Short Prayers for Daily Use

"Pray like this. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to your prayers."

Here are just a small selection of short prayers that can be said in your day

Prayer to Defeat The Work OF Satan

O Divine Eternal Father, in union with Your Divine Son and the Holy Spirit, and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg You to destroy the Power of your greatest enemy-the evil spirits.

Cast them into the deepest recesses of hell and chain them there forever! Take possession of Your Kingdom which You have created and which is rightfully yours.

Heavenly Father, give us the reign of Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

I repeat this prayer out of pure for You with every beat of my heart and with every breath I take. Amen

Composed by Berthe Petit

(A Franciscan Teriary whose message was confided by Our Lord to, "Teach souls to love the Heart of My Mother pierced by the very sorrows which pierced Mine.")

Sorrowful and Immaculate heart of Mary, dwelling pure and holy, cover my soul with your maternal protection so that being ever faithful to the voice of Jesus, it responds to His love and obeys His Divine Will.

I wish, O my Mother to keep unceasingly before me your co-redemption in order to live intimately with your Heart that is totally united to the Heart of Your Divine Son.

Fasten me to this Heart by your own virtues and sorrows.
Protect me always

To The Sacred Heart

"Sacred Heart of Jesus, I implore that I may ever love You more and more."
"Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You."
"Jesus meek and humble of Heart, make my heart like Yours."
"Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come."
"Sacred Heart, have mercy on me."
"Sacred Heart of Jesus. May you be known, loved and imitated."

Traditional Prayer of Reparation

My loving Jesus, out of the grateful love I bear you, and to make reparation for my unfaithfulness to grace, I give You my heart, and I consecrate myself wholly to You; and with Your help I purpose to sin no more. Amen.

Prayer for the Forgiveness of Daily Neglects

Eternal Father, I offer the Sacred Heart of Jesus with all its love, all its sufferings of and all its merits:
First-To expiate all the sins I have committed this day and during all my life.
Glory Be.....
Second-To purify the good I have done badly this day and during all my life.
Glory Be.....
Third-To supply for the good I ought to have done and I have neglected this day and during all my life.
Glory Be....




"Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with thorns which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation."




Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
Mary, our hope, have pity on us and pray for us.
My Mother, my hope!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
O Mary, my Queen and Mother, remember I am all thine. Keep me and guard me as thy property and possession. Amen.
Sweet Heart of Mary, be our salvation.
"O my Jesus, I offer this for the love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for all the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. "

Scapulars

The importance of the Scapular was given to us by The blessed Mother as a form of protection and indulgences. This is the garment that Mary states if we wear," we shall have eternal life and that those who die wearing this will not suffer eternal fire". There are several different scapulars and there is so much to learn about each different monastic order and their usage pertaining to the scapular. The use of the scapular in the lay person and Third Orders as well. I am focusing here just on the scapular of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There is some very interesting history on the scapular that I hope you will enjoy reading about. The Blessed Lady asks of us to wear her garment with pride for it is her garment that she gives to us so that she may think of us and we of her as we wear it close to our hearts

To read more on the different kinds of scapulars and medals including Black, Blue, Brown, Red, Green and The Most Precious Blood and even more types of scapulars see New Advent for further reading

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13508b.htm



J. The Scapular of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This scapular originated with the Sons of the lmmaculate Heart of Mary in 1877, and was sanctioned and endowed with indulgences by Pius IX on 11 May of that year. The scapular was later approved by the Congregation of Rites in 1907, and its form more exactly decreed; in the same year it was assigned new indulgences. The superior general of the above congregation can communicate to other priests the faculty of blessing and investing with this scapular ("Acta Pontificia", Rome, March 1911, appendix). The scapular is of white woollen cloth: on the portion which hangs before the breast is represented the burning heart of Mary, out of which grows a lily; the heart is encircled by a wreath of roses and pierced with a sword.

O. The Scapular of The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The constant wearing of a small picture of the Heart of Jesus was already recommended by Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, who herself made and distributed them. They were made of a small piece of white woollen cloth, on which was embroidered or sewed in red a picture of the Heart of Jesus. This badge was especially employed during the plague at Marseilles as a protection against the pest. During the terrors of the French Revolution it also served as a safeguard for the pious faithful. Although this badge is often called a scapular, it is not really such; consequently the conditions governing scapulars do not apply to it. It was only in 1872 that an indulgence was granted by Pius IX for the wearing of this badge. A real scapular of the Sacred Heart was first introduced in France in 1876 when it was approved by Decree of the Congregation of Rites and a special formula for blessing and investing with it appointed 4 April, 1900. This scapular consists of two segments of white woollen cloth connected in the usual manner by two strings; one segment bears the usual representation of the Sacred Heart, while the other bears that of the Blessed Virgin under the title of Mother of Mercy. By a Brief of 10 July, Leo XIII granted many indulgences for the pious wearing of this scapular.

P. The Scapular of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. This is very similar to the Red Scapular of the Passion. Like the Scapulars of the Heart of Jesus, it was approved at the request of the Archbishop of Marseilles, by a Decree of the Congregation of Rites, 4 April, 1900. The two segments of cloth are of white wool, one bears the image of the Heart of Jesus with the well-known emblems and also the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword, underneath being the implements of the Passion; the other segment has a small cross of red material. Indulgences were granted for the wearing of this scapular in 1901, and increased by Pius X in 1906. The scapular owes its origin and spread to the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart, founded at Antwerp in 1873 (Acta S. Sedis, XXXII, 633 sq.)


The Value of the Scapular

Our Lord taught us to say the "Our Father." Mary taught us the value of the Scapular. When we use it as a prayer, Our Lady draws us to the Sacred Heart of her Divine Son. It is well, therefore, to HOLD THE SCAPULAR IN THE HAND while addressing Our Lady. A prayer uttered thus, while holding the mystical Scapular, is as perfect as a prayer can be. It is especially in TIME OF TEMPTATION that we need the powerful intercession of God's Mother. The evil spirit is utterly powerless when a Scapular-wearer, besides his silent devotion, faces temptation calling upon Mary. "If thou hadst recommended thyself to me, thou wouldst not have run into danger," was Our Lady's gentle reproach to Blessed Alan de la Roche.
***Pope Benedict XV granted a partial indulgence EACH TIME the Scapular is kissed.***

The Morning Offering

O my God, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (here kiss your Scapular as a sign of your consecration; partial indulgence also), I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus from all the altars throughout the world, joining with It the offering of my every thought, word and action of this day. O my Jesus, I desire today to gain every indulgence and merit I can and I offer them together with myself, to Mary Immaculate, that she may best apply them in the interest of Thy most Sacred Heart. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us! Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Saint John Eudes' Admirable Heart Of Mary Installment 4

Chapter III

The Corporeal Heart Of Mary

Just as everything in Our Lord Jesus Christ is great and admirable, so also
everything that concerns Mary, His holy Mother, is replete with grandeur and
marvels. Every part of the sacred humanity of the Son of God is deified and
raised to an infinite dignity through its union with the Divinity; so
likewise everything in the Blessed Virgin Mary is ennobled and sanctified by
her divine maternity. There is no part of the sacred body of the God-Man
that is not worthy of the eternal admiration of angels and men, and there is
nothing in the virginal body of the Mother of God that is unworthy of the
eternal praise of all creatures.

The Holy Ghost, the Son of God and His Saints have given high praise to the sacred members of Mary's immaculate body. We may therefore conclude that her blessed heart, the first and worthiest part, is deserving of especial veneration. Shall we not share the sentiments of Jesus Christ, our Head, and follow the example He gives us? Mary's Divine Son, who has willed to be our Head and our Brother, manifests great zeal in honoring even the smallest exterior detail of the person of His Most Blessed Mother. Who therefore can dare to criticize the other children of this Mother of Fair Love, if, following the spirit and example of their divine Head and Elder Brother, they render special homage to her maternal Heart and celebrate a feast in its honor with the permission of Holy Church?

There are five marvelous prerogatives of the corporeal heart of Mary which render it forever worthy to receive the veneration of men and angels.

The first prerogative consists in the fact that the heart is the principle of the life of our holy Mother. It is the principle of all the functions of her bodily, material life, ever holy in itself and in its every function and employment. It is the source of the life of the Mother of God, the life of her who gave birth to the only Son of God, the life of the woman through whom God gave life to all the children of Adam, sunk as they were in the abyss of eternal death. Finally, her heart is the source of a life so holy, so noble, so sublime that it is more precious in the sight of God than the lives of all the angels and men.

The second prerogative of the corporeal heart of Mary is that it produced the virginal blood with which the sacred body of the God-Man was formed in the chaste womb of His blessed Mother.

The third prerogative of Mary's heart of flesh is that it was the source of the human, material life of the Infant Jesus during the nine months that He dwelt in Mary's sacred womb. While the infant is in its mother's bosom, the mother's heart is to such an extent the source of the infant's life that both mother and infant can be said to depend upon it for their existence. Mary's admirable heart was therefore the source of the two most noble and precious lives, at once the source of the holy life of the Mother of God and of her only son, the humanly divine as well as the divinely human life of the God-Man.

The fourth prerogative of the amiable heart is noted in the words of the holy bride to the divine bridegroom, that is, of Mary to Jesus, who is her Son and her Father, her Brother and her Spouse: "Our bed is flourishing" (Song 1:15), that is, our bed is covered and perfumed with flowers. What is this bed? It is the pure heart of the Blessed Virgin where the divine Infant so gently rested.

It was a great privilege for St. John, the beloved disciple, to have rested once on the Savior's adorable breast, from which he drew such great light and derived the knowledge of so many marvelous secrets. But not only once but many times did our divine Savior rest on the virginal heart of His dearest Mother. What abundance of lights, of grace and of blessings the Eternal Sun, the very source of light and grace, must have poured into that maternal heart, on which He rested so often! Her heart never interposed the slightest obstacle to divine grace. On the contrary, she was always disposed to welcome every celestial favor. Our Lord loved her heart more than all other hearts put together, and was in turn loved by it more perfectly than by the hearts of all the Seraphim. What union, what intimacy, what understanding, what correspondence between these two Hearts! What fire in these two furnaces of love constantly inflamed by the breath of the Holy Ghost!

And now we come to the fifth prerogative of this holy heart. It is the altar upon which a great and perpetual sacrifice, most agreeable to God, is constantly offered. On it are immolated all the natural passions which reside in the human heart. There are found at once the concupiscible and the irascible appetites of the soul, given by God to man that they may be led to hate, fear, avoid, combat, and destroy the things that hurt them, and to love, desire, hope for, and seek that which will benefit them. These two principal passions comprise eleven others, which are like soldiers fighting under two captains, or like weapons and instruments used to attain the two ends mentioned above.

The irascible appetite possesses five passions, namely hope, despair, daring, fear, and anger. The concupisible appetite includes six: love, hatred, desire, abhorrence, delight, and sadness.

Man's revolt against the commandments of God caused all these passions to revolt against self and to fall into such disorder that instead of being completely subject to the will, which is the queen of all the soul's faculties, they often make it their slave. Instead of being guardians of the heart in which they reside, preserving in peace and tranquillity, the passions usually become as many executioners who torment the heart and fill it with conflict and war.

Such was not the case with the passions that reside in the corporeal heart of the Queen of Angels, for they were always entirely subject to her reason and to the Divine Will that held sovereign sway over every part of her soul and body.

Just as these passions were rendered divine in the adorable Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so were they sanctified most excellently in the holy Heart of His Blessed Mother. The fire of divine love, buring day and night in the ardent furnace of this virginal heart, so purified consumed, and tranformed her passions into its own substance, that, as this heavenly fire had no other object save God alone, towards whom it constantly tended with incomparable ardor and impetuosity, so these passions were always turned towards God and exercised in His service. they were moved and led exclusively by the love of God, which possessed, animated, and inflamed them in so marvellous a manner that they became a perpetual and admirable sacrifice in honor of the Blessed Trinity.

We may consider the most pure body of Mary as a sacred tmeple, indeed as the most august temple that ever was or will be, next to the temple of the sacred humanity of Jesus christ, her divine Son. We see her virginal heart as the sacred altar of this temple. We behold Divine Love as the high priest offering to God uninterrupted sacrifices in this temple and on this altar. We contemplate the Divine Will bringing many victims to be sacrificed on this altar of Mary's Heart. Among the victims we distinguish the eleven natural passions slaughtered by the flaming sword which the high priest holds in his hand, that is by the efficacy of Divine Love. They are consumed and transformed into the heavenly fire which burns upon the altar of her heart; they are immolated to the most Holy Trinity in a sacrifice of praise, of glory, and of love.

Thus did the great high priest, Divine Love, sacrifice on the holy altar of Mary's heart, all her passions, inclinations, sentiments of love, hatred, desire, aversion, joy, sadness, hope, distrust, fear, and anger.

And this sacrifice commenced the first instant the holy Heart of Mary began to beat in her virginal breast, that is the very first instant of this Immaculate Virgin's life. It continued uninterruptedly until her last breath, gaining in sanctity and in love with every passing moment.

O great and truly admirable sacrifice, so wonderfully agreeable to the God of hearts! O blessed Heart of the Mother of Fair Love, consecrated altar whereon so divine a sacrifice was offered! Blessed art thou, O most Holy Heart, for having loved and desired nothing but Him who alone is amiable and desirable! Blessed art thou for having established thy joy and thy contentment in loving and honoring Him, who alone is capable of satisfying the heart of man, and for having known no other grief than that caused by the offenses committed against His Divine Majesty!

O Blessed Heart, so completely closed to the vanities of the earth and of self-interest that not one trace of them ever found place in thee! Thy confidence in God was equalled by thy firm trust in divine bounty, and, fired with holy generosity, never didst thou give way before the obstacles raised by hell and the world to prevent thee from advancing along the path of sacred love, but thou didst always surmount them with unemitting constancy and invincible strength.

These are some fo the marvellous prerogatives of the admirable Heart which beats in the virginal breast of the Mother of God. Is it not true that, even if we considered only the material and corporeal Heart of the Queen of heaven, it would still be worthy of the greatest honor and veneration?

Blessed indeed are the hearts of the true children of Mary, who strive to live in conformity with the most holy Heart of their Mother most admirable!

Think, think of the honour that is due to her Heart, most noble part of the virginal body that give human flesh to the Eternal Word, forever the center of adoration of the agnels and saints in heaven! What honour is due to her Heart, life-principle of the Mother of God and of God-made-Man!

Above all, what great veneration is merited by the Heart that God Himself loved and glorifeid most highly, the Heart that adored and loved God more perfectly than all the hearts in heaven and upon earth! May every heart praise and magnify thee forever!

Saint John Eudes' The Admirable Heart Of Mary Installment 3

Chapter 2

The Heart of Mary In General

Before expounding the prodigious virtues and the incomparable marvels of the Admirable Heart of Mary, according to the lights which He Who is the Source of all light will be pleased to give me, I shall point out the various meanings of the word "heart" in Sacred Scripture.

1. The word "heart," first of all, signifies the material and corporeal heart which beats within our breast, the noblest part of the human body. It is the principle of life, the first organ to begin to live and the last to be stilled in death. It is the seat of love, hatred, joy, sadness, fear, and every passion of the soul. Of this heart does the Holy Ghost speak when He says, "With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it."

2. "Heart" is also employed in Scripture to signify the memory. This is, no doubt, its meaning in these words of Our Lord: "Lay it up therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before how you shall answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay." That is, remember when you are brought before kings and judges for My Name's sake, not to prepare an answer for your enemies because I will give you wisdom, which your enemies will not be able to gainsay.

3. It likewise denotes the intellect, with which we meditate. Meditation is, in fact, discursive reasoning on the things of God, tending to persuade and to convince us of the truth of Christian doctrine. This is the heart alluded to in the words: "The meditation of my heart (is) always in Thy sight." In other words, "my heart, that is, my intellect, is always occupied in meditating and contemplating Thy glory, mysteries, and works."

4. The word "heart" expresses the free will of the superior and rational part of the soul, the queen of the other faculties, the root of good and evil, and the mother of virtue and of vice. Our Lord refers to this heart when He says: "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil." Here, "a good heart" means the righteous will of the just man, from which all kinds of good can come, and "an evil heart" means the bad will of the wicked, which is a source of all kinds of evil.

5. We must also understand by the word "heart" that highest part of the soul which theologians call the point of the spirit. It is the seat of contemplation, which consists in turning the mind directly toward God and viewing Him in all simplicity, without discursive reasoning or multiplicity of thoughts. The Fathers of the Church apply to this power of the soul those words which the Holy Ghost puts in the mouth of the Blessed Virgin Mary: "I sleep, and my heart watcheth." According to St. Bernardine of Siena and several other writers, sleep and rest of the body did not prevent Mary's holy Heart, that is, the highest part of her mind, from being always united to God in sublime contemplation.

6. At times "heart" stands for the whole interior life of man; I mean, of course, the spiritual life, as indicated by these words spoken by the Son of God to the faithful soul: "Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm" (Song 8:6), that is, stamp the image of my interior and exterior life in your interior and exterior life, in your soul and in your body, by a perfect imitation of Me.

7. The word "heart" can also signify the Holy Spirit, the veritable Heart of the Father and the Son, Whom They desire to give us for our own mind and heart. "And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you" (Ezek 36:26).

8. The Son of God is called the Heart of the Eternal Father in Sacred Scripture, and it is of this heart that the Father speaks to His Spouse, the Blessed Virgin, when He says to her: "Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse" (Song 4:9), or according to the Septuagint: "Thou hast ravished my heart." And the Son of God Himself is called in Scripture "The breath of our mouth" (Lam 4:20), that is, the soul of our soul and our heart's very heart.

All these hearts are to be found in Mary, the Mother of Fair Love, and they form in her one single heart, because all the faculties of the superior and the inferior part of her soul were always harmoniously united. Moreover, Jesus, who is the heart of His Father, and the Holy Spirit, who is the heart of the Father and the Son, were given to Mary to be the soul of her soul and the heart of her heart.

To understand more clearly what is meant by the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we must recall that, just as we adore in the Most Holy Trinity and in the Incarnate Word three hearts which form but one heart, so also do we honor in the Mother of God three hearts united in one.

The first heart to be found in the Blessed Trinity is the Son of God, Who is the Heart of the Eternal Father, as we have seen above. The second is the Holy Spirit, who is the Heart of the Father and the Son. The third is Divine Love Itself, an adorable attribute of the divine essence, which can be considered as the Heart of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. These three hearts are in reality only one single Heart, and with it the three eternal Persons love one another as They deserve to be loved. They also love mankind with an incomparable charity.

The first heart to be found in our Loving Savior, Jesus Christ, the God-Man, is His heart of flesh, deified like all the other parts of His sacred body by its hypostatic union with the Divine Word. The second is His spiritual heart, that is, the superior faculties of His holy soul, including His memory, His understanding and His will, all most specially deified by the hypostatic union. The third is His divine heart, that is, the Holy Spirit, by whom His adorable humanity has always been animated in a higher degree than by its own soul and heart.

Thus we have in Jesus Christ, the God-Man, three hearts forming but one, because His divine Heart constituted the soul, the heart and the life of His spiritual and bodily hearts. Moreover God has established such perfect unity between them that these three hearts form only a single heart, filled with infinite love towards the Blessed Trinity and with surpassing charity towards men.

The first heart of Mary, the Mother of God, is the heart of flesh enclosed in her virginal breast. Although this heart is corporeal, it is nevertheless completely spiritualized by the spirit of grace and the spirit of God which fill it.

The second heart is her spiritual heart, made God-like, not indeed by the hypostatic union as in the Incarnate Word, but by a superlative participation in the divine perfections, as we shall see in the following pages. This heart is referred to by the words of the Holy Spirit: "All the glory of the king's daughter is within" (Ps 44:14), that is, has its origin in her heart and her inmost soul.

The third heart of Mary is divine and is truly God Himself, for it is none other than the love of God. This is the heart of which she says: "I sleep, and my heart watches" (Song 5:2), which means according to the interpretation of several holy Doctors: "While I grant necessary rest to my body, my Son Jesus, who is my Heart and whom I love like my own heart, is always watching over me and for me."

These three hearts of the Mother of God constitute a single Heart, through the holiest and most intimate union that ever was and will be, next to the hypostatic union. Of these three hearts, or rather, of this single Heart, the Holy Spirit has said twice: "Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart" (Lk 2:19 and 51).

Our Lady cherished the mysteries and marvels of her Son's life, first of all, in her material and corporeal heart, the principle of life, the seat of love and of the other physical emotions. All the movements, every beat of this virginal heart, the material functions that it accomplished and the emotions that swayed it, existed solely for Jesus and for the things that concerned Him. Her love was spent in loving Him, her hatred in hating all that is contrary to Him, her joy in rejoicing in His glory and His grandeurs, her sorrow and compassion in bewailing His trials and sufferings. The same may be said of every emotion of her bodily heart.

Secondly, Mary kept all these things in her spiritual heart, that is, in the noblest part of her soul, in the inmost recesses of her mind. All the faculties of her soul were constantly applied to contemplating and adoring everything that took place in the life of her Beloved Son, down to the very smallest details.

Thirdly, Our Lady kept all these things in her divine Heart, that is, in her Son Jesus, who was the mind of her mind and the heart of her heart. He in turn kept them for her and recalled them to her mind when necessary, that she might feed herself in contemplation upon the mysteries of His life, rendering them due honor and adoration, and repeating them to the holy apostles and disciples, who were to preach them to faithful.

This then is what is meant by the Admirable Heart of the beloved Mother of God. this is the worthy subject of which I shall have to speak in this book. the next three chapters will treat in greater detail of the corporeal, spiritual, and divine Heart of Mary. In the rest of the book, you will find comments proper to her corporeal heart, others pertaining only to her divine heart, While additional characteristics will be common to all three. Every word that I write, every point that I make, will further the spiritual progress of my readers, if they will but lift up their hearts to God as they read, in praise and thanksgiving for the innumerable graces and treasures of the Heart of Mary.

O Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary, my task is great and beyond my power, but I trust in Thy goodness and in the love of Thy Holy Mother. I seek nothing as I, a sinner, strive to show forth the wonders of the Heart of Mary. Nothing, except to make some small return for the countless graces received from Thy paternal Heart through the loving Heart of Thy Mother. To Thee, O Jesus, I surrender myself, my mind, my heart, and my pen for one purpose only: that my readers may understand and cultivate a lively devotion to the Most Admirable Heart of Thy Blessed Mother.

First Friday Reminder

Friday July 7th (tomorrow) is the First Friday of July.

The Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus To St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

1. "I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life."
2. "I will establish peace in their homes."
3. "I will comfort them in their afflictions."
4. "I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all in death."
5. "I will bestow a large blessing upon all their undertakings."
6. "Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy."
7. "Tepid souls shall grow fervent."
8. "Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection."
9. "I will bless every place where a picture of My Heart shall be set up and honored."
10. "I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts."
11. "Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out."
12. "I promise thee in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving the Sacraments; My Divine heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment."

It is promise number twelve that is the basis for the Nine First Fridays.

The First Friday of each month was designated by our Savior Himself as a day to be
consecrated to honoring His Sacred Heart. As the object of this devotion is to make our Savior Jesus Christ ardently and perfectly loved, and to make reparation for the outrages offered to Him in the past, as well as for those which he daily receives in the Blessed Eucharist, Jesus Christ merits our love at all times, but alas! He is despised and outraged in the Sacrament of His love at all times, and so people should at all times make reparation to Him.

We should then adore Jesus Christ in this august Sacrament, make a fervent act of love to Jesus in the tabernacle, thank Him for having instituted this Mystery of love, express our sorrow at seeing Him so abandoned, and resolve to visit Him as soon as possible and love Him unceasingly.

Attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is assuredly the best means of honoring and loving the adorable Heart of Jesus.

To communicate worthily on the Nine Consecutive First Fridays, it is incumbent on those practicing the devotion to be in a state of grace at the time of communicating. And for most of us, that means making a full and complete worthy confession and carrying out the penance imposed just before Mass.

The following are customary for those making this devotion:

The following First Friday devotions are efficacious in honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

1. The Sacrament of Penance
2. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
3. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
4. Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I consecrate myself to Thy Most Sacred Heart. Take possession of my whole being; transform me into Thyself. Make my hands Thy hands, my feet Thy feet, my heart Thy heart. Let me see with Thine eyes, listen with Thine ears, speak with Thy lips, love with Thy Heart, understand with Thy mind, serve with Thy will, and be dedicated with my whole being. Make me Thy other self. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, send me Thy Holy Ghost to teach me to love Thee and to live through thee, with Thee, in Thee, and for Thee.

Come, Holy Ghost, make my body Thy temple. Come, and abide with me forever. Give me the deepest love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus in order to serve Him with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Take possession of all my faculties of body and soul. Regulate all my passions: feelings and emotions. Take possession of my intellect, understanding and will; my memory and imagination. O Holy Spirit of Love, give me an abundance of Thy efficacious graces. Give me the fullness of all the virtues; enrich my faith, strengthen my hope, increase my trust, and inflame my love. Give me the fullness of Thy sevenfold gifts, fruits and beatitudes. Most Holy Trinity, make my soul Thy sanctuary.
Amen.

5. Act of Reparation

Sacred Heart of Jesus, animated with a desire to repair the outrages unceasingly offered to Thee, we prostrate before Thy throne of mercy, and in the name of all mankind, pledge our love and fidelity to Thee!
The more Thy mysteries are blasphemed, the more firmly we shall believe them, O Sacred Heart of Jesus!
The more impiety endeavors to extinguish our hopes of immortality, the more we shall trust in Thy Heart, sole hope of mankind!
The more hearts resist Thy Divine attractions, the more we shall love Thee, O infinitely amiable heart of Jesus!
The more unbelief attacks Thy Divinity, the more humbly and profoundly we shall adore It, O Divine Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy holy laws are transgressed and ignored, the more we shall delight to observe them, O most holy Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Sacraments are despised and abandoned, the more frequently we shall receive them with love and reverence, O most liberal Heart of Jesus!
The more the imitation of Thy virtues is neglected and forgotten, the more we shall endeavor to practice them, O Heart, model of every virtue!
The more the devil labors to destroy souls, the more we shall be inflamed with desire to save them, O Heart of Jesus, zealous Lover of souls!
The more sin and impurity destroy the image of God in man, the more we shall try by purity of life to be a living temple of the Holy Spirit, O Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Holy Church is despised, the more we shall endeavor to be her faithful children, O Sweet Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Vicar on earth is persecuted, the more we will honor him as the infallible head of Thy Holy Church, show our fidelity and pray for him, O kingly Heart of Jesus!
O Sacred Heart, through Thy powerful grace, may we become Thy apostles in the midst of a corrupted world, and be Thy crown in the kingdom of heaven.
Amen.

6. The Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
V/ Lord, have mercy.
R/ Lord, have mercy.

V/ Christ, have mercy.
R/ Christ, have mercy.

V/ Lord, have mercy.
R/ Lord, have mercy.

V/ Jesus, hear us.
R/ Jesus, graciously hear us.

R/ for ff: Have mercy on us.

God, the Father of Heaven,
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God, the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, One God,
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father.
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother,
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God,
Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty,
Heart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven,
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased,
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful,
Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke Thee,
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness,
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium,
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses,
Heart of Jesus, obedient to death,
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection,
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation,
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in Thee,
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee,
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the Saints,

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world.
R/ spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,
R/ graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,
R/ have mercy on us.

Jesus, meek and humble of heart.
R/ Make our hearts like unto Thy Heart.

Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Thy most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which he offers Thee in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Thy mercy, in Thy great goodness, grant forgiveness in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee forever and ever.

R/ Amen.

Saint John Eudes' The Admirable Heart Of Mary, Installment 2

Part One

Object of the Devotion to the Admirable Heart Of Mary

Chapter 1

Reasons For the Name "Admirable"

Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, chose the incomparable Virgin Mary from among all the creatures to be His Mother and deigned to be nourished and governed by her. In His infinite goodness He also gave her to us to be our Queen, our Mother, and our sure Refuge in all our needs. He therefore wishes us to honor her as He honors her and to love her as He loves her.

According to the Apostle Saint Paul, Christ is the Head of His Mystical Body, the Church, and we are the members. We must therefore be animated by His Spirit; we must follow His inspirations, walk the path He has traced, and continue, as it were, His life on earth by practising the virtues which were His own. It follows that our devotion to His Holy Mother must be a continuation of His devotion to her. We must be filled with the sentiments of respect, submission, and affection which He entertained for her on earth and still entertains in heaven. Mary always held and will hold forever the first place in the Sacred Heart of her Divine Son; she always was and never will cease to be, the first object of His love after the Eternal Father; and so He wishes that, next to God, she should be the principal object of our devotion. For this reason, after the veneration we owe to the Divine Majesty of God, we cannot render a greater service to Jesus Christ or do anything more pleasing to Him than to serve and honor His most worthy Mother.

The human will is not, however, moved to love a fellow creature unless the intellect first knows what renders it worthy of respect and esteem. The infinite zeal with which the Son of God is inflamed for all that concerns His dear Mother has urged Him to reveal to us through the inspired words of Sacred Scripture and through the writings of the Fathers some small measure of the perfections with which He has enriched her. The reality far surpassing our knowledge of her in this vale of darkness will be revealed only in heaven, the land of unclouded light.

Among the divinely inspired passages of Sacred Scripture I select one from the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, which is a compendium of all the great things that can be said or thought of our marvelous Queen. "A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." What is this great sign? Who is this miraculous woman? St. Epiphanius, St. Augustine, St. Bernard, and many other holy doctors agree that the woman is Mary, the Queen among women, the Sovereign of angels and men, the Virgin of virgins. She is the woman who bore in her chaste womb the perfect man, the God-Man. "A woman shall compass a man."

Mary appears in heaven because she comes from heaven, because she is heaven's masterpiece, the Empress of Heaven, its joy and its glory, in whom everything is heavenly. Even when her body dwelt on earth, her thoughts and affections were all rapt in heaven.

She is clothed with the eternal Sun of the Godhead and with all the perfections of the Divine Essence which surround, fill, and penetrate her to such an extent that she has been transformed, as it were, in to the power, goodness, and holiness of God.

She has the moon under her feet to show that the entire world is beneath her. None is above her, save only God, and she holds absolute sway over all created things.

She is crowned with twelve stars that represent the virtues which shine so brightly in her soul. The mysteries of her life are as many stars more luminous by far than the brightest lights of the sky. The privileges and perogatives God has granted to her, the least of which is greater than anything shining in the firmament of heaven, as well as the glory of the saints of Paradise and of earth, are her crown, and her glory in a much fuller sense than the Philippians could be said to be the crown and joy of Saint Paul.

But why does the Holy Ghost call Mary "a great sign"? It is simply to tell us everything in her is wonderful, and that the marvels that fill her being should be proclaimed to the entire world, so that she may become an object of the admiration for the inhabitants of heaven as well as for mankind on earth, and so that she may be the sweet delight of angels and men.

This is likewise the reason why the Holy Ghost inspires the fatihful throughout the world to sing in her praise: Mater admirabilis-"Oh Mother most admirable." Moreover, according to the testimony of several trustworthy authors, a holy Jesuit who once asked the Mother of God to reveal to him which of the many titles in her Litany was most pleasing to her received this same answer: Mater admirabilis.

Mary is truly admirable in all her perfections and in all her virtues. But what is most admirable in her is her virginal heart. The heart of the Mother of God is a world of marvels, an abyss of wonders, the source and principle of all the virtues which we admire in our glorious Queen: "All the glory of the King's daughter is within." It was through the humility, purity, and love of her most holy Heart that she merited to become the Mother of God and to receive the graces and privilges with which God enriched her on earth. These same sublime virtues of her Immaculate Heart have rendered her worthy of the glory and happiness that surround her in heaven, and of the great marvels that God has wrought in and through her.

Do not be surprised if I say that the virginal Heart of this Mother of Fair Love is an admirable Heart indeed. Mary is admirable in her divine Maternity because as Saint Bernardine of Siena says, "to be Mother of God is the miracle of miracles."
But the august Heart of Mary is also truly admirable for it is the principle of her divine Maternity and of the wonderful mysteries this privilege implies.

Of Mary's admirable Heart I shall attempt to speak in this book, although to speak and write worthily of the holy Heart of God's own Mother one would need a heart of fire. To know and proclaim the perfections of the noble Heart of the Queen of Angels one should have the intellect of a cherub and the flaming love of a seraph. Nay more, it would be necessary to possess the mind, the heart, the tongue, and the hand of Jesus Christ, the King of all hearts, to understand, honor, proclaim, or commit to writing the treasure of sanctity contained in the holy Heart of Mary, the worthiest, most royal and most marvellous of all hearts after the most adorable Heart of our Saviour Himself.

I am not so presumptuous as to believe that I can enclose within the pages of this book the immense teasure and the innumerable wonders contained in the incomparable Heart of Mary which is and will forever be the object of the ecstatic contemplation of the happy citizens of heaven.

When the angels beheld their Queen and ours at the moment of her Immaculate Conception they were filled with admiration at such fullness of grace and in their wonderment exclaimed: "Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?" What then must their rejoicing be, now that they behold in heaven all the perfections of her Heart from the first moment of her life on earth until the last?

The God of Angels finds even the footsteps of this glorious Queen so holy and so pleasing to His Divine Majesty that He exclaims: "How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O prince's daughter!" Under His divine inspiration Holy Church, both Militant and Triumphant, celebrates on earth and in heaven Our Lady's visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. From this we see how great is Our Lord's desire that we should admire and honor as He does the many holy and admirable actions which were inspired in the most amiable Heart of His peerless Mother.

If the smallest virtuous act of this heavenly Virgin represented in Sacred Scripture by one of her hairs, is so pleasing to God as to make Him proclaim that she has wounded and ravished His Heart with a hair of her neck, what must we think of the manifold acts of love which, like sacred flames, were constantly darting from the burning furnace of her virginal Heart ablaze with divine love? These flames were incessantly rising to Heaven to the Heart of the Most Holy Trinity.

Holy church, whom the Divine Spirit guides in all things, celebrates on earth and will forever celebrate in heaven several feasts to honor the various events in the earthly life of the Mother of God, such as her Presentation, in which she offered herself to God in the temple of Jerusalem; her Purification to honor her obedience to a law that did not apply to her; the feast of Our Lady of the Snows in memory of the dedication of the first church consecrated to her. What praises and homage her Holy Heart then deserves, that Heart which for at least sixty-three years offered up so many acts of faith, hope, and love of God and chairty towards men, humility, obedience, and every other virtue? What mind can understand and what tongue express the richness of this incomparable Heart, the Sovereign of all hearts consecrated to Jesus?

Her Heart is a vast sea of grace, a measureless ocean of perfections, an immense furnace of love. Would that I might lose myself as a drop of water in this ocean, or be consumed like a straw in this furnace, so that nothing of what I write could be considered as coming from me, but only from Jesus Christ who is the unique source of all good!

O most Holy Mary, Thy Divine Son, Jesus, hath received thy Heart, and He alone knows the great treasures He has hidden therein. He it was Who lit the fire burning in this furnace, and none but He can measure the heights reached by the flames which leap from its abyss. He alone can measure the vast perfections with which He has enriched the masterpiece of His all-powerful goodness, or count the innumerable graces He has poured into this ocean of grace: "He created her in the Holy Ghost, and saw her, and numbered her, and measured her."

And now I beseech thee, O most Blessed Virgin Mary, through thy Heart and for the honor of that very Heart to offer me to thy beloved Son and to pray that He may annihilate my personality and set Himself in the place of my nothingness, so that not my voice but His may be heard. May Jesus Christ be the author of this book, and I but the instrument of His surpassing love for thee and of the zeal with which He watches over the honor of thy most worthy Heart. May He inspire the thoughts He wishes to see expressed in this book and the very words He desires I should use. May His blessing rest in fullest measure on the readers of this book, and may He transform all its words into bright and ardent coals, so that their hearts may be purified, enlightened, and inflamed with the sacred fire of His love. In a word, may they become worthy to live according to God's heart and to be numbered a among the children of the maternal Heart of God's own Mother.

Serialization Of Saint John Eudes' The Admirable Heart Of Mary

Epistle Dedicatory

To Her Royal Highness
Madame de Guise

Madame,
All the stones in the Church of the most holy Heart of Jesus and of Mary, erected at the Caen seminary, are like so many voices crying out that this book, which also bears the title of The Admirable Heart Of Mary, should be dedicated to Your Royal Highness as a sign of gratitude of our little Congregation. We consider and honor you, Madame, as the foundress of our first and principal church, whose every stone is yet another tongue proclaiming that, among the great number of princes and princesses who have built churches in honor of the King and the Queen of the angels, Your Royal Highness alone can claim this privilege: that there are no others to whom God has granted the favor of making them His instruments to erect churches in honor of the adorable Heart of His Son Jesus and the admirable Heart of his dearest daughter Mary.

Your Royal Highness is the first one to be chosen by His Divine Majesty for such a noble and august work. All the citizens of Heaven will look upon and respect you forevermore as the foundress of the first church in the world which ever bore the name of the Church of the Most Holy Heart of Jesus and Mary, and which was so named by the Sovereign Pontiff Clement X, or rather by the Holy Ghost, since this Divine Spirit is the soul of the Church as well as its head, governing it in all matters of Christian faith and piety.

Your royal birth, Madame, endowed you with certain grandeurs which earn the homage and respect of all Europe, while the excellent virtues which shine forth in the holiness of your life make you venerable in Heaven and on earth. But the title of foundress of the first church to be dedicated to the two incomparable Hearts will eternally crown you with a completely unique honor and glory unrivalled in Heaven.

Your Royal Highness is also the first to have established in this church the celebration each Saturday of the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, along with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, in honor of the admirable Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is therein that the angels, who assist by the thousands at this sacrifice and benediction, and who have a special love for all persons who honor their Sovereign Princess, look upon you and honor you as the beloved of her Heart, and as the one who has had a sanctuary built on earth to be the dwelling of the King and Queen of Heaven. That is why they are preparing for you a palace incomparably more beautiful, rich, and magnificent than all the palaces of the greatest monarchs in the world. Did I say a palace? It is much more than that, Madame. They are preparing a glorious and eternal abode for you in their hearts.

In addition, all the Masses said in this church and all the works performed there until the consummation of the world will be like precious stones of incalculable worth which will make your crown wonderfully rich and brilliant. I very humbly and urgently beseech my most adorable Saviour and His most amiable Mother to take full, absolute, and eternal possession of Your Highness' truly royal heart, and to make their holy love reign supreme in it, that you may live in all perfection according to the Heart of God.

This is the most ardent prayer which will be offered to them all the days of his life by him who is, with the deepest respect, Madame,
Your Royal Highess'
Most humble, obedient, and grateful servant,
John Eudes

St Therese Lisieux on the Sacred Heart

In St. Therese Lisieux's "Little Way" she shows a "HUGE" devotion to the Sacred Heart. Her life may have been very simple and humble but, her love for Our Lord was enormous. She is my favorite saint. I admire her immensely and she has touched my heart in a very special way. She brought me closer to The Sacred Heart of Jesus through our Blessed Mother's Immaculate Heart.

FROM: "THE STORY OF A SOUL"

“My vocation is love!” she wrote toward the end of her life. While the Church around her was growing cold with power, rules, regulations, and indulgences, she was determined to be “love in the heart of the Church.” Her mission was “to make Love loved,” “to work for Your Love alone, with the one purpose of pleasing you, consoling Your Sacred Heart, and saving souls who will love You eternally.”

PRAYER WRITTEN BY ST. THERESE

TO THE SACRED HEART.
Beside the tomb wept Magdalen at dawn,
She sought to find the dead and buried Christ;
Nothing could fill the void now He was gone,
No one to soothe her burning grief sufficed.
Not even you, Archangels heaven assigned!
To her could bring content that dreary day.
Your buried King, alone, she longed to find,
And bear His lifeless body far away.
Beside His tomb she there the last remained,
And there again was she before the sun;
There, too, to come to her the Saviour deigned,
He would not be, by her, in love outdone.
Gently He showed her then His blessed Face,
And one word sprang from His deep Heart's recess:
Mary His voice she knew, she knew its grace;
It came with perfect peace her heart to bless.
One day, my God! I, too, like Magdalen,
Desired to find Thee, to draw near to Thee;
So, over earth's immense, wide stretching plain,
I sought its Master and its King to see.
Then cried I, though I saw the flowers bloom
In beauty 'neath green trees and azure skies:
O brilliant Nature thou art one vast tomb,
Unless God's Face shall greet my longing eyes."
A heart I need, to soothe me and to bless,
A strong support that can not pass away,
To love me wholly, e'en my feebleness,
And never leave me through the night or day.
There is not one created thing below,
Can love me truly, and can never die.
God become man, none else' my needs can know;
He, He alone, can understand my cry.
Thou comprehendest all I need, dear Lord!
To win my heart, from heaven Thou didst come;
For me Thy blood didst shed, O King adored!
And on our altars makest Thy home.
So, if I may not here behold Thy Face,
Or catch the heavenly music of Thy Voice,
I still can live, each moment, by Thy grace,
And in Thy Sacred Heart I can rejoice.
O Heart of Jesus, wealth of tenderness!
My joy Thou art, in Thee I safely hide.
Thou, Who my earliest youth didst charm and bless,
Till my last evening, oh! with me abide,
All that I had, to Thee I wholly gave,
To Thee each deep desire of mine is known.
Whoso his life shall lose, that life shall save;
Let mine be ever lost in Thine alone!
I know it well, no righteousness of mine
Hath any value in Thy searching eyes;
Its every breath my heart must draw from Thine,
To make of worth my life's long sacrifice.
Thou hast not found Thine angels without taint;
Thy Law amid the thunderbolts was given;
And yet, my Jesus! I nor fear nor faint.
For me, on Calvary, Thy Heart was riven.
To see Thee in Thy glory face to face,
I know it well, the soul must pass through fires.
Choose I on earth my purgatorial place,
The flaming love of Thy great Heart's desires!
So shall my exiled soul, to death's command,
Make answer with one cry of perfect love;
Then flying straight to heaven its Fatherland,
Shall reach with no delay that home above.
October, 1895.

INVOCATION TO ST THERESE

O Little Flower of Jesus, ever consoling troubled souls with heavenly graces, in your unfailing intercession I place my trust. From the Heart of Our Blessed Savior petition these blessing of which I stand in greatest need (mention here). Shower upon me your promised roses of virtue and grace, dear Saint Therese, so that swiftly advancing in sanctity and in perfect love of neighbor, I may someday receive the crown of eternal life. Amen.

A MORNING PRAYER WRITTEN BY ST. THERESE LISIEUX

O my God! I offer Thee all my actions of this day for the intentions and for the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart, my every thought, my simplest works, by uniting them to Its infinite merits; and I wish to make reparation for my sins by casting them into the furnace of Its Merciful Love.
O my God! I ask of Thee for myself and for those whom I hold dear, the grace to fulfill perfectly Thy Holy Will, to accept for love of Thee the joys and sorrows of this passing life, so that we may one day be united together in heaven for all Eternity.
Amen.

A BOOK ABOUT THE SAINT AND THE SACRED HEART

LITTLE WAY TO GOD - ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX AND THE SACRED HEART, by Gaston Roberge, S.J., Gujart Sahiya Prakash - Anand, India, 1984.