Ave Maria Meditations
On the 7th of July the Redemptorist Order celebrates the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been instituted to light in the hearts of Christians that fire of divine love which unfortunately was being extinguished, leaving the human heart empty or at least making it forget the benefits of its Redeemer and the immense love of God for our souls. To avoid such a great abuse, let us consider the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ as a model on which we should form and regulate our own.
We will learn from this divine Master how to seek in all things the glory of God, our own sanctification and perfection In the practice of all the virtues, and the good of our neighbors. We will learn to make the exercise of prayer in a spirit of sacrifice, offering ourselves to God in union with our Lord Jesus Christ, never in any way receiving consolations that we have not earned, and persevering in this holy exercise despite all the obstacles of repugnance and of distractions. Let there be a bonding with Jesus Christ so close that there is only one heart with him, to love whatever conforms to the attitudes of this Sacred Heart and to avoid whatever could renew the sorrow he felt when, because of our faults, he said, “My soul is sorrowful even unto death” (Mt 26: 38).
If we take this Sacred Heart for our model, we will not fail to comprehend that there are two virtues more than all the rest which we must practice since they are like the wellspring and the foundation of the rest of the virtues: “Learn of me, for I am humble and meek of heart” (Mt 11: 29). By making ourselves acquire these two virtues, we can offer in this manner a worthy tribute of recognition and gratitude, and having thus achieved in our life attitudes conformed to the Sacred Heart, we will deserve to be united with him by an eternal love and joy.
Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy
