As I sat this morning to meditate on the Lord’s Passion, I opened a book that was my grandmother’s, The Way of Divine Love. Yellowed with years, the inside of the front cover listed the Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary. Today is First Friday, the day we honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and observe its devotion. A quote at the bottom of the page grabbed my heart and united it with the love of Christ, increasing the desire in me to honor His Most Sacred Heart. I pray it will do the same to you, and move you to reside in abode of His merciful love.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world! Anne
And He showed me that it was His great desire of being loved by men and of withdrawing them from the path of ruin into which Satan hurls such crowds of them, that made Him form the design of manifesting His Heart to men, with all the treasures of love, of mercy, of grace, of sanctification and salvation which It contains, in order that those who desire to render Him and procure for Him all the honor and love possible, might themselves be abundantly enriched with those divine treasures of which this Heart is the source. He should be honored under the figure of this Heart of flesh, and its image should be exposed…He promised me that wherever this image should be exposed with a view to showing it special honor, He would pour forth His blessing and graces. This devotion was the last effort of His love that He would grant to men in these latter ages, in order to withdraw them from the empire of Satan which He desired to destroy, and thus to introduce them into the sweet liberty of the rule of His love, which He wished to restore in the hearts of all those who should embrace this devotion.
~ St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, second apparition, 1674
