Oct. 16 _"Behold This Heart" -- Words of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary - and words from "True Devotion"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s Memorial of St. Margaret Mary to whom Jesus appeared, reminds us of His words:

“Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love” (Revelation of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary, June 1675).

Continuing Chapter 2 in True Devotion by St. Louis de Montfort, we also remember how little love we have given in return for His Great Love toward us.

Second principle: We belong to Jesus and Mary as their slaves

1. From what Jesus Christ is in regard to us we must conclude, as St. Paul says, that we belong not to ourselves but entirely to Him as His members and His slaves, for he bought us at an infinite price - the shedding of His Precious Blood. Before baptism, we belonged to the devil as slaves, but baptism made us in very truth slaves of Jesus.

We must therefore live, work and die for the sole purpose of bringing forth fruit for Him, glorifying Him in our body and letting Him reign in our soul. We are His conquest, the people He has won, His heritage.

It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit compares us: 1) to trees that are planted along the waters of grace in the field of the Church and which must bear their fruit when the time comes; 2) to branches of the vine of which Jesus is the stem, which must yield good grapes; 3) to a flock of sheep of which Jesus is the Shepherd, which must increase and give milk; 4) to good soil cultivated by God, where the seed will spread and produce crops up to thirty-fold, sixty- fold, or a hundred-fold. Our Lord cursed the barren fig-tree and condemned the slothful servant who wasted his talent.

All this proves that He wishes to receive some fruit from our wretched selves, namely, our good works, which by right belong to Him alone, “created in Jesus Christ for good works”. These words of the Holy Spirit show that Jesus is the sole source and must be the sole end of all our good works, and that we must serve him not just as paid servants but as slaves of love. Let me explain what I mean.

1. There are two ways of belonging to another person and being subject to his authority. One is by ordinary service and the other is by slavery. And so we must use the terms “servant” and “slave”. Ordinary service in Christian countries is when a man is employed to serve another for a certain length of time at a wage which is fixed or agreed upon. When a man is totally dependent on another for life, and must serve his master without expecting any wages or recompense, when he is treated just like a beast of the field over which the owner has the right of life and death, then it is slavery.

God willing, tomorrow, # 70 explains how the saints chose “Voluntary Slavery”. #70 went over the Word count today.

Come Holy Spirit fill us with Your Love as you filled Mary!

 

[hazcompat]

WORDS OF SAINT JOHN PAUL II

In keeping with Christian piety through the ages, we present to the Blessed Virgin difficult individual situations, so that she may place them before her Son, asking that He alleviate and change them. But we also present to her social situations and the international crisis itself, in their worrying aspects of poverty, unemployment, shortage of food, the arms race, contempt for human rights, and situations or dangers of conflict, partial or total. In a filial spirit we wish to place all this before her “eyes of mercy,” repeating once more with faith and hope the ancient antiphon: “Holy Mother of God, despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.”

Mary most holy, our Mother and Queen, is the one who turns to her Son and says: “They have no more wine” (Jn 2:3). She is also the one who praises God the Father, because “He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree; He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent empty away” (Lk 1:52-53). Her maternal concern extends to the personal and social aspects of people’s life on earth. (Encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis , December 30, 1987, n. 49)

 

[hazcompat]

October 16 - Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (d. 1690) - Election of Pope Saint John Paul II (October 16, 1978)​

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Making Mary Known and Loved

The great Pope of Totus Tuus was prophesied to the Polish nation​

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When on October 16, 1978, Karol Wojtyla became the first Polish Pope in history and the great Marian Pope who chose the motto “Totus Tuus” (“I’m all yours”) alluding to Mary, the Polish bishops immediately thought of a prophetic poem written in 1848 by the Polish poet Julius Slowacki (1809-1849), titled “The Slavic Pope”:

Behold, the Slavic pope is coming,

a brother of the people.

Behold, he already pours the world’s balm

on our breasts.

And the angel-choir sweeps flowers

towards his throne.

He distributes love, as lords today

distribute arms.

Above him the beautiful sky is opened

from either side.

Across nations he acts as brother,

the voice sent forth.

He brings health, enkindles love

and saves the world.

This poem persisted in popular memory, and planted a seed of hope for a Polish Pope. One would think that Saint John Paul II actually applied himself to following the “program” traced by the famous Polish poet, whose resting place is in a cemetery near Wojtyla’s childhood home in Wawel Krakow.

The Marie de Nazareth editorial team

Read more on mariedenazareth.com:​

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

 

[MariaChristi]

Thanks so very much for the two beautiful posts regarding Pope St. John Paul II, who was an advocate for St. Louis de Montfort’s treatise on True Devotion.

The two hearts of Jesus and Mary were very important to him and he Lived the Total Consecration of himself to Jesus and Mary, St. Louis de Montfort wrote. What a great gift Pope St. John Paul has been for the Church!

Thanks for all your own love for Jesus through Mary also, dear brother! Totus Tuus!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear latehunter,

Thanks so much for your “heart” which lets us know you liked the words of St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion”. I hope you will continue to read his words as he was given much Wisdom by God for His Church regarding Mary our Mother.

Today, God willing, I will be posting paragraphs # 70 through 72 in which St Louis explains more about belonging to Jesus and Mary as their slaves. Many are “turned off” by his assertion but when he explains the beauty of “voluntary slavery” we begin to understand far more what he means and remember that many saints like St. Paul called themselves “slaves” of Jesus Christ.

Please let us pray for one another, for the Church, and for all those in most need of His Mercy. Thanks again for your “heart” given in love to Jesus through Mary.