Consoling the Sacred Heart of Jesus

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Monica4316

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I’ve been reading a book called “Way of Divine Love” by Sr Josefa Menendez… she was a “victim soul” who shared in Christ’s suffering to console Him and to bring sinners to Him. Based on this book and others, it seems that the vocation of a religious is similar though they console Jesus through their obedience and little actions, - whereas Sr Josefa had the stigmata, was taken down into hell, and shared more directly in Jesus’ sorrow when others turned away from Him.

This brought a question to my mind… I am not a saint or a “victim soul” like Sr Josefa. If I were to suffer it would probably go no further than being reparation for my own sins, not for the sins of others, because I’ve done so much wrong in my life. But still, I love the idea of consoling Jesus’ Sacred Heart. I was told that as lay people we can offer reparation too. But what can we do? In which ways could we hope to offer reparation for our sins, and sin in general, and the souls that have turned away from Jesus? I also read that through our sufferings, people can receive the grace to come back to God, and Our Lady of Fatima talked about this too. But I don’t know what this is supposed to be. For the religious it is more straightforward perhaps because they do everything through obedience, not their own will. But what about lay people? Do we simply need to accept the sufferings that God sends us and the difficulties that come with following His Commandments and His will?

I thought this question is best suited to the Vocations forum. I am just unsure, if I can ever hope to do something like this. (I do not mean being like Sr Josefa of course. But I mean also being able to offer reparation or console Him somehow). I am wondering what is the Church’s teaching in general. Thank you! 🙂
 
An image of the Sacred Heart in a place of honor is a good move, along with the Morning Offering: “O my Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer to Thee all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Divine Heart”.
Aspirations that I often use during the day: “Sacred Heart of Jesus I place my trust in You, no matter what befalls me nor dark the hour may be”.
“Sacred Heart of Jesus keep me faithful to Your Teachings and never let me parted from You”.
“Jesus, who for love of me, didst bear Your Cross to Calvary, in Your Dear Mercy grant to me to suffer and to die for Thee”.
"Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust you in all things while I fear all things from my own many weaknesses.

We can be assured that The Lord will send sufficient into our lives to make great saints of us and it then becomes a question of our perspective and attitudes towards our day and our days. Spiritual writers do tell us that those inconveniences and sufferings that occur in the course of our day, which we have not chosen but are chosen by Divine Providence for us, are far superior to those which we choose ourselves. St Therese of Lisieux embraced with Love and joyfully all that came her way in the course of a day - and she did recognize that she did not have the wherewithall of our great saints to choose great sufferings to inflict on herself, nor did she discern in herself a desire to do so.
Do we simply need to accept the sufferings that God sends us and the difficulties that come with following His Commandments and His will?
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Yes, remembering that His Gospel is our vocation and call in all vocations as well as remembering those days that The Church has allocated as days of penance. Also the Precepts of The Church: catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1021

It may sound like a lot and to my mind it is - and this is why I can take the parable of the Pharisee and The Publican to heart HERE. I am consistently found wanting and in need of the Loving Mercy of God and no greater fount of The Mercy of God than in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Crucified, and to draw prayerfully the Universal Church and mankind into that Fount of Mercy with oneself.
The Prayer During The Day from the Divine Office for today really struck me and as a very important reading - and is from St. Paul to the Collossians Ch 3: “And to all these add Love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. That Peace that Christ gives is to be the judge in your hearts, for to this Peace God has called you together in the One Body”.

TS
 
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