Friday, June 30, 2006

First Saturday Reminder

The first Saturday of July is tomorrow, July 1st.

From The Work of God
The Child Jesus spoke these words: "Have pity on the heart of thy Most Holy Mother. It is covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation."

Our Lady was holding a heart encircled with sharp thorns and then she said to Sister Lucia:
"Behold my heart surrounded with the thorns which ungrateful men place therein at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude.

You at least try to console me. Announce in my name that I promise to help at the hour of death, with the graces needed for salvation, whoever on the First Saturday of five consecutive months shall:

1 Confess and receive Holy Communion (confession on the previous day when making the First Friday devotion to the Sacred Heart is efficacious, so long as the communicant remains in a state of grace between the First Friday and First Saturday).

2 Recite five decades of the Rosary;

3 And keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."

Why Five Saturdays?

Christians have always honoured the Blessed Virgin on Saturday because of her constant faith in Jesus on that first Holy Saturday before the Resurrection.

Five first Saturdays of reparation were requested to atone for the five ways in which people offend the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

1.attacks upon Mary's Immaculate Conception
2.attacks against her Perpetual Virginity
3.attacks upon her Divine Maternity and the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all mankind
4.for those who try to publicly implant in children's hearts indifference, contempt and even hatred of this Immaculate Mother
5.for those who insult her directly in her sacred images.

Letter of Sister Lucia Explaining This Devotion:

1 November, 1927, letter to Doña Maria de Miranda, her godmother,
Sister Lucia wrote:

"I don't know if you already know about the reparatory devotion of the five Saturdays to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. As it is still recent, I would like to inspire you to practice it, because it is requested by Our dear Heavenly Mother and Jesus has manifested a desire that it be practiced. Also, it seems to me that you would be fortunate, dear godmother, not only to know it and to give Jesus the consolation of practicing it, but also to make it known and embraced by many other persons.

"It consists in this: During five months on the first Saturday, to receive Jesus in Communion, recite a Rosary, keep Our Lady company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, and make a confession. The confession can be made a few days earlier, and if in this previous confession you have forgotten the (required) intention the following intention can be offered, provided that on the first Saturday one receives Holy Communion in a state of grace, with the intention of repairing for offences against the Most Holy Virgin and which afflict Her Immaculate Heart.

"It seems to me, my dear godmother, that we are fortunate to be able to give Our dear Heavenly Mother this proof of love, for we know that She desires it to be offered to Her. As for myself, I avow that I am never so happy as when first Saturday arrives. Isn't it true that our greatest happiness is to belong entirely to Jesus and Mary and to love Them and Them alone, without reserve? We see this so clearly in the lives of the saints...They were happy because they loved, and we, my dear godmother, we must seek to love as they did, not only to enjoy Jesus, which is the least important -- because if we do not enjoy Him here below, we will enjoy Him up above -- but to give Jesus and Mary the consolation for being loved...and that in exchange for this love they might be able to save many souls."

"I don't know if you already know about the reparatory devotion of the five Saturdays to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. As it is still recent, I would like to inspire you to practice it, because it is requested by Our dear Heavenly Mother and Jesus has manifested a desire that it be practiced. Also, it seems to me that you would be fortunate, dear godmother, not only to know it and to give Jesus the consolation of practicing it, but also to make it known and embraced by many other persons.

"It consists in this: During five months on the first Saturday, to receive Jesus in Communion, recite a Rosary, keep Our Lady company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, and make a confession. The confession can be made a few days earlier, and if in this previous confession you have forgotten the (required) intention the following intention can be offered, provided that on the first Saturday one receives Holy Communion in a state of grace, with the intention of repairing for offences against the Most Holy Virgin and which afflict Her Immaculate Heart.

"It seems to me, my dear godmother, that we are fortunate to be able to give Our dear Heavenly Mother this proof of love, for we know that She desires it to be offered to Her. As for myself, I avow that I am never so happy as when first Saturday arrives. Isn't it true that our greatest happiness is to belong entirely to Jesus and Mary and to love Them and Them alone, without reserve? We see this so clearly in the lives of the saints...They were happy because they loved, and we, my dear godmother, we must seek to love as they did, not only to enjoy Jesus, which is the least important -- because if we do not enjoy Him here below, we will enjoy Him up above -- but to give Jesus and Mary the consolation for being loved...and that in exchange for this love they might be able to save many souls."

Act of Reparation for First Saturdays

O Most holy Virgin and our Mother, we listen with grief to the complaints of thy Immaculate Heart surrounded with the thorns which ungrateful men place therein at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Moved by the ardent desire of loving thee as our Mother and of promoting a true devotion to thine Immaculate Heart, we prostrate ourselves at thy feet to prove the sorrow we feel for the grievance that men cause thee, and to atone, by means of our prayers and sacrifices, for the offences with which men return thy tender love. Obtain for them and for us the pardon of so many sins. A word from thee will obtain grace and amendment for us all. Hasten, O Lady, the conversion of sinners, that they may love Jesus and cease to offend the Lord, already so much offended, and will not fall into hell. Turn thine eyes of mercy toward us, that henceforth we may love God with all our heart while on earth and enjoy Him forever in heaven.
Amen.

Origin Of the Sacred Heart Badge

From America Needs Fatima

Our Lord revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque "His wish for her to order a picture of the image of that Sacred Heart for people specifically to venerate and have in their homes and also small pictures to carry with them." She wrote this to her superior, Mother Saumaise, on March 2, 1686. Thus was born the devotion of wearing the little Badges.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque always kept a Badge with her and inspired her novices to do the same. She made many Badges and often said this practice was very pleasing to the Sacred Heart.

In the beginning, only the nuns of the Visitation were allowed to wear the Badge. It was later spread by Venerable Ana Magdalena Remuzat, a religious of the Visitation who died in the odor of sanctity (1696-1730). Our Lord told this nun that a serious epidemic would afflict the French city of Marseilles in 1720, and that its inhabitants would receive a marvelous help through this devotion to His Sacred Heart. Mother Remuzat, helped by her sisters in the convent, made thousands of Sacred Heart Badges, and distributed them throughout the city where the plague was rampant.

Soon afterward, the epidemic stopped. As if by a miracle, many Badge wearers were not infected and even people who got sick experienced extraordinary help through the Badge. Analogous events happened elsewhere. From then on, use of the Badge spread to other cities and countries.

The news of the graces obtained through the Badges reached the French court. Maria Lescyznska, the wife of King Louis XV, became devoted to the Badge. In 1748, she received several Badges from Pope Benedict XIV as a wedding gift. Among the various presents sent by the Pontiff were "many Badges of the Sacred Heart made of red taffeta and embroidered in gold," the records say.

Special Emblem of Counter-Revolutionaries
The unfortunate French Revolution erupted in France in 1789, a worse punishment than any plague, causing tragic consequences for the whole world.

True Catholics found protection in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus during the period. Many priests, nobles, and people who resisted the bloody anti-Catholic revolution wore the Badge. Even ladies of the court, like the Princess de Lamballe, wore the Badge embroidered with precious materials over the fabric. The simple fact of wearing the Badge became a distinctive sign of those opposed to the French Revolution.

Among the belongings of Queen Marie Antoinette, guillotined out of revolutionary hatred, was found a drawing of the Sacred Heart, with the Wound, Cross, and Crown of Thorns, and the inscription, "Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!"

Heroic Deeds By Devotees Of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Chouans, heroic Catholics from Mayenne (Western France), especially from the Vendee, who resisted the impious French revolutionaries of 1789 and confronted them with energy and religious ardor, embroidered the Badge of the Sacred Heart on their clothes and banners. They shaped it as a coat of arms to reaffirm their Catholic faith and wore it as a symbolic armor for defense against enemy attacks.

Vendean General Henri du Vergier, Comte de La Rochejaquelein, wearing the Sacred Heart Badge

Many other Catholic leaders and heroes also wore the Badge as a "spiritual armor." They fought and died in defense of Holy Mother Church like the brave peasants who fought under Andreas Hofer (1767-1810), known as the "Chouans from the Tyrol." These men wore the Badge as spiritual protection in the battles against Napoleon's army that invaded the Tyrol.

Shoulder-belt plate with Sacred Heart Badge

The Cristeros in Mexico, in the first half of the 20th century, also wore the Badge. They took up arms against the anti-Christian governments that oppressed the Church in Mexico.

In Spain, the famous Carlista regiments called "requetes" likewise wore the Badge. They were famous for their religious piety and boldness on the battlefield, and their intervention was decisive for the triumph of the anti-Communist Catholics in the Civil War of 1936-1939.

More recently, similar events took place in Cuba. the Catholic Cubans who fought against the Communist regime had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. When they were imprisoned and taken to the 'paredon" (shooting wall) for summary execution, they faced Fidel Castro's executioners with the cry, "Viva Cristo Rey!" (Long Live Christ the King!).

After Castro's Communist tyranny took over Cuba, beautiful statues of the Sacred Heart wee demolished and replaced with representations of Che Guevara. Thus, statues of the Sacred Heart, which represented Divine Mercy and foregiveness, were replaced with likenesses of a guerilla fighter who hands were soaked in innocent Catholic blood which he had caused to flow in several Latin american countries.

Blessed Pope Pius IX and the Badge
In 1870, a Roman lady wishing to know the opinion of the Holy Father Pius IX about the Badge of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, presented him with one. Touched by the sight of this emblem of salvation, the Pope approved the devotion forever, and said, "This, Madam, this is an inspiration from Heaven. Yes, from Heaven."

After a short moment of silence, he added," I am going to bless this Heart and want all Badges made after this model to receive the same blessing, so that in the future it will not be necessary for the blessing to be renewed by a priest. And I want Satan to be unable to cause any harm to those who wear this Badge, symbol of the Adorable Heart of Jesus."

Wishing to foster the pious habit of wearing the Badge, in 1872 the Blessed Pope Pius IX granted one hundred years' indulgence to all who wear this emblem and pray daily one Our Father, one Hail, Mary, and one Glory be.

Afterward, the Holy Father composed this beautiful prayer:

"Open Thy Sacred Heart, O Jesus! Show me its beauty and unite me with It forever. May the throbbing and all the movements of my heart, even during sleep, be a testimony of my love and tell Thee unceasingly, 'Yes, Lord Jesus, I adore Thee...accept my poor good actions...grant me the grace of repairing the evil done...so that I may praise Thee in time and bless Thee for all eternity. Amen.

Modern Sacred Heart Badge, available here.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

The Sacred Heart and the Eucharistic Miracle At Lanciano

Reprinted by gracious permission of The Real Presence Association:

Ancient Anxanum, the city of the Frentanese, has contained for over twelve centuries the first and greatest Eucharistic Miracle of the Catholic Church. This wondrous Event took place in the 8th century A.D. in the little Church of St. Legontian, as a divine response to a Basilian monk's doubt about Jesus' Real Presence in the Eucharist.

During Holy Mass, after the two-fold consecration, the host was changed into live Flesh and the wine was changed into live Blood, which coagulated into five globules, irregular and differing in shape and size.

The Host-Flesh, as can be very distinctly observed today, has the same dimensions as the large host used today in the Latin church; it is light brown and appears rose-colored when lighted from the back.

The Blood is coagulated and has an earthy color resembling the yellow of ochre.
Various ecclesiastical investigation ("Recognitions") were conducted since 1574.
In 1970-'71, and taken up again partly in 1981, there took place a scientific investigation by the most illustrious scientist Prof. Odoardo Linoli, eminent Professor in Anatomy and Pathological Histology and in Chemistry and Clinical Microscopy. He was assisted by Prof. Ruggero Bertelli of the University of Siena.


The analyses were conducted with absolute and unquestionable scientific precision and they were documented with a series of microscopic photographs.These analyses sustained the following conclusions:

*The Flesh is real Flesh. The Blood is real Blood.
*The Flesh and the Blood belong to the human species.
*The Flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart.
*In the Flesh we see present in section: the myocardium, the endocardium, the vagus nerve and also the left ventricle of the heart for the large thickness of the myocardium.
*The Flesh is a "HEART" complete in its essential structure.
*The Flesh and the Blood have the same blood-type: AB (Blood-type identical to that which Prof. Baima Bollone uncovered in the Holy Shroud of Turin).
*In the Blood there were found proteins in the same normal proportions (percentage-wise) as are found in the sero-proteic make-up of the fresh normal blood.
*In the Blood there were also found these minerals: chlorides, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium.


The preservation of the Flesh and of the Blood, which were left in their natural state for twelve centuries and exposed to the action of atmospheric and biological agents, remains an extraordinary phenomenon....

In conclusion, it may be said that Science, when called upon to testify, has given a certain and thorough response as regards the authenticity of the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano.


So what this means is that, unless there was some fraud very early on in the history of this miraculous Host, the Eucharistic Host of Lanciano is a small cross-section of Our Lord's Sacred Heart.

And the likelihood of fraud is greatly diminished by the blood type. At the earliest known history of both the Shroud of Turin and the Eucharistic Host of Lanciano, medical science had no notion of the concept of blood types. This is because all human blood looks essentially the same even under a microscope. Blood types were not discovered until 1900, by a scientist researching why blood transfusions sometimes lead to the death of the patient. The earliest recorded references to the Holy Shroud are from the 800s. The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano took place in the 900s. Blood types were not discovered until at least a thousand years later.

And the fact that AB blood is on both also greatly diminishes the chances of fraud. Type AB blood occurs in only 4% of the human population. That makes it the least common type of blood. Could two different medieval forgers (one in Constantinople, where the Shroud is first recorded, the other in Lanciano) have used the same type blood 100 years apart, to perpetrate two different forgeries, when they did not even know about blood types? And when the type of blood used in both cases occurs in only 4% of the human population? The chances are astronomical.

Given these circumstances, I believe that the Eucharistic Host at Lanciano is in fact a cross-section of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ (and that the Holy Shroud was, in fact, the burial cloth of the Lord).

Devotion to the Sacred Heart is essentially a Eucharistic devotion. Catholics believe that the Consecrated Host really, truly, and substantially contains the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. And the Sacred Heart is part of His Body. Therefore, in every Consecrated Host displayed for adoration in the monstrance, or reserved in the Tabernacle, or distrubuted at Mass or as Viatacum for the dying, the Sacred Heart is present.

This link between the Sacred Heart and the Eucharist has been obvious since the beginning of the devotion. One of the conditions for the devotion to the Sacred Heart as revealed to Saint Margaret Mary is worthy reception of the Blessed Sacrament on nine consecutive First Fridays.
It was while Saint Margaret Mary was in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament that our Lord appeared to her and "showed her His Heart surrounded by thorns, with a cross on the top and in a throne of flames; and then He said thus to her: "Behold the heart that has so much loved men, and has spared nothing for love of them, even to consuming itself to give them pledges of its love, but which receives from the majority of men no other recompense but ingratitude, and insults towards the Sacrament of love; and what grieves Me most is, that these hearts are consecrated to Me."

The Feast of the Sacred Heart falls just after the Octave of Corpus Christi by our Lord's direct command to Saint Margaret Mary.

Allow me to quote from the Catholic Encyclopedia on Devotion To the Sacred Heart:

Since, moreover, the love of Jesus manifests itself to the devout soul as a love despised and outraged, especially in the Eucharist, the love expressed in the devotion naturally assumes a character of reparation, and hence the importance of acts of atonement, the Communion of reparation, and compassion for Jesus suffering.

Indeed, the linkage between the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Sacrament is clear in many ways. Thus Saint Alphonsus Liguori, writing in the 18th century, treated of the devotion to the Sacred Heart in his book The Holy Eucharist. For the same reason, when I make my morning holy hour at Saint Anthony's Shrine on Arch Street, in the first floor chapel, the Tabernacle containing the Blessed Sacrament is housed underneath a statue of the Sacred Heart.

Devotion To the Sacred Heart is devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, by its very nature, involves devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Inspired by a sermon heard at Sacred Heart church, New Haven, for the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

To Jesus Through Mary


The Two Hearts Ablaze inception, came by inspiration of The Sacred Heart of Jesus and The Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tom and I were so very blessed by these Two Hearts and would like to dedicate this site in their honor. We have received special graces due to prayers asked for special favors, and we have in turn been overwhelmed by the additional gifts granted through them on our behalf. We would like to give them a small token of our gratitude by informing others of the miraculous powers granted by their intercession. We will touch on all aspects of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts regarding prayers, novenas, art, history and literature. Through the intercession of The Immaculate Heart of Mary our prayers reach her Son. He cannot refuse His Mother anything ( as we have well found this true).

I would like to begin my first post with The Act of Consecration by Louis de Montfort. The book by this author as well has a very special place in my heart. Shortly after reading this book back to back with St Therese Lisieux was the conversion to Traditionalism for me. Consecrationg my heart to Jesus through Mary and the act of a simple life by the Little Flower has held my faith firm and given me special graces never received before. I will be eternally grateful for this.

Below are sections taken from the book which I hope you will read and also consecrate yourself to the Blessed Mother as she acts as Mediator Dei.
There are Five Basic Principles of the Devotion to Mary

1. Christ must be the ultimate end of all devotions
2. We belong to Jesus and Mary as their slaves
3. We must rid ourselves of what is evil in ourselves
4. It is more humble to have an intermediary with Christ
5. It is difficult to keep the graces received from God

The Perfect Consecration to Jesus Christ

1. A Complete Consecration to Mary

Motives Which Recommend This Devotion

1. By it we give ourselves completely to God
2. It helps us to imitate Christ
3. It obtains many blessings from Our Lady
4. It is an excellent means of giving glory to God
5. It leads to union with our Lord
6. It gives liberty of spirit
7. It is of great benefit to our neighbor
8. It is a wonderful means of perseverance

Wonderful Effects of This Devotion

1. Knowledge of our unworthiness
2. A share in Mary's faith
3. The gift of pure love
4. Great confidence in God and Mary
5. Communication of the spirit of Mary
6. Transformation into the likeness of Jesus
7. The greater glory of Christ

Before, During and After Holy Communion Prayers

There are Three Weeks in this Devotion with specific prayers to be said and suggestions of readings

At the end of the 3 weeks you should go to confession and Communion with the intentions of giving yourself to Christ through His Mother Mary.

We should offer some sort of penance in their honor

Then you make an act of Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary which should be handwritten as well as said.

Act of Consecration To the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

"I, a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in thy hands, O Immaculate Mother, the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before.

In the presence of all the heavenly court I choose thee this day, for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity.
Amen."

(St. Louis De Montfort)

Friday, June 23, 2006

The Sacred Hearts

Originally posted at Recta Ratio

Today is the feast of the Sacred Heart Of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And tomorrow, in one of the calendar changes that actually makes sense, is the new date for the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Our Blessed Lady.

In English, we are careful to distinguish between Jesus' "Sacred" Heart, and Mary's "Immaculate" Heart. And though the devotions are closely related,and have been since the time of Saint John Eudes, we tend to think of them as seperate. But in other languages,it os common to speak of the "Sacred Hearts." And there is a growing movement,with lay groups and even what appears to be an order, honoring The Two Hearts. There is the Oblate Apostles of the Two Hearts, and the Two Hearts Alliance Apostolate. Both Hearts are holy and both are ablaze with love for not just mankind, but each of us.

Images of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts have been in my home since I was a child. But I was never taught anything about these quintessentially Catholic devotions in parochial school, Catholic prep school, or Boston College.

I have felt like little Frank McCourt in Angela's Ashes.

"Why is that man's heart on fire?

Why doesn't this child know about the Sacred Heart?

It's different in America, Ma'am.

The Sacred Heart is everywhere."

And no one answered little Frank's question.

Indeed the Sacred Heart is everywhere. From the breasts of guillotined martyers and Vendean Catholic monarchists during the French Revolution, to those of Carlist militia fighting the Communists in Spain in the 1930s (it is the counter-revolutionary Catholic symbol par excellence), the Sacred Heart was there.

In new urban American parishes in the 19th century, in the Philippines, in France especially after the Franco-Prussian War, the Sacred Heart was there.

In encyclicals by three Popes, in a book by John Paul II, in the teachings of Benedict XVI, the Sacred Heart is there.

It is just not in our classrooms,or parochial religious curricula, or in the homilies of our parish priests. But it should be. And it is past time to bring the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart back to the forefront of Catholic life.

It is for that purpose that we are offering this blog.

V. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
R. Have mercy on us.

V. Immaculate Heart of Mary
R. Pray for us.

Salutation And Offering To the Two Hearts
by Saint John Eudes

Salutation To the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Hail, Hearts most holy,
Hail, Hearts most meek,
Hail, Hearts most humble,
Hail, Hearts most pure,
Hail, Hearts most devout,
Hail, Hearts most wise,
Hail, Hearts most patient,
Hail, Hearts most obedient,
Hail, Hearts most vigilent,
Hail, Hearts most faithful,
Hail, Hearts most blessed,
Hail, Hearts most merciful,
Hail, most loving Hearts of Jesus and Mary;
Thee we adore,
Thee we praise,
Thee we glorify,
To Thee do we give thanks;
Thee we love,
With all our heart,
With all our soul,
And with all our strength;
To Thee we offer our heart,
We give it,
We consecrate it,
We immolate it;
Accept and posses it entirely,
And purify it,
And illuminate it,
And sanctify it;
That in it Thou may live and reign
Both now and forever,
And in the ages of ages.
Amen.

Offering To the Two Hearts
O Jesus, only Son of God, only Son of Mary,
I offer Thee the most loving Heart of Thy divine Mother which is more precious and pleasing to Thee than all hearts.
O Mary, Mother of Jesus, I offer Thee the most adorable Heart of Thy well-beloved Son, who is the life and love and joy of Thy Heart.
Blessed be the Most Loving Heart
and Sweet Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
and the most gloriousVirgin Mary, His Mother,in eternity and forever.
Amen.
Saint John Eudes, Apostle of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts