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Show THE MONTH OF THE SACRJCO HEARST The Devotion of the Sacred Heart a Dcvo- ! tion of Love The Reverend Hugh B. !V1c!!ahon?s Eloquent Address. As appropriate and instructive reading for the month of June, we select from the Michigan Catholic Cath-olic the following eloquent, discourse on "Devotion 1o the Sacred Heart," delivered by the Rev. Hugh B. McMahon. S. ,L. on Sunday. May I'D, in SS. Peter and Paul's church, Detroit, Mich:. "The words of today's Gospel, and, behold. 1 am witli you all days, even to the consummation of j the world,' seem peculiarly appropriate to the Sun- ' day just before the month of .June containing, as I they do. the Sacred Heart's last proof of its ex- ' ceeeding love for man. They refer indeed to j Christ's presence an invisible head of the church. lie had ju-t commissioned His Apostles to convert f the world, but' above all they iiud their fulfillment i in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, where He j is with us 'all days, even to the consummation of the world.' These words come to us today as an i exhortation from the Sacred Heart itself to make j us endeavor during the coming month to acquire j that personal love of the Savior which should be the outcome of this devotion a love like to that which Christ- showed for us. and which the Apostles Apos-tles had for Him when He thus addressed them. Their hearts were heavy at the thought of parting from Him they loved, and His great heart found a way of consoling them by leaving them Itself in the Sacrament of the Altar. This abiding presence of the Sacred Heart in the tabernacle is a truth which I fear we too often overlook or. at least, do not consider surHoL'ntly. In our devotions to the Sacred Heart we forger, at times, that ihe Blessed Sacrament is Its greatest great-est proof of love, and in our visits and Italy Com munious we do not fully realize ihe fact that on tlie altar, behind the tabernacle door .that same Divine Di-vine Heart still throbs with love for us. Yet 'tis always to ihe altars foot that true devotion to the Sacred Heart must lead us; here in very truth do we find the real OB.IKCT OF THAT DKVOTIOX, ihe VLRV RLASOX of Its INSTITUTION". For what is it we worship in the devotion to the-Sacred Heart '. The name tells us. It is the heart the real, human heart of the Man-God. But"is it the heart, dead, or separated from the Sacred Humanity Hu-manity or the Divinitv; Asuredlv not. mv brethren, but 1 lie living Heart of the Son of God the Heart of desiis Christ a heart of Hosh and blood, which beat for us long years ago on earth, which once was pierced, for love of us, npon the. Cross, which now is living, pulsing still for us, in the bosom of our rise), glorified Redeemer. "But who. in thought, can separate ihe heart from love; And so, my brethren, we worship here ihe love the infinite, incomprehensible love of the Son of God for us that love which He had for us from all eternity, when, as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, He loved us 'with an everlasting everlast-ing love" and that other love which filled the Sacred Sa-cred Heart at the moment of the Incarnation all the love of the God-Man for us. both human and divine, as symbolized in His. Sacred Heart. "Behold the full object of our adoration! While the object the VISIBLE OBJKCT of our worship is the RKAL human heart of the Son of God, the MYSTICAL heart, or the LOVK of that same Divine Person of us, is the UNSEEN OBJECT, the very soul of the devotion.. 'The Heart of .lesus,-glowing .lesus,-glowing with love for lis!' Who is ihere that can refuse l"Viis homage and his love His homage for 'tis ; . Heart of his God; his love, for it is the Heart Viiic who first loved him, and proved that love in deeds. Has Christ done aught in deeds to show His love? Look on that symbol of His love and answer. Behold it surrounded with flames, surmounted by a cross and thorn wreathed! And do not lh"se recall the agony, the scourge, the crown of thorns, the cruel death He undewent for love of Us? Remember that it is a heart of a (rod, made man for us, become a little suffering child for us to win our poor heart's love a heart full of tenderness and pity. Behold it manifested in our Lord's acts while on earth, attracting the young and innocent to itself 'Suffer the little ones to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of j such is the kingdom of heaven.' How those words j should ring today in many a mother's heart, in many a home and school. 'Suffer the little ones and forbid them not !' "Behold that heart! When moved to pity by a widowed mother's tears it prompts Him to use His power divine and restore the son to the mother. See it again at the grave of Lazarus; read its tenderness ten-derness in the lament of that Lord of almighty power over Jerusalem, His city, which was so soon in reject Dim and clamor for His destruction 'Jerusalem, bow often would I have gathered ihy children as the bird doth her brood under her wings, ;1nd thou wouldst not.' "Think, too, how He received the Magdalen, looked with eyes of love on Peter in his fall, greeted with kindness even Judas when he came to h"tray Him in the garden and can you doubt of the loving kindness of that heart and fail to hive It in return; And that same Divine Heart glows -till with love for us in the bosom of our Lord in heaven! -In heaven; Yes. but yet on earth. Behind Be-hind each tabernacle door that loving heart is waiting wait-ing for our love: thence It calls out. to each one, as of old 'My child, give me thy heart.' And there j in an especial manner our Lord awaits us who - I . , .- .4 -,k fr . ' " ' ' t 1 ' I . f - 1 . . mm Mfmmsm ! ! l - ! i; : r ::- mt jf". ':'m l - i , ; -UV;iHk-c?V Vv----; "rfzm j , ": ni UM 1 i i . PJirt . . $ 1 1 Mfe "i 1 $ ' 5 1' '' ' - I ' it lh - - . Crowning the heights of Mont-Martre, in Paris, there stands a basilica, surmounted by this statue, and dedicated to the Sacred Heart. Every afternoon at 3 o'clock the great bell sounds three and t hirty times as a reminder of the hour in which ths three and thirty years of the Redeemer's life came to a close. Rosary Magazine. J ' H M MIKKMH K MM;L M Y ' imtiKH klllliMllliMMMMillllllllklllilJ.liLi.j.J.XJ.j.iJ.j.i.J. know of this devotion. For what was II LS OBJECT OB-JECT in revealing the mystery of His love '. Listen Lis-ten to His own words to Blessed Margaret Mary: 'Behold the heart which has so loved men, and has been loved so little in return.' Do you catch, that plaint of the Savior, 'Loved so little in return C Only a loving heart, neglected, lonely, yet loving still, could utter tite words! And in those words we have THE TWO-FOLD END of tlie devotion: 'To love Jesus in return.' and to make amends to the Sacred Heart upon the altar, because 'tis loved to little, ko seldom even thought of by tlie vast majority of men. "Here is a motive which should appeal to us. Look out upon an unbelieving and a scoffing world! Think of the sacrileges, the blasphemies, all the insults heaped upon that loving Heart since first It hid beneath the sacramental veils. Picture to yourselves: a Catholic, one who knows lhat Sacred I Heart, going with sin steeped soul, with Satan in his heart, towards the altar rails, and that dear Lord! But no Your loving hearts would sicken at the sight of that Judas airaiii betraying his blaster! Is there nought then for which we can make amends And even if such crime as this is rare among us fand, thank God, it is), are there no other faults of forget fulness for which we can atone? How often is the longing of that Sacred Heart for some one to come and kneel in loving adoration before it left unsatisfied I speak not of some church in ihe lone countryside, but here in our city's midst, where the heedless' throngs surge to and fro all the day long, and there is that Sacred Heart, alone and unthought of during the watches of the night, often alone and neglected through the day, throbbing there with love for us, waiting to pour out its graces upon us waiting, . alas! often in vain! "Will we not resolve (lien to do what in us lies during this coming month, to atone for the Coldness Cold-ness and neglect of men f And let us keep in mind wnen we kneel here before the altar that we adore a living, loving heart; the heart -of a God. but yet a human-feeling heart which, in that tabernacle taber-nacle Ihere, really pulses with love for us; nor ( think always of our Lord as far from us, in heaven, j but is really, truly present "here, with the longing 1 of that heart still unfilled, and thus try to make amends for our past forgetfulness, for oitr sins and 1 ihe sins of others. We cannot, I know, spend all : the .time our hearts would urge, before our Lord here present; but 'tis just here that the 'Apostle- ; I ship of Prayer shows itself 'in league with the i Heart of Jesus.' By the morning offering of the j 'Apostleshi)' we can make all our acts, which are ! not sinful, acts of prayer and praise and repara- j tion; for we offer them ah1 Ilis intention, in union with His Sacred, Heart. Let us come before Him l then this month. I "The saeiiiice will be light for us, but the glory j to Him great, and great, too. the rewards we shall reap. He has promised to pour out all His graces upon those who thus honor His Heart. Come, thru, often and 'draw waters with joy from the -T-TTTT-T-rTTTTTTJ RRT(H-(700IHHr(7(i(J.Tfi'5'HH Savior's fountain.' For this is the invitation which the church herself extends to us. After telling us in the Epistle of the Feast of the Sacred Heart "to rejoice and praise the Lord, for great is He that is in the midst of us. the holy One of Tsrael,' she adds the words of Isaias: 'For you shall draw waters with joy from the Saviour's fountains; foun-tains; Would we know why the Church takes these words of the ancient prophet to celebrate our Lord's latest revelation of His love. we. too. must try for a moment to catch a glimpse of the vision which doubtless flashed before the prophet's soul when he thus addressed the nations whom he saw in spirit thronging to the temple of the future fu-ture Messiah: The awful agony of the first Good I- riday afternoon is over, the echoes of the "expiring "expir-ing cry of the God-Man have died out among the Judean hills Calvary is hushed and all deserted; save5 for tliree forms hanging on the crosses save for a group, alas how small! where the devoted ones await, with bowed tieads ami anguish crushed hearts, the return of those who had gone into the city for permission to remove the body of their stricken Lord. Above them on that sacred frame the four gaping wounds fountains through nl.idi had welled up for long hours the life blood of ihe Savior seem at last exhausted and the sacred blood is slowly drying on the mangled feet and arms. "But see! The soldiers of the doubting irov- ernor approach, and one strikes with his lance and lo! the heart, the Sacred Heart, is pierced, 'and immediately there came out blood and water." Behold! Be-hold! my brethren, the heart which has so loved men, that it spared not even the last drop of its blood! Behold, indeed, the fountain from which all coming ages shall 'draw with joy' the life-g.' vimr waters of the Savior! Waters of grace to h-anse their souls in sin, waters of strength and gla iness to quench their thirst forever. Long before, by the I well curb of Samaria had He promised: 'Who so drinks of the water which I shall give, shall not thirst forever,' but 'it shall become in him a fountain foun-tain of living water springing up into !if" everlasting.' ever-lasting.' And here on Calvary was first opci.od that well head of all grace, and here behold the 'irst adorers of the Sacred Heart! Mary the spotless, John the well beloved. Magdalene the loving, and in the person of the Centurion may we not behold the first hard heart softened by devotion to the ! Sacred Heart the first of a long hue of sinners. who. according to the promise made in days then to come, were to find in that heart the 'course' and 'the ocean of infinite mercy.' "Tittly can we. as we fix our gaze on lhat o;: n side and lance-riven heart of the Savior, cxclaii 1 in the prophet's words to all who practice this devotion de-votion :'You shall draw waters with joy from the Savior's fountain;' and truly can the Chi.rcb repeat re-peat the words to us as wc kneel here befor? the altar for that Sacred Heart has not been .dosed, and we. too. may during this month of-J l ie draw even more abundantly waters with joy from this opened fount of the Savior." |