Thought for the Day – 23 June – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
The Adorable Heart of Jesus
Meditations for a Month
On The Difference Between Devotion to the
SACRED HEART and Devotion to the
BLESSED SACRAMENT
There have been, from the very beginning, people who asserted that there was no essential difference between Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and that to the Sacred Heart and who consequently, rejected the latter as only adding a new name to a very old Devotion.
But whoever has read, what we have said in the preceding chapters, will readily perceive how far this opinion is removed from the truth, it being evident that these two Devotions differ from each other – firstly, in their objects ; secondly, in the motives for honouring these objects; thirdly, in the essential end of their institution. This is to say, they differ in the three most important points which can distinguish Devotions one from the other.
They differ in the first place in their object; for, in the one is proposed alone the Adorable Heart of Jesus Christ, without any reference to the rest of His Body. In the other the entire Body of Jesus Christ is proposed under the Sacramental Species, without any special reference to His Heart.
They differ, in the second place, in the motives for honouring the object, for in the Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, the motive for honouring the Body of Jesus Christ, is the Infinite Dignity of this Adorable Flesh which, through its union with the Word, is worthy of the adoration of Angels and men.
In the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, the essential motive for honouring I, is the love with which It is inflamed and the sufferings It endured, through the ingratitude of men which has relation to the Divine Heart and to no other part of the Body.
In short, in instituting the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament the object was to render to Jesus Christ, abiding amongst us, the adoration, the gratitude and the love which are so justly due to Him in this Ineffable Mystery. It is in order to satisfy these obligations that the Church has instituted the festival of the Blessed Sacrament with its Solemn Octave, with processions, decorations and all the pomp and magnificence with which this Feast is celebrated.
But in that of the Sacred Heart the principal object of its institution is to make reparation to our Lord for the insults His Love has received in the Holy Sacrament through the ingratitude of men — a reparation which Jesus Christ desires should be directed to His Heart which is, as it were, the Source and the Seat of this Love.
Now it is clear that this object is not attained by Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, for this Devotion would still remain intact, even if our Lord had never been outraged in this Mystery.
All that is now done in honour of this Adorable Sacrament would still be justly given without any other aim than to render, to our Lord, the outward marks of respect and gratitude due to His Divine Presence among us.
AnaStpaul 