Thought for the Day – 16 October – The Memorial of St Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)
The Twelve Promises of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary
or those Devoted to His Sacred Heart:
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will establish peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life
and especially at the hour of their death.
5. I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source of an infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
9. I will bless the homes where an image of My Heart
shall be exposed and honoured.
10. I will give to priests the power of touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who propagate this devotion shall have their names
written in My Heart, never to be effaced.
12. The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those
who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of nine consecutive months
the grace of final repentance;
they shall not die under my displeasure, nor without receiving their Sacraments;
My heart shall be their assured refuge at that last hour.
From Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque’s Vision of Jesus
Our scientific-materialistic age cannot “prove” private revelations. Theologians, if pressed, admit that we do not have to believe in them. But it is impossible to deny the message Margaret Mary heralded: that God loves us with a passionate love. Her insistence on reparation and prayer and the reminder of final judgment should be sufficient to ward off superstition and superficiality in devotion to the Sacred Heart while preserving its deep Christian meaning.
St Margaret Mary, Pray for us!
AnaStpaul 