Thought for the Day – 6 June – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
Little Extracts from The Adorable Heart of Jesus
On the Nature of the Devotion (Part Two)
Having made these observations, it will be easy to give a clear and precise idea of the nature of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.
We may define it in this manner.:
“It is an exercise of religion which has, for its object, the Adorable Heart of our Lord, inflamed with Love for men and outraged by the ingratitude of these same men and, for its motive, the honouring of this Divine Heart , by rendering It all the homage which love and gratitude can inspire and, more particularly, to offer reparation for the insults It receives in the Sacrament of love.”
Let us explain this definition and try to put it in the clearest
light possible. …
The Devotion of which we speak here, concerns His Heart. Certainly, this Divine Heart is not, in Itself, an object less worthy
of the Devotion of the faithful, than the others we have named and, no objection can be brought to bear against the Devotion to the Heart which would not apply equally and with even more force , to the Devotion to the Wounds, the Cross, the Name of Jesus, as anybody will admit who is capable of judging in these matters.
But, that we may leave no occasion of error to simple, uninstructed persons and that , we may forestall any doubts which may arise, we will add another observation to those we have already made.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus in this Devotion must not be considered apart from those things, both spiritual and Divine, with which it is indissolubly connected.
We must, on the contrary, consider it as intimately united to the Soul and to the Person of our Lord, full of life, of feeling and of knowledge.
From this follows a consequence worthy of remark which is, that all the honours which are paid to this Adorable Heart, do not terminate precisely and solely in the material Heart ; they terminate equally and indivisibly, in the Soul and the Person united to this Heart – as the honours rendered to a living man are not actually confined to the body or the soul but comprise, the two together, forming thus a whole which is honoured without any division.
From this we deduce two other consequences – one is that we may reasonably and in a very accurate sense say, of the Heart of our Lord that It Loves, Suffers, is Afflicted, Outraged etc.
And the other is, that we may address to this Divine Heart, prayers, acts, affections, praises, in a word, all that can be addressed to the Person – since, in fact, it is the Person united to this Heart Who really receives them.
This has been overlooked by those who have seemed to disapprove of this Devotion towards the Heart of Jesus and, who thus appeared to have regarded this Divine Heart as only an inanimate and insensible portion of the Body of Jesus Christ, setting aside the Intelligent and spiritual adjuncts which are united to It, as we have already observed.
PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/06/02/thought-for-the-day-2-june-on-the-nature-of-the-devotion/
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