Virgo Potens

Souvenir of 1st Communion 1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 15th CHAPTER VIII THE EXCHANGES BETWEEN THE HEART OF JESUS AND OUR HEARTS ON one Good Friday St. Mechtilde asked herself what worthy thanksgiving she could give to our Lord for His wounds, especially for that in the Sacred Heart. “What kind of thanksgiving ought we to offer Thee, dearest Lord, for being wounded on the Cross for men, when love pierced Thy compassionate Heart with the arrow of an invincible charity? What shall we do when blood and water gushed forth to cure us, and when Thou didst die the death of love vanquished by the love Thou bearest Thy Spouse?” Our Lord replied, “Let man conform his will to Mine, and in all and above all let My will be everything to him.” And our Lord added: “I tell thee truly accept I tears shed over My Passion, as if they were death suffered for Me.” (continued below)

Make a visit to your Saviour in one of His churches, and choose in preference a solitary church, in which, humbly kneeling on the threshold, you may implore Him to look down upon you and speak to your heart, whilst He casts upon you a look of tenderness and compassion. You will hear and answer Him, and will give Him all He asks for. You will obey Him in all things. Perhaps He may say to you, as He did to His faithful spouse, the Blessed Margaret Mary: ‘Behold this Heart, which has so loved mankind, which has loved you so much, even you, and receives only ingratitude from you, as from many others!’ Now, to console this good Master, make at His feet an act of love and reparation with all the fervour of which you are capable. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 14th If Jesus loved St. John more than the other apostles, was it not because St. John loved Him more than did his companions? For this reason he was allowed to rest his head on the breast of his divine Master at the Last Supper. In ecstasy at such a grace Mechtilde asked our Lord how she could show her love and praise Him on His disciple’s account. “First, thou shalt praise me,” replied Jesus, “on account of the nobility of his birth, for he belongs to My family, the most noble on the earth; second, that I called him from the marriage to the apostolate; third, that he deserved to see the beauty of My face on the mountain in preference to others; fourth, that at the Last Supper he deserved to rest on My breast; fifth, that he more than others received the gift of knowledge, so that he was able to write for others the prayer I said on the Mount of Olives; sixth, because by particular love, I, on the Cross, gave him My Mother to guard; seventh, that after My Resurrection I gave him special lights, which caused him to recognize Me when, driven before the storm, he cried out with the other disciples: It is the Lord (John xxi. 7); eighth, that by a special privilege, due to My love, I revealed to Him My mysteries when he wrote the Apocalypse, and through My divine inspiration he was able to write in his Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, which truth was unknown to the Prophets and to other men; ninth, that, for My glory,he drank poison; tenth,that in My Name he worked many miracles and raised the dead; eleventh, that I rejoiced him by My many appearances and that I invited him to My banquet with his brothers; twelfth, that I exempted him from all bodily pains and led him gloriously from this exile to eternal joy.” The Sacred Heart not only willed to reward his well-beloved disciple while on earth, but He has also raised him to a high degree of glory in heaven. “St. John received in all his faculties something higher than all the other saints. His eyes see more clearly the inaccessible light of the divinity. His ears catch more quickly, for the nourishment of his soul, the sweet whisper which comes from God. His mouth and tongue taste greater sweetness. But above all his heart burns with a more delicious love of God and springs with freer and more sublime flights into the most inaccessible heights of the divinity.” ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 14th CHAPTER VII THE HEART OF JESUS AND THE WELL-BELOVED APOSTLE ST. JOHN has called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” He had a meek and gentle heart and through his relationship to our Lord was intimate with Him from his infancy. One day Mechtilde was anxious to know if our Lord had renewed His intimacy with his relatives on His return from Egypt. He replied: “How comes it, thinkest thou, that it is said in the Holy Gospels: ‘They sought Him amongst their kinsfolk and acquaintance,’ if I was not sometimes with them ? And how came it, thinkest thou again, that St. John the Evangelist was so prompt in following Me, when I called him, after the marriage, if My manner of life and character had not pleased him, for he knew Me well, which made his obedience in following Me so easy.” (continued below)

On June 13, 1917, Our Lady said to the children "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say [this prayer] many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice[.]" O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Ó Jesus, é por Vosso amor, pela conversão dos pecadores e em reparação pelos pecados cometidos contra o Imaculado Coração de Maria.

O dear reader, if Jesus ever some day or other should look upon you and summon you one day, respond to Him, follow Him; He has the words of eternal life, and to whom could you go, if not to your Saviour and your God? ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 13th The tears of Jesus were gathered together and are kept in His Heart. Notwithstanding the burning flames of which that Heart is the seat, they are not consumed. Let us draw near to the precious treasure which contains them. Somewhere there we shall find a tear shed for ourselves, but let us bring our own so that they may be sanctified, even those we shed for frivolous reasons. “Thou shalt say to the person for whom thou prayest,“ said Our Lord one day to St. Mechtilde, “that she should not weep so much, but if she cannot help doing so that she should unite her tears to Mine, regretting that she had not shed them for sinners or through love. I will then offer them to the Father, united to Mine, when she asks me to do so.” Our Lord continued: “Tell her from Me, that she should beg Me in My goodness to change the nature of her tears as if they had been shed from love or devotion, or from contrition for her sins” At these words St. Mechtilde wondered much that tears shed so uselessly could be changed into such holy tears. And our Lord said to her: “I ask her only to believe in My goodness, and according to her faith My love in her shall become perfect.” Let us therefore take our tears to the Heart of Jesus. Mingled with His, they will become meritorious. Is it not a consolation for those who weep to be able to do so on the heart of a sincere and sympathizing friend? Where, then, shall we find a friend whose heart is more devoted to us than is the Sacred Heart of Jesus ? ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 13th The love of Jesus for His Father, the love of Jesus for men, was then the cause of His tears—tears of joy because of the glory He was about to procure for His Father and the salvation He was bringing to the world by His sacrifice, tears of sadness on account of the insults continually offered to that well-beloved Father and because of the ingratitude of which mankind was guilty. (continued below)

Not my will but Thine be done, Lord. But the principle work of zeal, its most penetrating and always victorious action, is sacrifice : you only have to suffer for a soul, and you are sure to save it. Was it not by His Cross and blood that Jesus Christ became the Saviour of mankind; and is there a single apostle in His Church who has not suffered or died for souls? Pray and suffer, then, for souls, and God will give them to you. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 12th “On earth, whenever I thought of My ineffable union with the Eternal Father by which I am One with Him, My humanity could not refrain from weeping. Also every time I thought of the immense love which had drawn Me from the Father’s bosom to unite Me with human nature, My humanity was fain to weep.” Then Mechtilde asked: “And where are those tears which love made Thee shed?” He answered: “They are in a special place in My Heart, they are a loved treasure, guarded in a chosen, secret place.” She replied: “Thou didst tell me once that these tears of love disappeared in Thy Heart as in a furnace.” Our Lord replied: “That is quite true, for in the furnace of My Heart they disappear as drops of water thrown into the fire, but they are not consumed, they remain in the depth of My Heart.” The Sacred Heart of Jesus is therefore the source of the tears He shed while here below and the mysterious reservoir which received and guards them even now in heaven. “Jesus, O most loving Jesus,” cries out Msgr. Beaudry, “how long have I begged of Thy Heart the secret of those tears Thou didst shed on earth! Have I not wept enough to be told the value of those tears? “Sweet as the dew from heaven and bitter as the waters of the ocean, tears are equally a sign of joy or of sadness, and because both these feelings come from the heart, it follows that tears are but the words of the heart, the exterior manifestation of what it feels within” (Mgr. Baudry, 434). ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 12th CHAPTER VI THE TEARS OF OUR LORD WE are never told in the Gospels that Jesus smiled, but we often hear that He wept. He wept at the grave of Lazarus, an image of a soul dead in sin; and He wept over Jerusalem, the ungrateful and hardened city; and at other times tears fell from the eyes of our divine Master. Why did these tears flow, and what became of them? Let us listen to Jesus : (continued below)

Faith. Charity. Mercy. So, true zeal, that thirst for souls, cannot be satisfied with prayer and desire alone; but as it is love, it must also act, and, above all, it must suffer. The action of zeal is powerful, its sufferings are always fruitful. What, then, are it’s works? At first, words — those wise counsels which turn souls from evil or lead them to virtue — and then, above all, examples of Christian life, which attract and lead others in the path of virtue, and in which lies a strength which cannot long be resisted, especially when these examples are set by those who are beloved. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 11th “This is the voice of my glory. When a Souls repents of its sins more through love than through fear, and weeps for the sins it has committed, it deserves to hear these words from Me: ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace’ (Luke vii. 48). And, indeed, as soon as anyone repents sincerely of the sins he has committed, I fully forgive him and receive him into My favour as though he had never offended Me. “The second voice of My glory is that which a soul united to Me by intimate prayer and contemplation hears from Me: ‘Come, My beloved, show Me thy face.’ “The third is when a soul about to leave the body is sweetly invited to rest: ‘Come, My elect, and I will make of thee My throne’ (Office of Virgins). “The fourth voice of My glory shall be heard on the Day of Judgment, when I will invite with triumph to My Kingdom of honour and glory all those whom I have chosen from all eternity. I shall say to them: ‘Come ye blessed of My Father, possess the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’” (Matt. xxiv. 34). The words of glory of the Sacred Heart are those which make us happy. ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 11th There are still other words which reveal the greatness of the love of the Sacred Heart—“the voice of His glory,” as He calls them Himself. They are each a triumphal hymn of the Sacred Heart; they are more, they are a proclamation of His love. Let us listen to our Lord: (continued below)

The chief wish of our great God is to save souls; it is the incessant labour of the Three Adorable Persons to assist in this divine work. To cooperate for the salvation of a soul, whether by prayer, by teaching, by example, by sacrifice, or by any other way whatsoever, is, says a holy doctor, the most perfect, the most divine of all works. . . . So, whoever you may be, strive to give the Heart of Jesus this joy: save souls, and you will save your own: angels will rejoice, and you will be beloved of God. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 10th He wishes St. Mechtilde to understand this. “He opened to her the wound in His Holy Heart and said to her: ‘See the extent of My love. If thou wouldst know it well, seek for nothing clearer than the words of the Holy Gospels. No words have ever expressed a more tender love than those—“As the Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you” (John xv 9). And there are many others like them, which I spoke to My disciples as well as to My Father, while loading them with My benefits.’” Nothing can really express the immensity of the love the Sacred Heart has for us better than these words—“As the Father hath loved Me.” We are loved by Jesus as He is loved by His Father. That is, He is loved above all, He is loved so as to be the object of His eternal complacency. “This is beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 10th CHAPTER V GOOD WORDS—WITNESSES OF THE LOVE OF THE SACRED HEART ALL Christ’s works originated in His Heart. From this fruitful and loving Heart, as He Himself says, flows and will flow without ceasing every good, all joy and happiness in heaven and on earth. In the same way all the good words contained in the Gospels come from this sacred source. (continued below)

And you who cease not to grieve Him by your resistance to grace, to the most intimate solicitations of His tenderness; you who refuse Him the smallest sacrifices, who can never suffer anything by which you may prove to Him that you think of, and wish to please, Him, could you say that you love Him? His Heart carries a cross, and yet you have a horror of the cross! It is crowned with thorns, and you fear the least trouble! It is wounded and bleeds, but you will not see or hear, or do any thing that annoys, or displeases, or causes you loss. How could you say you loved Him? No; you love Him not; your heart, which has neither cross nor thorns, has no flames of love, and is not like the Heart of Jesus. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

And you who cease not to grieve Him by your resistance to grace, to the most intimate solicitations of His tenderness; you who refuse Him the smallest sacrifices, who can never suffer anything by which you may prove to Him that you think of, and wish to please, Him, could you say that you love Him? His Heart carries a cross, and yet you have a horror of the cross! It is crowned with thorns, and you fear the least trouble! It is wounded and bleeds, but you will not see or hear, or do any thing that annoys, or displeases, or causes you loss. How could you say you loved Him? No; you love Him not; your heart, which has neither cross nor thorns, has no flames of love, and is not like the Heart of Jesus. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 9th “Again, he who carries something precious and of great value girds himself carefully, for fear he should lose it, so I am carrying the precious treasure, man’s soul, and have girded Myself with care, and I carry the souls of all those who are to be saved, with love and untold desires, in My Heart.” He who like a giant sprang from heaven to save souls, transformed by love, became the Good Shepherd seeking the lost sheep. The young man, slender and agile, has to take the part of the Father of the family going to meet the prodigal son and preparing a banquet at his son’s return. Who could describe the ardent desires of the Heart of Jesus for the salvation of souls? “Come here and rest at My feet,” He said one day to Mechtilde; obeying at once, she rested her head on Jesus feet, so that her ear was just over the wound in His foot, and there she heard the sound as of water boiling in the wound. Our Lord asked her what was the sound she heard. Mechtilde thought she could not tell, and our Lord continued: “This boiling caldron seems to say: Hasten! hasten! So the ardent love of My heart ever urged me on, saying: Hasten from labour to labour, from town to town, from preaching to preaching, never allowing Me any rest, until I had done all that was necessary for thy salvation.” ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)