2º DAY

Motives of this devotion

a. Motives of Reason

This devotion has four main motives of reason:

1. The excellence of the adorable Heart of our Lord

The worship that is due to the Sacred Heart of Jesus rests upon the fact that it is united to the Person of the Word of God. The Divine Redeemer’s Heart is holy, as it possesses the holiness of God Himself. It follows that because of this, the Heart of Jesus is called by right ‘The Heart of God.’

2. The amiable qualities that are found in the Person of Jesus Christ

In His Heart, all qualities are found with ineffable sweetness. He compares himself sometimes to a father who cannot contain his joy at the return of his prodigal son, and at another time, as a shepherd who having found one sheep that has gone astray, puts it on his shoulders and calls his friends and neighbours to rejoice with him because he has found his sheep.(Lk 15:9) “Has no man condemned thee?” He says to the woman taken in adultery, “neither will I condemn thee. Go now and sin no more “(Jn 8:11). And this God-Man, with all his attributes and with all the glory that he possesses, loving us so much, does He not deserve our love?

3. The visible proofs of the immense love which Jesus has for us

These proofs are the benefits that best show how great His love is. That is why Jesus Christ has shown us the greatness of his love in the great work of creation; but even more so, His love has reached such an extreme that, after the fall of man into sin, with great desire to redeem mankind which He loved so much, He actualized the Incarnation, an event greater than creation itself. In this work of Redemption, He wants to grant us the grace of salvation choosing for Himself the most humiliating and painful suffering. These marvellous events are precisely the effect of the love that Christ has for us. And if that wasn’t enough, He instituted the Eucharist, becoming a means of spiritual nourishment for our souls, in order to be closer to us.

4. The extreme ingratitude of men towards Jesus Christ

Despite so many examples that Jesus has given us of his love, especially His staying present in the Blessed Sacrament, there are only very few souls that realize this great benefit. By instituting this Sacrament of love, our Lord foresaw all the ingratitude of men and felt all suffering beforehand in His Heart; nevertheless, none of this could stop or prevent Him from manifesting to us the excess of His love when instituting this Mystery. Is it just that, amid so much ingratitude, our God finds so little love from those few friends of His Sacred Heart?

b. Motives of interest

The proof of what this devotion causes in us

Jesus Himself assured Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque of the benefits that this devotion brings us: “For ecclesiastics and religious it is an effective means to arrive at the perfection of their state; for those who work for the salvation of their neighbour it is an assured means to touch the most hardened of hearts; and lastly for all the faithful, it is a most solid devotion and one most proper to obtain victory over the strongest passions, to establish union and peace to the most divided families; to get rid of the most long-standing imperfections; to obtain a most ardent and tender love for Me. In brief, to arrive in little time and a very easy manner, at the most sublime perfection’’.

c. Motives of pleasure

What true sweetness and consolation is to be found in the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

In the same way that the contemplation of the wounds of Jesus Christ on the Cross reminds us of his great mercy, the memory of His Heart inspires us with an immense sweetness and joy, which are the inseparable consolations of love. This devotion leads us to faithfully adore Jesus Christ in the Eucharist because in this Sacrament He gives us the greatest of all graces: He gives Himself to us really and truly and makes us feel the sweetness of His presence and His gifts.

Let’s put ourselves in the presence of God to meditate on these truths.

• We ask the grace to put the greatness of Christ’s love in the center of my thoughts.
• Today’s resolution: Offer to the Sacred Heart a conscious act of some good work this day (work, study, prayer, some service, etc.).
• Jaculatory prayer of the day: (to be repeated throughout the day) O Sweet Heart of Jesus, make us love Thee more and more!

Novena in preparation for the Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Lord Jesus Christ, the only redeemer of man,
look with love to those of us who are preparing to consecrate ourselves to Your Most Sacred Heart.
Open for us the eternal fount of your mercy,
that flows from your Heart opened on the Cross.
Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
we want to be always and only yours: in life, in death, and eternity.
Let nothing separate us from your love!
Grant us a heart similar to yours, meek and humble, that listens to you and keeps your commands;
that is nourished of the Word and the Eucharist so that, rooted, edified and transformed in you, we can grow every day in desires of love and reparation to your Heart, pierced by the sins of men and that we can work tirelessly so you can reign in every heart and every society.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you.
Sweet Immaculate Heart of Mary, be my salvation.
All the angels and saints of God, pray for us.