Sixteenth Day - Now We Should Approach the Heart of Jesus

Approach the Heart of Jesus, in the first place, in the spirit of penance, that you may bewail your sins, and obtain pardon for them; adore Him, like the apostle Saint Thomas, with profound respect, and say to Him with a contrite and humble heart, "My Lord and my God!" Suffer me, my only hope! to seek the remedy for my wounds in the wound of Thy Sacred Heart. Permit me, too, to place my hand in Thy Sacred Side; not to assure myself of the truth of Thy resurrection, but to touch Thy burning Heart, and to replace my hand, thus warmed in this sacred fire, upon my own poor heart, that I may inflame it with Thy powerful love, and consume it with regret at the remembrance of those offences, that forgetfulness, and ingratitude, which have made you sorrowful even to death. "O Heart infinitely holy, and so filled with a sovereign love of purity, that Thou canst not endure the smallest stains, stamp upon my heart a fear and horror of the slightest faults. O Heart, that hast paid the ransom of us all, enable me to break my bonds, to combat my bad habits, to mortify my senses, and to restore to Thee, by my penance, the glory of which I have robbed Thee." (Nouet.)

Be assured that this humble prayer will draw down upon you the compassion of this Divine Heart; for, if it is willing to endure that its own creature, this rebellious nothing, this animated dust, should offend and despise it, it is certain that, by a generosity without example, the least act of humility is capable of making it forget all its baseness and ingratitude.

"Go, in the second place, in the spirit of confidence, to the Heart of Jesus, as to your place of refuge, and drown all your sadness, your weariness, your troubles, your pains, and uneasiness in this abyss of sweetness and goodness." (Nouet.) The greater sinner you are, the stronger should be your hope in the Heart of Jesus; love alone is never tired of pardoning. Jesus came not for the just, or those, rather, who think themselves such, but for sinners; it is amongst them that He loves to be found; He would be called the Friend of sinners; He runs to meet them, and bathes them in His tears; He would have greater joy in heaven at the return of a single sinner than at the perseverance of ninety-nine just. Oh! how pleasing, how honourable to Him is your confidence after your falls. It inflicts, as He Himself told Saint Gertrude, a delightful wound upon His Heart. One Holy Innocents' Day, finding herself hindered, by strange tumultuous thoughts which crossed her mind, from preparing herself for Holy Communion, she implored the aid of God, and received this answer; "Whoever, on finding himself attacked by any temptation, takes refuge with a firm hope under my protection, is of the number of those of whom I can say; 'My dove is one, chosen among a thousand; she has wounded my heart with one of her eyes.' So that, were I unable to come to her aid, the desolation, which my divine Heart would feel, would be so great, that all the joys of heaven could not give it relief." And our Lord added; "This look of my well beloved, which pierces my Heart, is the unshaken confidence, which she should have in me, and the assurance, that I can and will come to her aid in everything; this confidence offers such violence to my mercy that it would be impossible for me to abandon her." Saint Gertrude replied; "But since this confidence is so great a blessing, and yet no one can procure it without Thy aid, what are those to do who have it not?" Our Lord replied; "It is in the power of every one to overcome this distrust by calling to mind the words of scripture, and to say with Job, if not with all his heart, at least with his lips; 'Though I should be buried in the depth of hell, my God would deliver me from it; though He should slay me, I should still hope in Him;' and other similar words."

A great servant of God, whose filial confidence and abandonment of himself into the hands of Providence, formed, so to say, his distinctive characteristic, illumined, at death, by a still clearer light, upon the greatness of the mercy of God, exclaimed; "Would that I might be restored to health, in order that I might live henceforth by confidence alone."

In the third place, approach the Heart of Jesus in a spirit of recollection and prayer, by withdrawing yourself from the hurry of business. Then will our Lord hide you under the shadow of His protection, and draw near to you in love, and say to your heart, as He said to Saint Gertrude: "Keep but me in view, direct all the powers of your soul to me alone, and you shall enjoy the sweetness of my grace." (iii. Insin. 9.) It is the Heart of Jesus that invites you to this repose of solitude and prayer, as He invited His apostles at the close of their labours. Come alone into this retreat, apart from the bustle of the world; and, with the beloved disciple, repose awhile upon the Heart of your Divine Master. Oh! how soon will your strength be repaired; and what deep truths will you learn!

Practice - You have heard, a thousand times, the great maxim of Jesus; "Learn of me; because I am meek and humble of heart:" but you do not understand as yet all its meaning; beg of Him earnestly to give you grace to understand it. Meekness and humility are the virtues, which He brings forth from the good treasure of His Heart, and which He teaches us with the authority of a Master. We are not His true disciples, we cannot be truly devoted to His Heart, unless we are firmly resolved to study and practice them; for the proper character, the soul and substance of all true devotion, is to imitate what we honour. (Saint Augustine)

Prayer - O love of the Heart of Jesus, how little art Thou known! how little art Thou loved! do Thou make Thyself known and loved!

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.