October 16 2017 - St. Margaret Mary - The vision of His Burning Heart

Throughout the ages, some of the Saints have been gifted by God with visions or visitations from heaven. St. Paul is of course visited by Jesus on the road to Damascus, legend has it Jesus appeared to St. Peter before his own martyrdom. The book of Acts says that St. Stephen the Deacon had a vision of Jesus right before his martyrdom, and St. John the Evangelist of course, writes of his vision of heaven in the Book of Revelation.

St. Francis famously had a vision of Jesus speaking to him from the cross in the chapel of San Damiano telling him to rebuild his Church. St. Catherine of Siena’s life was filled with visions. Even our parish patron, St. Clare, was given visions of the Holy Mass when she was bed-ridden due to infirmity.

In 1677, Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary. a Visitation nun in France. She writes in her diary how she plainly see His heart, pierced and bleeding, yet there were flames, too, coming from it and a crown of thorns around it. He told me to behold His heart which so loved humanity. Then He seemed to take my very heart from me and place it there in His heart. In return He gave me back part of His flaming heart.”

Our Lord charged St. Margaret Mary with making known the powerful devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which today has spread throughout the world.

The message of the Sacred Heart is powerful, it is the message of the Gospel. The Sacred Heart burns with love for sinners, and calls sinners to repent, and turn away from sin, that their hearts might be set afire like His.

The devotion addresses two errors of the spiritual life. On one hand, there is the temptation to see oneself as a hopeless sinner unworthy of God’s love, to see God as a task master who demands the rigid observance of the law or else he will send you to the eternal hell-fires. On the other hand, there is the temptation to explain away sin, to claim that since God’s mercy is so great, we really don’t have to put in that much effort to reform our lives: that it doesn’t really matter what we believe or what we do.

Rather, the devotion to the Sacred Heart shows us that we are loved intensely by God, his love for us is a fiery furnace, and because we are loved, we respond by seeking purification of all that is unlovable in us, the selfishness, impurity, pride, error, and hardheartedness.

May all of our sins and sinfulness be burned away and purified by the fire of God’s love in this life, that we may see come to the beatific vision of God in heaven for the glory of God and the Salvation of souls.

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In reparation to the Sacred Heart for all sin and all blasphemy, we pray to the Lord.

For an increase in faith, hope, and love for all Christians, we pray to the Lord.

That our children and young people may be kept safe from the poisonous errors of our culture, and that their families may be places where the faith is practiced and cherished.

For all those whose love for God has grown cold, who have fallen into moral laxity or despair of the mercy of God, for all souls in danger of hell, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.