Opinion
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April 9, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – On December 27, 1673, Jesus revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (†1690):

My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love… that, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must let them spread abroad through your means, and manifest Itself to man, that they may be enriched with Its precious treasures which I unfold to you, and which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin.

Jesus requested the practice of attending mass, going to confession, and receiving him in the Eucharist on the first Friday of 9 consecutive months. 

Nowadays, many Catholics seem to unjustifiably belittle the Veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They dismiss the images of Our Lord literally pointing to His bleeding heart as a  purely private devotional painting, considered appropriate to old ladies. Up until recently, the Sacred Heart was well established as an aspect of Catholic culture. But, in a postmodern, secular and multicultural society, its significance declines steadily. Now, in today’s world of distress, tribulation and suffering, when all ordinary means appear insufficient, it may be time to resort to something exceptional, far more distinguished. 

The Sacred Heart of Jesus will manifest its ultimate power in the struggle against evil. Through Jesus, all things are possible. 

St. Pope John Paul II writes the following relevant words in his encyclical Dives in misericordia:

The Church seems in a particular way to profess the mercy of God and to venerate it when she directs herself to the Heart of Christ. In fact, it is precisely this drawing close to Christ in the mystery of his Heart which enables us to dwell on this point – a point in a sense central and also most accessible on the human level – of the revelation of the merciful love of the Father, a revelation which constituted the central content of the messianic mission of the Son of Man.

St. Faustina Kowalska (†1938) wrote in her famous diary about God flooding the world with his grace by means of his Sacred Heart:

Today, I saw the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the sky, in the midst of a great brilliance. The rays were issuing from the Wound and spreading out over the entire world.

On June 22, 2006, Our Lord revealed to another Polish mystic, Alicja Lenczewska (†2012), the quickest route to unity of the whole humanity: 

Your harmony with brothers – harmony between people – the return to original harmony is possible in my wounds, in my Heart opened with the sword of sorrow.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is profoundly Eucharistic. At Mass, the faithful are nourished at the Paschal banquet of our Redeemer’s Body and Blood. “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink” (John 6:55). 

The Eucharistic miracle of Buenos Aires is an extraordinary sign of the times. Through it, Jesus desires to arouse in us a lively faith in His real presence in the Eucharist. 

In March 2004, in order to remove doubts concerning the Eucharist miracle of Buenos Aires, two Australians, journalist Mike Willesee and lawyer Ron Tesoriero consulted the leading expert in cardiac pathology and forensic medicine, Professor Frederick Zugibe of Columbia University. The expert did not know that the sample he was examining was from a Consecrated host. After studying it, he said: “The sample you brought me is a heart muscle, a myocardium, more precisely the left ventricle.” Finally the Professor inquired: “You have to explain one thing to me, if this sample came from a person who was dead, then how could it be that as I was examining it the cells of the sample were moving and beating? If this heart comes from someone who died in 1996, how can it still be alive?” 

When Catholics consume the consecrated host, they are actually touching the living Heart of Jesus. 

Venerable Marthe Robin (†1981), one of the mystics and stigmatics of the twentieth century, had her life maintained by the Eucharist. Marthe reportedly ate nothing but the Eucharist for over 50 years. The evidence of this phenomenon was corroborated by independent doctors. In addition, from 1930 on, Robin lay paralyzed and never slept. Repeatedly the host, entering into her, instantly disappeared, without any normal ingestion. However, it was not the substance of the host that fed her, as she revealed, because she only received Holy Communion once a week.

In 1958, Robin gave a reason for this fact to the French philosopher Jean Guitton:

This is my only food. Someone moistens my mouth, but I cannot swallow. The host gives me a physical impression of food. Given that Jesus is my entire body, it is He who nourishes me. It's like a resurrection.

It appears that lack of faith in Jesus’ Sacred Heart can be held accountable for the vicissitudes of some parts of European history. 

In June 1689, in order to save France — the eldest daughter of the Church — from being totally devastated by the Revolution, Jesus asked King Louis IV through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque to consecrate himself and the country to His Sacred Heart. 

Make it known to the eldest son of my Sacred Heart, that as his temporal birth was obtained by devotion to the merits of My Holy Childhood, so he will get his birth to eternal glory by the consecration which he will make of himself to my adorable Heart, which means his triumph, and through it, to the great of the earth. I want My Heart to reign in his palace, to be painted on his standard and engraved in his arms, to make him victorious over all his enemies, and by placing at his feet these proud foes, to make him victorious over all enemies of the Holy Church.

Unfortunately, the King turned down flatly the request from heaven. For 100 years, the next kings of France delayed performing this consecration which simply meant jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. The King's grandson, Louis XVI, in 1791 promised to make it while imprisoned, but he had no power to put that promise into effect. Four years later he was executed, as were thousands of bishops, priests, religious, and lay Catholics who were killed by the guillotine during the “Reign of Terror.” 

“Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1: 18), states the prophet. 

The Savior's Heart wants us to return to the Father's love, which is the source of every authentic love: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10).