A Catholic Land

The Revelations of The Sacred Heart.

The First Revelation of The Sacred Heart.

There are some things in the revelations that tie in closely with the gospels. Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus are named in the gospels as the beloved disciples of Our Lord [Jn 11:5.] Meanwhile the 'anonymous' disciple named as loved (beloved) by Our Lord in parts of St John's gospel [13:23,19:26-27,20:2, 21:2&20] has always been identified as St John the Apostle/the Divine himself. St John laid his head on Our Lord's Breast at the last supper, and the gospel also reveals that he, and St Mary Magdalene, stood at the foot of the Cross. St John is known as "the first man of the Sacred Heart." (St John is also the author of the Apocalypse (Book of Revelation.)
Sr Margaret Mary, with her great mission, was born on the 22nd July, the feast day of St Mary Magdalene. Meanwhile, this first revelation took place on 27th December 1673; the very feast day of St John the Divine. During the revelation, Our Lord invited Sr Margaret Mary to rest her head on His Breast, and which she did, He then named her His "beloved disciple of My Sacred Heart." She is very clearly associated with St Mary Magdalene, with St John the Divine. A great mission is given to Sr Margaret Mary, Our Lord saying to her:

"My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men, and for
thee in particular that, being unable any longer to contain
within Itself the flames of Its burning Charity, It must needs
spread them abroad by thy means, and manifest Itself to
them [mankind] in order to enrich them with the precious
treasures which I discover to thee, and which contain
graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw
them from the Abyss of perdition. I have chosen thee as an
abyss of unworthiness and ignorance for the accomplishment
of this great design, in order that everything may be done
by Me."1

Sr Margaret Mary describes the mystical exchange that happened next:

"After this He asked me for my heart, which I begged Him to take.
He did so and placed it in His own Adorable Heart where He
showed it to me as a little atom which was being consumed in
this great furnace, and withdrawing it thence as a burning flame
in the form of a heart, He restored it to the place whence He had
taken it saying to me:" See, My well-beloved, I give thee a
precious token of My love, having enclosed within thy side
a little spark of Its glowing flames, that It may serve thee for
a heart and consume thee to the last moment of thy life.
[He added] If hitherto, thou hast taken only the name of
My slave, I now give thee that of the beloved disciple of My
Sacred Heart."2

Our Lord has given to Sr Margaret Mary a mission that He Himself identifies very precisely in.

1. The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary: Translated by the Sisters of the Visitation. Tan Books And Publishers 1986 (now St Benedict Press) p53
2.The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary ibid pp53-54

The Second/Third Revelation.

Some commentators say that there were three revelations, some say four; the difference concerns whether or not the second and third revelation are, in fact, one revelation; they seem to be one, but Sr Margaret Mary's use of the word "then" to begin the next part of the revelation is the likely cause of some believing that this begins a further revelation. It can be referred to the second/third revelation. The revelation is undated but took place in 1674. Sr Margaret Mary describes how, during a Friday exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Our Lord appeared:

"...my sweet Master; presented Himself to me, all resplendent
with glory, His Five Wounds shining like so many suns. Flames
issued from every part of His Sacred Humanity, especially
from His adorable Bosom, which resembled an open furnace
and disclosed to me His most loving and most amiable Heart,
which was the living source of these flames." 1

In his writing on St Margaret Mary, Henri Gheon includes that a Cross was placed over the Sacred Heart and points out that it was in accordance with this that Sr Margaret Mary drew the picture of the Sacred Heart which the Church venerates today.2 Our Lord expressed to her that He desired to be honoured in all places under the figure of His Heart of Flesh, as:

"a favour to men and to set them once more in these last ages -
under the sweet liberty of the empire of His love"3

Our Lord, out of His great love for us remains in His Sacred Humanity and He seeks for us to honour Him in a very explicit way. Notice in the above the reference to the "last ages." Sr Margaret Mary continues:

"He made known to me the ineffable marvels of His pure [love]
and showed me to what an excess He had loved men, from whom
He received only ingratitude and contempt. "I feel this more,"
[He said] "than all that I suffered during My Passion. If only
they would make Me some return for My love, I should think
but little of all I have done for them and would wish, were
it possible, to suffer still more. But the sole return they make
for all My eagerness to do them good is to reject Me and treat
Me with coldness. Do thou at least console Me by supplying
for their ingratitude, as far as thou art able."4

This revelation also sees Our Lord asking Sr Margaret Mary to supplicate as much as she can; Our Lord asks of her:

"And in order to bear Me company in the humble prayer that I
then offered to My Father, in the midst of My anguish, thou
shalt rise between eleven o'clock and midnight, and remain
prostrate with Me for an hour, not only to appease the divine
anger by begging mercy for sinners, but also to mitigate in
some way the bitterness which I felt at that time on finding
Myself abandoned by My Apostles, which obliged Me to
reproach them for not being able to watch one hour with
Me."5

Thus was instituted the Thursday night "Holy Hour" and which became an established devotion in the Church. Keeping our Lord company during His agony in the garden of Gethsemane, where He did sweat Blood for us; as St Luke tells us:

"...and being in agony He prayed the longer and His Sweat
became as drops of Blood trickling down upon the
ground."[Lk22:43-44]

Our Lord knowing exactly what was ahead of Him, and the pain and suffering that this would bring. And indeed Our Lord had known of this for a long time. The Cross was planted in His human Heart from the very beginning of His incarnation. Only He, as God, could recompense for our sins; and so He became man for us; true God and true man; He lay in our tombs for us as the saying goes. His love for mankind is an immense love; His Sacred Heart of flesh a proof of His love. In His agony in the garden He was seeking company in these moments; for His Apostles to be close to Him.

1 The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary ibid p56
2 Henri Gheon. The Secret of Margaret Mary: Butlers Lives of the Saints at http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARYSSTMARGM.htm accessed on 27/2/08
3 Gheon ibid.
4.The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary ibid p56
5.The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary ibid p57.

The Fourth Revelation.

The fourth revelation took place in June 1675. Again, Sr Margaret Mary is before the Blessed Sacrament on a Friday. Our Lord said to her:

"Behold this Heart, Which has loved men so much, that It has
spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in
order to testify to them Its love; and in return I receive from
the greater number nothing but ingratitude by reason of their
irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt
which they show Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what I
feel the most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated
to Me that treat Me thus. Therefore, I ask of thee that the
Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a
special feast to honour My Heart, by communicating
on that day and making reparation to It by a solemn act, in
order to make amends for the indignities which It has received
during the time It has been exposed on the altars. I promise
thee that My Heart shall expand Itself to shed in abundance
the influence of Its divine love upon those who shall thus
honour It, and cause It to be honoured."1

Thus, the fourth revelation is very much focused on the Eucharist, and how much we must revere the Eucharist.

1. The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary ibid pp 95-96

Devotion To The Sacred Heart Of Jesus.

This great devotion of many great graces. Well known from the earliest times.

Devotion to Our Lord's Sacred Heart is one of the oldest and greatest devotions in the Church. It is a doctrinal devotion, grounded firmly in the great reality that is the Love of Our Lord God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The devotion was well known in the Early Church and encouraged by the Fathers of the Church.

It continued to be well known down through the centuries; Saint Gertrude, Saint Francis de Sales, Saint Chantelle, Saint John Eudes, are just a few of the saints associated with it that come to mind and, of course, the devotion came to great prominence in that late 17th and during the eighteenth century, following the work and mission of St Margaret Mary and Claude de la Colombiere in the late 17th century. Sr/St Margaret Mary had reported her receiving revelations of Our Lord; of His Sacred Heart; the revelations were approved by the Church.

Sr(St) Margaret Mary was a nun of The Visitation Order (Visitation Of The Blessed Virgin.) And which had been founded earlier in the seventeenth century by St Francis de Sales, and St Jane de Chantal.

Even though an enclosed Order, the sisters' determined efforts ensured that a great mission took hold: Pictures and prints of the Sacred Heart were distributed, prayers, pamphlets, and booklets were written and translations into different languages made. Consecrations to the Sacred Heart were taking place, and confraternities involving several countries were established. Pilgrimages were undertaken and chapels built. The clergy and the laity facilitated their work. The Jesuits were actively involved and the devotion spread rapidly. The following letter tells of the work and is also a revealing of the strength of the Faith; in the context of the laity, and religious houses, at that time.

"Finally, dear Mother, it is consoling to hear of the great progress this lovable devotion is making. We hear from Lyons that it is almost miraculous how frequently and eagerly everyone practices it. Three or four towns have been mentioned which are going to have these books printed. Marseilles is one of them. There will be a thousand for that city alone. And of the twenty-seven religious houses in this city there is not a single one that has not taken up this devotion with fervor. Some are erecting altars to the Sacred Heart, others are having chapels built. As soon as the people of Marseilles heard the devotion spoken of they importuned preachers to give them sermons about it and to carefully explain this devotion to them..." Sr(St) Margaret Mary, from her letters.*

It was from this great mission that the Churches, Chapels, Altars, etc dedicated to The Sacred Heart took shape across Europe and beyond.

The Popes greatly encouraged devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and as the Church moved into the 20th century, increasingly associated it with Christ The King. Pope Leo XIII wrote his encyclical on The Sacred Heart (Annum Sacrum) in 1899, and which accompanied his consecrating the world to The Sacred Heart, and which he described as "the greatest act of my pontificate."

Devotion to Our Lord's Sacred Heart is a most fruitful devotion and to be treasured. And the Church has rightly always encouraged it.

* The Letters of St Margaret Mary Alacoque. Apostle of The Sacred Heart. tan Books 1997 p166.

A Salutation To The Sacred Heart.

A Salutation To The Sacred Heart

(By Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque)

Hail, Heart of Jesus, save me!
Hail, Heart of my Creator, perfect me!
Hail, Heart of my Saviour, deliver me!
Hail, Heart of my Judge, grant me pardon!
Hail, Heart of my Father, govern me!
Hail, Heart of my Spouse, grant me love!
Hail, Heart of my Master, teach me!
Hail, Heart of my King, be my crown!
Hail, Heart of my Benefactor, enrich me!
Hail, Heart of my Shepherd, guard me!
Hail, Heart of my Friend, comfort me!
Hail, Heart of my Brother, stay with me!
Hail, Heart of the Child Jesus, draw me to Thyself!
Hail, Heart of Jesus, dying on the Cross, redeem me!
Hail, Heart of Jesus in all Thy states, give Thyself to me!
Hail, Heart of incomparable goodness, have mercy on me!
Hail, Heart of splendour, shine within me!
Hail, most loving Heart, inflame me!
Hail, most merciful Heart, work within me!
Hail, most humble Heart, dwell within me!
Hail, most patient Heart, support me!
Hail, most faithful Heart, be my reward!
Hail, most admirable and most worthy Heart, bless me!

The following is a very special prayer: