heart of love, teach me to love thee. Be henceforth the moving principle of my heart; shape all its desires and affections according to thine own, till at length it comes to be absorbed in the abyss of pure love for all eternity. Amen. Prayer of St. Gertrude to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. O Sacred Heart of Jesus! living and life-giving fountain of eternal life, infinite treasure of the divinity, glowing furnace of love! Thou art my refuge and my sanctuary. O my adorable and lovely Saviour! consume my heart with that burning fire wherewith thine is ever inflamed; pour down on my soul those graces which flow from thy love, and let my heart be so united with thine, that our wills may be one, and mine in all things conformed to thine. May thine be the rule alike of my desires and of my actions. Amen. An Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. O adorable Heart of my God and Saviour, filled with a lively sorrow at the thought of the injuries which thou hast received, and art every day receiving, in the august Sacrament of the altar, I prostrate myself at thy feet, to make thee an act of humble reparation for all that thou hast suffered. Oh, that by my reverence, by my devotion, I could make amends to thy outraged majesty! Oh, that I could do so, even at the sacrifice of my life! Call to mind thy mercies, O Jesus! and grant me the pardon which I beg for so many impious, heretical, and slothful Christians who dishonour thee, and above all, for myself, who have so often offended thee. Remember not my ingratitude; but remember that thy divine Heart, bearing the burden of my sins, was afflicted even unto death. Let not thy sufferings and thy blood be in vain; destroy in me my sinful heart, and give me one according to thine own, a humble and a contrite heart; a heart that is pure, and full of horror for sin; a heart that henceforth may be as a victim wholly consecrated to thy glory, and inflamed with the sacred fire of thy love. And for my part, I promise thee, O most sweet Jesus, to endeavour for the future, as much as in me lies, by my devotion in church, by my diligence in visiting thee in the Sacrament of the altar, by my fervour in receiving thee in the holy Communion, to make reparation for the irreverences, the profanations, and the sacrileges which I deplore in the bitterness of my soul. Amen. A Visit to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. O Heart of Jesus! who remainest day and night amongst us, inviting, expecting, receiving, all those who come to visit thee, I worship thee, and confess to thee my misery and my nothingness. I thank thee for |