Virgo Potens

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 21st On Easter Sunday evening Jesus appeared to Mechtilde and said to her: “This evening I am come to serve you all. At your meal I would serve five different dishes. “The first is the joy My divinity received on this day from My humanity and My humanity from my divinity. “The second, the joy I felt when in the place of all the bitterness that love poured on Me during my Passion, it now spread an immeasurable happiness and the fulness of its joy through all my members. “The third, the joy I felt in offering to My Father the most precious gift, in a transport of delight. I mean My soul and all the souls I had just redeemed. “The fourth, the joy I experienced when the Father gave Me the power to honour, enrich and reward the friends whom I had redeemed with so much pain and at so great a cost. “The fifth, the joy I felt in seeing My Father associate with Me, in the everlasting glory of My throne, those whom I had redeemed, making them coheirs with Me and guests at My table. Other kings, after having dined with their friends, leave them once the repast is over, but My friends will remain with Me eternally. ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 21st But what were the special joys of this adorable Heart when it began again to beat in the Holy Sepulchre. Our Lord deigned to make them known to His humble Spouse in giving her a foretaste of them even here below. (continued below)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 21st But what were the special joys of this adorable Heart when it began again to beat in the Holy Sepulchre. Our Lord deigned to make them known to His humble Spouse in giving her a foretaste of them even here below. (continued below)

6/3/23 (Sacred Heart) Act of Charity My God, I love Thee, not because I hope for heaven thereby, Nor because they who love Thee not Must burn eternally. Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me Upon the Cross embrace ; For me didst bear the nails and spear, And manifold disgrace, And griefs and torments numberless, And sweat of agony, E’en death itself — and all for one Who was Thine enemy. Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ, Should I not love Thee well? Not for the sake of winning heaven Or of escaping hell ; Not with the hope of gaining aught, Not seeking a reward, But as Thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord. E’en so I love Thee, and will love, And in Thy praise will sing, Solely because Thou art my God And my eternal King. ~ attributed to St. Francis Xavier ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 20th At the dawn of the third day the holy soul of our divine Lord was reunited to the mangled body and brought with it all the privileges of a glorious resurrection, brightness, agility, subtilty, and impassibility. The risen Jesus will sit at the right hand of His Father, but how shall His Sacred Heart be glorified? “The glorification of My Heart consisted in this, that God the Father gave Me all power in heaven and on earth. By this gift I became all-powerful in My humanity as well as in My divinity. I could reward, honour and elevate My friends and prove My love for them with perfect freedom. The glorification of My eyes and ears gave Me the power to penetrate fully into all the needs and sorrows of My faithful ones, and to hear and grant their desires and prayers. My entire body received the power as a privilege of this glory, to be everywhere present in My humanity, as I am in My divinity with all and each of My friends, wherever I wish, a privilege that no other, however powerful, either has obtained, or could obtain.” In this way the glorification of the Sacred Heart is a power at the service of its friends, and it sees all their needs wherever they are. The glorification of the Sacred Heart is again the work of Love. ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 20th CHAPTER XI THE GLORIFICATION OF THE SACRED HEART THE Sacred Heart had been pierced by the lance, the last drops of blood had flowed, the body of the great Victim had been taken down from the Cross, embalmed with sweet spices, enclosed in the tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, and secured by the seals of the High Priest. (continued below)

[L]ove is the source of all the sufferings of Jesus Christ. He suffered and died because He loved us; and in His mystic life His Heart suffers because of His love, and because He is not loved. [Our Saviour’s words to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque] He said to me, ‘Thou canst make Me no greater return than by doing that which I have so often asked of thee;’ and showing me His Divine Heart, said, ‘Behold this Heart, which has so loved mankind that it has spared nothing, even to exhaust and consume itself, to manifest its love to them. In return I receive from the greater number only ingratitudes, contempt, irreverence, sacrileges, and coldness in this Sacrament of My love.’ ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 19th Then My soul possessed by grace what the Divinity possesses by nature. At that moment the divine and eternal desire which the Holy Trinity had always entertained to unite human nature to the Divinity, in order to redeem man, filled My soul with a great love and urged it to accomplish the task. Also, in the divine wisdom, I understood with a perfectly clear vision the glory of My humanity and the task it had undertaken, in consequence of which I had to devote Myself unsparingly to the salvation of men. To Me the thought was the cause of a divine joy which filled My whole being. The infusion of the merciful love which came from the Holy Spirit into My soul disposed and animated it so effectively towards the salvation of mankind that the burden seemed to it full of sweetness. From the moment of My conception by the Holy Ghost, when My soul was united to My body, this divine desire was controlled by almighty power, and the joy by divine wisdom, and the strength of its love was sweetened by the unction of the Holy Spirit, and in this way I was able to retain the breath of My temporal life. But when the moment of My death drew near, this all-powerful, wise and merciful love, which at the beginning had caused my heart to beat with so much violence, yielded to the superior strength of the divinity and allowed free course to My desire and joy. My heart was then possessed by a love that may not be compared to any other, for it was greater than all other loves. The separation of My soul from My body, which no other hardships could have caused, was its work.” We learn from this that our Lord’s life was only possible because His love was suppressed. His death therefore was caused by His love being allowed complete sway. The Sacred Heart could not contain it. It broke, and on the blood-stained bed of the Cross Jesus, like His Mother, died of love only. ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 19th CHAPTER X THE SACRED HEART AT THE TIME OF OUR LORD’S DEATH LOVE led our Divine Lord in the way of sorrow and kept Him in it until death. St. Mechtilde asked our Lord how it was that He had expired so quickly, after three beats of His divine Heart. He answered her: “When in a transport of joy the Holy Trinity created My soul, the Three Divine Persons at once surrounded it with Their ineffable love and poured Themselves entirely into it, thus giving to My soul all They possessed—the Father, His almighty power; the Son, His uncreated wisdom; The Holy Spirit, His goodness and love. (continued below)

[T]he most cruel sufferings of the Heart of Jesus are not caused by the contempt of strangers, who know Him not, nor by the irreverences of the impious who outrage Him, nor by the sacrileges of sinners who deliver Him to death in an impure heart, but by the coldness of those souls whom He has loaded with proofs of His tenderness, and whom He called to His love; the coldness and tepidity of His friends, His disciples, His priests, and His spouses. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 18th PRAYER TO ST. MARY MAGDALENE I give Thee thanks, O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, for all the tears that Blessed Mary Magdalen shed at Thy feet, for washing them with her hands, wiping them with her hair, and for the love with which Thou didst so entirely inflame her body and soul, filling her heart so that she never loved any other thing than Thyself. Therefore, I beg of Thee, Lord Jesus, that by her great merits Thou wouldst grant me the tears of true repentance and fill me with Thy divine love, so that before death all my sins may be forgiven by Thee, Jesus, Saviour of the World, King of glory, who livest and reignest with the same God, Father and Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen. ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 18th Sinful souls who have sullied your hearts like Magdalen, do you not feel great comfort in hearing such words? You, too, can reach the Heart of God. You can also burn with the same love as Magdalen and receive the same wounds! (continued below)

In this revelation of the love of Jesus we see the extreme desire He had that men should love Him, and how greatly their want of love pained Him. And what was He about to do, that He might overcome their hearts and gain their love? He tells His spouse that He will give His Heart. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 17th If also other combustible matter, such as venial sin, is thrown in it is also consumed and destroyed. This soul would be entirely aflame, and on leaving the body the evil spirits would not dare to approach it. But they who are not burning with this fire, I mean divine love, whatever they may do, will not be able to destroy their sins. The evil they do will weigh them down and be a heavy load at the hour of death. According to this doctrine, with what a great love must Magdalen’s heart have been filled! This holy fire had been enkindled on the day she was forgiven, but it had grown every day while she followed Jesus, listened to His words, and imitated His virtues. What had it become after she had received the five wounds in her heart at the time of the Passion? What was it after our Lord s appearance to her on the morning of the Resurrection? What was it at the end of Magdalen’s life after her long years of penance in the Cave of St. Baume? She is one of the lovers of the Sacred Heart and her mission is to gain for it disciples from amongst the lost sheep. And Mechtilde teaches us how it is done: “She seemed to see, springing from our Lord’s feet, two trees covered with leaves and fruit, signifying the fruits of penance that Magdalen gathered, and distributed with joy to all who sought her help.” Mechtilde understood that she had obtained at our Lord s feet the privilege of obtaining for all those who invoked her the gift of true repentance, and St. Mary Magdalen said to her, “Everyone who gives thanks to God for the tears I shed over the feet of Christ, and for my having washed those sacred feet and wiped them with my hair; and who praises Him for the love He then poured into my soul and heart, so inflaming me that I could never again love anything else; and begs tears of true repentance and the infusion of divine love, will see our Lord listen willingly, because of my merits, to his pious requests. Before death his sins will be forgiven and he will increase in the love of God.” ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 17th Mechtilde saw Magdalen standing before our Lord. Her burning heart shone with the brightness of the sun and illumined her whole body. Heaven showed her that this fire had been kindled in Magdalen’s heart for the first time when she heard Christ say: “Thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace” (Luke vii. 50). It was so strong in her that from that time all her thoughts and actions were changed into it. Mechtilde also understood that in every soul consumed by divine love all its actions, thoughts, or sufferings, like branches thrown into the fire, are changed into the fire of love and increase it constantly by feeding it. (continued below)

Let us, in the first place, examine the secret of the sufferings of the Heart of Jesus, which we should rouse ourselves to console. He began by manifesting the cause of these sorrows, namely, the ingratitude of men, the grief of not being loved; and this pain is infinite, because His love for us has no limits. He loved unto the end. [Our Saviour’s words to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque] ‘I am more sensible of this,’ He said to me, ‘than of all else that I suffered in My Passion. If they made Me any return for My love, I should esteem as nothing all I have done for them; and if it were possible, I would suffer more. But all My eagerness to do them good meets with coldness and rebuffs. Do thou at least atone for their ingratitude as much as it lies in thy power.’ In this revelation of the love of Jesus we see the extreme desire He had that men should love Him, and how greatly their want of love pained Him. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 16th And Mechtilde cried: “Oh, dearest Lord, teach me how I may praise Thee as the loving Saint does.” Our Lord replied: You must do it in the five wounds that love imprinted in her soul at the time of My Passion. When I was hanging on the Cross and near the end, seeing My eyes, which had so often looked with mercy on her, about to close in death, Magdalen’s heart was pierced as with a sharp arrow. She also saw death about to close My ears which had so often listened to her petitions; she witnessed the sorrow and tears of My Mother whom she tenderly loved for My sake. She then received another wound in her breast which was moved by compassion. She then saw My lips, which had so often said kind words to instruct and console her, above all those words ‘Thy faith has made thee safe, go in peace’ (Luke vii. 50), grow white in death and become incapable of speech. She again felt her heart pierced. Shortly afterwards, seeing My Heart and being moved again to great love for Me, her heart was pierced again. And at last, when she saw Me, her life, her joy and all her treasure, without whom she seemed unable to live, dead and laid in the tomb, her soul dying, so to speak, by the violence of its love, succumbed under inexpressible sorrow.” ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 16th CHAPTER IX HOW OUR LORD PIERCED MAGDALENE’S HEART DURING THE PASSION FAITHFUL souls followed our Lord when the disciples took flight. Later on, the Sacred Heart was to ask for consolation to repair so many injuries and so much ingratitude, but first it loaded them with great graces. The most highly privileged was St. Mary Magdalen: she was also the most loving. On the day of St. Mary Magdalen’s feast, Mechtilde saw our Lord sweetly folding the humble penitent to His Sacred Heart. Mechtilde was astonished, remembering the words, “and incorruption bringeth near to God” (Wisd. vi. 20) and here was Magdalen! But our Lord reassured Mechtilde: “The intensity of love that she bore Me on earth,” He said, “is the measure of the union which associates her with Me in heaven.” (continued below)

His tears over Jerusalem. ‘He wept over it.’ (Luke xix. 41). All the Fathers have explained this passage of the Gospel, and given the same interpretation to these tears of Jesus; they say that the perfidious city is an emblem of an ungrateful soul, over which the Saviour cannot but weep, because He loves it, and longs to save it. . . . Beseech Jesus to grant you the grace to love Him, and the pardon of those sins which cost Him so many tears on Calvary. . . Make me truly with Thee weep. O my God, give me great sorrow for my sins, and plenteous tears. Make me weep with thee, O Blessed Virgin, mother of love. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 15th O Jesus, shall the tears of my eyes be as precious to Thee as the blood of Thy Heart ? “What shall I do, Lord, to obtain these tears?” Our Lord replied: “I will teach thee. Think first of the love and friendliness with which I went forth to meet My enemies. They sought to kill Me with swords and clubs, as though I were a robber and a malefactor, and I went to meet them as a mother goes before her son to save him from the fangs of the wolf. Then, as they struck Me without pity, I returned their blows with as many affectionate kisses to those who should be saved through the merits of My Passion to the last day. Afterwards, while they scourged me so cruelly, I prayed so efficaciously for them to My Heavenly Father that many of them were converted. When they pressed the crown of thorns on My head, I counted the thorns that pierced Me, so that I might place as many precious stones in their crown. When they nailed Me to the Cross and stretched out My Body so that My bones and sinews could be counted, I employed My divine power to draw to Myself the souls of those that were predestined to eternal life. This was to accomplish what I had already said: When I shall be lifted up I shall draw all things to Myself. When at last the spear opened My side, I drew from My Heart a life-giving drink for all those who had drunk of death in Adam. I caused them to become children of eternal life and salvation in Me who am Life.” How beautiful are these words! The Sacred Heart of Jesus embraces souls when Judas came to give Him a traitorous kiss ! The Sacred Heart prays for those who scourge Him. The Sacred Heart exchanges the thorns of His Crown for precious stones for ours! But the last words are especially delightful. We have all drunk of the cup of Adam’s heart and we have in our veins an impure, tainted blood, full of pride and the rebellion of concupiscence, passion, sin and death, but from the cup of the Sacred Heart we drink of a precious Blood, full of humility, obedience, sanctity, and eternal life. Let us drink our fill. ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)