Saint John Marie Vianney -- The Secret Of His Holiness

Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney was a religious personality of unusual force. To the incomparable exclusion of everything else he addressed himself to the greater honor and glory of God and the salvation of souls. He accepted his obligation to holiness at an early age, and it took complete possession of him. Every word he uttered was spoken out of the world of religiousness. He brought to a conclusion an achievement which it would be hard for anyone to imitate. From this man there emanated an influence which cannot be overlooked, and the results of which cannot be contested.

St. John Vianney’s mother was a woman of great piety, and she led him into the way of religion at an early age. “I owe a debt to my mother,” he said, and added, “virtues go easily from mothers into the hearts of their children, who willingly do what they see being done.” He was a good-natured boy, with blue eyes and brown hair. In spite of his lively disposition, he admitted much later on in life that “when I was young, I did not know evil. I was first acquainted with it in the confessional, from the mouths of sinners.”

It was only after much toil and trouble that St. John Vianney was admitted to the priesthood. At the age of 20, he was having great difficulty in his studies for the priesthood. Mathias Loras, perhaps the most intelligent of Jean-Marie’s fellow seminarians, who was assigned to help him in his lessons, was of a nervous and excitable temperament. One day his patience was exhausted by the sheer incapacity of the big young man, and he boxed his ears before all the others. Jean-Marie was also excitable, but he knelt down before the boy of twelve who had treated him so outrageously and humbly asked his forgiveness. Mathias had a golden heart. 

Suddenly he felt smitten with grief and, his face bathed in tears, he threw himself into the arms of Jean-Marie who was still on his knees. This incident marked the beginning of an abiding friendship. Mathias Loras subsequently became a missionary in the United States, and eventually Bishop of Dubuque, but never could he forget the action of Jean-Marie and the accent with which he spoke on that occasion.

In his assignment as parish priest of Ars, St. John achieved something which many priests would like to have done, but which is scarcely granted to any. Not over night, but little by little, the tiny hamlet underwent a change. 

The people of Ars were unable to remain aloof for long from the grace which radiated from the remarkable personality of their priest. When a man attacks inveterate disorders and popular vices, he challenges opposition. St. John was not unprepared – he knew the enemy would raise his head. “If a priest is determined not to lose his soul,” he exclaimed, “so soon as any disorder arises in the parish, he must trample underfoot all human considerations as well as the fear of the contempt and hatred of his people. He must not allow anything to bar his way in the discharge of duty, even were he certain of being murdered on coming down from the pulpit. A pastor who wants to do his duty must keep his sword in hand at all times. Did not St. Paul himself write to the faithful of Corinth: ‘I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls, although loving you more, I be loved less.’”

In his early sermons, he thundered against the prevalent vices of the village of Ars: Blasphemies, cursing, profanation of Sundays, dances and gatherings at taverns, immodest songs and conversations. “The tavern,” he would say, “is the devil’s own shop, the school where hell retails its dogmas, the market where souls are bartered, the place where families are broken up, where health is undermined, where quarrels are started and murders committed.”

Saint John Marie would never consider Ars converted until all of the 200 villagers were living up to the ten commandments of God, the six precepts of the Church and the fulfillment of their duties in life.  Was this asking too much in exchange for Heaven? Complete enforcement of the third commandment took eight long years.  

"You labor, but what you earn proves the ruin of your soul and your body.  If we ask those who work on Sunday, 'What have you been doing?' they might answer:  'I have been selling my soul to the devil and crucifying our Lord... I am doomed to hell...'  When I behold people driving carts on Sunday, it seems to me I see them carting their souls to Hell."

Undoubtedly though, the most heinous crime in the eyes of this saint, the one that made him weep whenever he heard it or spoke against it, was the taking of the most Holy Name of Jesus in vain.  He used to say that it was an astounding miracle that people who did this were not struck dead on the spot.  But he warned them, "If the sin of blasphemy is rampant in your home, it will surely perish." Modesty was absolutely required, not only when in church but at all times – no low necks or bare arms.

It took St. John Vianney ten whole years to renew Ars, but the community changed so noticeably and to such an extent that it was observed even by outsiders.  There was no more working on Sundays, the church was filled more and more every year, and drunkenness fell off.  In the end the taverns had to close their doors since they had no more customers; and even domestic squabbles abated.  Honesty became the principal characteristic.  "Ars is no longer Ars," as St. John Vianney himself wrote; for it had undergone a fundamental change.  

Under his guidance the little village became a community of pious people, to whom all his labors were directed.  He delighted in teaching the children their catechism and he did this daily.  After a while the grown-ups came too and he found that those who were children during the Revolution were in complete ignorance of their religious duties.  He taught the people love for the rosary and wanted everyone to carry one around at all times.  

It is truly astounding to reflect upon what St. John Vianney, with a staff of trained assistants, was able to achieve in the village in the space of a few years.  What an immense amount of endeavor underlay his work will best be appreciated by anyone who has had to convert only a few drunkards to sanity.

Jean-Marie sanctified himself whilst at work in the field or in the house. The supernatural world was ever present to him, but for all that he was neither a slacker nor a dreamer, his being a healthy and active temperament. 

“O what a beautiful thing it is to do all things in union with the good God!” he would say. “Courage, my soul, if you work with God, you shall, indeed, do the work, but He will bless it. You shall walk and He will bless your steps. Everything shall be taken account of – the forgoing of a look, of some gratification – all shall be recorded. There are people who make capital out of everything, even the winter. If it is cold they offer their little sufferings to God. Oh! What a beautiful thing it is to offer oneself, each morning, as a victim to God!”

In letters of consolation to a cousin, Frère Chalovet, whom obedience had sent to the Hotel-Dieu of Lyons and who was greatly tempted, he wrote: “My good friend, I write these lines in haste to tell you not to leave, in spite of all the trials that the good God wishes you to endure. Take courage! Heaven is rich enough to reward you. Remember that the evils of this world are the lot of good Christians. You are going through a kind of martyrdom. But what a happiness for you to be a martyr of charity! Do not lose so beautiful a crown. ‘

Blessed are they that suffer persecution for my sake,’ says Jesus Christ, our model. Farewell, my most dear friend. Persevere along the way on which you have so happily entered and we shall see each other again in heaven...” “Courage my good cousin! Soon we shall see it, our beautiful heaven. Soon there will be no more cross for us! What divine bliss! To see that good Jesus Who has loved us so much and Who will make us so happy!”

Often when the Curé was returning to Ars from missionary expeditions, Mayor Mandy, who was anxious about the safety of his holy pastor, would send his son Antoine to accompany him on his journey home. “Even amid the snows and cold of winter,” Antoine afterwards related, “we rarely took the shortest and best road. M. le Curé had invariably to visit some sick person. Yet the tramp never seemed really long, for the servant of God well knew how to shorten it by relating most interesting episodes from the lives of the saints. If I happened to make some remark about the sharpness of the cold or the ruggedness of the roads, he was always ready with an answer: ‘My friend, the saints have suffered far more; let us offer it all to the good God.’ When he ceased from speaking of holy things we began the Rosary. Even today I still cherish the memory of those holy conversations.”

St. John Vianney had loved Mary from the cradle. As a priest he had exerted all his energy in spreading her glory. To convince themselves of it, the pilgrims had but to look at the small statues of her that adorned the front of every house in the village. In each home there was also a colored picture of the Mother of God, presented and signed by M. le Curé. In 1814 he had erected a large statue of Mary Immaculate on the pediment of his church. Eight years earlier, on May 1, 1836, he had dedicated his parish to Mary Conceived Without Sin. The picture which perpetuates this consecration, says Catherine Lassagne, is placed at the entrance to our Lady’s Chapel. 

Shortly afterwards he ordered a heart to be made, in vermeil (color), which is, even to this day, suspended from the neck of the miraculous Virgin. This heart contains the names of all the parishioners of Ars, written on a white silk ribbon. On the feasts of Our Lady, Communions were numerous, and the church was never empty. On the evenings of those festivals the nave and the side chapels could barely contain the congregation, for no one wished to miss M. Vianney's homily in honor of Our Blessed Lady. The hearers were enthralled by the enthusiasm with which he spoke of the holiness, the power, and the love of the Mother of God.

The explanation of this mysterious transformation of the village of Ars can only be grasped in the remarkable manner that this simple priest realized that a man must always begin with himself, and that even the rebirth of a community can only be achieved by its renewing itself.  We must expect nothing of men which is not already embodied within them.  On the basis of this perception St. John Vianney set to work, in the first place, upon himself, so that he could attain the ideal which he demanded of his parishioners in his own person.  

He took his own religious obligations with the greatest seriousness, and did not care whether the people noticed this or not.  And finally the inhabitants of Ars said to each other:  "Our priest always does what he says himself; he practices what he preaches.  Never have we seen him allow himself any form of relaxation."

The priest of Ars subjected himself to a strict fast.  In this way he sought to reduce the requirements of his life to minimum.  One meal sufficed him for the whole day.  He abstained from alcohol except wine at holy Mass and normally ate only a little black bread and one or two potatoes cooked in water:  he would prepare sufficient of these to last him the whole week, keeping them in an earthenware pan, and often they were covered with a coating of mold.  

Frequently he fasted for a whole day until, overcome, he would collapse from physical weakness.  In view of this mode of life he had no need, of course, of a housekeeper – apart from the fact that his house stood almost empty anyway.  Since he considered that his self-mortification was all too inadequate, he had a special penitential garment made, which he wore next to his skin, and which, by reason of the constant friction against his body, was soon stained a reddish brown.  For the most part he slept on a bare mattress when he was not sleeping on a bundle of wood down in the cellar.

St. John Vianney’s assiduity in the confessional and the hardships entailed thereby would, of themselves, have sufficed to raise him to high sanctity. However, he thirsted for mortifications as others thirst for pleasure, and he never had his fill of penance. 

He laid on himself the sacrifice never to enjoy the fragrance of a flower, never to taste fruit nor to drink, were it only a few drops of water, during the height of the summer heat. He would not brush away a fly that importuned him. When on his knees he would not rest his elbows on the kneeling bench. He had made a law unto himself never to show any dislike, and to hide all natural repugnances. He mortified the most legitimate curiosity: thus he never expressed so much as a wish to see the railway which passed by Ars at a distance of a few kilometers, and which daily brought him so many visitors. During the whole of his priestly life he never indulged in any light reading, not even that of a newspaper. The Annals of the Propagation of the Faith are the only periodical that he ever perused.

Regarding mortification, he once said, “My friend, the devil is not greatly afraid of the discipline and other instruments of penance. That which beats him is the curtailment of one’s food, drink and sleep. There is nothing the devil fears more, consequently, nothing is more pleasing to God. Oh! How often have I experienced it! Whilst I was alone – and I was alone during eight or nine years, and therefore quite free to yield to my attraction – it happened at times that I refrained from food for entire days. 

On those occasions I obtained, both for myself and for others, whatsoever I asked of Almighty God.”

St. John Vianney read much and often the lives of the saints, and became so impressed by their holy lives that he wanted for himself and others to follow their wonderful examples. The ideal of holiness enchanted him. This was the theme which underlay his sermons. “We must practice mortification. For this is the path which all the Saints have followed,” he said from the pulpit. He placed himself in that great tradition which leads the way to holiness through personal sacrifice. “If we are not now saints, it is a great misfortune for us: therefore we must be so. As long as we have no love in our hearts, we shall never be Saints.” The Saint, to him, was not an exceptional man before whom we should marvel, but a possibility which was open to all Catholics. Unmistakably did he declare in his sermons that “to be a Christian and to live in sin is a monstrous contradiction. A Christian must be holy.” With his Christian simplicity he had clearly thought much on these things and understood them by divine inspiration, while they are usually denied to the understanding of educated men.

The conversion of the whole parish was too unusual an occurrence for it to remain unknown.  From the year 1827, there began the famous stream of pilgrims to Ars.  People went to Ars from all parts of France, from Belgium, from England and even from America.  The principal motive which led all these crowds of pilgrims to the priest of Ars was purely the desire for him to hear their confession and to receive spiritual counsel from him.  

They were driven to his thronged confessional by the longing to meet once and for all the priest who knew all about the reality of the soul.  The priest of Ars possessed the ability to see the human soul in its nakedness, freed of its body.  This grace is only rarely bestowed on men.  He never put his nose into the spiritual affairs of other people.  He was entirely free from inquisitiveness.  Like St. Francis de Sales, he had the gift of "seeing everything and not looking at anyone."  

In confessing people this holy man, who had a fundamental knowledge of sin, strove after one thing only – to save souls.  This was his ardent desire, and for the sake of it he suffered all the tortures of his daylong confinement in the confessional.  This great saint heard confessions from 13 to 17 hours a day, and could tell a penitent's sins even when they were withheld.  In order to save souls one must be possessed of that holy love of men which consumed the priest of Ars.  He would often weep in the confessional and when he was asked why he wept, he would reply:  "My friend, I weep because you do not weep."

“The great miracle of the Curé d'Ars,” someone has said, “was his confessional, besieged day and night.” It might be said with equal truth that his greatest miracle was the conversion of sinners: “I have seen numerous and remarkable ones,” the Abbé Raymond assures us, “and they form the most beautiful chapter of the life of the Curé d'Ars. ‘Oh, my friend,’ he often told me, 'only at the last judgment will it become known how many souls have here found their salvation.’” “In reality,” Jeanne-Marie Chanay writes, “he made but small account of miraculous cures. ‘The body is so very little,’ he used to repeat. That which truly filled him with joy was the return of souls to God.” How many occasions he had for such joy! M. Prosper des Garets relates: “I asked him one day how many big sinners he had converted in the course of the year. ‘Over seven hundred,’ was his reply.” Hence it is easy to understand the wish expressed by a Curé who made the pilgrimage to Ars: “Those of my parishioners who go to M. Vianney become models. 

I wish I could take my whole parish to him.”

One day, under the pretext of sending him on an errand, the Baronne de Belvey dispatched to M. Vianney a hardened sinner, who only set foot in the church at Christmas and Easter. It would seem that he had not been to confession since his first Communion. “How long is it since you were last at Confession?”, M. le Curé asked. “Oh, forty years.” “Forty-four,” the saint replied. The man took a pencil and made a hasty calculation on the plastering of the wall. “Yes, it is quite true,” he admitted, overcome with amazement. The sinner was converted and died a good death.

St. John Vianney possessed the gift of being able to understand the soul of a man in an instant, and, without any lengthy explanations, to feel at once what spiritual trouble was afflicting it.  He had a clear sighted vision which often enabled him to foretell to a man what would happen to him in the future.  This gift of God overpowered the people who visited his confessional, and to whom he granted a word of pardon.  The words and advice of the Curé were like darts; they penetrated deeply.  He said little, but his little was enough.  

To a priest who complained about the indifference of people in his parish, St. John Vianney answered:  "You have preached, you have prayed, but have you fasted? Have you taken the discipline (a self imposed scourge)? Have you slept on the floor? So long as you have done none of these things, you have no right to complain."  To a mother of a large family, who was expecting another child, he said with fatherly kindness and consideration:  "Be comforted, my child.  If you only knew the women who will go to Hell because they did not bring into the world the children they should have given to it."

Miracles are signs of divine approval, though sanctity may exist without them. Had he wrought not a single miracle, the Curé d'Ars would yet call for our admiration. His life was in itself a daily prodigy. Ribadeneira, writing of St. Bernard in that volume of the Lives of the Saints which the Curé d'Ars was forever reading, says that “the Abbot of Clairvaux was himself the first and greatest of all his miracles.” This sentiment of the old hagiographer has been reechoed with no less felicity by one of M. Vianney's contemporaries – namely, the worthy Jean Peretinand, the village schoolmaster, who was likewise the saint's friend and his occasional nurse. “The most arduous, most extraordinary and most prodigious work that the Curé d'Ars accomplished was his own life.” And his neighbor of Fareins, the Abbé Dubouis, declares that “without supernatural assistance M. Vianney would have sunk under the crushing weight of his work.” 

“It is humanly inconceivable that, for the space of thirty years, he should have been equal to a task under the weight of which any other priest, however strong he might have been, would have quickly succumbed," says Canon Gardette. “He was visibly helped by God,” is the attestation of Père Faivre. In conclusion we quote the opinion of one of the physicians who attended the holy Curé: “Knowing, as I do, his mode of life, I look upon his existence as extraordinary and beyond the range of a natural explanation,” was the verdict of Doctor Michel, of Coligny. Hence we may conclude in the words of Paul Bourget: “No, the era of miracles is not over, but to produce them saints are required – and they are too few.”

In the Process of his canonization, Mgr. Mermod, who was Curé of Gex at the time, relates the following incident: “An incorrigible drunkard of Chaleins, my former parish, was converted by M. Vianney. During the three years that he lived afterwards that man never drank a drop of wine, and led an exemplary life. Now a striking thing happened. One day the good man called at the priest's residence; he was quite well, yet he wished to go to confession, giving as his reason that he was going to die. As he persisted in his request, I gave him absolution and Holy Communion. An hour later he was dead.”

Mlle. Claudine Venet, of Viregneux, a small village of the canton of Saint-Galmier, in the Loire, was taken to Ars on February 1, 1850. In consequence of an attack of brain fever, she had become completely deaf and blind. M. Vianney had never seen her; no one had introduced her to him. On that February 1, she happened to be standing outside the church as he went by. Without speaking a word, he took her hand, led her into the sacristy and made her kneel down in the confessional. He had hardly given her his blessing when her sight and hearing returned. It seemed to her that she had awakened from a long dream. After her confession, the servant of God made the following amazing prophecy: 

“Your eyes are healed, but you will become deaf for another twelve years. It is God's will that it should be so!” On leaving the sacristy, Claudine Venet felt her ears closing once more. As a matter of fact, she could no longer hear anything. The infirmity lasted twelve years as foretold on this February 1, 1850. Calm and resigned, enjoying the sight that had been restored to her, the stricken woman awaited the day of her deliverance. Great was her emotion when, on January 18, 1862, she felt perfectly cured.

In 1854, a girl of Montchanin (Saone-et-Loire) of the name of Farnier, came to Ars to beg from M. Vianney the cure of her paralyzed leg. “My child,” the saint told her, “you disobey your mother far too often, and answer her back in a disrespectful manner. If you wish the good God to cure you, you must correct that ugly defect. Oh! what a task lies before you! But remember one thing: you will indeed get well, but by degrees, according as you try to correct that defect.” As soon as Mlle. Farnier returned home she endeavored to show more obedience and respect to her mother. Her crippled leg, which had been four inches shorter than the other, insensibly grew longer, and at the end of a few years her infirmity had wholly vanished.

His cousin, Marguerite Humbert, came one day to beg his prayers for one of her little daughters who was dangerously ill. “She is ripe for heaven,” he said without hesitation. “As for you, my cousin, you need crosses to make you think of God.”

Françoise Lebeau, a poor girl of Saint-Martin-de-Commune in the Saoneet-Loire, had become quite blind. She went with her mother on a pilgrimage to Ars. They begged their bread the whole way and slept in stables or sheds. To this poor girl M. Vianney did not fear to disclose something of the divine mystery of suffering, for his inspired gaze had fathomed her valiant spirit. “My child,” he said, “you can be cured, but if the good God restores your sight, your salvation will be less assured; if, on the contrary, you consent to keep your infirmity, you will go to heaven, and I even guarantee that you will have a high place there.” 

The blind girl understood; she no longer asked for a cure and left Ars in a state of perfect resignation to God's will. Nor had M. Vianney the courage to pity the mothers whose children died in infancy. “I had the misfortune to lose one of my children aged five years,” relates Mme. des Garets. “This is what M. Vianney replied to my brother-in-law who brought the news to him: ‘Happy mother, happy child! What a grace for both of them! How is it that this innocent little one has merited that its time of probation should have been shortened, to enable it to enter so soon into eternal bliss?’”

 Even in the purely material order Ars appeared to be under a special protection. “I have heard my mother say,” Madeleine Mandy-Scripiot relates, “that since 1825, the year she came to live in the parish, until the death of M. Vianney, there never was a hailstorm. She ascribed this protection to the merits of the servant of God, the more so as he himself was in the habit of asking for prayers that we might be spared the scourge. “ 

“It has been remarked, “ Mlle. Marthe des Garets adds, “that during the whole time of his ministry at Ars (41 years) no damage was ever done by storms.”

Other supernatural favors also – such as are met with in the lives of the greatest mystics – fell to the lot of the Curé d'Ars. Thus he received in a plentiful measure the gift of tears. According to St. Teresa, these tears spring from a sentiment of ineffable tenderness towards God, or from the interior martyrdom endured by the soul when it sees God being offended. “Those tears are caused by God and shed in ecstasy,” Lacordaire writes. M. Vianney could never speak of sin and sinners without shedding tears. 

He sobbed all the time he was making the Stations of the Cross. When he distributed Holy Communion, tears would often trickle down upon his chasuble. In the last years of his life in particular, he could never preach about the Eucharist, the goodness and love of God, the happiness of heaven – those were his favorite topics – without being stopped by his tears.

Those who were in the closest contact with him, those who were most intimate with him were the first to proclaim his sanctity. “They never discovered in his conduct a deliberate venial sin,” says a priest of Ars. We have testimony of the Abbe Louis Beau, Curé of Jasans, who knew the saint more intimately than anyone else as he was his confessor during the last thirteen years of his life: “I do not think that he slackened his effort for as much as a day. He discharged his duties as a priest and pastor with admirable delicacy of conscience and he persevered until death in a strict fulfillment of all his duties. 

I particularly noticed the manner in which he made the sign of the cross, recited grace before meals and the Ave Maria when the hour struck. I am still deeply moved by the remembrance of what I witnessed on those occasions. With what angelic piety he recited his Breviary! I cannot find words to express myself. I do not think it is possible to go any further in the practice of heroic virtues. When I read the Lives of the Saints I fail to discover in them anything exceeding that which I have witnessed in M. le Curé d’Ars. 

He was surrounded by a halo of sanctity. I cannot express with how much veneration and respect for his person he inspired me. It is my opinion that he had preserved the grace of his baptism, and to that grace he was constantly adding by the eminent sanctity of his life.”

On Aug. 4, 1859, Fr. John Vianney gave up his soul to God. He had been parish priest of Ars for 41 years. In 1925, he received the highest honor of the Church by being canonized and placed in the index of the Saints. Today over 500,000 people visit every year this simple farming town where they come to see the incorrupt body of one of the greatest saints in the history of the Church. The life of St. John Vianney is the story of a humble and holy man who barely succeeded in becoming a priest, but who converted thousands of sinners.

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Vietnamese Diocese seeks Sainthood for French Missionary

Catholics in a Southern Diocese have been asked to model themselves on a French missionary who spent all his life among ethnic lepers and to work for his sainthood cause.

Bishop Joseph Do Manh Hung of Phan Thiet said June is the time for Catholics around the world to enthrone the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is viewed as a symbol of God’s boundless and passionate love for mankind. Bishop Hung, who was appointed bishop of the diocese last December, said all Christians are called on to follow the Sacred Heart by giving witness to God’s love to the world.

He said the late French Bishop Jean Cassaigne (1895-1973) bravely lived out the mystery of the Sacred Heart by wholeheartedly serving lepers from ethnic groups in Di Linh district of Lam Dong province.

Father Cassaigne, a member of the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (MEP), arrived in Vietnam in 1926 and was assigned to serve the K’hor ethnic group at Di Linh Mission Station one year later.

The priest, who is praised as an apostle of lepers, gathered and cared for ethnic lepers who were abandoned by their relatives or neighbors and lived separately in forests. In 1929, he founded Di Linh Leprosarium that today is served by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul sisters. He baptized the first local ethnic leper in 1927.

The missionary also studied the K'Hor language and culture and published a French-K’hor-Vietnamese dictionary in 1929 and K’hor Customs in 1937 and Catechism for K’hor in 1938. Father Cassaigne baptized some 900 people in 1941 when he was named bishop of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). Fourteen years later, he stepped down and returned to serve ethnic lepers in Di Linh.

Bishop Hung said the French bishop spent the rest of his life sharing lepers' sufferings and offering them love care, food, medicine and accommodation. Consequently, he was infected with the disease. “He saw his disease as God’s gift to taste the lepers’ extreme misery,” the 63-year-old prelate said. He said the bishop, who died in 1973 and was buried at the leprosarium, fulfilled his deepest wishes — to suffer great misery all his life for Jesus and other people and to rest in peace among his children with leprosy.

Bishop Hung, a Saigon native, said the Church began making the necessary preparations to open the sainthood cause of the late Bishop Cassainge in 2000. In October 2019, the Pontifical Mission Societies under the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples proposed Bishop Cassainge as an example of faith and mission. “He is also a witness actually living out the message of the Sacred Heart,” he said in a letter to local Catholics on June 1.

Bishop Hung, head of the Episcopal Commission for Clergy and Seminarians, said the documents asking for his sainthood cause need a miracle attributed to him. He called on Catholics “to pray to God to grant a favor through Bishop Cassaigne’s intercession.” Catholic families were given copies of his biography and a prayer to recite for the sainthood cause.

He also urged them to reflect and follow the late bishop’s shining example and bear witness to the merciful Sacred Heart of Jesus in their families and parishes. Bishop Hung will inaugurate a Sacred Heart chapel at the Marian Center of Ta Pao on June 12.

Credits : UCA News 

Homily For The Feast Of The Sacred Heart Of Jesus 2020

In this meditation, therefore, my dear brethren, I will endeavor to demonstrate, that a true veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the portal through which we must enter into the sanctuary of a sweet, a loving union, with Christ, an intimate, personal knowledge of the Saviour. O Mary, who, as His Mother, didst know and love the Son of God, following Him with devoted care even to the foot of the cross, we pray thee, obtain for us the grace to know and love Him too. I speak in the most holy name of Jesus, for the greater glory of God!

Christ is, as holy faith teaches, the incarnate Son of God. That this knowledge may enkindle within us, and fan the fire of divine love, in so ardent a manner that we may imitate our divine Saviour, we must often meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God, of which a tender devotion to the Sacred Heart can not fail to remind us. The Angels cherish the most profound veneration, and yet God did not become an angel--but a man. To this He was impelled by no other consideration than His love for us.

"I have loved thee with an eternal love, and drawn thee with merciful love to Me." What a powerful motive for love and gratitude! God was pleased to create us, not only after His own image, but to take upon Himself our very nature, inexpressibly inferior as it is, and thus elevate it above the angelic nature. They possess not, like us, the privilege of calling him brother. Should not this urge us to listen to our Lord when He speaks thus to our hearts: "And now what else does thy God require of thee, than that thou shouldst love Him?"

Christ, as God and man at the same time, is our Redeemer, Who shed His precious blood for us in that atoning sacrifice, completed through the infinite merits which accompanied all His divine actions; and He offered it as an expiation to the infinite justice of God. But if we wish fully to understand this tremendous sacrifice which Christ presented to His heavenly Father for every human soul, the love of Christ, and His character as Saviour of the world, must arise clearly before us, and this will be attained by looking into the depths of the Sacred Heart.

For "the redemption of the world" would have been realized by the first aspiration to which Christ gave utterance in His mother's womb, at His Incarnation, when He confessed before His Father: "Behold, here am I, and Thy law is in the midst of my heart." I have come to reconcile the human race with Thee. This prayer was, as St. Paul assures us, already sufficient for the salvation and redemption of every member of the human family, for it was of an infinite value. But the overwhelming love of Jesus for us demanded something more than our mere redemption, for He wished to deliver us in a manner indicative of that love, so that our hearts might the more readily turn to Him. O how He wished us to follow His divine example, and make the merits of His life and death our own, no matter how great the cost!

And now, to understand this in the most effective manner, let us glance at His heart, and remember, at the same time, that Christ offered His life, sufferings, and death, to His heavenly Father, not only for all mankind, but for every individual soul; as if that soul had been the only one He came to save, as will be manifested, in the clearest light, by a glance at the Sacred Heart. You have a right to say this very heart beat in the breast of the Infant Jesus as He lay in the manger at Bethlehem, and offered the pains and griefs of infancy for me. The circumcision, the flight into Egypt, the weary toil which marked His daily life at Nazareth, He offered for me! This Sacred Heart throbbed for me in every phase of His Apostolic life, and offered all for me! This same heart throbbed for me in His breast at the Last Supper, and throbbed for me when Jesus resolved to offer Himself daily in the Sacrament of His love, until the very end of time, to remain with me, to unite Himself with me, body and soul, divinity and humanity, in every holy Communion which it would be my privilege to receive.

It throbbed for me when, with prophetic vision, the Redeemer saw the many temptations which would surround me in life, and His precious blood burst forth from every pore, as Gethsemane's groves witnessed His terrible agony there. And, oh, how bitterly it throbbed when the cruel scourge laid open the quivering flesh to the very bone, and the aching brow was made to feel a keener pang from the pressure of the sharp thorns, put on in mockery of a crown, and the heavy cross was laid upon those weary shoulders until all that was human in the Son of God was well nigh crushed to earth. And at last the weary walk was over, but only to give place to new and bitter pain as the nails were driven through the sacred hands and feet. And now behold the Creator of heaven and earth hanging on the cross, a bleeding victim for our sins. Ah, then His Sacred Heart throbbed for me as He cried out to the eternal Father: "Father, forgive!" Then, when he yielded up the Ghost, behold, a soldier opened His heart, and from it fell the last drop of His precious blood-- for me. I am redeemed, and with a Redemption superabundant indeed!

"They will see Whom they have pierced." These are the inspired words of the prophet; yes, and they will adore the triumph of infinite mercy by which the greatest crime which a creature can commit, Deicide, became a source for the pardon of every sin, as St. Paul implies when he says: "Christ destroyed sin through sin upon the cross." This open heart, this sacred wound, removed the vail which rested upon the work of Redemption. To glance at it, nay, to look into its depths, we can see the glimmer of a lovely light which illumines the work of the Saviour's mercy and love, penetrating our hearts with a longing to reciprocate that love which led Him to purchase our salvation at the cost of life.

This Jesus is, as Saviour, the founder of that Church to which He confided His infinite merits, and the dispensation of the means of salvation. She rose from His heart in the symbol of blood and water, even as from the side of the sleeping Adam God called our mother Eve into existence. And behold us, without any merit of our own, members of this Church so holy and divine. What a motive for us, as children of this loving mother, to grow in the grace of God, and by constant intercourse with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, to grow also in His personal knowledge.

Yes! to look into the Heart of Jesus, gives us a glimpse, in all its splendor, of the majesty and sanctity of the one true Church, and can not fail to excite in us the most ardent desire and longing to live as her faithful children, grateful that we are so highly favored as to be children of that glorious mother. It animates us to more earnest efforts to propagate the faith, over the whole world, according to the desire of the Sacred Heart. This Lord and Saviour is, according to His Person, at once our Father, Friend, and Brother; the Spouse of our souls--Christ! He it is Who regained for us the right to enter heaven. He is our Brother, Who took upon Himself our nature; our Friend, Who provided for us as for Himself; and the Spouse of our souls--infinite goodness and greatness--Christ!

To behold all this we must look into the depths of His Sacred Heart. The world is full of brothers, friends, and spouses, but how different are they in the measure of love they bear to their own! In the open Heart of Jesus we behold, united, the hearts of loving fathers, brothers, and friends; and yet His love is greater than all! Did He not give the very last drop of blood from that heart, and am I not, therefore, right when I say: If we wish to attain to a knowledge of this dear Redeemer, in all His divine sweetness, we must cast frequent glances into the Sacred Heart, and seek refuge in its bleeding wound? We will then adorn our own hearts, so that we will one day be worthy to enter into an abode of eternal blessedness. Blessed St. Gertrude, devoted adorer of the Sacred Heart, obtain for us the grace to love it with your fervent love, and through a like imitation of its virtues, to share with you the glorious reward of its faithful servants.--Amen.

"For this cause I bow my knees to the Father, that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of this mystery."--Eph. iii, 14, 18.

"To me, the least of all the saints, is given this grace to preach among the Gentiles, and to enlighten all men what is the dispensation of the mystery which hath been hidden from eternity in God, Who created all things. For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named, That He would grant you the grace to be strengthened by the power of His Spirit unto the inward man; That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts: that being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of this mystery; To know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all human knowledge."

With these words to the Ephesians, and similar assurances in many passages of the Epistles which St. Paul wrote--not only for the faithful of his own day, but for those of all future time--the Apostle of nations exhorts us in the most expressive manner to advance in the knowledge of Christ. And if we wish to comprehend the total height and depth, the entire breadth and length, of the love of Jesus, we can only do so by looking into the depths of His Sacred Heart; and to make this clear, will be the object of my words today. O Mary, Mother of the Divine Heart, obtain for us the grace to enter into the full knowledge of Christ's love for us, that we may meet it with faithful reciprocal love! I speak in the holy name of Jesus, for the greater honor and glory of God!

To contemplate in its entire extent the love of Jesus Christ, and to open our hearts in true reciprocal love to the Lord, that He may dwell therein, we must go to the Sacred Heart and look into its depths. There, ah! there, we can behold in all its immensity a love so mighty that it drew Him away from the throne of His glory in heaven to earth, and urged Him not only to assume human nature, but by so doing, as St. Paul assures us, to annihilate Himself and take the form of a slave. For, appearing as a man among men, He concealed His divinity before them; and although He wrought miracles, other men, with the Divine assistance, performed wonders still greater:--Moses, for instance, at the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt.

Men in general acknowledged Him so little as God, that they threatened to stone Him when He declared that He was. They persecuted at every occasion this meek Lamb of God, and at last nailed Him to the cross. And what brought to such depths of humility the King of kings and Lord of lords? Because He chose not to appear as a powerful monarch, as a ruler over the whole universe, before whom all nations would tremble, but as a slave; for He entered this world as the subject of an emperor who governed only the Romans as free men, while those nations he had conquered were held in subjection. And therefore Christ suffered the death of the slave--crucifixion.

Why did He humble Himself so deeply? One glance into the Divine Heart will tell us that it was His merciful love to us. Great God! what misery overwhelmed the human race, and what would have become of us if the arm of Thy infinite justice had not been stayed! But Christ the Son of God, equal in essence and nature to His eternal Father, wished, through love, to celebrate the triumph of His infinite mercy; and this love urged Him not only to grant pardon to penitent sinners, but to make satisfaction for them, and take upon Himself the justification for sin.

Not only, beloved in Christ, did He mean to pardon this or that sin, to forgive this or that sinner, but for every sin that would ever be committed, and for every sinner, if he were truly contrite, a gracious pardon would be found. Christ requires but one thing of the sinner--that he avails himself of those efficacious means of salvation to be found in the true Church, and takes refuge in His Sacred Heart.

Dearly beloved Christians, souls redeemed by the blood of a God, reflect upon this precious truth; and that you may realize the depth of His love for you, look at the Sacred Heart -- look into its bleeding wound. The Almighty, the Omnipotent God, the gracious and merciful Saviour, comes from the heaven of His glory to afford us a certain refuge therein--to save us from that pit which the malice of sin has prepared for us in hell.

The Deluge prefigured the spiritual ruin which overwhelmed the whole human race. Now, Holy Scripture testifies that the waters thereof rose to the height of fifteen cubits above the loftiest mountains. This indicates the degree of malice which characterized the wickedness of mankind, it being greater than that of the fallen angels. Their sin was that pride which led them to wish to be like God; while man, on the contrary, committed Deicide, as St. Peter, in his first sermon, called the Crucifixion, when he said: "The Author of life you have killed."

This reproach applies not only to those Jews who personally laid hands on Christ, but to all men as sinners; for St. Paul asserts: "Whosoever sins, crucifies God in his heart, tramples His precious Blood under foot." And yet God forgives on account of the merits of Christ! Whom? The greatest sinner if he but repent. And what means does He choose for this? Let us adore and wonder, for the commission of the greatest possible sin--attempted Deicide--became for us the source of every grace. What a triumph of Infinite Mercy!

Glance at the Heart of Jesus, opened after His death: by this He opened His arms to every soul, with the loving words: "I have loved thee unto death, and presented the last drop of My heart's blood for thee to draw thee from the abyss of destruction which thy sins prepared for thee in hell." Oh, what a depth, and, at the same time, what a height of love! The work of Redemption as consummated by this love, made fast the gates of hell, and rescued us from that fiery pit; but not content with this, our loving Saviour would open the portals of a heaven more beautiful than the one which would have been our portion had Adam never sinned.

And now, as brothers of the Son of God, we may enter that region of bliss, and become as precious stones set in the celestial crown of the world of angels. We may, by our zeal in the exercise of good works, and their union with the merits of Christ, ascend higher and higher, through new and more brilliant merits, to an immeasurable degree of glory. Look at Mary, whose throne is next to that of Jesus: she was, like us, a child of man, and her glory by far outshines that of the brightest angel. We, as her children, may hope to attain a place in heaven, near that of our gracious Queen; for from the Heart of Jesus came forth the cry: "To him that shall overcome I will grant to sit with Me on My throne."

And how shall we learn the breadth of this love? I answer: By contemplating the generosity which marked its course, and so animated the Sacred Heart in the breast of the Infant Saviour in the crib and of the Redeemer on the cross. Even now it beats for us in the Most Holy Sacrament over the whole globe. Think of the generosity of that love by which Jesus has communicated to us the whole merit of His life, passion, and death.

The words of St. Augustine refer to this in the explanation and answer given by him of the words of Christ: "What price could man give for his soul?" "Remember," exclaims St. Augustine, "the price which Christ paid for you through the work of Redemption; you have been purchased by the life, passion, and death of Christ the Son of God." What He gave for you He did not give even for the angels. Oh, how sweetly are we reminded of all this by one loving glance at the Sacred Heart of Jesus! It beats indeed today on earth for each one of us. Go before the tabernacle and ask what is that which Jesus confers upon you in every Holy Communion. It is Himself.

And the length of this enduring love may be discerned by the unwearied forbearance He shows to man. From the first moment of your conception, Christian soul, He has loved you with an everlasting love. He has thought of you, and longed to bless you for all eternity. And it will be your own fault if He does not remain, until your very latest breath, the same faithful, loving Jesus, Who will assist you in that last dread passage where time is merged into eternity.

Yes, it is an article of faith that when the greatest sinner turns with a repentant heart to Jesus, even in his dying hour, he will still be saved through Him. And is this really so? Christian, look at the wounded Heart in the breast of your Redeemer. It has ceased to beat--it is dead! Yet from the wound came blood and water, the symbol of the Church to which Christ gave power to pardon the dying sinner whose heart cries out for mercy--for forgiveness through the merits of Christ.

Dearly beloved, who have listened to my words today, reflect upon what I have told you of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus--of the height, depth, breadth, and length of the love of Christ. Consider it daily, and the wish of St. Paul, of which I have already spoken to you, will certainly be fulfilled in you. You will become so strengthened in the love of God, through the Spirit of Christ, that He will abide in your heart, and, finding therein so firm a faith, earnest a hope, and ardent a love, will there take up His abode forever. Amen!

"Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart? "--4 Kings x, 15.

Centuries have passed since our Lord and Saviour, the loving Jesus, in His visible presence, walked the earth; and as the years roll on, He asks of every Catholic soul the same question which He put to the prince of the Apostles: "Lovest thou Me?" and every one should reply as did the ardent Peter: "Yes, Lord, I love Thee;" and yet the answer is not the same, for St. Peter not only assured the Lord of his love, but added: "Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee."

If our divine Lord possessed not the power to read what is written in the inmost recesses of our hearts, He might be deceived by the assurance of a love which has no place therein, and indiscriminately bestow those rich treasures of grace which He loves so well to give, and which we require to work out our salvation in that state of life to which we have each one been assigned. But the Lord searcheth the heart of man, and knoweth if his lips speak truth. And too often, my dearest Christians, the lives, even of those who possess the gift of faith, so directly contradict their professions, that to them might be applied the words of Isaac: "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are those of Esau."

The lips say: "I love my Jesus who died for me," but as "actions speak louder far than words," they often proclaim the falsity of the assertion. We can not sufficiently appreciate the necessity of examining ourselves carefully on this point, and it were well to do so in presence of the Sacred Heart, as it beats in our midst, in the Most Holy Sacrament. What answer could we make to this question of our Lord? Could we truly say with St. Peter: "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee." Beloved in Christ, in this regard I will put into the mouth of our Saviour those words of Holy Scripture. "Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart?'' and after you have listened attentively to my words today, let each one make answer to his soul and his God. O Mary, Mother of Jesus, who lovedst Him with the most sincere and maternal love, grant that we also may love Him with sincere and filial love! I speak in the most holy name of Jesus, for the honor and glory of God!

The first mark of sincere love is the silent testimony of the heart itself, which is felt only by those who love. The little child, which never even heard the word love, feels it in the depths of its tender heart toward its mother, who lavishes upon it every fond endearment as it lovingly clings about her neck. Question your own heart as to its feelings whenever you pronounce the sacred name of Jesus, or even think of Him.

St. Bernard sometimes, after he had uttered that holy name, tasted a sweetness upon his lips as though he had eaten honey. Can you say, O Christian! that your feelings are like his? Is it with you, as St. Augustine declares of himself, that you find every thing, wherein the name of Jesus does not occur, insipid and without interest? You love Jesus, you say, but if His name leaves you insensible and cold, I am forced to doubt the sincerity of your love. But as it is also true that mere feeling is very deceptive, therefore show, by your life, that you really speak the truth.

The second mark of sincere love is the care one takes not to grieve or offend the object of his love. Thus it may happen that a wife says to her husband: "Do you love me?" and what is his probable reply? "Silly question; would I have married you had I not?" But evening comes, and the charms of home are powerless to keep him there. So he goes to the tavern, where the midnight hour finds him still, yet he knows how much he will grieve his faithful wife by this evil course. Is she not perfectly right, therefore, if she says within herself: "Thy lips say I love thee; but thy life says it is a lie. Thy love is not sincere, or thou wouldst not be so ready to grieve my heart."

Christian, your Saviour asks: "Do you love Me?" How does your life answer this question of the Lord? With what care do you endeavor, not only not to commit a mortal sin, which would at once banish Christ from your heart; but to avoid committing even one deliberate venial sin which grieves and afflicts your Lord? Do you watch over your conscience by the most assiduous practice of the particular examen? If so, then, indeed, you speak the truth. But if it would seem that you are careless in regard to the trifling sins and imperfections,--if you neglect the particular examen, you place yourself in the greatest danger of sinning, even grievously, and your lips would utter a lie: your love is only an illusion.

Even if you would read from your book the most ardent affections of love, while your lips say: "Yes, Lord Jesus, I love You;" your life cries out: "It is false." But how is it, then, if you live with the guilt of mortal sin upon your soul? Ah! then, indeed, you deeply grieve your Saviour, and banish Him from your heart.

The third mark of sincere love is the desire to please the beloved, and to do with zeal what is required of us by the one whom we love. A well known proverb says that "love can read in the eyes of the beloved the desire of his heart." The same is true of a sincere love towards Jesus. A wife needs not to ask her husband whether he loves her, although he is of a very undemonstrative nature,--never expressing his love,--if his actions show that he does, if he is quick to anticipate every wish of her heart; and fulfill it, if possible; therein lies the real test of love. The same is true of the sincerity of our love towards Jesus. What He requires of us is made known by His admonition: "Follow Me!--Be ye holy, as your Father in heaven is holy." Ask your heart, with what zeal you walk in the path of Christian perfection, whether it is your earnest wish to become holy.

And not only that, but what zeal do you manifest in assisting Jesus to extend His kingdom on earth, through zeal in the exercise of the spiritual and corporeal works of mercy? With what solicitude do you endeavor to prevent others from offending God, particularly those whom the Lord has confided to your care, watching that they fulfill their duties as faithful and zealous children of the Church?

Do you try earnestly to lead infidels and heretics to the way of salvation, and the knowledge of the true and only Church wherein salvation is to be found; and to support over the whole earth the kingdom of God, that zealous missionaries may be enabled to preach the gospel among the heathens? Can you say with truth that you are zealous in each of the above duties? If so, then you may indeed rejoice, for it is well with you; and your life replete with holy deeds shows that you sincerely love your God. But, on the contrary--and oh, with how many is not this the case! --if you are satisfied to live an ordinary Christian life, and, even this merely from the force of habit; if you do not at the very moment you awake from sleep, resolve to let your aim be to grow always better and better; to constantly multiply the good works you perform, to never lose an opportunity to save and sanctify others;--if, I repeat, beloved in Christ, it is thus with you, then your love for Jesus is far from being sincere.

And if you are content to be solicitous only for your immediate family or your own parish Church, as far as necessity requires; and even if you show yourself an active parish child, yet neglect every thing in regard to caring for the salvation of souls, as if it were a duty belonging only to priests, then the sincerity of your love towards Jesus is rather self-deception. Whosoever loves Jesus sincerely provides for the salvation of souls, even though he be not a Paul nor a Priest, remembering the admonition of the disciple of love: "As He has shed His blood for us, so we should be ready to shed ours for each soul."

The fourth mark of sincere love is that magnanimity and fidelity which leads us to make sacrifices, even if we should have to suffer by assisting others. Behold a married couple blessed with the goods of the world, with health and happiness, because prosperity has smiled upon their lives. You ask me whether they love one another, and to what degree? A question difficult to answer, while they continue to lead such a delightful life. On the contrary, suppose a youth and maiden to enter the married life with every prospect of health and happiness, and behold! after a few months, the hand of the Lord is laid heavily upon her, and He calls her to pass under His chastening rod. The wife becomes incurably ill, the husband loses his entire wealth, yet their love remains the same; yes, its flame burns even more brightly than before. Ah, yes! they love each other truly.

You say: "Yes, I love Jesus;" show it by your love for the cross, by your patience, if the Lord imposes His chastening hand upon you. If then your affections of love multiply towards Jesus, and you esteem yourself happy that He has drawn you to Himself by the royal way of the cross, we know that you really have a sincere love towards Him. And what in all this world so effectively conduces to this condition of sincere love, as one glance at the most Sacred Heart of Jesus and an assiduous cultivation of that beautiful devotion; for that Heart shed the last drop of blood for you on the cross, in sincere love. You have this Sacred Heart present in the Blessed Sacrament. Go then before the tabernacle, and think of Him who nourishes you so often with the Holy Sacrament, and gives it to you as food.

The better to illustrate this I will relate the following event: It happened that a ship was lost at sea, and those of the passengers who escaped the wreck were cast upon a desert island. Among them was a mother with a nursing infant. However, the joy of the passengers at their rescue was of brief duration, for they discovered that the soil was bleak and barren, and afforded no food whatever. And no vessel appeared to bear them away, the mother sat holding the starving child to her breast, from which it had drawn the very last drop of milk.

The mother had no nutriment, how could she nourish it? It drew with such force that it took from her veins the life blood, yet she uttered no word of complaint. The mother becoming weaker and weaker, the passengers entreated her to let the child die, and, perhaps, her own life might be saved. But she was deaf to their prayers, and still allowed the babe to drink her blood; yes, to the very last moment of her life, which was indeed at hand, for her head drooped upon that faithful breast; and when the prayers of wrecked passengers, that they might be rescued, were heard and a vessel came in sight, she was dead. The child lived and grew to man's estate, and when the youth heard what his mother had done for him, and how she had nourished him with her blood, the heroic act filled his heart with such ardent love for her, that from the very depths of his yearning heart he often cried: "O mother! mother! could I but once behold you, if even for one moment, only to thank you for your devoted maternal love. Oh, how happy would I not feel!"

Christians, what that mother did, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is doing daily in the Most Holy Sacrament, and has done it for nineteen hundred years, by nourishing us with His precious blood. As children of God, as members of the Church, we can thank Him for it personally. Oh, then, make good use of His Presence on your altars, particularly by frequent and worthy Communions. No doubt that will enkindle and nourish in your hearts the, fire of divine love, as nothing else could in the world; and you will find your dearest joy in cherishing a sincere, ardent, and faithful love towards the Sacred Heart of Jesus.--Amen!

Come To The Ocean Of Mercy

“You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world.” These are the comforting words from the Opening Prayer for the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  When you think of an ocean, you picture a vast, wide, and deep body of water extending as far as the eye can see in every direction.

We know that God’s love is so much bigger and all-encompassing even than that.  He calls us to enter into that love and mercy through the Eucharist, which is the Real Presence of Jesus.  In addition to making himself available to us in Holy Communion, Jesus has also given us the great gift of being truly present at all times for us in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Adoration is entering into this ocean of love and mercy. It can be uncomfortable or even scary to venture into new waters and begin to grow in our faith, but in order to know Jesus more we must leave the safety of the shore and swim out into the deep water where he dwells. “Let us love Jesus and lose ourselves before the Blessed Sacrament,” invites Blessed Charles de Foucauld.

When we wade into the waves, the current of the ocean pulls us further out into the deep. When we adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we allow the current of God’s love to steer us in the direction of his will. We can not control the direction the current takes us; we simply trust and allow ourselves to be swept away into his arms. But we can be assured that as we kneel before him, we receive many blessings and gifts:

“Do you want the Lord to give you many graces? Visit him often. Do you want Him to give you few graces? Visit Him rarely. Do you want the devil to attack you? Visit Jesus rarely in the Blessed Sacrament. Do you want him to flee from you? Visit Jesus often. Do you want to conquer the devil?

Take refuge often at the feet of Jesus. Do you want to be conquered by the devil? Forget about visiting Jesus.

My dear ones, the Visit to the Blessed Sacrament is an extremely necessary way to conquer the devil. Therefore, go often to visit Jesus and the devil will not come out victorious against you.” (St. John Bosco)

The Church teaches that Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament has immense value and merit for us.

“The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship.  Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love.  Let us not refuse the time to go to meet him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world.  Let our adoration never cease.” (CCC #1380)

The Divine Mercy image was given to St. Faustina, a Polish nun who received divine revelations from Jesus. She describes in her Diary on several occasions how she saw the sacred rays of his mercy just as they are depicted in the image emanating from the Blessed Sacrament and spreading throughout the whole church over all present.

When we adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we receive these rays of his love and mercy into our souls. We are enlightened, healed, and restored and our hearts are converted and changed. St. Faustina says, “Beneath these rays a heart will grow warm even if it were like a block of ice; even if it were hard as a rock, it will crumble into dust.” (Diary 370)

No words or particular formula are needed in adoration. As a newly married couple rejoice in being together, it is sufficient to be near the beloved, to give and receive love from one another. It is not enough to know about Jesus and hear his words; he wants to love us personally and intimately.

He knows us better than we know ourselves and loves and accepts us as we are, but he wants for us to know him as well. The only way to get to know another and grow in love and intimacy is by spending time with them.  So to know the Lord we must commit to regular prayer, face to face, with him.
It may seem like it is difficult to find time for adoration.

We spend so much time in recreation, entertainment, and relaxation:  shopping, sports, television, internet, and other leisure activities.  One hour a week is all he asks.  To have a committed time before the Blessed Sacrament is important because it keeps us faithful to prayer.

To commit to a Holy Hour is to tell Jesus we love him enough and he is important enough to set aside time in our busy schedules for him.  God made us and we are his; shouldn’t we give him this much?

The monstrance contains the Blessed Sacrament, the Son of God, truly present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity for us.  The Church has approved many Eucharistic miracles, but the first and perhaps the greatest is the Miracle of Lanciano.

A monk in the 700s, doubting the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, was brought to tears and converted when, at the consecration, the host turned to flesh and the wine to blood.  Research conducted in subsequent years determined that the flesh is tissue from a human heart and the blood is human blood, type AB, the same type found on the Shroud of Turin.

The tissue should have deteriorated quickly, but the miracle remains today, an extraordinary sign of the love of the Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist for all of his children.

Jesus has blessed us with so many gifts and proofs of his love in our lives; can we not spend one hour with him in adoration?  He is true God and true Man with a heart that loves and wants to be loved in return. He longs for us to spend time with him, to comfort him and make reparation for our sins and the sins of the world, and he offers us comfort and consolation in return. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matt. 11:28)

Jesus calls to us to come to him; to give our difficulties to him and rest in him. He is always present, waiting for you and me to approach so he can pour his mercy and grace out upon us, console us, instruct us, and strengthen us for the journey of life.

Behold The Heart Of Jesus, Which Drips Blood For The Love Of Man

It’s always the tissue of male heart muscle when the molecular structure of a Eucharistic miracle is examined under a microscope. Jesus had “heart” but, more importantly, He had a heart. The word “heart” is synonymous with grit, soul, intuition, love, strength, generosity, and, in its most total sense, the very center of man. Today’s feast embraces all of those meanings. 

Christ’s Sacred Heart teaches us that God loves us as a friend loves a friend, as a parent loves a child, or as a sibling loves his closest brother or sister. That is, Christ loves us in the same way as a person loves us, only more intensely. Our God doesn’t shift the planetary order, redirect the rays of the sun, or create a parallel gravitational field to magnetize His love for mankind. 

Science fiction requires a fluid imagination. Understanding God’s love should not, and does not, demand such mental contortionism. Understanding God’s love should be as simple as recalling your little hand in your father’s big hand as you walked next to him at night as a little girl. It requires remembering running into your mother’s soft embrace, cheek to cheek, after skinning your knee. Jesus Christ’s love for man is as human and as clear as a beating heart. Simply put, Jesus loves us from just above His solar plexus, where His heart pulsates with emotion for every sacred creature who harbors a human soul.

The widely loved devotion to the Sacred Heart is not rooted in a feast of ancient pedigree similar to those of Holy Week. No Christian of the first millenium ever gazed into the haunting eyes of Christ as He stared out from a Sacred Heart image enthroned on the family-room wall. It was only in 1856 that Pope Pius IX placed this feast on the Church’s universal calendar. The Pope acted after almost two centuries of devotion to the Sacred Heart, which had grown out of the thinking, preaching, and prayer of the indefatigable Saint John Eudes and out of the visions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. Both of these saints were indebted, in turn, to the medieval revelations of the Sacred Heart granted to Saint Gertrude the Great.

We love the Heart of Christ because His heart loved us first. We adore the adorer, love the lover, and worship the worshiper. Because God comes first, all of our love for Him is the repayment of a debt. We are not doing God a favor by loving him any more than a hammer does a carpenter a favor by slamming nails into wood. Religion is about raw justice, not doing God favors. That God loves us is not readily apparent from creation itself or from the history of mankind. The gods were many things to many races throughout the ages, but love was not one of them. 

Christianity had to tell the world that God was love. And Jesus had to attach His arms to a cross and die for that message to be convincing. The visions of Saint Margaret Mary made God’s love concrete and comprehensible, while the visions of Saint Faustina Kowalska deepened the meaning of this feast still more. In these challenging visions, Christ rips open His heart to Sister Faustina and shows her a calm and deep ocean of mercy waiting to bathe repentant sinners in its saving waters. Three strands—the Sacred Heart, love, and mercy—are now braided in a tight belt of spiritual truth.

True heart is not proven by waving to the crowds from a car in a victory parade or by luxuriating on the beach with friends. Real heart is in the last stretch of the neck over the finish line, in climbing the stage to receive a diploma after years of academic struggle, or in pulling yourself out of bed to go to nocturnal adoration. True heart is synonymous with long suffering, perseverance, and conquering through adversity. True heart is dying on the cross when you didn’t deserve it. 

A true heart is a Sacred Heart. That’s the heart of our God. No athlete goes to the Olympics to compete for the silver. Jesus reached for the gold from the dais of the cross, slick with his own blood. There’s no need for us to keep on searching for a heart of gold in this world. 

We know in exactly whose body that heart beats. It’s all gold, it’s all sacredness, and it loves us like Himself.

The Eucharist In The Life Of Saint Faustina

During the celebration of Corpus Christi in Rome in 2004, the Pope announced the Year of the Holy Eucharist. Saint Faustina’s full religious name was Sister Maria Faustina of the Most Blessed Sacrament and her whole life revolved around the Holy Eucharist. If you read her diary almost every page makes reference to the Eucharist. In talking about her life to a friend she said, “The most solemn moment of my life is the moment when I receive Holy Communion and for every Holy Communion I give thanks to the Most Holy Trinity” (Diary 1804).

The sisters had a tradition that each sister drew a choice of patron for the year at the begining of each New Year. Sister Faustina was overjoyed year after year when she drew  "The Holy Eucharist"  (Diary 360).

She had a special relationship to the Holy Eucharist, because Jesus gave her a clear understanding of this mystery. She describes it “as the wonderful gift of His presence on earth”. During Mass, “I thanked the Lord Jesus for having redeemed us and for having given us the greatest of all gifts, the Holy Eucharist”. “You wanted to stay with us, and so you left us yourself in the Sacrament of the Altar, and you opened wide your mercy to us. You opened an inexhaustible spring of mercy for us, giving us your dearest possession, the Blood and Water, that gushed forth from Your Heart” (Diary 1747).

During a Holy Hour, in a vision of the cenacle, Sr. Faustina saw the institution of the Holy Eucharist. She came to understand that, "At the moment of consecration...the sacrifice was fully consummated. Hereafter, only the external ceremony of death will be carried out. Never in my whole life had I understood this mystery so profoundly as during that hour of adoration" (Diary 684, 757, 832).

She devoted a lot of her prayers to asking God to let the world understand more the unfathomable mystery and mercy of the Eucharist.  She said, “Who will ever conceive and understand the depth of mercy that gushed forth from His Heart”? 

It is only in eternity that we shall know the great mystery given to us in Holy Communion. One day we will know what God is doing for us in each Mass, and what sort of gift He is preparing through it for us.

“All the tongues of men and angels united could not find words adequate to describe this mystery of Your love and mercy”. “Transform me in Yourself, 0 Jesus, that I may be a living sacrifice and pleasing to You. I desire to atone at each moment of my life for poor sinners.“

Jesus answered her prayers telling her: “You are a living host, pleasing to the Heavenly Father” (Diary 1826). She said: All the good that is in me is due to the Holy Communion. I owe everything to it.

St. Faustina lived fully the prayer of the Church: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love“.

Her experience of being like a living host, hidden, broken, and given, was to be the experience of her life - Her greatest desire was: to be hidden, like Jesus in the Eucharist; to be broken, like Jesus, in the passion; to be totally given, like Jesus, in the salvation of souls.

But, this experience was based on the union of love with the living God and this union was most profoundly experienced in conjunction with the Holy Eucharist, either during Mass and Holy Communion, or during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Her union with the Lord was, in His words, as a bride: Here, I am entirely yours, soul, body and divinity as Your Bridegroom. You know what love demands, one thing only, reciprocity. (Diary 1770) 

What she experienced during Holy Communion was a complete union with the Holy Trinity, “At that moment, I was drawn into the bosom of the Most Holy Trinity, and I was immersed in the love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit“. (Diary 1670, 1121,1129)

These times of union are a taste of Eternity she said. (Diary 969). Holy Communion was the strength and support of St. Faustina in her every day struggle of life. The Lord told her: In the Host is the power; it will defend you always. (Diary 616)

Throughout her diary, she recorded the strength she received from the Eucharist  Throughout the day she adored Jesus, praising and asking Him for graces, especially for suffering children (Diary 1821).

A regular experience for St. Faustina was the vision of the Lord during Holy Mass. Over sixty such visions are recorded in her diary, mostly of the infant Jesus, a few occasions with the Blessed Mother, and at other times, Jesus during His passion and some of His majesty.

Some dozen times she records seeing the rays of mercy as in the image of the Merciful Savior coming from the Holy Eucharist, at times covering the world. (See Diary 420, 441, 1046)

These profound experiences during the Holy Eucharist were closely associated with the vessels of mercy, namily the Feast, the Image, the Chaplet, and the Three o'Clock prayer.

Holy Communion is the most important part of the celebration of the Feast of Divine Mercy. On a number of occasions, St. Faustina saw the Eucharist radiate red and white rays, like in the Image of Divine Mercy.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is Eucharistic. It is an offering of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Father, in atonement for the sins of the world.

If you wanted to summarise the Diary of St. Faustina, you would have to come to the conclusion that all the vessels the Lord gave us through St. Faustina are Eucharistic. 

There was a very special place for the Holy Eucharist in the life of Sister Maria Faustina of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Credits : Divine Mercy Publications, Ireland 

Divine Mercy Sunday, Created By A Pope Inspired By A Saint

John Paul II instituted Divine Mercy Sunday (the second Sunday of the Easter season) in 2000.

That was 20 years after John Paul wrote the encyclical “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”).

“The message of Divine Mercy has always been near and dear to me,” explained the pope who described that virtue as the answer to the world’s problems.

His establishment of Divine Mercy Sunday coincided with his canonization of Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, known as the “Apostle of Mercy” based on her visions and conversations with Jesus, all recorded in her diary and recognized by her spiritual directors.

Pope John Paul called his fellow Pole — who reported 14 revelations concerning the message of Divine Mercy — “the great apostle of Divine Mercy in our time.” He called the day he established Mercy Sunday and canonized Sister Faustina “the happiest day of my life.”

St. Faustina:

Helena Kowalska was the third of ten children, born Aug. 25, 1905 in the village of Glogowiec, Poland. At age 20 she entered the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy whose members devote themselves to the care and education of troubled young women.

In the 1930s she received the Lord’s message of mercy and was asked to become the apostle for God’s plan of mercy. She received the prayer of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy through her visions and also was responsible for instructing an artist to portray the image of Christ with rays of love and mercy streaming from his heart. She died in 1938 at age 33.

In 2002, Pope John Paul entrusted the whole world to Divine Mercy when he consecrated the international Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, Poland, where St. Faustina’s mortal remains are entombed. The pope frequently quoted from the diary of the saint and prayed the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy at her tomb.

It was during the vigil of the feast of Divine Mercy, on April 2, 2005, that Pope John Paul died.

Dives in Misericordia:

In this encyclical, Pope John Paul used the theme of divine mercy that “the modern world needs so much.” He included a long commentary on the Parable of the Prodigal Son that illustrates how mercy “promotes and draws good from all the forms of evil existing in the world and in man.”

The encyclical is divided into eight chapters that highlight the Messianic message, the Paschal Mystery and, finally the prayer of the church.

“At no time and in no historical period-especially at a moment as critical as our own-can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God amid the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it. Precisely this is the fundamental right and duty of the Church in Christ Jesus, her right and duty towards God and towards humanity” (n. 15)

The Church, said John Paul, has the right and duty to appeal to the God of mercy “in an ardent prayer; in a cry that implores mercy according to the needs of man in the modern world.”

Chaplet of Divine Mercy:

The chaplet is a devotion based on the visions of Jesus reported by St. Mary Faustina and is said as a rosary-based prayer beginning with the Our Father, Hail Mary and the Apostle’s Creed. The repeated prayer of each decade is: “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

According to the saint’s diary, Christ said: “Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you… whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death.”

The chaplet can also be prayed as a novena with a specific intention for each day that ends with the prayer, “Eternal Father, turn your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the most compassionate heart of Jesus.”