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| devotion
to the two hearts
Promises
and Prophecies
There is evidence that it was the will of Our Divine Lord that devotion
to the Sacred heart be reserved for the last ages of the world,
so that, in the last great struggle between Himself and Satan, the
souls that He loves so dearly may be drawn to Him with renewed warmth,
and thus strengthened against the final desperate attacks of the
enemy.
In the times preceding the end of the world, Satan and his cohorts
were to be loosed upon the earth in a mighty effort to draw as many
souls as possible away from God, before the power of Hell would
be remarkably restricted, if not completely broken. Satan’s
mission is one of hate. God wins souls through love. Our Blessed
Saviour knew that the hatred which would be rampant in those evil
days could be best conquered by a devotion which would inspire love
and charity in the hearts of men. It was to serve, as it were, as
a magnet and a bulwark of strength by giving men a clearer knowledge
of God’s deep and abiding love and mercy. It would provide
a harbor of peace and security in those days of confusion and anguish,
when men’s souls would be tried almost beyond endurance.
In all times of great distress or danger, God has provided men with
the means to conquer evil, as evidenced by the history of the world,
both before the time of Christ, but especially since the Redemption.
To mention just one of the instances of divine intervention when
a special devotion was given to the world at a crucial period, let
us consider the Rosary. In the thirteenth century when the Albigenses
were preaching their vicious doctrines against marriage, and the
spread of this heresy seriously endangered the morals of the people,
Saint Dominic began preaching against them. He had but little success
until Our Blessed Lady appeared to him, and told him to encourage
devotion to the Rosary. This was done and the heresy quickly disappeared.
Saint Gertrude, in the fourteenth century, who often conversed with
the Beloved Disciple Saint John, on one occasion asked him why he,
who loved Our Blessed Lord so fervently, had never written anything
about the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He explained to her
his mission was to expound the Doctrine of the Incarnation and that
as for the Love of the Incarnate Word as exemplified by His Divine
Heart, it was reserved for the last ages to make it known, “so
that the world, carried away by follies, may regain a little of
the warmth of early Christian charity by learning of the love of
the Sacred Heart.”
It was on the feast of Saint John the Evangelist, three centuries
later in 1647, that Our Lord appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
and made certain promises to those who had a special devotion to
His Sacred Heart, which promises were destined to become the means
of salvation to so many countless Christians. Regarding this vision
, the Saint explained, “I understand that his devotion to
the Sacred Heart was a last effort of His love towards Christian
of these latter times, by proposing to them an object and a means
so calculated to persuade them to love Him.”
In 1815, Mother Maria Rafols wrote concerning her own visions at
the urgent insistence of Our Blessed Lord, in the hope that many,
after reading what He told her, would turn from their evil ways,
and have recourse to His Merciful Heart.
Much of what she has written is prophetic, and concerns itself,
in part, with the destiny of Spain. Referring to her own Mother
House, at Saragoze, Spain, Mother Rafols wrote that the Sacred Heart
would perform such wonders there as to win many sinners away from
their corrupted lives. It is worthy of note that although the Communists
had laid siege to the city of Saragoze, it was never captured, as
was foretold by Mother Rafols.
Our Lord promised her also that no matter what means men might invent
to destroy the faith in Spain, they would be unsuccessful and that
He would reign there until the end of time, because of the love
of the just and chaste souls who would always live in Spain. This
prophecy, only recently unearthed, must have been of great comfort
to the good Christians during the trying days of their Civil War.
So forgotten would be the Word of God in the days to come, that
men would even scandalize and pervert innocent children, and endeavor
to obliterate His Blessed Name from their memory. This was true
in Spain, and is true in many other countries today.
There would be such moral corruption, not only in Spain, but in
the entire world, that God would be forced to destroy entire cities,
should they fail to reform after His call. This is already being
fulfilled and no doubt vastly greater destruction will befall the
world before God is appeased.
It was written that these things would be taking place when the
documents would be found. They were found in 1931. Our Lord further
told Mother Rafols that there is one thing that hurts His Sacred
Heart still more, and that is to be forgotten, offended and despised
by souls consecrated to Him. They sometimes forget how dearly He
loves His chosen ones, how eagerly He waits in the Tabernacle for
them to come to Him for inspiration and assistance in the great
mission of saving souls. He wants them to be humble and chaste,
and to practice true charity towards one another, and thus avoid
giving scandal. He desires that His priests be living models of
Himself and that they propagate devotion to His Most Sacred Heart.
He says that all men have greater love for one another so that there
can be peace on earth, and greater love for Him. The Sacred Heart
was very sad because of the sacrileges men would commit on account
of their coldness toward Him. He said that many would not only not
heed the commands of Holy Mother Church, but would actually persecute
Her and seek to destroy Her. Priests and religious would be treated
with great disrespect.
He desires that men perform acts of satisfaction to forestall the
wrath of Divine Justice, and that the Feast of the Sacred Heart
be made a Holy Day of Obligation, and that all the Faithful receive
Holy Communion on that Day. (It is a Holy Day of Obligation in Spain.)
To those who devoutly wear the image of His Sacred Heart, He promised
great graces and special protection at the hour of their death.
He said that in times to come, many souls would propagate the devotion
to His Sacred Heart.
OFFERING
TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
AN
ACT OF REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
AN
ACT OF CONSECRATION AND REPARATION TO THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS
FORM
OF CONSECRATION
AN
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS.
PRAYER
IN HONOR OF THE PASSION OF OUR SAVIOR
PROMISES
OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
NINE
FIRST FRIDAY DEVOTIONS TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
EFFICACIOUS
NOVENA TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
LITANY
OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
ENTHRONEMENT
OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS IN THE HOME
MISERENTISSIMUS
REDEMPTOR
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| LIVES
OF THE SAINTS |
MARCH 1
St. Felix II
St Felix II, the pope is an ancestor of the future Pope St. Gregory the Great who lived from 540 to 604. 
MARCH 2
Blessed Charles the Good
Count Charles of Flanders, was called "the good" by the people of his kingdom. They named him for what they found him to truly be.
MARCH 3
Blessed Katharine Drexel
Blessed Katharine was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 26, 1858. Katharine's mother died when she was a baby.
MARCH 4
St. Casimir
St. Casimir was born in 1458, son of Casimir IV, king of Poland. Casimir was one of thirteen children.
MARCH 5
St. John Joseph of the Cross
St. John Joseph of the Cross was born in southern Italy on the feast of the Assumption, 1654. He was a young noble, but he dressed like a poor man.
MARCH 6
St. Colette
St. Nicolette was named in honor of St. Nicholas of Myra. She was born in 1380. Her loving parents nicknamed her Colette from the time she was a baby.
MARCH 7
St. Perpetua and St. Felicity
St. Perpetua and St. Felicity lived in Carthage, North Africa, in the third century. It was the time of the fierce persecution of Christians by Emperor Septimus Severus.
MARCH 8
St. John of God
St. John was born in Portugal on March 8, 1495. His parents were poor, but deeply Christian. John was a restless boy.
MARCH 9
St. Frances of Rome
St. Frances was born in 1384. Her parents were wealthy, but they taught Frances to be concerned about people and to live a good Christian life.
MARCH 10
St. Simplicius
St. Simplicius became pope in 468. Sometimes it seemed to him that he was all alone in trying to correct evils that were everywhere.
MARCH 11
St. Eulogius of Spain
St. Eulogius lived in the ninth century. His family was well-known and he received an excellent education. While he learned his lessons, he also learned from the good example of his teachers.
MARCH 12
St. Fina (Seraphina)
St. Fina was born in a little Italian town called San Geminiano. Her parents had once been well off, but misfortune had left them poor.
MARCH 13
St. Euphrasia
St. Euphrasia was born in the fifth century to deeply Christian parents. Her father, a relative of the emperor, died when she was a year old.
MARCH 14
St. Matilda
St. Matilda was born about 895, the daughter of a German count. When she was still quite young, her parents arranged her marriage to a nobleman named Henry.
MARCH 15
St. Zachary
St. Zachary was a Benedictine monk from Greece who lived in the eighth century. He became a cardinal and then pope.
MARCH 16
Blessed Torello
Blessed Torello was born in 1202, in Poppi, Italy. His life as a child in the village was ordinary and uneventful. But after his father's death.
MARCH 17
St. Patrick
St. Patrick was believed born in fifth-century Britain to Roman parents. When he was sixteen, he was captured by pirates and taken to Ireland.
MARCH 18
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
St. Cyril was born around 315 when a new phase was beginning for Christians. Before that date, the Church was persecuted by the emperors.
MARCH 19
St. Joseph
St. Joseph is a great saint. He was Jesus' foster-father and Mary's husband.
MARCH 20
St. Cuthbert
St. Cuthbert lived in England in the seventh century. He was a poor shepherd boy who loved to play games with his friends.
MARCH 21
St. Serapion
St. Serapion lived in Egypt in the fourth century. Those were exciting times for the Church and for St. Serapion.
MARCH 22
St. Deogratias
St. Deogratias was ordained bishop of the City of Carthage when it was taken over by barbarian armies in 439.
MARCH 23
St. Turibius of Mongrovejo
St. Turibius was born in 1538 in Leon, Spain. He became a university professor and then a famous judge.
MARCH 24
Blessed Didacus
Blessed Didacus Joseph was born on March 29, 1743, in Cadiz, Spain. He was baptized Joseph Francis.
MARCH 25
ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD
The time arrived for Jesus to come down from heaven. God sent the Archangel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth where Mary lived.
MARCH 26
St. Ludger
St. Ludger was born in northern Europe in the eighth century. After he had studied hard for many years, he was ordained a priest.
MARCH 27
St. John of Egypt
St. John was man who desired to be alone with God was to become one of the most famous hermits of his time.
MARCH 28
St. Tutilo
St. Tutilo lived in the late ninth and early tenth centuries. He was educated at the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Gall.
MARCH 29
St. Jonas and St. Barachisius
King Sapor of Persia reigned in the fourth century. He hated Christians and persecuted them cruelly. He destroyed their churches and monasteries.
MARCH 30
St. John Climacus
St. John was believed born in Palestine in the seventh century. He seems to have been a disciple of St. Gregory Nazianzen.
MARCH 31
Blessed Joan of Toulouse
In 1240, some Carmelite brothers from Palestine started a monastery in Toulouse, France.
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PHOTO OF THE MONTH |
Tour
of the Relics of the Passion
(International Center
for Holy Relics)
www.HolyRelics.org
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| REFLECTIONS |
 “Jesus’
Baptism”
Why did Jesus, the sinless one sent from the Father in heaven,
submit himself to John’s baptism? John preached a
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke
3:3). In this humble submission we see a foreshadowing of
the “baptism” of Jesus bloody death upon the
cross. Jesus’ baptism is the acceptance and the beginning
of his mission as God’s suffering Servant (Isaiah
52:13-15; 53:1-12). He allowed himself to be numbered among
sinners. Jesus submitted himself entirely to his Father’s
will. Out of love he consented to this baptism of death
for the remission of our sins. Do you know the joy of trust
and submission to God?
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