MARY, OUR MOTHER

VATICAN - June, the Month of the Sacred Heart:

Saint Margherita Maria Alacoque

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque or Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (22 July 1647-17 October 1690) was a French Catholic nun and mystic, who originated the Catholic devotion of the Sacred Heart in its modern form. She was born at L'hautecour, a village in the diocese of Autun, now part of the commune of Verosvres in 1647. From early childhood Margaret was described as showing intense love for the Blessed Sacrament (the Eucharist), and to have preferred silence and prayer to childhood play. After her First Communion at the age of nine, she practised in secret severe corporal mortification until becoming paralysed, which confined her to bed for four years. Having been cured of her paralysis, by, she believed, the intercession of the Virgin Mary, she changed her name to Marie (French: Mary) and vowed to devote her life to the service of Mary.

On 25 May 1671, she entered the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial with the intent of becoming a nun. She was subjected to many trials to prove the legitimacy of her vocation, and in November 1672, pronounced her final vows. Though her reading was confined to the lives of the saints, she taught in the school kept by the nuns of the convent for female students of the area, to whom she is reported to have endeared herself by her kindly disposition. The appalling austerities, however, to which she was allowed to subject herself quickly affected her health. The Visions, to which she had been always subject, became more and more frequent. The Church believes her to have been specially favoured by Christ, who appeared to her in the most extravagant forms. At last, by dint of fasting and lacerating her flesh, she believed herself to be undergoing in her own person the Passion of the Lord. Her reward was the supreme vision in which Christ revealed to her his heart burning with divine love, and bidding her establish, on the Friday following, the feast of Corpus Christi, a feast in honour of His Sacred Heart. He called her "the Beloved Disciple of the Sacred Heart", and the heiress of all Its treasures.

The first to believe in the authenticity of her mystical revelations was a young Jesuit priest, Father Claude de la Colombière, who had been assigned to be the confessor at the Visitation Convent. It was not until ten years later, in 1685, that the festival was first celebrated, at Paray, and not until after Margaret's death, on 17 October 1690, that the devotion to the Sacred Heart, fostered by the Jesuits and the subject of violent controversies within the Church, spread throughout France and the Catholic populations of many countries. The discussion of the Margaret Mary's mission and qualities continued for years. All her actions, her revelations, her spiritual maxims, her teachings regarding the devotion to the Sacred Heart, of which she was the chief exponent as well as the apostle, were subjected to the most severe and minute examination, and finally the Sacred Congregation of Rites passed a favourable vote on the heroic virtues of this "servant of God."

In March, 1824, Pope Leo XII pronounced her Venerable (the first step on the path to canonised sainthood) and on 18 September 1864, Pius IX declared her Blessed. When her tomb was canonically opened in July 1830, two instantaneous cures were recorded to have taken place. Her body rests under the altar in the chapel at Paray, and many striking blessings have been claimed by pilgrims attracted there from all parts of the world. Her body was allegedly "incorrupt." St. Margaret Mary was finally canonised by Benedict XV in 1920.

“Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It has spared nothing, even to consuming itself to witness its love. And in return, I receive from most of them only ingratitude, from their irreverence and their sacrileges and by the coldness and contempt that they have for Me in this Sacrament of love” (Message to Margherita Maria)

“Behold this Heart" - He said - "which has loved men so much and has loaded them with all benefits, and for this boundless love has had no return but neglect, and contumely, and this often from those who were bound by a debt and duty of a more special love." In order that these faults might be washed away, He then recommended several things to be done, and in particular the following as most pleasing to Himself, namely that men should approach the Altar with this purpose of expiating sin, making what is called a Communion of Reparation, - and that they should likewise make expiatory supplications and prayers, prolonged for a whole hour, - which is rightly called the "Holy Hour." “Miserentissimus Deus, Pius XI, 1928, n°12).

PROMISES OF THE SACRED HEART FOR

THE DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART

Of the many promises Our Lord Jesus Christ did reveal to Saint Margaret Mary in favor of souls devoted to His Sacred Heart the principal ones are as follows:
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
5. I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
9. I will bless those places wherein the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart.
12. In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.

The Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the World, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, united substantially with the word of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity, have mercy on us. Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, rich to all who invoke Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, fount of life and holiness, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, saturated with revilings, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, crushed for our iniquities, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, made obedient unto death, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord,
Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
V. Jesus, meek and humble of Heart.
R. Make our hearts like unto Thine.
Let us pray
Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of Thy well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou, in Thy great goodness, grant pardon to them who seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end.

(J.M.) (Agenzia Fides 1/6/2007; righe 64, parole 877)