Friday, 6/3/16
Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus. It is a feast associated with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. A girl from a
very pious French family, she lived from 1647 to 1690. As a girl she often
spoke of Jesus visiting her, and she thought it happened that way with every
Catholic. Baptized Margaret, her love for Mary moved her an officially prefix Mary to her name.
Although she had promised the Lord to live only for him. She
was seventeen when her father’s death left the family destitute, so she followed her
mother’s orders to mix in society, to look for a good match. But, at
twenty-four, praying before the Blessed Sacrament she had a strong
feeling of Jesus holding her close to his heart. He told her, “Behold this
heart that has loved men so much, and has been loved so little in return.” Her
mother, convinced of the truth of that, allowed Margaret to enter the
Visitation Convent just east of Paris.
Those intimate meetings with Jesus continued with Margaret
Mary, and many of the people who found them unbelievable, were brought around to
accept them. They were moved by Margaret Mary’s casual assumption that Jesus
must be visiting other people the way he visited her.
No comments:
Post a Comment