Thought for the Day – 2 June – On the Nature of the Devotion

Thought for the Day – 2 June – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Little Extracts from The Adorable Heart of Jesus

On the Nature of the Devotion

If we desire to enter into the designs of Jesus Christ, we must not seek this idea of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, outside the revelation itself, from which it derived its origin and, since it has pleased this amiable Saviour to give an explanation Himself on this subject, it is from His own words that we must gather the real idea which we seek.
It will not be difficult, since Jesus Christ has spoken very clearly.
… But , we must here also allude to a circumstance which is essential to the nature of our Devotion and, that is, that the Love with which the Divine Heart of Jesus is inflamed, must be considered as a Love despised and wounded by the ingratitude of men.
This circumstance is expressed in these words which our Lord
adds :
“ And in return, I receive, for the most part, only ingratitude, contempt, irreverence, sacrileges, in the indifference which they manifest towards Me in the Sacrament of Love.”

The Heart of Jesus must, therefore, here be considered under two aspects – on the one hand, as burning with Love for men and, on the other, as cruelly wounded by the ingratitude of these same men.
These two motives united, must excite in us two feelings, both of which are equally essential to Devotion to the Sacred Heart, that is love which corresponds to Its Love and grief , which would leads us to make reparation for the insults it endures through the hard-heartedness of men!

Finally, the practices prescribed by Jesus Christ in fulfilment of this double duty, are laid down in these last words :
“I ask of thee that the first Friday after the Octave of the Blessed Sacrament, should be dedicated as a special festival to do honour to My Heart, by devout acts of reparation and satisfaction, by communicating, on that day, to expiate the indignities it received whilst exposed on the Altar.”
Jesus Christ contents Himself with explaining here the principal exercise of the devotion which He desires to establish but, it is
not the only practice which must be employed, to do honour to the Divine Heart. There are many others which will be mentioned further on.