It is not enough to have conceived a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; you must also labour, as far as you can, to extend it. And this will be no difficult matter, if you have only love: the most unequivocal proof of love is zeal. Whoever has no zeal, has no love, says Saint Augustine.
But in what way are you to exercise your zeal? there are three means of doing it; and these are within the reach of every one. The first is example; set an example yourself of a tender devotion to the Heart of Jesus; this is the shortest and most efficacious lesson. The second means is to counsel it; to make it known to those who are unacquainted with it; to encourage and foster it in those who have some beginning of it. The third and surest, as it is also the easiest, is to pray ardently to this Sacred Heart, to make itself known and loved, by means of those interior lights, those secret motions, that enlighten and transform hearts; for this devotion seems to be in a particular manner the fruit of prayer, one of those special graces which our Lord has reserved to be spread in the hearts of His servants by Himself alone.
No one can excuse himself from employing so easy a means as this. The saints, in their enterprises of zeal, knew well the power of prayer over the Heart of God; and hence they never failed to join it to their preaching. For they bore in mind the saying of Saint Paul, that neither he that planteth is anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. (1 Corinthians 3:7)
It is related of a Father of the Society of Jesus, that he never preached, without having first spent three hours in fervent prayer, accompanied with abundant tears. A lay brother of the same society, when asked what were the means, which he used, to gain so many souls to God, in his office of Porter, replied; "For one word that I address to men, I address a hundred to God." Let us adopt the same means, and we may be sure of success.
Let us pray, then; and if our sins make us unworthy to be used as instruments by Jesus Christ in making His Sacred Heart known, let us beg of Him to choose others in our place. Let us entreat Him to send into His vineyard apostles of His Heart; who, penetrated with a deep sense of the advantages of this devotion, may devote themselves to increase and spread life. Yes, let us pray; every thing is promised to prayer. When a holy soul once asked of God, why He did not raise up, in this corrupt age, one of those saints, whose zeal changes, as it were, the face of the whole world; "Men do not pray to me enough was the reply which she received.
The surest means of succeeding in the prayers, which we address to God for the good of souls, is to offer them to Him through the mediation of the Heart of Jesus. This was made known to the Yen. Mary of the Incarnation, foundress of the Ursulines in Canada, as she relates in the second book of her life. Written by herself. "One night, as I was pleading, before the Eternal Father, the great cause of the salvation of souls, I understood by an interior light, that I was not heard by His Divine Majesty, and that He did not, as usual, lend a propitious ear to the vows and urgent entreaties, which I addressed to Him. I annihilated myself at His feet; I sank to the centre of my own vileness and nothingness; that His Divine goodness might deign to teach me what was most pleasing to Him, in order that so I might obtain my request. Upon this, I heard these words; 'Pray to me through the Heart of Jesus, my most amiable Son; it is through Him, that I will hear thee, and grant thee thy petition.' Since that time," continues the saint, "I have always concluded my daily devotions by this practice, and by this means I gain, each day, a fresh profusion of graces, beyond all that I can express."
It would be well to mention here the magnificent promises of Jesus Christ, in favour of those who zealously employ themselves in making known His Sacred Heart. "Our Lord," says the Venerable Mary Margaret, "discovered to me the treasures of grace and lover, reserved for those who shall consecrate and devote themselves, to give and procure to His Sacred Heart all the honour, love, and glory in their power; treasures so great, that it is impossible for me to express them." And in another place; "Our Lord showed me the names of a number of persons, written in His Sacred Heart, on account of the desire they felt that He should be loved and honoured; and He promised, that they should never be effaced."
At the same time, let us bear in mind that our zeal, to be profitable, must be prudent and enlightened. There is a wide difference between the affairs of God, and those of the world; in the affairs of the world, it is necessary to be full of action; in those of God, we must be content with following His inspirations, leaving grace to act, and following its movements with all our power. Devotion to the Sacred Heart must insinuate itself, by the unction of charity, into the hearts of those whom God has chosen for Himself. (Mary Margaret)
Practice - Employ a part of your means in procuring books and medals of the Sacred Heart; and try to spread them where you can. The wicked never fail to find means and resources for circulating their pernicious books; shall we allow ourselves to be outdone by them?
Prayer - O Heart of Jesus, grant that I may be eaten up with a zeal for Thy glory. (Psalm 68:10)
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
- text taken from Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Father George Tickell