{"id":156,"date":"2016-08-31T18:35:09","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T17:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/?p=156"},"modified":"2021-06-26T21:59:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T20:59:38","slug":"consecration-to-the-sacred-heart-of-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/2016\/08\/31\/consecration-to-the-sacred-heart-of-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Consecration to The Sacred Heart of Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

August 31st<\/sup>, 2016<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dear Fathers, Brothers, and Seminarians,<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As you all know, by God\u2019s grace, at the closing Mass of the past General Chapter, and as result of a unanimous decision of the Chapter Fathers, we consecrated the Institute to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Said consecration took place through the \u201centhronement\u201d of His image, accompanied by the corresponding prayers, in the church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle at the Institute\u2019s seminary in Montefiascone (Italy).<\/p>\r\n

For us it is an act of great significance and of profound spiritual meaning, a pledge of many fruits of holiness, mutual union and concord, and apostolic fruitfulness for the members of the Institute.<\/p>\r\n

With this consecration, by the sheer grace of God and His mercy, we have simply followed what the Pontiffs have insistently recommended in recent years with specific documents, establishing this devotion throughout the Church not as simply another devotion, but as one essential to the Catholic faith. This is because devotion to the Sacred Heart is nothing other than devotion to the Person of the Redeemer, in whose love consists all the perfection of Christian life and of the consecrated life.[1]<\/a><\/p>\r\n

At the same time, we cannot fail to see that in recent times this devotion has gained a new momentum<\/em> since the institution for the universal Church of the feast of Divine Mercy on the Sunday of the Octave of Easter. This is because Divine Mercy is nothing other than the manifestation of the infinite love of the Heart of Christ.[2]<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Through this Circular Letter I would like to exhort everyone to delve more deeply into the meaning of this consecration and devotion, while establishing that in each Province and in each community of the Institute the same consecration or enthronement be made during the current Jubilee Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis. For the future, we also establish that whenever a new community of the Institute is erected, the enthronement of the image of the Sacred Heart should be made with due solemnity.<\/p>\r\n

1.\u00a0 Meaning of This Consecration<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n

While I cannot explain the entire significance of this devotion here, I offer a brief summary.<\/p>\r\n

The aim of the consecration of persons, houses, jurisdictions, and of the Institute itself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the worship of the Person of the Divine Redeemer, seeking to love Him with all our heart, with all our strength, with all our mind, and all our soul<\/em> (cf. Mt 22: 37). This is the same as the end of our religious consecration, in addition to making reparation for the offenses committed against Him, which is also identified with the sacrifice and holocaust of our own religious life.[3]<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Thus, Pope Pius XII stated that devotion to the Sacred Heart is devotion to the Person of Jesus, but particularly to His triple love for us: the love He has for us as God, in common with the Father and the Holy Spirit; the love of His most holy human will, full of grace; and His sensible love, perfectly ordered in Him, and which is like the external revelation, with its authentically human traces, of His most tender and infinite mercy.[4]<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Such devotion would be in vain if it did not entail a corresponding reply on our part, which is precisely what our Lord complained about to St. Margaret Mary: \u201cBehold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing . . . and in return, I receive only ingratitude.\u201d In this same sense Pope Leo XIII teaches: \u201cThere is in the Sacred Heart the symbol and express image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love Him in return.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Furthermore, the enthronement also means setting Jesus on a symbolic throne by which the father of the family (the superior of the house or jurisdiction) cedes to Christ all his powers of government and, by doing so, he professes Jesus\u2019 absolute kingship over himself, over the other members of the house, their persons and apostolates, and over the house itself.<\/p>\r\n

Therefore, this consecration must not remain a mere outward sign, but it should imply the desire to unite ourselves more and more to our Savior. This means identifying ourselves with Him as His members, who seek the perfection of charity and mystical transformation, which is the end of our religious consecration. It also means seeking to bring to fulfillment in us the consequences of our baptism by which we were incorporated into Christ. This devotion, then, entails not simply a partial identification with Christ, but rather one that has the characteristic of totality, and, therefore, of perfect identification with Him.[6]<\/a> To identify ourselves with Him and to transform ourselves into Him also means to immolate ourselves with Him in reparation for our own sins and the sins of all our brothers through the holocaust of our religious life. In fact, reparation is an essential element of this devotion, as the Lord deigned to reveal to Saint Margaret Mary.<\/p>\r\n

2.\u00a0 Benefits Promised by the Sacred Heart to Institutes that Consecrate Themselves to Him<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n

There are four main benefits promised to the Institutes that render special devotion to the Heart of Christ, as stated by Saint Margaret.[7]<\/a><\/p>\r\n

    \r\n
  1. Preserving the primitive fervor of the Institute<\/em>: \u201cThese fruits of life and health [that the devotion to the Heart of Jesus will bring] will renew us in the original spirit of our holy vocation.\u201d Elsewhere she says: \u201cSatan wanted to throw up his anger by destroying the spirit [of our Institute], and hereby ruin it. But I think he will not achieve its intent, if we want, according to the intentions of our holy Father [St. Francis de Sales], to use the means he gives us [this devotion] to restore to the first vigor the spirit of our holy vocation, living according to the maxims of the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d In a letter to her spiritual director, no longer only in reference to her order, but to all orders in general, she writes: \u201cAbove all do all you can so that religious people may embrace [this devotion], because they will draw from it so many favors that no other remedy will be necessary to restore the original fervor and the most exact regularity in the less observant Communities.\u201d<\/li>\r\n
  2. Achieving the ends of the Institute<\/em>: This follows from the renewal of the Institute\u2019s primitive fervor. Recalling a vision in which the Most Blessed Virgin Mary gave the devotion to the Heart of Jesus to the Order of the Visitation and to the Society of Jesus, the saint says: \u201cIn proportion as they give Him pleasure, this Divine Heart, source of blessings and graces, will pour them so abundantly on the tasks of their ministries that they will produce fruits far beyond their labors and expectations. And this also regarding the health and perfection of each one in particular.\u201d<\/li>\r\n
  3. Union of charity among the members<\/em>: In a letter, after listing several promises to religious communities, Saint Margaret Mary adds: \u201cAnd (He promised) that He would pour this sweet ointment of His ardent charity in all the religious communities where He would be honored and that were under His special protection, and that He would maintain united in them all the hearts so as to form but one with His.\u201d<\/li>\r\n
  4. Strength and unity in front of the dangers of division and external attacks<\/em>: The saint says, \u201cI am sure that our holy Founder, fearing that the foundations of his edifice will begin to crack, had asked for a support able to defend it. He was given the devotion to the Heart of Jesus as the means to repair the cracks of the edifice and to serve him as the defense against the attacks of his enemies, and as the support so that it may not succumb in the future\u201d [\u2026] \u201cI cannot help but to tell you a few words about the feast day of our Holy Founder. He made me understand that there was no more efficacious means of making reparation for the faults committed in his Institute than to introduce the devotion to the Sacred Heart, and that he wanted to use this remedy\u201d [\u2026] \u201cI think this is one of the most effective means for raising it up after it has fallen and to serve as an impregnable castle against the attacks the enemy will continually level against (the Institute), who will try to ruin it by a false spirit of pride and ambition which he wants to introduce in place of the spirit of humility and simplicity, which are the foundation of the whole edifice.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    3.\u00a0 Promises Made to Those who will Honor Him by This Devotion<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n

    In addition to these promises made to religious communities, the Lord revealed to St. Margaret Mary other promises for those who honor Him by this devotion. The promises on the efficiency of this devotion concerning personal sanctification are well-known to all, but I think it is good to mention them within this context:[8]<\/a><\/p>\r\n